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callmebrycelee · 9 months ago

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9-1-1 REACTION

We finally get the conclusion for our harrowing season 7 opener! This reaction is for the season 7, third episode “Capsized” which originally aired March 28, 2024. The episode was written by Juan Carlos Coto and Lyndsey Beaulieu and directed by executive producer and Glee and American Horror Story director Bradley Buecker. Spoilers ahead!

“It’s the pungent aroma of orange people having sex.” – Kianna Harris

We begin the episode by going back to the very beginning. We are introduced to the Harris family in a scene very much reminiscent of the 1990 comedy film Home Alone starring Macauley Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern and Catherine O’Hara. We see the youngest Harris sibling, Corey (played by Leo Abelo Perry) sitting on the curb playing his Nintendo Switch while his parents Lonnie and Eliza Harris (played by Eddie Blackwell Williams and Amy Argyle) argue over who is supposed to order the car for their drive to the airport. The rest of the Harris family is rounded out by older siblings Kianna Harris (played by Kiara Muhammad) and Keshawn Harris (Samuel Dunn III) and their grandmother Darlene Harris (played by Deborah Marcano). In true Home Alone fashion, they almost leave Corey behind.

We switch over the cruise ship where Kianna and Keshawn are complaining about the smell of the ocean air. Meanwhile, Corey is still glued to his video game. We then see the Harris family walk by Norman and Lola Peterson (played by Daniel Roebuck and Romy Rosemont). Lola compliments Darlene on her hat. We also see quite a few moments of Corey nearly getting left behind including the moment when all passengers are told to evacuate the ship. When Eliza realizes Corey is not in the lifeboat with the rest of the family, she gets off in search of him. Poor Corey is blissfully unaware of the all the chaos erupting all around him until he feels the explosion several floors below. He sits up and climbs out of the top bunk. We see Corey looking out the window at the giant wave coming towards the ship.

Cue title card.

“What are you all doing on the ceiling?!” – Norman Peterson

We see the aftermath of the ship capsizing. Everyone is accounted for except for First Mate Kenneth (played by Anthony Carvello) who we last saw in the crow’s nest trying to send a distress call right before the wave hit. Since nothing was ever mentioned about the poor guy in this episode, I’m gonna assume he’s sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of the ocean. OMG, they killed Kenny! Sorry, had to do it. Speaking of people not long for this world, our belligerent and greedy passenger Jarod (played by Christopher Livingston) is lying crumpled on what used to be the ceiling. The rest of our crew is huddled around the walls of the room while Norman Peterson is still strapped to the craps table which is currently on the ceiling.

These first three episodes of the season are supposed to be an homage to the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure starring Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters, but this scene reminded me of the upside-down puzzle in the 2019 film Escape Room starring Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, and Tyler Labine. Bobby is concerned about the table Norman’s attached falling from what used to be the floor and goes to work using some red straps to fashion a rope which he uses to repel down on top of the bottom of the table. He ties the same red rope to each of the table’s legs and then uses a wrench to unscrew the bolts holding the table in place. The others down below slowly lower Bobby and Norman down. My heart was pounding so hard during this sequence. We usually don’t get to see Bobby in Tom Cruise Mission Impossible mode. He usually leaves the heroics up to Buck. Athena tells Bobby she wishes Buck could’ve seen him do what he just did. He tells her that he would’ve rather seen Buck do that.

“Bobby and Athena’s cruise ship might be missing.” – Maddie Buckley, to Howard “Chimney” Han

Back on dry land, Maddie talks with Chimney about recent events. She tells Chimney that Hen has been cleared by Chief Simpson to come back to the 118. Chimney wonders that if that’s the case, why hasn’t she come back to work. He asks Maddie how she knows all of this, and Maddie tells him about Hen’s visit to the call center. She tells him that Bobby and Athena’s cruise ship might be missing and that the Coast Guard has attempted tried to reach out but hasn’t heard anything. Chimney asks if Hen reported any of this information to the chief. Maddie says that she did, and that Chief Simpson told her to report back to work. The 118 gets a call which means Chimney and Maddie have to end their conversation. Buck asks who is missing: Bobby and Athena or Hen. Chimney says both. As the ladder truck leaves, Hen sneaks into the station before the doors close.

“I won’t be an idiot if you won’t be a selfish harlot. Too late!” – Norman Peterson, to Lola Peterson

Back on the ship, now that Norman has been lowered from the ceiling, Bobby suggests they all head to the bottom of the ship, which is now the top of the ship, remembering there’s an open hole there after the explosion. Julian (played by Rick Cosnett) thinks this is a bad idea because even if they somehow manage to make it to the top, there will be no one to save them. Lola tells him to lay down and die. Ouch! Bobby says that while they don’t know what will be waiting for them at the hull, they do know that if they continue to stay where they are, the ship will sink. The funniest part of this scene is when Bobby asks Julian to assist with moving Norman. Norman doesn’t want the man who has been having an affair with his wife to lay a finger on him. Lola tells him to not be an idiot. Norman tells all of them that if he’s going to die, he’s going to do it with dignity. With the help of the ship’s doctor, he is able to get up on his feet. The group make it out of the casino right as a grand piano falls down on the glass center causing water to rush inside.

“Nobody wants to look for a ship that hasn’t asked for help.” – Hen Wilson

Hen sneaks into the office and fills out a Los Angeles Fire Department Property Resource Requisition form. She gets a call from Maddie who tells her she’s trying to get people to take their situation seriously. Maddie asks where she is and tells her she knows she didn’t go back to the 118. Hen asks if she’s checking up on her. Maddie tells her whatever it is she’s doing she doesn’t have to do it alone. Hen tells her that she tried using official channels but that didn’t work. Now she is going another direction. Maddie asks her what that means and Hen ends the call by telling her the less she knows the better.

“I know a little about you. That little squeak you make.” – Julian Enes, to Lola Peterson

The ship is taking on water and Athena questions the path they are taking. Security Officer Wes (played Denzel Johnson) suggests using a door behind one of the cafes to access the maintenance shaft to get to higher ground. When he attempts to open the door, there’s another explosion. Security Officer Wes takes the brunt of the damage and quickly succumbs to his injuries. Bobby, Athena, and the rest of their gang are shocked by his death but press on without him. It was super sad watching the security officer’s body floating in the water. Now, just in case you’re keeping tabs on our remaining survivors, we have Bobby, Athena, the Petersons, Captain Ochoa (played by Mercedes Colon), Dr. Gibson (played by Eddie Jemison), and Julian left. At this point, the body count is rising faster than the water.

“That could be why I haven’t been getting your Christmas cards.” – Tommy Kinard, to Hen Wilson

Hen takes her requisition form over to the Los Angeles Fire Department Air Operations unit. She introduces herself as acting captain from the 118 and tells the pilot named Melton (played by Thomas Hobson) she has an emergency requisition for a chopper and pilot. Melton looks over her form and tells her he hasn’t heard anything about a missing cruise ship. Hen says the situation is fast-moving due to the hurricane. Melton continues to question Hen’s motives but thankfully an old friend comes to the rescue. Former Los Angeles firefighter Tommy Kinard (played by Lou Ferrigno Jr.) tells Melton he and Hen used to work together at the 118 back when she was just a probie. I was so happy to see Tommy. I’m a big Lou Ferrigno Jr fan and the last time we saw him was way back in season 2 in the episode “Bobby Begins Again”.

Tommy tells Hen he has a chopper fueled and ready to go. Hen is confused by all of this and asks him what going on. Tommy tells her he’s just helping out an old friend. She asks him who called him. Tommy opens the door to the chopper and Hen sees Chimney, Eddie, and Buck inside. Eddie hands her a jacket and tells her to get inside.

“C’mon, guys. Stop agreeing with each other like you’re fighting. It’s weird.” – Eddie Diaz, to Howard “Chimney” Han and Hen Wilson

Tommy flies them right into path of the hurricane. Things are really intense inside the chopper. Eddie and Buck attempt to break the tension by getting Hen and Chimney to talk to each other. Chimney is miffed because he thinks Hen doesn’t believe they all have her back. He says that they all faked having food poisoning to get them out of their shift at the 118. Hen admits that Chimney didn’t do anything wrong and that he doesn’t have to prove anything to her. Chimney tells her she didn’t do anything wrong either. Buck asks the two of them if they’re good. Hen says they’ve always been good. Chimney asks her why she didn’t reach out to them for help. Hen tells him she knew that if she told him, he’d want to tag along, and she didn’t want him to risk anything over some wild hunch she had. Buck says he will back her hunches any day of the week. No questions asked. Eddie voices his agreement. Buck says that if there’s any chance Bobby and Athena are in trouble, he doesn’t mind getting fired. Tommy says he doesn’t think anyone should be worried about getting fired because they’re probably not going to survive this mission. Yikes!

“Bobby! Bring him back to his mother and bring yourself back to me.” – Athena Grant, to Bobby Nash

Back on the ship, our crew has stumbles across Eliza Harris, mother of Corey Harris, trapped under fallen debris. While Athena attends to her, Norman and Lola have a conversation about the state of their marriage. Lola admits that she let Julian use her. When Norman asks her why, she tells him it’s because he stopped touching her. She then points out that they’ve been together since they were 17 years old and that she’s never been with another man. I actually laughed out loud when Norman responded with, “Neither have I”. He asks her if she’s fallen out of love with him. Lola says she thought she had but she was wrong. Norman says he thought they’d be together until they both died, and Lola says she still wants that. Norman says that she might still get it.

Meanwhile, Bobby is trying to pry open the door that currently has Eliza’s arm penned. He breaks open a nearby case and takes out an axe. I got really nervous watching this scene because the last time I saw an axe brought out on this show, someone lost their arm. Thankfully, Bobby uses the axes to break the handle on the door. He’s now able to slide open the door; however, he quickly realizes the door was acting as a tourniquet for Eliza’s arm. With the door moved, Eliza is bleeding profusely. Bobby sends Julian to grab some blankets out of one of the nearby cabins to use as a tourniquet. Dr. Gibson finally does the thing he purports to do and manages to stop the bleeding. Bobby tells Julian the two of them are going to have to carry Eliza but the mother of three refuses to go without her son. Captain Ochoa says that the son’s room is on deck twelve. Athena offers to go look for him, but Bobby tells her to stay put. He will be the one to go search for Corey but not before he and Athena share one of those passionate kisses you only see in the movies.

“Who cares!?” – Tommy Kinard and the 118

Tommy flies Hen, Chimney, Buck, and Eddie to the vicinity of where the ship last showed up on radar. He tells them they have about twelve minutes to search before he has to turn them around and head back. A message from Chief Simpson comes in over the radio but Tommy pretends there’s static and shuts off the radio.

“You were right. That is one big hole.” – Norman Peterson

Athena leads the others minus Bobby to the giant hole made by the explosion. Athena hears a helicopter and tells the others that whoever is searching for them is expecting to see a cruise ship, not the bottom of one. Julian climbs up to the top and attempts to fire the flare gun. He slips, falls, and dies. I hate that he died. Yes, it’s because of him that things are as dire as they are and he’s definitely to blame for the deaths of First Mate Kenneth, passenger Jarod, and Security Officer Wes. I do wish he would’ve stayed alive, so he could’ve been taken into custody. Bobby manages to locate Corey and this kid has the nerve to say, he doesn’t talk to strangers. Lola, meanwhile, goes underwater and grabs the flare gun that Julian dropped as his body plummeted into the water. Athena sends off a flare and Tommy and the others are finally able to see the capsized ship. Just as a Bobby and Corey are about to drown, Buck and Eddie open a hatch and rescue them.

“Let’s talk about it in 10 or 20.” – Norman Peterson, to Lola Peterson

Much like the episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star where Judd and Grace’s truck crashes into a lake, a lot of details of the actual rescue are glossed over in favor of a scene where we see everyone safe and reunited with their loved ones. Chief Simpson delivers a press conference and makes it seem like the rescue mission was his idea. Hen is relieved none of them are getting fired for going rogue to save Bobby and Athena. Hen thanks Maddie for tattling and Maddie says she will always have her back. I really like this scene because as I’ve said in a previous reaction, we rarely get scenes between these two characters which is funny to me considering how close Hen and Chimney are. Bobby gets off the helicopter and sees Athena. The two of them rush over to each other and share a kiss straight out of a golden age Hollywood film. Lola goes to see Norman before he is rushed off to the hospital. She asks if he’ll ever be able to forgive her. He implies they’ll talk about it after she gets out of jail. Lola is then escorted away by an officer. Bobby tells Hen he is proud of her and calls her captain.

“Alone at last.” – Bobby Nash, to Athena Grant

In the final scene of the episode, a weary Bobby and Athena return to their home with takeout food. They sit on the sofa and sit in silence. This silence is much different from the kind Athena was worried about. Bobby jokingly says he needs a vacation and Athena says she needs a toothbrush. They talk about how all of their luggage is sitting at the bottom of the ocean and share a laugh. I love how they’re both wearing very touristy T-shirts they probably got from a gift shop once they made it back to land. The two of them kiss and run off to the bedroom.

Wow! What a satisfying ending to an amazing season opener. 9-1-1 is back and better than ever and they have the ratings to prove it. Words cannot express how happy I am to have this show back on TV. The move to ABC was a brilliant idea. Not only did it save the show, but the viewership has also gone up considerably. According to the 9-1-1 page on Wikipedia, since the switch from FOX to ABC, ratings have gone up from an average of 4 million viewers to over 5 million viewers. If the show continues in this direction, there’s no doubt in my mind about getting another season.

I’m glad we got the happy ending I was wanting for this story. Yes, we lost some people along the way, but I’m especially glad Athena, Bobby, and Norman Peterson survived. I honestly feel bad for Norman and how things unfolded. He seems like a decent guy and yes, maybe he did neglect his wife, but the response to that should never have been to cheat on him and turn to a life of crime. I hope we get to see him again at some point and see that he’s moved on with his life, hopefully not with Lola. I cannot see a reality where Lola doesn’t go away for a long, long time. I wonder what her son thinks about all of this. I imagine it must’ve been really embarrassing for him to see his mother naked on a billboard pointing a gun at the LAPD and LAFD.

I’m also happy we got a happy ending for Hen and Chimney. These two are #friendgoals and I’ve never seen them fight like this before. I’m glad Hen was able to admit there were things she could’ve done better regarding the drunk driving incident, and I like that Chimney acknowledged he could have done things better as well. I’m glad that in the end, Chimney, Buck, and Eddie proved they had Hen’s back no matter what. They all risked their lives and their livelihoods to save their captain and Athena. That’s real friendship right there. I’m also glad that Tommy helped them out because he’s a big part of Hen and Chimney’s origin story at the 118.

Lastly, things seem to be back on track for Athena and Bobby. I like that their relationship issues weren’t magically remedied. They still have a lot of work to do but at least each of them understands where the other is coming from. Athena realizes that she’s not alone in the relationship and Bobby knows now that he is deserving of his second chance at love and life. I hope the next time we see them in therapy they’re together. Bobby and Athena are endgame as far as I’m concerned so I wasn’t too afraid for their relationship; however, it’s good to see that all relationships need maintenance.

This was an incredible episode, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. According to Wikipedia, we’re only getting ten episodes this season which I don’t mind. After the strikes last summer, I think most of us are just happy to have any new television right now. As far as disaster episodes go, this one has been moved to the top of my list. The tsunami episodes from season 3 and the earthquake episodes from season 2 have been shifted down to the second and third spots on my list, respectively. I look forward to more action-packed episodes on 9-1-1. Until next time …

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hekate1308 · 1 year ago

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Is It Over? Is It Really Over?

Prompt: Is it over? Is it really over?

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Drowley

“Is it over? Is it really over?” Dean asks, letting himself fall upon the bed face first. He knows he’s being dramatic, but first of, his last finals week is finally over and done with, and second, if there is someone who doesn’t have the right to complain about someone being dramatic, it’s his roommate.

He therefore answers in kind, by apparently falling unto his own bed (if the sounds are anything to go by) and sighing. “It seems so. I didn’t’ think this day would come, either.”

Dean just groans again. He knows he has to get up eventually, in a year or so, but for now he will just stay here and rest. “At least we never have to do it again” he then declares because it’s the only thing he has to cling to at the moment. Granted, it doesn’t mean much to him because it has not yet sunk in, but it will.

And of course they’ll have to go celebrate, but right now, he wouldn’t be capable of moving if someone came running into the room and yelled that a robber was trying to steal Baby. So instead, he’ll just stay here and breathe.

As a matter of fact, he’ll probably do that for the next – one or two years. Nothing wrong with that, certainly.

A few moments of silence. Then, suddenly, Crowley asks, “Do you want coffee?”

And that’s right there is why Dean has been keeping him around. No one else seems to really get it, except for Garth, but Garth likes everyone, so it doesn’t count. But beneath the coldness and the sarcasm and the ruthlessness, Crowley is really just a big softie, as he had just proven yet again.

“Yeah, thanks” he mutters and hears Crowley getting up – how, that is the question, how does he even manage to do that – to make it.

He must have dozed off for a bit because the next thing he becomes aware of is Crowley placing the cup on his bedside table, and he forces himself to roll around and sit up in order to drink it. Would just be impolite not to do it, since Crowley made it especially.

Naturally, it’s exactly how he likes it, but that’s to be expected from someone you’ve been living with for three years.

As he takes a big gulp, Dean suddenly becomes aware that this is going to be over soon now, too. Somehow, the thought never occurred to him before. It seems almost bizarre that he will no longer be living with Crowley, they’ve grown so used to one another –

He’s also easy on the eyes, and the only reason Dean never went for it is because this might have made everything complicated.

But that doesn’t matter now, does it? They’ll be moving out, and –

He tells himself that it’s the exhaustion, nothing else. He doesn’t even know if Crowley likes him that way, but probably not, because he tends to take what he wants. So there is no point to any of this anyway.

But at the same time, they have not yet talked about it, which does strike him a strange now, so he casually asks, “Have you found a place yet?”

Dean himself is going to stay with Bobby for a bit, get his bearings. Thankfully, he’s been working for years, so he can afford it, and he’s still young.

Crowley looks at him, and Dean is surprised at the pain in his eyes before he looks away. “No” he then says.

That is… unexpected. It’s Crowley. He always has a plan, always knows what’s to come next, and will allow no one to tell him otherwise. For him to just not have a place already lined up…

“How come?” Dean found early on that, despite his reputation, Crowley will answer to direct questions. It’s the only way one can get him to divulge information, really.

Crowley won’t look at him. He doesn’t understand. They had no fight that he was a party of, and it’s such an innocent question…

Out of the blue, “Because I don’t want to move.”

“Student housing. I don’t think you have a choice” he reminds him, somewhat pleased that it seems finals have even managed to fry Crowley’s giant brain.

Now Crowley is looking at him, but there’s something in his expression that Dean has never seen before. “No, you moron – I don’t want to move away from you.”

Only Crowley, he thinks numbly, would be able to say something like this while simultaneously insulting him.

There can be absolutely no doubt what he means. His expression for once gave everything away.

Dean looks down into his cup and makes a decision. It’s not what he expected to happen, but… “Well, you can always stay with me for a bit”. And he reaches out a hand. “If you want to, that is.”

Crowley’s expression of hope is almost too much to bear, but he reaches out and takes his hand, and Dean knows life is going to get a little more strange and wonderful.

#fictober23 #my writings #spn #drowley #crowley #dean winchester

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willfrominternet · 4 months ago

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Someone's got to know the word for this feeling I'm about to describe. You, Tumblr, you know words for everything esoteric. Indulge me for a moment.

Liminal spaces: You know them. You love them. These spaces seem real. If you find yourself in them - either as a result of lucid dreaming or somehow clipping through the fabric of reality - they will feel real. But you will know in your heart they are not real. They seem to go on forever, strange dark corners lure you closer, you swear you see a long shadowy hand wrap around the wall... And so on.

But sometimes you find yourself in a space you see and feel and know is real. Take, for example, the elementary school classroom. Let's just say you have gone back to your old school to visit your third-grade teacher. Or, if you have children, your child now has that same teacher. Or maybe you now work as a teacher at your old elementary school, and you teach in the very classroom where you once colored outside the lines and chased your friends around desks and lost your front tooth while eating one of the cupcakes Susie Gorman's mom gave everyone because it was Susie's birthday.

I like the teacher example, so let's go with that. You put down your bag by your new desk and look around your once and future classroom. Almost nothing has changed. The baby blue paint has started to chip with age, the circle rug with the colorful alphabet has begun to fray, the decorations on the wall have faded with age. And while the books and crayons and other small accoutrements have been replaced over the years, you still know this room like the back of your hand. You know the corner where you hid when Zachary Green tried to bite you after accusing you of stealing his Game Boy. You know the drawer in old Ms. Van Meter's desk where she hid her cigarettes. You know the location of the ceiling tile which fell one day during a multiplication test and cracked over your friend Felicia Knittle's head, and you remember how mad you got when Bobby Eisenberg and his hideous group of friends laughed at her when she started to cry. The tile was replaced, of course, but God, you still feel yourself getting mad about it even now.

The place is real. You can see it's real. You can feel it's real.

So why the fuck doesn't it really feel real?

The ceilings are too low now. The cracked tile under your feet feels too far away. You feel off-kilter, as if some invisible force in the room is pushing you gently from every direction. The little things that make the room different from when you last stepped foot in it two decades ago - the whiteboard instead of the blackboard, the flat-screen TV mounted from the ceiling instead of the big CRT on a cart, the signs of age and decay in a school in desperate need of a facelift - they all make you shudder. You turn your head to the door. Any minute now you swear Susie's mom is going to walk into the room and offer you a cupcake, except she'll have black eyes and the cupcake in her hand will pulse like a beating heart.

It's not deja vu. I've looked up other "deja" experiences - deja vecu, deja entendu, etc. - and none of them line up with this feeling. Tumblr, Internet-at-large, talk to me. Tell me what you know. And perhaps we can all benefit from this information, because we have all found ourselves in those familiar places which became just a bit different in the many years since we last visited them, and we feel just a little bit scared about it, and we don't know why.

12-3-2008

#reblog #liminal spaces #liminal reality #deja vu #psychology

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heliads · 3 years ago

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‘90s! Reggie Crushing on You Would Include...

Based on this request: “headcanons for 90’s Reggie? He likes a girl, and she likes him, but they keep dancing around their feelings. Luke is sick of it and plots to get them together.”

masterlist

It’s fairly obvious to everyone in the entirety of the city that Reggie Peters is head over heels for Y/N L/N

Fairly obvious, that is, to everyone except her

Luke and Alex shake their heads to watch Reggie pining after Y/N

“Just once, you have to talk to her. You realize that, right?” “I do talk to her! I asked her about the weather this morning!” “Reggie…”

It’s not like he doesn’t try, it’s just that every time Reggie gets within five feet of you it’s like his heart leaps into his throat and he finds that he can’t say a single thing

You, however, like him too, but face the same problem

You were planning on telling him how you feel, but he keeps looking over at you with this grin that makes you want to stare at him forever

After weeks of dancing around your feelings, though, Luke decides to take things into his own hands

Suddenly, he, Alex, and Bobby just happen to coincidentally come late to Sunset Curve practice when Luke knows you’ll be there, so you and Reggie are forced to talk to each other while they’re gone

Or, they accidentally give you and Reggie the directions to the wrong coffee shop or restaurant for lunch, but seeing as you’re there, you might as well eat together, right?

Eventually, you find yourself in yet another situation like this, when you and Reggie are alone in the studio together with no sign of when the others will arrive, and sigh

Reggie’s immediately panicking- are you tired of him? What has he done now?

Then you grimace, and say something about how you never should have told Luke about your feelings for Reggie, because now he won’t stop trying to set you up

You hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but it’s too late- Reggie is gaping at you, awestruck

Just as you’re about to lie and say it was all a misunderstanding, his face lights up with a grin

“I thought all of this happened because I told Luke that I had a crush on you.” “But I told Luke!” “So did I!”

After that, there’s simply no other option but to get together- now that the two of you know for sure, why avoid it any longer?

It’s probably one of the best decisions you’ve ever made- Reggie’s cute, but he seems even cuter when he’s with you

You share jackets, flannels, band t-shirts, ever scrap of clothing that Reggie can offer up

You’re also definitely the muse for songs, and you defend his country songs as much as possible

In the end, even Bobby has to admit it- you and Reggie are just about the cutest couple ever, and you have Luke to thank for it

jatp tag list: i don’t need a luke to know that i’m crushing on you @underc0vercryptid

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pastelavender88 · 3 years ago

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Right Person At Maybe The Wrong Time- Chapter 12

Summary: The events of 5x6.

Series Masterlist

Alex, Buck, and I were having a little movie night since Evan was off of work. Alex had just gone to her room when I decided to approach Buck with a matter. "Hey, Buck. Before you go, can I ask you something?" "Yeah, sure, go ahead." "Well, Alex's 10th birthday is next month, and I wanted to have a birthday party for her." "Oh, that's great. What kind of party are we thinking of?" Buck asked. "Well, I wanted to invite everyone, Bobby, Athena, May, Harry, Hen, Eddie, and more. Also, since it's her double digits party, I was thinking we go all out. Like this:

”

I showed him pictures of a party theme I got off of Pinterest. "That's a good theme. I can't wait!" Buck seemed genuinely happy to help me plan the party. "Me either. The only thing is I want this to be a surprise. Alex always says I never do anything fun for her birthday. So when she asks, we just tell her we're having a nice family dinner." "Alright, I can do that. When exactly is Alex's birthday again?" "November 16. Also, I have the guest list pretty much done, but I was wondering are your parents coming?" Buck looked shaken by this. "Umm... no. Well, not no. It's just that I haven't exactly said anything about Alex yet." What the hell does he mean he hasn't told them yet?

"You haven't told them yet!" I started to raise my voice when Buck pointed in the direction of Alex's room. "I mean, why haven't you told them yet? I know your parents weren't the best, but I want her to at least meet them. My dad is flying from Pennsylvania." "It's a lot more to it than that. I don't want them being passive-aggressive towards you and Alex. I don't want her to go through that. Plus, our parents never liked each other." He was right about that last part. "Buckley. Listen to me. Our parents can't get in the way of us raising our daughter. Do you think my dad was thrilled when I told him you were back in my life? Of course not! He literally hated you, but it was what was best for Alex." "Your dad hates me?" He seemed surprised by this fact. "You broke our window, nearly burnt down our house, you were reckless, and you got me pregnant. Let's just say he isn't your biggest fan." He just nodded at this.

"Okay, that's fair. Alright, I'll talk to my parents about it soon." He started to head towards the door. "I'm gonna run. Taylor is waiting for me at home." "Oh, at home, you say? Sounds like things are getting pretty serious." "Whatever. Maybe if you get some, you wouldn't be so noisy." He said teasingly. "You're right. You think Eddie is still up?" To which I stuck out my tongue after saying.

"Later, loser." He said as he walked out the door.

Eddie's POV

It's been a few days since the park but only a few hours since I saw Y/N. Things between us have gotten better, and we've become closer. True to my word, I put the picture of the four of us on my lock screen. Y/N and I look so in love in the picture, and the kids are both beaming. Honestly, since Buck brought up me having feelings for Y/N, that's all I could think about. I never felt this way about Ana, and I don't even think Shannon and I were this close. Except, I was confused. What if I did give us a try, and it didn't work out? What if she didn't feel the same? It could ruin everything between us. So, for now, we just continue to be friends.

The 118 was called to help put out fires at an active riot. While we were there, we saw two prisoners that needed medical attention. While on the way to the hospital, suddenly, Buck turned off the light and sirens. When I noticed something was off, I looked over to the "guard" and noticed he had a gun drawn. We're in for it now. When we pulled over, they emptied our pockets. Buck and I tried to create a plan of attack when one of the prisoners started talking.

"Cute family, you got here," He showed me the picture on the lock screen. "That wife of yours is a cutie, but I think she might have slept with your buddy over there cause there is so way this kid isn't his." He was obviously talking about Alex. "They live with you at 4995 South Bedford Street, right?" Buck went over to say something when the other guy attacked him. "Now we're going to do things my way, so no one gets hurt, alright." We both nodded. 10 minutes into the ride, the blond started speaking to me. "Hey, pretty boy. You got a text from someone named Y/N. It says, "Christopher's staying at mine tonight. Carla isn't feeling too well." I'm guessing she isn't your wife then, huh?" I continued to work on the patient. He turned to Buck. "So she's your baby mama and his girlfriend. Wow, you firefighters are weird. If she was mine there is no way she could get away with that."

“You watch your mouth!” Buck quickly barked back.

“Easy there tiger! We wouldn’t want anyone getting hurt. I obviously struck a nerve. So what’s she like in the sack because by the look in her eyes in this picture, she looks ready to pounce on you.” Evan was bothered by his words and was giving me a sideways glance but he tried to keep it to himself. “Looks like someone is getting jealous over there. I’m sure there’s enough of her to go around.” We both continued to ignore him. My mind was on Christopher, Alex, and Y/N. I needed to make it out of this.

After the aftermath, I rushed over to Y/N's house. I texted Y/n to let her know I was outside so I wouldn't have to ring the doorbell and wake the kids. She opened the door, and she was wearing a sexy pajama set.

"Eddie, why are you so late? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a hostage situation." She looked at me like I was speaking a different language.

"Nothing I can’t handle. How was he?"

"He was great. Worried, but he eventually went to sleep." She moved closer to me. "Are you sure your okay?"

"Yeah," and for the first time, I'm the one who initiated the hug. "Just glad to see your face again."

Y/N's POV

I looked up at Eddie, and I noticed he had that same look in his eyes he had when we first kissed. The next thing I knew, our lips were connected. He wrapped his hand around my back, and my hand found his hair. This kiss started to deepen when...

"Mom, can you come here. I had a nightmare." Eddie and I are choosing to ignore her until, "MOM!" "I'm coming, sweetheart." What a cockblocker!

"Umm... it's really early, and I guess late. You should just spend the night,” Eddie seemed amused by what i was saying. That’s when i realized how it sounded. “In the guest room with Christopher, of course! After you get some sleep, I need to talk to you." "Yeah... alright. Night, or morning I guess." He headed towards the guest room. It should be my room he's walking to.

Eddie's POV Walking to the guest room, I realized I got to stop thinking with my head and start thinking with my heart, and maybe, something else.

Halloween episode is next can’t wait. The poll decided what Eddie and the gang would wear for Halloween. I know it’s a little late but I had to finish the other chapters before this one.

Taglist: @capswife @navs-bhat @champagnesugamama

#Right Person Wrong Time #Eddie Diaz #eddie diaz x reader #eddie and christopher #evan buckley x reader #evan buck buckely #black reader #new author #911 fic #911 fox

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gates-keeper · 4 years ago

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Part 1: “Words of Affirmation” Destiel Quotes & Parallels

I’m sure someone’s done this before me and done it better, but I’m compiling a huge Destiel evidence docket for no reason. Anyone got any quotes to add?

Comments From Outside Characters

To Dean

Uriel: “He has this weakness. He likes you.” (4x10)

Balthazar: “You have me confused with the other angel. You know, the one in the dirty trench coat who’s in love with you.” (6x17)

Hester: “The first time Castiel laid a hand on you in Hell, he was lost.” (7x21)

Meg: “He was your boyfriend first.” (7x23)

Charlie: “What about Castiel? He seems helpful. And dreamy.” (8x20)

Marie: “Although we do explore the nature of Destiel in Act 2.” (10x5)

Sam: “Shouldn’t it be Deastiel?” He then goes on to tease Dean with “Sastiel” which Dean takes negatively. (10x5)

Dean: “This Cas is looking at me weird.” Sam: “So like the real Cas then.” (15x14)

To Castiel

Hannah: “We gave you our trust. Don’t lose it over one man.” (9x22)

Metatron: “His true weakness is revealed. He’s in love…with humanity.” (9x22)

Metatron: “Oh, that’s right. To save Dean Winchester. That was your goal, right? I mean, you draped yourself in the flag of heaven, but, ultimately, it was about saving one human, right?” (9x23)

Ishim: “I’m going to cure you of your human weakness [i.e. Dean]” (12x10)

The Empty: “I have tiptoed through all your little tulips. Your memories, your little feelings, yes. I know what you hate. I know who you love…There is nothing for you back there.” (13x4)

Demon: “I thought you were joined at the… (looks down) everything.” (14x01)

There are also several instances where other characters try to poke at insecurities regarding their relationship.

Naomi: “You're hoping Castiel will return to you. I admire your loyalty. I only wish he felt the same way.” (8x19)

Casifer: “There comes a time when every relationship has run its course.” (11x18)

Michael!Dean: “You only tolerate the angel because you think you owe him, because he ‘gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition.’ Or whatever.” (14x10)

Comments From Dean

To Cas

“There are two things I know for certain. One, Bert and Ernie are gay. And two, you are not going to die a virgin.” (5x03)

“So what? I’m Thelma and you’re Louise and we’re just going to hold hands and sail off this cliff together?” (5x03)

“You know what? Blow me, Cas.” (5x18)

“Cas, not for nothing, but the last time someone looked at me like that, I got laid.” (5x18)

“Look, I don’t need to feel like hell for failing you, okay? For failing you like I’ve failed every other godforsaken thing that I care about! I don’t need it!” (8x07)

“We need you. I need you.”

For more on this quote see the “We vs. I” section.

To Other Characters

Bobby: “I think maybe it’s time you made a call.” Dean: “Why does it always gotta be me that makes the call, huh? It’s not like Cas lives in my ass. The dude’s busy.” (Cas appears) Dean: “Get out of my ass.” Cas: “I was never in your… (head tilt)” (6x19)

“On my car…. He showed up naked… covered in bees.” (7x23)

While Cas suffered from some mental issues at the time, it seems somewhat significant that he sought Dean out under the circumstances, not Sam, etc.

“There’s things… people… feelings that I want to experience differently than I have before, or maybe even for the first time.” (10x16)

“My shy but devastatingly handsome friend here” (12x12)

“He came into my room and he played me.” (12x19)

“Let’s see. Crowley’s dead, Kelly’s dead, Cas is—Mom’s gone.” (13x01)

Dean’s inability to list Cas’s death singles him out as the most devastating of the losses.

“We’ve lost everything. And now you’re gonna bring him back.” (13x01)

While some people have heard this as “bring ‘em back”, the Netflix captions and transcripts I have been able to find say “him.”

“And Cas bought it. And you know what it got him? It got him dead! Now you may be able to forget about that, but I can't!” (13x03)

“I have a family.” (In response to John Winchester lamenting Dean doesn’t have a wife and kids) (14x13)

Comments From Cas

To Dean

“I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You. They feel I've begun to express emotions. The doorways to doubt.” (4x16)

“I’m hunted. I rebelled. And I did it—all of it—for you.” (5x02)

“I gave everything for you. And this is what you give to me.” (5x18)

“I do everything that you ask. I always come when you call.” (6x21)

“So you will bow down and profess your love unto me, your Lord.” (6x22)

Before taking on the role of God, Cas seemed very concerned with Dean’s forgiveness/acceptance/love. It is interesting that, as God, that was the first thing he asked for, turning from Sam (who had just stabbed him) to Dean to ask for love.

“Sam, and everyone you know, everyone you love, they could be long dead. Everyone except me.” (10x22)

“I love you. I love all of you.” (Arguably to the group, but the first “I love you” can be seen as Dean-specific, especially since it cuts to Dean after being said.) (12x12)

“You mean too much to me. To everything.” (12x9) (To Mary, Sam, and Dean. However, the camera immediately cuts to Dean specifically, even though he is in the back of the group).

“I’m your Huckleberry.” (13x06)

Cas love confession (15x18)

To Other Characters

“Dean and I do share a more profound bond.” (6x03)

“I won’t hurt Dean.” (8x17)

This is said as Castiel is breaking away from Naomi’s mind control—mind control she fostered specifically by having Cas kill a thousand versions of Dean. This implies she knows that Cas’s strongest loyalty is to Dean, not Sam, or humans in general.

“The point is that they [Dean & Sam] were here at all and you got to know them, you -- When they're gone, it will hurt, but that hurt will remind you of how much you loved them.” (14x14)

“You know, Dean, he... he feels things more acutely than any human I've ever known.” (15x13)

Other Comments

Reaper: “How do I start looking for this... Castiel?” Bartholomew: “I got one word for you. Winchester.”

Rowena: “An Angel of the Lord, shattered at the altar of Winchester.”

Use of We vs. I

In the crypt scene in Season 8, Dean tells Cas, “We need you.” This is not enough to stop Cas’s actions. When the language switches to “I need you,” Cas drops the angel blade.

We can clearly see that Dean tries to put up barriers about how he really feels about Cas in his use of “We.” For example, after showing the audience many scenes of Dean, not Sam, frantically trying to call Cas, we get the following lines:

“So not only were you ditching us, but you were also ignoring us?”

��With everything that's going on, you can't just go dark like that. We didn't know what happened to you. We were worried. That's not okay.”

It’s clear that these “we’s” are really “I’s”

In the alternate future presented in 15x9, Sam asks Dean, “What’s happened to you Dean… ever since…?” to which Dean responds, “Ever since what? We lost pretty much everyone we’ve ever cared about? Ever since the Mark made Cas go crazy and I had to bury him in a Malak box… ever since then?” While he acknowledges Sam’s losses as well, his switch to “I” in reference to Cas implies that Cas’s loss belongs especially to him.

(Mostly) Verbal Parallels to Other Couples

In 1x01 (start at 2:27), Dean pulls Sam away from a dead Jess in a direct parallel to how Sam pulls Dean away from Cas in 12x23

Following Jessica’s death, Sam keeps seeing glimpses of her as he and Dean travel around in the Impala. Dean does the same in Season 8 following his return from Purgatory without Cas.

David from “Bloodlines” (9x20) tells his love interest, “I was there. Where were you?” which is the same thing Dean says to Cas in “The Man Who Would Be King” (6x20)

When asking Dean whether he’s in love with Cassie, Dean gives a similar response to what he will say in 10x5 when asked about Destiel.

Destiel is paralleled with their counterparts from the Supernatural play who are “a couple in real life” (10x5)

Cain compares himself to Dean in Season 10. He describes the significant kills of his life (The Knights of Hell, his wife Collette, and his brother Abel) and tells Dean that he will follow his same pattern by killing the King of Hell Crowley, Castiel, then Sam. It is also mentioned that all Collette asked of Cain was “to stop,” which is the same language Cas uses with Dean in 10x22.

Dean explains how his parents fell in love to prove his identity to Mary in 12x1, “He was cute and he knew the words to every Zeppelin song, so when he asked you for your number, you gave it to him, even though you knew your dad would be pissed.” Later in this same season (12x19), Dean gives Cas a homemade mixtape of his favorite Zeppelin songs.

Ishim fell in love with a human named Lily Sunder who ultimately left him for someone else. When trying to recruit Castiel, he compares Dean to her.

Dean questions how much of their life has been controlled by God. Cas states, “You asked, ‘What about all of this is real?’ We are.” (15x02) Later, they find out that God has been using Eileen to spy on the Winchesters. She says, “After what happened, I don’t know what’s real anymore.” Sam kisses her, stating “I know that was real.” (15x09)

PART 2 “Physical Touch” Now Finished

#destiel #destiel fanfic #destiel is canon

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0bsess3d · 4 years ago

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marry me | l.p.

masterlist

Past Luke Patterson x Female!Reader, Present Bobby x Female!Reader

A/N: So this is basically an AU where Luke and the boys come back a little earlier than they did in the show, so maybe like 2010? So that makes Bobby (Not Trevor lol) and the reader like 27-ish. Also, the reader can see the boys instead of Julie.

Warnings: Cursing, Mention of Death, Angst, Moving on? Idk if that’s a warning lol

Word Count: 819

Summary: After Luke and the boys died, you fell in love with the only member of Sunset Curve that was left. Now that Luke is back as a ghost, he has to bear the pain of watching the love of his life marry his best friend.

Song: Marry Me by Thomas Rhett

Luke knew this was the moment you have been looking forward to most. He remembered how your face brightened every time you spoke about your future. You had made it very clear that you wanted to get married, and he was okay with that. Because he wanted to be your husband.

He was supposed to be.

After what felt like only an hour in a pitch-black room, he suddenly appeared at the familiar beach from his hometown, except it looked a little bit different from the last time he’s visited.

He studied his surroundings, noticing the many white chairs lined up in rows with bouquets on the ground beside each row. His eyes followed in the direction of which the chairs were facing, finding a wedding arch, made up of pretty yellow flowers and greenery, with a bride and groom standing in front of it, facing each other.

He was at a wedding.

He took a second look at the couple at the front, finding them both to be familiar. He recognized the groom’s face to belong to one of his best friends, Bobby. Only he was just a little bit older than before.

That’s good for him, Luke thought, a small smile on his face. However, his face fell quickly when he realized who the bride was.

It was you. A little older, but still just as beautiful as before. His expression held a mixture of jealousy and confusion.

Why in the hell were you marrying Bobby?

“You may now kiss the bride.” He heard, causing himself to force his eyes away from the two of you. He ignored the cheers and applause from the crowd as he stared down at the sand underneath his shoes.

He stayed around as the reception started, walking around and watching all of the guests. Some of them he remembered, and some of them he had never even seen in his life.

He had eventually caught on to his whole “dead” thing when he overheard your mother tell your father that she thought you’d “never find love after Luke,” and that she was glad you finally have.

He had decided to take a seat and let himself process everything. It was a lot to take in. Hell, he just found out that he was dead and that his girlfriend and his best friend were now husband and wife in the span of one hour.

However, a familiar voice he hadn’t heard since he was alive pulled him away from his thoughts. “Luke?” You spoke, the look on your face telling him that you were both scared and confused. Luckily, you guys were far away from the crowd for anyone to hear you.

Hell, he felt the same way. If he was supposed to be dead, then why can you see him?

“You can see me?” Luke asked, thinking out loud.

“I guess so unless I just drank a bit too much wine.” He watched as you moved closer to where he sat, looking over your dress and the way your hair was styled. He should have been the one you were marrying. God, how he wished he was. “I thought you were dead.” You spoke again, still in disbelief of who was sitting before your eyes.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you remembered the day you heard the news. You were already upset that you were stuck at work and couldn’t watch him play the Orpheum. And then you find out that the love of your life was taken away from you by a fucking hot dog.

It took you well over a year and a half to even think about moving on.

“I guess I am.” He spoke at a whisper, now staring at the ground. “That’s what everyone keeps saying, at least.”

“Why are you here?” You asked. In any other context, it would have sounded rude. If it were any other person, he would have taken offense to that.

He just shrugged. “I just appeared here.”

You were still in shock. You had no idea what to do in this situation. Never once in your life would you have thought that you’d be speaking to the ghost of your dead ex boyfriend. So, instead, you just kept quiet, no idea what to say to him after all these years. Even though there were many questions you wanted to ask him.

“So you’re in love with him?” The question caught you off guard. “Bobby.” As bad as it sounds, you didn’t really realize who he was talking about until he said his name. Your husband’s name.

“Oh, uh- I- Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“More than you were with me?” Luke questioned, again catching you off guard. Your gaze snapped in his direction.

At first, you were going to get defensive. But as the question lingered in your head, you knew what the honest answer was.

“Of course not.”

#julie and the phantoms luke #jatp luke #luke patterson #luke patterson angst #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson fanfic #luke patterson x y/n #luke patterson fanfiction #luke patterson fic #jatp #luke patterson imagine #jatp imagines #jatp fanfiction #jatp fic #jatp luke x reader

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gayhotpriests · 4 years ago

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been here all along [fic]

Or; there are traces of Buck all over the Diaz household. 1.8 k

Read on ao3

The coffee maker beeps in the kitchen, the sound carrying all the way into the bedroom the second after Eddie turns off his alarm. A cool breeze comes in through the window Eddie left open last night by mistake, and in the couple steps it takes to go from the bed to the door, Eddie has picked up at least six different clothing items, not even all his, from the floor and the chair in the corner that soon gets tossed into the laundry basket. He stops briefly by Christopher’s room to make sure his son is awake (he’s not, and a cranky five more minutes is heard from under the covers) before going into the bathroom to start his own morning routine.

The bright, red firetruck print that greets him has never failed to make him smile, not once ever since one particular Thursday, maybe two years ago now, when Christopher and Buck spent a couple of hours in the mall looking for a birthday present for one of Chris’s friends but bought a very much not needed set of shower curtains instead, along with matching firetruck soap dispenser and cup. They even have little firefighters painted in the tiny plastic windows, and Christopher might be almost twelve now, but the day he gets tired of his Buck’s gift is yet to come.

A month into the school year, the Diaz family’s mornings have looked mostly the same every day, and this fine Monday proves not to be the exception, as Eddie finds out a few minutes later. A certain blond man is still asleep on Eddie’s couch, and instead of doing his workout, Christopher is sprawled on top of him, snoring lightly. Buck’s legs are twisted in an awkward angle to fit in the couch and one of his hands brushes the fluffy carpet beneath the sofa (the one he picked in an attempt to convince Eddie that his house needed personality), the other holding onto Chris, whose face is completely smushed against the other’s shoulder. Bright blue crutches that Chris has started to grow out of lay in a disorganized pile next to them.

(If Eddie’s heart beats a little bit faster- if his hands itch to hold them too and join the sleepy pile, well. They don’t need to know.)

“Alright, sleepy heads, school starts in an hour! Get up!”

Eddie owns a perfectly functional coffee maker, a classic machine with only one button and no special features, that makes his coffee the same way every day, and has done so for almost five years without signs of obsolescence. He’s a simple man with simple tastes, but Eddie’s perfect, simple coffee maker, is currently collecting dust inside a box in the attic.

A steaming cup of coffee, however, is waiting for him on the counter when he steps into the kitchen, complete with milk foam, a shot of caramel, and two sugars: the product of the stupidly expensive machine Buck and Chris had plotted to get him, with all the smart features and Starbucks level settings that Eddie did not need. Using the machine is extremely complicated, too, so once Eddie found out how to input the settings for his drink of choice, he stopped allowing anyone to mess with it. Eddie drinks the sweet concoction religiously every morning, without a fault.

He sips on his sugar bomb slowly as Buck cooks breakfast, eggs, and sausages with toast, fruit salad, and a cup of warm milk for the only kid in the house. The sound of the sizzling pan and the knife hitting the cutting board fills the room along with the smell of homemade breakfast, something that screams of home and family, uninterrupted until Christopher shows up fresh from the shower and in clean clothes, with his restless morning energy and promptly sets to chatting their ears off. Buck keeps the conversation alive and gets the boy to help with mixing the fruit salad while he recounts the last episode of their favorite cartoon they had seen together the previous night. Buck makes surprised sounds at the right times, throwing a few "No way! Tell me more!" for good measure, even though Eddie’s pretty sure he remembers the episode perfectly as he asks the right questions to launch Christopher off in another direction at least three times.

Eddie finishes his coffee, leaves the cup in the sink, and turns to the cupboard to start setting the table.

Three days before school started, Christopher told Eddie that he’s big enough to use big people knives and after a long phone call with his son’s Occupational Therapist, and another with his own therapist, they had gone to the store to get him a cutlery set that could allow him more independence while still on the safer side, and Buck had found the perfect one: the knife has a blunt tip and slightly serrated edge, and a round plastic handle decorated with tiny green and blue dinosaurs.

“Daddy, don’t forget the dinosaurs, please,” Christopher asks politely, just like every day, because he refuses to eat with any other fork or knife. Luckily the set came with six of each, so everyone can use them during breakfast as Christopher prefers.

“Yeah, and don’t forget the big spoon for the fruit salad,” Buck chips in, pointedly looking at Eddie. Clearly, he still hasn’t let go of the last few times he has forgotten the big spoon for the fruit salad. In less than five minutes, they’re seated around the table eating, Christopher’s feet kicking excitedly against Eddie’s when they congratulate him for the A he got in his latest science assignment.

Both his son and best friend clear their plates first, smiles on their faces accompanied by crinkled eyes as they laugh. Eddie has to scold Chris on talking with his mouth full only once- a new record, and Buck only twice, tapping him on the hand with the spoon, reminding him to lead by example and not be a terrible influence on the kid. Buck mumbles a sheepish sorry every time, ducking his head in embarrassment, and Eddie just rolls his eyes and shoots him a fond look. He watches them, joins the laughter when Buck teases him, or when Christopher tells a story from school, warmth filling him up from the inside out.

Soon enough, the time’s up and Christopher goes to brush his teeth and get ready to leave while Eddie and Buck load the dishwasher and wipe the countertops, barely any words exchanged as they move around the kitchen. Eddie checks the calendar by the fridge, next to Christopher’s old artwork and the polaroids held up by fruit magnets. PT at 11 am, Frank’s at 3 pm, reads in the bold block letters of Buck’s handwriting, under Eddie’s own scribble of C’s swimming lessons at 3.30 pm. Eddie makes a face at the overlapping schedule, chews on the inside of his cheek. He’s too late to ask Carla to take Christopher for him, as he gave her the week off a few days ago so she could go to DC for a certification. The last few therapy sessions had been at noon, but PT was pushed up to eleven and so his entire schedule was unexpectedly messed up, and Eddie will have to run from the clinic to Christopher’s school and then take him to the pool, but he’s not cleared to drive yet so he has to account for cab ride expenses and a whole new timeframe now, too. God, he should have gotten this figured out yesterday.

Back in El Paso, when Eddie had worked three jobs, he had once forgotten to pick Christopher up at school because his shift ran longer than usual, his phone died and the teachers were unable to reach him at the construction site. His parents had been called instead, being the second emergency contacts, and they had stared him down later at night while they told him all the reasons he was a bad dad and Christopher should live with them. Don’t drag him down with you, Eddie.

A hand lands on his healthy shoulder, right next to the base of his neck, and Eddie looks away from the calendar to meet a pair of bright blue eyes next to him. Buck watches him for a second before opening his mouth, careful.

“Hey, Eds, I noticed today looks a bit tight and I was thinking I could ask Bobby to let me out for an hour so I can go pick Chris up and drive him to his lessons, or maybe ask Maddie if I’m on a call,” he says, and the knots in his throat slowly start to dissolve, as he stares up to his friend’s calm face. His shoulders slowly start to relax, the injured one pulses with pain. The warmth of Buck's fingers makes the little hairs on his nape stand up as he swipes his thumb twice over the patch of uncovered skin in a comforting gesture.

“Yeah, thanks, man,” Eddie chokes out.

Buck smiles, and it’s all it takes. The fog lifts.

“Sure, I’ll text you in case I can’t make it so you can let the school know Mads is going to get him,” Buck continues, but he’s not touching Eddie anymore. Eddie takes a small step back, fidgets with the dishrag he still had in his hands as Buck starts to make his way to the living room, picking up his jacket, “you get to pick him up after, and already I left you guys some leftover stew for tonight's dinner in the fridge," Eddie keeps his eyes on Buck while he talks, takes a few steps closer to his friend, but not close enough. "I have a sixteen-hour today, so you tell Christopher goodnight for me, alright?”

“Of course,” his voice is too tight, and it must show because Buck bites his lip and reaches out his hand again, but doesn’t touch. At that moment Christopher burst back into the living room and yells out as if Buck isn’t right there to hear him.

“I’m ready, Buck!”

With a last smile, Buck turns to the door, putting on his shoes quickly and pulling his bag out of the hallway closet. Eddie leans down to place a smooch on his son’s cheek, which makes him laugh, and throw his head back with a loud “Bye, dad!” in his ear.

“Alright buddy, let’s go, let’s go!” Buck exclaims and Christopher bolts out the door, followed by his Buck, and Eddie stays at the threshold until he can’t see the Jeep past the corner of the street.

It’s barely eight o’clock and he still has chores to get done before PT, but Eddie just drops facefirst into the heap of blankets on top of the couch, drowning in the smell of his family and he aches for the picture he saw earlier that morning, sleep falling slowly over him like another blanket. A short nap is calling his name from the dream world, and the last thing he sees before going under is his pillbox for the pain meds next to a bottle of water, a pink post-it note stuck on the tag, big bold letters were carefully written on it. I know you forget but please take these before leaving home! xx. Buck.

Eddie falls.

#my fic #hey i wrote a thing #soft domestic buddie #pre relationship #buddipher #buck's love language is gift giving and acts of service #english is not my first language #buddie fic #eddie diaz #evan buck buckley #christopher diaz #buckley diaz family #be kind im nervous #oneshot

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fruitydiaz-archived · 4 years ago

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that’s my boy

eddie slips up after a successful rescue on a call and, while looking at buck looking beautiful and overjoyed, says “that’s my boy” to himself. except chim, hen, and bobby are all there when he says it.

buddie, pre-relationship, sweet fluff, pining

2,184 words

AO3 link

—

That’s my boy.

Eddie doesn’t mean to say it. It’s not like it’s even a phrase that he thinks often — not in regards to Buck.

Okay, so maybe, every once in a while Eddie will look at him doing something that is so whole-heartedly Buck — like performing a rope rescue when an apartment complex is on fire, or risking his life to save his ex-girlfriend’s fiance because he made a promise, because he’s always ready and willing to fall on the sword for the people he loves, even after they’ve hurt him, (Eddie wishes he wouldn’t do that so often, actually, but he understands), or organizing a Christmas party with Athena and inviting his whole family because he knew how upset they were that he wouldn’t be spending Christmas with them, or building gingerbread houses with Chris and Denny — and being happy to do it nonetheless. Just occasional things like that that make Eddie pause and make pride swell up inside him and remind him just how much he loves this man — despite all of the stress and anguish he causes him on a regular basis.

Which, is also, not something he thinks about often. The love thing, that is. The stress and anguish — that’s constant.

But when they’re on a call and Buck is ripping his helmet off, wiping the sweat from his forehead, skipping after the ambulance as it pulls away, overjoyed that his on-his-feet thinking and bull-headed determination saved yet another life, Eddie can’t help it when he smiles fondly, shakes his head, and chuckles to himself.

“That’s my boy.”

He doesn’t really process what he’s said until he looks back up and sees Hen, Chimney, and Bobby all staring at him. Chimney’s stopped chewing on his gum, mouth hanging a little open, Hen’s frozen with one perfectly manicured eyebrow raised, and Bobby’s looking at him with that look he gets when another imaginary piece of some metaphorical puzzle that only he is privy to falls into place. He tends to look at Eddie like that often, especially around Buck.

Eddie just stares back at them, tilting his head to the side a little, and pursing his lips.

“Your boy?” Hen prompts eventually, an amused grin slowly spreading on her face. Eddie feels his cheeks warm but shakes his head in confusion.

“What? I didn’t say—” Chimney starts shaking his head violently, cutting Eddie off.

“Nope, nope, you definitely did say those words.”

Eddie opens his mouth to argue that no he didn’t otherwise he would remember and also he’s never once said those words about Buck out loud so, of course, he wouldn’t — but Bobby holds his hand up, silencing all of them. Eddie tries hard to convince himself that the smirk on Bobby’s face isn’t also amused, because he likes to think that Bobby’s above all that. He’s their Captain, after all.

“Alright, you guys. Let’s wrap this up, okay?” Bobby says gently, gesturing to the scene in front of them. Eddie nods, avoiding making eye contact with either Hen or Chimney.

He does sneak a glance at Buck, eventually. He can’t really help himself. Buck’s like a magnet for him. He’s pretty sure he’d be able to spot Buck instantly, in any crowd, on any day. It’s partially this itch he has, this need to know where the people he cares about are, at all times, just to know that they’re safe. But also, there’s just a natural gravity that Buck has. Eddie always finds himself being pulled closer and closer.

It’s golden hour and Buck’s leaning against a post on the side of the street, talking to Athena and Bobby, making exaggerated gestures with his hands as he relays what just happened to them, even though they were right there with him. His hair looks soft and tousled, like it always does when he pulls his helmet off at the end of a call. The sunlight is hitting it just so, illuminating the edges of it and making it glow golden, like a halo around Buck’s head. Warmth blooms in Eddie’s chest at the sight.

That’s my boy.

When he turns back to the scene Hen and Chimney are smirking at him again. He rolls his eyes, finishes packing up, and spins to jog back to the truck.

Eddie likes to make his home in denial. It’s an island that keeps him safe, keeps him away from all of the things that could hurt him — like the reality of his feelings.

He’s known for a while that he feels something for Buck — he’s just not always sure what that feeling is. The thing about his feelings for Buck is that...not only are they absolutely terrifying to him — but they’re also confusing. He doesn’t fully understand his feelings because he’s not sure they're anything he’s ever felt before, not all at once, at least. He wasn’t expecting this — not from Buck.

Eddie doesn’t let a lot of people get close to him. It’s just a thing that he developed in his childhood that got stronger over time, the more he experienced loving and losing people. You don’t let people close, you don’t get hurt when they leave. That’s a simple fact.

But Buck hadn’t listened to that. Buck didn’t care that Eddie was scared of letting him in only for him to leave — because for Buck leaving wasn’t even an option. He had fucked up once and he spent every single moment since doing his damned best to make sure Eddie knew that he was ride or die, with him ‘till the end of the line. And he meant it, Eddie knew that.

So it could be easy for Eddie to look at Buck and be grateful that he has a friend like that, a support system that, no matter how hard either one of them tried, they couldn’t fuck up. But Eddie’s never felt the way he feels about Buck for anyone, ever. He had close friends in his childhood, and they always said they would be together forever, but none of them were around anymore. What did they have to base their loyalty off of, anyway? It was never serious when they said it, it was kid stuff.

And in his adulthood, most of his friends were from the army. They shared a lot of experiences that nobody else would understand, and came a lot closer than your average friendship, given the circumstances, but none of them made Eddie feel the way he does about Buck.

Certainly, no one looked at Christopher the way Buck did, save for his own family, and that was enough to throw Eddie’s entire body into some strange whirlpool of emotions he rarely let himself get swept up in.

Chris was Eddie’s entire world. He wanted to protect him from every hurt imaginable, even when he knew he couldn’t. Sometimes that protectiveness led to him making mistakes — but he was a parent and that was bound to happen, and he had to learn how to adjust, how to step back, and let Christopher find out things on his own. He had to let him get hurt, sometimes, and then encourage him to get back up.

But the hurt Eddie wanted to protect him from most of all was the hurt of abandonment. He never wanted to let another person into his life again, not without knowing that they would stay.

And Buck? Buck would do anything for Christopher. He never even had to say it because Eddie just knew. He said it in all of his actions, the way he walked all day after the tsunami, bleeding from his arm, collapsing in exhaustion only after he saw that Chris was safe. The way he encouraged him to never give up, to find a way to do whatever he wants. He loves Chris, and that makes Eddie love him even more.

He’s loved people before. Even if he’s not one to say it often, not in those words at least, he recognizes it when he feels it. He loves his family, his parents, his sisters, his aunt, his Abuela — even when they’re overstepping his carefully set boundaries. He loved the guys in his unit. He loved Shannon, he loves Christopher. He loves everyone at the 118, the family he chose.

But Buck is something different. Buck is something he’s never felt before.

When he realized he loved Shannon, it was like a hurricane that came out of nowhere, rushing over him, drenching him in its rains, pulling him in every direction, and leaving him entirely breathless. She was a perfect storm of love and chaos. One that he doesn’t regret, but one that he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to experience again. He’s not sure he could survive that kind of devastation again.

But Buck wasn’t anything like that, even though Eddie’s pretty sure that he should be, with all of his fierce love and reckless abandon. Eddie realized he loved Buck like watching a sunrise, slowly, gradually, growing warmer and brighter over time. He was a sight that made your chest ache from its beauty, one of those things that made you feel lucky to be alive, one of those things that made you feel like you were blessed to witness it.

He left Eddie feeling stunned and off-balance, but warm, and comforted at the same time. The thing about sunrises was that you could always count on them to come back around the next day. No matter what storms the night before brought, the sun was always there in the morning.

Buck made Eddie feel safe.

That’s my boy.

He’s packing up his gear in the truck when he spots Buck out of the corner of his eye, jogging towards him. He pretends to ignore him, ducking his head and smiling to himself as he shuts the door on the truck.

“Hey man, did you see that?” Buck says as he approaches Eddie. His voice is light and airy, like he’s a little out of breath from the jog over, which would make sense since he’s still got at least 70 pounds of gear on him. But he doesn’t look bothered by it at all. He just clasps his hands together and smiles at Eddie with that giant, overly pleased, and just on the verge of shy smile — the one he always shares with Eddie.

Eddie leans against the truck casually, crossing his arms and nodding at Buck, smiling.

“Yeah, I saw it. You did good, kid.” His heart constricts at the way Buck lights up at the praise. It’s times like these where he wants nothing more than to reach out and touch him, card a hand through his hair and then bring him in gently, tucking Buck’s face into his neck and holding him close, whispering all the words of encouragement he never got to hear when he was younger.

But he settles for this, standing at arm's length and keeping his praise to a minimum.

“We did good,” Buck corrects, punching Eddie’s shoulder lightly. “We make a good team.”

The team, Eddie knows, consists of Bobby, Chimney, Hen, Buck, and him. But when Buck looks at him like that, when he says things like that, it makes him feel like it's about just the two of them.

Buck’s matching his position, leaning against the truck now, looking down at Eddie with his flushed face and his sweet smile. It’s like they’re the only two people in the world. It’s an intoxicating feeling, so addictive that Eddie often wishes that he could just let himself get lost in it, soak up all of the love and attention that just radiates off of Buck, stretch out in the sunlight and just let it warm him all over, be utterly and unashamedly selfish with it. To relish in that love that he’s not always sure he deserves.

He opens his mouth, not sure what exactly he’s going to say next, when Hen appears behind him, patting him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Eddie, you and your boy ready to head back home or are you just gonna stand there looking pretty all night?” She shoots him a sly grin over her shoulder as she passes by them to climb into the truck. Eddie freezes a little at the teasing, not sure what he’ll say if Buck turns to him, tilts his head, and asks what did she mean by your boy?

But he doesn’t tilt his head in question at all. His eyes lock with Eddie’s for just a second and the corners of his lips twitch like he’s fighting a smile. Eddie feels his breath get trapped somewhere in his chest and then Buck turns away and disappears into the truck.

He hangs back for a bit, struggling to catch his breath again, nodding at Chimney and Bobby as they brush past him. Bobby pauses before he rounds the truck, looking back at Eddie with an amused smile.

“You good, Diaz?” He calls. Eddie looks away before nodding, waving a hand, and pulling the door open.

“All good, Cap.”

#okay i'm going to go workout now and then start work but here's something i wrote #everyone's being ANGSTY and i LOVE it but i just wanted to b swEET for a moment #and i love writing eddie in love with buck idk idk #soft boys #buddie #911 fic #911 fox #al talks #writing

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troped-fanfic-challenge · 4 years ago

Text

JATP ROUND TWO FICS!

We received seventeen (17!!!!!) Fics for the Second Round of the JATP TROPED Event! These fics were fluff-filled and super fun, and we loved to see how you all challenged yourselves with the theme, tropes, and pairings!

Please try to read as many fics as you can! Take some notes, leave some kudos/comments for the authors, and help us vote on the winners!

Voting will be open until May 14th at 11:59pm EST! Vote here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BZ3W5FT

Please rank ALL the fics in each question based on the USE of each trope, the theme, the fics overall, and the two bonus polls (best setting + most unique pairing)! Your #1 spot should be the best answer and your last spot the least likely answer for the question. The Best Overall Poll will determine who will be writing in the Final Round! We ask that you please rank EVERY fic, so we can avoid technical difficulties! A reminder that you must include a Tumblr or AO3 username/URL, and you may only vote once, we will NOT count multiple votes by the same person.

————

Okay, Campers, Rise and Shine! (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: When Reggie launches a particularly ill-advised prank war at HGC Ranch, Luke's fully prepared to take it in stride.

When the days start looping, though, he begins to suspect that this might all be a little bit above his head.

In other words, he's at least 78% sure that the time loop isn't a direct result of Reggie's pranks.

Maybe 77%.

Oh, well.

At least he's not in it alone.

(The Groundhog Day meets Gravity Falls meets Summer Camp meets The Author's Own Distaste For Prank Wars AU that no one asked for. Ever. At all.)

Starting To Forget (Just What Summer Ever Meant To You) (Not Rated) [Flynn x Carrie]

Summary: Last summer didn't end on a positive note for Carrie Wilson - she and her girlfriend broke up on the last night of camp, and she's been miserable since. But it seems that the universe is intent on having her fix that this summer. Even if that means she has to live through the same day over and over and over again until she does.

Creative B.S. Was No More, Was No Less (Look Around, You're Gonna Miss What You Found) (Rated T) [Alex x Luke, Flynn x Reggie]

Summary: The midnight men move again

Don't know when

Best friends forever

In trouble again

Here's to you, here's to me

Over the rafters and we're free

--- Over the Rafters, Rick Schiffman

***

Alex and Luke go undercover on a mission to a summer camp in order to find a talisman that could endanger the camp and all the kids. While there, they bond with the kids and make peace with the fact that they broke up.

While Alex and Luke are away, Flynn accidentally fucks with time.

bitch but like romantically (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie]

Summary: The dining hall’s exactly the same as it has been for two mornings now, and Flynn doesn’t hesitate to poke Willie twice on the nose and whisper “pancake” on her way past their seat.

His eyes widen and he whips his head around to follow them, excitement glimmering in their eyes.

“Really?” they blurt. Flynn rolls her eyes and nods.

or: flynn gets stuck in a time loop. {for troped jatp round 2}

down by the bay (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: Over time, Camp Phantom has simply become known as a selective summer camp: one that took only the kids that Caleb saw promise in. And Caleb wasn’t exactly lying. He really did take only the ones he saw promise in, he simply looked for different traits than others might.

For example, say, hypothetically, a boy who could see the future. Or, hypothetically, a girl who could interact with ghosts. Or, hypothetically, a boy who could summon objects to him with a simple thought. Or, and this is completely hypothetical mind you, a boy who could manipulate time.

Those might be some traits that Caleb saw promise in. Just, like, as examples.

Time will tell (But only if you do it right) (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie]

Summary: Carrie had been acting a little off for a week or so, but Flynn was pretty much known for seeing something in nothing, and that was probably what they were doing then. If something was going on, Carrie would tell her eventually.

Who knew all it took was a little bit of miscommunication to mess up time itself?

and so it begins (Rated T) [Bobby x Reggie]

Summary: It’s the first day of their second week at Camp Carolling (they’re spending an entire month, and they’re getting paid to be there!) when Reggie gets a little lost in the woods. During this misadventure into the woods, he finds an egg shaped rock, an inhabited cabin that may or may not be riddled with signs, and something that might be magic. He probably doesn't get paid enough to discover magic.

or, when they were thirteen years old, four boys met at camp carolling and eventually became a band that almost became something legendary. now, all four boys are coming back as counselors, three boys in one band and one boy in his own solo act.

so begins the reunion, though it doesn't go how any of them imagine.

Porcupine Day (Rated T) [Bobby x Ray x Rose]

Summary: It’s been fifteen years since Trevor broke up with Ray and Rose and they’re... not fine, but managing. But when Trevor to adds insult to injury and buys the camp across the lake from the one they once owned together, the two camps become locked in a bitter rivalry. With neither side willing to set aside their pride and work out their issues, the universe decides to settle their fates itself.

Day After Day (After Day After Day) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: When Alex met Willie just after their senior year of high school, they spent a wonderful three months dating before their relationship ended in a blaze of glory. Now, four years later, they meet again as counselors at a summer camp. The only problem? Alex keeps reliving their first day together. The day that Luke had declared "Prank Day."

This is not how Alex pictured his summer going.

clocks move faster (it's all we're after) (Rated G) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: Julie likes it when her friends are happy, so when she realizes she's stuck in a time loop, she uses her knowledge to make sure everything works out for everyone... except she conveniently forgets to factor herself (and Luke) into the mix.

Touch of Magic (Not Rated) [Alex x Luke]

Summary: When everything stands in Luke and Alex’s way of getting to be with the people they love, they have to repeat the day over and over until they can get the happily ever after that they want.

The play's the thing (that goes wrong) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day for Macbeth, but not so for Alex and the production of Hamlet that he is directing and starring in. And while he's stuck repeating the day of the performance over and over, mishaps of all kinds befall the cast.

anything, anything (for another run with you) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie]

Summary: The moment Alex steps foot in Camp Greenwood, he knows that this summer is a bad idea.

He knows it as soon as he sees tan skin, long hair, and a tie-dyed crop top at the check-in table.

Willie.

the camp counselor/exes/prank war/time loop fic of your dreams (unless you read all of the other troped round 2 fics lmao)

there’s a glorious sunrise, dappled with the flickers of light (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: What comes next happens in slow motion. Luke’s foot catches on the last rung of the ladder. Julie watches as he stumbles a step forward, barely catching himself before falling on his face. The ladder clatters to the floor below. The trapdoor, no longer propped open by it, falls closed with a loud thunk, the lock clicking into place. They’re stuck.

“Luke!” she exclaims loudly. “Look what you did!” Julie drops to her knees in front of the trap door, desperately trying to fit her fingers between the wood and the stone to pry it open again. Of course it doesn’t work.

“What?” he snaps back. “I wouldn’t be up here in the first place if it weren’t for you trying to fuck us over.”

or: ex-best friends Luke and Julie, working as camp counselors at rivaling camps, find themselves stuck in a time loop

the daughter of apollo (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: (the JATP x Camp Half Blood AU that nobody asked for)

maybe the world isn't ending (maybe it's been postponed) (Rated G) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: Alex runs his fingers through Willie’s hair. “I think it’s best to just leave them to their own prank war at this point. Let’s not forget that time Julie put hot sauce in the coffee pot and my mouth was on fire for an entire hour.”

“You’re exaggerating, Alex-”

“I most certainly am not,” Alex cuts Reggie off.

“Or how about the time Luke tried to put glitter in Julie’s bed,” Carrie joins in, “but got my bed instead? I can appreciate some glitter, but even I know when enough is enough.”

“Suffice it to say,” Willie finishes after they’ve passed around a dozen or so more memories of pranks from the summer, “we’re all done being your collateral damage. Whatever Julie has planned for you tomorrow, Luke, you’re on your own.”

It's the last day of camp and Julie has one more prank planned for Luke. He just doesn't know what it is.

Here We Go Again (Rated T) [Julie x Luke]

Summary: Julie blinked as she stared at the place Euterpe had disappeared. What did that even mean? What journey? Old places and lost faces? What was she talking about? But before she could dwell on the questions swirling around in her mind, the sky full of stars began to move, shifting in place and descending until they were all around her. Julie felt her feet leave the ground as she rose up and up. One star in particular was burning brighter than the others, growing bigger in front of her.

It grew and grew, until the light was blinding and Julie had to throw a hand up against the harsh light. She closed her eyes as the light surrounded her and then she was falling. Falling down, down, down.

#troped: jatp #round 2: fluff #jatp fanfiction #submissions #round 2 submissions #round 2 voting #troped: voting

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ravenadottir · 4 years ago

Note

What do you think Kassam’s route would have been like if he had been one of the og boys, and how would his character have developed

my guy, i think i had a braingasm the moment i saw this ask! this is such a cool galaxy brain question, i can’t even...

‘cause i think so much about the possibility of kassam as an og, it’s actually ridiculous!! but in order to put him on day 1, i would have to put one of the boys in casa amor, and i’m choosing gary. that’s because lottie is gonna take interest in kassam right away. let me organize these thoughts in order of happenings in the villa...

♪ when mc steps outside, he’s lowkey interested, but he keeps his hands behind his back, only giving her a nod, accompanied by a smirk, when she says hi.

♪ “if any of you fancy me, please step forward.” kassam would be discreetly stepping forward, shooting her a neutral look, since he doesn’t want to come across as desperate, but a wink is also happening.

♪ “why did you step forward, kassam?” “i think we’re gonna hit it off, and you seem like a real sound girl.” bobby would say something like “ha! get it, because he’s a dj!” and laugh, but the prickly boy wouldn’t even look at him, focusing on mc.

♪ if mc chose to couple up with him, he would stand by her side, whispering his conversation, slightly analyzing the other boys.

♪ when lottie struts out, not gonna lie, he’s gonna think she’s attractive, but maybe a little intimidating. i do believe if she stole him (which i very much want to do here, since it’s an o.g kassam route), he’ll be standing next to her, but glancing at mc’s direction.

♪ the truth or dare challenge would probably be the opportunity to send him the picture, but if mc decided to kiss her partner i think that would “scare” kassam a bit. just because i don’t think he’s into p.d.a.

♪ he would have a lot of trouble relating/talking to anyone, because he automatically hates rocco, and for sure has some issues with how much rocco and bobby talk. which leads me to believe he would be closer to noah and ibrahim. (IT’S SO FREAKY TO THINK ABOUT THAT!!).

♪ priya is still gonna steal mc’s partner, which is not a big deal because she’s more interested in kassam than anyone else.

♪ kassam having more time in the villa means he’s also gonna open up to mc, eventually, and i think that’s what i wanted the most in casa amor. something to make us understand why he’s been closed up and extremely on edge at all times, like having the ear tick, the nerves, the quietness, if there’s anything to be talked about, mc would be person he would go to.

♪ music is probably what helps him relax, and right now he’s deprived of that, in every instance, so if the game wanted me to pay gems to bang some pots and do the glasses’ rim trick with him, i would a hundred percent be paying for that!

♪ bobby being musical himself would definitely blossom a connection between them. something that would make him a little fonder of cake boy. “i was wrong to judge you so fast, i guess.” and this could’ve been the “rap gang” throwback to season 1, having kassam doing beats, bobby doing the harmony, probably ibrahim rapping nonsense along with mc, and getting weird lines out of it! i would pay gems every time, i don’t care how much that would cost!

♪ as the recoupling approaches, kassam says he wants to couple up with us, but because bobby and he weren’t so close, the pastry chef has no idea of the dj’s intentions, proceeding to pick us.

♪ bobby’s choice forces kassam to choose between marisol and hannah, and going for the law student would be the obvious pick. but so much more awkward than gary’s was, because kassam wouldn’t try to hide the fact that he’s into someone else.

♪ marisol and kassam would be a friendship couple from the get go, because they have nothing in common, and that would probably make marisol realize her attraction towards rocco earlier.

♪ i do believe kassam would’ve been a cheeky sort, not the type that gary is, but definitely sneaking around to steal a kiss or two. “i don’t know what’s happening to me. i wouldn’t usually do this...” he smiles, almost not noticing it. “... but i feel close to you... it’s weird...”

“wow, kassam, thanks...”

“no, no i don’t mean like that... i’m just not used to it. you’re not the weird part of all this.”

“and what is?”

“me...” he proceeds to laugh uncomfortably.

♪ twitter bingo would have a fact about him, possibly a secret kiss, but it’s not revealed who he had it with.

♪ mr. love island. his “swimsuit” portion would be similar to lucas’, flexing his arms once he gets out of the pool, direct advice from noah, rahim and bobby. his talent would definitely include music in, possibly doing those beatbox tricks with two or three layers of sound... maybe even the low bass voice, which it’s honestly... SO FUCKING HOT. it would be a tough competition. between ibrahim doing the rubik’s cube trick shirtless, and kassam doing this... i don’t think noah or bobby would stand a chance!

♪ roccosol is still happening, and kassam is baffled by how much lottie is lying through her teeth, and shouting about the matter, since she was already talking to him behind rocco’s back. remember the welcome party for lucas and henrik? which would also mean kassam doesn’t take much heat from food/drinks, and that’s funny to me, for some reason!

♪ i do think instead of rahim, kassam would’ve been voted as “least dateable/leaving the show with a girlfriend. not endangered like lucas/henrik/rocco, but definitely voted. mc having the opportunity of the firepit conversation would end up in a kiss, and the angst is just taken on a new level!

♪ the date with him, before the recoupling on day 9, would be the chance we have to get to know him better, maybe having him tell us an embarrassing story about a gig he had. and if it was an ex’s story, even better! we don’t have that from him.

♪ hideaway scene, after the girls’ choice, would have him slightly less confident than he usually is. “i’m really excited to be here with you, i just don’t know exactly what to do.”

“i mean, if you don’t know, i don’t think i can get a biology book here.”

he would probably chuck a pillow in your direction and laugh at your joke. “i’m just nervous, i guess... i’m not used to feeling nervous around girls.”

♪ now! here’s the tricky part of the whole villa plotline in his route. operation nope. if mc went with it, he would end things, loudly and clearly, because he cannot stand betrayal, much less coming from the girl he spent so many days chasing. and he would probably advise MC to tell hope about it before it happened. kassam should be the type that breaks up with you and don’t want you back, later. i would definitely program him to act like that!

♪ drama to him is pointless, especially if it involves other people. he doesn’t see why people are being so out there about things, and definitely doesn’t understand why his girl has to be the one to solve everything. “i understand they’re upset but it’s not your job to fix it.”

♪ chelsea coming in, along with jakub, would irritate him to the extreme. the bomb she drops about him and lottie would have everyone riled up. YES, I WANT KASSAM TO KISS LOTTIE. they were coupled up before and he thinks she’s hot, besides the fact he was insecure about mc being picked by bobby. similar plot line to gary’s, except he might say something like “i had to know if there was anything there.” i really want him to explain himself here, but with short words: “we were coupled up just an hour before the recoupling. i wanted to make sure there was nothing there.”

“and...?” mc asks, staring at him.

he glances at lottie, shrugging. “there isn’t.”

♪ as revenge, mc would go on the date with jakub, resulting in kassam being apprehensive when it comes to talk about his feelings to her. and very angry and jealous, because that’s just who he is!

♪ the news about the recoupling arrive the night priya and hope are having that big fight, and yes, the bathroom scene happens with kassam, but he’s one of the boys that say the line “i want this to mean something to you”.

♪ disaster recoupling gets you both angry, and kassam would, for the first time, raise his voice, questioning jakub and the boy who steals mc. no, he wouldn’t be like the others and only question jakub or no one. at that point, everything is working against him, and just two days after mc finds out about the secret kiss, this is throwing him into a spiral of stress.

♪ casa amor gets everyone pissed off, and everything stays the same, except you get gary instead of kassam, and he’s interested in lottie and mc. (maybe the unicorn route wouldn’t happen). but casa days would’ve been way more interesting because now marisol and lottie are interested in the same guy! and in some cases, mc as well lol NOW, THAT WOULD’VE MADE CASA INTERESTING!

♪ cheeky the way gary is, he’s probably trying to stick with one girl by suggesting a kiss, sharing the bed and etc, but if mc is not interested in him, lottie would probably be torn about bringing him back or not, and marisol would get confused between gary and graham, proceeding to focus on fish boy, later.

♪ coming back from casa amor, kassam is single, and you get bean bags conversation, only with him he says how anxious he was for mc to come back. “i’m just... really glad you’re here. i...” he stammers a bit. “i missed you.”

“did you miss lottie too?” mc would raise her brows, slightly irritated.

“no, of course not! i missed...” realizing she’s being prickly, just like him, he continues. “har, har... very funny.”

“i didn’t think it was funny finding out you kissed her.”

“i wouldn’t think that either... i’m sorry i didn’t tell you.”

♪ the route is pretty much the same from there, except for a couple of moments:

one: the conversation we have with gary, by the pool, is held by kassam, and he talks about anxiety, and how that affected his relationships in the past. he didn’t know how much he missed out because he was too afraid of taking the leap, and he’s glad he’s in a better place now. also, talking about therapy and mental illness in the same tone gary did, with body issues.

two: he would make a comment of how excited he is to write songs about mc, and how much he has been thinking of his journey and the album he’s gonna dedicate to his time there.

♪ asking mc to be his girlfriend would go a little differently, since he’s not the blob of characterization he normally becomes in the game.

♪ he would continue to be prickly, and sarcastic, but his journey would’ve taught him how to trust people more, and the improbable friendships he developed there would go to show just how much he’s opening up, and how it can only get better from there.

♪ his speech, at the prom, would include his friends, mentioning them as the support system he had in there, just like one of the girls do with mc. “my journey wouldn’t have been the same if it wasn’t for you lads. and despite the bad advice i got, i guess everything worked out in the end.”

i really think kassam deserved a spot in the og’s line up, mostly because of how different he is from the other boys. he would probably have a brief friendship with lucas if the physiotherapist stayed, too.

hope this is what you were looking for. thank you so much for this ask!

#litg kassam #litg #love island the game #love island the game season 2 #litg s2 #litg season 2 #fusebox #fusebox games #queue #alternative routes

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katrina765 · 4 years ago

Text

++++

summary: you and reggie have always been good friends. being the manager for sunset curve had its perks, one of which included growing close to all the boys. one night reggie lets his feelings for you slip. how will you react?

song: testify

pairings: reggie x reader[platonic] maybe;)

words: 3.3k

warnings: mentions of alcohol, drinking, swearing, angst, pining, fluff towards the end

a/n: i’m sorry this took so long. i’ve been super busy with school and my motivation hasn’t been the best, but we made it! finally finished testify, so enjoy:) [for plot purposes we’re saying y/n lives in bobby’s house and owns the studio-garage]

++++

he’s lying awake trying to contemplate what this all means. he’s known how he’s felt for so long and yet he can never find the right words to say to you. you always manage to steal his breath away by barely doing anything. you walk into a room, his face lights up and suddenly his palms are sweaty. he’s amazed with the way you speak. it’s as if silk were a sound and it were projecting from your lips.

your lips.

what he’d do just to get a taste, a feel. the poor boy has dreamt of the way they’d fit perfectly against his. he’d imagine the way you’d move in sync with him. it all felt so real and yet he knew if he never built up the courage to talk to you, he wouldn’t get the chance to make those dreams realities.

++++

“luke!” you called, crossing the cramped studio towards the lead singer. he was shouting over the music to a girl who practically clung to his arm. you watched as she batted her eyelashes and took another sip from her red solo cup. “luke!”

you reached the pair, earning a pointed glare from the petite girl. luke hesitantly looked at you, guilt already painting his features.

“can i help you, sweetheart?” she took a step forward, clearly bothered that you interrupted her conversation.

“find someone else to bother, babe.” you roughly grabbed luke’s hand, leading him towards a less crowded area. he gave the girl an apologetic wave before she stormed off towards the drinks table.

“she was really pretty, y/n.” luke groaned, tossing his cup into a nearby bin.

“luke, you said this was only going to be a few people! do you know how big of a mess i’m going to have to clean up? my parents are going to be up my ass when they come home!”

“calm down, y/l/n. have a little fun, get a little drunk! the boys and i will help clean up. scouts honor!”

“you were never a scout- you know what? fine! this is yours to deal with. i may be your official manager, but i’m not your babysitter! have fun with this one, patterson.” and with that you made your way over to a cooler, pulling out a bottle of some fruity drink.

reggie spotted you from a few feet away, his beer abandoned in a corner of the studio. it wasn’t his fault you stole the show wherever you went- even if he was the only one in the audience. his eyes were glued to you and that was how it was. you were completely oblivious to his infatuation with you. that’s how it’s been for years.

the boy watched as you made your way over to alex. he ogled at the way your lips met the rim of the glass bottle, delicately sipping at the liquid.

as you approached the boy in the pink hoodie, his eyes traveled far behind you. they met reggie’s, catching his stare. alex smirked knowingly and nodded to his band mate. reggie hesitated slightly before walking away to grab another beer.

a little liquid luck never hurt anybody. right?

“hey, alex.” you greeted, tilting the bottle back once more. “i thought you weren’t a ‘party person’.”

“i’m not.” he scratched the back of his neck, glancing around the room again.

the studio wasn’t terribly big. normally there was room for your piano, the band’s gear, and a couple couches. sure there was an empty area and a loft, but you never intended to have more than ten people in it at once.

luke’s “small gathering” had turned into a large house party and your poor studio had people so close, they were bumping shoulders. cups were tipped on the floor, bottles strewn about, your mother’s plants pushed to one corner, speakers in the middle of the room blaring some jumbled rock song.

a mess.

“i really only came for luke. he said it was gonna be fun, but i wasn’t expecting so many people.” alex leaned down so you would be able to hear him better.

“yeah.” you rolled your eyes, recalling the conversation you just had with the guitarist. “didn’t really give any of us a heads up. do you wanna-”

a loud crash from across the studio cut you off. in the direction of it, a mixture of cheers and laughs erupted.

with a groan of frustration, you politely excused yourself from the drummer. he flashed you a sympathetic smile as you downed the rest of your drink and walked off.

“hey, man!” reggie took your place next to alex, keeping his eyes on you as he spoke to his bandmate.

alex waved a hand in front of reggie’s face, snapping his fingers a couple times. he chuckled once the bassist finally looked up at him with reddening cheeks.

“if you didn’t want to talk to me, you could have just said so.” alex laughed.

“no- no, i’m sorry.” reggie cleared his throat, taking another sip from his bottle, before continuing. “just a little...”

“distracted?” the boy in the flannel nodded sheepishly. “dude, you have to tell her.”

“you know i can’t do that.”

“why not? everyone sees the way you look at her! it’s better to tell her than to keep it to yourself for another three years.”

reggie took a deep breath. his eyes scanned the crowd in search of you. he watched as you shooed people away from a broken vase- one of your mother’s. you delicately picked up shards of glass, careful not to cut yourself.

“i just don’t want to ruin things with her.” the boy finally exhaled.

“well then at least go help her clean up.” alex’s eyes glimmered with a hint of mischief as he shoved his bandmate in your direction.

reggie stumbled towards you, instinctively smoothing out his jacket. your eyes lit up when the boy reached you. he offered his help and even after you insisted this was your mess to clean up, he stayed and helped you sweep. it was sweet; the gesture. to you it was just a friend helping another friend, but to him, every lingering touch sent a million questions to his mind; was that on purpose? why is she looking at me like that? does she feel the same?

to any onlookers, they’d see the way his cheeks flushed each time your hands accidentally brushed or when you moved to sweep a fallen strand of hair out of your face. reggie was infatuated by you and everyone saw it except you.

“thanks again, reg.” a smile stretched across your face as you tossed the last shards of glass into the bin. reggie had just walked back outside to you with two drinks in his hands; the same fruity drink you had earlier and another beer. “how’d you know these are my favorite?”

“had a hunch.” his cheeks were tinged that familiar pink color, grateful the darkness was there to hide it from your view.

“we should probably get back in there before something else breaks, huh?” you tipped the bottle back, taking another long sip from the sweet drink. as much as you hated the feeling of being drunk and what was to come after, you needed all the liquid courage this bottle had to offer.

reggie tilted his own bottle back, mind racing with a thousand thoughts, but only one that really stood out. for him, it was now or never. the atmosphere was right, there were no distractions- if he didn’t do it now, he’d be kicking himself forever.

i’m losing control now that the alcohol hits my blood flow.

“y/n?” you turned around, walking back towards the bassist.

“everything alright, reggie?” you placed a hand on his shoulder. concern evident in your eyes as you looked up at the flustered boy.

didn’t want to address this, but i really thought that you should know.

“can i tell you something?”

the conversation was short. nothing much said, at least not on your part. it was him who spilled his entire being into one breath. his words hit you quickly, the loud music almost drowning them out entirely. reggie watched as your face fell. you attempted to mask your discomfort with a shy smile; one he knew all too well. it was the same look you’d given so many others before. it was all out there now. his feelings for you, the ones he’d been hiding since he first met the bright, bubbly girl. he’d fallen instantly. now he stood, drink in hand, watching as you walked away. you didn’t feel the same and he knew you never would. his mind ran through everything he could have said to persuade you. “life gets so black and white when i look in your eyes. girl, you just simplify, you make wrong seem so right, turn dark into light.” he’d lost his chance and there was nothing he could do to get it back. if only he’d been better, more charming, would you have felt the same?

++++

he drank that night. reggie tipped bottles back like there was no tomorrow. he drank and drank and drank for the next two weeks.

he knew it was a bad idea- telling you- and yet he did it anyway. alex had suggested it, but it wasn’t his fault. he’d been wanting to do it since before he could remember. it just hurt that you finally knew...and didn’t feel the same.

reggie started skipping band practice. he knew you’d be there, going over gigs you were looking for or just to provide feedback. he couldn’t look you in the eyes without being swarmed with those feelings again. nothing would change for him and he knew that. seeing you there would only make things worse.

the doubt was what ate at him. why wasn’t he good enough? was it something he said? did? there was nothing wrong with you- hell, you were perfect to him- so it had to be something with him, right?

i’ve made a mistake, but this is a whole new kind of rejection.

he could have spoken differently? if he controlled the nerves in his voice he would’ve seemed more put together. what if he said something smoother?

come over here slowly, come get to know my body. got me breaking a sweat ‘cause this is a whole new kind of neglection.

he wouldn’t call it neglect. if anything he was the one avoiding you. it was only after he came back to band practice a month later when he saw it.

you were the only one not to greet him when he walked into the studio last wednesday. reggie didn’t blame you. it was only fair you were a little uncomfortable around him now that you knew it all. so he didn’t mind when you ignored him today.

band practice had started the same as any other day. luke had written a new song and was eager to show you all. alex picked up his parts quickly, reggie was a little distracted, but tried his best to follow along, and you sat on the couch across the room flipping through newspapers and magazines in search of a place that needed an opening band.

“what do you think, y/n?” luke asked, strumming his final chord before placing his guitar back in it’s stand. “stage-worthy?”

“a little choppy on the bass, but otherwise not bad.” you looked up at the boys.

luke, bobby, and alex laughed at your quip, but reggie’s face resembled something of a poorly hidden scowl. in his mind your remark was nothing short of jab back at him. is it bad that he was the slightest bit relieved you even addressed him?

it felt like it had been years since he saw your smile let alone pointed in his direction.

“you heard the girl! pick it up, peters!”

“shut it, luke.” reggie swung his bass back around, ready to play. he glanced quickly up at you to see your eyes already on him. a soft smile rested on your lips as you ducked your head back down to your work.

reggie felt those familiar butterflies arise in him. you still managed to steal his heart even after breaking it.

that’s gotta hurt.

++++

i’m missing you, do you miss me too? i’m missing all your cues ‘cause baby, it’s hot in here and i’m filled with fear, ‘cause i know you don’t like to lose.

“i miss her.” reggie slumped down in his seat, shuffling his shoes gently on the pine floor.

“dude she literally just said she couldn’t make it to bowling.” bobby walked towards his sulking bandmate. he had just completed a turn and glanced back to see the last three pins fall.

it was alex’s go. on his way to the rack of multicolored bowling balls, he patted bobby on the back as a ‘congrats, man!’

“i don’t just mean tonight. after i told her and- and after i ghosted you guys for a couple weeks- sorry about that by the way.” luke dismissively waved him off, nodding for him to continue. “she’s been ignoring me. at first she would at least smile at me, but now she won’t even look in my direction. i know i messed up, but this is just confusing.”

the boys had decided to relax this friday night. after having practice everyday this week and working nonstop, a celebratory pizza and bowling night seemed appropriate. you had actually suggested the small bowling alley a couple towns over for the boys to go. they insisted you come along, but you had already made plans.

they weren’t the only ones with a busy schedule. between managing the band, work, school, and maintaining your own personal relationships, you needed a break. friday was the only night you had free, so you made the most of it. bowling could wait.

“she’s been distancing herself from us too, reggie. not just you.” luke admitted.

“girls are just confusing, man.” reggie looked up at bobby. he tried his hardest to smile along with his friend, but all that was on his mind was you.

he didn’t realize how much it hurt not having you there. it was in that moment when reggie decided keeping you as a friend, would mean he at least kept you in his life. even if your feelings for him never changed, not having you around was worse than losing you.

++++

“is she actually gonna show?”

“dude, why wouldn’t she?” luke and bobby murmured between themselves.

sunset curve stood backstage, tuning their instruments in preparation for their performance. you had spent a couple weeks trying to book this gig. through your hectic schedule you had spent little time at the studio with the boys, but you were still able to ‘work your magic’ -as luke would say- and get them a spot playing at a club.

they were obviously grateful, but seeing as they hardly saw you, they weren’t able to express it. regardless of them practicing in your garage, your time was exhausted running between your work and school.

now you stood front row at the club, waiting for their band- your band- to be announced on stage. little did you know, reggie had been pacing back and forth hoping you’d show. the look on his face once he caught sight of you was one you drilled into your mind.

it was pure joy.

the boys all gave the crowd a quick scan as they reached their instruments. almost at once they all saw you and smiled. their teeth weren’t showing nearly as much as reggie’s, but you could tell they were all ecstatic to see you nonetheless.

to say the performance went smoothly was an understatement. to you, they did phenomenally. it was not only the crowd’s first time hearing some of the songs, but yours as well. the boys were flawless and they knew it. you could practically see the energy radiating off of them as they took their bows.

you took no time in rushing past the crowd to the backstage, waiting eagerly to congratulate the boys.

“you came!” reggie practically leapt off the stage and into your arms.

“good to see you too, peters-” you choked, wrapping your arms around his shoulders.

“let the poor girl breathe!” bobby chuckled, following the rest of the boys down the steps.

reggie quickly released you, muttering a sequence of apologies. his cheeks burned a bright pink as he finally met your eyes. there was a sort of twinkle he noticed. he couldn’t quite place it as he was blocked from your view, but he saw it nonetheless.

“you guys did amazing up there.” you smiled at the rest of the band. they all took their turn wrapping you up in sweaty hugs.

“no thanks to our amazing manager!” alex cheered.

an assortment of ‘here here’s’ and ‘cheers’ erupted from the boys. they paraded around you, talking over each other as they relived their time on stage from just moments ago.

“celebratory pizza?” luke jumped in question, arms waving towards the door.

“i’m down!”

“you guys comin?” alex nodded towards you and reggie. the two of you stepping away from the group subconsciously.

“we’ll be there in a bit. can i talk to you for a sec, reg?” the three guys behind you exchanged a set of looks. each raising their eyebrows higher than the next. alex was quick to push his bandmates out the door to give the two of you some privacy.

you couldn’t help the blush that crept onto your cheeks as you looked back at reggie. he too had a thin layer of pink dusting his cheeks. the two of you stood for a moment, neither speaking. the seconds between the boys leaving and your first words felt like an eternity.

you shifted from foot to foot, trying to find the right words.

“i just wanted to say-” you started.

“i’m sorry!” the two of you blurted out in unison.

“you first.” you giggled, ducking your head as the boy in front of you stuttered his words.

“ok, ok. i’m sorry for springing all of that onto you a couple months ago and then ditching the band while i drank away my petty feelings. it was pretty shitty- i mean being rejected is pretty shitty too, but the way i reacted was bad. it just hurt because i’ve liked you for so long and when you said you didn’t feel the same, i didn’t know what to do so i hid and-” reggie rambled and only paused to take a breath. you took the opportunity to pipe up.

“reggie...i need to apologize, too. i could have had an actual conversation instead of walking away from you-”

“no!” reggie bounced forward slightly, making you stumble back in laughter. “i mean...your reaction was valid. you probably weren’t expecting it all. you not feeling the same shouldn’t have changed our relationship and i realized that all recently. i’d much rather have you as my manager and friend than lose you completely. so…y/n-” reggie stepped forward again, reaching for your hands. you nervously laced your fingers with his, looking up as he continued on with his dramatic speech. “y/n, will you do me the honor of being my friend?”

you couldn’t help but giggle at his theatrics. reggie was sincere and you could see that. he didn’t want to lose you and even if it was only a month of you two hardly seeing each other, he knew he didn’t want you out of his life.

“reggie…?” your tone scared him. reggie’s eyebrows raised slightly at your sudden seriousness. were you going to leave him right then and there? would you not want to be his friend anymore?

“what if your feelings weren’t all one sided anymore?”

++++

tagged: @caitsymichelle13 @poppin-peters @shmaptainshada @mystic-writings @fantomlovescharliegillespie4ever @dream-a-little-bigger-x @mnmdancin12 @annoyinglyseverehottub @peeurpantsbitch @artificialsweetener15

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#we three #one shot #writing #short story #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phat ones #sunset curve #julie molina #reggie peters #luke patterson #bobby wilson #alex mercer #jatp #jatp fic #reggie peters fic #reggie peters x reader #reggie peters x y/n

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neptunetheplanet7 · 3 years ago

Text

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 - 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫

DM ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE TAGLIST!!

;mikasa ackerman x fem!lesbian!reader

;modern au, band au

word count: 3.3k

warnings: fluff at first, angst ig, angry levi, hitch, swearing, arguing/fighting, yelling

sorry it took a while to get this out there. school started for me last week and it’s been hard getting back into the groove of things. thank you for being patient with me!

listen to the music masterlist

prev | next

A couple of days passed since Zeke's sudden arrival. Eren agreed to your terms of his brother's stay with reluctance. He understood where you were coming from, though. Armin was right about him respecting your decision.

Tonight you and your bandmates would meet your large friend group at a nice restaurant nearby. You stood in the bathroom attached to your room, styling your hair the way you wanted.

In the last two days, you received texts from a few of your curious friends. They all seemed very interested in who you were bringing to dinner. If only they knew it was the strong-willed girl you'd had a crush on for years.

Sasha and Connie put the pieces together and teased you relentlessly about 'bringing a date to dinner'.

You were nervous to see the reactions of your friends when you walked in with Mikasa. Unlike you, they didn't get a warning of her return.

Stepping back from the counter and smoothing down your outfit, you exhaled softly. You took one final glance at the mirror and left the bathroom.

Two blonds were arguing in the living room when you entered.

"What's going on?" you asked cautiously.

"We can't leave him alone in the house while we're out. He's like a child! He already broke two vases because he slipped while looking for spare change!" Armin explained. He was wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks. He ran a hand through his silk hair then placed both hands on his hips.

Zeke protested, "Y/n, you can trust me. Don't listen to him, he's delusional." He was still in his usual attire, a t-shirt, and jeans.

Armin's face turned red from anger. "Why you-"

"You broke my vases?" you interrupted.

"No."

"He did! I watched him do it the second time!"

You learned the hard way that messing with Armin was a death sentence. Especially when he was mad. The argument had to stop before it turned physical.

"Zeke, get dressed. You're coming with us, but you sit far away. You don't talk to us or our friends." You pointed a stern finger at him.

He pouted and groaned like a child before slumping his shoulders and stomping down the basement stairs.

Armin rubbed a hand over his face and, in an annoyed fashion, checked his watch. "Will they ever be done?"

You chuckled. "You're always the first one ready. Don't you know that by now?"

He rolled his eyes and fell back on the couch. "Shut it."

Eren appeared at the basement door, looking frustrated. In his hand, he held out the tie to the suit he was wearing. "How the hell do you tie this thing?"

Armin sighed and stood back up, his rest short-lived. They made their way over to him and began to walk him through each step while his eyebrows only furrowed more.

His long hair fell around his face as he tried his best to maneuver the tie correctly. His face lit up once he got it right.

"How have you gone this long without knowing how to tie a tie?" Jean leaned his head out of the hall bathroom, which you didn't even know he was in.

"Shut up, Kirstein. I get by." He glared.

Jean laughed and fully emerged from the bathroom wearing a beige suit vest and slacks. Underneath, he wore a cream-colored dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His hair was tied back in a short ponytail with a few strands falling loose.

Your eyes shifted back to Eren, who was struggling to put on his suit jacket and you stifled a laugh.

"Stop laughing! It's not funny." His words were hard to understand since he held around three bobby pins between his teeth.

You laughed some more despite his agitation. You were disrupted by the light clacking of heels on the stairs to the second story. Looking in that direction, you saw Mikasa walking down and you had to stop your mouth from dropping open.

She was wearing a simple tight black dress that reached just above her knees. Silver dangly earrings were in her ears and a dainty silver necklace hung around her neck. Her ring adorned fingers played with the hem of her dress. She smiled at you from across the room.

Eren bumped your hip and you nearly shrieked. His presence next to you had gone unnoticed until then. He snickered at you and nodded to Mikasa. You narrowed your eyes and tugged a lock of hair out of his bun.

His smirk dropped. "What'd you do that for? Now I have to do this all over again. Bitch." he grumbled the insult and left your side.

Mikasa walked over to where you stood. "Hi."

"Hi." You returned her smile.

She sucked a quiet breath. "You look nice."

You couldn't fight the grin that spread across your face at her simple compliment. "As do you."

She smiled again and you felt you might collapse from the surge of butterflies in your stomach.

Zeke came up from the basement, gaining everyone's attention. "What the hell are you wearing?" Eren chided.

He was adorned in a baby blue suit with ruffles decorating the dress shirt. You struggled to hold in your laughs, as did the woman beside you.

"Don't talk about it." Zeke lowered his eyes to the floor as Eren laughed loudly without shame.

"Marco's here to pick us up," Jean announced, shoving his phone into his pocket. He wanted to see Marco's reaction to Mikasa's homecoming at the dinner, but that dream was cut short when she answered the door to him the day prior. He was shocked, to say the least.

Sure enough, when you looked tho the front door, you could see the glare of Marco's headlights in the darkness.

He waved you all over to get in his car. Jean sat in the passenger seat, perks of dating the driver. In a backseat that was designed for three people, you were crammed inside with Armin, Eren, and Mikasa. Zeke was forced to ride in the trunk.

Mikasa was pressed up against your skin. In the confinement of the car, you could feel her warm breath tickling your shoulder whenever she spoke.

A shiver ran through your body and your hands gripped your knees. Nobody noticed, thank god. You were very grateful that the only light sources were phone screens and the button rims inside the car.

Everyone chatted mindlessly until Marco turned a corner into a parking lot. He parked the car near the entrance and got out with everybody following suit.

Once you were inside, you were greeted with the familiar smell of the restaurant. It was the one you always went to when meeting up with the group. You didn't know the owners, but Reiner did, and he was the one who planned these gatherings.

"Welcome to Galliard's!" greeted a blond man whose name tag read Colt. A look of recognition crossed his face. "Oh, it's you guys. Right, this way." He grabbed a menu for each person and led you to a large booth in the middle of the restaurant.

You took a good look at everyone. You all went to the same high school, some of you just didn't meet until later. Like you, Sasha, and Connie.

Five people were seated at the table. Two were missing. Ymir and Historia were late. Figures.

They all saw Mikasa looming behind you since each of them had some form of shock on their face. Several voices suddenly arose from the group.

"When did you get back? And why did I not hear about it?" voiced a betrayed Bertholdt.

"Mikasa, I didn't know you would be here," Annie said coolly.

"Oh my god, Mikasa!" Connie tried to act surprised.

"Mikasa! I had no idea you'd be here." It turns out Sasha was just as bad of an actor.

"This is your plus one, Y/n?" Reiner held a knowing expression.

"So no one is happy to see me?" Eren sounded hurt.

Reiner wasted no time standing up to pull you in for a hug. He pulled back after a few seconds and held you by the shoulders at an arm's length away. "Like the beard?" He gestured to his chin.

"Sure, Reiner, it suits you." You patted his shoulder and he returned your cheerful smile. He moved to talk to the others as Bertholdt came into your view.

When he hugged you, you noticed how much taller he was than you. You had to stand on your tip-toes to see over his shoulder. "What the hell, Bertholdt?" You fucking ladder," you blurted.

He laughed at your lovely way with words. "Hi, Y/n. It's been a while. I'm glad to see you're still doing well."

"It has. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. How's it going at the school?"

"It's definitely going. I'll tell you about it in a second. You wanna sit down?" He moved to the side to let you slide into the booth. Mikasa was on your right and Bertholdt was on your left.

Everyone was seated except for Zeke, who stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Eren told him to find someone to get him to a table. He just pushed up his glasses and left.

Across from you sat Sasha, Connie, and Jean who were laughing their asses off at something Marco said. Reiner, Eren, and Armin sat on the cushy bench across from Annie who sat on one of the three chairs pulled up to the table.

"So, Mikasa, when did you get back?" Annie asked.

"Earlier this week."

"What? You've been here that long and we didn't know?" Reiner gaped at her.

"We thought it'd be a nice surprise." You shrugged.

"I thought you were bringing a date. Or is she your date?" Connie teasingly wiggled his eyebrows while Sasha laughed loudly.

You blushed madly at his question. "Shut up, guys! You already knew I was bringing her, anyway."

"You knew?" Bertholdt's eyes boggled.

"No wonder you're so calm. Out of everyone I'd expect you two to go ballistic," Annie pointed out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Connie lifted his arms in an attempt to appear threatening.

A new voice spoke, "It means you're an idiot." You looked up to see Ymir stood behind Annie's chair with one hand around Historia's shoulders and one in the pocket of her suit jacket.

"Ymir, hi!" You greeted and she raised an eyebrow.

"This is your date?" She chuckled.

"She's not my date," you grumbled, folding your arms. Ymir just snickered and sat in the chair next to Annie's, Historia sitting next to her.

"Quit it, Ymir. Is that all you have to say to someone we haven't seen in two years?" she scolded her girlfriend.

"How is it, Mikasa?" Ymir turned and asked.

"It's good. Glad to be back." She gave a small smile.

"That's good to hear! We're all happy you're back," Historia said with enthusiasm. Mikasa nodded in response.

You picked up your conversation with Bertholdt from earlier about his job. He was an elementary school teacher and from what he told you, he was very good at what he did.

Other conversations went on, jokes were told, and by the time the waitress came to the table for your orders, you'd caught up with everyone. The whole group was excited Mikasa came home and it showed.

Her hand brushed against yours multiple times under the table and your shoulders tensed up whenever they touched hers. She didn't seem to mind the contact. You wished she'd just take your hand since you were too scared to do so yourself.

Those moments of giddiness were short-lived because you noticed two familiar figures at a table toward the back.

Hitch smiled maliciously and waved at you while bringing her champagne glass to her lips. Marlo sat across from her on his phone, drumming his knuckles on the table.

Your eyes widen and you quickly move away from Mikasa, startling her.

"Are you okay, Y/n?" She placed a hand on your shoulder with a worried expression.

"I'll be right back." You brushed her hand off and shimmied out of the booth, heading to the bathroom.

You pushed the door open and luckily no one was inside. Your hands gripped onto the edge of the counter as your mind raced. What the hell were they doing here? Why tonight? Your blood was beginning to boil as you became angrier by the second.

The door swept open and in walked the woman of the hour. "Hello, Y/n," she sang.

"What are you doing here? Can I not have a meet-up with my friends without you riding my dick?" you sneered, looking at her in the mirror.

Shock flashed across her face and she let out a breathy laugh. "Such colorful language, Y/n! I didn't expect that from you!" She turned to face the sinks and your eyes met in the mirrors.

"What are you doing here, Hitch?"

"I'm having a nice dinner with my friend, that's what I'm doing. It just so happens you were here tonight as well," she said.

"So it's a coincidence? If you say so, I don't believe you."

"That's exactly what it is. You don't have to believe it, but it's the truth. I can promise I wasn't planning on spying on you tonight." She blew her bangs away from her face.

She honestly couldn't tell if she was lying or not but your anger level was rising quickly and you didn't know if you'd be able to stop yourself from saying something you would regret.

"What is your problem, Hitch? Seriously, have you nothing better to do? I haven't seen half of those people in months." You tore your eyes away from the mirror to fully look at her.

"I told you, Y/n. I wasn't here for you. I don't have a problem." She narrowed her eyes as she stood at her full height, facing you.

You scoffed. "Tell me what your problem is. I want to hear you say why you're doing all this. You never did give me an explanation."

"I don't have a problem."

"Yes, you do. Why did you follow me in here? Do you think you can intimidate me or something?"

"I know I can intimidate you. Stop acting like you're the one with the power right now. I'm the one who has the guts to tell people what we were. You wanna know my problem? My problem is you. You couldn't get over a stupid high school crush. You still aren't over it and it's fucking weak."

You backed away as she got angrier with every word she spat. She hesitated for a moment and inhaled sharply.

"What's weaker is how much I care. I gave a shit about you and you couldn't see that she didn't. I knew about your feelings the whole time. You think I'm dumb? I know you thought of me as a distraction. And I liked being your distraction. But you run away from everything. You're a fucking coward."

You were too shocked to even try to apologize. Your mouth fell open and tears pricked your eyes. Her breathing was ragged and her eyes were big. She blinked several times and the light caught a few wet streaks on her face when she turned her head.

"Hitch, I-"

"Please, don't say anything."

The state of shock you were sent into was broken when a sudden bang sounded outside of the bathroom.

Hitch looked desperate to get out of the situation, so she took the opportunity to bolt out of the bathroom. You took a moment to compose yourself before leaving to assure your friends you were okay.

The moment you stepped out of the bathroom, you stopped dead in your tracks when you were greeted with the jarring sight of Zeke seconds away from being punched in the face.

A man with short black hair was kneeling on Zeke's table with one hand gripping his collar and the other pulled back in fist.

"Zeke Jaeger right? You owe me a lot of money and my wedding ring," the man seethed and punched Zeke hard in the jaw.

He fell to the floor, clutching where he was hit. You stood there, stunned. Just as the man was bringing his leg forward to kick him, your instincts kicked in and you rushed to crouch in front of him. You braced yourself for the impact that never came.

"You'd really kick a woman?" an unfamiliar voice spoke.

You looked up and saw him being held back by a man with a slicked back undercut and a bomber jacket adorned with patches.

Eren and Mikasa were at your side in an instant with the others following closely behind.

"Are you okay, Y/n?" Mikasa put her hands on your shoulders and you nodded. Eren shot you a worried glance while tending to Zeke.

The short man was still being held back by the guy from before, but now someone new was at his side. He looked like bomber jacket dude but with a different hair color and style. He was trying to talk down the black-haired man.

Bomber jacket interrupted, "Look, dude, you're scaring my customers. We don't do that shit in here. One of my waitresses panicked and called the cops. They'll be here soon for you if you don't take this the fuck outside."

"Porco! Watch your language," the brunette hissed. 'Porco' glared at, who you assumed was, his brother.

Eren and Mikasa helped Zeke up and began to lead him out of the restaurant. You and the others followed, except Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt who stayed to talk to the restaurant owners.

Once you had safely gotten outside, you sat Zeke down on a bench. Sasha managed to snag some napkins for his wound.

Everyone except for you, Eren, and Mikasa were seated on the sidewalk. You three were also on the bench.

The door to the restaurant was pushed open and two voices were heard. The short man was walking out and a taller blond man was lingering behind.

He noticed Zeke and stopped his mumbling. He pointed a shaky finger at him and his face contorted into a nasty glare.

"Where's my money, bitch?" he shouted.

"Levi, why don't you calm down before you do something again." The blond man said.

'Levi' scoffed. "I just want my money back. And my wedding ring. Where the fuck is my wedding ring?"

The color drained from Zeke's face. Levi yelled at him again, "Where the fuck is it?"

"I pawned it."

If looks could kill, Zeke would be dead. The pure anger that was displayed on the man's face was enough to make you cower.

"Let me at him!" Levi purged forward and Jean attempted to stop him, but just ended up on the concrete. He pushed past Eren and in the blink of an eye, Zeke was on the ground. He was getting the shit beat out of him in front of your eyes.

Your friends yelled at him to get off. The man who was following him tried to hold him back, but Levi seemed even angrier than he was inside the restaurant. Eren tried pulling Zeke away with help from Mikasa.

Sirens sounded in the distance and you knew they were growing closer with each passing second. The staff hadn't called off the police, you realized. "Guys," you called.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

The sirens were muffled by the yells.

"Stop, Levi!"

They were clearer.

"Get off him!"

They were loud.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

Blaring lights could be seen over the hedges.

"Get off my brother!"

"Guys!" you yelled over everyone. You pointed to the police cars that were now pulling into the parking lot.

posted: 9/7/21

no reposts, edits, or modification to my work by anyone other than me.

#aot fanfiction #band au #mikasa ackerman #mikasa x reader #mikasa x you #modern au #snk fanfiction #attack on titan #levi ackerman

14 notes · View notes

tripleaxeldiaz · 4 years ago

Text

maybe one day i’ll fly next to you

chapter 4/8

read on ao3

start from the beginning

“Buck!”

Buck nearly slices his hand on the skate he’s supposed to be sharpening when he hears May’s voice. He drags his eyes away from ice long enough to see her, Chim, and Maddie looking at him expectedly. Apparently, that wasn’t the first time she’d said his name.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said we’re going to that Thai place on Sawtelle for dinner, do you wanna come?”

“Oh, uh—” his eyes drift back in time to see Eddie land his cleanest quad lutz all day, and he tries not to smile. “I’ve got a session with Hen in a little bit, maybe tomorrow?”

“You okay, Buckaroo?” Chim asks. “You look...forlorn.”

Buck snorts and shakes his head. “I’m fine, just tired.”

Chim shrugs as he follows the girls out of the rink. Buck tries to focus, tries to get lost in the back and forth of sharpening, but he keeps getting distracted by Eddie’s practice and the way he commands the ice even when no one’s scoring him. He feels an ache in his chest watching him, a dull one but still there — it’s been a month since Skate America, and they still have lunch and hang out and everything is fine, but there’s also a tension between them now, the tension of knowing what it’s like to have their hands on each other, what the other one tastes like, and wanting to do it more.

They make eye contact as Eddie heads for the locker room, and he sends Buck a smile so warm Buck swears it’s better than sunshine.

He keeps thinking this waiting thing is going to get easier, but it really, really hasn’t.

“Did you guys get a divorce or something?” Buck jumps as Hen sits down next to him and starts lacing up her skates.

“What? We haven’t— We never— What?” Buck asks, voice an octave higher than normal.

Hen levels him with an unimpressed look. “Don’t give me that. You went from hating him to being attached at the hip to staring at him like a lovesick puppy in like six weeks. Either this is a lover’s spat, or it’s some kinky roleplay thing that I don’t actually want to know anything about.”

Buck doesn’t think he’s ever blushed so hard or so fast in his whole life. “Jesus, it’s none of those things! We—” he looks around quickly before turning back and lowering his voice, “we did kiss, at Skate America, but it was just once and we decided to...pause any next relationship steps until after the Olympics.”

“Why? You’re allowed to date teammates, that’s not against the rules.”

“I know, but—” he’s not sure how to explain I can’t stop thinking about him but that makes me lose focus and as much as I want to make out with him I also want to beat him at every possible competition without sounding insane, so he settles on “we just don’t want any distractions.”

“So you’re gonna pine for each other from afar for the next three months, because that’s less distracting than actually being together?”

Buck pauses lacing up his own skates. “Okay, so maybe it’s not a great plan.”

Hen shrugs as she pushes off from the boards, skating backwards so Buck can still see her skeptical frown. “It might be easier to handle if you just embrace it now. I know it’ll be easier for me to handle.”

Maybe she’s right, a little voice in his head whispers, because it makes sense. But at the same time, a relationship is something he’s never had to factor into competition season before, so he’s honestly not sure how to navigate it. Maybe it starts great, they’re mooning over each other, but then one of them has a bad showing, and it leads to animosity or jealousy or some other ugly thing that would drive a wedge back between them when they’d (he’d) just overcome it. Buck cares about Eddie, cares about their friendship, their potential relationship, Eddie’s general happiness. But he also cares about his career, about his own dreams, and call him selfish or single minded, but he really cares about winning the Olympics. And he’s not willing to risk hurting any of those things by jumping into something too quickly.

He wants to do this with Eddie, but he wants to do this right, when he can make Eddie a top priority like he deserves. If that means he has to endure a few more months of pining, then fine. Come February, it’ll all be more than worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, he’s sitting cross-legged at center ice, staring off at nothing, when he sees Eddie skating over to him out of the corner of his eye. He doesn’t say anything, just sits down next to Buck, copying his position, and inviting himself into the reflective silence Buck’s created in the dim morning light.

He finds he doesn’t mind the company so much.

“Are we meditating?” Eddie whispers eventually, like he still respects the quiet even though he has no idea what it’s for.

“Something like that,” Buck says, and Eddie nods, lets them fall back into their own thoughts. It makes Buck melt a little bit, a welcome relief from the incessant buzzing he’s been feeling under his skin all morning.

The truth is, Buck hasn’t been able to make himself move for about 20 minutes. He came in for one last early practice before they’re supposed to fly to Japan, fell on every single jump he attempted, and eventually just didn’t get back up. He had half hoped giving up would spurn his stubborn streak to try one more time one last jump, but instead he just sat, his worries burying him deeper and deeper like freshly fallen snow.

He groans and leans back, laying flat on the ice, trying to focus on the bite of the cold on the back of his head instead of anything else. Eddie follows suit to mirror him again, and Buck’s stupidly grateful that he’s here. He turns his head to face him and is met with eyes glowing honey colored in the sunlight.

“I’m really worried about fucking everything up,” he says in a rush, like Eddie’s gaze pulled it right out of him before he could put all is walls up and lock them, pretend like he’s still strong and has it all together.

“You won’t,” Eddie says with no hesitation.

Buck rolls his eyes. “You don’t know that.”

“I do. I’ve watched you skate since we were 16. I know setbacks make you fight harder.”

“This isn’t about setbacks,” he says, sitting up and resting back on his hands. “This is about going to the last GP before the Final, where everyone is warmed up and has all their kinks worked out, while I can’t even land a clean triple loop.”

Eddie, once again, sits up to mirror him. “One bad practice doesn’t mean anything. Your programs are solid, the audience and the judges love you, you really have nothing to worry about.”

“Except your perfect jumps getting in my way.”

Eddie laughs and it echoes around the rink. “Yeah, except that. But hey, if I win, I’ll let you hold the medal, just to remember what gold feels like.”

With anyone else, Buck would bristle at a joke like that, especially after a trainwreck of a practice. Hell, three months ago, he certainly wouldn’t have been okay with Eddie saying it. But now he just laughs, and he feels almost relieved, because despite their being direct competition, despite the pause they put on whatever it was they were moving towards, he still has Eddie in his corner. He might not actually know how this next week will go, but Eddie believes in him, and right now, it’s enough to finally get him up off the ice, offering a hand down to Eddie to pull him up too. They linger for a minute, hands still clasped, before Buck pulls away and glides toward the edge of the rink.

“Think you can’t beat me in a 500 meter, golden boy?”

Eddie smiles that smile that makes Buck’s stomach drop, and then he’s flashing past him, halfway around the ice before Buck can even start. They go around and around, name calling and playfully shoving, and Buck’s nerves melt away with every burst of speed and every glimpse of joy on Eddie’s face.

~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they land in Sapporo, Buck’s so exhausted he feels a little drunk. He’s never been good at sleeping on long flights, always too distracted by the endless movie choices or a trashy thriller he picked up at Hudson News or his own worries swirling in his head. He finally managed to fall asleep for an hour before he was woken up by the warm weight of Eddie’s cheek resting on his shoulder, his hair softly brushing his jaw.

His only focus after that was on keeping as still as possible for the rest of the flight.

Eddie, thankfully, takes charge of herding him through customs and to the car waiting for them at arrivals, gently steering him so he avoids people and poles while his eyes are half closed. He’s much nicer about it than Maddie ever is, and he only runs into a wall once. Eddie apologizes for it profusely, gently rubbing his head checking for bumps. Buck has to literally bite his tongue before an embarrassing string of words tumbles of his exhausted mouth.

They make it to the hotel in one piece, and Buck barely has time to take his shoes off before he passes out, starfished on the bed, soothed by the background noise of Eddie puttering around the bathroom. 30 seconds later (actually four hours but it feels much shorter), an alarm goes off, and Buck is once again herded around the room and out the door, a cup of coffee shoved into his hand as they get in the van to take them to practice.

Thanks to the coffee and a 30 minute nap in the van, Buck’s at least awake enough to be functional when they arrive. He’s even more awake after a few laps around the rink, the wind stinging his face a better pick-me-up than caffeine. He runs his jumps with Bobby, lands them clean, and he feels good, his nerves quieted by lingering exhaustion and confidence he hasn’t been able to find in a few weeks.

He sees Eddie by the boards, the usual thrill of having him watch running through him, pushing him just a little bit harder, but it’s quickly snuffed out when he sees that Eddie’s not alone, and he’s not even looking at the ice. Instead, he’s talking to a handsome Russian skater, one that Buck’s known since they were juniors so he knows how big of an asshole he is. He’s laughing loudly like Eddie just told the funniest joke he’s ever heard, his hand running up and down Eddie’s bicep in a much too friendly way. Buck tries to shake it off and keep focused, but after falling out of two spins and almost face planting on a three turn, Hen sends him off to stretch on his own and “get your damn head on straight”. He stalks off, passing close enough to Eddie and The Asshole to hear The Asshole ask when Eddie will have time to get dinner before going back to the States.

Buck...he’s not jealous. He has no reason to be, he and Eddie are not dating. But he feels something boiling hot and nasty in his stomach, and he kind of wants to slam the guy’s hand with a toe pick every time his laugh pierces through the rink.

He’s being obnoxious and distracting, so Buck is pissed, but not jealous. And he is not avoiding Eddie by hiding in Chimney’s room until he’s sure Eddie’s asleep.

He does avoid him the next day, out of an abundance of caution that his brain-to-mouth filter might fail and he’ll say something he regrets, and because he does need to get his head on straight and focus like Hen said. He needs at least silver to qualify for the Final and push him a little bit further in the USFSA’s good graces, upping his chances of being named to the Olympic team in two months. He can’t do that if he’s worrying about non-existent relationship drama. So he fills the rest of the day with practice and conditioning, working hard enough that his brain quiets and he feels prepared, but not so much that he hurts himself. He sees Eddie here and there, thinks he tries to catch his eye a few times, but he’s got tunnel vision now, and nothing short of a life or death emergency will break it.

At least, that’s how his tunnel vision used to work.

But the next day during short programs, he sees The Asshole strutting towards Eddie again before their warm-up group goes out, and his tunnel crumbles, filling his brain with static and rubble.

His program could have gone worse, overall, but it also certainly could have gone better. A quad loop turned triple loop and a sketchy landing on his triple axel land him in third place, meaning his free actually has to be perfect to get him to the Final. Only the six highest scoring skaters after all Grand Prix events qualify, and last he checked, he was just in sixth place but could easily be overtaken. Eddie is (surprise surprise) in first, Buck feeling a strange mix of pride and panic as he watches him execute another flawless short. It seems to be only getting stronger as the season goes on, which should also be happening for Buck, but instead it feels like he’s slowly unravelling, hurrying to spin himself back together before he loses too much ground.

The Asshole is in second. Buck has to sit on his hands during the presser so he doesn’t reach across the table and smack that smug look right off the guy’s face.

“He really said he was ‘looking forward to representing his country at the top of the Olympic podium’. Like seriously? We’re all thinking it, but no one’s conceited enough to say it out loud and on the record.”

Maddie shrugs from the other end of the bed. “Maybe it’s a language thing. Like he meant to say ‘on the podium’ instead but got confused because English is hard.”

Buck levels her with an unimpressed glare. He had come to her room right after the presser, lamenting about everything that went wrong and stupid judges and stupid Russia (“Really, Buck? The whole country?”). He’s usually grateful for Maddie’s voice of reason, but today he just needs to vent all his frustrations that have built up over the past few days. He really doesn’t care if they make sense or not.

“You should see the way he’s throwing himself at Eddie. I’ve watched him flex his arms every time Eddie’s walked past for two days. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so irritating.”

“Well, I’m sure Eddie’s not falling for it if this guy is as big of a jerk as you say he is.”

Buck stays quiet, avoiding her eyes and slowly dragging a french fry through ketchup on the room service plate in front of him.

“Oh my god,” Maddie groans, reaching forward to shove his shoulder. “Do you really think Eddie is that shallow?”

“Well I don’t know!” Buck says. “I heard him ask Eddie out to dinner after the competition, maybe he said yes! It’s not like he’s seeing anyone.”

“It’s not like he’s seeing you, is what you mean. Since you were the one who said you two should wait until after Beijing.”

“Whatever,” he mutters as he stabs another fry into ketchup.

Maddie shakes her head. “Jealousy is not a good look on you, Buck.”

“I’m not jealous! I’m just...concerned for my friend, and—” He stops as Maddie just stares at him like she sees right through him. Which, he supposes, is probably not hard for her to do. She reaches out for his hand, taking it in hers and squeezing gently.

“If you’re that ‘concerned’,” she says, air quotes very much implied, “then I think you should just go talk to him.”

“And say what? ‘I don’t want you to go on a date with that handsome Russian man because I want to go on a date with you, even though I was the one who said we should wait because I’m an idiot’?

“...maybe not those exact words. But you do have to go back to your room, because it’s after midnight, the free dance is in eight hours, and I need to sleep.” She all but rolls him off the bed, pulls him into a quick hug, then shoves him into the hallway. “You got this! Use your words!” she yells as the door closes behind her.

When he gets back, Eddie is still awake, reading a book and icing his right ankle. He smiles at him in greeting, that same soft smile that Buck’s pretty sure only he gets to see. The smile he definitely didn’t see whenever he saw Eddie talking to The Asshole.

Maybe not all hope is lost.

“Rough day?” Buck asks, nodding towards Eddie’s ankle.

“Think I just landed on it weird,” Eddie says. “You did really great.”

“I think the judges would say otherwise, but thanks. You were really great, too.” They swim in a semi-comfortable silence as Buck gets changed. He waffles back and forth on what to say, if it’s actually even worth saying anything at all despite what Maddie said, until he faces Eddie again and blurts out, “So are you gonna go to dinner with that Russian guy?”

Eddie just blinks at him for a second before he starts laughing. It’s not a mean laugh, it’s more like a I can’t believe you just said something that dumb laugh. Maddie has a laugh that’s very similar.

He’s still catching his breath a bit when he answers. “No, no I’m not going to dinner with that guy. You know him, right? He’s a total douche. Pretty sure he was actually holding a flex whenever he was talking to me.”

Buck sits on his bed and tries to keep his own laugh in, worried that it would come out hysterical with relief. Not that he ever really doubted Eddie’s taste or ability to take care of himself. It’s just...nice to have it confirmed.

“Plus,” Eddie says as he gets his composure back fully, “I, uh, told him I’m interested in someone else anyway. So hopefully he’ll back off for good.”

Buck freezes, his eyes locked on Eddie’s. A wave of guilt washes over him so suddenly it makes him nauseous. As dumb as his friends may think he is, he’s not that dumb — he knows what he asked of Eddie when he put this thing of theirs on hold. But hearing that Eddie’s following through, seeing it in action — it doesn’t sit right with him. It makes him feel like he’s imposing, like he’s taking away part of Eddie’s life just for the vague chance that they could have something, something that’s not even guaranteed no matter how right it feels to Buck even now.

“Eddie,” he starts, waffling again, “if you want— I mean you shouldn’t have to— I don’t want you waiting around for— for me, for us, if that’s not something you’re interested in anymore.”

There’s a beat before Eddie moves, tossing his book and the ice pack aside. He stands gingerly, favoring his left side just a little bit, and shushes Buck when he tries to protest. He crosses the short distance between their beds slowly, like he’s trying to make sure Buck doesn’t bolt before he gets to him. Carefully, he reaches down to take both of Buck’s hands in his, moving until he’s standing just between Buck’s legs. When Buck doesn’t look up (partially out of embarrassment, and partially out of marveling at how warm and good Eddie’s hands feel in his), he squeezes gently until he gets his attention. Buck finally manages to lift his head, and is met with a look so full of fondness it takes his breath away.

Eddie lets out a slow breath through his nose. “I wasn’t kidding when I said it meant something,” he says quietly, unwilling to disturb the bubble of peace they seem to form when they’re together. “So I’m still very interested. And I really don't mind the waiting. It’s only three months — we’ll be too stressed and working too hard to think about anything else anyway.”

Buck tries to talk around the lump in his throat, but he can’t, so he just nods instead, squeezing Eddie’s hands back. Something loosens in his chest, a tension he thought was coming from agonizing over his programs and his protocols, but maybe not. Maybe he’s come to rely on Eddie, on his friendship and general presence, more than he thought he has over the past few months. That confirmation that they’re moving toward something, together, makes him feel grounded in a way that he hasn’t felt in weeks.

They stay in their bubble for a little bit longer, and Buck feels himself calm even more. Eventually, Eddie squeezes his hands one more time, whispering “goodnight, Buck” before pulling away and getting back in his bed. He turns the lights off, the room falling into darkness, and Buck drifts off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Something’s definitely wrong. Maybe it was minor yesterday, but after landing on his ankle eight more times during his free, Eddie’s clearly favoring his left side and in a whole lot of pain. It’s clear to Buck, at least — to anyone else, Eddie is all grace and smiles as usual, easily taking first place with no way for anyone else to beat him, even with three skaters left.

But Buck knows, knows Eddie and knows that feeling of trying to push through the pain better than anyone, but he doesn’t have time to do anything about it — talk to Eddie, talk to Bobby, talk to someone — before it’s his turn to skate. He tries to shove the worry down, but that raspy little voice is back in his head, whispering about all the worst things that could be happening to Eddie, and all the worst things that could happen to him again if he fucks up his own landings. Visions of cracked bones and bandaged cuts fly through his head — flashbacks to months of bitterness and rage and uncertainty. The panic at his dream potentially slipping away from him again floods his chest and makes it hard to breathe. He swears he feels his leg seize up, just like it used to, just like it hasn’t in over a year until right now, but can’t figure out if it’s real or not.

His music starts just as his spiral does.

The first fall is, technically, his fault. He’s too close to the boards for his triple axel, so he can either crash into them when he lands or stop short and hit the ice. He loses points either way, but in the split second he has to think about it, the latter seems less embarrassing and less painful. As he stands back up, he quickly does the math in his head. Accounting for his average component scores and any potential tech panel biases, he really, really cannot afford any more screw ups.

So, naturally, he falls again.

It’s the jolt this time — that fear that grips his entire body when he sees the ice so far below him, the memory of landing so incorrectly that he couldn’t walk for three weeks, couldn’t skate for even longer. And it’s all laced with worry for Eddie, who he knows is watching from the side, no ice on his ankle and still standing on it, trying to ignore something that’s only going to get worse. Maybe it’s projection, but he wouldn’t wish the misery he went through on anyone, not even Eddie when he couldn’t stand the sight of him, and especially not Eddie now.

He finishes by sheer force of will, his stubbornness and perfectionism overcoming his panic long enough to get him through his last step sequence and spins and to hit his final pose with a smile. The applause feels genuine, but he knows it’s not enough. It’s not even close to enough.

He finishes fifth in free skate, fourth overall, and he knows before he even sees the complete standings that he’s not going to the Final.

Luckily, since he finishes off podium, he doesn’t have any post-competition pressers or photo ops or reasons to slap on a fake smile for anyone. He goes back to his room and packs up so he has something to do with his hands. Maddie and May both text him about doing something with their last night in Japan, but the thought of going out and talking to his friends about their successes against his own failures kind of makes him want to throw up. Instead, he turns off his phone and finds a Japanese dub of Goonies playing on cable and burrows into bed in an attempt to get his brain to shut up for the first time all day.

When burrowing doesn’t work, he squishes himself into the armchair by the TV instead.

When that still doesn’t work, he paces.

That’s what he’s doing when Eddie gets back, looking worn out but still smiling, ribbon of his gold medal dangling out of his warm up jacket pocket. He waves goodbye to whoever is on the outside the door, but as soon as it’s closed, the act drops. Buck watches him sink against the door and lets out a long breath, grimacing as he tests out putting full weight on his right ankle.

Whatever anxiety Buck had managed to pace off (which really wasn’t a lot) comes back in full force, and he’s at Eddie’s side in three long steps.

“You’re hurt,” he says matter-of-factly.

Eddie shakes his head. “It’s just really sore, Buck, it’ll be better when I finally get to rest it.”

“No, it won’t be,” Buck snaps as he strides towards the ice bucket in the corner of the room to start filling up a bag. “You’ll think it’s getting better, and you’ll keep taking painkillers to take the edge off, but it’ll just keep getting worse, and you won’t even know it until your PT finally tells you it’s either two months off your feet to let it heal properly or you risk never being able to compete again.” He almost rips the bag in half as he finishes filling it with ice. He wraps it in a spare towel and shoves it at Eddie, who takes it gingerly before sitting on his bed and placing it on his ankle.

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” Eddie says.

Buck shrugs. He might know a thing or two about trying to force healing too quickly and ignoring pain, about getting a cast off two weeks too early and almost having his bone heal crooked. But his issues are not what’s important right now.

What’s important is Eddie.

“Look, can you just—” Buck sits on the bed next to Eddie, hovering over him like he can use his body to shield Eddie from anything else that might hurt him. “Just promise me you’ll get it checked when we get home, okay? Don’t put it off, don’t wait until after the Final—”

“Hey,” Eddie says, his hand coming to Buck’s shoulder and squeezing. “I’ll go, I promise. First appointment I can get.” Buck nods, and Eddie nods with him, thumb softly pressing against his pulse point. He doesn’t feel better, but he feels less buzzy, less like he’s dangling off the edge of a cliff by the tips of his fingers.

Buck nods again, decisively, before quickly squeezing Eddie’s wrist and standing. Eddie catches his hand before he makes it very far, his eyes filled with an intensity he hasn’t seen off the ice.

“I’m okay,” he says firmly, reassuringly. “We’re okay. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

You don’t know that, Buck thinks, but he just quirks a smile instead before heading to the bathroom.

He closes the door behind him, sinks to the floor, and tries to let any worse case scenarios push him back over the edge.

~~~~~~~~~~

[from: Eddie] It’s a stress fracture

[from: Eddie] They said if I had landed on it a few more times it would have been much worse

[from: Eddie] Glad I listened to you

Buck feels a weird sense of relief and unease as he reads Eddie’s texts. The door to Bobby’s office shuts behind him, the sounds of the rink muffled to a dull murmur. He’s not sure why he’s here — he hasn’t done anything to get him in trouble, and they literally had practice together an hour ago.

Bobby sits at his desk, hands folded in front of him. “So I’m not sure if you heard, but Eddie—”

“—has a stress fracture in his ankle, yeah, he just told me.”

Bobby smirks before continuing. “He’ll be out for the next six weeks at least, so he’ll be missing the Final.” He pauses for what feels like dramatic effect.

Buck scrunches his brow. “Right. But what does that have to do with me? I’m second alternate, that kid from Japan should be taking his spot.”

“And he is,” Bobby says. “But the skater from Canada who qualified also has to withdraw. I guess a bad case of the stomach flu has been going through their team. He won’t be back in shape by next weekend, which means—”

“I’m in,” Buck says quietly.

Bobby nods. “You’re in.”

Buck’s first reaction is to laugh. A high pitched, hysterical laugh because he really can’t believe this is happening. He screwed up, screwed up bad, but he’s getting a second chance, by some twist of fate or intervention from the universe or however the hell this happened. Bobby keeps talking about flights and practice schedules, and Buck hears him, but not really, because all he feels is relieved. Relieved that his Olympic chances maybe won’t be as squashed as he thought, and relieved that he gets a chance to prove himself again, to show that he can deliver and that he’s worthy.

That’s all he’s ever trying to do, really.

He leaves Bobby’s office practically floating, already texting Hen about when they can meet and tweaks he wants to make that will push his programs that much closer to perfect. He’s in the middle of calling Maddie when he gets a text back, pulling it up as she starts listing all the program improvements she has planned for her and Chim to work on since they didn’t make the Final themselves.

It’s not from Hen like he expects, it’s from Eddie — a picture of him laid up on a couch, foot in an air cast but still smiling at the camera.

[from: Eddie] Told you I’d take care of myself. I’ll be cheering you on from here

It hits him then, and he plummets back down to Earth at the reminder.

Eddie’s not coming with him.

He gets to try and keep his Olympic dreams alive, while Eddie stays home and hopes that he does enough to be healthy in time for Nationals.

A year ago, he’d be stupidly smug about a change of events like this. Now, it just makes his stomach twist and sympathy and sadness. He’ll be facing this competition alone — without his friend, his fiercest competition, his...Eddie — and no matter how much easier it might be for him to stay focused, alone is the last thing he wants to be.

#buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #911 fox #buddie fic #911 fic #9-1-1 #fs au #ficcery

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