#and maddy hasn’t needed his protection for a while

[shellyseashell]

going insane about magnus hours

[quintessenceofdust88]

Life is changin' Tides, ch. 2 🌊

[Ch. 1 here]

[Also available on AO3]

Tommy drives through LA’s streets with complete disregard for speed limits or traffic laws, his mind set on getting closer to the shore. His eyes widen as he takes in everything that’s happening with the city that’s been his home for so many years. It’s completely different seeing the chaos from above as he was doing from the chopper, and being in the middle of it as he is now. Everywhere he looks, desperation clings to people like a second skin—exhaustion in every step, despair in every glance. There are many parents clutching their children close, and the vision makes Tommy’s heart squeeze in his chest when he realizes his own child is lost and scared in the middle of it. And then, an even more unbearable thought crosses his mind: what if she’s not? 

That’s too much for him. Tommy parks his truck in the middle of an unfamiliar street, eerily empty, and steps outside, his breath quickening in what he recognizes as a panic attack, the same kind he used to have back in Afghanistan, only worse. So much worse, because Tommy never feared for his life as much as he’s fearing for Vivie’s. He knows with a fierce certainty he can’t go on without her. Tommy clutches his steering wheel until his knuckles are white, and single sob wrecks through his chest. He tries - fails - to push the worst scenarios off his mind. Vivie has to be alive. Anything else is just unthinkable. 

And he has to find her. He has to find his daughter, and protect her, and make sure she’s safe. Tommy takes a deep breath, inhaling for seven seconds and exhaling for five, and he swallows his panic as best as he can, pressing his nails against his palm until his hands stop trembling. He can panic later, when Vivie is safe in his arms. 

Before starting his car, Tommy decides he needs a better plan of action than frantically going around the city and hoping he'll run into Genevieve. He doesn't have gas, and Vivie doesn't have time. Every second counts.

Tommy raises his phone to his ear with a trembling hand, having dialed numbers that he's used to being on the other side of.

“ 911, what's your emergency?” A sweet female voice answers.

“H-hi, this is firefighter pilot Kinard. I… I’m not on duty, but I have something important to ask.” He says, his voice trembling slightly, but he takes another deep breath to try and calm down.

“Firefighter Kinard, I'm dispatcher Maddie Buckley” The woman says, her tone professional and urgent. “You say you're not on duty, but are you safe? What can I help you with?”

“I am safe, it's… it's my daughter who's not” Tommy tells her, and he has to fight the tears that are already threatening rolling down his face as he says it out loud. “Please, if you have reports of a girl named Genevieve found amongst the survivors, can you make sure it's reported to Harbor station? She's… she's five years old”

Maddie audibly gasps on the phone, and Tommy squeezes his eyes shut, trying to tamper down his guilt and despair. They won't help him now.

“Yes, Mr. Kinard, of course. I… I imagine it won't do much good if I tell you not to go looking for her on your own?”

“It won't” He answers truthfully; there's nothing on Earth that can make him stop looking for his daughter while he has a breath left on his body.

“Then please be safe while doing so” She wishes, and Tommy feels a surge of affection for this dispatcher he doesn't know, this Maddie girl. “Is there anything else I can do to assist you?”

“Yes, actually” Tommy tells her, an idea coming to him as if whispered by some good angel. “Do you happen to know where they assembled the field hospital for the victims?”

--------

Buck is pretty sure that, if he didn’t have to put up a good front for Genevivie, he’d have crumbled in despair by now. They’ve been walking for at least an hour and he hasn’t found neither Genevieve’s uncle nor Christopher, not even a sign of them. He’s been asking around and only getting blank stares in return, or worse, pitiful ones that tell him exactly what most people think might have happened to the two of them. Christopher’s glasses are hanging from Buck’s neck, a stark reminder of just how much Buck failed the kid, and they feel like they weigh a ton. But Genevieve’s hand in his is warm, and light, and she looks up at Buck as if she’s completely sure he’ll keep her safe and take her back to her uncle. 

And Buck has to honor that trust. He knows her uncle Sal is waiting for her (presuming the man is alive, which Buck fiercely hopes for), and so is her father; she didn’t mention a mother, and Buck didn’t ask. 

“Mr. Evan?” She asks while they’re going through an empty street, on their way to the next group of survivors they can find, hoping against hope their people are among them. 

“Yeah, Vivie?” Buck asks, his voice more strained than he’d like it to be, and he remembers that the last time he drank water was before the wave hit. His throat is sore and starting to throb just as much as his leg. 

“Were you scared? When the big wave came?” She asks, her eyes wide in a mix of curiosity and lingering fear as she looks up at him. Buck shivers, remembering the dread he felt when he realized what exactly was happening to the Santa Monica pier, the blind fear he felt for Christopher. Vivie, however, continues before he can answer. “I was scared, but Uncle Sal wasn’t. He just took me and ran really fast"

“I did the same to Christopher” Buck tells her, and Vivie’s eyes widen in wonder.

“You did? So you’re brave like Uncle Sal!” Genevieve concludes, and Buck can’t help but be endeared by her logic, flawed as it was. 

“I… I tried to be, but… I don’t think I was very good at it, Vivie” Buck confesses to her, and she frowns at him, her little nose turning up. 

“Why not?” She asks, her innocence clear, and Buck’s heart aches in his chest.

“Because… Because I ended up losing Chris. I was supposed to keep him safe, and I lost him” Buck says, his voice breaking. He swallows hard, holding back the tears that are threatening to spill.

“Oh” Vivie says, and then looks deep in thought, before looking up at him. “But you didn’t mean to, right?”

“Of course not! I… I meant to protect him, but…” He trails off, but Vivie continues for him. 

“The big wave, right? It wasn’t your fault, mr. Evan. Uncle Sal didn’t mean to lose me either, it was an accident. Like when I spilled milk all over Daddy’s puzzle. He wasn’t mad at me, because I didn’t mean to, and he said accidents happen to everyone. And that we just need to do what we can to fix it”

“So… so you don’t think Christopher’s mad at me?” Buck asks. He knows it’s a bit desperate to be asking that question to a five-year-old he just met, but he really needs some sort of reassurance right now.

“Of course he’s not!” she says, her voice rising with certainty. “I’m not mad at Uncle Sal. I still think he’s really brave. And so are you, Mr. Evan. You saved me, and you’re trying super hard to find Christopher. You’re a hero.”

It makes Buck’s chest tighten, but not in a bad way. He would never call himself a hero, not after today, and he still doesn’t think he is, but. The faith of this little child in him is like a small bubble of hope in the middle of the wreckage, and Buck will hold on to that for as long as he can. 

“T… Thanks, Vivie” He tries to say without his voice breaking, and he doesn’t quite manage, but Genevieve doesn’t seem to realize the weight of what she said. “You're being pretty brave yourself, you know?”

“I know, Daddy always says so.” She says matter-of-factly, and Buck’s amazed that a five-year-old can have that sort of confidence that he doesn’t have at 28. “I’m not afraid of spiders and he is, so he always says I’m braver than him. But I don't think I'm braver than him, because I'm scared of sleeping in the dark, and he isn't. His bedroom doesn't have a nightlight like mine.”

Buck laughs for the first time in hours at that, and in different circumstances, he’d definitely want to meet Vivie’s father. There’s something fascinating about this man who builds up his daughter’s self-esteem, doesn’t get mad at her for accidents, teaches her disaster management and is also afraid of spiders (but not of the dark). 

However, Buck doesn’t have time to build the puzzle that is Genevivie’s dad anymore, because they’re reaching some police officers that are patrolling the area. Buck doesn’t know them, but they might be able to help. He squeezes Vivie’s hand so she keeps up with him and jostles to them as fast as his leg allows. 

“Excuse me,” He calls, and one of them turns to him. Buck can see his own exhaustion and despair reflected in the man’s eyes, and he understands what people mean by disaster solidarity now. “I… I am looking for two people. Have you passed by anyone named Sal or- or Christopher? They’re a man and a little boy…”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think so” The officer tells him, his voice filled with the sympathy Buck found in the voices of pretty much everyone they’ve crossed so far. “You… you might wanna try the triage center near the shore? They’ve built it out of a VA hospital. I heard a lot of victims are being taken there, so maybe your people are there?””

It’s the first Buck’s hearing of it, and that little bubble of hope, the one Vivie blew in his chest, grows a little. A triage center would write down names, make sure people are taken care of. It’s not much, but it’s their best chance. 

“How do I get there?”

-----

Eddie is astonished. Even though he’s been to war and worked the earthquake the year before, this is still the most despairing situation he’s seen. People are coming by heaps to the triage center, in different degrees of dehydration, sheer exhaustion or worse injuries, and it’s a bit overwhelming, if he’s honest with himself. There are helicopters frantically crossing the air, and Eddie sends a silent prayer for those guys who are probably having an even harder time at work than he is.

The only upside of this, when compared to the earthquake, is that this time he doesn’t have to worry about Christopher. He knows his kid is having the time of his life and probably stuffing his face with junk food that Buck always allows him to have and making Buck stop moping around. And he’s safe. So Eddie gets to do his job with a focused mind, which is important, because it’s a pretty demanding job at the moment. 

He’s just seen Bosko take off with her captain and is about to go back to patching up the wound. There is a lot of yelling around, people crying in pain, people screaming for loved ones, but one particular commotion around calls his attention.

“No, you don’t understand!” An angry sharp voice is saying. “I have to go! She’s alone out there!”

Eddie turns towards the noise to find a man with a gaze wrapped around his head fighting against two nurses. He’s a strong man, tanned skin, probably in his forties, and his eyes are widened in despair. 

“Sir, you can’t just leave, you need to let us help you!” One of the nurses is saying, but the man won’t stop struggling. The bandage around his head is stained red, and he’s gripping the sheets as if he’s having a hard time to even sit up.. “You’re injured and-”

“I don’t give a damn if I’m hurt, don’t you see?! I need to find my niece, she’s five, and she’s lost in this damn mess and it’s my fault!”

Eddie’s stomach drops, and he rushes over before he can stop himself. The idea of a little girl missing tugs right at his heartstrings, making him instantly think of Christopher. As he comes closer, Eddie sizes up the situation, and he sees despair and determination in the man’s gaze, but they can’t, in good conscience, let him go. His hands are trembling and his breathing is quick and shallow, and it’s clear that he can’t go anywhere that is more than two steps away. 

“Hey, hey, take it easy” Eddie says, his voice as steady and calm as he can make it, and both the man and the nurses turn to him. “Sir, my name is Eddie, I’m a firefighter, maybe I-

“Yeah, guess what, buddy? I’m a firefighter too, and I don’t care about what you have to say. I’m leaving here, and I’m finding my niece.” The man says hoarsely, and gets up from bed, his face paling as soon as his feet hit the floor.

Eddie sees it coming before it happens, and is already prepared to catch the guy when his knees buckle up from under him. He sits him back on the bed, and the man lets out a frustrated groan, shaking his head. 

“I… You don’t get it, man. I have to find her.” He says, his voice breaking, and Eddie feels for him, he truly does. He sits by the man’s side, and he eyes Eddie suspiciously; Eddie’s sure he knows exactly the kind of tactics that are used to calm down those who are about to have a breakdown, but he’ll try to apply them anyway. 

“What’s your name, man?” He asks, and the guy’s glare confirms to him that yes, he’s on to Eddie. 

“Look, don’t give me this ‘calm down’ crap, ok? I’m not a patient” He grumbles, and Eddie rolls his eyes. 

“Yes, you are, whether you like it or not. You hit your head pretty hard out there, dude. You won’t be any help to your niece if you pass out in the street while looking for her” Eddie reasons, and the man crosses his arms, but doesn’t argue, because he probably knows Eddie’s right. “Now, if you give me your name and your station, we can try and get some of your guys to look for her”

“It’s Deluca. I’m with the 122” He grumbles begrudgingly. “And what’s your station?”

Eddie is about to answer that he’s with the 118 when Deluca widens his eyes as if he’s seen a ghost, the little color that he’s gotten back leaving his cheeks. Eddie follows his gaze to find a man frantically looking around, dressed in a plaid shirt and with eyes as desperate as Deluca’s. 

“Oh my God, why is he here?!” Deluca exclaims, and his tone is urgent. 

Eddie is on alert instantly, getting up from the bed, but he doesn’t have time to react anymore. The other guy has spotted them and is coming in their direction with quick and desperate steps. 

“Sal!” He exclaims, holding Deluca’s shoulders with a tight grip, looking at him intensely, his expression an uncanny mix of relief and despair. “Are you alright?! What happened?!”

“Tommy”, Deluca says desperately, his hand reaching out to grab the other man’s arm, his eyes filled with tears. “Tommy, listen to me, I am so sorry. We… S-she asked me to come to the pier, s-she said she couldn’t wait until Saturday... I s-said yes, man, you know I can never say no to that little girl… And then…”

Deluca is not able to continue, burying his face in his hands, a sob wrecking through his body. Eddie looks from him to the other man (Tommy, apparently), and sees that his face has turned pale. Tommy takes a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again, apparently swallowing back tears before speaking.

“Sal” Tommy says, and his tone is obviously trying to be reassuring, even though it contrasts with the trembling of his voice and the way he’s still gripping his friend’s shoulders, his knuckles turning white. “It’s not your fault, man, how could you have known a tsunami would hit?”

“How is it not my fault, Tommy?! I lost her! I was supposed to care for her, you trusted me to do it, and I lost her!” He says, and it’s clear he’s working himself to a state. Eddie, as an acting paramedic, wants to intervene before he makes himself sick, but he knows there’s no assuaging the man’s guilt until this conversation is over. He crosses his arms, watching

“Stop it, Sal, you’re not helping anyone with that. It… It was an accident” Tommy says, and then he looks at Sal with pleading eyes. “Just… Just tell me what happened, please. Did Vivie d-dro… Did she?...”

This time Tommy is the one who can’t go on, not even able to finish the sentence, his voice breaking. He lets go of Deluca’s arm and turns his gaze away, trying to fight tears by desperately shaking his head, and Eddie’s heart aches in his chest. He knows all about fearing for your kid’s life, and it’s clear this man is living through that. Deluca (Sal) apparently reaches the same conclusion, because he widens his eyes and shakes his head. 

“Tommy, n-no! No! She didn’t…” Sal sighs, apparently the thought too much for him as well. Then he looks at Tommy as if he’s afraid to be punched. “When the first wave hit, I picked her up and ran as far as I could. I-I knew there’d probably be a second wave, so I made sure she was in a high spot. And I was about to join her, but then the second wave hit and I…”

Eddie can piece together what happened from that; probably Sal got caught in the second wave, his head was hit by something the water was carrying, and he lost consciousness. He’d seen the same story with dozens of people today, and Sal is very lucky to have even gotten here alive.

Tommy apparently pieced it together too, because he nods tensely, and then looks between the surrounding chaos and Sal’s exhausted expression. Then, he takes his friend’s hand in his, gripping it life a lifeline. 

“You have to tell me, Sal. Was she… Was Vivie…” His voice breaks, and he needs to take a deep sigh, but he marches on. “Was Vivie alive when you separated? Was she okay ?”

“She was safe last time I saw her, Tommy, I promise.” Sal says resolutely, his eyes boring into Tommy’s. Tommy’s shoulders sag in relief for all of two seconds before he’s tense again.

“T-that’s good, but that has to have been hours ago, doesn’t it?” He asks, and they both turn to Eddie, who’s surprised they even remember he was here. 

“I… I am sorry, I didn’t see when mr. Deluca was brought in.” Eddie tells them, hating himself for not being able to be more useful, but he doesn’t even know how the field hospital is operating, he’s just a helping hand. “You… you could look for the people in charge of the hospital, they… They might know if your child was brought in by someone else?...”

“I’ll go with you” Sal states, and he’s stubbornly trying to get up again. Eddie is about to tell him to stop being an idiot, but Tommy beats him to it. 

“No, you won’t” Tommy says, pushing him to sit back down. “You’re hurt, and you probably have a concussion, and I cannot be worrying about you and Vivie at the same time.”

He says it very matter-of-factly, and Eddie can see there’s no resentment, only practicality. But it’s enough to make Sal’s face twist in guilt again, and he nods resignedly.

“You’re right. You’re right, I shouldn’t get in your way.” He says, his voice more subdued than Eddie’s heard so far. “I’ve caused enough problems as it is, Tommy. I… I know I said it before, but I can’t say I’m sorry enough.”

Tommy seems to realize his words were taken in the wrong way, because now his face is the one that bears guilt. But instead of saying something, he wraps his arms around Sal’s frame gently, giving him a tight hug. 

“Hey, stop. This was a natural disaster, Sal. And Vivie is out there, and it sucks, and I’m beside myself with worry. But it’s not your fault, I’ll say it every time you say you’re sorry.” He declares, patting Sal’s back. “I’ll go and find her, and she’ll be fine. She has to be fine. And then I’ll bring her straight here to see her favorite uncle.”

Sal nods, patting Tommy’s back before letting go of him, looking at his friend with his eyes filled with tears. Eddie can see their bond is special, something similar to what he has with Buck, and that they would do anything for each other. 

“Good luck out there, Tommy. Find our girl” Sal pleads, and Tommy nods resolutely, then he turns to Eddie. 

“Do you know where I can find the person in charge?” He asks, and Eddie looks around trying to find the woman with the board. When he finds her, he points in her direction.

“Oh, yeah, she’s right th-” Eddie cuts himself short, and barely registers Tommy running to where he pointed. His stomach drops to his knees, his heart beats fast in his chest, and his thoughts screech to a halt. 

Because, in the opposite direction to where he directed Tommy, he spots Buck. Buck who’s dirty, and covered in blood, and with Christopher’s glasses around his neck . And he has a child in his arms, a little child who’s definitely not Christopher. And Christopher? Eddie’s beautiful eight-year-old son? Nowhere to be seen. 

And all of a sudden Eddie understands exactly how Tommy feels. 

------

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[cal-daisies-and-briars]

Hello!! I love your writing, and you seem like the coolest person ever btw. Hope you're doing well.

🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀

🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️🏔️

🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼🔼

🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊🥊

I know this is quite a long ask, please take care, and thank you so much!!!!

THANK YOU! I am in fact not very cool, but I appreciate you saying so! Doing well other than being majorly snowed in. Hope you are, too!

96 for 🔀

---

They’ve been outside for hours when Evan starts to get a little tired. A little achy from all the running and tumbling in the deep snow. He knows he probably needs a break. A quick one. But he doesn’t want the fun to end, so he says nothing. He keeps playing. Keeps climbing the unsteady slope and launching himself headfirst down it again. 

Until he falls. 

It’s not that serious. Evan has always been clumsy. Or, at least, in his memory. His mother claims he was always coordinated until… Well, until he disappeared. Apparently, he came back clumsy. Anyway, point is, it’s not serious. Evan trips all the time. Except this time his foot slips, and a piece of the snow hill crumbles, and he cannot steady himself. So he tumbles sideways off the hill, and smacks his head hard off the fence on his way down. 

He wakes up hours later in the emergency room. He has a concussion and a wound on his head. A strange wound, he’ll later hear from Maddie. More like a burn than a goose egg or gash. He doesn’t understand what would cause a burn. It was a metal fence. It wasn’t even that cold outside. Just snowy. 

His parents are furious. They’re blaming Evan. They’re blaming Ethan’s father. They’re blaming the weather in Hershey. Evan got hurt. He had to go to the hospital, and they hate him for it. Sometimes he wonders if his dad is mad he got hurt, and his mother is mad he survived. 

Maddie sits with him in his room that evening, when he’s sore and tired and alone. She sits at his bedside and strokes his hair, comfortingly. It’s been a while since she’s been like this with him. He’s almost nine now. He’s not a little kid anymore. And he’s been… Angry a lot. More and more recently. He hasn’t been seeking out comfort, the way he used to.

“You feeling okay?” She asks quietly. 

“No,” he sniffs. “Not really.”

“Can I do anything?”

He shrugs. “I just… I didn’t mean to get hurt. I shouldn’t be in trouble for tripping.”

“I know,” Maddie says. “You know Dad, though. He’ll feel bad tomorrow. Take you out for hot chocolate or something.”

“Yeah,” Evan mumbles. That is always what happens. Mom screams. Dad joins in, but then feels guilty and buys him something. Every single time. 

“Hey, you know,” Maddie says. “When you were really little, sometimes you’d stay up crying, and I’d come into your room, and stand over your crib, and I’d sing to you. I had this album of oldies Dad loves memorized, and I’d sing as much of it as I could.”

“Really?” Evan asks. “I don’t remember.”

“You were so tiny,” Maddie says. 

“Can you do that now?” Evan asks, voice barely a whisper.

Maddie smiles warmly. 

“Of course I can,” she says. “Let’s see, though… It’s been a while.”

Evan closes his eyes as Maddie begins singing, allowing the sound of her voice to lull him to sleep, like it must have, years ago.

“All of me

Why not take all of me?

Can't you see

I'm no good without you?”

2025

i. 

Eddie wraps a protective arm around Christopher. Like Christopher is in danger. Like Buck might be something dangerous. 

Maybe he is. He doesn’t know. After all, he did kill Daniel. 

“Eddie,” Bobby says. “Shut the door.”

“What the hell is going on in here?” Eddie demands. 

“Shut the door,” Athena says. 

Christopher is gaping at Buck. His eyes flicker back and forth between the imposter cuffed to the bottom of the stairs, and Buck’s green self in the chair. Buck shrinks from him. He feels monstrous. 

“Wh-what…” Eddie stammers again.

---

96 for 🏔️

---

Eddie nods. “I get it. And that’s why you have to do whatever you think is right.”

“Yeah,” Buck sighs. “Guess I just want to make sure I thinking clearly before I make a choice.”

“Well, there’s no rush,” Eddie replies. 

“I guess there’s not,” Buck agrees. “We’ll see what she does.”

2028

i. 

It’s a messy year for Jaylin and Buck. Albeit, the sort of mess Eddie always suspected was coming. She petitions for a change to visitation. Buck counters with termination of her rights, considering by the time she petitions for a change to visitation, it’s been five months since she’s seen Arthur at all. Jaylin misses the court date. She’s given enough advance warning to make it work, but still, she misses it. Buck is awarded sole rights. 

It’s a strange sort of victory. It’s the right thing for Arthur. Eddie knows that in his bones. It doesn’t have to mean she never sees him again, but she’s proven she isn’t a good or reliable decision-maker. But it also feels like a loss. Like she stopped fighting for him. Even if Eddie wanted her to be gone. One day they’re going to have to explain that to him. 

A few weeks after the decision, Buck sits Eddie down after work with a serious look on his face. 

“Legally,” Buck says. “Artie only has one parent right now.”

Eddie nods. That had been the goal, after all.

“I need you to change that,” Buck says. “Would you adopt him? A step-parent adoption? Please.”

“Buck-”

“I need you to,” Buck continues, not giving Eddie a moment to respond. “I need him to have… I want him to always know he’s wanted. Plus, you are his father. And… And then there won’t ever be issues, right? She might have family out there, if something happened to me. I know you know what I’m talking about so please do it.”

“Buck,” Eddie says again. “Of course. Of course, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you,” Buck sighs.

“I was just going to say,” Eddie adds. “I know he’s almost seventeen, and it’s not as necessary, but we should ask Chris if he wants the same thing.”

Buck pauses. Then he smiles, wide and bright.

“Really?” He asks. 

“Really,” Eddie nods. “I’m pretty sure he’ll say yes.”

Buck’s eyes get a little misty. “That would be such a fantastic honor.”

🗻

Christopher agrees. In fact, he enthusiastically agrees. 

“I think that just makes the most sense,” he says. “We’re a family.”

“We don’t need any adoptions to prove that, though,” Eddie cautions. “It’s a formality, not a requirement.”

“I know,” Chris says. “But it just feels right. Don’t you think?”

“I do,” Eddie agrees. 

“Me too,” Buck adds. 

Chris grins. “And then Artie will be my brother in every way that matters.”

Buck hugs him. “He already is.”

ii. 

By the time Artie turns three, Eddie is legally his father. It’s a better feeling than the termination of Jaylin’s parental rights. It’s a less complicated sort of happiness. Eddie has loved this little boy the vast majority of his life. He has done everything for him he would do for his own biological child. This is right. This is just. For Eddie and for Arthur. 

It’s also right and just for Buck and Chris. Because all the same things are true. The only difference is that, in the end, Shannon didn’t fail Chris. Not the way Jaylin has failed Artie. But in all the other ways, Chris and Buck deserve that same legal status. At least, Eddie thinks so. 

They have a dinner celebrating the two adoptions. Just their Los Angeles family is invited. Buck’s parents don’t really have much interest, and Eddie’s parents aren’t happy with the decision. Of course they aren’t. They still have one more year to try to snatch Chris away. Though, Eddie doesn’t worry about that anymore. He and Chris are in a great place, and even if Chris is mad at Eddie, he doesn’t think running away would be his solution again. Besides, Eddie has done a hell of a lot less self-sabotaging since he came out and got with Buck. 

Dinner goes great. Everyone is happy for them. Chris and Buck, sure, but mostly, Eddie and Artie. There’s a palpable sense of relief. 

---

96 for 🔼

---

He doesn’t feel real anymore. Why should he? His whole life has been a lie. Everything he thought he knew about himself, his family… And Maddie kept it all from him. Everything is wrong and broken and the joke is on Buck, because he’s the one who didn’t know. 

“Buck?” Eddie finds him first, just standing in the doorway, frozen. “Oh my god, what happened?” 

“I…” Buck swallows. “Uh…”

Shannon walks into view. “Buck? Are you okay?”

“No,” he mutters. “No, I’m not.”

“What happened?” Eddie asks again. 

“I-I think I killed my brother,” Buck says. 

Shannon’s face drops. Eddie just looks confused.

“You don’t have a brother,” Eddie says. 

“Because… Because I… Because he died,” Buck stammers. 

“And you had no idea?” Shannon asks gently. “That you even had a brother?”

Buck shakes his head. 

“Christ,” Eddie whispers.

“Okay, come sit down,” Shannon says. “Tell us everything. Alcohol or water?”

“Alcohol,” Buck says. 

Healthy? No. Able to hopefully take the edge off of this absolute mindfuck of a betrayal? Hopefully. 

“I’ll grab beers,” Eddie says, turning back to the kitchen.

Shannon grabs Buck’s hand and leads him to the couch. She sits beside him, rubs his arm soothingly. His body wants to lean into the comfort. His brain isn’t sure he deserves to. 

“Okay,” Shannon says when Eddie returns with drinks. “Tell us what happened.”

So he does. He tells them everything Maddie told him. He tells them about Daniel, and the leukemia, and how having Buck was their only shot. He tells them about the failed bone marrow transplant. About how they packed up and moved to Hershey and never spoke about anything again. He tells them that, and then everything else just sort of spills out. The way they treated him. The way they never loved him. Never even looked at him unless he was hurting, so he made sure he got hurt. How their rage was better than their silence. 

Eventually, he’s crying. He’s blubbering. He’s not making a lot of sense and he knows it. It hardly seems to matter. Eddie and Shannon seem to understand him just fine. 

Shannon is holding onto him. Running her fingers through his hair, like he’s just a kid. He leans against her. He feels shaky. 

“You didn’t kill your brother,” Eddie says, softly but firmly. 

“Eddie-”

“You didn’t,” Eddie says. “This is not your failure. It’s just a tragedy. And I know you wouldn’t blame any other child or baby for a medical procedure that went wrong. I know you wouldn’t.”

That’s true. He wouldn’t. He tries to think of Jane and Chris in those positions. He’d never blame Jane for Christopher’s medical emergency, if her blood or bone marrow couldn’t save him. If Buck needed a kidney and Maddie couldn’t give him one, he wouldn’t blame her. That’s just… That’s just life. 

But his parents blamed him. They must have. If they didn’t, in some way, blame him, why did they hate him? He was just a little kid. 

“They think I did,” Buck whispers. “Not Maddie, but… But my parents.”

“Buck,” Shannon says. “I don’t think they think it’s your fault. But sometimes, when really bad stuff happens to our kids, the way we think doesn’t match the way we feel.”

He stares at her. She’s speaking from experience. He can tell. But he doesn’t quite know why. Chris and Jane are alive. They’re healthy and happy. 

---

96 for 🥊

---

This seems to snap Christopher out of his panic, if only for a second.

“Jell-O?” He repeats. 

“I know,” Eddie smiles. “It sounds silly. But trust me, it helps.”

“Okay,” Chris responds shakily. 

Eddie walks him through it. The whole process. He already knows that Christopher’s favorite flavor of Jell-O is raspberry, so he doesn’t bother asking. By the end of it, Christopher is calm. Breathing steadily. The redness has started to fade from his cheeks. 

“Feeling better?” Eddie asks.

Chris nods. 

It occurs to Eddie that, for the past few minutes, he’d nearly forgotten. He’d forgotten that it’s been months since they’ve seen each other in person. That all he’s wanted, every day, for all those months, was to be near Chris again. He’s dying to hug him. He’s missed him so much. But all he can do, right now, is sit and wait this out with him. 

“Has this happened before?” Eddie asks quietly.

Christopher shakes his head. 

Alright, well at least that’s good. He hasn’t been suffering from these in silence for months. That would have… Well, Eddie doesn’t know what he’d do with that information. It’s breaking his heart enough to know that he’s passed this down already. Maybe, anyway. Is this nature or circumstance? Eddie doesn’t know. Either way, it’s his fault. 

“Okay,” Eddie says. “I know it’s really scary when it happens. Especially the first time.”

Christopher nods. 

Okay, the nonverbal responses are starting to concern Eddie. It’s starting to feel like… Like when he left. 

“I don’t know if you remember,” Eddie tries. “But you were there. The first time it happened to me, you were there.”

Christopher's eyes flicker, searching his memories.

“At the store,” he mumbles. “With Ana.”

“Yeah,” Eddie nods. 

“Do I have to go to the hospital?” Chris asks.

“No,” Eddie shakes his head. “If it happens a lot, we can go to a doctor. Talk about it. But you’re safe.”

Christopher nods. 

“Will you tell me?” Eddie asks. “If it happens again?”

Chris looks at him. Meets his eyes for the first time. Like this question has reminded him of why Eddie is here. Of what has happened. That he’s coming home. 

“I guess I should pack,” Christopher says instead of answering.

“Chris…”

“Can you give me, like, thirty minutes?” Chris asks. “I did most of it last night.”

Eddie looks around the room. There are packed bags. His parents didn’t even help?

“Uh, do you need any help?” Eddie asks. 

“No,” Chris says. “Just carrying it out, later.”

“Okay,” Eddie nods. “Alright, uh… I’ll wait.”

“Thanks,” Chris mutters. He looks down, avoids Eddie’s eyes. 

So, after months apart, Eddie turns around and leaves his son alone. 

🟨

Chris packs the rest of his stuff more slowly than he could, strictly speaking. Though, that tactic might not work with Dad. His grandparents never question it, though. He’s been doing it a lot lately. Moving slower than he can to avoid things. Seeing them. Speaking to them. Doing the things they ask him to do. It’s shitty, he knows that. But sometimes, it feels like all he can do. That or snap, like he did at school. And look where that’s gotten him?

He can’t delay forever, though. He’s already done that, hasn’t he? He delayed having to deal with what Dad did with that woman by coming here. 

[wanderingxrivers]

This has no title and only came into existence because we do not get the Eddie/Maddie interactions that we should. Is it done? Probably not but it's a start of something and I kinda like the direction where it's heading.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Against the backdrop of beeping monitors and the whoosh of the ventilator, the whisper of the silver chain sounds like thunder as he removes the medal that brought him home because it has a new purpose now, a new family member to protect. Eddie’s fingers tremble with a level of anxiety that he hasn’t felt since the birth of his son. Buck, his Buck is laying in a coma and all the words he wants to say, needs to say, are caged behind his teeth. He doesn’t want this. Buck doesn’t deserve this. He deserves a real confession, not one at a hospital bedside where Eddie is terrified that he won’t come home. 

So, Eddie acts because while he is not an eloquent man, he is a man of action. He places the necklace around Buck’s throat, the glint of metal against the too pale skin a reminder of the love that Eddie holds, a promise to come home, to be the light in the darkness when all else fails. He adjusts the medal so that it sits just below the hollow of Buck’s throat, a shield against all harm. The words come to him, a memory from Catechism, floating up from the depths; Protect him, today in all his travels along the road’s way. Give him your warning sign if danger is near so he may stop while the path is clear. Be at his window and direct him through when the vision blurs from out of the blue. Carry him safely to his destined place like you carried Christ in your close embrace.  

Faith has left Eddie behind long ago but these things, these talismans against the chaos of the world, stick with him long after the original meaning was lost. This kept him safe in Afghanistan, it will keep Buck safe as he comes home. It has to.  He can’t live without him. It will break him.   

There’s a certainty to the knowledge. Losing Buck will absolutely break him beyond repair. Buck’s woven himself in their lives in a way that can’t be undone. He’s co-parent to Christopher, Eddie’s partner in all things but the things Eddie wants most because he’s a coward. He can’t bring himself to say the three words that will let him have what he wants, that will let him finally truly be happy the way he wants to be.   

A voice in the back of his mind that sounds suspiciously like Frank’s floats a simple question. “What harm comes from letting yourself be happy?” Before Eddie has the time to turn that thought over and examine it further, the door opens. He looks to the direction of the door, his shoulders losing their tension when he sees that it's Maddie.      He flashes her a wan smile in greeting. It’s a pale imitation of his usual grin and feels deeply out of place in a hospital room but he doesn’t trust his voice. If he speaks, then everything he’s felt for the last several years will spill out of him and Maddie will see all the ways he’s been a coward and a fool and he doesn’t know if he can expose his broken messy heart where the object of his deepest affections lies somewhere between life and death. This was not a conversation he wanted to have with her here, not now.   

Her warm brown eyes meet his, an eyebrow raised in question. Of course, she’s noticed the lack of the St. Christopher’s medal around his throat and its new place embracing Buck’s. She knows what it means, how it was a symbol of hope that brought him home through tragedy after tragedy. Maddie’s face cycles through a series of emotions that Eddie is too tired to track but it settles on something that is fond and understanding with only a small note of surprise.  

There’s a hand on his shoulder, and for a moment, he wants to cry because it’s the same place where Buck places his hand when they share those shoulder touches. He breathes deep, forcing a harsh breath out through his nose, fighting back the tears because once they start, they won’t stop. While Eddie never had an elder sister, he knows the burden of being the elder sibling, of carrying the worry for your younger siblings in your bones even when there is nothing you can do to protect them. He knows that Maddie is feeling that agony and they can only wait for Buck to find his way out of whatever liminal realm he’s in and rejoin his family here.   

Maddie’s voice is quiet. “He loves you; you know.” At Eddie’s surprised look, she chuckles lightly. “No, he didn’t tell me in so many words but he also didn’t have to. No matter who he dates, he always comes back to you. It’s always you in his weekend plans, his calendar, the pictures on his fridge, the lock screen on his phone. It wasn’t hard to figure out. You just had to pay attention. You have to tell him though.”   

The pressure at his shoulder leaves and there’s the scrape of a chair being dragged across the room and she’s sitting at his side. “This is the thing about Evan, you have to spell it out for him. If you leave any grey areas, he’ll think the worst.” Her hand lays over his, where it's clutching Buck's. “Can you please promise me one thing?” Eddie’s head nods before he realizes what it is he’s agreeing to. “Tell him. Tell him in no uncertain terms that you love him and that the family he wants; he has with you.” She stares at him in that knowing way that she gets, the look reminding him uncomfortably of his own sisters when they’ve caught him a trap of his own making. “Didn’t you tell Chim once that tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone?” He bobs another nod, recalling the conversation well, how he had told Chim to make a move and actually tell Maddie that he loved her because tomorrow was in fact not promised to anyone. 

There’s a wet chuckle that is uniquely the Buckley siblings’ that escapes Maddie's throat. “This is the part where my brother would tell you that the universe is screaming at you. Now I’m going to ask, are you going to listen?” 

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

A Chill in the Batcave

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/MiOjsw8 by Zoroarkkkk The Spirit of Gotham knows two things for sure… one, The Ghost King needed protection while he recovered and was able to form outside of his core. Two, The Dark Knight and his children were the best people to protect anything. So of course, she hides Danny’s core in the Batcave. Chaos and haunting ensues. Tim Drake is almost half certain that he didn’t used to hallucinate this much, even if he hasn’t slept in three days. And he was almost one hundred percent sure that they hadn’t gained another sibling while he was sleeping. Words: 1086, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Danny Fenton, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Violence, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/MiOjsw8

[ao3feed-jasontodd]

A Chill in the Batcave

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/49381105 by Zoroarkkkk The Spirit of Gotham knows two things for sure… one, The Ghost King needed protection while he recovered and was able to form outside of his core. Two, The Dark Knight and his children were the best people to protect anything. So of course, she hides Danny’s core in the Batcave. Chaos and haunting ensues. Tim Drake is almost half certain that he didn’t used to hallucinate this much, even if he hasn’t slept in three days. And he was almost one hundred percent sure that they hadn’t gained another sibling while he was sleeping. Words: 1086, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Danny Fenton, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Violence, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/49381105

[sainamoonshine]

Okay so continuing on this.

In this AU the lyctor trial does not take place on the First. Ambessa is the empress and she has the Academy (this AU’s version of Canaan house) built on a non-flipped moonlet, because she wants the necros to be off balanced by the planet’s inherent lack of thanergy. She wants them to WORK for their power, and for them to realize that if you can’t use the planet’s thanergy as a power source, then you need to find or make yourself a new power source. (She is a more hand’s on emperor than John.)

She also has a spy in the group… in the person of Maddie, the Second House’s cavalier. And when Maddie reports back that most of the necros on planet have either figured or are close to figuring out the eightfold word, and that none of them seen like they’ll be willing to actually ascend, then that’s when Ambessa activates her failsafe.

She’ll force their hands and blame Blood of Eden (blood of Zaun?) for it.

So she has one of her remaining lyctors land on the planet and deal it a killing blow. The idea isn’t to throw a full-fledged Revenant Beast at the group, but the thrashing, dying soul of this moonlet should be enough to turn the heat on. The necros of the nine houses will either find a way to defend themselves, or they will die.

A couple of them do die. Sky manages to move Viktor out of the way of a killing blow but then she’s dying in his arms and she asks him to give her the dignity of choosing what she wants her death to achieve. He becomes a lyctor. Nobody else is around when that happens, and later they will all be disgusted by him, convinced that he’s the one who chose this.

But even with the combined efforts of a new lyctor and the remaining group, which is Vi, Powder, Cait, Ekko, and Jayce, it’s a struggle to down the beast and most of them get injured.

And that’s when Powder decides that a soul is a soul is a soul. And she ends up absorbing the fucking thing to make herself into a lyctor without having to kill her sister. (But it fucks with her mind. You’re not supposed to absorb a whole fucking planet’s soul. This… makes her very powerful, and very much a threat to the empire.)

When the Cohort finally arrives, lead by Mel, the daughter of the Empress — Mel, btw, has no idea what becoming a lyctor entails although she’s had her suspicions for some time. She doesn’t know that her mother arranged this massacre tho, and will not know yet for another while — then Jinx decides that she doesn’t want the Academy, and the trial chambers, to survive. She doesn’t want anyone else to figure out the eightfold word. So she blows up the place, including most of the Cohort that have just arrived with Mel — including Cait’s mom.

In the confusion, Cait did not actually see Jinx’s ascension, and she hasn’t seen Vi in hours. She makes the logical assumption — that Jinx killed her own sister.

Jinx manages to leave the planet. She’s found by Blood of Zaun, led by Silco and his second in command Sevika. (A long time ago it was Vander who lead blood of Eden, but Silco got tired of Vander’s « soft » methods and took leadership in a bloody power struggle. Ever since, Zaun has been fighting the cohort with nukes and shit.)

Cait and Viktor end up « rescued » by the empire’s ships. Ambessa orders for Viktor to be sent along to her private ship, and she promotes Cait in the cohort. She also makes her a sewn tongue so she can never reveal the secret of becoming a lyctor. Cait can’t help but notice that the woman is disappointed in her for not choosing to ascend. She hates that.

Mel survives the blast of Jinx’s rocket and takes Vi, Ekko and Jayce with her and they all go into hiding. Mel tells them about what she’s long suspected about her mother’s methods. Jayce is heart broken but swears to stop Viktor; Vi wants to find her sister; Ekko just wants to protect the ninth.

Aaaaand that’s what I have for now.

Other notes: I thought abt putting Viktor and Sky in the sixth house because they also fit there, but then I thought about Singed « the mutation must survive » and I like the idea of him being the head of house of the seventh and sending Viktor because he doesn’t want to send his daughter (who is in a coma anyway). Sky is a weird choice for a cavalier, I agree, but the seventh aren’t known for their great cavaliers anyway, and if Viktor was the one to chose his cavalier you know he’d pick a useful and smart assistant instead of a brute. Plus Sky hang out with Viktor’s soul in the arcane mindscape in canon, she’s the first soul with which he gets linked, the first death that haunts him — and therefore in this AU, the necromantic sin that fuels his ascension and his guilt.

As for Jayce, I really like him as the cavalier of the fifth house, but one that is uneasy with his place. The man of progress, in the house of traditions? Yeah, homeboy itches for something more. He studies necromancy any time he can, even tho he doesn’t have the aptitude. He thinks necromancy could do so much MORE, could help so many people if he just found a way for non-necros to harvest and use thanergy. He’s been cavalier of the fifth for long enough to have met at least Caitlyn before the lyctor trials, and she’s his best friend — the cavalier that wants to be a necro, and the necro whose powers are weak and who would probably be happier as a cavalier.

His own necromancer, however, is more of a traditionalist who constantly warns him against pursuing his heretical research interests. Which is why once they get to Canaan house Jayce ends up spending more time with Viktor, who immediately takes a liking to him and encourages him, than with the fifth house necro.

I can’t stop thinking about an Arcane / Locked Tomb crossover…

Seventh House Lyctor Viktor….

[evita-shelby]

could i request some drabbles:

Eva wanting to adopt a dog but it’s horrifically ugly (chewed up looking Chihuahua) and Tommy is like “hell no.” but Eva uses her daughters to wreck havoc on Tommy’s life and emotions until he inevitably caves. and despite his obvious disdain the dog ends up liking him best and tries to follow him everywhere much to his embarrassment when he tries to conduct Peaky business.

Thanks anon, gonna call you anon🐾 now

Xoco

Gif by @peakykoko

(No more taglists for these, we die like Grace)

“It looks like the one you had when you were little, mama!”

Those damn words started it all.

The salt and pepper chihuahua Eva arrived in Small Heath with had been old and sickly, but well cared for but the witch who had had Xoco since she was eleven years old.

It had a diamond necklace, for fuck’s sake.

Now this dog, also named Xoco, had been foisted upon him when the girls and their mother went shopping while he was meeting with the ministry of trade during their holiday in Mexico.

He had said no, Eva’s younger cousin Maddy, had given her two xolo dogs named Aristotle and Pesechat thus bringing them to four fucking dogs.

This did not include Charlie’s cats, their horses and the other animals that they had taken in at Arrow House.

“No, means no, sweetheart.” Tommy had been adamant, stood his ground and soon the matter was forgotten.

Except it wasn’t.

Flora cried the entire drive back to Chapultepec Castle, Diane glared at him until he sent them to their room, and even worse, Eva claimed to have a headache that night.

The first two he could weather; Charlie had gone through a phase where his tantrums had him questioning whether he could break his rule about no corporal punishment.

Thomas Michael Shelby enjoyed sex far too much to have his wife deny him.

Those months they were separated had been torture, but not enough to consider cheating on her because then she would kill him --- and he would have let her. And now having her deliberately do this while he is having to actually work this entire week is just cruel.

“Fine, the girls can have the rat they found on the street.” He said the next evening after Eva upped the ante by not wearing a damn thing to bed.

This had been preceded by Florence stealing all his glasses and Diane cutting holes in his pockets and both girls joining together to ruin the meeting he had before noon.

They returned home with the ugliest and most annoying dog he has ever had.

And yet, unlike the rest of the dogs –especially Cyril, that fucking traitor--- Xoco ,with it half-bitten little ears, incessant barking and need to leave to do her business outdoors through only the front door, had stuck to him like glue.

“That is the ugliest thing I have seen. Is that a diamond collar?” Ada said when she sees the little dog following him into the office and laying down protectively in front of his desk.

As if little Xoco could be of any protection.

“Yes, the girls picked her up in Mexico. She likes me for some fucking reason.” He said knowing his sister is trying not to tease him about it as he rubs his eyes.

This is made much worse when Xoco barks and snarls at his sister as if she were to attack him.

And when Ada doesn’t back off, the lapdog proceeds to attack.

It is a funny sight, seeing his sister shriek and retreat because a dog the size of rat is threatening to bite her, going as far as jumping at her hoping to get more than just her ankles.

“Call her off, Tom. This isn’t funny.” His sister said going as far as jumping into the chair to avoid being bitten by the little beast.

And he does, only after having a good laugh he hasn’t had since before France.

[resurrectedclones]

Ok so I compiled all the instances of Jack and Maddie Fenton being both good parents and bad parents (minus Phantom Planet) into one post, and now I’m going to talk about my thoughts and conclusions.

First the number of good and bad instances are actually pretty even 77 good and 76 bad (86 bad if you count every instance of them working on inventions outside the lab individually), which unfortunately doesn’t help much. So an easy look at the numbers strategy is out. Not that counting up the individual actions would have been the best method of determining if the Fentons were good parents but it would have been a place to start.

So I’m back to the question of Are the bad things Jack and Maddie do understandable and forgivable, and do their good actions make up for the bad?

Thankfully my lists do help me in answering that question by providing plenty of evidence.

So my answer to this question, as objective as I can make it, is no.

Jack and Maddie may love and support their kids with all their hearts and do everything they can to protect them from outside threats, but when it comes down to it, Jazz and Danny are not safe with their parents. They have put their kids in multiple situations that could have caused serious injury, and probably would have if it wasn’t for luck and Danny’s powers, and have done nothing to mitigated the dangers in their own home.

Would I say that the Fenton Parents are abusive or bad people? No, but good people can still be bad parents, and not all bad parents are abusive.

However, they are guilty of endangering their children and neglecting their physical needs. So while they may be good people they are not good parents.

Tagging @floralflowerpower because I’ve seen them discussing this before and might want to way in.

Full list of good and bad instances of parenting below the cut.

Good

Maddie noticed a change in Jazz’s behavior

Maddie was worried about possibly hurting Jazz

Jack was willing to stop ghost hunting after seeing how upset Jazz was

Maddie wanted to make a good impression when chaperoning Danny’s first dance

Maddie was concerned about how tired Danny looked after coming home

Both were concerned about the loud noises coming from Danny's room

Both want Danny to learn the value of earning his own money

Both talk to Danny about his negative change in behavior

Jack listens to Jazz criticism about not talking about their past and attempts to fix it

Both came running when Jazz called them about something being wrong with Danny

Both are concerned their kids were at a concert when there was a big test coming up

Both agreed to have Danny tutored after school to improve his grades

Both have a rule that only authorized people are allowed in the lab

Both fake scold Danny for spying on Jazz’s date while in front of Jazz, but encourage him to let them know if he sees Jazz with Jonny again (Not really sure if this was a good, since Jonny does have bad intentions, or a bad, since Jonny hasn’t really shown he’s a bad guy yet and they shouldn’t be encouraging their son to spy on his sister)

Both are willing to beat up Johnny after he locked them in their room and made a comment that could easily be interpreted as him trying to coerce Jazz

Maddie tries to comfort Jazz after Johnny left

Both protect Danny from a seemingly hostile ghost

Maddie gives Danny a homemade lunch

Both run into action when they realize the ecto storm is focused on where Danny is

Both are upset about Danny lying to them about trying to get out of detention

Maddie wants to bond with Danny

Maddie tries to cheer up Danny when he is clearly unhappy

Maddie runs to Danny side when he is shown to be unwell

Maddie tries to stay positive in a bad situation

Jack jumps in to protect Jazz from a monstrous ghost rabbit

Jack is proud of Jazz when she jumps in to save him

Maddie sets up a whole campsite for her and Danny

Maddie notices Danny isn't at the camp and runs to find him

Maddie makes sure Danny is safely out of the way before fighting off a bunch of animal ghosts

Maddie is willing to put up with Vlad who just hit on her in order to get her and Danny to someplace safe

Maddie gives up her own protective device for Danny

Jack works with Jazz as an equal to fight off the ghosts invading their home

Jack is more invested in Danny's approval than ghosts

Maddie tries to keep Jazz safe from the ghosts in their house

Jack is willing to work with a ghost to save his family

Both are not happy at Danny for cutting class

Both question where Danny is when they find out he's not where they thought he was

Both are worried about Jazz being sick and want to see her

Both are suspicious of the creepy doctor in charge of the sick kids

Maddie runs to get Jazz and Danny from school when they hear the ghost invasion is headed in that direction (Jack wants to as well but is too weakened by the suit)

Both are worried for Jazz when she got trapped in the house and run to save her

Both agree to have a normal camping trip to help Danny

Maddie packs Jazz’s favorite toy

Maddie tries to distract the kids from fighting

Both are worried the kids aren't in camp

Both check on Jazz when she woke up screaming

Both tucked Jazz in when they thought she fell asleep helping Danny study

Both are concerned when Lancer calls home

Both are upset at Danny cheating

Both demand to know where Danny is when they realize it ghost took his place

Both stop fighting to focus on getting Danny out of danger

Both are worried about jazz running away without telling them

Maddie asks if Jazz is alright when she calls

Jack tries to be supportive of Danny having a girlfriend

Jack goes to protect Danny when he hears him yelling

Both go to support Danny during the fitness test

Both let themselves run late to an event in order to give Danny his wallet

Both have their kids wear PPE when in contact with an unknown outbreak

Both feel guilty after being called out by jazz for making Danny not feel like he could trust them

Both breakdown crying when they believe Danny to be gone

Both are relieved when it turns out Danny is ok

Both accept and reassure Danny that they love him when they find out he's Phantom

Both check on Danny when they hear crashing from his room

Both get angry at Vlad for appearing to shoot Danny

Both run to Danny at seeing him hurt

Both attack a ghost they think is attacking Danny

Maddie jumps in front of who she thinks is Danny to protect him

Both go out looking for Danny when they couldn't find him after being chased by a ghost

Both make announcements around town to try and find Danny when he's missing

Both try to reassure who they think is Danny when they think he's been hurt by a ghost

Both hug Danny and relief when they see he is ok

Jack wants to bond with Danny and even bought a book to help

Jack calls out to Danny when he doesn't see him after the boat capsized

Maddie allows Jazz a chance to explain her plan

Jack fights the monster he saw attack Danny

Both are happy to see their kids in person rather than on a screen

Both ask where Danny is during a ghost attack

Bad

Both attack Jazz with a device that could rip hair out

Both attack Jazz with a net they mention a ghost could escape but not a human

Jack mocked Jazz to her face

Jack left Danny alone in the lab with an invention meant to pull ghosts through the portal with no instructions or protection

Jack made Danny think he'll take his anger out on him if he tells him bad news

Both use untested devices around their kids multiple times

Jack handed Danny a clogged invention with it still turned on

Jack uses accusatory language towards Danny (a lot more than I remember)

Maddie uses ectoplasm to cook food

Neither got rid of the hostel ecto weenies and just left them in the fridge for their kids to find

Both make plans to hover over his personal locker without telling Danny

Jack carelessly uses an invention that can punch through metal piping

Both make last minute trip plans for their kids without any input from them

Both work on inventions outside the lab (at least 10 times) often with large heavy tools or a hot welding torch/soldering iron that send sparks flying. Several times this happens in the kitchen when Jazz and Danny are eating. Jazz is also often with a book, which could be rather flammable.

Neither tell their kids what buttons in the GAV will set off weapons

Both redo an experiment that hospitalized their friend with no new safety precautions that could be seen, in their own home

Jack talked over Danny when he tried to ask a question about homework

Both were too busy fighting to notice the specter speeder flying into the ghost zone with Danny in it (I ignored a few other instances where they didn’t notice things they probably should have because that’s a constant for every superhero show, but this one was really blatant.)

Maddie didn't tell the kids she was planning to leave on a trip or why

Jack leaves the kids alone at home with no warning

Maddie keeps ecto samples in the fridge with their food

Both drop all worry for Danny at the mention of a ghost

Jack suggests putting the kids in an Iron Maiden (Why do they have an Iron Maiden? Or a torture dungeon for that matter?)

Jack breaks Danny's phone

Maddie makes sudden trip plans without asking Danny

Jack doesn't listen to his kids and gets Danny in trouble

One of Danny's chores include handling used equipment in the lab

Another one of Danny's chores is to be in charge of a task that would cause the house to explode if not done

Maddie downplays Danny being rightly upset with Jack

Jack tells Danny to clean up a mess that he himself made

Danny just gets stuck with a lot of chores that should be done by the adults

Both keep something that could blow up the house in their basement

Both ground Danny instead of asking follow-up questions on why they found him on Freakshow's getaway train

Jack says Jazz is his favorite right in front of Danny

Jack hands Danny a snot covered rag (this was just gross)

Neither ask any follow up questions or do any other investigation after Bertrand mentions their taxes, which should really have made him look more suspicious

Both grounded Danny for using an emergency protocol without asking him why he would use an emergency protocol (all the kids in town knew what happened and there was no reason for Danny to keep it a secret. He got in trouble for doing what they would have wanted him to do)

Maddie gives Danny and accusatory look at seeing him next to a hurt Valerie

Maddie advertises that Jazz is single to the whole town without her agreement

Both find no problem with their son being unsupervised for hours during a ghost invasion

Jack offers Danny's room as a guest room without his agreement

Jack says “safety features are for punks”

Jack drags Danny into an active ghost fight

Jack doesn't listen when Danny says he's unsure about shooting a ghost

Jack leaves the speeder’s door open and doesn't buckle Danny in

Both don’t notice that jazz didn't escape the house even though they noticed Danny wasn't with them

Neither refute jazz is claim that the submarine they dragged there kids on to being a death trap

Both don't listen to Danny when he said not to go towards the glowing green ship

Both think taking their kids into a glowing green ship is a good idea

“Spin the crazy out”

Just the whole spinning seen in general (They dragged Danny into the lab and strapped him to a table, the poor boy probably had a lot of nightmares about that)

There was also a lot of small comments that could be taken rather poorly in the state Danny was in

Jack breaks his promise to have no ghost hunting equipment on the trip

Both throw a metal object around the house

Both are more concerned about their invention possibly not working then the fact that Danny was just hit in the head twice

The annual Christmas fight

Both were too busy fighting to notice their young kids getting attacked by the turkey

Both are confused on why Danny would be upset with them

Jack bodily drags Danny away during a conversation with Jazz

Both brush off Jazz’s concerns of a ghost being hurt by saying they don't care about that

Jack hits who he believes to be Danny with an untested weapon and instead of going to see if Danny is ok, he shrugs it off and goes to play golf

Both make Jazz go on a trip she doesn't want to go on, which has no stops dedicated to her while having two dedicated to Danny's friends

Both start pointing fingers instead of going to find Danny after seeing him being exposed as Phantom and having the GiW after him

Both let Jazz antagonize the guy who kidnapped them and can warp reality and say nothing about it

Both make Jazz feel like they love ghost hunting more than her

Both leave Danny alone in his trashed room and don't do anything to indicate they will help clean or fix anything

Jack shoves a bunch of Vlad’s campaign stuff onto Danny despite his clear dislike and attempt to get away

Jack pushes Danny in front of a crowd despite him being clearly uncomfortable with it

Both almost had the family hide in the least safe place in the house to be during a storm

Jack doesn't notice that Danny smashed his thumb with a hammer despite yelling in pain

Jack brushes off Danny being upset about the massive storm that was clearly Vlad's fault

Both don’t question Danny going to a friend's house during a massive storm

Jack talks over Danny when he tries to answer a question that Jack asked in the first place

Both ignore how tired Danny, and his friends are and force them to help in their experiments.

Both have Danny and his friends near cobbled together equipment that sets off sparks and high voltage current

Both sell the house and move without listening to their kids input or discussing it with them at all

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

Hi!

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Hi!

54 for ⚡️:

---

It’s not like the day-to-day of work even changes that much. It’s still good. He still enjoys it. He really does love working for Hen. He and Ravi have become closer friends, working more together. Which is good, because Buck knows Ravi plans on proposing to Adriana. So, they’ll be brothers-in-law, if that goes well. He knows it will. Because Adriana has told Eddie she wishes he’d just hurry up and do it. Of course, Buck has not revealed either piece or information to the respective parties. He’s doing his best to hold it together. 

Outside of work, life is really great. There’s literally nothing to complain about. Brooke is learning to walk and talk and becoming more of a little person every day. Chris is doing great; he’s excelling in school and he and Eddie are looking up ways to make small, changeable modifications to the truck so he can learn to drive soon. Crazy to think about. Eddie is thriving at his new job. Their childcare costs are at a historic low. It’s really a great time in Buck’s life. He’s happy. 

But he can still feel one wriggling, tiny wave of discontent in him. Not caused by Chim leaving, but certainly sparked by it. 

Because no one has exited his life. He sees everyone he loves often. He isn’t lacking for anything. So it must not have anything to do with being left behind. He hasn’t been left behind. It’s something to do with Buck. And, every once in a while, he wonders if that something is how tightly he’s held onto this place. If, with everyone moving onwards and/or upwards, he’s been holding himself back. 

☆☆☆

Eddie has been to a few calls since he started at Emergency Ops. Bigger ones. Four and five alarm fires. One fairly bad traffic accident involving a semi and a dozen commuter vehicles. But he avoids the smaller, single-team calls. He won’t ever really work on those again, he supposes. Sometimes he misses the med calls. The small ones, where he really got a chance to talk to people. Comfort them. It’s definitely a part of the job he liked. However, he’s loving what he’s doing now. Like, more than anything he’s ever done. 

He sort of feels like his brain is expanding when he goes to work lately. It must be how Buck feels when some new topic hooks his interest and he learns as much about it as he can. Eddie gets to spend a lot of time shadowing important and experienced people. He learns more and more about what goes into decision making on these larger calls. The priorities. The logistics. Things he got glimpses of before, but never the full picture. He’s always been the one following orders, not giving them, so this experience has been enlightening. That, plus the schedule? Eddie is loving life. 

A few months after Brooke turns one, he’s called to the scene of a flood. 

---

54 for ⚖️:

---

So what is he doing, hesitating? Doubting himself? Letting Eddie, who isn’t faced with this choice, make it for him? He loves Eddie, but this isn’t his fight. It isn’t his fucking weight to live with. 

This is up to Buck. And he knows exactly what he wants to do. He always has. 

He reaches into his pocket for his phone. He has to get as much done as he can before it apparently drives him mad. And if Eddie won’t let him, and Chris is as safe as can be for now, then Buck has to go to the next critical person in his life. Maddie. 

“Evan?” She answers seconds after he starts calling her. “Is everything okay? Is Bobby okay?” 

Chim has filled her in, of course. She’s home with Jee. Sweet little Jee. His niece. He has to protect her, too. Though Buck imagines her future is as variant as Christopher’s. If not more. 

“Bobby’s still in surgery,” Buck says. “Are you… Are you able to come here? Even to pick me up for a minute? I just need to see you.”

“Are you okay?” Maddie asks.

“Not really,” Buck admits. “I can’t explain it… I just… Can you bring Jee? Only for… I just need a minute.”

There’s a concerned pause while Maddie processes.

“Um, okay. Okay, I’ll be there in twenty, alright?”

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Maddie. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’m worried about you.” 

“Just, please come,” Buck begs. 

“Okay. I will. I promise.”

Buck hangs up the phone and sighs. He feels bad. He doesn’t want to worry her. But the only thing is, he’s more worried about her. He’s more worried about everyone. 

---

54 for 🌲:

---

Eddie narrows his eyes. He doesn’t know what’s happening. He has so much to say, and yet he’s been silent. 

“Couldn’t what?” Adriana demands. “You knew this was a possibility! I thought I was a monster!” 

Helena is hysterical. “I thought it was too late! I thought the same thing happened to you!”

“The same thing?” Eddie asks, finally confused enough to speak. “The same as what?”

“As my Sophie!” She fires back, shrill and frantic. “As Sophie! I thought you died the same as Sophie!”

All three siblings exchange a befuddled look. She never calls Sophia Sophie. Never. 

Sophia frowns. “Mom, I’m right here. I’m alive. Nothing has happened to me.” 

“My sister!” Helena sobs. “Not you. My sister.”

“Your sister?” Adriana asks. 

“You don’t have a sister,” Sophia says. 

“Not anymore,” Helena replies. “She… We were… She was just gone. Just like you.”

“Mom, what the fuck is going on?” Sophia asks.

“It’s… I can explain,” she says. 

“Yeah, you’d better,” Sophia replies. 

“No,” Eddie snaps.

They all look at him. 

“No,” Eddie repeats. “No, I don’t care. I don’t actually give a shit. Where is Christopher?”

Terror spreads in the hazel of his mother’s eyes. 

“No,” she shakes her head. “No, Edmundo. He doesn’t want to see you. You… You can’t… No.”

[oldsouldreamer85]

Seven (whatever) Sentence Sunday

Hi, my loves!! 🥰 So, I’m gonna be real here: I don’t quite know what this one will turn out to be? I have plot points I definitely want to hit I know that much for sure. It’s part soulmate AU/fantasy with splashes of canon? Canon adjacent? Is that a thing? Anyway, I’m excited to share what I have so far from the first chapter of In Breakable Heaven. Hope you enjoy!! 💜

             Evan Buckley liked his life. He was enjoying being in his late twenties. And he felt like he was finally beginning to understand not only what was expected of him but that he had a grasp on what he wanted from life as well. In terms of aspirations. Hopes. And dreams.

             That all changed the moment Eddie Diaz entered his life and turned it completely on its head.

__

A Few Years Later…

             Sitting on one of the couches in the firehouse loft Buck glanced up from where he’d been mindlessly scrolling through his phone, watching as Howard ‘Chimney’ Han sat next to him looking at his own phone. His left leg was bouncing up and down erratically, anxiety clearly consuming him the longer he looked down at the handheld device in his grasp.

             “Dude,” Chimney breathed softly, breaking the tense, charged silence between them. “Dude,” he practically whined, finally turning his attention fully on Buck. His eyes were blown wide, his features panic stricken. “Why hasn’t your sister called me back?” he demanded.

             Confusion flooded Buck’s features as he cocked his head, becoming lost in thought over the best way to respond to Chimney’s question.

             Eventually he shrugged. “She’s probably just working, man,” he offered.

             The two of them glanced over their shoulders after hearing a laugh of derision behind them. Hen and Eddie soon joined them. Hen having been the one who made the noise they’d heard, made herself comfortable next to Chimney, while Eddie sat next to Buck.

             “More like he’s incredibly desperate,” she said, jerking her thumb in Chimney’s direction, barely stifling back her own laughter while Eddie and Buck looked at each other and lost it completely. The two of them leaning into each other as they laughed aloud at Chimney’s expense.

             “Hey!” Chimney yelped in indignation, his brows furrowed in mild frustration, holding his phone protectively against his chest. “I’m in love okay? Leave me alone,” he scolded his best friend. Hen just snorted, shaking her head in response as she grinned at him.

             “Eww,” Buck mumbled, his nose wrinkling as a sense of displeasure overwhelmed him upon hearing Chimney’s honesty. “That’s my sister, man. I don’t need to hear that,” he protested.

             Next to him Eddie huffed out a laugh, a mildly exasperated yet fond expression cutting across his features as he looked at Buck.

             “What? Am I wrong?” Buck demanded with a frown.

             Eddie snorted like Hen had minutes earlier, continuing to look at Buck in amusement.

             “I probably wouldn’t want to hear it about either of my sisters. So ‘no’. But uh, don’t you want Maddie to be happy?” he asked.

             Buck sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping as he glanced warily over at Chimney. “Eddie’s right. I do. Want Maddie to be happy. You too. And uh, if you guys make each other happy I shouldn’t stand in the way of that,” he said. “Just don’t make out in front of me, okay? I really don’t need to see that,” he pleaded, his frown returning when Eddie, Chimney and Hen all broke out into laughter.

             “Deal,” Chimney readily agreed through his chuckling.

             Catching Eddie giving him a soft smile out of the corner of his eye, Buck felt himself relax further into the couch upon hearing Chimney’s swift agreement.

             “Great,” he murmured in relief, a small, pleased smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when Eddie winked at him.

Tagging my beloveds: @shaneo693061 @yelenasbuddie @deluweil @elvensorceress @shortsighted-owl @alyxmastershipper @idealuk

[andacherrycoke]

27 from that list please??

Thank you for the prompt!

“I’m going to die. I’m going to die with an absolute idiot!”

Eddie rolls his eyes.

“Chim, calm down. We’re not dying. We’re literally just stuck in a room, it’s fine.”

A panic room, to be exact, some dumbass paranoid rich person’s idea of protection. It's a home office, outfitted with steel walls and a steel door, and a nice little far too easily pushed button on the desk. A button Eddie had accidentally triggered when he and Chimney had gone to fetch their patient’s medication.

Chimney groans, letting his head thunk back against the wall he’s leaning against. “So says you. For all we know this room is about to fill with poison gas.”

“Oh I guess I missed the part where the patient was a Bond villain, my bad,” Eddie replies, perching on the edge of the desk.

Chim glares at Eddie. “It’s not funny.”

“Yeah, you’ll notice I’m not actually laughing. What’s actually going on, Chim? I don’t want to be stuck here either obviously, but there’s something going on here that’s making you really upset.”

Chimney sighs. “We don’t have any signal in here,” he says, pulling his phone out to look at it again like that may have changed. Eddie doesn’t have to look at his to know it hasn’t.

He nods. “Yeah, steel walls will do that. The team knows we’re in here though, so-“

“But Maddie doesn’t.”

Everything clicks into place. “She can’t get through to you.”

“When I came back to work after she came home, I told her to call me anytime if she needs anything at all. But we’re in here for god knows how long, and she can’t call.” Chimney’s eyes look wet. “What if she needs me for something while we’re stuck here?”

“Then she’ll call Buck, or Albert. She’s doing better, you’ve told me that yourself, and I’ve seen it. If she needs help and can’t get a hold of you she’ll call someone else.”

Chimney takes a shaky breath. “Yeah. I know. Thanks though.”

Eddie nods and they lapse into silence for a few moments before Chimney clears his throat. “And I’m sorry I called you an idiot. I may have panicked a little bit. I’m not a huge fan of being stuck somewhere.”

Eddie laughs. “It’s ok. Besides, I’m sure any minute now Buck’s gonna come busting through that door to rescue us.”

Chim arches an eyebrow and Eddie hadn’t felt trapped by the steel walls but now he has the distinct sensation of being caught. “I take it back, you are an idiot.”

“That’s rude.”

“And yet, true. What was it you said, Eddie? ‘Tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone.’ I’d think you’d know that a little better than most people.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh, sure you don’t.”

Eddie sighs. “He’s family, Chim.”

Chimney nods. “Yep. Except, you know, I see both of you as my family. But something tells me the two of you don’t see each other as that kind of family. You see each other the way I see Maddie.”

Eddie can’t argue that point, at least not his side. But, “Buck doesn’t-“

“See? Idiot.”

Eddie frowns, and now it’s Chimney’s turn to roll his eyes. “Ok, when he inevitably does come busting in here, pay attention to which one of us he won’t be able to take his eyes off. Because it’s not going to be me.”

Eddie crosses his arms, not responding, and Chimney doesn’t press. They fall into an easy quiet, waiting, and they sit there for maybe fifteen more minutes before there’s noise at the door, and then it’s swinging open.

Buck enters, eyes immediately searching, and his face morphs into a brilliant smile when he finds Eddie. His eyes dart away for a second, just long enough to catalogue that yes, Chimney is there and in one piece, and then he’s looking at Eddie again, and Eddie’s stomach swoops.

They file out, Buck chattering away about how he had to badger the homeowner into giving him instructions on disabling the panic room. Eddie glances over at Chim, expecting to see a smug look, but instead Chim only has eyes for his phone, a small, relieved smile on his face.

Eddie looks back at Buck, feeling a similar smile spread across his own features.

Maybe Chimney’s right, and it’s time he takes his own advice.

Send me more prompts from this list!

[tales-unique]

FAITH, LOST VI

The softness got me like 😩 I hope you enjoy it! ♥

@maddi-bug & @chelseareferenced & @actual-trash-goblin

Chapter 6

Heisenberg is gone for longer than usual. It's to be expected, given how swift and intense the explosion was, only this time you're aware of just how much you miss him when he's not there. It’s cathartic, no longer having your feelings hidden in the deepest parts of yourself. Upon reflection, you realize that you enjoy the power struggle between the two of you and that there is no shame in it. Pleasure, you had come to learn, wouldn’t compromise your dignity or pride in yourself, and wasn’t something to be demonized or resented. Weightless from this revelation, your mind drifts to the last words he spoke before leaving you; we aren’t done here . Fire blooms in your stomach, dripping lower until you’re squirming where you sit cross-legged on Heisenberg's bed. Your skin still tingles from where he held you in his rough grasp, white noise erupting all over your body. It’s clear just what the phrase implies , but at the same time you have no exact idea what to expect when he returns and that’s part of what makes this all so thrilling . Though even with all the positive feelings that come with this, you can’t help but still feel conflicted. You find yourself lost in the moment, sent adrift in a vast ocean with no lifeline.

Now, it wasn’t as though you hadn’t had sex before, because you had. It was only once, in the hayloft of the village stables with a young man named Nicolai that you were fond of. He worked in the fields and you often saw him on your way to Church, where he’d smile and wink at you. He’d happened upon you when you’d lingered near the edge of the fields one day after morning Mass, bashfully accepting when he proposed that you go somewhere quieter together. You remember that his kisses were soft, but he was a little pushy, and once he was done that was it. No real connection, no real passion, just motion until you were both done, and even then you weren’t completely sure if you were done. Then a week later he was dead, mauled to death in that very same hayloft by a Lycan, along with a girl from your congregation named Irina. You can only imagine the reason why she was there with him that day. It sat, bitter like poison, within you for some time after their deaths, knowing that this hadn’t been the special thing you had been led to believe; this divine virtue that needed to be protected until you were lawfully wed, where all would finally make sense. Then you met Lord Karl Heisenberg and everything was suddenly turned on its head. Since you had come to the Factor you had been exposed to a more sexually charged and free environment, with Heisenberg's flirtatious teasing a regular occurrence, as well as his sarcasm and moods, culminating in the spark that set all this motion when he had you pinned to the desk in his office. You were given no room to avoid it, no chance to hide behind demureness and virtue, and because of that you were able to grow . You now embraced what this freedom could give you and it was all because of his pushing. At first it didn’t sit well with you, it squirmed and fought, but the disquieting sensation dissipated easily and you were left with an insatiable hunger for all things you had been denied, scandalous or otherwise. Biting your lip, a devious little thought fills your head; you needed to thank him when he came back.

When Heisenberg does come back to you it's already well into the night, and in anticipation of his return he finds that you’re not in your room when he looks, instead, amusingly, you’re actually in his . Sound asleep, you’re curled up on his bed with the sheets clutched in your dainty fingers up to your face. He watches from the doorway the rhythmic rise and fall of your chest as you breathe and the way your long lashes kiss your cheeks. You’ve clearly been busy while he was gone, having ordered the disheveled work desk to semi-neatness so he can at least still find his things. Straightened papers, pens put in the holder, lined his tools up for easy access. It’s something he doesn’t outwardly thank you for, but  has most certainly come to value. You don’t overstep, you merely aid, and it’s in these quiet moments of downtime that he realizes how much he appreciates the little things you do for him. Yes, it began with your faith and devotion to Mother Miranda and her decree for you to serve him, but he isn’t naive enough to believe that’s all there is to it. Not now, anyway. You don’t have to be caring towards him in your servitude, in your own little ways, like becoming annoyed with him when he tells you he hasn’t eaten all day or hasn't drunk enough water while working. Soft, kind-hearted things; things he isn’t used to. Trying to be as quiet as he can, Heisenberg walks over to where you lay, settling on the edge of the bed by your side. You squirm in your sleep as his weight dips the mattress but you don’t wake up, merely curling up tighter with a soft sigh. He watches your sleeping form with pinched brows, the uncomfortable intensity of yearning twisting knots within him. A hesitant hand comes to brush your cheek with his thumb, cupping it gently. Such tender affections were not something the Lord was known for, or used to receiving from others, given the magnitude of sins he had performed at the behest of his hatred for Miranda, her manipulations and betrayals, and his insatiable need to be free of the confinement he was forced into. Ulterior motives were second nature in his world, the lesson that kindness and affection were a means to an end instilled in him from an early age. Yet the compulsion, new and alarming, to give in to your motiveless warmth had wormed its way deep inside, threatening to shatter him from within. Not that he wasn’t trying to fight it, he was . Like a wild mustang refusing to yield to anyone, he twisted and pulled and snapped at the feeling, it’s tendrils repelled as much as he could, but he was slowly weakening to its constant attacks. It just wouldn’t leave him be . The realization was harsh and unforgiving that you are well on your way to becoming someone that would, in time, serve to weaken him, grinding down his walls just as the sea wears away the rocks on its shores until they resemble nothing of their former selves. The thought irks him and in a childish display of spitefulness he pulls his hand back from your face, lips curling into a snarl. His fingers burst with static, punishing him for prematurely cutting the contact, and he tries to smother the sensation by tightening his hand into a fist. It doesn’t help. He can still feel it and he hates that he misses it, like some love-sick pup! It ties his stomach in knots and sets his blood aflame. He’s hyper aware of you laying behind him, overwhelmed when you turn over and your knees press against his back. Lulled by your gentle, slumbering breaths, a calming serenade, Heisenberg’s hand slowly unfurls to rest on his leg. Though he’s still very much on edge. The dizzying free-fall into such conflicting emotions sends him nauseous, reeling from the sudden severity of it. You were just a weak, pathetic human , for fucks sake! You had no right to come barging into his life and start wrecking shit up with your pretty smiles and warm eyes! All those selfless moments he tries so desperately to poke holes in, only to find that they’re as sound as a concrete wall. It has him doubting, however minutely, the thought that everyone was out to get

him and that scared him. Quickly standing, he decides even being in the same room as you is too much. Everything is suddenly stifling, the heat cloying and making his throat burn. He doesn’t even check to see if he’s disturbed you as he exits the room, head throbbing mercilessly. There’s nowhere left in the factory that’s safe from your influence; the rooms smell of you, the hallways echo with your voice, his things marked by your touch — you’re everywhere , encasing him. And he doesn’t help that fact when he finds himself standing in the middle of your room. His keen senses are overwhelmed by the space, your space, but it isn’t so disarming this time. No, now he’s growing to like it against his better judgement. You’ll ruin him and he’s slowly coming around to the idea of letting you do it, too. It makes him sick, that thought, but it doesn’t really matter as he sits down on the couch where you sleep, fingers smoothing over the sheets you’ve neatly folded over it. There’s a twisted sense of irony in how he finds comfort in being surrounded by your things, as little as they are, when trying so desperately trying to get away from you. It doesn’t make sense, but since when did anything in his fucked up life? "Fuck," he moaned, the word drawn-out in his frustration as he laid his head back to stare up at the ceiling.

"Heisenberg?" The Lord tilts his head to look at where you stand in the doorway, your tender question alerting him to your presence. You're a picture of post-slumber beauty; hair dishevelled and fluffed up on one side from where you had been laying, eyes hazy with sleep, your top languidly slipping down one shoulder, creased from your rest. Your brow is pinched as you regard him, gently padding over to where he sits. "Sleeping Beauty finally wakes up, huh?" He chuckles, casually slinging his arm over the back of the couch. “Did you enjoy sleeping in my bed?” He teases with a smirk. “You were gone too long,” you retorted, fixing him with a tired glare, pulling your legs up as you settle down beside him, “and you don’t let me down into the lower levels with you, do you?” “I know, but this was serious,” Heisenberg sighed, his free hand coming to pinch the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut in frustration, “one of the fucking conveyor lines decided to go ka-pow !” He punctuates his statement with a mimic of the explosion, both hands involved before dropping down limply. “It was jammed. I got it under control but the fallout was, well, messy ,” he explained, taking off his glasses and putting them aside on the couch arm, along with his tossed coat and gloves. You frown at the way he drags his hands down his face, sighing deeply. He’s exhausted and there’s nothing you can really do that you haven’t already tried. “At least it’s fixed now, yes?” You ask softly as you turn to sit cross-legged, facing him. You have a look of worry creasing your features and Heisenberg is quick to hide the rising emotion with his usual swagger. “Of course it is, why do you think I’ve been gone so long?” He scoffs, shaking his head. His leg begins to jiggle under the weight of your wary gaze, knowing that he’s not fooling you in the slightest. You’ve seen enough of him, the vulnerability he has, to know an act of bravado when he’s conjuring it. It’s unsettling to know that you have a means of undermining his power over you now, that you can call his bluff with somewhat decent accuracy, and he fully expects you to embrace that power. So when you gingerly move to nestle into his side, back resting against him with your head leaning against his arm where it lays slung across the back of the couch he’s pleasantly surprised. He should know better, you’ve always been soft . Even when you’re being fierce towards him and you blaze like a thousand suns it comes from a place of tenderness and care, something he doesn’t think he’ll ever truly understand about you. “I missed you.” It’s barely a whisper and even his keen hearing is strained to pick it up. There are a million sarcastic and teasing responses that he could choose from to say, and very much would have, if not for the fact that you’re right there , disarming him with a distant, non-threatening kind of affection that has him weak. It’s easier, he assumes, for you to not look at him when you tell him your truth and he’s grateful. Those big doe eyes, filled with gentle fondness, that you have when you’re being this way might just send him into overdrive at this point and he hasn’t yet come up with a game plan on how to deal with it. “Yeah?” It’s a simple response, but there’s a slight break to his voice that betrays the tempest of emotions swirling within. The air is charged with anticipation, a prickling static that is so close to erupting, all because you’ve got him going fucking soft . “Mhm,” you hum, pressing your feet into the cushions to distract yourself. Your face is ablaze with colour, your skin burning. To be so open, so raw , in such an intimate setting as this was completely foreign to you, and it didn’t help that the one you were experiencing it with was Lord Karl Heisenberg . A silence, pregnant with the onset of a coming storm, rolls over you both and you sit, listening to the sound of each other's breathing. Your heart is hammering in your chest, the hummingbird threatening to break free. White noise suddenly erupts across your body when you feel him shift, ever so slightly,

and his arm comes across your front to pull you closer. The movement is awkward, marred by a lack of experience with this kind of action, and you too have to move in order to be comfortable. It takes a moment or two but soon you both find a happy medium.You rest your cheek against his arm, nose lovingly brushing against one of the many raised, white scars that littered his skin. If only he could be so bold in this way. His body stiffens instinctively when you continue with your ministrations, resisting the urge to pull back, to push you away. His scars were a source of contention for him, among many other things, some known to you and some not, given how he had come to have them. But you didn’t seem to mind. That he now knew for sure from the way you lavished them with gentle attention, carefully tracing the lines with your dainty fingers. You even dare to press a gentle kiss to one that curls into his wrist, feeling the way his pulse jumps wildly under your lips. “I didn’t realise you had so many,” you murmur, looking over his arm with interest. He’s never spoken outright about them, but they were hard to miss. There was nary a patch of skin, seen or unseen, that didn’t have one of some kind, or so you presumed. You had no doubts in your mind that he would keep their origins from you and you wouldn’t presume to have leave to ask, but in this moment anything could be possible. Stranger things had already happened, after all. However, when he remains quiet you frown, pressing a lingering kiss to the spot, a silent apology for having been so prying. His pulse jumps again and suddenly you're pulled in closer, tighter. You gasp at the sudden shift, feeling him lean in, nosing your hair, taking in it’s scent. “You’re pretty brave tonight, huh?” He rumbled low into your ear, making you stiffen. He wanted to touch you, only this time it was different from before. It was driven by an unfamiliar desire to give intimacy as he had been given, to gain back the power you had taken. Or so he told himself. You were his, Mother Miranda had said as much when she gave you to him, but now he wanted to be yours , too. “I—” You swallow your nerves, turning so that you could look up at him with wide eyes, “—did I go too far?” It was hard to know when you had crossed a line until you were already well beyond it, incurring his wrath, so you were understandably wary, and it irked him to know that he was the source of your constant insecurity. He really was a shitty person, like you had said before. “Not at all,” he stated, lips quirking in a smile at the way your gaze softened, a bashful smile crossing your face. This thing, whatever it was that you had, was a delicate, fragile little bloom that he was striving to keep, to protect . In his mind he knew there may not ever be another chance for something like this for someone like him and so he was determined not to lose it. Not to his siblings, not to that bitch Miranda, not to anything or anyone . This time the silence is more comfortable for the both of you, his fingers drumming a nonsensical tune on your arm as you rest against him — the last vestige of his anxiousness and nerves. You don’t hold it against him, instead allowing it to lull you into a peaceful doze. Your weight, like an anchor to his wayward ship, is pleasant and he finds that quietness can indeed be peaceful. With you at his side he’s grounded, electrified but contained. It’s surreal, but he’s addicted to the odd sensations your affection gives him. It’s nothing like the sexually charged tension of before but in some ways it’s even better . He doesn’t ever want it to end, you and him, in this still, secret moment, and that worries him to no end.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

A Chill in the Batcave

by Zoroarkkkk The Spirit of Gotham knows two things for sure… one, The Ghost King needed protection while he recovered and was able to form outside of his core. Two, The Dark Knight and his children were the best people to protect anything. So of course, she hides Danny’s core in the Batcave. Chaos and haunting ensues. Tim Drake is almost half certain that he didn’t used to hallucinate this much, even if he hasn’t slept in three days. And he was almost one hundred percent sure that they hadn’t gained another sibling while he was sleeping. Words: 1086, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Danny Fenton, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Violence, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member via https://ift.tt/MiOjsw8

[daniclaytcn]

dancing in a snow globe 'round and 'round

title: dancing in a snow globe 'round and 'round

Summary: Eddie mock-glares at him. “You’re a coward, starting something when you know I can’t retaliate since you’re holding your niece.”

Buck smirks smugly. “This little one will protect me,” He says and bends down to nuzzle her head, making her burst out into giggles. Eddie has to look away abruptly, something inexplicably warm and fuzzy building in his chest, a feeling of want so strong he thinks his heart might burst.

ao3 link

a/n: look at me, jumping back into the writing game after i don't even know how long. thank you @malikjavaddzayn for reading this as i wrote it and being so sweet!

also tagging: @evaneddie @matan4il

As Eddie lets himself into Buck’s apartment, he is instantly greeted with the high-pitched wails of a crying baby and the sight of his best friend looking minutes away from beginning to cry himself as he bounces his niece in his arms. Eddie bites back a smile, closing the door behind him.

“I thought you said this was an emergency,” He teases. Buck looks up, his expression morphing from one of relief to a glare.

“Make yourself useful and help me,” Buck all but whines. “She won’t stop crying and I don’t know what to do, I tried feeding her and it didn’t work. Her-her diaper doesn’t need to be changed and I-I don’t know, am I hurting her? Why did Maddie let me babysit? I’m terrible at this!”

“Alright, alright,” Eddie quickly goes to Buck and gently takes Baby Joy out of his arms. Buck lets go hesitantly and his eyes become comically wide as Joy begins to quiet down almost instantly when Eddie cradles her in his arms.

“You’re kidding me,” He says, looking betrayed. “How did you do that?”

“You’re stressed out and panicking,” Eddie says patiently. “Which means you’re stressing her out in return. Babies can sense that sort of thing, you know.” A smirk appears on his face. “Unless she just prefers me to you,” He looks down at Joy, cooing at her. “You prefer me to your Uncle Buck, don’t you, honey?”

“I hate you,” Buck grumbles, sinking down into the couch. “I’ll have you know that I’ll always be her favorite.”

“I’m surprised Albert isn’t fighting you for that title.”

“Hah! He can try.”

“Where are Chim and Maddie, anyway?”

“Date night,” Buck replies, reaching out for Joy again, sighing in relief when Eddie gives her back and she doesn’t immediately start crying again, instead just reaching up and fisting her little hand in his shirt. He all but melts, smiling dopily down at her. She really is a little angel when she isn’t screaming loud enough to wake half of Los Angeles.

“It’s their first night out since Joy was born,” He continues, looking up at Eddie now that he’s sure Joy’s not going to throw another tantrum. “I offered to babysit, and, well…”

Eddie looks amused as he sits down next to Buck, stretching his arm over the back of the couch, his thigh pressing into Buck’s. “Just because she happened to have a crying fit while you happened to be babysitting doesn’t mean you’re terrible at this, you know. Babies cry sometimes. It’s been known to happen.”

Buck pouts at him. “Stop making fun of me.”

Eddie tries to keep a straight face and fails miserably. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Careful not to dislodge Joy, Buck picks up a couch cushion and throws it at Eddie’s face. Eddie mock-glares at him.

“You’re a coward, starting something when you know I can’t retaliate since you’re holding your niece.”

Buck smirks smugly. “This little one will protect me,” He says and bends down to nuzzle her head, making her burst out into giggles. Eddie has to look away abruptly, something inexplicably warm and fuzzy building in his chest, a feeling of want so strong he thinks his heart might burst.

It's been a while since Eddie had come to the long overdue realization that the feelings he had for his best friend might not have been as platonic as he’d thought. It had dawned on him, ironically enough, while he had been dating Ana Flores. As smart and kind and pretty as she was, no amount of time they spent together had ever made him feel as at home and carefree and…safe, even, as coming back home after every single date with her, to see Buck either on his couch playing with Christopher or waiting with a cup of coffee and a soft smile long after Chris was in bed. The moment he’d started realizing that was the moment he started noticing everything else, the way they were constantly in sync in everything they did; be it tiding up Buck’s living room after movie night with Christopher or out in the field, doing their jobs and saving lives. The way he gravitated to Buck, constantly in his orbit, wanting to share any piece of good or exciting news or even random trivia with him, first, and no one else. The way watching Buck with his son sometimes moved him so much, he’d need a moment to compose himself, to hide the feelings he felt must show so plainly on his face, clear for the world to see.

After that, he had to break up with Ana. And he still hasn’t done anything about his feelings, because, well…

Well, Eddie has never claimed to be brave when it comes to matters of the heart. There’s a reason why Buck has teasing called him ‘emotionally constipated’ more than a couple of times.

There’s a knock on the door, bringing Eddie out of his musings. Buck perks up.

“I ordered us some pizza before you got here,” He says and nods to his wallet on the coffee table. “Could you go get it?”

Eddie is relieved to do so, convinced that he won’t be able to conceal the extent of his affections the longer he keeps watching Buck with Baby Joy. As he takes the pizza from the delivery guy, he hears Joy begin to fuss again and doesn’t even need to look over his shoulder to know that Buck is panicking. He can’t help but chuckle.

The delivery guy peers around the doorway and smiles at what Eddie presumes is Buck with Joy. “Newborn, eh?”

“Yeah,” Eddie laughs fondly as he pays him. “She’s got quite the pair of lungs on her.”

The delivery guy shakes his head with an endeared smile. “Looks like you and your husband have your hands full.”

Eddie stills at the innocuous remark and before he can say anything, the delivery guy has bid him goodbye and left. He closes the door slowly, frozen in place.

It’s not an unreasonable assumption, he thinks. Hell, it’s probably one he would make himself. It shouldn’t be that surprising that people look at him and Buck, with a baby between them and automatically think they’re together. He wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing has happened whenever Buck has joined him and Christopher on any of their outings.

No, what is surprising, somehow despite the fact that he knows he has feelings for his best friend, is how desperately he wants it to be true. How much he wants Buck to be with him and Christopher, the three of them a family; how easy it is to envision it and scarily enough, how easy it is to go even further and see them many years along the line, still together, possibly even with another child-

“Eddie?” Buck’s voice sounds in equal parts amused and concerned. “Are you just gonna stand there with the pizza all day?”

Eddie turns to face him. Joy seems to have calmed down, since Buck has placed her back in her crib. Taking a step towards him, Buck must see some of the existential crisis playing out in Eddie’s head right now on his face because he quickly takes the pizza from him and sets it down.

“Hey, man,” All traces of amusement are gone from his face now. “What’s wrong?”

There are a number of things that Eddie wants to say. That he should say. He knows he shouldn’t jump into something without thinking about it properly, especially after the disaster that was him moving too fast and too recklessly with Ana.

And yet.

This isn’t just anyone. This is Buck.

And Eddie isn’t even perfectly sure that Buck even feels the same way, but-

He’s never felt quite so compelled to just go for it, to throw caution to the wind and be brave for once as he does now.

Slowly, Eddie sways into Buck’s space, cupping the back of his neck and pressing his forehead to his. He feels Buck exhale sharply, stiffening for a brief moment, before melting into his hold.

“Eddie,” Buck breathes, his voice breaking on the last syllable.

“Is this okay?” Eddie whispers, not quite sure what it is that he’s asking permission for.

Is it okay for me to touch you? Is it okay for us to cross that line? Is it okay that nothing is ever going to be the same again?

Are you sure you want me, baggage, demons and all?

Buck responds by closing the space between them and kissing him.

It’s soft and gentle and sweet, somehow both hesitant and confident at the same time, so much like Buck himself that Eddie smiles into the kiss, joyful laughter caught in his throat as he pulls him closer. They keep it at that, mindful of the fact that there’s a baby less than five feet away from them, not even kissing after a point but just swaying together, breathing in each other’s air.

“So, this is new,” Buck murmurs what may be twenty seconds or twenty years later.

Eddie hums. “Feels like we’ve been dancing around it for a lot longer than we’ve both realized.”

Buck chuckles. “I wasn’t sure if you felt the same way.” He admits. “And…I guess I was scared, too.”

Eddie pulls away slightly to look at him. “So was I,” He says quietly. “Hell, I still am. But…” He pauses momentarily, trying to find the words. “I think we can be good together. We are good together.”

Buck’s responding smile is like sunshine personified and Eddie can’t help but kiss it, lingering softly, just because he can.

“I guess we’re really doing this then,” Buck says, breathlessly when they part.

As if on cue, Joy begins to fuss again and Eddie laughs at Buck’s groan.

“I think she’s hungry,” Eddie says. “And our pizza is getting cold.”

“But we’ll talk later, right?” Buck asks, rather anxiously. “We need to figure this out-and work-and Christopher-“

The fact that Buck’s already thinking of Chris makes Eddie’s heart swell. “We will,” He assures him, taking his hand in his, smiling when Buck interlinks their fingers. “One thing at a time.”

Joy makes another disgruntled noise and Buck finally nods, his smile returning as he turns to check on her. And Eddie-Eddie cannot be happier.

And maybe, for once, he gets to keep this.

[lemonzestywrites]

sunlight, sunlight, sunlight

paring: buck x eddie

word count: 2,268

tw: panic attacks, implied claustrophobia 

[ao3 link]

_____

Buck has never been a fan of the dark. Especially as a child, the thought alone had brought along too many nightmares and memories of running to Maddie’s room to make her double-check for monsters under his bed. It doesn’t bother him as much anymore, but still, every now and again, on nights where his anxiety is all too present for his liking, the same twinge of uneasiness will find itself scratching away at his brain.

He hasn’t felt it in a while, but that itch has been sitting at the base of his subconscious since he’s clocked in for his shift, and now Buck can’t help but be on edge. He tries his best to ignore it and go on with his day, but the next 12 hours tick by with a foreboding weariness he can’t quite place.

The hospital only makes it worse. The plain white walls, the PA system going off every other minute, the frigid cold that sticks to his skin, he hates all of it. There’s a small voice in the back of his head that wonders if it’s just the result of having been admitted so many times. It doesn’t feel like all too sure of reasoning, but he’d rather not linger on the thought too long. So instead, Buck settles for it and chalks it up to nerves, making a mental note to bring it up during his next session with Dr. Copeland. Until then, he should be fine.

Emphasis on should.

Because apparently, the universe gets a real kick out of watching Buck suffer since it wasn’t enough that the hospital’s power went out- no, the entire fucking city got hit with a widespread blackout. And if that wasn’t worrying enough, Eddie hasn’t been answering his radio, and Buck’s phone isn’t working either. He does his best to stay calm, really he does, but with every passing minute of radio silence, the sick coil of nerves knotted in his stomach only gets tighter and tighter.

After 10 minutes of no response, Bobby had given Buck the go-ahead to go look for Eddie, and that’s all he needed before he’s off, weaving through the halls of the hospital heading to where he’d seen him last. If it weren’t for whatever shred of self-control in him, Buck would probably be sprinting through the building by now.

Eddie’s been back to work for only about a couple weeks now. And he’s doing great (obviously, he wouldn’t have gotten cleared to go back if he wasn’t). Buck is happy for him- happy that his best friend is back. God knows the last couple of months had been rough without Eddie, he had spent the last couple of years carving out and filling a special place in the station especially reserved for him, and then all of a sudden, it had been vacant again.

Buck is excited that he’s working again, really he is. But now the energy between them feels…different, and he knows why- they both do. It’s not like Buck had expected them to come back completely fine either. But even months after the shooting, they still have yet to talk about any of it. A part of him feels like they should, but in the months he stayed over at Eddie’s, helping out however he could during his recovery, Buck could see the toll everything had taken on him, both physically and mentally. Eddie didn’t seem ready to unpack that with him yet, and Buck wasn’t going to push him.

It’s fine. He knows Eddie has been going back to therapy. They’ll talk whenever he’s ready.

Buck does his best to give Eddie his space, let him, you know, do his job, but the past weeks feel like he’s been doing nothing but living on the edge. Every time Eddie’s out of his sight for too long, he can hear a voice screaming at him, ‘Where is he? Is he okay? Find him. Protect him. Find him. You said you’d have his back. Your fault. Your fault. Your fa-’

Then Eddie will turn the corner, and Buck’s lungs will release a breath he hadn’t known he was holding on to. He hopes it’ll take the fear, too, that with every sigh won’t just be a release of pressure but help let go of the irrational worry he has. But it never does. It eats away at him, taunting him with the idea that Eddie might get hurt again, but this time Buck won’t be there to help him.

(God, they really should talk.)

He still doesn’t bring it up. Instead, Buck sets aside his apprehension and tries not to indulge in the panicked voice in his subconscious. He’s been getting better at it.

At least he was.

All it took was 15- no, 16 minutes now- of radio silence for Buck’s heart to start pounding against his chest in rapid succession. For the nervousness to shoot through his veins, thrumming all the way down to the tips of fingers as they twitch with a numbing unease. He treads through the halls keeping his head on a swivel, alert and attentive to trying to find his best friend in the sea of patients and doctors. Eddie’s probably somewhere in the hospital helping out the staff; he is a medic after all. Yet despite any amount of reasoning Buck tries to apply, the sickening feeling in his stomach doesn’t seem to dissipate. It’s been 16 minutes, and he hasn’t had any luck. He’s even circled the floor twice just to be sure, but still, nothing.

He’s considering doing another lap when he hears it- the distant noise of someone banging on metal coming from behind the elevator doors. The sound is so faint, paired with the loud frenzy of the rest of the hospital floor, that Buck almost doesn’t hear it.

He rushes to the doors, pressing his ear flushed against it. He can hear someone yelling, but the voice is too muffled to make out what they’re saying.

“Eddie?” He calls out, no doubt getting a couple odd looks from the passing medical staff, but he pays them no mind. He bangs on the doors a couple times before yelling again louder, “Eddie! It’s Buck- can you hear me?”

There’s a beat of silence before the pounding continues again, this time with much more force in response. Buck doesn’t waste any time before he digs his fingers between the doors, using everything he has to pry them apart. The muscles in his shoulders and arms strain, but the creaking of metal offers enough motive to keep him going. Even if it’s not Eddie, it still means someone’s trapped down there.

(A selfish part of him still hopes, though.)

Once the doors are opened wide enough for him, Buck drops to his stomach to peer down into the elevator currently caught between two floors. Even with the little light he does have, he sees a curled-up shadow crouched in the corner below him, “Eddie?”

The person shifts, “Buck?”

There’s nothing more Buck wants than to revel in the relief he feels when he finally hears Eddie’s voice, but it quickly scatters when he notices the trembling panic coated in his tone.

“It’s me,” Buck reassures with as much steadiness he can force out and just hopes that Eddie doesn’t hear the way his voice shakes out the words. “Are you okay?”

Eddie sucks in a sharp breath. “I don’t know. I-I can’t breathe.”

Buck’s mind starts to spin, panicking on what to do now. The gap in between the doors isn’t that big, so it’s not like he can slip down there with Eddie or pull him out either. He has enough sensibility to grab at his radio to at least let Bobby aware of his status, “Cap, I found Eddie. He’s trapped in an elevator stuck between the 7th and 6th floors.”

A few seconds pass before he hears Bobby’s voice on the other end, “Okay, we’re working on getting the hospital’s backup generator working. Stay with him until we can get it back online, then we’ll head up to you.”

Eddie lets out a strangled noise at his words. The twinge of panic in Buck’s stomach only coils tighter when he realizes how Eddie’s breathing seems to pick up, now coming out in quick hallow shivers.

‘He’s having a panic attack.’ Buck realizes.

It takes less than a couple seconds after for Buck to murmur a hasty “copy that” into his radio before he readjusts his focus back to his friend.

He’s not unfamiliar with panic attacks, his or Eddie’s, most of which being the results of nightmares that seem to linger when dusk settles. During the last few months, Buck has lost count of the nights that either one of them has woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air, and in the midst of alarm and fear, craving a recognizable magnetism of being held. A silent want to be assured protection and comforted.

It’s sick now. How there’s nothing more Buck desires than to provide that same security now, but the small two-foot gap between the elevator doors draws out to what feels like miles of distance.

Even though he can’t crawl down there with him, Buck finds himself reaching into the elevator shaft as far as he can, “Eddie, can you grab onto my hand for me?” Listen- he knows what he’s doing isn’t entirely safe, sticking his arm into an elevator that hasn’t been secure yet. But the sound of Eddie’s breath coming out in nothing but shaky huffs is more than enough to make him forgo any logic.

From within the enclosure of the elevator, he feels Eddie grasp his hand with an iron grip, the distress trembling at his fingers.

“Hey, I’m here, I’m right here, alright?” Buck presses the conviction through his tone, his best attempt to override his own uncertainty. “Do you think you can try and take some deep breaths?”

Buck can faintly make out the silhouette of Eddie nodding, “Y-Yeah,” he mutters. “Yeah, I can try.”

“We can do them together,” Buck offers. He takes a deep breath himself, and from below him, he hears Eddie take one too. Unconsciously, Buck starts to tighten his hold in tandem with their breathing, squeezing his hand on an inhale, loosening his grasp on the exhale. He hadn’t really realized he’s doing it until after a couple breaths, Eddie starts doing it too. And with each squeeze, his grasp slowly becomes more determined and less shaky. It doesn’t take long for them to eventually sync up for the tremor in Eddie’s hands to fade.

A couple more moments pass, and his breathing begins to steady more.

“How you doing down there, Eds?”

“Can you…”, he clears his throat, an attempt to hide how wrecked he sounds. “Can you talk to me?- About anything, it doesn’t matter.”

Buck rattles his brain for something, anything to talk about before he remembers the nature documentary he had watched several nights prior, “Did you know toucans are born blind?”

He hears Eddie laugh; it comes out breathless and nervous, but it’s a laugh nonetheless, “Really?”

“Yeah, ironically enough, they also aren’t great at flying either. They usually hop from one branch to another to get where they want to go.”

“Tell me more?” He asks, his voice quiet.

Buck smiles and keeps going, rambling about birds for a while. He doesn’t really know for how long, and at some point, he loses his awareness of what he’s saying, more focused on Eddie than anything else. Faintly, he wonders if his arm is getting tired by now.

“You know, Chris has been learning about biomes and ecosystems in school…he’d love to hear all this stuff.”

“You can tell him all about it after work.” He reassures.

Eddie’s hand twitches in his palm. “How much longer?” Buck can hear the dread creeping back into his tone.

“I…”

Not too long. He wants to promise, but the words get caught in his throat. There are a lot of things Buck can do- lying to Eddie isn’t one of them. “I-I don’t know.” He finally admits, the shame dripping down from him. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”

Eddie laughs, yet this time there’s no shred of humor in his voice, “I’m not sure if I can last any longer down here, Buck.” God, he sounds on the verge of tears.

“What can I do?” Fuck, at this point, Buck would do anything. Hell, he’d pull the damn elevator up himself if he had to. Whatever it would take to get Eddie back on safe ground.

“Just-” A pained noise escapes him, “Please don’t leave.”

Buck swears his heart fucking shatters. “Hey.” Even though he can’t see exactly where Eddie is, he does his best to look him in the eye before he squeezes his hand, “I’m not leaving your side, okay?”

The first thing Buck’s fire instructor had said during his training at the academy was never make a promise you can’t keep. Buck knows how important promises are to people, especially in states of emergencies. In the middle of chaos, those two words are all anyone needs to cling to. So that’s why, when Eddie looks at him, with what little light there is provided catching the edges of his watery eyes laced in fear and worry, Buck doesn’t hesitate to grip his hand as tight as he can. To hold on and look at Eddie with all the conviction and certainty he has and tell him,

“I promise.”