you make me
bucktommy ficlet. had a convo about love. had some feelings. gave them to buck. enjoy~
The entire loft is soaked in the hazy blue light of pre-morning. Buck can hear the mechanical thrum of garbage collectors, a handful of singing birds, quiet but steady breathing. His body is sore, from work and then from Tommy, a satisfying reminder of a yesterday well spent. Everything is warm and soft like Saturday morning, even though he's fairly sure it's Tuesday.
The clock on his bedside table tells him it's much too early to get up for a Tuesday, so he turns over to get comfortable and ends up face to face with Tommy's sleep-slacked expression.
Buck watches him in that way that's only creepy if you're not in love. Takes note of his eyelashes resting against the tops of his cheeks, his lips shadowed by the slant of his nose, how the dawning daylight catches on the angles of his face. He wants to touch, but not enough to disturb the serenity of sleep on his boyfriend's face.
Eddie tells him he says that a lot. My boyfriend. "We all know his name," Eddie says, tone harsh but a creeping smirk giving away the joke.
When Buck brought it up with Dr. Copeland, she asked him why he thinks he says it so much, but it was towards the end of their session so they didn't really get into it. Buck thinks it's probably something to do with his self-image problems, or maybe his abandonment issues? Dr. Copeland's better with the answers than he is.
Calling him Tommy is fine, but saying my boyfriend says my meatless lasagna needs more starch just reminds Buck that Tommy's his and, even more novel, Buck is Tommy's.
Buck likes being Tommy's boyfriend.
Tommy's boyfriend knows Tommy's coffee order, and drops it off along with a savory treat for him at the start of a long shift. Tommy's boyfriend always knows exactly where Tommy left his blue-light glasses and grabs them before they head to bed so Tommy can read another chapter of the cheesy historical fiction novel on his tablet. Tommy's boyfriend is the one Tommy goes to after a hard shift, to talk to or hug or just sit in the same room with until the rest of the world is less heavy.
As Tommy's boyfriend, Buck is still all the things he was before--firefighter, brother, friend--but knowing there's someone who trusts him enough to sleep beside him and let him stare at their face like a creeper in the early hours of the morning--there's this unfathomable freedom to it.
It's like--if Tommy loves him, he must be worthy of it. It's a truth and a prophecy, self-fulfilling. It's this ever-turning cycle that bolsters Buck to be the best version of himself, and none of it feels like work because it's all tangled up with joy.
"How long have you been staring at me?"
Buck startles out of his internal monologue to find Tommy's left eye open. The right is buried in his pillow along with the lifted corner of his mouth.
"Probably a little too long," Buck admits, staring fixedly at that corner of Tommy's mouth.
Tommy's lips part to release a sigh before settling into a smile. "Evan. Go back to sleep."
"In a minute."
Tommy shifts closer on the pillow, his nose nudging Buck's, his morning breath awful and his eyes so close Buck thinks their eyelashes might tangle. "You worked a 24-hour shift yesterday. You need to sleep. You can stare at me tomorrow."
"Promise?"
Tommy brushes their lips together. "Promise."
Buck finds Tommy's hand between them and laces their fingers together. "Alright," he says, settling back into the mattress and letting his eyes shut as he brings their hands to his sternum. "Tomorrow."
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Hello! Tis me, the one that keeps showing up when you say you don't have ideas for DIAU. I love au^3s. I particularly love this one! Mmmmm angst. Hyrule angst is one of my favorites, so hehe on that.
If you're perhaps looking for a prompt—maybe because Hyrule healed Time that once, does he recognize the picture in the house when he finally escapes?
(...hmmm, Hyrule did escape. Are they looking for him? How hard does he have to hide? Could he go to the store with Malon sometime for groceries? Or out to a park? How badly socialized IS he?)
You know... I think he does recognize it. Maybe not literally the moment he arrives, but...
...
Sunlight warming his face was what woke Wind from his deep slumber, his eyes sticky as he dragged them open.
He laid there in his borrowed bed for several minutes, listening to birdsong outside his window as he slowly woke up. His arm felt a little sore when he shifted it for some reason, why...
The events from the night before suddenly flooded back, and Wind shot upwards, head spinning a little from the abrupt movement.
Right.
Last night they’d rescued Hyrule.
Or... Link, still. He didn’t have a nickname here yet.
Wind quickly rubbed his eyes and slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Four in the bed beside him. His brother was drooling a little onto his pillow, hair a frizzy halo around his head, and Wind smiled, then fixed his blankets from where they’d fallen loose. Four had gone a little overboard with his powers yesterday, and was obviously still sleeping them off.
A prickle of worry stuck to Wind’s stomach as he remembered that the bad guys knew about Four’s powers now, but he ignored it, and went up from the basement they were sleeping in. All they knew was that there was an unregistered super out there. Four had had a mask on, so they didn’t know who he was.
Yet, a traitorous voice whispered in his head.
Wind shook himself and kept going up the stairs, hoping to find both something for breakfast, and someone to talk to. Nobody but Wind and Four had been seen when they’d helped Hyrule get out, but Malon had admitted their house wasn’t the safest place Hyrule could be. This was only a temporary hiding spot for now, and Wind wanted to know what they were planning.
Wind sighed, and walked into the kitchen just in time to watch Malon stick some bread in the toaster.
“Hey there Wind, good morning,” she said with a smile, though Wind couldn’t help noticing the dark circles under her eyes. “Is Four still sleeping?”
“Yeah, I think he will be for a while,” Wind said, sitting down at the table. “He was really tired after yesterday. Where’s everyone else?”
“Legend and Twi are talking upstairs. I think they’re going to try and contact Sky later today, see if he has any thoughts about everything, but their breaks are going to be over soon,” she explained, pulling some jam out of the fridge. “They’re figuring out timing.”
“And Hyrule?” Wind asked, then caught himself. “Uh, I mean Link?”
Malon’s face did something strange at the name, but then it went back to how it had been. “He’s been awake for a while, I think he’s looking around the house. Actually, would you mind telling him there’s breakfast available?“
Wind nodded, and hopped back out of his seat, snagging a glass of milk before he went into the living room.
He’d been prepared to be searching for a while, but Hyrule was standing only a few feet away in the middle of the room, looking at the pictures on the mantle that had caught Four’s attention when they’d first gotten here too.
Hyrule looked like he was staring at the picture of Time, and Wind quietly moved to his side, raising an eyebrow when he noticed the look on his face. He seemed to be studying the picture awfully intently.
“Um... good morning,” he said, and Hyrule flicked an ear at him in response, leaning even closer towards the picture. “Is... everything okay?” Wind asked again when Hyrule didn’t say anything, the other boy still just staring at the picture, his eyes wide.
“Who is this?” he asked after a long moment.
Wind glanced behind him, making sure Twilight and Legend weren’t about to run into the room or anything, then sighed.
“That’s... Time. He... he was Twilight and Legend’s dad,” Wind explained in a soft voice. “He’s alive in me and Four’s world, but here, he... apparently he was killed a couple of years ago. I don’t remember exactly how long.”
Hyrule’s brow scrunched up, and he looked over at Wind, a weird look in his eyes.
“You’re sure?” he asked, and Wind nodded, a bit weirded out. Why was Hyrule so interested in this?
“I’m sure. It’s been at least three years, I know that. I don’t know how he died though, I just know he... did.”
Hyrule’s face scrunched even further, and he looked back at the picture, reaching out and thumbing a bit of dust off the corner.
“But that’s impossible,” he whispered. “I’ve met him since then.”
Wind almost dropped the cup he was holding.
“What?!”
“I met him once, I... had to heal him,” Hyrule explained quietly. “And time was hard to keep track of in there, but... it’s been less than three years, I know that. I definitely talked to the man in this picture, he was alive.”
Wind stared, stunned into complete silence, and Hyrule looked suddenly awkward.
“Sorry, is... is it a bad subject?” he said hesitantly.
“No, I mean, yes, but— how could he be alive?” Wind breathed.
They’re all so sure of him being dead, how could they be wrong about something like that? They’re still grieving, Malon nearly cried when we told her our Time was still alive, there’s no way any of them think he’s alive here, so how...
How is this possible?
Wind turned to look at Hyrule, and met his green-brown gaze.
“I need to know everything you remember about healing him,” he said seriously, not letting the hope trying to build in his chest get too strong. It could be a coincidence, or maybe one of them had the dates wrong. He couldn’t get too hopeful yet. “If... you don’t mind?”
Hyrule nodded. “I don’t know how helpful any of it will be, but I can tell you what I remember. If... if he’s out there somewhere, I want to help him,” he finished quietly.
“Okay,” Wind agreed, head still spinning with the possible implications of this. Could Dad really be alive here?
Another thought hit him though, and he gave Hyrule a hesitant look.
“...Can you not tell anyone else about this yet?”
“What? Why not? Don’t you want them to know there’s a chance their dad might be alive?” Hyrule asked in confusion.
Wind winced. Well when you put it like that... “I do, trust me, but if... if this ends up being a dead end, I don’t want them to get their hopes up for nothing.”
I don’t want to cause them more grief.
Hyrule let out a soft oh, then nodded, looking away from Wind and back at the picture.
“I guess that makes sense. I’ll do my best to not say anything. But I won’t lie to them,” he said quietly, and Wind looked at the picture as well.
Time faintly smiled back at them both, face eternally frozen in a warm expression.
“He wouldn’t want you to,” Wind replied just as softly. “Thanks, Link.”
Hyrule nodded, and Wind gave him a small smile as footsteps came from the direction of the stairs. Hyrule tilted his head, and Wind nodded at the unspoken question. We’ll talk about it later.
Twilight and Legend came into the living room, somewhat intense looks on their faces, but both of them softened when they saw Wind and Hyrule standing together.
“Hey Wind, Link. You guys sleep okay?” Twilight asked, and they both nodded, Wind taking a sip of his milk.
“Let’s go get breakfast,” Wind said as he lowered his glass, a whiff of toast drifting past his nose. “I’m starved, and your Mom said she had some fresh strawberry jam.”
“Really? Yes, I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get more,” Legend said with a small fist pump.
Hyrule’s stomach growled, and Wind grinned at him, even as he blushed at the noise. Twilight chuckled, and he headed into the kitchen, Hyrule and Wind following.
Wind paused in the doorway when he realized Legend hadn’t followed them though, and he looked back, swallowing as he saw Legend standing at the mantelpiece, looking at the picture of his father.
Legend looked back at him, and quickly smoothed his expression, brushing past Wind to head into the kitchen. But Wind had seen the brief flash of grief that had crossed his face, intense and deep.
And it was then that he promised himself he’d do everything he could to find out what had happened to Time.
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I wanna know ur Fontaine msq criticisms 👁️👁️👂I’m all ears
I'm not sure if you wanted me to talk about this secretly or publicly but! Here I go!
The TLDR: Fontaine MSQ aestheticised prison, poverty, child abuse, the justice system/court and didn't properly address any of it.
More:
Focalors/Furina has way too much of a sympathetic angle for a dictator who's lets people drown with her inaction.
Neuvillette feels Bad for sentencing some people to death/prison, but that's it. He's one of the most powerful people in Fontaine. If he felt like there are systemic injustices, I.E sending an abused Child to prison, he should be the first person to DO something about it, not just cry and be sad so the audience can be like aw, that's complex character writing isn't it? No it's not! And guilt doesn't absolve you!!!!!!! (These are stuff we deal with in OTCOJ read my fic now /j)
Meropide has children in it, both Sentenced there (Wriothesley) and BORN THERE (Lanoire), and this is just a quirk of the place. Not only that, Meropide accepts prisoners of all genders and crimes. There are abusers and abuse victims in one place. Do you know how bad that is? How much potential for crimes to happen in a place like that— oh wait, Meropide isn't under Fontaine's jurisdiction. If you are assaulted as an inmate it literally means nothing to the court.
Wriothesley had no qualifications when he took over. Depending on how long he lived on the streets, how old he was when he killed his parents, how old he was when he was first taken in by the orphanage, etc, the man might never have more than 4–5 years of formal education. Sigewinne probably had to teach him how to write reports. And do Meropide's spreadsheets. Edit because I forgot to elaborate on this one: This isn't a point brought up anywhere, which is bad, because when poverty and incarceration robs you of a proper education (and the rights to vote in many places too, too, by the way), it reduces your prospects for jobs, reduces many people's ability to get a home etc etc. Wriothesley was just, narratively, Given his position.
Meropide is an industrialized prison, and they portray this as a good thing. Prisoners are paid in coupons for their labour, and this is also portrayed as a good thing.
The One-Meal-A-Day reform was something Paimon gushed about being so great of a perk, that people might want to go to jail for food (could be interesting and reflective of systemic poverty if MHY had brains, but they don't, so I was just Pissed because essentially all Paimon wanted to say was "Prison isn't so bad, but still don't go to prison guys! Prison labour is really hard!"). By the way, in most real-world prisons they are obligated to feed you three meals a day. Because that's how much food a human needs. MHY went with one meal just so they can say "if you want to eat more, you have to work." And then the welfare meal is a goddamn gacha. So imagine you're a starving child who's too weak to work in the fucking robot assembly line, and you wander up for your first meal in 24 hours, only to luck in with a shit one. I'd kill myself.
They wrote Wriothesley, who's a victim of the system, into a guy who's say shit like "I'm the Duke I can do whatever I want" for a cool moment where he choke-slams an inmate (I know he was a bad guy. But also, in copaganda when cops are violent/disregarding protocols, they are always only portrayed to do that against bad guys, so what does our critical thinking tells us about this one?) They wrote Wriothesley, who was an inmate of a prison so bad, so notorious that it is the literal boogeyman of Fontaine, that has a legal (???) fighting pit, with an administrator who abuses his position to be unreasonable, to willingly stay in the place and become an Administrator who would choke-slam an inmate while saying a cool line about how he has the power to do whatever he wants. They wrote him, the guy who had to be fed on the streets by melusines, to think one-meal-a-day was a good enough reform (while he spends god-knows how much on his boat). This wasn't a victim-turns-into-abuser narrative either, they want all this to be seen as positive character growth.
And then, the final kicker is, they gloss over his entire abuse. You can only read about these shit in his profile, which most people don't because they don't Have Him or doesn't care to unlock it/read it online, and they jammed his entire backstory into a flaccid info-dump at the end of his character story quest. This man isn't Allowed to feel abused and neglected and show any reaction to it within the narrative of Fontaine itself, because if they actually Gave Weight to what happened to him, they'd have to confront THE FUCKING JUSTICE SYSTEM they had NO PLANS on criticising. I don't think they ever explicitly said the fucking Crime-Theatre nonsense was Bad either.
I could go on, but this is already so long. But yeah, I hope this gave you an idea.
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