#buck is upset

[butraura]

more than just

Summary: Tommy and Eddie’s blooming friendship takes Buck by surprise and he doesn’t handle it well. 7x04/7x05 spec fic.

Word Count: 4,257

Pairing: Buck/Eddie

Chapters: 1/2

—————

Buck snorts. “Maybe we’ll tell you about it when we win,” he winks.

“Oh, it’s like that,” Aaron taunts, everyone piling on at once animatedly. “Any more of you?”

“No, just us,” Buck answers.

“Actually,” Chimney interjects, “I invited Eddie.”

“You did?” Buck is taken aback.

He nods. “Yeah, they should be here any time.”

“They?”

As if summoned, Eddie’s voice can be heard laughing about something behind Buck as he approaches the group.

I thought he was busy, he thinks to himself.

Nothing in the world could have prepared him both for what he sees when he turns around, and the feeling that flourishes in the pit of his stomach as he takes them in.

Tommy.

It’s a hundred different feelings wrapped in a fleeting moment as he sees them walking together. Closely, and the space between their shoulders as they walk rivaling his own closeness with Eddie.

Tommy says something to his friend that Buck can’t hear, and the way Eddie throws his head back as he laughs makes his heart beat too quickly and painfully. He said he was BUSY.

No one pays attention to his spiraling and when they get to the group, Buck and Chimney are greeted familiarly. Tommy brings Chimney in for a pound hug, then to Buck for a fist bump. He grins sheepishly, masking his features. He is caught off guard when Eddie lighty nudges his arm with elbow. “What’s up?” he asks.

Buck stammers, panic sprouting in his features. “Uh, n-nothing. I thought you were busy today.” It comes out a little more accusatory than he means it to, but far less angry than he actually is.

Eddie is unphased. “Yeah, Tommy and I went for a ride in the chopper. We were talking about what it took to join Air Support.”

Read it on AO3!

[theotherbuckley]

incorrect tweets pt 17/?

[mstrota]

the size difference is criminal, man…

[watchyourbuck]

Tim Minear I swear we will all watch the 1 hour 15 min long episode just release the footage pls we took a vote everyone said yes, I–

[buckera]

can't stop thinking about how that whole situation must've been bonkers from Tommy's pov

like, there is this dude so imprinted on you that he hangs out with you 3 days a week, while you both have differing schedules and do 24-hour shifts — oh and supposedly he also has a girlfriend.

and then his boy best friend asks you for a tour at your station and flirts with you, and then he shows up anywhere where he can get you and ends up bodyclocking his bestie like a preteen boy, which you'd think was to punish him, but you later find out that it was a subconscious attempt to get him out of the competition.

that's not mentioning the fact that the guy imprinted on you also introduced you to his son, who is incredibly fond of the other guy and won't shut up about him.

and then you worry that you came between these two friends, so you go see the one who is clearly more upset, to reassure him that's not what's happening, only to find out that he was actually crushing on you this whole time and he is also just realising this as he's telling it to you.

can you imagine the spin all that gave to Tommy's head??

[wellcollapse]

the way i would pay for oliver to write meta about buck's character

[yoong-tae]

If they hate Tommy calling Buck Evan so much, how about we just have Tommy call him baby instead? Maybe sweetheart? Love?

[theveryworstthing]

it's 1:30 am and after a month of peacefully enduring Interesting Times, trying to set up a new laptop is turning me into the joker.

every day i am spending money and having problems.

[sibylsleaves]

ok one more thought before bed. and idk why I’m even thinking about this except the marjan gifset got me thinking about 7x04 again so I am once again reopening the case for litigation.

So I do think Buck had a crush on Tommy the whole time AND this is really what makes his jealousy over Eddie so distressing for him. Because like on the surface he IS jealous that Eddie has a new friend but UNDER the surface he is seeing Eddie hang out with this guy who deep deep in bucks subconscious where he is not on the surface aware of it Buck is like, romantically interested in. And if HE is deep deep down below the surface romantically interested in Tommy then in that same place in his brain he is acknowledging that like if IM into this guy (deep deep below the surface where he can’t think about it consciously) then EDDIE could be too. And probably is.

And literally this is only reinforced by a) bucks perception of Eddie being So Giddy and Happy b) the date-like nature of Eddie and Tommy’s hangouts (even literally explicitly calling attention to the blatantly homoerotic nature of MMA and Muay Thai) and finally c) the teasing he endures from Maddie and Chim which is all pointedly making it SEEM LIKE Eddie has a crush on Tommy

And to Maddie and Chim this is LITERALLY a joke but to Buck it actually is NOT AT ALL A JOKE because he already has it in his head that like. It would be theoretically possible to have a crush on Tommy. So like somewhere in Buck’s head he does genuinely think that Eddie does, too. and this makes him so insane because it is the first time Buck has ever come close to considering the possibility that Eddie likes men. And could or would date a man. And that crucially, this man would be someone who is not Buck

And this is all happening under the surface of his actual thinking brain

[bibuckagenda]

Ravi “who’s Tommy?” Panikkar meeting Tommy for the first time and he asks him if it’s weird being eddie’s friend and dating Buck since they’re divorced.

[transmechanicus]

WASP moms be like “Your decision to get another tattoo has left me scarred and deformed”

[thedivineelite]

[dubiousculturalartifact]

Obviously I’ve been queerbaited before, like, a genuinely incalculable number of times, and maybe thinking Buddie might actually go canon is a ‘fool me sixteen times, shame on me’ scenario, but I think one big thing that’s keeping my hope alive is this thought: If you genuinely believe that Buddie isn’t going to go canon, 100% zero possibility and absolutely no intention of trying... Then you also have to believe the people who create the show we’re all fans of are purposefully cruel dicks. 

Because we have SEEN what it looks like when the showrunner of 911 knows there is no possibility of it happening, has no plans of it, and is generally trying to avoid accusations of queerbaiting.

It looks like S5 & S6. Little bits here and there, the odd important scene to throw breadcrumbs… but a lot of keeping the two characters apart, being circumspect in interviews, PR shut downs on the actors, etc. The show has proven they are capable and willing to exactly that!

So indulge me, and imagine for a second. They had the conversation with the new network, and the execs told them they wanted to continue with the status quo, to write as if Buddie is never going to go canon, BUT were willing to bend so far as to make one of them queer, to keep the fans happy.

What would that look like?

I don't know, call me foolish.... But I think it would look like keeping the same dynamic from The Drought Seasons. Having them be friends and important to each other but still fairly disconnected, not having as much screen-time, etc, It would look like having Buck’s coming out arc be a SEPARATE, individual narrative. If they just wanted to write Tommy and Buck, and that's it, they could have done things differently.

There are just so many conceivable ways they could have written Buck’s coming out arc, to almost completely separate it from Eddie and have it be made clear, in no uncertain terms, that Buck is bi but that doesn’t mean he cares about Eddie like that, that Eddie is a hetero McHetero.

Buck’s coming out arc could have included him being jealous because he’s suddenly faced with Tommy in the flesh and is insecure about how he was technically ‘Tommy’s replacement’ at the 911, with Eddie not relevant to it at all, or have Maddie and Chimney be the ones to interrupt The Date, or literally any other scenario that didn’t make it all about Eddie. 

They could have had one short scene where Eddie and Buck talk about it, and then the rest would be like, Buck talking to Hen about being queer, Buck interacting just with Tommy and getting to know him, Buck doing a research binge about bisexuality and info-dumping at an inappropriate time during a call, etc etc etc.

That’s how you tell that story and only be writing it for the proverbial ‘general audience’.

But they didn't. They purposefully reversed direction. They chose for Buck’s coming out arc to... highlight his nigh-feral jealousy over Eddie forming a homosocial bond with another guy, having said guy repeat with genuine surprise and shock that it was him and not Eddie that Buck was interested in, have Eddie interrupt their date, have Buck be more worried about lying to Eddie than the fact that he’s queer at all, have Maddie say what she did to Buck about telling Eddie in specifically ambiguous terms…

In a season that also included the Fire Extinguisher Incident, and Buck saying he ‘wishes he could help’ with Eddie’s sexual frustration, and a big increase in social media engagement, and having Buck being Eddie’s rock in the last few episodes while he had a bizarrely platonic affair with his dead wife's doppleganger…

If they did that while KNOWING the plan was actually for Buck/Tommy endgame and Eddie riding off in the sunset with a hot female firefighter who has a cool motorcycle or whatever the fuck, or them both dying in a freak car-washing accident, or….

If they GENUINELY planned that? If the entire Buck jealousy plotline was intended to be nothing more than a deliberate queerbait-and-switch? Then they’re fucking assholes, sorry. They would have to know full well exactly what they were doing, how many people’s hopes and emotional investment they were toying with... If they were actually planning to keep dragging it along for seasons more of baiting and dangling things in front of us, while knowing categorically that they had no plans to deliver? That would be genuinely GOD TIER levels of specific, intentional queerbaiting.

Which could be the case! I won't deny that. Shows have done it before, plenty of times. Tim et al could be callous bastards deliberately instructing the actors to wink it up in interviews and share suggestive Tiktoks, and writing Buck’s coming out arc as being entirely focused around Eddie and throwing out hints... All while laughing behind Buddie fans' backs about our gullibility, how we’re keeping the show trending on the force of our delusions, etc. Maybe that's it! Maybe they just genuinely enjoying fucking with people. Or maybe they were just shitty enough writers that they didn't know what they were doing, and it was all a total accident, somehow, the proverbial monkeys pounding at keyboards and accidentally spelling out B U D D I...

But you know what? Call it naive, but I prefer to think they’re not huge assholes, or hugely incompetent.

That there might actually be a point to all this, somewhere down the line.

I guess we'll find out.

[watchyourbuck]

Why are we all collectively ignoring Eddie saying “you can never have enough closet space” and Tommy doubling down with “ain’t that the truth, right, Evan?” SJDJDJDSJDJS pls im–

[buckera]

some of you might be unhappy to hear this but an interview mentioning that Eddie would want to hang out with his bestie of 7 years and the guy he hung out with at least 3 times a week and who he introduced to his son within weeks of knowing him, when said son no longer lives with (or speaks to) him, especially during a time he isn't dating 2 women simultaneously, being alone bar his coworkers and friends who are clearly very busy with other things...

all of that has nothing to do with one ship or another and maybe for once we could just acknowledge that he is his own character, more than ever before probably and just not act like there is something weird about that or as if it Must Have romantic intentions one way or another

the man is lonely you all, ofc he's gonna lean on the people he's still got left, it's the least surprising thing ever

[nickythesimp0]

Need a scene next season where buck comes home all frustrated and tommy is there just comforting him and it’s all about the new captain they have (don’t come at me i forgot his name) and Buck is all stressed out and breaks down into tommy’s arms and tommy just comforts him talking to him saying bobby will be back soon