#not the way we’ve seen buddies relationship building at least

[pperfectly-wrongg]

man i think buddie begins could be such a fun episode like ending the previous episode on a cliffhanger of them realizing they’re in love or kissing or literally anything confirming they’d be canon and then the next episode being buddie

bobby telling eddie about buck during the hiring process and how he thinks they’d be a good match

buck driving chris and eddie home after the earth quake

eddie finding out buck crawled under a firetruck to save him when he was shot even though buck definitely has ptsd from being crushed by one

literally so many hidden moments over the show that people have talked about in fics idk i think it would be so fun to see both of them fall in love and how they got to where they are (canon) now

[princessamericachavez]

Thinking about 911 s6 and all its big and smaller arcs.

Specifically in thinking about different-sized arcs. For example: Buck’s quest for happiness, the couch, and the donor arc are all a bigger arc that was stablished in the first episode and have been brought up again and again as we move forward (the same way Eddie’s recovery was a main point since the beginning to the end of s5).

(This post is mainly about Buck and Eddie but one could argue there are at least 3 other big overarching arcs this season, like Chim and Maddie’s family journey towards a house and marriage, Bobby and Athena’s stability their old demons -her little missing neighbor, his sobriety- and their eventual honeymoon, Hen and Karen’s ever evolving family life as they figure out their future…)

Anyway, but also I’m thinking about how the season could be broken into smaller arcs (Hen’s medical school, Wendell’s death, the Buckley and Han parents showing up).

Now, when it comes to Buck and Eddie’s relationship we’ve mainly seen 2/3 arcs so far this season.

6x10-6x12: mainly dealing with Buck’s death, everyone’s reaction to it (with a main focus on Eddie at the beginning of the arc during the lightning strike), Buck’s coma (main focus on Bobby and Buck’s familial relationships), and Buck’s recovery (which brought the focus back to Eddie and Buck’s connection).

6x13-6x15: are meant to be a single arc, in which we as an audience see what they can’t. So we start with the math episode, which sees Buddie at the top of their partnership (homework with Chris, shenanigans, extremely in sync and happy, Buck and Chris cooking). Which is meant to contrast Pepa’s words about Eddie’s loneliness and his need to share his life with someone (we know for a fact that he isn’t lonely but he can’t see that). And then crashes with Buck’s new interest in Natalia and his desperate search for meaning after his death (which again we know she doesn’t see him as much as Eddie does because the narrative has made it a point up until now)

6x16-6x18: we are now entering a new arc all together (Lost And Found, Love Is In The Air, and Pay It Forward). These three episodes are probably going to be an arc. And considering we left in a downwards note in the past arc, it probably means we’ll start with them still emotionally at odds and build towards a climatic understanding/better place. Which could be romantic or not.

Things to keep in mind that might be interesting the next 3 episodes:

The couch theory, which has been prominent this second half of the season, has been brought up at the end of every mini arc (6x12 has buck falling asleep on Eddie’s couch, 6x15 literally replicates it with Chris). Symmetry and the narrative Rule Of Threes suggests we will see that scene replicated once again in 6x18 (which tracks with Oliver’s interview saying we will see this metaphor at play up until Buck’s very last episode of the season)

6x16 will not solve the current misunderstandings between Buck and Eddie because it’s a whole arc, but it might shine a spotlight in them or kickstart the road towards solving them.

Knowing 911, they like to tie their arcs by the end of the season and leave them in a happy note so it’s unlikely that Eddie’s loneliness and Buck’s trauma will remain unresolved by the end of the season. Relax and enjoy the journey.

We do know 6x17 was written and directed by two people very fond of Buddie (regardless of whether they have the power of making it canon or not) and we saw the marker with a sticker of the two of them when they were filming it, so it’s likely we’ll see most of the progression between them then, and get them ready for the climatic big 6x18 emergency.

This last batch of episodes should also solve, one way or another, the donor arc which tangentially ties to Buck’s relationship with Chris, since this season has been very focused on fatherhood and adoptive parenthood vs blood relationships.

These three batches of episodes seem to be building a larger 6b arc for these two characters. Buck’s death, Buck and Eddie’s struggle with their respective future, and whatever resolution these final eps bring. But we are meant to keep the past 6 eps in mind moving forward for sure.

Anyway, my point is that 6x16 will probably establish which route we’re going on next and I’m extremely excited about it.

[pullofbrokenshadows]

If you insist on making Buck and Eddie heterosexual, at least put some effort into it

Look, I want Buddie to be canon. I think they’re missing a huge opportunity to do something no other primetime network show has ever done. But if they’re intent on not making Buddie canon or waiting until the final episode of the series as a cop-out or setting it up even more, then the least they can do is actually put some effort into Buck and Eddie’s relationships with women. They’ve fumbled every single one of them and at this point it’s just coming across as homophobic. Like these empty, lazy romantic storylines with women are better than just letting them be in a homosexual relationship. If the writers insist on keeping them heterosexual, at least put some real effort into it. Yes, it is easier to do this when both of the characters are series regulars. You have more screen time, more runway. The beginning of Buck and Abby’s relationship was GREAT. They truly earned that. They had a lot more room to build that. But it’s not impossible to do this with guest stars.

And to prove it, here are my pitches (as painful as it is to pitch Buddie with anyone else) that wouldn’t take up any (or very much) additional screen time.

EDDIE

606-616: The 118 teasing Eddie about how he got Marisol’s phone number when they went to help her fix up the house, but he won’t use it. “I barely know her.” “That’s what the date is for.” “We only exchanged numbers in case she had more issues with the house.” “That’s pretense. She wants you to call her and ask her out.” Can even bring this up when Eddie starts complaining about Pepa setting him up. “To be fair, you refuse to set up your own dates.”

OPTIONAL: Therapy with Frank where they discuss his reticence to date. It’s not just Shannon. It’s not just his PTSD. Eddie realizes he’s demi. Frank tells him it’s fine for him to wait until he knows someone well to commit or be physical, but he can’t spend his life never pursuing anything further with anyone just because he didn’t immediately fall in love with them during their first meeting. If he truly doesn’t want to spend life alone, he’ll have to put himself out there, even if he just approaches it as friends at first. 

**Note: As a demi person who sees very little representation plus all the signs we’ve seen of Eddie being demi, this would be a great opportunity for the writers to do something fresh. In lieu of establishing Eddie as demi, they could just keep everything else the same leading up to 614.**

Can still do the whole runner of Pepa setting him up, which perhaps is what could prompt his conversation with Frank (if they were to make Eddie demi), especially noting the stark difference between his and Vanessa’s approaches to dating.

617: Eddie runs into Marisol at the hardware store and literally the only thing they needed to do differently was instead of him turning and walking away at the end, he just starts walking towards Marisol. If they still hadn’t established he already had her number (per the earlier pitch), this would be a way to do it. Otherwise, it at least leads us nicely into the next episode where he’s trying to figure out what to text her.

618: Literally keep all of this the same, just maybe not as giddy at the end? Just to keep in line with the demi of it all. He’s excited and proud of himself, but he doesn’t know her that well, he probably doesn’t have a crush on her in a way that prompts such a stereotypical teenage response.

BUCK

Oh, Buck. Buckaroo. There are too many things to cover, so I’ll mostly focus on Couch!Theory and Natalia. Everything prior to 615 stays the same, unfortunately. (To be clear, I love Coma!Buck, but come on, this was supposed to be his Year of Yes and he literally only said Yes to one big stupid thing.)

615: Buck meets Natalia in the same way, they have the coffee date, all of that. He still has the conversation with Eddie so we get into his headspace a bit and set up what happens next. But also, maybe nix Eddie’s comment about Buck dating people he’s saved. He put a bandage on her hand. Chill out.

617: Here’s where we do the most damage. This was a dumb storyline for Buck. What was even the point of all this? Lucy was just someone he made out with once. Has nothing to do with pursuing Natalia. He didn’t even interact with Taylor. And Kameron barely means anything to him (they really needed to build up this relationship more if they wanted us to believe she would come running to him.) I get that they’re trying to say his life is complicated but it literally isn’t. At least not in the way Natalia thinks it is. The whole story fell flat and just felt like a way to force conflict where there was none. It was a series of weird occurrences, but when Natalia left it didn’t feel like it meant anything. Because we don’t know anything about her. Maybe if we knew she had an ex who could never let go of anyone in his life or a parent who was a consummate people pleaser to everyone except her, this whole episode would have landed better. But none of that was established and has very little connection to where Buck and Natalia eventually end up.

Instead, it should have gone like this:

On their date, Buck starts out enjoying talking to Natalia about his near-death experience and the lessons he learned from it. But the next time we see them (still on the same date, or maybe even a second date), we can see he’s getting uncomfortable that death is the only thing she wants to talk about. Maybe he even still sees Taylor’s interview (but in the bar) and realizes he might be making the same mistakes all over again. Falling for someone who gives him the tiniest bit of attention, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons. He leaves the date, making it clear that he wants his post-death life to be just that—a life.

He comes back from the date to find Kameron waiting outside his apartment (or she arrives shortly after he gets home—we gotta think about production constraints!) He lets her in (even though I hate this whole subplot where she apparently doesn’t have any friends she could stay with?) They can still have the weird pickle scene at the end if they want, but honestly it felt out of place with Love Is In The Air playing in the background and everyone else’s stories being about romantic love. I legit was worried he was going to fall in love with Kameron and they were going to raise the baby together or something. Such a random ending for Buck in this episode.

618: Natalia still comes in when Kameron’s in labor and helps Buck. She’s still amazed at being there for the beginning of life instead of the end. That’s actually what she came to talk to Buck about. She’s used her work as a death doula to hide from the world, but she’s attracted to the way Buck fights to save lives and how he lives his life so fully and openly. She wants a second chance with him.

Next morning: The couch guys are already hauling the couch out. Natalia appears in Buck’s shirt and says “Sorry they couldn’t save the couch.” Buck: “That’s okay. Someone else bought it for me and it wasn’t really my style.” He grabs some cushions from the corner and places them where the couch used to be. He sits down and pulls her into his lap. “This is much better.” Natalia: “And more romantic.”

This leaves the Couch!Theory an open case. Buck isn’t quite there yet, but it still acknowledges the metaphor and sets a course for the next season. The way it stands now Buck hasn’t learned anything. He’s just buying another couch, this time with someone he barely knows. There is no way he can know she’s the one this early on. Especially not with his history and with how very little they even know about each other. The writers tried to use Couch!Theory as a shortcut to get the audiences to buy in to a relationship with a woman and it’s just a lazy cheat that we all saw through. The main theme they kept alive all season for Buck and they just threw it away at the end. Such a waste. 

This is a show that often shines in how they can thread themes together between the calls the first responders go on and what’s going on in their personal lives. The writers usually are able to thread season-long themes into the other characters. (Though did anyone else just totally forget that Hen and Karen were foster parents? Or that Athena and Bobby still hadn’t gone on their honeymoon? Literally all they had to do at the end of 617 was have Athena or Bobby say “Four years married and we still haven’t gone on that honeymoon.”) 

But they’ve struggled season after season to do this with Buck and Eddie. Buck is their main character! How can they drop the ball so much with him? I would say they’ve done a slightly better job with Eddie, especially in Season 5. But I literally cannot tell you what Eddie’s journey was this season other than avoid being set up by his aunt, which was only the final 5 episodes of the season and was barely even a story.

The most infuriating thing is this season had way fewer calls than previous seasons. There were whole episodes where it was only the 118 off shift in their personal lives. And yet this season especially felt disjointed and without focus. 

Here’s hoping ABC comes in and says they want to walk all of this back. Eddie and Marisol went on a couple of dates, but it didn’t work out. Buck never did go get that couch and either we see a short run of his relationship with Natalia or they just mention it didn’t work out. 

And look, I think Natalia could be good for Buck. I like that she’s not stick thin. She’s not white. She’s very different from anyone we’ve seen Buck with so far. The writers could sell me on her as a consolation prize for no Buddie, but they really fumbled the ball here and it’s so disappointing.

So here’s hoping we get some fixes in Season 7 (whenever the studios start paying the writers what they deserve, that is. #WGAStrong)

[matan4il]

what are your thoughts if taylor comes back as buck's endgame relationship or even lucy? could those actually work in a what if? which by the way I hope won't happen (I'd rather eddie and buck remain single than them push them with female partners if they are too afraid to make buddie canon)

Hi lovely Nonnie! Thank you for the ask.

I honestly can't see Taylor being brought back because the show already tried to push her at Buck twice, and in both cases it ended up not working because she doesn't match him on a personality level. It's not the timing, it's not another romantic entanglement, it's not an external obstacle of any sort. Their personalities just don't match, and that is an inherent impossibility. And to one degree or another, I feel like that would be true for any partner, male or female, they might bring in for Buck now. Because we already saw someone who is perfect for him, someone whose personality, likes and dislikes, real devotion and appreciation of him are un-surpassable, someone who we’ve ACTUALLY seen Buck building a life with so we don’t have to wonder on whether it would really work out, and that is Eddie. So I'm with you 10000%, if 911 won't have the guts to eventually let Buddie be a canon couple, I hope they at least let them be single and raising Chris together at the show's end. I'll fill in the blanks.

Hope knowing you're not alone helps. Have a great day! As always, here's my ask tag. xoxox

[vintage-bentley]

final thoughts words opinions etc before the release in a few hours (so i have something to read before i go cold turkey on social media bc i wont be able to watch for at least 2 weeks and cannot ruin this for myself) GO:

Ahh good luck with going cold turkey! I’m sorry you have to wait 😭💕

I’m excited. At first I was really worried that this would be a classic case of the sequel being a shitty cash grab that shouldn’t exist…but from the clips we’ve seen, it looks good. So I trust that I’ll love it just as much as the first season, if not more because apparently it focuses even more on A/C.

As far as the elephant in the room goes…I really want to believe we aren’t being baited. The “leak” was directly from an Amazon pride promo, it feels weird for it to be included if it wasn’t actually romance. And the marketing is being so heavy-handed on the idea of romance, it would honestly be the stupidest corporate decision ever to do that if it was just bait. There’s also the Sheen “best buddies” comment which gives me a lot of hope, because it’s such an unusual way to put it that it feels like it’s an inside joke. And the recent reviews seem to be implying there’s romance. So, I’ve got my hopes up. As always, I’m staying cautiously optimistic, but on a scale from 0 (cautiously) to 10 (optimistic), I’m a 9.

I’m SUPER excited about there being lesbians. I’m worried about the fact that they’re written by a straight man…and I’m really hoping they’re treated normally and not either over or under sexualised. But I’m optimistic about this too, just because I love Nina so much from what we’ve seen of her. She seems well written and well acted, so I can only assume the same will go for Maggie, and hope that the same goes for their relationship.

Aside from ineffable husbands and The Lesbians (I’ve seen retro wives suggested as a ship name which is adorable), I think the thing I’m looking forward to most is more historical scenes. Season 1 episode 3’s opening is my favourite part of the series and I’ve watched it so many times, I just love seeing all the different costumes and seeing the husband’s relationship develop over time. I’m excited to see more of that. Especially the 40’s scene. I’m most excited about one particular historical scene that people talked about after the screening, I won’t say more than that, if you know you know, if you don’t you’ve probably purposefully avoided that information and I applaud your restraint lol.

Now, if the show ends up not being bait, I won’t hate Neil as much as I’ve grown to, but I still won’t love him. Because I think the way he’s handled concerns about baiting is incredibly insensitive and out of touch. He seems to think that this is the same as teasing a long awaited straight couple, so he can be as secretive and coy as he wants. This line of thinking completely ignores the fact that gaybaiting is a real problem, that viewers have been burned by before and don’t want to be burned by again. As great as it would be if gay couples could be anticipated and teased the same way straight couples are…we just aren’t there yet. We’re still at a point where LGB fans aren’t at ease watching a romance build up between two men or women, because we know there’s a chance it won’t go anywhere. Like I’ve said before, knowing that OFMD was a romance before going into it made the viewing experience much more pleasant for me than it would’ve been going in without that knowledge. Because knowing it was a romance allowed me to enjoy it as such…while not knowing would’ve had me going “I’m crazy, I’m just seeing what I want to see, that won’t happen” the whole time (and it sounds like that was the experience for many people who saw it before hearing about it from others!). That’s something OSA people don’t experience when seeing themselves on screen. So if there’s a whole crowd of LGB viewers basically begging you to save us that frustration and doubt, “wait and see if you’re being baited” isn’t exactly the best attitude to have. Especially when you’re on tumblr, and could easily put a yes or no answer under a read more prefaced with many spoiler warnings. Again, unfortunately, we just aren’t at the point yet where anticipating a gay ship is the same as anticipating a straight ship.

It just feels like Neil doesn’t have any compassion for his LGB viewers who don’t want to be baited yet again, which is really annoying considering he seems to think of himself as an amazing ally.

So, if it ends up being bait, obviously I’ll be angry. If it doesn’t end up being bait, I’ll be happy but also annoyed at how Neil made us feel crazy for even hoping for this outcome.

I think that pretty much sums up what’s going on in my head right now! 😄

[wenellyb]

I don't know how to explain this but TFATWS reads a lot like “yes Sam and Bucky are romantically involved but this is not a romance so we won't delve into their relationship”.

If you think about it, in Marvel movies, the romance is not at the center of the plot. Even in solo movies, there is usually just one kiss, never more. And it the Avengers, there are usually no kissed between the couples. 

I'm trying to stay away my shipper googles but even then, some scenes don't make sense to me. I love watching movies and TV shows and one thing I like is that dialogues are not put there randomly, the script has a meaning, the words have a meaning, and the scenes they decide to keep have a meaning.

And for some of the Sambucky scenes in TFATWS,  I’m struggling to find any other meaning than “Sam and Bucky had feelings for eachother at some point”.

You can argue that jokes about the 2 partners being more than just friends is a recurring joke in a lot of buddy cop movies, but in those movies, it is usually a joke, just for laughs. The only scenes that would fall into that category in the FATWS are the rolling in the flower field scene and the therapy lesson scene where Sam and Bucky get so close that there legs are intertwined. 

All the other scenes are so emotionally heavy it's difficult to categorize them as only fanservice, or two guys being friends. I'm not saying they aren't any emotional scenes in buddy cop movies, but usually the emotional scenes don't go as deep as what we've seen  in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

I tried to look at all their scenes together and split them into different categories, and I stilll end up with some scenes that point to a relationship that goes beyond friendship between Sam and Bucky:

Scenes that fall into the fanservice category and there just for laughs:

The bickering about wizards and sorcerers in episode 2

The rolling in the flower field scene and the beginning of the therapy scene.

Sam asking Bucky to do something when the Dora Milaje are attacking John Walker in episode 4

Scenes that can be seen as purely friendship:

In episode 2:

 Bucky deciding to follow Sam because I quote  "he doesn't trust Redwing". What is that even supposed to mean? ... He probably meant I don't trust Redwing to protect Sam like he would.

Bucky standing up from the stack where he was sitting on, to go sit next to Sam when they were on the flight back from their mission. 

Sam waiting for Bucky in the police station, even though they try to act as if they're not friends

Sam agreeing to go see Zemo with little to no protest

In episode 3:

Sam making sure Bucky is alright and asking him if he's ok

Sam touching Bucky's metal arm when he’s pretending to be the Winter Soldier

In episode 4:

Bucky saying "I'm going with you" when Sam says Karli wants to meet with him alone.

In episode 5:

The shield practice scene when they have a heart-to-heart talk in episode 5 about what the shield meant for Bucky and Bucky finally apologizing for the way he treated Sam and explaining how as a White man he couldn't possibly know what it would mean for Sam to be Captain America

Sam asking if Bucky is ready for some tough love.

Scenes that make no sense if we see their relations as just friendship:

In episode 2: 

The therapist said she heard a lot about Sam, she wants Sam to stay for the therapy for I don't know what reason, she makes them do a couple exercise, and says it explicitly.

Why would the therapist say she heard a lot about about Sam, that she want to do a couples exercise with them? Those scenes alone are alright, but when you take them together it's quite interesting. 

The couples therapy trope has been used in a lot of Buddy cop movies or TV shows, but usually they don't delve into sensitive topics like they did in TFATWS, the scene was so emotional for a few seconds, I forgot it was a Marvel show.

In episode 3:

When Bucky tells Sam he helped Zemo escape, Sam was furious, and couldn't stop yelling at Bucky about how insane his plan was, and Sam was right. But the moment Bucky looks him in the eyes and basically says, "please do it for me", Sam agrees right away... Excuse me what??? How does this make sense?                                                                              

If my friends ask me to work with an international criminal who just escaped from prison, I wouldn't just stop arguing with them just because they looked at me with puppy eyes. I would continue to yell at them until the end of the mission. Sam was like, “ok, ok, I'll do it for you”? I'm sorry but that is not friendship only, it's something else.

In Episode 5:

 Can we talk about Bucky's reaction when Torres arrived in Episode 5?? The annoyed face when Torres walks in and Bucky walking away right after that, without even saying goodbye? Torres is the sweetest soul on earth, how can anybody hate him? Why would Bucky not like him??? This scene make no sense unless they're trying to tell us that Bucky is jealous or something.

Bucky asking a favor to Ayo, when he's not in good terms with the Wakandans. I'm sorry but do you realize how heavy this scene is? Ayo, just told Bucky that he should lay low for a while, and Bucky understands that, but his first thought is "I need to get a gift from Sam" first. Nope nope nope, you can't tell me this is just friendship. Ok, maybe it is, but I don't understand this filming choice. Plotwise, Sam could have asked for a suit or new wings himself.  I'm sure Sam is in very good terms with T'Challa and the Wakandans... What does it mean that Bucky was the one to ask for it as a gift to Sam, when Bucky was in a already in a difficult situation with the Wakandans due to him freeing Zemo.

Bucky touching Sam's waist to ask him to move when he starts helping him with the boat repair. And Bucky coming from behind to do so, giving us a very short but intimate scene.

Their conversation about Bucky staying over for the night: Bucky saying he doesn't want to make things weird with Sam and his family by staying over, and Sam saying how the people in the town are so open-minded. Why would they have that conversation if Sam and Bucky are only friends? Sarah knows about Bucky and his past, she know that he and Sam are friends (sort of), why would a friend staying over make things weird between him and his family? Why would Sam need to say that the people in this town are open-minded?

The video montage of them building the boat the day after. Anyone knows why they would show us that if they were only friends, and with THAT music choice? 

The extra long handshake at the end of their training scene, when they kept holding hands and looking into eachother’s eyes while talking together, and Bucky basically says he'll be there for Sam whenever he needs him.

I’m sorry but it doesn’t seem to me that they are being portrayed as just friends

Usually in buddy cop movies/ TV Shows, there are always joke but in the FATWS, some scenes are so emotional that I feel like I'm missing something. Bucky has this whole passive agressive behavior with Sam and yet he's unable to let Sam go on a mission on his own. One thing I really can't understand is that Bucky always seems know where to find Sam, as if he had been keeping tabs on him. 

So yes, there's definitely chemistry between Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, due to their friendship but it’s not only that. The writers and director have made the choice to keep some scenes and some dialogues ambiguous.

In some of the scenes we can see that there's more to Bucky and Sam's story than we know.

And they're not the first Marvel couple to have a similar treatment: Wanda and Vision's relationships was very subtle at the beginning, same for Natasha and Bruce, we rarely see them together explicitly but we knew they had a relationship.

It's the same for Sam and Bucky, some of the scenes only make sense if there has been a romantic relationship between Sam and Bucky at some point.

To me it's really like Sam and Bucky are set up as a couple or at least two people who have been romantically involved in the past, but the show won't expand on that because this is a superhero show, not a romance.

In an action movie, you would see some couples, or people who are obviously in a relationship or hints that there is something going on between them, but rarely would you see a kiss, that’s what I feel is happening here.

Last point: if Sam and Bucky had kissed in Episode 5 after their talk, it wouldn't have been out of nowhere and it wouldn't have changed anything to the plot. That's how I know my theory isn't that far-fetched.

I would love to hear your thoughts about some or all of these scenes (especially the Torres one, that one is driving me crazy)  and see what you think about it?

If you see their relationship being portrayed as pure friendship, I would like to know why. And would also love to hear how you guys interpret their other scenes together and if you have some different point of views about the scenes in the show.

[thefanficmonster]

Few Too Many

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing, In-game violence and death, Suggestive comments

Genre: Protective fluff, Humor, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: Jealousy is a dangerous thing, especially when the jealous person is armed with a gun....in a game of Counter Strike. At least Y/N’s friend will now know not to mess around and flirt with her, especially not with Corpse around.

Requested by 🐐 Anon. Hi dear! Thank you so much for your request! Sorry it’s taken me so long to complete and post your request but here it finally is! I didn’t want to make it IRL violence to avoid triggering anyone while I also felt it’d be very ooc for Corpse to beat someone up but I still hope you enjoy the fic if you come across it and read it! Love, Vy ❤

“Hey everyone!“ Y/N greets her squad as they all customize their characters while I sit there, observing and unknowing of what I’m supposed to do. “I invited Corpse to play with us today, hope y’all don’t mind.”

“Of course not! Nice to finally meet you, Corpse. We’ve heard a ton about you from Y/N, thanks for making our girl the happiest she’s ever been.“ One of her friends says, the tone of his voice suggesting he’s only half-joking with the dad like comment he made.

“Nice to meet you too, man. Glad I’m the one she gave the chance of making her happy. That’s all I ever wanna do.“ Though it may sound cheesy, as guys, her friends can probably read into how genuinely I mean what I’ve said.

Dating a girl with only guy friends has it’s pros and cons. Which outweigh which is still up for debate since I’m still researching, but so far so good in my opinion. This is the first time I’m interacting with them directly so I’ve still got a long way to go in terms of getting to know them and the details of their relationship with Y/N better. Regardless, I at least know they can easily understand me and put themselves in my shoes if I ever ‘mess things up’ with Y/N and she goes to complain to them - something that will most likely never happen. I’d never dare make this girl upset. Chances are, if I do, her friends won’t get to me on time - I would deliver my own punishment just the way I think I deserve it. However, there’s also the chance of them getting super protective of her and ganging up on me over something as small as a fight. By the many things and stories Y/N’s shared with me about them, I believe they wouldn’t think twice about kicking someone’s ass for her. They’re not massive dudes - I’ve seen pictures of them - but I for one don’t ever wanna see em angry.

“Ay bro, what’d you do to score our best girl? You must know what she likes. If so please, by all means, do tell.“ One of them, not the one who was previously talking, speaks up, his words making me furrow my brows in both confusion and irritation.

I open my mouth to complain as I slowly start cracking my knuckles when Y/N and her friends beat me to it. Thing is, Y/N’s friend group consists of three guys and her and yet four voices scolded the guy that made that suggestive comment. That being said, this guy probably isn’t considered to be one of her friends, at least not one that’s a permanent part of her friend group.

“Seth, cut it out!“ The guy I was previously speaking to says sharply before softening his tone to refer to me, “Sorry about my brother, excuse his lack of brain cells, please.“

Just then, I also receive a message from someone. Checking my phone, turns out it’s Y/N who by the way is currently in the living room while I’m in the recording room. Her text reads:

Y/N ~ Ignore Seth. I told Leo to not invite him but he’s still here somehow

I send her back a quick reassuring text before answering the guy I now know is named Leo, “No worries, it’s fine.”

“See? The guy can take a joke, you’re all just freaking out over nothing!“ Seth laughs, reminding me and the others of how loud he is compared to us.

Despite acting like it’s no big deal, I can’t help but admit to myself that this behavior of Seth’s has awoken a deeply buried suspicion of mine that’s not only mine but also arises in every guy whose girlfriend hangs out with a lot of guys. It’s not that I don’t trust Y/N - she could literally blindfold me and tell me to walk through a pool of lava, promising it wouldn’t hurt and I’d do it - but we all know about that saying that every guy in a group with one girl has liked said girl at least once.

Disturbing to think these four, including Seth five, dudes could’ve possibly been my competition at some point. It’s nice that they’re all super chill about it, mostly cause some of them have girlfriends as I was told.

Nevertheless, we get over that hiccup and carry on with the small talk and preparations for the game. Since it’s my first time playing CSGO, Y/N, Leo and her other friend Clancy explain the mechanics to me in detail to avoid me getting confused mid-game and getting myself killed. When they finish, we start the round and wait for the game’s algorithm to separate us into two teams which Y/N jokingly refers to as cops and robbers. Unfortunately, the end result of that separation ends up being me getting put in the terrorists’ force with Leo and Clancy while Y/N’s with the FBI, partnered with Seth and her other friend Evan.

“Alright, team, we shall now disperse. Corpse, remember, if you see more than one of them, radio in and lay low, we’ll be with you as soon as possible.“ Leo informs me as he runs off in one direction, Clancy going in the opposite. I confirm I understand and go along my way too, heading for this ancient looking structure that looks like it could belong in an old-timey movie. 

Walking in, I realize the place is way bigger than it appeared on the outside. A quick look up confirms that there are three fucking floors above, not to mention that the ground floor is huge. Luckily, there are many crates and barrels to hide behind if I come across an FBI agent. I sure as hell hope it’s Y/N, I could maybe even try talking her into giving me a second chance at life and pretend she never saw me. Come to think of it though, I’d probably prefer getting killed by her rather than her friends - especially Seth.

Given that we’re in a Discord call, I can hear all the conversation going on. They are all quiet though, I can just periodically hear the mumbles of someone muttering to themselves as they navigate the map cautiously out of fear of running into their opponent unprepared. The silence is put to an end though when Seth speaks up, addressing Y/N.

“Yo, your boyfriend’s with the terrorists, ain’t he? That’s like the universe giving you a sign that y’all shouldn’t be together.“ The fucker laughs at his own joke while I can literally hear Y/N rolling her eyes.

“Have you heard of Romeo and Juliet, Seth?“ She asks sarcastically, almost getting a chuckle out of me but I suppress it to avoid getting caught listening in.

“Yeah, they both die at the end. Fucking boooriiinngg.“ Just then, I spot two silhouettes entering the building. Aiming my gun at them reveals their names - just the people I’m currently involuntarily eavesdropping on. Seth and Y/N don’t notice me though so I quickly duck behind a crate and prepare to radio in when Seth continues verbally torturing Y/N and dancing on my last nerves, “I personally think the friends-to-lovers trope is far more interesting...“

Did this guy just- no, he’s gotta be fucking kidding me

I’m left with my jaw hanging in disbelief at this guy’s audacity. I have no doubt Y/N’s about to put him in his place herself but I just gotta have my own chat with this guy. And by ‘chat’ I mean I mindlessly rush out from behind the crate towards where I saw him and Y/N and open fire on him.  I hear his startled and upset screams with Y/N’s laughter in the background. She doesn’t try to stop me as a teammate of his should and would, instead she just observes the scene unfold, laughing her ass off.

“Yo man what the fuck was that for?!“ I hear Seth’s yell but only faintly since the sound of gunshots is still echoing through my headphones. Yeah, I’m not done shooting this fucker.

“Corpse...Corpse, buddy...“ Y/N manages through fits of laughter she cannot tame, “That’s a few too many bullets, he’s already dead.”

“And that was a few too many comments for him to be let off the hook.” I answer as sharply as I can with the new-formed smile on my face. What can I say, her happiness is contagious.

“Well, you got your first kill in CSGO. Good job, babe! I’m super proud of you!” She cheers for me, clapping her hands excitedly. 

“Nah that was my first overkill.“ I quickly add, with a more threatening tone: “And it won’t be my last.”

“Let’s just hope there aren’t few too many of these overkills either.“ She snickers.

“That doesn’t depend on me, babe.“ I say smugly, suggestively enough for Seth to pick up the dropped hint. Mother fucker’s officially been put in his place and I couldn’t possibly be happier - with the added bonus of getting a ton of laughter out of Y/N who also decides to walk away, leaving me unharmed but promising to shoot to kill next time she sees me.

I’m ok with that. She could kill me anyday.

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[fruitydiaz-archived]

for the prompts: #70?

70 — “After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?”

buddie fluff!

from this prompt list

“Do you think you’ll ever find love again?”

They’re in Buck’s kitchen, Chris sitting on the couch catching the end of their movie, while Buck and Eddie wash and dry their dishes, when Buck blurts the question out suddenly. Eddie pauses mid-wiping down a plate, and raises his eyebrow, turning slowly to give Buck an amused look.

“That’s a question,” He says after a moment. Buck flushes a little and rolls his eyes.

They’d been talking about a call they had this morning. It was one of those old married couples that always hit Buck right in the gut. He had sat to the side on the curb with the wife, while they carried her husband to the ambulance, and listened to her tell him their love story.

He didn’t even try to hide his tears as he climbed back into the truck with the rest of the team.

“I’m sure I will. I’m not interested in looking for it right now, though,” Eddie says, smiling over at Buck. “I’ve got everything I need right here, you know?”

Buck turns to look over at Christopher, smiling at the look of his face, transfixed on the movie.

“Yeah, I know,” Buck nods, turning off the sink and grabbing an extra towel to help Eddie dry.

“It just — don’t you get lonely sometimes? It’s been so long since I lived with somebody else. Sometimes I just think...it’d be nice to have someone to come home to.”

Buck’s starting to think maybe he shouldn’t have gone ahead and had that extra beer. He’s not sure what’s gotten him thinking like this. He and Taylor decided they were better as friends a long time ago — and since Eddie had broken up with Ana around the same time — they just filled the space for each other. He hasn’t really felt lonely in a while. He doesn’t really want someone else to be here...he wants Eddie to stay.

Eddie looks at him for a moment before he grabs the last plate from his hand and puts it away. He sighs and leans against the counter, reaching for his beer.

“You could always move in with me. Then you can come home to us,” Eddie says, like a joke. Except it’s not; he’s mentioned moving in to Buck at least a dozen times over the last couple of months, since they both got out of relationships and started spending almost every non-working moment in each other’s homes. Buck never seems to think he’s serious though.

“Right,” Buck chuckles, ducking his head. When he looks back up at Eddie, he’s a little shyer and quieter. It’s the look he gets when he starts to doubt himself, and it always makes Eddie want to reach out and shake some sense into him.

“It’s just different I guess. I want to come home to someone who loves me.”

That hits Eddie like a punch.

His body tenses up and he feels a wave of emotions building up in his chest. He’s hurt, for one, and angry.

“Buck,” He starts, running a hand over his face. He crosses his arms and sets his bottle back against the edge of the counter, glancing out the window. The city lights calm him a little bit.

“Why do you think I keep asking you to move in?” He asks eventually, his voice soft. Buck tilts his head to the side and shrugs.

“To save money?”

Eddie looks at him, unimpressed. It makes Buck shrink in on himself a bit.

“You don’t think it’s maybe because I want you there?” Buck blinks at him.

“Eddie…”

“No, listen to me, Buck. I don’t think — I don’t think you understand.”

Eddie looks down again and brings a hand up to his face, pressing his fingers into the bridge of his nose as he thinks. His head’s spinning a little bit — not drunk, just overwhelmed and dizzy — because of Buck. Because of all of these feelings he has about Buck that have been building up inside of him for years. Because it’s getting harder for him to pretend that he just wants to be friends with him.

These last months have been nice, the way they’ve slid perfectly into the empty spaces in each other’s lives. But any time they have a conversation like this, Eddie feels that fear spike up in him, the fear that he’s about to lose one of the best things that have ever happened to him. Sometimes he thinks he should just tell him, just rip the band-aid off and finally expose the softest, most vulnerable part of himself that he’s been guarding all these years. He knows Buck would never leave him — especially not over the fact that Eddie loves him. But things would change, they’d have to. And that’s the part that holds him back most of the time.

But tonight feels different. He knows Buck wants this as much as he does — he has to. But Buck will never be the one to make the first move, because he’s weighed down by his past: by the abandonment, the neglect, the fear that he’s too much for anyone to stick around for.

Eddie’s not sure how he doesn’t get it at this point.

“After everything we've gone through together, you still don’t think I love you?”

“I know you love me, Eddie—“

“No, Buck,” Eddie says again, and his voice is worn and exasperated. “No, you don’t. I love you. Christopher and I are here with you almost every night we have available. You keep the cereal we like stocked in your pantry just in case we’re here for breakfast. I keep those weird vegan protein bars you like. You have a drawer in my room with sweatpants and t-shirts and a spare uniform just in case. I broke up with Ana and haven’t even thought about another person in months because...I don’t want anyone else.”

Buck swallows hard.

“I don’t understand…”

“I’m in love with you, Evan.”

“...Eddie...”

“I mean it. And you don’t — you don’t have to say anything back or...or try to let me down gently, or whatever. I just...I need you to know. You always say you’re alone and that no one ever really wants you. I need you to know you’re wrong.”

Neither of them says anything for a moment, and Eddie busies himself with his beer, trying desperately not to let the panic take over him, trying desperately not to feel like he has to pack up his stuff and grab Christopher and get out of there immediately. He’ll give Buck space if he needs it, but only if he asks.

God, he hopes he doesn’t ask.

“I love you, too,” Buck says eventually, quietly. Eddie looks up at him. “I’ve just...I really like you, you know? This thing we have with each other. It’s special...and it’s different. And I’ve always known that, so I just...I never wanted to risk losing it. I’m so used to people I love leaving, Eddie.”

“I’m never leaving you,” Eddie says instantly, confidently. Buck stares at him wide-eyed, before the softest smile Eddie’s ever seen spreads on his face.

“I know.”

Eddie’s pretty sure that they should kiss, pretty sure that that’s the thing that they’re supposed to do next, but he can’t move. He’s fixed to his spot against the counter and Buck seems fixed to his spot in front of the sink, because all they can do is stare at each other, grinning like two fools in love — because that’s what they are, aren’t they?

Eventually, Christopher’s movie ends, and he calls out for Buck and Eddie.

“Dad, Buck, can we watch another one?” He calls, a hint of mischief in his voice. He knows he’s usually only allowed one movie and then he and Eddie have to head home after dinner. Buck grins.

“How about I pack a bag and we head back to yours and we can start another one there. Maybe I can even...stay a couple of days?”

“You moving in already?” Eddie teases and Buck rolls his eyes.

“Well, you’ve only been begging me to for months now.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure. Go pack a bag and I’ll get Chris ready.”

Buck nods and then turns to run up the stairs to grab his bag — but he stops. He turns around and looks at Eddie, a small smile on his lips and a glint in his eyes, cheeks a little red.

“Um,” He mumbles, taking two large steps to close the gap between them and ducking to the side. He leans in quickly and presses a shy kiss to Eddie’s cheek and then steps away.

Eddie stares at him, a little stunned. He’s never known Buck to be shy with physical affection, especially not with someone he likes, but it’s endearing and sweet and breaking Eddie’s brain a little with the realization that they’re actually doing it. They’re crossing this line.

Buck spins around and disappears up the stairs into his loft before Eddie can say anything, leaving his mind speeding a thousand miles a second into the future, imagining all of their future kisses, their future dinners, Buck moving in officially, no longer having to travel 20 minutes to see each other, no longer spending the night alone in his bed wishing Buck was there with him, waking up to his face in the morning, kissing him goodnight.

Maybe they’ll even get married. Eddie would like that. He’s pretty sure Buck would too.

Not that he’s in any kind of rush.

He’s got everything he could ever want right here, right now.

[chalkrevelations]

SO. Bad Buddy, Ep 3, Part 3/4, and Pat is taking over. On several levels.

First, though, due diligence: Possible spoilers for later eps, so if you haven’t finished watching the series and want to see it unspoiled, turn around now and come back when you’re finished watching.

So, we open right where we left Pat and Pran at the end of Part 3.2, in the boardroom of a company that’s interested in giving Pran some money to help build his bus stop - just not right now, because apparently his design isn’t actually all that innovative, and someone else has already presented this same basic thing and got there first. Pat jumps up, insists there’s a final part of the presentation and turns to Pran – who is buffering, again. Pat realizes that, yes, he is actually going to have to fix this and plunges into the deep end. He just takes over this presentation, and I think it’s symbolic of the character beginning to step forward on other levels, too. No. 1, we’re going to see an increasing push from Pat (lit. AND fig., because he’s NOT finished pushing his way into Pran’s inner sanctum, even if he resorts to wheedling his way through Pran’s door, instead of busting through his window) driving the development of their relationship - whatever that relationship is, because at this point, he’s kind of driving blind and without even realizing where he wants to get to, yet. No. 2, I also think the narrative, itself, starts increasingly pushing his perspective forward from here, to the point that right around the (climactic) end of Ep 5, we switch to being weighted toward Pat’s perspective, at least for a bit. Before this, we were very much in Pran’s perspective, focused on him; now, Ohm Pawat is finally going to get his chance to turn on his megawatt charisma and let Pat charm the pants off … well, sure, Pran, but also everyone watching, let’s be honest. I think we’ve seen flashes of it before this – I think it helps rescue Pat from being a more controversial character, given his flaws and how terrible he and his friends have been. But this is where the show really lets him off the leash and allows him to start taking true advantage of this skill.

ANYWAY, Pat tells the board members that they realize the company is interested in eco-friendly projects, so how about they turn it into a 100% eco bus stop? Meanwhile, Pran is standing there baffled, like this is the first time he’s heard of this, despite the fact the flyer announcing the design competition labeled it an eco innovation project and featured a graphic of solar panels. Remember how I promised to beat that horse, in Part 3.2? I don’t know if this is Pran getting stuck holding the idiot ball for plot purposes, or if he really is supposed to be so locked into his own perspective that he didn’t take any of this into account in designing the project, or if the props people have unintentionally screwed him over by making the initial flyer more detailed and specific than it ought to have been, but here we are. At any rate, Pat’s nattering on about 100% recycled materials and solar power, and he’s also promising that if they get this funding, this bus stop is going to be the prototype for bus stops ALL OVER campus, which – along with guaranteeing Korn and Wai some work a few years from now, apparently - is much more definite than Pran’s earlier hesitant assurance that this could be a prototype for other bus stops. Now, on this re-watch, I can understand why Pat will be doing so well at the family business so soon out of school, in Ep 12. This guy is a salesman, and he’s doing an impressive job of it, including the sale he only partly realizes he’s pitching, at this point, which is selling himself to Pran. He gets nods all around from the company board members, and Pran is slowly lighting up, so Pat’s being successful on both sales fronts. Then Pran smiles at Pat, and Pat grins at Pran, and you need to STOP THIS, Ohm Pawat, because I’m not done being mad at Pat, and you and your fk’n charisma are making it hard to stay that way.

Back in the elevator, Pat reiterates that he’s Pran’s lucky charm, which turns his Lucky Charms T-shirt in Ep 1 into foreshadowing  a terrible Dad Joke  foreshadowing, I suppose. Pran wants to know how Pat knew about the company’s support for eco-friendly projects, and I just literally throw my hands up, because it was an eco innovation competition with solar panels on the flyer, Pran. Pat doesn’t even bring this up, but he does point out the poster on the wall of the elevator that he pointedly looked at a couple of times in Part 3.2, which also talks about eco innovation. He literally grabs Pran and physically turns him to face it. Pran calls him a smart dog (ouch), and Pat snipes back that Pran should learn to see what’s around him and that Pran is always looking at him (OUCH, because that’s a little close to what Ming said about Pran following Pat around, back when Pran was … hiding under Pat’s bed). (I think, though, Pat, that you have to be doing some looking back to notice. Get there faster.) Pat grumbles about being called a dog and a jinx, which makes Pran actually look a little bit uncomfortable, and he kind of defensively says that it’s true, and there’s this awkward, strained moment when they’re thisclose to having a fight, until Pat huffs out a laugh and wants to know what Pran’s doing now, then whines about Pran ditching him after Pat helped him out and cajoles him into going to … the mall. Before we leave the elevator though, I want to make a note that they are absolutely shooting Ohm and Nanon, leaning side-by-side up against the back wall of the elevator, so that Pat looks bigger, taller, broader than Pran, despite the fact that I’ve seen plenty of photoshoots that show Nanon’s got at least a comparable shoulder width to Ohm. Nanon’s slouching and leaning to help achieve this trick, in this shot, but they are definitely working at it, and they’re making Pran look inches shorter than Pat, as well as the supposedly smaller shoulder width.

So, we end up at the mall, specifically the music store, where Pran carefully keeps his hands in his pockets while looking at the guitars like he’s afraid he might reach out and touch them, and UGH. I think I may be more sympathetic to Dissaya than a lot of people are, but this is one of the points where Pran’s upbringing just enrages me, because the thought that one of the outcomes of his “getting caught” with Pat was that he got cut off from music just hurts me, in my soul. One of the ways Wai got me in his corner early on was his demonstrated knowledge in Ep 1 that Pran wants to make and play music, and his efforts to encourage and facilitate that. Pat’s over at the drums, banging around, while I have this little emotional breakdown over Pran, and he asks Pran if he thinks the neighbors in the dorm will object to him having a drum set. Pran responds that the guy across the hall from Pat will object, we find out that Ming is apparently up for buying Pat a new drum set as a reward for being Engineering class president, and Pran makes the remark that Pat’s family is “quite flexible,” according to the subs, as he wanders over and finally lets himself touch some of the guitars. Pat mentions that Pran has a guitar, which we’ll find out later in this ep is a fishing expedition, because Pat knows Pran doesn’t have his guitar from high school. Pran responds that he had a guitar, but it’s gone and maybe was eaten by termites, which is maybe a metaphor for his soul without his music, thanks Dissaya. We find out that Pran has been using Wai’s guitar to rehearse, and listen. LISTEN. I badly need some pre-show fic about Pran and Wai at the School of Banishment, and Wai approaching the hot mess of neuroses this feral new kid must have been, and what it must have been like to get this guy to the point where he was willing to open up and get close to someone again, close enough that Pran comes to Wai’s rescue in the beginning of Ep 1 despite not giving a shit if Louis is getting his ass kicked, and that Safe knows Pran’s response will be different when he learns it’s Wai. (While I haaaate the last-minute Waikorn no-homo in Ep 12, I do wonder if part of the reason for it was to spike any idea that Wai’s investment in Pran and his issues with Pat/Pran, at any point, were romantic, because there are plenty of little clues that Pran and Wai are probably not just close, but … emotionally intimate, in some ways, and it would have been easy for this whole clusterfuck to come off as a love triangle, which was IN NO WAY the point of the show or, I think, of the Pran & Wai relationship.)

So at this point, Pat asks why Pran doesn’t look for his guitar and comments that it might still be around somewhere (like, oh, say, in that closet I tried to shove you into when my dad showed up unexpectedly while you were in my room. It’s probably a good thing Pran refused to get in there). Pran tells him to just forget it, and he’s resistant enough to the idea that I wonder if Pran, himself, has cut himself off from music - whether it seemed safer, or he’s internalized any of his parents’ issues about it and its connection to Pat. Further to my thesis that Wai is at least partially providing the outlet for the part of Pran that does what he’s otherwise too scared or repressed to do, I have to draw the distinction between HOW uncomfortable Pran seems to be, having this convo with Pat, at the same time that he’s been not only been playing music with Wai but (:coff:) using Wai’s instrument to do it. He’s NOT ready for that level of emotional intimacy with Pat, (again) yet. Putting further emotional distance between himself and Pat – as Pat, in particular, continues to use competition as his go-to excuse to spend time with and attention on Pran – Pran points out that they might not get to compete against each other in the music competition anyway, with the implication being that would be the only reason he’d need a new guitar. Pat remarks that when they compete, Pran takes it very seriously, and Pran, who has a modicum of emotional intelligence – although let’s face it, not as much as he needs, at this point – starts to speak, hesitates, shakes his head and is saved from having any uncomfortable Feelings Talk by Pat spotting Chai headed toward the music store, which necessitates shoving Pran down behind an amp and crowding VERY VERY close to him with his nose practically in the nape of Pran’s neck so that they don’t get spotted, yeah, that’s right, that’s why he’s got to plaster himself against Pran and … sniff him. Seriously, though, he is ALL up on Pran, and Pran looks like a deer in headlights, and Pat only gets closer when Chai doubles back to look in the music store again; we can hear his girlfriend? wife? pulling him away again, still telling him he can’t get the guitar he wants, but we find out many eps later that Chai’s not taking another wistful look at some guitar, he’s basically fucking with Pat and Pran, because he DID spot them together, this early on. Pat and Pran continue to huddle together, crouched down behind the amp, until Pran remarks that Chai is gone and they can get up. We get the first explicit instance of Pat’s scent kink, he asks if Pran will do his laundry, and Pran pushes him away, calls him a psycho and storms off, but not before telling Pat that he (Pat) only thinks Pran smells good because Pat smells bad. And your mama dresses you funny, so there.

Cut to night, at the thrashed bus stop. Pran’s sitting in the middle of the road, sketching ideas to present for final approval, when Pat pops up (down?) into his sights, wanting to know what he’s doing. Pran tells him he’s doing laundry, which ha! Is a nice little multi-layered snipe – it’s a call back to Pat’s laundry comment in the previous scene at the music store, it’s a pointed remark that Pran is working to clean up a mess that’s also Pat’s responsibility to work on (LIKE HIS LAUNDRY), and it also reminds me of my Mom’s smart remark when I was growing up whenever someone would ask what she was doing, while she was obviously doing a thing, and she would tell them “playing tennis.” Like, what do you think he’s doing sitting in the middle of the road at the thrashed bus stop with his sketchbook in his lap, holding up his fingers for lines of sight, Pat? Pat remarks that there’s nobody around, so Pran can talk to him nicely, which is a little bit frustrating, because that’s not the only problem here, right? But also, it gets to the heart of one of Pran’s biggest issues, about “getting caught” with Pat, so I guess I have to give him some points for that. Also, I … OK. A lot of people make a big deal about Wai needing to apologize for the Curtain Incident, and I just … that is not the first time we’ll see people NOT apologize for something in this show. Do you remember when we see an actual apology? In Ep 1, when Wai apologizes to Engineering, whereupon he (and we) learn that an apology means nothing, as Korn proceeds to punch him in the face out of nowhere anyway and instigate a full-on brawl. Does Pat ever actually apologize for instigating any of this chaos, despite demanding recompense and video for his manly pride? Does anybody ever apologize to Wai for that horrifying scene at the bar when he’s working? Instead, what we get is Pat taking down the video, standing up beside Pran in that conference room, what we’re getting ready to see here – concrete actions to FIX problems. Is that ideal? Probably not. However, while words to acknowledge a thing may be great and important, I guess if I have to choose, I’m going to come down on the side of action, of changing what you do, and of fixing a thing. Taking part in cleaning up the thing you helped ruin is powerful. Actions speak louder than words, yeah? And anyway, nobody’s obligated to accept your apology. But they may be willing to accept your help to clean up the mess. I’m sure I’m going to come back to this, because it’s a pattern in the show, but for now, Pran slightly, slightly lets down his guard, although he sort of looks around (hypervigilence! always a fun time!) and asks what Pat wants. Pat wants to know why Pran’s not answering his messages and hasn’t been home. Pran hasn’t been at the dorm, and that’s why Pat tracked him down, because he doesn’t know what to doooooo with himself when Pran’s not around, even though he won’t explicitly admit this until Ep 5, when he does it in the absolute most heart-wrenching way he could make the admission. For now, this has got to be like sandpaper, again, on Pran’s emotional wounds. Pat wants to know why they can’t just hang out, and whether Pran is this hard on his other friends. He doesn’t want to be your friend, Pat. Pran actually inches up to this issue, telling Pat that he’s NOT that hard on his FRIENDS, and Pat’s all, well I’m sorry I’m not your friend. (Is that what you actually want to be, Pat? Get there faster.)

Pran takes the opportunity to tell Pat that he’s glad Pat realizes they’re NOT FRIENDS, so go away. Which never works, and this time only goads Pat into making a nuisance of himself, when he starts peering at Pran’s sketches, asking if Pran reeeeeally wants him to leave, and practically tugging Pran’s sleeve for attention. I would kill him. Pran comments that engineers don’t know how hard it is to be creative, Pat responds that at least they’re practical, and then Pat, whose LOVE LANGUAGE is ACTS OF SERVICE, proceeds to get Pran up off the ground and literally walk him through a practical imagining of how the bus stop will be used, in a way that gives Pran all sorts of ideas about how form needs to follow function. This is a fantastic way to get Pran out of his head, and is symbolic of, like, everything about him, particularly when Pat tells him he can’t just sit and imagine it. I think this is also a kind of interesting comparison to the earlier scene with Wai and Pran talking about song-writing, in which Wai (mirroring Pran, himself), was sitting down with Pran to to take notes about emotions for a song. Wai speaks Pran’s language (so to speak) in that scene. By contrast, Pat pushes against the boundaries of Pran’s comfort zone and walks him through a somatic experience, gets him out of his head and into his body. He’s also encouraging Pran to imagine and to play in a way these two poor kids probably didn’t get to play pretend with each other very much while they were growing up, and so now I’m wondering how much this provides an opportunity for them to go back to childhood and begin a new process of “growing up” with each other before we finally get to the romantic aspects of their relationship later in the show. Hmm. Meanwhile, on the surface, we also get a lot of flirting-not flirting-flirting from Pat, who’s set up the scenario that they’re a couple and has even agreed to play the girl, using Pran’s messenger bag as his purse. It’s pretty delightful, and Pat’s face is delighted whenever he gets to watch Pran have a burst of inspiration and start talking excitedly about ideas for the design. Pat-as-girlfriend eventually pouts that he’s not getting enough attention, and Pran can’t help laughing and picking an imaginary corpse flower for him (I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole here, researching what carrion flowers are both found in Thailand and small enough to pick in the way Pran made the motions, but I’ll spare you that), and Pat’s face does a thing that indicates he knows he’s being fucked with but also he can’t help finding it a little touching and endearing. I KNOW, BRO. He IS endearing when he’s not all porcupine protective spikes, isn’t he? Pat complains about being thirsty, we get some product placement in which Pran literally feeds some tea product to him to drink before splashing it down his chin, whereupon Pat tries to tackle him and wipe his face off on Pran’s shirt (PRAN’s shirt. PRAN, who thinks the worst thing in the world is actually touching his food!) then chases him around the collapsed bus stop like kids until Pran collapses in the street again and Pat comes and lies down in the street beside him. It will all be very romantic when they get run over by a bus together, I imagine.

ANYWAY. They lay there in the street and look at each other meaningfully for a moment before sniping at each other a little bit, and then Pat offers the olive branch again by asking if Pran likes the design he’s come up with for the new bus stop. Pran does, but he’s worried the board won’t like it, but Pat has utter confidence they will. They continue to lie in the road and Look At Each Other Significantly, and I guess this is supposed to be a moment of romantic tension? But I’m kind of busy feeling sorry for for Pran, because Pat doesn’t get that this is romantic tension, and Pran doesn’t want to be his friend. Pat breaks the moment by chucking Pran under the chin, and then they predictably bicker some more.

Cut to the company board room again, when the board agrees to sponsor the bus stop but tells Pat and Pran they can only cover half the cost. TIME FOR A BAKE SALE. Seriously though, Pran is despondent as they leave the building. Pat jokes (?) that they can use lower-grade materials to cut costs and the company will never know – at least he claims it’s a joke, but he sounds serious, and knowing Ming, it wouldn’t surprise me if this is something Pat’s picked up from his dad. Anyway, Pran’s in no mood for jokes. Pat tells him that it’s no big deal because Pran will figure something out, and that was the WRONG thing to say, bro. Pran remarks that of course, it’s no big deal to Pat, it’s not his friends who are going to get suspended (which, tbf, is a consistent flaw of Pat’s – he cares about this because Pran cares about it, not because he’s helped create the situation in the first place or because he’s got any general concern for the fallout. He’s very focused on what directly affects him and his friends). Pran remarks that it wasn’t even his (Pran’s) friends who started the fight, Pat wants to know who did then? “Me?” (KIND OF, YES, PAT. Let’s talk again about what we mean by “starting” all this.) Pran is, once again, DONE with this and stomps off. And scene.

Next on PART 4: Pat confronts the Engineering secondary backup hobbits about their part in all of this, Korn continues to be The Worst, and Pat has no good reason he can offer for not also continuing to be The Worst.

[vickyvicarious]

Just as I was about to go to sleep last night, I got a brain flash that went basically "something something flashback episode thiefsome themes???" so now in the light of day let's re-examine. This still isn't anything too polished, but... I think there's some interesting stuff to be found here.

Putting it under a tag so it doesn't clog up peoples' dashes too much, but the gist is that their roles actually represent their relationships/desires at each respective point in canon quite well, and it's giving me some thoughts about what a possible flashback with Hardison/Eliot would look like.

In the van Gogh Job, we get flashback Parker/Hardison. Obviously it wasn't them and the names are different and all but I'm just gonna call them f!Hardison and f!Parker because it's easier.

f!Hardison is brave, clever, determined, and deeply in love

f!Parker is loyal, comfortable, just as deeply in love, but terrified

Their flashback story is a cautionary tale as much as it is a romance. F!Hardison shares so many traits with Hardison himself, and f!Parker is a clear representation of current Parker. They make no bones about it, the parallels are extremely obvious and are even what makes the guy start telling Parker his story in the first place. Parker loves Hardison but she has found a place to belong in the team (flashback town/roller rink) and is afraid of what will happen if she disturbs that status quo by getting into a relationship with him. She's too scared of losing him (flashback to her racist dad/his buddies killing or hurting him, modern to the possibility of death mostly) to take the step to actually be with him, even though they both know she wants to. I love that there isn't any hint of her doubting his feelings or that he will remain devoted in either flashback or modern; the focus is entirely on her own fears for him and how she would handle that, not ever of him in any way.

Regardless of the timeframe, it's clear that (f!)Hardison loves her and will respect what she is willing to give him, even if that means leaving her. In the flashback, f!Parker still loves him and saves his painting in his honor for the rest of her life, remaining loyal to him despite never seeing him again. None of the emotion is in question at all, and it's clear that if she is willing to give it, her faith in him will be completely justified.

The episode basically just acts out Parker's fears (puppet-style?) and demonstrates to her that even though she would be fine if she doesn't take the leap - she'll be so much happier if she does. There's no guarantee of a happy ending, but Hardison is still himself and that means that before that ending comes at the very least, she will be happy. (Much like Sophie's beautiful speech to her.) Parker was already beginning to ease into a relationship with him, and this episode doesn't exactly drive her to jump in headfirst, but it's clear when we watch her reaction to the story what she will choose. She's going to build up her courage, but she's going to take the risk.

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Now, given how transparent that episode is on their pairing, I kind of wondered what would happen if I look at the one that pairs Parker/Eliot's flashback selves: the D.B. Cooper Job.

f!Parker is understanding, supportive, loyal, and gives him a place to belong

f!Eliot starts out doing something bad for the sake of someone he loves, is drawn to her, and later feels wracked by guilt and seeks redemption by helping others

The focus in this one obviously isn't on the romance. It isn't even on either of these characters, so much as it is on Nate and his flashback self. But the parallels between modern and f!Eliot are still pretty apparent, if a bit watered down in that f!Eliot has no intentions to hurt anyone and in fact takes pains not to do so.

But as far as pairings go, I think what they do between these two is pretty interesting. Their flashback characters are drawn to one another, feel a kind of understanding and recognition that they can't quite explain. It's why f!Parker stops him before he jumps and never gives him up, it's why f!Eliot trusts her in the first place and why he shows up at her door after it is all over. I think this is a really nice parallel to the way Eliot and Parker understand one another and have this connection that is different from the rest of the team.

The other thing I like a lot is that in this episode, f!Parker is the steady support. She represents the home f!Eliot longs to have, even if she isn't the one who eventually offers him the chance to help others and make his own redemptive efforts. In fact, him working with f!Nate starts out for selfish reasons and only later evolves into a place where he feels he belongs. That's another obvious parallel to the Eliot we know, but the Parker in this episode is a little less immediately recognizable. Sure, she's an incredibly loyal person and will obviously not care overmuch about crime or whatever but mostly it's harder to see her as much in that role.

But I think she serves much the same role here as f!Hardison in the other episode. Though modern Eliot isn't hearing this story and making any resolutions based on it, the casting still represents their relationship. Parker is growing steadily into the position of leader/mastermind, and at this point she and Hardison are openly together. She is someone who understands Eliot on a very deep level, and she is coming to be the person who is his rock. While I'm not discounting Hardison's importance at all, Parker more closely fits the role of the person who encouraged him to take the job in this flashback. She's the one who, only three episodes later in Rundown, verbalizes a promise to change together. She (and also Hardison) represent the home Eliot craves to have, the belonging and support necessary for him to grow and to do good in the world. What's more, f!Parker is accurate in representing her side of things as someone who wants that for him. She wants to invite him in, wants to support him even if it's from a bit more of a distance at first (pre-relationship) but would absolutely welcome him inside as soon as he shows up at her door (once he's ready, she will bring him into the thiefsome).

And Rundown shows us that in action, again only three episodes later. Not in the sense of canon thiefsome, but Parker and Hardison are absolutely supporting Eliot leaving his darker past behind, changing with them for the better - and not just getting away with his own hands clean, but doing the extra work to help others (going after the guy who tried to hire him instead of just leaving town; again when they realize how serious the situation is but stay to fix it). The episode even ends with Eliot literally throwing away the crutch that would allow him to walk on his own, and pull them both in to support him instead. He's in the middle, he's deciding to join them even if he could get by alone, it's all representative for them welcoming him into the relationship too. (I headcanon something went down between them here but it isn't all cleared up relationship-wise until the Toy Job, but either way the themes are there!)

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So with this in mind... The flashback with Hardison/Parker focused on Parker and her fears/decision to enter into a relationship with Hardison. Similarly, the flashback with Eliot/Parker focuses more on him and his desire to join the relationship. For both of them, the episode represents a shift in their relationship with one another, something not entirely unknown before, but a step that is challenging for them personally. Still, this step leads to greater happiness and growth.

All that in mind... what would a Hardison/Eliot episode look like, if we got it in Redemption? I'm getting into slight spoiler territory here, so leave now if you haven't seen the first few episodes.

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Okay, so since we've had more focus on Parker, and on Eliot, this episode would focus most on Hardison. It makes sense as well for his role in the new series, because while Parker and Eliot are a little more stable, Hardison is the one entering a challenging new period of his life that is difficult but helping him grow.

I don't have any kind of full plot figured out, but here are some things I think we might see:

f!Eliot is supportive, confident, and believes deeply in him

f!Hardison is bold, struggles with self-doubt, and upends his own life in order to change the world for the better

I think Eliot's role in this flashback would be smaller, but he'd love f!Hardison deeply and the focus would not be on their relationship developing, but on the challenges it would face as f!Hardison embarks on... whatever it is. It has to be something f!Eliot knows he cannot do, and maybe even something that might mean the end of their relationship (though much like the van gogh job, the love between them is never in question).

I've seen people mentioning a Stonewall flashback episode for these two before, and that's possible. But another thing we could see is f!Hardison working against racist laws or something. Whatever the case, he needs to be doing something that benefits many, many other people, and it needs to put him at personal risk. I'm not entirely sure on what would be holding Eliot back from helping in the same way - it may just be as simple as f!Hardison gives amazing speeches and inspires so many people, while f!Eliot just doesn't have that skill. Maybe he is sick. Maybe, their relationship does end up attracting violence, and he gets hurt (doesn't even have to be their romantic relationship, if we're going a race angle and setting this episode further back, it could just be an open friendship with their romance kept secret. the themes would still be there). Whatever the case, f!Hardison has to leave Eliot behind.

And yeah, this has already happened in canon. We're already here. But if we wanted this episode to happen, I think it would be possible for the themes to still be relevant and the challenge to still be there for Hardison's character, if something brings him back to the team. If something goes down and he isn't there, and it terrifies him that he wasn't there, and he has trouble leaving again even though his work isn't done. Or if he organizes something on his end of the world that goes horribly wrong somehow. Sometimes it's not the first step that's hardest, it's keeping on even after the first big challenge. No road is free of bumps, after all, so Hardison might well think he's fine at first but start having doubts even after things have been going well for a while.

That is where you can bring this episode into play. That's where you start - f!Hardison is already getting involved in activism of some kind, but his own fame brings about negative consequences or something unrelated happens, and it scares him and makes him consider giving his work up. The episode can be bittersweet, with them never reuniting, or it can have a happier ending where he returns and f!Eliot is still waiting for him. But it's important for Eliot to represent a home that Hardison is already comfortable in, and one he has to leave in order to help others (however temporary the leaving is). And we need to see him away from the team, thriving and growing and improving so many peoples' lives in ways that never would have happened without him - both in the flashback, and in the modern part of the episode. In fact, Hardison doesn't even need to actually be physically with the team at all in the modern part of the episode. It can be more like the Broken Wing job, where we get hints at what they are doing but the focus is entirely on him and his struggle.

Of course, I have no idea how this would tie in to a modern heist. But maybe the format could be changed up, if we focus more on Hardison outside of the team. I'm sure there's some way this could be worked. And I think it would do really well in completing the trio of thiefsome episodes, and giving equal emphasis on all three of them in each one.

[acenancy]

The Ace x Nancy x Tamura of It All

I’m here as a hardcore Nace shipper (see the URL) to throw my two cents into the Ace x Nancy x Tamura discussion.

Some of you straight up hate Tamura and that’s cool, I get it, no judgement, but I personally like him a lot as a character. And I LOVE the connection he and Nancy have. Their repartee is entertaining, they share a passion for solving mysteries which is key to being Nancy’s friend, and their very different life experiences help balance each other out. 

You know, since one of them is grounded in reality and the other is navigating through life in a supernaturally charged hellmouth.

That being said, I hope they grow closer during S3 WITHOUT becoming explicitly romantic. And I think that may be exactly what happens! At most, I think that while solving magical mysteries, Nancy and Tamura will engage in a fun little flirtationship  that will lead to genuine friendship. His partnership with Nancy would be solidified this way as well as his honorary membership to the Drew Crew. This could serve three purposes: 

Forcing Tamura to accept the supernatural elements of Horseshoe Bay, thus weaving him more intricately into the plot.

Creating tension between Nancy and Ace 😏

Exploring and adding depth to whatever sort of relationship they’re trying to establish between Tamura and Ace.

I see all of this playing out fairly simply: while Nick and George are busy juggling real life and a wedding, while Bess devotes her time and energy into researching her family history and finding love, and while Ace prioritizes Amanda, Nancy finds herself without proper backup. So! Perhaps unintentionally, Nancy gravitates to Tamura. There's crimes and mysteries to be solved and since her friends are not fully available to her, who better to turn to than the guy who’s job it is to investigate these things? And so begins the Nancy and Tamura buddy cop comedy that is both dreaded and highly anticipated depending on what social media outlet you’re using.

Though let me repeat: BUDDY COP. 

I really don’t think we’re going to have an Ed and Lorraine Warren situation on our hands with these two. Truly, if the S2 finale is anything to go by, I think S3 will allow Nancy to grow into herself outside of a romantic or sexual relationship. She’s not running from herself and into someone else’s bed anymore. She’s embracing and learning to love herself. I’d even go so far as to say Nancy’s love interest next season will be...Nancy lmao. 

As for Tamura, if they decide to give him a romantic interest, I think they would either have his ex-fiancée reenter the picture or maybe even do him dirty and stick him with Temperance for plot reasons. A doomed Tamura x Temperance romance would actually be fun to see, in my opinion, and would be a great way to open Tamura’s eyes to the supernatural. That’s just me spit-balling, though. Whether it’s because of Temperance or not, I think Tamura is finally going to have to accept ghosts and witches and magic are real this season. It’s just a requirement for working with Nancy Drew.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, we have to address the Nace of it all. Sorry to Tamura but I do believe you’re being used as an obstacle in True Love’s way next season. I think fandom’s general consensus is that the more time Nancy and Tamura spend together, romantic or not, the more jealous Ace will become. While I agree, I think Ace’s jealousy will stem from somewhere a little deeper than just seeing Nancy with another guy. 

Take Gil, for example. Ace was sort of jealous of Gil, but more than anything he was wary of him and concerned for Nancy’s wellbeing when she was with him. Unlike Ace, Gil never had anything to offer Nancy except for sex and a getaway car. He sure as hell was never her number one person. In fact, he wasn’t even Nancy’s number five person. There was never a reason for Ace to be envious of him.

Tamura, on the other hand, can prove to be just as much of an equal to Nancy as Ace is. As chief/lead detective, he also has power and influence that Ace and Nancy do not, and access to people and resources that Ace does not have (unless he can hack into them). Tamura can help Nancy bend and break the law without consequence if need be, too. And, although naive in regards to the mystics of Horseshoe Bay, he is just as smart as Nancy and has, on the rare occasion, even been one step ahead of her. Tamura is an asset, to say the least. Together, he and Nancy make a formidable duo.

That’s what will make Ace jealous. More than the prospect of romance between Nancy and Tamura, I think that Nancy finding another intellectual match is what will rub Ace the wrong way. They’ll find themselves at a brief moment in time where Nancy will turn to Tamura for assistance before anyone, including Ace, and Ace will realize he absolutely hates that someone who is not him is Nancy’s partner in crime now.

Maybe Nancy won’t notice, but Ace will probably realize his love for her is not of the philia sort. I’m sure Amanda also will. And? Maybe Tamura will see it too.

Which brings me to one of my favorite dynamics of the show: Ace and Tamura’s.

I’m not gonna sit here and spin my crazy conspiracy theory that they’re brothers. Though that idea will always hold a special place in my heart, slowly but surely I am accepting that Ace’s long lost brother really is Grant. I’m being a total grownup about it. I swear.

Nevertheless, I do think they’ve been trying to build some kind of relationship between Ace and Tamura since before Tamura even met Nancy. What sort of relationship? God, I wish I knew.

They meet each other first, which doesn’t necessarily mean a lot, but it’s worth noting that they’re on each other’s funny little shit lists before Nancy even enters Tamura’s picture. It’s also Ace and Ace alone that hears from McGuinness that Tamura will be replacing him in the same episode. Then, of course, we have that crazy Shabbat dinner in 2x03 that exacerbates their antagonistic relationship further. Then there’s their snarky banter and all of those totally unnecessary side-by-side shots of them saving Noah in 2x10. Apart from Nancy, Ace is the only member of the Drew Crew that we’ve seen Tamura develop a real connection with, even if it is an unfriendly one. And, as of now, their relationship doesn’t even have anything to do with Nancy.

So where are the writers going with this hilarious and hostile bond between Ace and Tamura? Has all of this really just been buildup for a romantic rivalry? Hey, maybe! I really can’t figure out another reason why the writers have gone out of their way to create their dynamic since the Brother Theory has been disproven. But something tells me this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

And when I say “this”, I mean Tamura taking a step back from Nancy once he realizes he may just be filling in the love of her life’s shoes. Because that’s where I think all of this is going. Not necessarily anywhere romantic between Nancy and Tamura, but somewhere more friendly between Tamura and everyone.

At the end of it all, Tamura is going to finally embrace the supernatural, he’s going to become an ally to Nancy, Ace, and the rest of the Drew Crew, and, when the timing is right, he’s going to hop onboard the Nace ship with the rest of us. 

I HOPE.

Side note: this is just where my head is at. I truly respect all of your opinions and ask that you respect mine too. If you agree with what I’ve said and want to talk, let’s talk! If you disagree and want to talk, we can talk too! Please, just don’t get nasty with me. This is a television show about fictional characters at the end of the day, and I am a real person. Much love to you all. ❤️

[milenadaniels]

Hi! I saw your tag on your informal buddie lap makeout poll (Which, exceptional scientific inquiry. Cannot wait to see the results. Especially if it leads you to write something...)

Anyway, what is your thinking on lonestar and a potential buck +e ddie sex scene? (FWIW, I don't watch LS. I tried, but just could not. Not yucking anyone's yum, just didn't work for me.)

Curious what you think?

Thank you! The study is going well, I look forward to analyzing the results in depth!

(Please note: after three hours of writing out this response, I realize I may have misunderstood your question 😂 If you meant "what do you think a buddie sex scene would look like given tarlos", please let me know and it would be my genuine pleasure to describe that in great detail. What follows is not that.....)

I have been thinking about the potential of a buddie sex scene more than I ought to, I'm sure. You could say I've been a smidge preoccupied since realizing all the legit sex scenes in the show happened in season 1/early season 2. In seasons 3/4, the closest I think we've gotten to textual sex is Madney having sex to induce labour and that consisted of Maddie throwing her shirt at Chimney from off-screen.

Someone on that post (can't find it now of course) said that 911 Lone Star took over the original 911 later time slot and thus took over the ability to have sexier content.

As someone who hasn't watched a television show live in like 5 years, your ask has prompted me to do actual research to confirm this 🤓 According to pogdesign, 911 currently plays Mondays at 8pm and 911LS plays at 9pm which supports the theory.

That said, it kind of strikes me as weird that 8pm is considered too early for sexy content? But maybe I'm just out of touch with cable television??

So I did more research! So much research omfg this took 3 hours of my life. 😅

First we define the issue at hand

I'm defining a "sex scene" as a scene that involves two or more people mackin' on each other with any of the following:

the beginning of clothing removal onscreen

the movement towards a bedroom or bed

getting into someone's lap as a sign of escalation

post-coital pillow talk or cuddling

actual shots of naked skin and writhing (softcore porn essentially)

So 911 got moved to 8pm. Do any other 8pm shows have sex scenes?

CW - The 100 🔥 (I know there was a minimum of 2 wlw sex scenes, though they may have been post-coital)

CW - Riverdale 🔥🔥 is another teen show that I don't watch so I youtubed "Riverdale sex scenes" and I'm led to believe at least one couple is banging semi-onscreen well into season 4 (it has 4 seasons???)

NBC - Chicago Med 🔥, a procedural show not about teenagers and seems to have a least 1 couple with sexy scenes (the other Chicagos air at 9pm and 10pm) and I saw lap sitting for a hardcore makeout for the other couple!!!!! TIM TAKE NOTES!

NBC - Superstore 🔥, a half-hour comedy that played at 8pm on NBC, did have at least this one cut-away sex scene

So 2 teen shows, 1 procedural and 1 comedy all had something in the way of "sex scenes" while airing at 8pm.

But what if Fox the network is the sex-scene-killers??

Apparently Fox literally has only 5 scripted dramas of which the 911 is one and the others are:

The Resident 🔥🔥, a medical drama that plays at 8pm as of season 2 (9pm for season 1) and the main couple seem to have several sex scenes, but interestingly from what I can glean from YT, they may have stopped after s2 (though the couple stays together until at least s4 from what I can tell)

LA's Finest 🚫, a rebroadcast through Fox, it airs at 9pm and YT didn't show me any sexy scenes

Fantasy Island 🔥🔥 which plays at 9pm and looks to have sexier content based on the trailer

911: Lone Star 🔥🔥🔥 which plays at 9pm. Tarlos have had like 2 heavy makeouts/implied sex scenes plus a pretty hardcore-for-tv sex scene in the s2 finale

So it seems like even for Fox, the 8pm timeslot isn't necessarily what's vetoing the sex scenes in 911. But just to hammer that home, I did even more researching into the watershed hours, which is apparently the designated time broadcasters can show sexiness, but in the US that's 10pm to 6am so if the restrictions were such that they couldn't show any sex scenes before 10pm, Tarlos wouldn't have gotten that finale action (thank you, IRL bff who watched 911LS so I didn't have to!)

TL;DR - a summation of our findings

The 8pm timeslot is not the sex-scene-killer I once thought it was (see: all them filthy shows)

911 being a cop show is not a sex-scene-killer (see: dramas, procedurals and comedies all had sex scenes)

Fox is not anti-sex in their 8pm scripted dramas in general (see: The Resident)

Fox is not anti-sex homophobically (see: Tarlos, Hen/Eva)

However!! There seems to be a somewhat weird, somewhat isolated trend of Fox shows either cutting off or tapering off sex scenes (see: 911, The Resident) after 2 seasons or specifically after 2019.

So what are the theories (from least to most favourite)?

Theory #1 (Buddie loses 🚫): "Something" happened at Fox in 2019. The Resident is the only true analogue to 911 as it's also on Fox, also premiered in January 2018, also started at 9pm but was moved to 8pm (in season 2, not season 3 like 911). If my very brief googling can be trusted, The Resident saw a lot of sex scenes in season 2 (at 8pm) but after 2019 there isn't much to write home about. That lines up with what we've seen in 911. If something happened internally at Fox that changed broadcasting guidelines for 8pm, then canon Buddie will not get sex scenes unless the timeslot changes back.

Pros: It would be a hell of a coincidence wouldn't it?? Both shows airing around the same time, both stop showing sex scenes around the same time???

Cons: It's pretty weak, I can't find anything that supports "something" happening in 2019 that would affect an 8pm timeslot but not the 9pm one.

Theory #2 (Buddie loses 🚫): Sex as a short-term sales tactic. Fox uses sex in the first two seasons of shows to boost ratings and get people hooked because sex sells. But then, for whatever reason, they taper it off. If so, Buddie being canonized would not produce any sex scenes as we're far removed from season 2.

Pros: The Resident and 911 both stopped showing sex scenes after season 2 from what I can gather

Cons: If sex sells, why wouldn't it keep selling all the way to the bank?? There's no reason to stop something that's working.

Theory #3 (Buddie wins 🔥): Actors are the roadblock. Fox is fine with sex scenes at 8pm but the actors aren't comfortable! If so, Buddie sex scenes could be in the cards as both actors have had on-screen sex scenes previously.

Pros: Angela Bassett, Peter Krause and JLH are bigger names and they presumably get to not get naked on screen or simulate sex scenes if they don't want to. Aisha Hinds as a (criminally) smaller name wouldn't have had that kind of leverage in season 1, nor would Ryan Guzman in season 2? And Oliver Stark knew what he was signing up to to play a self-diagnosed "sex addict" so.

Cons: This is absolute, complete conjecture. I have zero idea what each of their comfort levels with sex scenes are or how that might relate to the writing/direction of their characters.

Theory #4 (Buddie wins 🔥): Stable canon relationships kill sex. Fox dramas use sex only pre-maritally to build relationships and the network or the showrunners/writers decide it's not as important once characters are in stable relationships/married. If so, we will get Buddie sex scenes as their canon relationship develops.

Pros: The Resident couple did get married post-season 2 I think? Athena stopped having onscreen sex after she married Bobby. Hen had sex but out of her marriage.

Cons: That's dumb, let married people bone. And we technically do have a Madney sex scene, tame as it was (but maybe they straddle of the line of stable but pre-marital???). Also if sex = building relationship, EddieAna have been excluded from that formula oops 😌

Theory #5 (Buddie wins 🔥): We're overthinking all of this. There hasn't been sex scenes past season 2 because the stories haven't called for it but when it does, such as the start of a new relationship, then we'll get some!

Pros: We haven't had any "new" relationships other than EddieAna since season 2 and their lack of intimacy is a glaring reminder they aren't well suited - they're not boning for plot reasons. While not strictly meeting the aforementioned definition of a "sex scene", we could use Albert coming out of Veronica's shower as a use of sex-as-relationship-building.

Cons: That's dumb, let married people bone, the sequel. Especially since HenRen is criminally neglected in terms of development and could use a fun playful sex scene.

So what have we learned?

Should Buddie go canon, 3 theories indicate we'd get some sex scenes for them, and only 2 say we wouldn't. The odds are in our favour. 🤡

I will do literally anything to procrastinate writing this damn fic that's been tormenting me for weeks. Please someone, anybody...send help...

[therogueheart]

So I’ve seen a few posts questioning why it’s always Eddie in fics that struggles (sometimes negatively) with his sexuality or experiences internalised homophobia, some of which vague that it’s hateful towards the character or follows the ‘trend’ of victimising/babying Buck. There are also posts I’ve seen that reference the same, but in relation to the actual show and the handling of Buddie or mlm relationships with Buck and Eddie in canon.

So I’m going to do what I did with my post about Eddie’s reactions (or lack thereof) being in character, and lay it out as factually as I can.

It is more in-character for Eddie to be the one to struggle or to have a difficult sexuality journey than it is for Buck.

Even the show, in not so many words, has said the same thing. We’ve already seen Buck in several scenarios where his sexuality is questioned, assumed or vaguely referenced, and in none of them does he have a negative or overtly reactive response.

Buck’s sexuality was outright assumed, twice, to his face. In the first instance with the Christmas Elf Lady he was openly confused but ultimately shrugged it off with a smile and compliment. In the scene with TK we see him react a little more expressively, but with no obvious negativity or unhappiness. Poor baby was just confused that his bid for friendship was being taken as flirting, explicitly by a homosexual male. 

Eddie, however, has several character factors that would point towards a choppier journey with realising he isn’t heterosexual. To name a few:

His (explicitly stated and referenced) past relationships, love interests and current love interest are all female, although the same can be said for Buck.

On the subject of Buck; Eddie also isn’t shown to have any real friendships with men (or women) outside of the 118, and none as close-knit as Buck. Eddie also doesn’t behave with his male peers (such as Bobby, Chimney and Albert) the way he behaves with Buck. Contrary to this, Buck is referenced up until recently to have been a very social person outside of the 118, even thus far as to live with several other men prior to moving into Abby’s and then into his own apartment.

Eddie was brought up in a heavily Latino/Latinx family and lifestyle and presumably, community. It’s common for Latino/Latinx communities to expect men to comply with the ‘macho family man’ archetype, and there are multiple resources from Latino/Latinx people that review the toxic masculinity of the communities and culture. We see a reflection of this in Carlos from 911: Lonestar, where his family is accepting but in a dismissive way, so much so that he makes the decision to introduce his boyfriend as a work friend.

He served in the military. Now the military is notorious for being the most homophobic ‘gay for the stay’ community you’ll ever encounter. It’s kind of fine to jerk each other off behind the craft building while thinking of your wives, but if someone comes out as gay they could be outcast, given a vaguely or outright homophobic nickname and face the age old ‘you’re gay so you’re a predator/risk’ type of treatment. (I’m not saying everyone and every base is like this, but again there are plenty of resources available that document the institutional homophobia in military spaces.) In worst cases gay/bi+ men are bullied or forced out of the barracks, beaten or killed.

Canon extensively implies that Eddie is straight. We don’t get the same vagueing and hinting/joking that we do with Buck. The closest we’ve come is the livestream where several comments mentioned him and Buck as a couple, but we don’t see Eddie react to these or even potentially notice them. Every time crushes or love interests are explicitly presented to/for Eddie, they’re female. Ignoring any possible meta about camera and behaviour choices, Eddie is depicted exactly the same as the other heterosexual male characters of the show, such as Bobby and Chimney. Contrastingly, Buck is the only one who receives explicit reference to or vagueing towards his sexuality and relationships, especially with Eddie.

Relating to the point above; if Eddie is a closeted bi/pan/demi/gay+ man, then he’s lived as a straight man for years and it would be a colossal change for him to come out. It would mean coming out to his family (assuming he hasn’t already, and to the family that already thinks he can’t function without a wife), his friends and peers, it would mean dealing with the change in perception of him from his peers and adjusting various aspects of his life; not least, talking to Christopher about it too.

In Season 3 and 4 we also see Eddie struggle with moving on from Shannon, and I think it’s plausible that Eddie would feel it’s some kind of betrayal to her. Eddie would likely wonder if his sexuality aided to the collapse of their marriage and would likely also wonder about the impact it had on their chances of reconnecting and his relationships with Buck and Shannon, if Buddie is the pathway to Eddie’s sexuality exploration.

Now I’m not saying Eddie would go off-the-rails homophobic in the instance that he was put in a situation like the ones Buck has been in, but Eddie would definitely be in-character to have some form of mild crisis, fear or doubt about explicitly realising he’s attracted to a man.

Eddie would quite literally have to question his entire existence and past and explore this new part of his identity, whereas from what we’ve seen on screen thus far it’s far more likely that Buck is open to or has already considered his own sexuality. Buck is also easier going about new parts of his identity, which the show depicts through his ‘Buck 1.0′ style self-developments.

Also; it is perfectly plausible for someone to be completely fine with other people being LGBT+ but to struggle with a change or discovery of their own sexuality. Again, the LGBT+ community is full of stories, most notably the Reddit thread about the man who realised he wasn’t homophobic; just jealous. Eddie’s immediate acceptable of Hen and Michael does not necessarily equate to immediate acceptable of his own sexuality.

When people consistently write Eddie as the one to have a sexuality reckoning, it’s not out of hate for the character or out of the desire to whump/baby Buck. It’s just in line with the character. Similarly, if the show does decide to go ahead with Buddie or to reveal Eddie as not heterosexual, please don’t lash out or criticize if they depict him struggling with it or taking a long time to adjust/accept it. Similar to healing, the journey of sexuality exploration is not always linear. Michael’s character is an excellent example of this, paralleled by Charles from Why Women Kill.

[travoltacustom]

Which HPMI characters are ‘active’?

CW: NSFW

Anon, I’m sorry, this is not the content I thought I’d have on here, but I’m at least committed to answering questions. So here’s a list on which characters in HPMI I think are sexually active UNDER THE CUT.

HAS NOT HAD SEX

Ichiro: He’s an otaku. Finding a partner is low priority for him since he has to take care of his brothers first. He’s also not fond of the idea of casual sex because the idea of ‘using’ someone like that puts a sour taste in his mouth.

Gentaro: He’s been closed off from others, and reserved even with his friends. He trusts only the closest of his friends to confide in, and with sex as such an intimate act, it’s not something that he’d ever be comfortable with doing so casually.

Hifumi: He’s spent more than a decade recovering from gendered trauma, so it’s unlikely that he’s done anything sexual with anyone. No matter how many dates he goes on with his kittens, he keeps things professional and wouldn’t go after one of them, even if his trauma had lessened.

Sasara: Not only is he a celebrity, but he’s had a way of shutting people out so that people can’t get really close to him. Those who do have meaningful relationships with him will only be his friend because his own self-consciousness prevents him from imagining himself in any sexual relation with anyone.

Jyushi: He’s not someone who’s good at socialisation. He was also bullied for so long so it’s not like anyone got close enough to him for something like this. Jyushi isn’t really interested in sex at the moment anyways - he’s just building himself up as a person first.

Kuko: He still has a strong idea of his vocation, and sex isn’t something that’s immediate for him. Though, he also says that if he was destined to fuck at this time, he would be too powerful.

Also, Jiro and Saburo are minors so they’re here too. Don’t lewd the kids.

MIGHT HAVE HAD SEX

Rio: He’s been dedicated to service for so long. Even after the army was dissolved, it’s not like he can find a partner right now, since he’s still on the run. But before that, I’d like to think he had a highschool sweetheart that he really hit it off with, but it just didn’t work out with him going off to join the navy.

Ramuda: Bear with me. His songs are full of innuendos [1], and he seems to get calls from so many ladies too. However, most shown calls happen to be from Chuohku, and the one time we’ve seen him around a naked woman was when he was taking their measurements. Maybe he’s having sex, but maybe this is a convenient cover for the things he’s been doing with Chuohku. (Slug was the one that’s been making me think about this a lot)

Doppo: He might have had a casual fling once or twice, before work totally swamped him. Look at him, he really needs some serotonin. Just because he doesn’t have sustained relationships, doesn’t mean he’s never done something risky. However, as of now, he definitely doesn’t have the time to get off with someone.

Rosho: Having spent the years rebuilding his confidence, he’s been trying to rely on others - he can at least muster the courage to talk to people individually. Finding a partner would be really easy for a good looking man like him. Rosho’s someone who would be with a partner for the long haul, rather than for a casual hook-up. And by god, I really hope he did find someone to love in these years.

PROBABLY HAS HAD SEX

Samatoki: He can get any woman he wants [2], and while that can just be rapper braggadocio, he’s also someone who doesn’t have time for a committed relationship. He’s had sex, and like... so many sex, man.

Jyuto: He seems like someone who was once in a committed relationship. Jyuto is definitely a romantic at heart, and his relationship got pretty far before the lives they led meant that they couldn’t’ be together anymore. Though now, he’s not someone who looks for hook-ups.

Dice: He’s lived a life of freedom on the streets, and sex is something you can gamble with to an extent. Dice doesn’t keep strong connections with most people, so it’s fine for him to get laid and move on since nobody goes looking for him.

Jakurai: This guy seems like he was much more active when he was younger - just look at that man. But now, he isn’t getting it on as much since he’s found it difficult to dedicate himself to anything other than work. He’s still active, just not so much.

Rei: He has children. That is proof of fuck. That, and he’s also said to be “in active service for life.” This man fucks, and CONTINUES to fuck.

Hitoya: A very handsome man. Hitoya needs to let loose somehow, and that’s through someone he trusts enough as a fuck buddy, but isn’t close enough to actually be friends with. Hitoya is stressed and needs a fuck.

Otome: She has a child. That is proof of fuck. Though, I don’t believe she has any time to get down to anything with how busy her life’s become.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

References:

[1] Ramuda’s songs: Drops - “I drop my drops...Pick ’em up if you want ’em You never know, you might get hooked” and “I always wanna taste of excitement if I can get it”. Pink-coloured Love - “ Red and white are, you know right? What colour they become when they're mixed”

[2] G-Anthem of Y-City:  “Take your fill of money, power, women, and booze”

[july-19th-club]

Recap for Roswell: New Mexico S2E12: “Crash Into Me”: con drama 

Buckle up: we are officially in the home fucking stretch. The compounding lies in the Max/Liz relationship (each constructed out of a misguided attempt to ‘protect’ the other, each digging deeper and wider holes that will eventually connect, like the holes in the movie Holes, into a small canyon of deceit)are getting bigger. Liz groks the excessive antidote use; Max is bursting lightbulbs in the desert (is this his ‘light cardio’? it’s like he’s asking to have another heart attack). Meanwhile they only halfway resolve their fight about her continued interest in using alien DNA to solve every health issue in the world. They’re able to avoid these couples’ trust issues because they have much bigger problems, but stressful times are no cure for unresolved arguments. We’re building toward an impasse here, folks.

Meanwhile, we get some rapid-fire exposition via Isobel, who mind-reads her niece Mimi and learns that, whatever else is going on with Helena, she has known Rosa’s been alive all season. It’s revenge that drives her. But time-untethered Mimi feels absolutely certain that Helena wouldn’t do anything to hurt the missing members of our party (or, she says later, “our girls” - so sans Charlie, maybe she’s not talking about them). When Helena says she’s going to war, does she mean at Jesse’s side or...secretly against him? We’ve all seen how well it goes when one of our heroes tries to break stuff from the inside, but maybe she’s devious enough to succeed where the much less seasoned Alex failed? It’s interesting to have her here, and she’s becoming a much more faceted character than originally supposed, but I also can’t help but feel that her connections to the overall plot are rather rushed for the sake of a late-season reveal. It’ll even out if we get more of her later, but for now I feel like I’m scrambling to catch up. 

It’s clear from the outset that Michael’s incentive to work on the biobomb - seeing Alex - is never going to come to fruition, at least if their captors get what they want. What they want is for Michael and Charlie to complete a weapon for finely-tuned ethnic cleansing, a weapon whose initial component Charlie invented for what she naively thought would be “good, in the right hands.” But it’s like she said earlier in the season; she has learned too late that any invention, no matter how benevolently thought up, can be put to a destructive use. And even her initial reasons weren’t entirely benevolent - she told Liz she was thinking about its medical applications, but she tells Michael now she was also thinking about its wartime uses. And it’s the military: they’re gonna go for the ethnic cleansing. It doesn’t take two geniuses trapped in a room with unassembled bomb parts to figure the ideal test target is likely to be the aliens, nor to realize it wouldn’t stop there. Now they are become death - if they do what they’re told. 

Max and Cam are back together, buddy copping their way through the last of the Valenti connections - it was Jim who helped get Rosa to the pod, who probably hoped, before his death, that Noah would help him revive her. Helena has kept a ton of his stuff, and from the looks of it was mourning him for years. He also comes clean to Cam about his antidote usage after she hounds him a bit about his sweaty, clammy looks. He keeps hoping it will give him a clue to his pre-crash identity, pushing at the boundaries of his health in the chance that he’ll remember something important. Maybe he’ll listen to a warning from Cam that he won’t listen to from Liz...but I wouldn’t count on it. 

Meanwhile, back at the kidnapping, Michael points out the obvious: his work on the bomb is complete, and he’s still alive. This points to bigger goals than ‘just kill a couple of aliens,’ and because he is Michael and never met an authority figure he couldn’t mouth off to, he tries to...well, negotiate would be a strong word. But he pleads with Helena to reconsider - her daughters will never forgive her - though she says that ship has sailed. And for that matter, she’s probably right. But she does concede that her goals don’t align completely with the Manes’, and offers a third version of the disaster adage those guys are always spouting off. Is she a mole? 

If I were kidnapping someone, and he happened to carry around with him at all times a blunt object that he could use either to hit me and possibly overpower me or to merely run away from me, I too would steal it from him and hide it where he couldn’t get it. As a sibling, however, if my brother had a tool he required in order to walk, I probably wouldn’t steal it from him and hide it where he couldn’t get it, unless I was being a real dick. It is in this situation that we at last find Alex, who probably never assumed that he’d have to worry about leg thieves on top of everything else he’s been through. And, characteristically, leg theft is far from his biggest worry in today’s lineup of events. There’s also murderous sibling, murderous parent, love of his life in danger of both regular death and death by hypertargeted ethnic cleansing...the list goes on. What a fuckin’ year, huh? 

Their reunion is brief but tender, and no sooner has Michael fallen not entirely platonically into his arms than he’s added another problem to the list: Helena’s version of fighting from the inside is to swap components in the building process. Her target is Maneses; Jesse specifically, as Jim’s murderer, but she’ll be happy to take Flint down with him. Presumably, those of his sons outside the blast zone will be spared. Michael, for Alex’s sake, still intends to try and do something about the attack - but also for Alex’s sake, refuses to rescue him just yet. Ah, a classic lover’s quarrel.

In the lull before the big CrashCon showdown, we have time for another, rather worse, one. Max says Jesse Manes is a murderer (and was planning on adding to his body count) and deserves what’s coming to him, even if Helena’s methods are extreme (true). Liz says any crime committed by a member of a marginalized group gets fixated on, and creates backlash against, that group, and she has a right to be terrified and upset about the idea of her mother getting caught (true). Liz says that anyone who is a member of the acceptable class or can pass within it cannot possibly ‘get’ the experience of someone who can’t or doesn’t (true). Max says Liz’s attempts to gain recognition through her scientific work smack of glory-chasing and that she can’t exceptional-minority-myth her way to world-saving happiness (...true). They’re getting further away from the task by the minute, and closer to the crux of the problem between them. Liz’s perfectionism and sense of achievement have always been about both fear and obsession, but she’s not the only one with a chip on her shoulder about saviorism. I mean, it’s Max. The impasse is creeping - no, hurtling - into sight. 

And then we’re in the home stretch’s home stretch. In the course of their argument, Liz talks her way into one of the biggest flaws in her mother’s revenge plan - it can’t be turned into a quiet affair. Jesse’s a noted glory hound himself, and he would receive no recognition from the deaths of a few small-town citizens of seemingly arbitrary causes, especially since this first group of targets can pass for majority. He would want his work, and his reasons, noted and agreed with. He would want funding and approval, would want to ensure that he could keep using his weapon, for whatever purposes he deemed fit. He would need the genuine article if he wanted to convince his public that the threat he’s ‘defeating’ is real. And he has one: the rebuilt remains of Nora’s last project, now in the hands of that annoying museum curator and on full display in the middle of the fairground. Max reckons he knows what it is (remote for a ship; Michael gives him the most incredulous ‘what’ which seems more to do with the fact that he’s being shown up on alien mechanics by Max of all people) - but what it is seems far less important at this juncture than what it does, which is, historically, to explode very easily. It’s being stored in the most fire-hazardous way possible, the better to discreetly set it off. The blast will create the right environment for Jesse to launch his DNA bomb, and the paper trail he’s laid out will lead straight to his victims. One has to assume that Helena did not know the full extent of this plan; for all her impulsiveness, lack of foresight, and personal weaknesses she is not the kind of person who would allow a collateral damage as large as we’re looking at just to ensure the death of one man. 

Speaking of, let’s talk about villain motives. Last year’s villain was one man, who used his relative anonymity to manipulate, abuse, and kill individuals who were equally as overlooked as he was. His death and the aftermath of what he’d done could only be talked about freely among a small group of people, most of them his surviving victims. In a small-town story, even the most brutal struggles exist on the micro scale; conflicts are between individuals, and perhaps that’s why it took me nearly as long as the characters to fully grasp the impact of this new antagonist’s motives. Even though Jesse Manes started out talking about large-scale things, he had gradually fallen into the general background layer of feuding and rivalry, and just like his son, I underestimated him. The conflict is bigger than his attempts to live up to what he perceives as his family’s legacy. It is bigger than a grieving woman trying to end him in a way she feels is fitting to his crimes. It is bigger than his hatred for a specific group of three people living quiet lives in Roswell. 

If he fails tonight, he will likely hardly suffer. Sure, he’s literally planning a terror attack, but he is a white, resspected veteran, and society will find a way to excuse his actions even as our heroes, lest they risk exposure, struggle to provide proof of what he’s capable of. Succeeding, he will harm, probably kill, dozens of people (and that’s a conservative estimate), adding to the already boiling atmosphere of xenophobia and intolerance that informs not only his worldview but that of half of his children, many of his neighbors, and absolutely his authorities. The stakes are not tidy or personal now. 

I’ll admit, I was surprised to see ‘conspiracy thriller’ win out over ‘revenge killing’ - though not displeased. This show sometimes stumbles into or out of its forays into social and political commentary, but in the final stretch of the episode it fires on all cylinders. Our little Scooby Gang isn’t the cast of Person of Interest; they’ve never had to thwart domestic terrorism before. They’re a bunch of mostly-unemployed twenty-nine-year-olds, and the only one with anything approaching experience is chained up miles away so he doesn’t die in Helena’s counterattack. But not for long. Our local cinderella man (trapped by a cruel family, wants to go to the festival, looking for a lost foot shoe) is fully fed up waiting. When Flint next comes in to taunt him, he figuratively jumps at the opportunity. First he appeals to compassion - not that Flint has that anymore. Then he tries heritage - it sounds like once upon a time his big brother used to have softness and creative impulses of his own. “When was the last time,” he asks, “that you made something that wasn’t supposed to be destructive?” 

But Flint doesn’t have any respect for weaving, or stories, or the quiet pleasure taken in giving life to something that’s just nice to look at or comforting to wrap around your shoulders. He doesn’t hum new bars of music to himself to while away the captivity. He doesn’t take out his pent-up trauma on something useful, like firewood. He’s got one hobby, and that’s being the best Manes man he can be. Dad didn’t mess him up! It’s just Alex that’s that way! Alex is the pathetic one. He and Clay turned out fine! (Up to this point, I had forgotten Clay existed. This may actually be the first time Brother #4’s name has even been mentioned. Wherever he is, he sounds like a chip off the old block). Even Gregory’s going to CrashCon! By now he is right up in Alex’s face, which means he’s within kicking distance. Cinderella brains Drizella and grabs the keys. Risk of dying in a targeted DNA bomb be damned, he’s getting his foot and he’s getting the fuck out of here. 

He arrives after dark, as the rest of the gang try futilely to minimize the damage they know is coming. Liz tears off to the lab, where she concocts something that seems to be working correctly when it explodes a beaker - but she’s followed in secret by Diego, who I guess is already tired of being a tertiary character. Rosa and Maria (and Cam, elsewhere) are trying to figure out how in the hell to evacuate a whole fairground, bumping into Greg Manes (he’s not just your cool brother, he’s a mild-mannered grade school teacher! Good lord!) and awkwardly telling him to get his field trip back on the bus and out of the line of fire. And Michael’s bang on the money when he takes one look at Nora's project and decides Max and his tachycardia aren’t allowed near it because he might accidentally set it on fire. 

Then Flint shows up. He’s overpowered Charlie and arrived with Jesse’s bomb canister (the one Charlie was supposed to dismantle). And then Alex confronts his dad. And then Max decides the most useful thing he can possibly do is singlehandedly try to stop Flint from completing the attack and it’s one exertion too many on top of his constant insistence that he’s totally fine, god, guys, quit making such a big deal about the fact that I almost died of heart failure this year! 

The fireworks have ignited the Highly Flammable Location. Charlie is trapped in the burning house. Jesse is this close to setting off one bomb canister (the one that’ll kill him and also three-quarters of his family). Maria’s finds the other bomb canister and chucks it way out into a field, but not before she starts bleeding in a super-distressing way. Gregory finds his family at the exact wrong time and so does Michael and a shooting seems very extremely imminent. Max tries to hand-kill Flint??? And maybe succeeds? And then has another heart attack — Rosa and Liz stand frantically over him — 

It’s a cliffhanger, folks! We’ll see you next week. 

A fun nod to the fact that these characters would swear so much more if they weren’t on network TV from Rosa, who has resorted to saying ‘give a duck’: “Oh, I just found out about autocorrect, it’s hilarious.” 

Arturo’s Arturo’s Churros hat. That man loves him some novelty headgear.

Alex, in any situation where he could use Michael’s first name: lastnames him

Liz still with the Mikey: exact opposite situation. Trusted friends and research partners can nickname you but the love of your life will call you what he’s called you since twelfth grade because anything else would either indicate a moment too intimate for words or be too weird 

Max, still miffed about not being as much of a Fitness Guy as Kyle and Diego: “I don’t think they drink beers; it’s not keto.” Don’t worry, king, I like your lack of ab definition, and that’s not sarcasm I mean it sincerely. I think you need more of a muffin top.

“I was held hostage, Max! I deserve to ride the Scrambler until I barf cotton candy...and maybe watch a bad man die :)”

In the Manes family, if you are named after a rock or a geographical feature, you’re a really fucked up dude. If you have a basic-guy name you’re chill though 

“She...doesn’t wanna kill aliens?” “Nope. Avenging her murdered lover.” “Oh my god, I love a good telenovela.” This show is a great at being a novela, and I can’t believe I forgot that 

One last ominous nugget to stay up with at night: Jesse tells Alex he should understand collateral damage ‘better than anyone.’ Is he talking about the obvious: he’s missing a limb; he is collateral damage? Or is he talking about some shit Alex did over there that we still don’t know about?

[onrainynights]

why you can't compare buddie to destiel (from someone who ships both)

this is kind of addressing the recent negativity in the buddie tag, but it's also a collection of my thoughts and reasoning for being buddie-positive despite my experiences with destiel and spn in general. the text of 911 is not really discussed at all, and this is relatively spoiler-free, so if you're thinking of watching 911 I encourage you to read it. if you haven't seen both shows it probably won't make perfect sense, but I wrote this with spn fans who haven't seen 911 in mind, since that's most of my followers (and also seems to be where much of the negativity was coming from) pretty long post under the cut to save your dash

I just want to prepare y'all for the fact that buddie could be the slow burn will they/won't they mlm romance we've been waiting for practically forever.

at this point it's not fair to call it queerbait because where their relationship is now fits the characters and their development. this is not like destiel, where there were many moments over the years that could've ended with them getting together and it would've made sense with the story. buddie right now is in this sweet, wholesome pre-relationship kind of place, which on its own is a compelling dynamic and so fun and good to see. a resolution of it right now would feel out of character—they both still have some development to do before that would feel natural. and so, I don't think we can really call it queerbaiting unless the characters get to that point and there is still no resolution.

also I'd like to point out the overall positivity from the cast when it comes to buddie. both Eddie's and Buck's actors have said (I'm paraphrasing cast statements in this post unless they are in quotations) positive things about the pairing, and Buck's actor has said that he likes the interpretation of Buck as queer, and he would be happy if the writers took his character in that direction. also Eddie's actor with "that's what they all say" when buddie was referred to as a "bromance". Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Buck's sister (another main character), is very supportive of buddie, saying she's "rooting for it", that it would be "amazing", she doesn't "see how it couldn't happen one day". this was in response to hearing that a fan insists Buck and Eddie will be a couple. She flat-out said "I think so, too." She jokes about buddie with Buck's and Eddie's actors all the time. Also, my favorite bit from the video of her saying all this, "Let's manifest it together!"

It's safe to say this is a VERY different environment to spn. I don't think I've ever seen a cast this positive about a show's main non-canon queer ship before. NEVER. I think it's safe to say that if/when buddie is canonized, the cast will be just as excited as the fans—at least JLH will be! Add into the fact that the show's PR seems to be leaning into bi buck and buddie right now, it's a VERY different vibe than spn had, definitely. There's no gaslighting of the fans here, at least not that I've seen. also, although 911 has a large casual viewership, I think it's safe to say the GA would not be upset by buddie—there are only 3 serious, long-term romantic relationships involving main characters in this show, and one of them is a lesbian marriage with two children. And yes, the characters are shown being lesbians, it's not just a stated fact; the audience is privy to their relationship (and their interactions with their adorable kids). I think it's safe to say that buddie would go over well with the fans, even the casual viewers (of which there are many). buddie doesn't seem to be a huge divider in fandom like destiel is, either. reactions generally seem to be either "I ship it" or "I don't care either way."

Also I'd like to point out that while yes, it's possible that buddie is only bait (which would be disappointing), there's a reason queerbaiting works. people WANT to be queerbaited, because it's nearly indistinguishable from a slow burn will they/won't they queer romance. queerbaiting allows fans to make theories, create fan content (including fic), and keeps them engaged with the dynamic and the show. fans who are vulnerable to queerbaiting want a slow burn will they/won't they queer romance, which is currently an almost completely untapped market. spn could've tapped it, but despite the huge fandom they did not. there are SO MANY people outside of spn fandom who want a slow burn mlm romance, one that keeps the audience guessing, one that's will they/won't they, one that is not guaranteed, and that is why queerbaiting works so well. the audience doesn't just want the payoff, they also want the build-up. the longer the build-up, the higher the payoff, and the suspense of the build-up is gone if you know from the start that the payoff is definitely coming. that's part of why malec from shadowhunters didn't fully tap this market—there was no question of if, only the question of when (which wasn't really a question either, given there was an episode in season 1 literally titled "malec" when they got together.) the characters were always queer, the show being an adaptation of a book series where they were in a relationship and eventually had children together.

this was why November 5th was such a big deal—fans were so far past the will they/won't they aspect of destiel, firmly believing that destiel would always end as a "won't they" and not a "will they" that when cas confessed his romantic love for dean, destiel trended on Twitter over the US election. you all know that story, but maybe not everyone reading this knows that after Nov. 5 there was a case of hundreds if not thousands of spn fans experiencing love sickness because of the confession scene. the payoff of making destiel fully canon (and reciprocated, in English) would've been huge. fans would've been throwing their money at the c/w.

which leads me to the possibility (this is not at all me saying that I think this happened or even is likely, just that it's one possibility that /could/ have happened) that buddie started as bait, that the writers never intended for them to be a couple, but saw fan reactions to buddie during season 2 and started to lean into it in season 3 (and 4 so far, but it just started so I don't want to make any generalized statements about it) possibly still as bait or maybe not deciding yet if they'll go anywhere with it. and then maybe they saw destiel trending on November 5th, realized just how BIG the market for a slow burn will they/won't they mlm romance is, and said "hey, we already have the foundations for one of those. why not go for it and draw in all those viewers who clearly want one so badly?"

if buddie goes canon, because the cast and PR have been so positive about it, unlike spn, and because of the text of the show itself, the show's creatives could VERY EASILY claim that they were never baiting, that it was all an intentional slow burn will they/won't they romance from the beginning, and most people would believe them; there isn't really any evidence to the contrary, although I am sure there would be at least a few fans convinced it started as queerbaiting, and there might not be any evidence to refute that, either.

the point is that 911 is currently sitting on a gold mine. if they play their cards right, and execute buddie well, they will monopolize this market that old straight white men serving as network executives have failed so far to really tap into. they queerbait without the payoff, which gives the show a reputation among those in the market who haven't seen it, guaranteeing they will never watch it. shows in this vein: sherlock (huge reputation for queerbaiting and a finale fans didn't like) and spn (huge reputation for queerbaiting and a finale fans didn't like). spn got so, so close with cas's confession but then continued to gaslight its fans, and PR did not lean into destiel AT ALL. if 911 did buddie? the PR team would be all over it. it would be a moneymaker, big time, and Fox knows it. if buddie, or even just bi buck, went canon, tumblr would be all over it. viewership for the show, which is already impressive, would skyrocket. 911 would monopolize this market, because fans wary of queerbaiting would watch it with the knowledge that the payoff is there, and there really wouldn't be a competitor until other shows saw the success of buddie and followed suit with their own pairings, and given the fact that the market specifically wants /slow burn/ queer romances, that might take a couple years. that puts 911 in a really good position, where suddenly the fandom of the show, not just the GA, is very large and likely very dedicated to the show. the success of canon buddie might just change the landscape of TV in the coming years, showing execs that while queerbaiting does work, actually going through with it is really where the money is. 911 would not just monopolize the market for a while; it would pioneer it.

if buddie never goes canon, I would probably be a bit disappointed at the wasted potential, but unless the characters get to that point where canon buddie seems like the most logical outcome and they /don't/ go for it, I won't be truly upset because I don't think it's fair to claim its queerbaiting until then. I can't tell you how likely it is that buddie will be canon at some point, but it seems FAR more likely than destiel /ever/ did, and we ended up getting cas's confession in the end. I have hope, despite being hurt so badly by spn. 911 is a genuinely great show with some fantastic writing, and they don't leave chekov's gun unfired, unlike spn.

really, it comes down to this: if Jennifer Love Hewitt is allowed to clown for buddie, then so am I, and I'll enjoy this show—which is amazing even without canon buddie—while I apply my clown makeup.