#bucktommy advent calendar 2024

[salty-autistic-writer]

Tommy is sick. 

That doesn’t happen often. And especially not like this. This combination of bone-shattering exhaustion and lung-rattling coughing is new. His whole body is shaking, shivering, sweating into the sheets. His nose is dripping without a pause.

It’s disgusting. Tommy is fighting the urge to tell himself to stop being so pathetic and to get up from the bed before someone can discover how weak and useless he is. He knows where that’s coming from.

He can still hear the echo of his father’s voice. Man up. It’s just a sniffle. Real men don’t lay in bed, acting weak. They get up and out there every day.  For Tommy’s Dad, everything in life had been some kind of battle that had to be won. And it’s pretty ironic that the last battle he fought - and lost - was the one he brought to himself with his alcoholism: pancreatic cancer.

It was ugly. Tommy didn’t care. There have been enough days when he hoped it did hurt plenty. But now he’s trying to leave all that behind him. He’s also trying to overcome the life “lessons” his father pushed into his head, where they took root and grew like parasites. Because now he knows it’s not pathetic to be sick. And he doesn’t have to do everything alone. He has people who care about him and most importantly, he has a special person who loves him on good and bad days. No matter what. It’s not always been easy to accept that. To let down his guard and let himself be loved like that. Because in his experience, good things don’t stay and his heart’s been growing tired of all the disappointments. The losses. But this is different, Evan is different, and they deserve a chance because it’s foolish to let ghosts of the past haunt the unknown future. Tommy doesn’t want to be his own self-fulfilling prophecy anymore.

Tommy waits for another coughing fit to pass, then texts Evan.

Sorry, I’m sick. Can’t do the double date tonight. Tell Maddie I’m sorry. Can you by any chance get me some groceries? I can’t move. 

He doesn’t have to wait long for Evan to answer. With a shocked-face-emoji.

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that you're sick, how are you feeling? I’m coming over! And yeah, totally, send me that list. I’m also going to cook some soup for you!

Tommy feels warmer reading the words. But he still texts back:

I feel like a load of bricks fell on me and now I can’t get up, but I don’t want you to get sick too, Evan :/  

Of course, Evan doesn’t want to hear it.

Hey, don’t worry about me, I have the immune system of a horse, and even if your pesty bacteria manage to throw bricks at me too, that only means, we can be sick together! :)  

Tommy’s chuckle turns into another cough. Evan seems to be so good at finding something positive in every kind of situation. It’s an important part of why Tommy loves him so much.

Okay, he texts and then sends a list of things he needs. After that he feels exhausted and breathless again, so he closes his eyes, trying to take a nap until Evan arrives. The thought makes him smile. It’s nice to not be alone. *

Evan’s eyes widen when Tommy opens.

It took all of Tommy’s strength to put a robe on and drag himself to the door, so now he’s swaying, heaving, trying to pull air through his stuffy red nose and feels so hot. Too hot. He’s glad when Evan puts a steadying hand on his back. “Come on, let’s get you back to horizontal. Jesus. You’re so hot,” Evan says, concern making his voice softer. “Thank you,” Tommy croaks and Evan laughs, shaking his head.

Tommy slumps on the couch and watches through heavy-lidded eyes, as Evan empties the grocery bag on the kitchen counter. He pulls out what Tommy asked for, but also … a whole lot of other stuff. Several bags of flour, salt, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla.

“I’m going to make you some tea and soup, then bake cookies. I found a recipe that claims to be the best and I want to find out if they’re right,” Evan announces, moving around Tommy’s kitchen with a kind of familiarity that somehow makes Tommy really emotional. There are tears in his eyes and they are not only from all the coughing. 

“Thank you,” he breathes, blinking the tears away. Evan looks at him with a surprised smile. “For what?”

“For being here,” Tommy says seriously. 

“Of course,” Evan says after a little pause, smiling at him. “Now relax, okay? Maybe take a nap. This will take a little while. And your body needs all the rest it can get.”

“Yeah.” A nap sounds nice. Tommy can already feel his swollen eyes falling shut. He listens to the sounds coming from the kitchen and allows himself to drift off.

A little while later, they are snuggled together on the couch, sharing a blanket. Steaming mugs of tea, bowls with equally steaming chicken soup and a plate of cookies on the table in front of them. A Netflix movie is running, but Tommy doesn’t really know what it’s about. After eating the soup - the hot liquid feeling like a balm for his scratchy throat - and sipping his tea, he keeps dozing off, his head resting on Evan’s shoulder.

He’s sick and everything hurts, but he feels comfortable and loved. So it’s not as bad as it could be. 

“How are they?” Evan asks, when Tommy tries a cookie, tilting his head and eagerly waiting for feedback.

Tommy chews, swallows, and then looks at Evan with a sad smile. “Well, the combination of crunch and chewiness is definitely 10/10, but unfortunately, I can’t tell you more than that. Because I can’t taste much right now. Not being able to taste chocolate chip cookies. I think that’s the saddest thing that happened to me today.”

Evan makes a sympathetic noise and cuddles Tommy closer to him, giving him a kiss on his head. “It’s okay. As soon as you feel better, I am going to make them again.”

(A03 Link, Written for @tevanadvent2024, Day 18: Cookies)

[tevanadvent2024]

Bucktommy/Tevan Advent Calendar 2024

It's time! Here are the prompts as well as the rules for the event which starts December 1! Normal is boring, so you have 25 regular one-word prompts plus 25 super fun "Cards Against Humanity" prompts to spice things up! Have fun and spread love!

Prompts

Rules and links:

There will be 25 one-word prompts and 25 Cards Against Humanity Prompts. You can interpret all the prompts as freely as you like and combine them in whichever way you want! The main goal is to have fun and spread love for our ship!

You don’t have to post a creation for a prompt on a specific day. You can always use all the prompts for the entire duration of the event!

Every form of creation is welcome, no matter if it is fanfiction, edit, video, art, manip, gif, headcanon, or drabble!

Use the hashtags #tevanadventcalendar and #bucktommyadventcalendar so I can share your creations and everyone else can cherish them too!

There is a collection on Archive Of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/bucktommy_tevan_adventcalendar2024

Please tag all your works correctly and use trigger warnings if necessary!

Please no character bashing or hate towards any other ship! We want to spread positivity and love!

The creations for this event should be Bucktommy-centric but of course, you can include other ships and characters too!

I created a carrd for the prompts, in case you can’t read them on the pictures: https://tevanadventcalendar.carrd.co/

[weewoowings]

Day 19 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Pilot

Rating: M

Warnings: Severe injuries, Hospitals

Words: 2469

Pilot

The call came during a rare moment of peace in Station 118’s rec room. Buck was sprawled on the couch, half-watching some old action movie, when his phone buzzed on the table. It wasn’t unusual for him to get messages during downtime, but the name on the screen made his stomach drop.

Harbour/217 🚁

He sprang up and snatched the phone from the table, his heart already racing.

“Hello?”

“Evan Buckley?”

“Yes, this is him. Who’s this?”

“This is Captain Ramirez from the 217. I’m calling about firefighter Kinard... there’s been an accident. His helicopter went down. He’s being airlifted to the Presbyterian right now.”

[bucktommyverse]

Summary: After a long, exhausting day, Buck and Tommy arrive home just as a rainstorm begins. Instead of staying inside, they step out onto the patio, letting the rain wash away the stress of the day. Dancing and laughing together under the downpour, they rediscover the joy of being in each other’s arms, proving that home is wherever they’re together, and hope for more days like this to come.

Bucktommy Advent Calendar 2024 Day 2!!!

[sad-girl-hours23]

2024 Fic Round-Up (strap in cause I love to yap)

Thanks for the tag @sugdenlovesdingle

I currently have 39 works posted to AO3 this year for bucktommy.

I only started writing again this June and my first work was The Places You Love to Be Kissed which is a 25-chapter "fic" told in 100-word drabbles of Buck's "favorite places to be kissed"

It's one of my most favorite creations. I had such a blast writing it & planning it (to some degree anyway, I did have to create a timeline lol) & I hope to continue the series with more lists.

I never meant to write it, I just kept writing down fic ideas waiting for something that could be an actual story (I'm not great with plots, okay?) but then I thought of this moment of Buck confessing his early relationship insecurities to Hen, listing all the ways he could mess it up (which became Prelude: Clues & Accusations) and her telling him to make a different list. And, Buck & I both love lists, okay? And I took the list idea from Lisa Nola's Love Listography journal and it just grew from there. The first few chapters came easy and so I posted them to AO3 (I always tell myself I'm never going to post a WIP and I also never listen) and I'm so glad I did because it forced me to create an actual plan, at least to decide on the number of chapters, otherwise I probably would have written it forever lol So I decided on 25 chapters (arbitrary, but it just has good vibes, ya know?) and I had already had the first chapter as a pre-lude and I already had written Maddie's chapter as an interlude before I realized that it deserved to be an actual line on Buck's list and so I decided on 20 list-item chapters (the actual # of lines in the journal, because I'm a freak lol) and then 5 additional chapters spread throughout (pre-lude, 3 interludes, and a post-lude) - where they aren't list-items but short little silly/fun breaks from the not-quite-narrative through-line where the list is always mentioned (Does it need to be stated that I work best with specific constraints and forms? lol). There's also several Clue references for no reason other than it's one of my obsessions.

I could go on forever about this, but I'll just leave a few of my favorite chapters here for reference

Tommy's Art Studio

Trader Joe's

Nina's Lounge (Bobby’s chapter 😫)

Garden Courtyard, Part 1 (Maddie 🥺🥺🥺)

Garden Courtyard, Part 2

The Grand Hall (Hen 😌😌)

Finally moving on to my other works...

31 of which are drabbles for the 118 Daily Drabble (posted separately because I'm a slut for kudos & it's just nice to see which individual ones resonate with people)

5 of which I wrote for the Bucktommy Advent Calendar 2024 I really enjoyed writing these, especially the ones below (the one excluded is not really fic)

I Know The Last Page So Well, I Can't Read The First

Bucktommy Bones? 

Spumoni

Hold Me Hostage, Arrest My Attention

I created Tumblr Ficlets for any microfics and not-quite-fics I post here (10 so far)

Rearranging The Alphabet To Put U And I Together is an A-Z unconnected drabble collection that is half-way completed

If you survived this post, consider yourself tagged 😜 (no pressure)

[redgoldblue]

Fic Writing Review 2024 🌈

tagged(ish) by @itwoodbeprefect and following in her footsteps - being equally, or in fact slightly more, late with it - I will refrain from actually tagging anybody and just say that if you want to do this feel free to be tagged by me!

Words and Fics (on ao3) 📚

words posted: 55,663

fics posted: 5 / 6 if you count the fanvid / 29 if you count the fanvid AND the individual advent calendar chapters

first fic: there you go pulling me right back in (H50, Steve/Danny)

last fic: Love Your Elf (Star Trek, k/s) as part of the advent calendar

-

Ships and Fandoms ⚓

in individuals we have one (1) H50 McDanno, one (1) Starsky & Hutch S/H, one (1) Man From UNCLE Napollya (plus one Napoleon, lightly Napollya, fanvid), one (1) 911 Bucktommy, and one (1) mixed. If we break down the mixed, we've got:

H50: 6 (of varying mcdanno levels)

S&H: 5 (of varying S/H levels)

MFU: 5 (of varying Napollya levels)

911: 5 (of varying, but mostly strong, bucktommy levels)

Leverage: 3 (one gen, two thiefsome)

Star Trek: 2 (of mild k/s levels)

Doctor Odyssey: 1 (ody3)

Due South: 1 (rayk/fraser)

-

Top 5 Fics by Kudos 🏆

i love doing this when i've literally only got 5 kudosable fics and 6 kudosable works. there is a >300 difference between 1 and 5

sell your fear and leave me standing here (911, bucktommy)

there you go pulling me right back in (H50, mcdanno)

Advent Calendar 2024 (mixed)

Centrefolds / Distal Breaks (MFU, napollya)

Shaking In My Thighs That I Can't Control (S&H, S/H)

-

Top 5 Favorite Fics 💖

now this is more interesting. in no particular order:

sell your fear has to be on there - i wrote 12k in, like, two weeks, entirely fuelled by spite at the bucktommy breakup. also, it features gay bingo. i am still enamoured with sending buck to gay bingo.

Illya Addams-Kin - it's. i. look, it's a muncle-addams family crossover, I don't know what more you want me to say. i will say more, though, which is that writing the addamses was absolutely delightful and i highly recommend it.

i know you got my back and you know i got you - who! wants! >3000 words! of pure! canon-compliant! threesome! porn! on a ship! i do. and so did many other doctor odyssey writers in the wake of That Episode, but it was still fun. so many cakes in that particular bakery.

everybody has a reason to begin again - i like early season steve and danny. i also like late season steve and danny. i mostly have a problem with mid-to-late season steve and danny, but i do like them too. however, this is very early steve and danny, and... i like them.

Open Channel D (For Dromedary) - dialogue-only my beloved. napoleon and illya's comm conversations my beloved. my two beloveds combined.

...advent calendar had a good year here.

-

Fandom Fic Events 🤝

no <333. unfortunately.

-

Projects for 2025 👀

hm. well. I swear to GOD i'm going to finish a) The Honesty Affair (MFU Napollya) and b) what is currently called Aunty Huggy and the Petes (S&H, basically gen), the two wips I swore I was going to finish in 2024. really though this time guys, I promise.

The other wips I'm currently working on, at least in fanfic land, are a) state of disrepair, as ever (h50, as if y'all didn't know); b) three medics and a baby (doctor odyssey, the fic of this post); c) well. uh. i started watching white collar. as you might have gathered from my blog. so c) and d) are, respectively, a White Collar episode coda and a White Collar 5+1 (both peter/neal/elizabeth), and are actually the things i am most actively working on. Of all of those, the WC coda is the only one I'm going to swear with any certainty will be finished relatively soon (i've learnt from last year), but. one can hope.

In non-active-wips, I do want to take Poor Mrs Nagowski from the advent calendar (bucktommy 3+1) and expand it into a proper 5+1. And artistry, my very old Suits wip, did actually get worked on last year and is now at 15.8k with 2/3 chapters finished, so you never know. maybe there's hope for it yet.

[salty-autistic-writer]

Buck breathes. The ventilator hisses.

The silence extends in tune with Tommy’s rising chest.

Watching it fall again, Buck rubs his knees, shifting on the plastic chair that’s too small. He glances at the clock on the wall and sighs, feeling torn apart. One part of him struggles to find words. The other reaches for the door. The conflict drains him. But he stays. 

Buck stays because he knows what it feels like to be left behind, and he doesn’t want to be the one leaving.

When his words finally find their way back to him, they are merely more than a hoarse whisper. But they echo back from the white walls in a way that almost seems too loud for the solemn air of waiting .

“It’s strange,” Buck says. “I never have problems finding words. I’m the one who talks too much. At least people keep telling me that. Not you, of course. You always listened.”

Until ... until you walked out and didn't give me a chance to make you listen.

Buck swallows, his eyes still focused on the barely-there movement of Tommy’s chest because that’s the only sign of life he gets apart from the machine telling him that Tommy’s heart is still beating and the feeble twitch of a muscle now and then, that doesn’t really mean anything, as Buck was told.

“Not that long ago,” he continues, now talking to fight the rising fear that Tommy stops breathing, “I was in your place. I was the one in a coma. Because lightning struck me, my heart stopped for minutes and I fell into a coma.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “Still seems so surreal sometimes. When people, family, tell me about it … About how I was dead. How I wasn’t breathing on my own. How they came into my room, talking to me. Holding my hand. Telling me to fight. To wake up. I think they helped me find my way back. And … and I know you think that you’re alone. But you’re not. You can’t just walk out because you’re scared and then think I stop caring, Tommy.”

Buck takes a deep breath, reaching out to take Tommy’s hand in his. “Come back,” he says. “Come back, you idiot. My fridge is filled with cake you have to eat. Jee is asking for her uncle Tommy. Chimney is still waiting to watch that movie with you. Eddie needs more Muay Thai lessons because it really helps him to distract himself. Bobby still wants to show you how to make a proper lasagna. Hen and Karen still want the book back they lent you and they want to remind you that you promised Denny and Mara a flight. Come back, Tommy. Come back and let me say what I couldn’t say because you walked out too fast. Come back. We’re a family.”

It grows into a mantra. Whispered and repeated in Buck’s mind. A mantra. Like a prayer.

Come back.

And Buck breathes. The ventilator hisses.

Come back.

Tommy’s hand twitches in his and Buck doesn’t know if it means nothing or everything.

Come back.

For the tevan advent calendar 2024, Day 8: Family (AO3 Link)

[weewoowings]

Day 12 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Fire

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Words: 1702

Fire

Buck hadn’t planned to be running on fumes by the time the latest call ended, but the shift had been relentless. The 118 had been bouncing from one incident to the next—a fender bender turned freeway pileup, a warehouse alarm malfunction, and a high-rise fire across town. By the time Bobby dismissed them, Buck was ready to collapse into bed.

Or, at least, he thought he was.

As he peeled off his gear, his phone buzzed persistently in his pocket. Hen’s voice floated over his shoulder as he fumbled to grab it.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Hen said, looking at her phone with wide eyes as Buck peeled off his gear.

“What?” Buck asked, freezing mid-motion, his heart already pounding.

Hen turned the screen toward him. “Athena just texted me. She said they’ve been trying to reach you—there’s a fire at your building. Looks like the 217 is on scene.”

[salty-autistic-writer]

What makes life worth living? 

Tommy didn’t always have an answer to this question. He remembers a moment in his therapist’s office when he thought about it and didn’t know what to say. It was right after he left the military and was supposed to prove that he was stable enough to work for the fire department.

The question was: What makes life worth living?

But his mind decided to change it to: What makes my life worth living?

And suddenly Tommy got scared. He was at a loss for words. He just sat there and stared into the void, the question echoing around in his head, bouncing off the walls. The therapist didn’t push, but he also clearly didn’t approve of the silence, because he scheduled even more appointments.

What makes life worth living?

The thing is. Tommy always felt a little lost in some way. Like he was a lonely boat on the ocean, thrown around by invisible waves. His parent’s marriage shattered in front of his eyes and their family fell apart. Friendships never stuck. Relationships didn’t even get a chance to begin before they ended. The army was a means to an end. At least it gave him flying which always made him feel free in a certain way, but it also gave him nightmares filled with explosions, gunshots and screaming.

Now that was over too and Tommy was back at the start. Wherever that was supposed to be. He never really felt like he belonged somewhere. Like he fit in. The fire department was probably not going to be any different.

What makes life worth living?

You wake up in the morning, do your routine, go to work, do the chores, waste time with a hobby, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. It’s best to not falter. Not to give yourself time to think. Because then you start to think about questions like: what makes life worth living? And you are going to realise that your life is not that great. That something is missing. That you’re not happy. And that you don’t know how to fix something without knowing the reason why it’s broken in the first place.

What makes life worth living?

It’s astonishing how much of a difference it can make to meet the right people at the exact right time. They make you start to see things differently. Make you think. Maybe even make you realise some things about yourself. Like the fact that you were hiding behind several layers of masks and that not everyone shies away when you lift them. Or that the past made you so scared, that you are standing in your own way, keeping yourself from making new happier experiences because you already fear that the future is never going to be any different from what you know. They show you that it’s not too late to change.

What makes life worth living?

It’s Christmas and the merry tone of Jingle Bells floats through the living room. The rainbow-coloured baubles on the Christmas Tree reflect the lights of the garlands decorating the windows. Tommy looks at the people surrounding him. Maddie and Chimney are laughing and filming while Jee and Mara are unpacking their presents. Denny and Chris are already playing with a new Rubik's cube. Eddie is assuring Evan that no, he can’t eat any more cookies but that they really are delicious. Bobby and Athena are talking to Hen and Karen, all with steaming mugs filled with mulled wine in their hands.

What makes life worth living?

Tommy smiles. It’s the little moments, he decides then. Little moments that brighten your day. Little moments spent with people who really care about you and accept you for who you are. Little family moments. And moments filled with good things. Nice food, music, laughter, surprise, dancing. Moments that create memories which you can come back to on darker days.

Evan comes over with his plate of cookies, beaming at Tommy. He’s wearing a Santa Hat and the little white bobble at the end of it jumps with each of his steps. “Do you want another cookie, babe?”

“Of course,” Tommy says, smiling.

This is what makes life worth living.

(Written for tevan advent caleandar Day 1 - AO3 Link)

[tevanadvent2024]

Buck is ready for the Christmas spirit! Are you? Join the Bucktommy / Tevan advent calendar event 2024 and stay tuned for more information soon!

[weewoowings]

Day 20 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Couch

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Words: 2434

Couch

Five Times the Couch Was a Problem (and One Time It Was Perfect)

1. The Battle of the Couch Blanket

Tommy had been home from the hospital for a week, and the couch had become his prison and sanctuary in equal measure. His leg, encased in a cast and elevated on pillows, stretched across the length of it while Buck flitted around like an overzealous nurse.

“Evan,” Tommy called from the couch. “Where’s the blanket?”

Buck poked his head out from the kitchen, a cookie in his mouth and a mug in his hand. “You mean the one you kicked off five minutes ago?”

Tommy scowled. “It was too warm then. It’s not now.”

With a dramatic sigh, Buck retrieved the blanket from the floor and draped it over Tommy’s lap with exaggerated precision. “Anything else, Your Highness? Your crown? Some snacks delivered by gold tray?”

[weewoowings]

Day 4 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Hostage

Rated: G

Warnings: None

Words: 498

Hostage

Buck grinned mischievously as he held up Tommy’s treasured coffee thermos, the sleek black one with the firefighter emblem that Tommy never went anywhere without. It had been innocently left on the kitchen counter during Tommy’s last visit, and Buck, ever the opportunist, saw his chance.

The first text was simple: a picture of the thermos propped on a chair, a Post-it note stuck to it that read HELP ME.

[weewoowings]

Day 22 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Night

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Words: 1127

Night

The house was still, the kind of quiet that only settled after a long day. Tommy sat on the couch, his leg propped up on the coffee table, his cast resting on a pillow Buck had carefully arranged earlier. A mug of tea steamed on the side table next to him, the scent of chamomile curling into the air.

From the kitchen came the faint clatter of dishes, followed by a soft hum that Tommy recognized immediately. Buck was putting the last of the dinner mess away, his voice carrying just enough of a tune to make Tommy smile.

[weewoowings]

Day 14 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Evan

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Words: 1497

Evan

The early evening light cast long shadows across Tommy’s living room as Buck sat on the couch, his hands loosely wrapped around a mug of tea that had long gone cold. Tommy was across from him, perched on the arm of a chair, watching him with quiet curiosity.

“Evan,” Tommy said softly, breaking the silence.

Buck glanced up, his lips twitching into a faint smile. Tommy was the only one who ever called him that—just Evan. The name sounded different coming from him, softer somehow, like a whispered secret.

“What?” Buck asked, though he already knew Tommy’s answer.

“Nothing. Just wanted to see you smile.” Tommy shrugged, the corner of his mouth lifting in a teasing smile. “And I like saying it.”

Buck let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “You’re the only one who gets away with it, you know.”

[weewoowings]

Day 21 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Nightmares (PTSD/Trauma)

Rating: M

Warnings: PTSD

Words: 1676

Nightmares (PTSD/Trauma)

The room was silent except for the rhythmic ticking of the wall clock, its sound sharp and unforgiving in the quiet. But the stillness was broken by a low, guttural noise—a sound too raw, too filled with anguish to belong to anything peaceful.

Tommy stirred, his legs caught in the tangle of sheets that twisted like vines around his limbs. His breaths came in sharp, uneven gasps, his chest rising and falling as though he were running a race no one else could see.

In the muted moonlight streaming through the window, Buck’s eyes snapped open. His ears caught the faint murmurs spilling from Tommy’s lips, the quiet “no, no” escalating into something more fractured and desperate.

“Tommy?” Buck whispered, his voice still thick with sleep, but his heart already hammering in his chest.

[weewoowings]

Day 18 of the BuckTommy Advent calendar! Tis the season folks!

Title: Cookies

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Words: 1520

Cookies

The scent of sugar, butter, and vanilla filled the air as Tommy walked into his kitchen, only to stop dead in his tracks. The counters were completely covered—cookie sheets, cooling racks, bowls of icing, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and what appeared to be at least half a dozen batches of cookies in various stages of completion.

The pilot blinked, his eyes darting from the chaos to the man responsible. Buck—well, Evan, as Tommy alone got to call him—stood at the counter with a dusting of flour on his nose and a focused expression, piping intricate designs onto a tray of snowflake-shaped cookies.

“Evan,” Tommy said, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow. “What the hell is happening in my kitchen right now?”