#now I'm not saying what buck does after this is justified

[warpedpuppeteer]

Watching the Lawsuit arc and you know what's the kicker? For the entire episode that leads to the Lawsuit, everyone is shown being with their family or loved ones even while going through difficult things and having each other's backs (Hen and Karen with the pregnancy attempt, Maddie and Chim + Eddie and Chris with ptsd). And both times Buck visits his family/loved ones, he feels betrayed (Bosko not Buckley. Bobby being the reason he couldn't return to work). And the "anything. Like a knife in my back" line really puts things into perspective. Buck's gone through back to back trauma and his fallback (the 118, his family) are the ones betraying him (right after he was so confident in talking about how they were a family to that sleazebag lawyer too, like OUCH). It really shows how desperate Buck was. He felt like he was losing everything; his job, his friends, his family. He's been gone awhile and there's someone already replacing him (temporarily) , so I can imagine in his head, he's just thinking about how the longer it takes for him to come back, the easier it will be for everyone to replace him and where would that leave him exactly? Alone.

[ckret2]

Ok but why DO the teens of Gravity Falls start worshipping Bill after everything he did to them? Isn't there a better counterculture figure they can use that didn't traumatize them for life?

You'd think. Pre-TBOB I sure wouldn't have made them worship him—but if canon says they worship him to be edgy, who am I to argue.

So since it IS canon, I justify it two ways:

One: who says they were traumatized? I'm not saying "Weirdmageddon wasn't traumatic"; I'm saying "maybe they didn't feel traumatized by it." Not everyone comes away from should-be-traumatic situations with trauma, ESPECIALLY if they have a large support group that understands what they went through... like, say, literally everyone else in town.

And a WHOLE LOT of Gravity Falls—maybe even most of the town—had VERY little exposure to Bill or Weirdmageddon. Based on Wendy's account, she and her friends didn't know anything was wrong until the eye-bats swooped in to petrify them. Anyone captured "probably" wasn't conscious (based on how Lazy Susan seems disoriented and unaware of her surroundings, I assume they were mostly unconscious, partially dreaming). All the teens (along with the other townspeople) were freed from the throne while Bill and his minions were outside, escaped (except for Wendy & Robbie) before Bill got back, and then everything went back to normal and nothing was broken and nobody was hurt.

For Wendy, it was the most stressful, dangerous, terrifying week of her life.

For all of Wendy's friends (and probably most other teens in town), it was just a pretty bizarre 15 minutes.

Since the eye-bats were picking off stray townspeople days into Weirdmageddon, I'm sure not all of the teenagers in town were captured so quickly and painlessly... but like, the teens that got the highest doses of trauma from the incident probably aren't the specific teens worshiping Bill to be edgy.

Two: it's a way of reclaiming power over the situation. Do you know one way to stop fearing the monster you imagine under your bed? By imagining really hard that the monster you can feel so, so close in the dark is actually friendly and there to protect you.

The triangle guy's dead and not coming back right? Then there's no consequences if we clown around in his name. You want to be a big fancy god? Okay, now you're the God of Making My Teacher Give Me An A+ On The Final. You're the God of Please Don't Let Me Get Fired From My Part Time Job For Showing Up Late. You're the God of Putting Me In The Same Classes As My Friends This School Year. I'll sacrifice a chicken nugget to you and you'll do me a favor.

If you're a chaos god then I'm calling on you when we spray graffiti, secretly throw a house party, sneak into the movie theater, sell weed in the restroom. If you're a chaos god then keep away the cops and parents when we're breaking the rules. (It's lucky coincidence that Bill would probably love to be the god of illegal parties and drug dealing.)

If you wanna be a god, then you're hired, buddy—and on this planet, that means if we bow to your image and chant your name and sacrificially burn a one dollar Bill over a candle for you, then you have to do what we ask, and you can't scare us anymore. And if worshiping you DOES scare the authority figures we're yearning to buck against, that's just a bonus.

Pantheons all over the world worship gods of volcanoes, sea storms, war, and death. When humans see a force too terrible to defeat or escape, we give it a face, a name, and a temple, and start feeding it with offerings and prayers in hopes we can domesticate it the same way we domesticated wolves with meat and back scratches.

[buckleybltch]

A (long) interpretation of the 8x06 BuckTommy ending

I've been trying to make sense of why Tommy responded to Buck's monologue by breaking up and here are my thoughts. This is all my interpretation and my interpretation only. I'm choosing to believe it because it's the only way the scene makes sense to me. Pls dont get mad about it.

Please feel free to add on and discuss.

I think Tommy was completely ready to overlook the Abby connection until Buck started talking about his relationship with her. I don't think it's the relationship that changed Tommy's mind, but how Buck applied it to their relationship.

Buck said "My relationship with Abby was the most transformative of my life... until now" and I think that's what the nail in the coffin was. While it's incredibly sweet was he was trying to say, what he essentially actually said was "this relationship is another transformation point in my life".

Then when talking about Tommy being confident with himself, Buck says "honestly, it just makes me admire you more". If this weren't a breakup scene, Buck should have said "makes me love you more" here. Again, what he's essentially actually said is "I'm looking up to you and admiring you and learning how to be that way".

While Buck has the absolute best intentions with what he's saying, he's trying to convey to Tommy how much he likes him and appreciates him and wants to be with him (hence why he follows it up by asking Tommy to move in with him), I think Tommy took this as Buck seeing him as a guide.

With the way Buck phrased things, and the things I interpreted from it, it does come off as "you're guiding me through my first gay relationship". Again, I absolutely don't think this is what Buck meant, but I wonder if this is what we were meant to see. Buck still has Tommy on a pedestal because he loves likes him so much; he changed his life for a good way, but maybe his vision is clouded by that. He’s still in awe of Tommy, but his speech makes it seem like it’s all for the wrong reasons.

Tommy knew he was Buck's first boyfriend, they'd gotten over this hurdle in 7x05 when Tommy leaves Buck as the restaurant and says he's not ready. Buck proved he was ready by coming out and calling Tommy and announcing their relationship publicly.

But here we are, six months later, and instead of Buck telling Tommy he loves him, he's telling him their relationship is transformative for Buck and he admires Tommy. He said the wrong things with good intentions. I think Tommy thought Buck was ready for this, especially after all the progress they made and Buck saying "im ready to take the next step" and move in together, but Buck's monologue comes off as maybe he isn't ready. Whether he is or isn't, I suppose, is up to further interpretation entirely. I think Buck is just Bad with words and Tommy completely misconstrued his entire speech. If Buck really thinks what he's said and implied, maybe he isn't ready in Tommy's mind.

Now this is where I divert into two points:

I think Tommy was somewhat justified in not wanting to be Buck's gay guide. Tommy says "no matter how bad I want it to be... I'm not your last". He's falling for Buck, he wants a forever with Buck. But here Buck is telling him, six months into their relationship, that their relationship is just transformative for him. Or at least that's how it's coming across. At 40 years old, Tommy doesn't need to be someones gay Yoda, and if that's what he's being led to believe he is to Buck, I do think he's justified in breaking up. Nevermind the horrendous miscommunication of this conversation, they should've talked more in-depth and avoided this. Tommy knows, possibly from experience, that relationships like that don't last, and it's in that moment he thinks that's what their relationship is. I dont wholly blame him for ending it if this was his thought process.

The writing. Oh boy. Even Lou in interviews is interpreting the scene and I think when you have actors interpreting a scene they were in, it hasn't been particularly well written. This is the only instance we get where it's implied Tommy is Buck's guide. In every other episode he appears in, their relationship is completely normal and healthy. It seems to be in 8x06 he has been pivoted to act as an Abby 2.0, just a moving point for Buck. Obviously this links back to my points above. They've had to outright spell it to Buck and the audience that Tommy is Buck's first, not his last, and that Buck is still figuring himself out. Now to me, that reads as "we haven't displayed this well enough" which is again poor writing and borderline backtracking on 8x05. If it has to be explicitly said, then they haven't done a good job at showing it, which they haven't. Like I said, their relationship was perfectly normal and healthy up until this point, and it wasn't explicit or even hinted that this was Buck's 'starter relationship'. Buck, Tommy, and the audience were blindsided.

Knowing this still, the breakup still feels like it came out of nowhere. No foreshadowing, no hints. Even the characters dont see it coming (and apparently Lou didnt either). I don't like how it was written, and I believe the reason they gave for the breakup (first not last) is a bit of a cop out. That's not a valid reason. Buck didn't want to breakup, Tommy didn't want to break-up... Both characters were left unhappy. They have every reason to go back to one another.

Buck and Tommy should have been able to talk through it, work through it. This was all a miscommunication because Buck has never exactly had a way with words... There was no reason for it to go down this way and it feels out of character and abrupt. This should have been the hurdle. Instead, the show chose the easy way out to break them up and that sucks because it feels unfinished.

Ironically, because it feels unfinished, it also feels open. There's already fix-it fics that are completely logical. There are so many ways Buck and Tommy can reconcile following this that will be satisfying and beautiful. They can absolutely find their way back to each other and it won't feel forced.

[inawickedlittletown]

Sooo I started to read other articles. I didn't after reading the ones that came out right after the episode that justifiably got everyone upset.

This one from tv insider had Tim saying this:

Moving on to Buck and Tommy’s breakup, talk about your approach to it. Why was Tommy sure that Buck would break his heart?

Tommy’s older and Buck is very new to this, and whether Tommy was correct or not, I think what he felt like was exactly what he said: I’m not your last, I’m your first, which is a special thing to be, but as Tommy says, it doesn’t usually end up being the same thing. And I think based on what we know of Buck, he’s maybe not wrong. Buck’s a little impulsive when he’s feeling a certain kind of way. He’s like, move on in, bring your couch. So I just think because Tommy’s a little older and wiser or maybe at some level he feels like he doesn’t deserve Buck, I don’t know. But I think he accurately diagnosed Buck. Buck’s still figuring himself out, and boy, that would be quite risky to move in with that guy as much as you would love to.

That does seem to be Buck’s go-to, which isn’t the best.

Exactly.

Are we going to see Buck single for a significant period of time now? Is he trying to figure out what he wants really out of a relationship?

Yeah, I think that’s right. As Tommy said, you’re still figuring yourself out, and his options have increased by 50 percent of the population. So knowing Buck, that’s going to be choice overload. He’s got to navigate that with a little self-awareness.

--

So they definitely planned for this. That's what this reads like...they wanted to break them up so that they could send Buck through a period of exploration. Tim says everything Oliver said here in much nicer terms. His view of Buck is so...Idk, it's like he sees Buck as a kid that still doesn't know what he wants. And he decided to put that view right into Tommy's head too. It's a little jarring I guess but this show...has it ever been consistent?

What sucks is that 8x05 was written like they were doing so well. And then right off the back with 8x06 we have warning signs in the date scene with the girl that approaches Buck and how Tommy sort of shrugs off Buck checking her out. I really do wonder where hot waiter fit into this and I'm so glad we didn't see Tommy like checking hot waiter out or something. But I guess that scene was there to sow the seeds. We have Buck spiraling because of the Abby thing and we have Tommy maybe not realizing but reinforcing for himself that he's a stepping stone for Buck and being okay with it in the status quo.

The way that Tim speaks about Buck asking Tommy to move in, he makes it seem like Buck is just barreling in without thought...like if they went through with it Tommy might be proven right. But then what is the point of the scene with Josh where Buck is right on the cusp of an "I love you" just to then be like no actually Tommy knows how this ends and he can read Buck and knows they're not forever. But Tommy is not a mind reader.

Where there is hope is in that Tim doesn't outwardly say anything about Tommy being gone for good. As someone else pointed out the Lou interviews were done by buddie journalists with a bias so there is a question to how much that colored what we got and why they were so determined to close the door fully. Also...why did we get exit interviews in the first place for a character that only had three episodes...it's so odd.

The writers made a point of leaving this open. Do I think we'll get Tommy back any time soon. No. But after the doom and gloom and the time to mourn this a bit I want to be positive and there is really no knowing. Tim says he thinks Buck will be single for a while...okay fine...picture that being the rest of this season.

Buck won't just jump into another relationship...and Oliver gets his Buck slut era 2.0...what if S9 brings back Tommy? What if this is the long game...or at least the thing they can have in their back pocket if Lou is available later on to come back. But that's not something they can promise or that they can commit to and Lou isn't on contract clearly and Oliver wouldn't know if that's the plan...hell even Tim probably doesn't know if they'll do that. Or I'm giving him too much credit because as we've seen this season storylines have been rushed to close up at breakneck speeds so it would be an anomaly for him to prolong something like this.

All this to say, showing the network and Tim that bucktommy matters to a lot of people and that Tommy matters...it may just make a difference.

[justhellabifandom]

I'm so sick and tired of the toxicity going on currently in the 9-1-1 fandom. Like don't get me wrong every fandom has it's toxic side but this bs has just grown since Buck came out and Tommy and him started dating.

Like TommyxBuck shippers have been sending people de*th threats to people who have different opinions,or buddie shippers. If your reaction to anyone talking negative about your favorite ship is to send them de*th threats there's something really wrong with you.

Then there's all the biphobia going on. Saying shit like "I hope Buck gets HIV after breaking up with Tommy." Or "Buck isn't bi if he wasn't with Tommy." I'm begging you look up the definition of bisexual,Buck could date another woman or date another dude after Tommy and still be bisexual!! He could date a non-binary person and still be bisexual. Just because hes dating Tommy doesn't mean he's any less bisexual,and if theres ever a break up it doesn't make him any less bisexual. His journey doesn't depend around Tommy,it's his and no one's else. Also saying your hoping a character gets HIV is fucked up for a few reasons,it's stereotyping bisexuals/queer people and it's harmful. Like do people not know what that is?? How people used to use it a excuse to hate queer people in the 1980s and 1990s?? And the people we lost to it??

Now let's get to people wanting Eddie to be killed off. People generally want a cannon Latino to be killed off just so Tommy and Buck raise Chris??? Once again tf. And the fact people now want Eddie to be killed off after his actor opened up about a su*c*de attempt?? This generally hurts people who have delt with this stuff and for people to want this to happen,when we had both Maddie and Bobby struggle with it. Don't get me wrong mental health needs to be talked about more and I'm thankful for 9-1-1 for talking about it,but it's the fact people want this to parallel what the actor went through blows my mind.

Then people trying to justify Lou ferrgnio racist and grows past. I'm sorry if your using Ryans and Olivers past to validate the stuff he's done,is so messed up. What Ryan did cost him his relationship with the rest of the cast for a few years,and he got cancelled and attacked online back in 2020. It's only now Ryan and the rest of the cast have made addends,but it doesn't change the fact he was held accountable for his actions which he should be. He's apologized,showed he wanted to and made sure he would do better. Nothing will change the fact he said it. For Lou he literally kept shit up on his Instagram and never took it down,and tried to justify his characters actions. He never apologized,never took down the post,he just kept it up even though it's harmful. If someone does something they should be held accountable for there actions,even if it's from the past since it could still hurt people now. Also charging 200 dollars for cameros just to make up head cannons about his character.

Also ignoring cannon,like big plots like Buck literally hating his name,gets pissed off at his parents for calling him it. And now people are calling him Evan?

[dear-oizys]

My thoughts on the latest 911 episode

Buzzkill

This was written while I was watching the episode

Noooooo the planes gonna hit the bigger aircraft!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely hate Gerrard. Despise him. Take you your "unsatisfactory" to the fucking grave with your body you absolutely asshole. I hope you're allergic to bees.

Why the fuck is he bullying everyone like this. Chimney just cleaned the floor and that bastard just spit on it????????

Also why the fuck is he targeting Buck?? Im not gonna lie I expected dickbag to favour Buck solely cause he's white.

Why the fuck does this happen to Athena??? Can't they leave her in peace??

Buck I love you but you're so dumb. People can't quit their jobs just like that.

Nooooooo!!!!! Bobby got a job at another station???? Oh. He's on a set. Why is the lafd sending people to sets?????

Im asking the important question here. Why the hell were they transporting 22 million killer bees????????

Maddie and Josh!!!!!!!!! I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Gerrard better show some fucking respect to Josh. That guy has lived probably half of Gerrard's days and has definitely done more for more people than Gerrard ever could.

Buck. Why do you know so many bee facts???? Like how??? Gerrard you better appreciate good ideas especially when you yourself can't do anything but shout at everyone.

Awww Bobby and Athena!!!! They are so sweet.

Ooooooh. I feel like that there may be some animosity later between hen and chimney cause of the mara situation. Well not animosity but some sadness between them I guess.

No but for a second why did I think Chris came back??? Gerrard is taking credit for buck's idea????? Damn ok.

Last season I really liked LFJr and his character, but after finding out somethings I'm not sure I still do. But we'll see what happens and where Tommy and Buck's relationship goes.

I really understand where Chris is coming from but I still think that maybe it's a bit too much. I mean I'm not asking him to come back or talk like before with Eddie again but like uh huh and just straight up leaving does seem a bit rude. But honestly Eddie fucked up like a LOT last season. So it is kinda justified.

I don't like Eddie's mom.

Grown ups????? Bitch you should shut the fuck up. You're not a grown up. You're a childish, selfish, racist, sexist bastard who should DIE ( can everyone tell that I HATE Gerrard )

After causing so much trauma to hen and chimney, and now trying to do the same to all the new members of the 118. I don't know how the hell they put him in the same house again.

Lol its really funny how Eddie looks back desperately hoping it's not him Buck is referring to.

I once again ask. Why does buck know so many bee facts??????

"We'll this has both" chimney your comedic timing is perfection.

Not buck spraying perfume at Eddie while he's walking away 🤣

The whole Eddie running scene gives me life fr.

Duck tape is the best!!!!!!! ( I have never seen ducktape in my life, we don't have that in my country)

Wow. Buck was so happy and looked to Gerrard like he would do if Bobby was here, but Bobby is not here and Gerrard is an asshole.

Episode name drop!!!!!!

Not the Athena flashbacks. Please leave her alone.

Athena is so so so so badass. Like wow ma'am. You are so awesome. Did you guys see how fast she took the gun out?????????? The speed????????

Fuck. Fuck. It's going to be the flight that Athena takes with which the other plane is going to crash right. It's definitely going to be that one.

Ok weird movie guy. Why do you give me the creeps. I feel like he's gonna haunt us somehow, later in the season.

Ok I feel really really bad for buck. He has worked hard for where is today and he doesn't deserve everything that Gerrard is saying.

Ohhhhh he saved him. Ok ig

I knew it!!! I knew it was gonna be Athena's plane. I knew it!! ( But at what cost )

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

Well here are two for you.

Transfer thoughts and feelings when Buck considers joining the 217.

Anchor - for dating a pilot, Buck, never seen or dated someone so ground and stable as his boyfriend.

Hellloooooo sorry for being slow, this is finally my filling of another BuckTommy prompt! Nonny, I worked with your second one here and I'm afraid that the first one is probably not gonna happen, my muse is not striking there at all. Sorry about that! 3 more prompts are gonna come, no worries.

TLDR: Another BuckTommy, this time another approach on S07e07.

Exceptional

–– I won't deny the lies and deception I've sought, I've learned, I've grown ––

"Eddie's acting weird lately," Buck says.

"Do we have to talk about Eddie now?" asks Tommy, and the question is justified.

Buck's couch is just big enough for him to lie stretched out on it, his head in Tommy's lap. They just had an excellent meal, and satiety, contentment plus a good helping of wine lulled them both into a very pleasant mood. The kind of vibe that will make more of Tommy's gentle kneading of Buck's shoulders in no time – though talking about another guy is a bit of a mood killer in the process.

However, turns out that conversations about Eddie are unavoidable if you’re with Buck. And maybe there's something to it, because he adds, "I think he lied to me."

Something in his voice seems to catch Tommy's attention, he bends over to look at Buck. Those blue eyes are mesmerizing, and Buck would be willing to forget about it, to make Eddie a problem for another day. But Tommy... he's just too observant. He knows that Buck's trust is almost boundless, and that he’s fragile, should it be shaken.

"Why would Eddie lie to you?"

Another valid question.

"Something doesn't add up," Buck begins, and because he starts gesticulating wildly, Tommy captures his hands gently and holds them tight. "Christopher says Eddie bought a scented candle. What does he need that for?"

"Maybe he likes the scent, Evan."

"He's also been really nervous lately."

"Stressful job?" offers Tommy, definitely the voice of reason.

Although the subject is effectively over – for this evening – because Buck can't resist those blue eyes or those talented hands, he can't get the matter out of his head. Tommy thinks he should just ask Eddie, but how on earth is he supposed to do that? Buck realizes that his evidence for "Eddie's been weird lately" is very thin, and buying scented candles or acting suspicious is not a crime. 

But the pieces of the puzzle are adding up, albeit very slowly. Christoper says, Eddie washes his clothes every night, yet he used to hate even his weekly washing day. Athena casually remarks that she saw Eddie's doppelganger in Silver Lake. Because it couldn't have been Eddie, he thinks Silver Lake is overly hip and expensive, and he prefers completely different restaurants than the one where Athena saw someone who looked very similar to him. Strangely similar, that's for sure. Hen says that she collided with Eddie while reloading the firetruck, and he reacted weirdly when she asked him about a key ring he accidentally dropped and she had never seen on him before. 

The incidents pile up, and the 118 begins to worry. Tommy, although permanently in Buck's thoughts, hovers on the sidelines as far as the 118 is concerned, and his and Buck’s crazy shift schedules ensure that he doesn't catch much. He is therefore totally unprepared when, after what seems like an eternity, they finally have an evening off together and he is greeted at the door by Buck with, "Eddie's cheating."

Buck, contrary to popular belief that probably only exists in his own mind, is not an idiot, and he's completely smitten with Tommy. He knows it's not the smartest (or even the most polite) move to greet his love interest with another guy's name, even before the welcoming kiss. Buck is just so distressed, it makes him jittery. And he knows that Tommy has every right to be at least surprised, but more likely annoyed.

Tommy, however, doesn't even raise his brows at this greeting, and he is neither surprised, confused, annoyed nor offended. He just enters the loft, closes the door, looks at Buck attentively, and puts a hand on his arm (all the fine hairs there rise up) saying, "You're upset, Evan." Then he gently leads him to the sofa, they sit down, and Buck thinks, yes, indeed, I am.

It's just that he didn't expect this reaction. Buck knows he's a nervous wreck when things go differently than expected. For the most part, he has himself under control, he has adapted strategies, although his therapist describes this as evasive masking. But these strategies are usually necessary, because Buck has often run into walls. He's been told he's annoying, exhausting, overreacting and a dozen other unflattering things. Never before has someone he cares so much about taken him so seriously.

Tommy just lets Buck talk. Buck gives him his spiel on everything he knows about what happened, and it’s a confusing story about an Eddie’s-dead wife-lookalike. And then he drops the bombshell, at least that's how he feels, by saying, "I did that once, Tommy."

"You dated a doppelganger?"

"I'm serious," Buck says, but he can’t really blame Tommy for seeking to lighten the mood in this absolutely muddled affair. "I cheated."

He doesn’t elaborate, because this is nothing he likes to think back on. None of his best moments, definitely. And what kind of confession is that anyway? Is this something you tell someone you've only been out with a few times, had a few nice (hot) nights with? Rather, is this something you tell someone you care so much about? But maybe just then, Buck thinks. Maybe just then.

"You're scared," Tommy says, and it hits Buck to the core.

There's an icy knot in his stomach since Eddie told him the truth, and it finally has a name. The nervousness, his restlessness, all that shrinks into a single feeling, even if it doesn't make it any easier. Fear doesn't disappear just because it's recognized.

"Evan," Tommy says, and the care in his voice almost melts Buck, "I'm not afraid you'll cheat."

Buck takes a breath, but the words that were already on the tip of his tongue have suddenly vanished. That’s a strange thing to say, isn’t it? Just now, Buck’s confessed he cheated on a former lover, and most people would probably have replied reflexively that he had nothing to fear, that they would never do that to him. Even though it was him who cheated.

"How can you be so sure?" Buck returns, and strangely enough, he’s almost angry.

Because, let's break it down, Buck, when it comes down to it, the people he cares about will not want him, and they’ll leave. And if they don't, then he will leave; save himself the pain, because there has already been enough of that. He already knows what they will say, how they will react, doesn't he? Only... it’s different, it’s so different with Tommy.

Eyes as blue as a mountain lake, muscles saying don't mess with me, gentle words yet pithy charisma: inwardly and outwardly, Tommy is quite contradictory. But an enigma he’s not. A rock, Buck thinks, yes. That's what he is.

"I'm sure," Tommy replies with a confident smile, "because you want me as much as I want you."

Buck falls apart in the most pleasant way. Because that’s true. In all this mess, that is perhaps the only truth. Yes, Eddie lied, yes, the man cheated on his girlfriend, and yes, the parallels are scary because it's clear Eddie is shying away from a relationship. Eddie doesn't fall in love half as fast as Buck does, and he has certain morals and standards, and he has Christopher; all of that makes the affair seem so scary.

But Buck finally realizes that this can be solved. Eddie isn't just his friend, he's family, because family isn't what you're born into. Family can be a group of people who trust each other, and you don’t leave them alone, you take care of them and pounce on problems together.

And what is Tommy in all this?

Tommy with his loving gaze, his hand resting on Buck's arm, his thoughts only on Buck. Tommy, who doesn’t think he’s a nuisance because he’s talking about Eddie; he thinks Buck cares, and that’s valuable.

Tommy, somehow, is all of this and way more. For a pilot, Buck has never seen anybody so grounded, so stable as his boyfriend. Above all, he has never experienced anyone bring him down to earth so quickly, so easily and with such an inimitable look. His fear hasn't completely disappeared, perhaps that's quite impossible, but it's buried far, far down in a heap of thoughts that now revolve mainly around Tommy. He doesn't deserve the man at all. But he doesn’t voice this thought, because he allows himself a little selfishness. After all, Buck was struck by lightning and came back to life, only to be struck a second time. By Tommy.

"That's right," he says quietly, and then, as if it were a very sudden, very exhilarating realization, he repeats it, louder. "It's true. I want you."

Lock, stock and barrel, he thinks, and now his boyfriend finally gets what he deserves: all of Buck’s attention, all his care and affection.

Oh, and a kiss.

[miriam-heddy]

The Disconnect Is Like A Game of Telephone.

🤳🏽📱————vs—————🥫

What Oliver said about S8E6 in TVLine:

🤳🏽📱————vs—————🥫

How a Tevan/Tommy fan responded to S8E6 Confessions and Oliver’s interview with TV Line:

Nov 7 Now I'm pissed off at Oliver Imao being bisexual does not mean you wanna sleep with tons of people. Buck already went through his meaningless sex phase, why does he need to go back there just because he's realized he's bi??

That's so fucking stupid.

- - -

He did an interview that was posted after the episode talking about how he regularly texts Tim Minear asking for a buck to fuck (his words) a bunch of people now that his character is bi. Says it could be a montage of him fucking men and women. Seems to take his character all the way back to season 1, which is a stupid thing to do imol

EtA: Found another one, from a different Tommy fan.

Possibly controversial: Even if Buck and Tommy DO get back together (and I desperately hope they do), I'm never going to forget Oliver saying he wants Buck to sleep around now that he's newly bi. Even if he's trying to hide Lou's return, that's not something that needed to be said at all. Ever. I'll ALSO never forget how terrible and ooc the writing was for the breakup. They've been setting up the romcom aspect since the beginning, romcoms have breakups. The difference is, it's supposed to be a beautiful story where the breakup is actually justified and later fixed and the couple grows. It's NOT supposed to be an unsuspected, frankly biphobic (insinuating Buck needs to date/sleep around, both on and off screen) end. Reunion or not, this breakup was terribly handled and has left a sour taste in my mouth for the entire show.

[allwormdiet]

Insinuation 2.9

And now everyone is cool and nothing is wrong :)

Y'know, obviously the actual violence involved in the bullying, both physical and social, is like the chief source of harm for Taylor, but I think what's almost equally terrible is that it's made her into her fourth-worst enemy after the main trio, scared of being disliked and trying so hard to find ways to justify not bowing to others

Also, I don't fully know enough about Alec to say, but low-key I get the sense that Taylor just doesn't like him that much, which is a little funny but also a little sad

Yeah, like, he's a little immature but this kinda feels like her interpreting his words in bad faith

This is kinda cute? Alec is being a bit of a brat, yeah, but Brian is immediately charmed by someone else who automatically did a Responsible Thing and Taylor clearly flourishes with his attention. I'm sure they both think they're the token sane ones

Maybe it's just me but I think Alec's power can be pretty busted. Like that's a great way to get an enemy to score an own-goal if they're not careful with their weapons, or if they're on a flight of stairs.

Also think I'm getting a marginally better read on his character through this chapter. He does seem to be earnest, or at least trying, the sarcasm comes off as much of a front as Brian acting like an adult or Lisa acting smug.

Rachel speaks up and it's just to defend her dogs, this is relatable

Also smart call on the infosec tbh

Also also, lmao Taylor's still mad and not shy about that, very telling that she's still thinking of Rachel as Bitch

Makes sense that Rachel has to be careful about what dogs she can use her power on, it only takes one beast like that to go off the rails and cause a whole world of hurt that she didn't mean for. Five bucks says there's a story to how she learned that one.

Sweet But Heartbreaking: The Hebert Family Story

Few things, semi-conflicting in my head but I'll talk through it all anyway

I like the Undersiders and know that they're broadly good kids, or at least trying to be good kids, but I don't think they're so upright that they're above doing crime that would cause harm to others, even if it's "just" financial loss and a scare

And it's interesting to me that as much as Taylor likes them, as much as Taylor yearns to be on this team with them (to the point where she'll tolerate Rachel), she still sees herself as in some way apart from them, even better than them, because she's a hero. Or going to be a hero at the least.

Wonder how long that attitude can hold up

Current Thoughts

I like seeing the Undersiders play off each other more, and I like seeing Taylor slide into a niche alongside them. Had I the power I would make the next *checks notes* twenty-eight arcs just about them all being friends and having adventures, but I do not, so. Reality will ensue at some point, I imagine.

I think it's a little easier to see Taylor's exact problems with more people to bounce off of. She's got this ongoing struggle between needing to belong, needing to fly under the radar, and needing vindication for what she's been put through, and it's given her some bad habits. The self-loathing is a major component, but as I'm looking at it I think her swiftness to dismiss others as less-than-her could just as easily be a byproduct of Emma's tender mercies as a lot of her other bad habits. All of Winslow High has either participated in her suffering, or else stood by and did nothing about it; is it any wonder that she feels alone in a crowd, that she's so harsh in how she views others who provide any reason to doubt their intentions towards her? Rachel is obviously an extreme case but she even raised her hackles a bit with Alec back in 2.7 and what he said could barely count as teasing.

Little shocked that this arc is over already, but I guess it's longer than Arc 1, so maybe I'm just getting wrapped up in the flow of the story and getting thrown by the interruptions. Interlude next, then my meditations on Arc 2

[i-will-say-what-i-believe]

Okay. Fact time.

OS never cared about Buddie.

All he cared about was him getting importance over everyone else.

Its evident from all his interviews till s6. And now, that fact is just getting justified further.

Guy says he always played Buck as bi. But the fact is, he didn't.

That bi possibility ONLY came out when he was with Eddie & maybe TK. Not with any other man. AND OS was over the moon for mortalia being "THE couch" 🤢🤮 which completely eliminates the viability of his claim that he ALWAYS wanted Buck's sexuality explored.

Guy says the people who don't like Tommy & this plot are people who doesn't know how a story works.

And he does!? Because if he did, he wouldn't just dismiss the loyalty of one of the biggest fandoms after Destiel that kept the show in the forefront of social media all these years. If it was 1 person thinking so, it can be a mistake. There's LITERALLY tens of thousands of fans who have found Buddie on the show. Even when they had no idea about the ship before watching the show & realizing "wait....are they a thing!!??" out of the blue.

No wonder there are a lot of Buddie shippers who are hurt by his attitude, quitting the show. Not because they're h*moph*bic. But because he's been dismissing them & all the subtext that the show has thrown at them all these years without an inch of shame of taking advantage of it for all that time.

If he's so arrogant enough to think he alone can run the show, it won't be long until that ship sinks. Especially when the arrogance is directed to fans, the people who LITERALLY pay his bills, because if we don't watch his work, he'd be jobless.

People have been desperately grasping at straws with all the interviews he's been giving..."he knows something", "of course he can't straight up say he wants buddie... common", "that was a very good way of answering the question" etc etc.

Guess what... it WASN'T the best way to answer SUCH AN IMPORTANT question.

Of course he could say what he wanted. It wasn't like the interviewer asked what was going to happen.

I have always thought his quick answer of "I'm open to it" is SO ODD. Because THAT is not how someone who wants it will talk about it. I have felt it from the beginning. The first Ryliver live. That itself had sealed the deal that ALTHOUGH people desperately WANT Ryan to be the one OPPOSING Buddie (because that's the ONLY way that their h*te towards him will be justified), Ryan was the one who chose the ship name & talked about how Buddie is getting shipped every second. OS kept mum even then. His expressions & body language changed. As if he isn't so into it.

THAT has been going on every damn time Buddie was mentioned in interviews. As if he's not so keen to do it.

Let me say...his body language screams he didn't want to do the Timmy Turner kiss too. He's uncomfortable af. If you remove your "OMG OS is amazing" glasses off & view it as a critic, you'll get it in a second. He just seems to be in it because, again, his character is getting importance.

Among the 911 cast, there's no one MORE concerned about THEIR position, THEIR role, THEIR screen time etc as much as OS does. He'd promote the hell out of the lamest things if it meant he'll get attention . That's what happened in s6. Taking unethical advantage of the fandom's couch theory & promoting the mortalia track like a giddy kid & being over enthusiastic about "in another life"....all were the cry for attention. And the fandom fell for it.

THAT is what's happening now too. Plus he's copying words from other actors to make his "story" more interesting lol.

Anyway....guy has become more arrogant than he already was.

Arrogance NEVER ends well. History has it proved.

PS: People can try grasping at straws to support the guy & put him on a pedestal because he's a tantrum king. But don't @ me on this with your straws. Won't work. I don't like arguing with blind fans because you wouldn't EVER see sense even if it is ALL SHOVED ON YOUR FACE.

Truth is bitter & y'all are just proving it lol🤣

[vanmarkus]

I agree no one should feel entitled to anything but some criticism is actually valid and more about what the stories or characters deserve. Idk if I'm saying it right. I understand it's largely about bringing money in but sometimes I feel like they underestimate the audience? The ratings didn't drop with bi buck. Some people are assholes and may quit watching but the majority won't and they might even gain a new audience. If they don't want to make a ship canon, that's their call obviously, but it might very well be worth it for everyone involved. They shouldn't justify writing or not writing a story because of ratings imo

they don't seem to justify it by the ratings though? like, i know Tim waffles on a lot, but he specifically said (and Oliver has said it in an interview before as well) that he does whatever the hell he wants.

(mind you, that's not new. most of Tim's shows got axed before season 3, probably exactly for the same reason lmao)

the response to bi Buck was overwhelmingly positive, even if now we have some people criticising that too aside from the ship wars, but i'd say that number is very miniscule, so yeah, that came out right.

i think the argument here isn't that the GA wouldn't be on board with buddie, they would probably be on board with anything to be quite frank, after the numbers on s7...

also, Tim didn't say he's writing for the GA (though he probably takes it more into consideration than what the kids say on twitter) he simply said that the online fandom — which is a smaller percentage of the viewers than the GA — wants veeeery different things than the GA. that's what he said.

either way, as the cast and Tim have said many, many times; writing in canon buddie just for the shippers wouldn't be true to the show. it might happen, it might not, we will see, but we don't "deserve it" and the show isn't where it is "thanks to the shippers" and Tim or the rest of the writers don't owe it to us.

and again, you are free to criticise and analyse the storylines and the writing all day long, he was very understanding about not necessarily liking any and all of them — he took issues with the death threats and the profanities being thrown his way because of them, which i think is very fair.

[suspectjpg]

ONE　MORE　HIT,　　♫　　AND　THEN　I'M　OUT!

[     timothee chalamet ,  cis  man,  he/him   ]     ⸻     have you seen MAX GOODLOE?　yes,　the TWENTY - TWO year old SENIOR that’s usually wandering around campus? they’re currently focused on PUBLIC AFFAIRS,　so we’re sure they’ve been super busy with studying.　according to rumors, they were michael’s FAMILY FRIEND and he knew they PAWN HIS PARENT'S VALUABLES TO FUEL HIS GAMBLING ADDICTION.　does it make sense considering they’re known for being THEATRICAL as well as MACHIAVELLIAN?　either way,　the phantom is threatening to bring scary things to light,　but let’s hope whatever they’re hiding stays in the dark.  [  maria,  21,  she/her,  mst,  body horror ]

rly quick stats

introducing maxwell vernon goodloe

known as. max

dob. 9 december 2002

zodiac big three. sagittarius sun, libra moon, gemini rising

sexuality. bisexual

extracurriculars. not me forgetting what i put him down as ... i think editor for the phoenix news and the debate team

inspirations. mainly just saul goodman (i'm sorry) but consider any other antihero with charm and a whimsical but sinsiter nature to be an inspiration too

biography

raised in nevada near the las vegas strip! by his mama. she moved there in her 20s in search of fame n' fortune but she eventually just got stuck at the stripping job she initially took to help jumpstart her career. when she had max, she had to take other measures so she had the $$$ to raise him. even if it meant pulling him into scams she'd pull on tourists and forcing him to tag along on her rounds as an avon rep because 'it sells better when you flash 'em your big puppy dog eyes, maxie'. things like that stick with max as he grows older, starts perusing the strip with his friends for victims of his own. all to make a quick buck.

one day, she just so happened to pick the wrong tourist to try n' scam and nearly ended up in something resembling a fistfight (resembling because the guy was a head taller than her and she wouldn't have lasted a second) when a good samaritan butts in and defends her!!! scares the big lug away. the moment his mama learns that said good samaritan was a politician from los angeles (ie. $$$$$$$), she's laying the charm on thick. he's older (ie. balding), mild-mannered, in need of a good ego stroke so it's not long before they're getting hitched and max is on a one-way flight to los angeles! he's just 14 then.

max doesn't like it at first. doesn't like how stuffy and snobby everyone seems. hates his moms weird new husband too. but he wins max over in time, and they grow to have a genuinely wholesome relationship! so much so that max decides he'd like to be a politician, just like him. he's surely got the charisma for it, says his now father. but he never did grow out of his knack for causing trouble and pullin' a fast one on just about anybody, courtesy of his mom, so there's a real moral struggle there. but all politicians are a little slimy, right? what does it matter if he cut corners if it meant the greater good coming to fruition? ends justify the means, always always always.

golden state is a no brainer. his father went there and his father before him. and now max was one of them! so he'd go too. he didn't even think he'd go to college, so it's all a little foreign to him and he does just about anything to pass. and i do mean anything. he evens joins a few clubs! look at him go!

of course, it's not without a few problems. a couple months after his 21st, him n' his buddies went to a casino just to say they have. max ended up pocketing 8k and has been chasing that high ever since. it's escalated in the past couple of months, what with law school coming up for him shortly. he's started stealing his parent's valuables to have money to gamble with. turns out he's still just that kid on the strip lookin' to make a quick buck.

personality

very theatrical! the son of a politician and a retired scammer, so he is ever the showman and the smooth talker. he knows it too, so he can be up his own ass but his devil-may-care attitude and general amiableness means he is a guaranteed good time.

if chaotic neutral was a person. strikingly dishonest and flaky. but again!!! the ends justify the means for max. and the ends is always the best outcome for his loved ones.

SO tacky, especially as it relates to his appearance!! mismatched prints and loud colors and the whole nine yards. the rate at which he buys new clothes, it's like you can just tell having so much money is a very new prospect to him. not that he wears hella name brands but it's just very lee in bones and all coded. the little brown western shirt, the floral shirt and the grandma cardigan!! yeah!! he doesn't let it go to waste either, if it doesn't fit he's just take scissors to it and wear it anyways. takes great care to look the way he does (ie. just slightly disheveled at all times). in a permanent state of looking for the next reflective surface to check how his hair's sitting.

catchphrase is "i hardly know her"

runs on one redbull and a cigarette and that's it

also, don't think i mentioned it so i thought i'd tack it here at the end, but i figured michael kepler's parents and max's would run in the same social circles and whatnot

[onelungmcclung]

MotA pt nine:

(writing this up for the sake of completionism but it may... be a little too critical for some people's liking. maybe skip it if you loved it.)

you introduce three new characters in episode 8? and then do nothing with them? all that focus on the tuskegee airmen and for what

I'm not surprised the planned escape didn't go according to plan, but... why set it up like it would be the focus of this episode?

why does nobody ever take into account the other POWs from the 100th? (buck and bucky don't mention them when deciding to escape; crosby and rosie don't ask after them)

no scenes of the other POWs post-liberation?

no revelations about capt westgate and what she's been up to, not even if she made it out alive?

no answer to the question "does kidd ever look happy"?

no meatball?

only six (6) biographies in the end credits?

I'm fine with sprawling meandering narratives but you do have to bring it all together eventually. to that end, every character still involved in the story should be included to some extent. (e.g. you could use your montages to better effect. I'm not that interested in the east anglia locals. show me capt westgate, show me the belgian resistance, show me the tuskegee airmen.)

I do not think you can efficaciously combine a Main Character style narrative (egan, cleven, crosby and rosie as POV characters) with a sprawling meandering narrative. pick one.

I assumed that the Main Character device was chosen to make the story more coherent (even if it was not a creative choice I would have personally made) but it... didn't

similarly I never thought egan and cleven worked as the narrative focus but I figured there was a good reason for it. now I think I was right. (I probably would have given them skip/muck levels of prominence rather than winters/nixon levels; I do not think all their screentime was justified and it was never clear why they were the "indisputed leaders of the 100th".) I like rosie but not giving over half an episode to his r&r; I like crosby but not his narration. like robert hutton, "I generally think if you're narrating, you've failed".

it has the uncomfortable feeling of a story that covers many interesting stories within it but does none of them justice. if the story of the 100th bomb group can't be told well in 9 episodes, find a different piece of war history. I don't feel the writers were uninvested, but they could not keep all these balls in the air.

I suspect this episode may originally have been two episodes (one more focused on the POW camp, the final episode more based around homecoming) condensed into one for budgetary reasons. I like to think alex, macon and daniels would otherwise have got more to do.

budgetary reasons may also be why they sorta skipped over D-Day (specifically, combat scenes) despite building up to it in previous episodes

I do think better editing would have helped the show overall

the combat scenes were generally good but the strategy was not clear, leading to another uncomfortable feeling that maybe the RAF toffs were right actually

like the "bombers as bait" thing revealed in episode 7... that seemed to be setting up some terrifying suspenseful missions but I don't think we really got to see them?

I do have favourite characters! just possibly not ones I was meant to have

hope the young largely unknown supporting actors get some good roles in the near future (I knew quite a few of them from other things, so naturally I'm faintly protective of them. go forth!)

I will read miller's book sometime. (I wanted to judge the series on its own merits and not know any of the pilots' fates beforehand, but that may have come with tradeoffs. anyway, will read it.)

to be as blunt as I will get: messing up a miniseries based on a book seems quite a feat. I didn't expect to have no criticisms, but I expected it to be cohesive.

might gif some supporting character darlings. might not get around to it (... most of my edits were made in lockdown)

I will try not to say any more unkind things about it in the future, this is my vent post

[leyyvi]

Idk if anyone has asked this before but okay I was looking at some jewelry to buy online today and it got me thinking: how would paychecks!levi react to the reader actually asking him to buy them something. Like the reader would sit and think for a minute like “do I really wanna ask him for this” and then just text “leviiiiiii, can you order me this necklace and bracelet” like pls I need to know for scientific reasons sksjjsjsjsjsjs

okay wow this got a lot longer than i expected it to oops dfghsdjkgh 

wc 1.7k, mostly fluff and maybe a bit of suggestive conversation?

just a little blurb in the Paychecks With a Side of Intimacy universe uwu

It feels weird to ask for something from Levi. At least, something of monetary value. He gives you so much money already that realistically you could just buy yourself if you set aside a few bucks at a time. And while you've constantly berated him for buying you things, there are moments where maybe it'd be kinda ...nice. If he did.

He's offered countless times, but honestly? It's mere instinct to brush it off and say, "I don't need that". Levi always allows a few seconds for you to change your mind before he moves on, giving a pointed stare and appearing so still he could be mistaken for a statue occasionally.

But this time? You really want something.

Hell, it's not much. Not as much as the things he's offered to buy you already, but it's certainly not a $10 kind of thing.

There's a small bracelet you found during one of your outings with Ymir. A dainty silver piece, with the option to attach the showcased mini constellations on whatever astrology sign may be desired. Hell, she noticed how long you were staring at it too, and threw out the predicted line of "Why don't you just ask your man to get it for ya?" Yeah, she's started to call him "your man" instead of what Levi really is. She justified it by telling you it's easier to say in public, but there's always a snarky tone when the words are uttered.

You ignore it. But damn it, the bracelets are just so cute! And there can even be the option to add multiple charms!

Shit. Would Levi make fun of you if you asked him to buy it? How would he react if you wanted a pair of matching ones with him? Does he even wear bracelets?

Matching bracelets... you're not even a damn couple. Dummy.

That's the thought you have to tell yourself every time you think about asking him.

But that urge builds and builds the more you talk to him, the more you hang out with him. The subject of your birthday comes up one night during a relaxed dinner, and that's when you can no longer avoid the idea completely.

"Listen, I know you get fussy about gifts," Levi prefaces after a sip of his whiskey, leaning forward with a tilt of his head as he blinks at you. "But there has to be something you'd want for your birthday."

You hum in deliberation, chewing on the straw haphazardly stuck in the cup. The condensation bleeds out into the tablecloth underneath your palms. "I--well... I guess... I guess there's something."

"Oh?" His head tilts the opposite way, curious. There's a certain light that seeps into those gray irises. It's cute, you think. He is so unintentionally comparable to a cat sometimes. "I'm all ears."

"Mm... There's um. There's this bracelet I saw the other day."

"Yeah?" Another sip of whiskey. You stir your drink with the straw between your fingers.

"It's really cute. Like, has little stars and stuff. Y'know those constellations for your star sign? You can customize it and have your sign on it."

"Send it to me. I'll buy it," Levi says smoothly. You swear he must've scooted his chair towards you just now, easy to tell with how his hands easily reach yours. "If you need a reminder, I don't give a shit about the price. Especially for your birthday."

Instinctively you play with his hands, tracing along the gently protruding veins that lead along his forearms. "It's not that expensive, actually. But it's only sold in a store. At least the one I want is. If that's okay."

"Course it is.”

And so he takes you to the place you mentioned, inspecting the bracelet closely and staring at all of the constellations available for attachment. When you'd ask about his birthday at dinner, he refused to answer at all. Let alone give any hint towards what his sign would be.

However, he does show a vague interest in the Capricorn one, picking up the charm and staring a little bit longer at it compared to the others.

Capricorn, huh? Maybe you'll ask Historia about Capricorns on your next shift. She is pretty obsessed with astrology after all.

"This is only $40. You don't want anything else along with this?" Levi asks, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Your head shakes. “You know you can ask for much more than this.”

“It’s alright, it’s not--it doesn’t need to be a thing.”

“I’m not making it a thing,” Levi’s hand runs up and down the span of your back. You shiver. “Don’t be dramatic. Let me do something nice for you.” 

You fidget with the edge of your shirt as he takes one of the boxes for a bracelet, looking at you expectantly to pick out one of the charms. He hums in thought once he sees the charm you’ve chosen. 

“Hange would love to talk about this kind of crap. All that ‘what’s your sign’ bullshit,” he says as you two head to the register.

“Kinda surprising for someone who’s in the science field.” 

“Everything about them is surprising... They’re completely unpredictable. I don’t know how Moblit deals with it all the time. Sounds exhausting.”

"There's some fun in unpredictability too."

"Only in moderation."

When he's finished buying the bracelet, he hands the box right to you as you two exit the store and head to where he’s parked.

"You're giving it to me now?"

"Do you want me to re-wrap it and wait for your birthday?" He asks flatly.

"Well--don't you usually give the gifts on the actual birthday?"

Levi pulls his car keys from his pocket, smirking as he opens the passenger door for you. "I have other plans for your birthday."

Your eyes narrow pointedly as you stumble into the car. "Such as..?"

He shrugs before shutting the door and hopping in on the drivers side.

"I don't even get a hint, Levi?"

Levi chews on his lip in thought, his smirk melting into something more of fondness at the sound of his name. He really likes how you add it to the tail of your questions once in a while. "It's a surprise."

"You said you don't like unpredictability."

"I said in moderation. You said it could be fun, no?"

At a crossroads with the turnaround of your own words against you, your lips purse. But the curiosity of what he could possibly have planned for something eats at your brain like a parasite. Even more so at his refusal to provide any hints for it.

He merely takes his time peeling off his blazer and gently placing it in the backseat before staring at you with an expectant expression. "Are you going to put it on?"

"What, now?"

Levi nods. "Let me see how it looks on you. With your own charm on it." Alright, he's already handed you the gift anyway. Early present, you suppose. After you open the box, he's leaning over to take it out and hold it under your wrist. "Here, let me."

You murmur a thanks, nearly shuddering at the light brushes of his fingertips. Just enough to feel them, not enough to feel the satisfaction of his touch completely. His exhale through his nose huffs in the space between you two, blown away by the gentle breeze of the soothing air conditioner in the middle vents.

"Kind of a pain in the ass to clip it," he grumbles quietly after a struggle with the small clasp.

"Might need you to help me put it on every time then, huh?"

Levi looks up through his lashes and the fringe of his hair, his silver eyes shining underneath the black strands of hair. "Is that an excuse for something else?"

An excuse to get him to touch you, obviously. Guess you're as readable as ever, damn.

He finally finishes clasping it, though part of you is convinced that he might've intentionally taken longer than necessary. The gentle grasp on your wrist turns it to fully exhibit the jewelry as he inspects it. It glimmers under the sunlight shining through the tinted windshield. Levi seems satisfied.

You stare at how similarly the silver reflects his eye color. Trying to swallow the lump in your throat with how his thumb his pressing against the pulse on your wrist, and focus instead on the jingle of the charm dangling underneath. No attention needs to be paid on how the light hits the length of his nose, or how his lips somehow always look perfectly glossy right after he absentmindedly licks them.

"Looks nice."

Yeah, he does.

"Do you like it?"

It takes you a few moments to collect yourself enough to give Levi an answer. He's patient, pulling away and taking his sweet time to let the warmth of his fingertips leave your skin.

"Uh-huh. Thanks for the early present."

Levi pats your thigh, and you don't miss the subtle squeeze he gives too.

"Are you really not gonna tell me what you have planned on my actual birthday?" You try to pry again to avoid running your thoughts into other tangents over these silly little touches and glances.

"No." It's absolute in his tone. "You'll have to practice some of that patience I taught you."

You blow a raspberry. "I don't think you did a very good job at teaching me at all, honestly."

"Clearly. Maybe I should give you a couple more lessons." He chuckles, low and decorated with amusement as he shifts in his seat.

"Maybe you should." Not that you'd ever complain about these "lessons" anyway. 

The entire drive home, the habitual grip Levi has on your thigh never leaves. You wonder how aware of it he is. Or if it’s just become another one of his habits with you. There’s a small smile on his lips, too. It stays there, and you sit in silence with admiration for it, to afraid to speak and distract him from whatever seemingly peaceful thought must be running in his head.

You prop your arm on the door’s armrest, the bracelet shifting a bit downwards with the movement. Maybe you could buy him a matching one for his birthday, if he ever tells you when it is.

[grimalkinmessor]

I just find it hilarious that All For One is the exact type of person Shigaraki fucking hates. Like, yeah, All For One took Tomura in off the streets and taught him how to be a Villain™, but honestly I just think that's the only reason Tomura didn't turn on him SOONER.

All For One is a manipulative, well-spoken, two-faced, villainous politician.

Tomura, despite his "Sensei" being the perfect example of Greater Good corporate greed, is none of that shit. He's blunt and straightforward, a little feral, is not afraid to get his hands dirty and does not hold himself above the rest of the League despite being their leader. He treats the League members more like family than subordinates--which is a large part of the reason they are loyal to TOMURA ALONE and all kinda side-eyed each other when AFO took the reins back from him.

But looking at the people Shigaraki has gone after because "I don't like you or your fucking ugly face" (basically), they follow a very simple pattern that, even if Tomura couldn't discern it himself at the time, makes it very clear that Tomura has a Type™.

Stain, Overhaul, and Redestro--all of them were villains, yes, but they all had some sort of "higher goal". Now, Tomura doesn't seem to care WHAT people do (thinking of the differences between Muscular and Spinner specifically, with one being a possibly pedophilic child murderer, and the other one who just showed up at their door in cosplay and has never taken a life and still hasn't so far) but he very much cares about WHY they're doing it. Or, at least, why they say they are. Tomura sees all of them as hypocrites, and they are.

He even says it during the talk at the mall with Midoriya: "He was just getting rid of what he didn't like, same as me. What makes us so different?"

Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing makes Shigaraki and Stain different other than the fact that Stain slapped some morales on his murder. Shigaraki seems to have very little patience and very little tolerance for people who try to justify their acts as "righteous" when in reality they are doing the SAME FUCKING THING AS THE VILLAINS. Shigaraki does not like that shit.

All of the League members are pretty upfront about why they're there, and they don't wrap their atrocities up in a nice little bow and try to feed them to society as something that's Right and Just. Most of the League members do the shit they do for shits and giggles; just because they want to. And they don't dress it up any other way than "Why did you do this?" "Because I damn well wanted to."

That's why Tomura likes them.

That's why he's bucking All For One so hard right now. He wants his autonomy back, of course, but he starts fighting AFO after he says "I'm doing this for you--for your own good."

Because Shigaraki knows that's bullshit. He doesn't care about dying or getting hurt, but he also just realized that "Oh damn I hate you, actually, fuck off now you dumbass normie" (again paraphrasing but basically). Tomura has come to the realization that his precious Sensei is just like the rest of them.

And I just think it's kind of funny how All For One manages to make every single child he's ever raised hate him :)

[balillee]

tommy's character gets far too much shit.

hi tumblr. i'm gonna need a few bitches to spread this post everywhere, essentially because i want someone, or just tommy really, to see it. so if you really want, you can screenshot it and post it on twitter, reddit, link it everywhere - go absolutely buck wild. i know he reads the VODS comments a lot, but they're chock full of people just insulting him, his character, his writing and everything about his story in the dream smp simply because they don't understand it and because they refuse to acknowledge his character's perspective (mainly because they only care about the pig). reading that many critical comments on something you've created can only make you feel worse about it eventually, and in light of all the awful techno apologist takes on his character, i wanted to basically just word vomit about how wonderfully crafted c!tommy is, as well as compile some other tumblr posts about his character.

there is a massive fuckin community of people who enjoy the character of tommy, because the character is incredible. i myself have made post after post after post commenting on and analysing tommy's character because i find that there's so much to pick apart. but that enthusiasm for his character only seems to be found on tumblr. reddit and twitter seem to hate his character, the VODS seem to be filled with comments from people who only care about techno's perspective (and treat techno as a reliable narrator, which, is the furthest thing from the truth - that guy lies through his teeth all the time), and the smp wiki is a hellscape of godawful takes and mistruths, not even on just tommy's character.

c!tommy is brilliantly acted and brilliantly written, and almost everything he does is either justifiable or has been rectified or admitted as a mistake. you can clearly make connections as to where he got his conclusions from. you feel what his character experiences, as a member of the audience, vividly.

if you look in the more objective sense, c!tommy, and this is especially in the context of him being the youngest character, is a scapegoat. people claim he's awful and destructive when in reality he's a lot less destructive than most characters on the server. a moment that comes to mind is where he diverts schlatt and quackity's attention from pogtopia by breaking part of the flag in manberg, and then replacing it so as to buy tubbo some time - he literally monologues after it about how he doesn't want to destroy but instead rebuild, and how he feels as if nobody else seems to understand that.

his arc in season two was incredible. it was very character driven, and it gave a spotlight to his motivations. at the start we see him in new l'manberg, and he's enjoying his time there, he's skeptical of his friend's presidency, but his main goal is to get back the discs so that he can stop dream and eliminate that threat. he made one screw up that didn't even matter to george, and he paid for it tenfold, even after dream had spent a while with puffy griefing the server and framing it on tommy - what tommy and ranboo did was convinient. then, in exile, we see c!tommy straight up get abused. he's gaslit and conditioned into being c!dream's friend, and in his brain he teaches himself that those acts of abuse are moments of bonding, and it eventually brings him to the point of wanting to end his own life - he's been torn away from his friends and his support system, and nobody will visit him consistently anymore because they only showed him pity, and all he had left was dream, who had hurt him.

but he doesn't die there, because while he didn't understand the full gravity of it back then like he does now, he recognises that dying isn't an escape, and he can beat dream, even if he doesn't know how. so this is where he goes to techno's place, and here's where the fandom starts to misinterpret the situation wildly.

it's the problem similar to when your parents tell you that they're owed something back because you put a roof over their head, despite that being Not How It Works. techno took tommy in and severely mistreated him emotionally. sure, and i understand this, c!techno is a bad communicator who isn't really that empathetic to anyone who isn't phil or wilbur, but that doesn't excuse the blatant lying to c!tommy's face, the guilt tripping, the friendship buying and the degrading. the day before the festival, tommy finally does something violent in his interrogation of fundy, and only then does techno tell him,,,,

that tommy's not equal to him, that techno doesn't respect him all that much, and that they're not friends.

from techno's perspective, and at the time, this was viewed as a positive development in their relationship. oh, he's starting to warm up to tommy! this friendship could really blossom!

no. from a more objective standpoint, what techno has just said to tommy is : 'i respect you only a little bit more now, because while you're starting to act more like me, you're still annoying and a burden.'

and i haven't even touched on the whole 'erasing the words 'Destroy L'manberg' from techno's to-do list' thing, because that instantly refutes the point of 'techno was upfront with his intentions the whole time' - because he wasn't! he may have said it the first time, but you also know what else he did? he repeatedly told tommy that they'd 'air the details out later' whenever the discs were brought up, and from a tommy viewer's perspective at the time, it was framed as if techno was no longer going to do that.

and i also haven't dared touch the 'i would have fought them all for you', because that's major guilt tripping if ever i've seen it.

so, the day of the festival comes, and here's where c!techno and his apologists completely misread c!tommy's thought process, and why he makes the decision he does.

tommy instantly regrets valuing the discs over tubbo, and it's framed as the culmination of tommy having become all the people he said he would never want to be like. and what does he immediately do? he tells tubbo to give up the disc, and he sides with tubbo. he puts his value in his friends, and, by proxy, l'manberg. and when he betrays techno, he tells him 'i'm sorry'.

from a more objective standpoint, tommy's time with techno is him valuing the discs over almost anything else. so, in leaving techno to be with tubbo again, he is valuing people above the discs. so when, on doomsday, techno says his 'discs aren't people' line, what he doesn't realise is that he himself fueled tommy's valuing of discs above people when attempting to fuel tommy's vengeance against tubbo and l'manberg. techno doesn't realise that he was an unhealthy presence for tommy, and an even worse influence.

what techno also doesn't seem to understand is that tommy never hated tubbo or l'manberg - tommy recognises, now at least, that his exile wasn't a product of tubbo, but a product of dream's manipulation, likely in part because at the time, especially with dream lying about tommy blowing up the community house, tommy was the only one who could see it because he had experienced it firsthand. so when techno sides with dream, it's like kicking tommy in the teeth.

and i want to mention that betraying someone doesn't necessarily make the person who was betrayed good, or in the right, or even justified, because tommy was entirely justified to leave techno. you know who else was betrayed? schlatt. but i don't see many schlatt apologists around angry at quackity for joining the rebellion.

tommy stole the axe of peace? good. it was a moment of tommy defining his self-worth, instead of having it defined by others. gone is the age of c!techno belittling him and deciding how much c!tommy should be respected. NEXT!

here's a moment i wanted to talk about that will forever be funny to me.

'i am a person.'

techno's very famous line from doomsday. techno says to tommy that discs aren't people, and that tommy should value people, despite not understanding that by leaving techno, he did just that. and what does tommy say in return, which has been omitted from every c!tommy-critical analysis, and every animatic?

'yes you are, but so are we.'

an acknowledgement of techno's hurt, to which tommy has already apologised for. a statement that says 'your hurt does not excuse, nor justify, the hurt you have inflicted onto us.' an acknowledgement that tommy has already learnt the lesson techno seems to be trying to 'teach' him. but you can't teach him anything by destroying.

c!tommy has had almost everything he has ever owned or built either taken from him or destroyed. ranboo even points out that the only two things of tommy's left standing are his house and his hotel, and if i'm honest, his house is dissheveled. it's a labyrinth of terror due only to how many times it's been torn apart. l'manberg being blown up didn't teach anyone anything about anarchy, or about valuing people over possessions. logstedshire being blown up didn't teach tommy to be obedient.

i could honestly ramble for ages about how nuanced tommy's character is and how much depth and complexity there is to his character's process and his relationship with others, but more than that, c!tommy is forgiving. he invites almost everyone who hates him to the grand opening of his hotel - if that isn't an indicator that he just wants friends, and not to be treated like the embodiment of evil, then i don't know what is. he holds grudges, but he doesn't really actively hate anyone, other than c!dream. but, we'll let him. c!dream deserves nothing but to be pummeled into the floor.

tommy doesn't spoonfeed his character nuance, and he doesn't really spell it out for his audience. he'll mention things like trauma and triggers in passing, but a lot of analysis on his motivations has to be picked up from what is said in passing or from what can be seen in between the lines.

i'd be here for hours if i were to talk about everything i love about c!tommy, because honestly he's one of my favourite characters, and there are so many angles you can look at his character from in terms of his age, his relationships with others, his motivations, his personality, his character arcs etc etc. so instead of doing that, i'm going to compile some much more specific analysis posts below to skim through because they highlight so many good aspects of his character.

^^ A thread about the 'yes you are, but so are we' line.

^^ About how shit the VODS comments are.

^^ A comment on how c!Tommy is actually pretty peaceful, and is actually less destructive than most characters on the server.

^^ Possibly the best c!Tommy analysis thread I've ever seen in relation to his trauma, which gives multiple perspectives.

^^ About how c!Tommy is treated as a scapegoat, and how, from an objective standpoint, he is no more violent than any other character, it's just that the little violence that is committed is blown far out of proportion.

^^ Tumblr user flypaw being a bad bitch, as per usual.

^^ c!Tommy being incredibly intelligent, and talking about wanting to rebuild and not destroy. A very underrated monologue of his.

^^ Something short about c!Tommy and c!Wilbur's relationship in Pogtopia.

^^ Less about c!Tommy, more a meta on L'Manberg. Really interesting to think about.

^^ A take on Doomsday.

I'll add some more posts in a reblog in the notes, but if anyone's post(s) is on this and they want me to take it off, let me know and I'll do that for you! Feel free to add your own banger c!Tommy takes or ones that you've found.