#pre slash buddie

[sp0o0kylights]

Give meee: an Eddie who went into a small little bookshop on an Indie trip and stumbled across an in person fandom meeting. 

It's mostly Star Trek, and also mostly women, but the stories they have are nothing like Eddie's ever read. 

He's barely a teenager, and already protective of himself and his real identity--but everything he's ever wanted is written down, right here, on a little zine with Kirk and Spock doodled on the cover. 

They’re not--it’s not obvious, that they’re what he is, but the story itself is blatant and Eddie ends up being so obviously close to tears, he accidentally outs himself without ever saying a word. 

(He also ends up on the mailing list, then being sent home with several hand printed copies of all kinds of zines.) 

Eddie would remain on this list well past his third senior year in high school. 

Past bats, and Vecna and Steve fucking Harrington. 

Flash forward to his first apartment.The tiny one he shares with Steve when they followed Nancy and Robin to college. 

Steve knows Eddie’s gay. 

Or rather, Steve has been told, but Eddie's still pretty clammed up about it. He's not yet where Robin is, ready to bemoan her loveless existence while draped over their crappy, thrifted couch.

He makes jokes and he flirts and he absolutely says things he shouldn't, but none of it is real. 

It's flash. Showmanship. 

It's the persona that yes, is him, but Eddie consciously built it. There’s nothing soft or gooey there, nothing anyone can use to hurt him. 

So when he comes home and sees that plain, padded envelope with the neatly printed label on the counter, torn wide open and flat without its contents?

 Eddie panics. 

His heart thunders in his chest, vision tunneling as adrenaline kicks through him. 

He wants to bolt-- should bolt--except ever since he almost died his brain no longer obeys him. 

Not when it comes to running, anyway. 

Instead it fights him to a standstill, freezing his feet right to the living room floor. 

The urge is still there. 

To run, and save face the cowards way. 

Vanish before Steve could get at a part of him that had once kept Eddie out of Wayne’s trailer for two days, until the old man had hunted him down and made him come home, huffing about how he’d love Eddie no matter what but he better never disappear like that again. 

(Which Eddie did anyway, and of everything that happened with Vecna, it’s that he regrets the most. The stories he heard of Wayne putting up posters. Squaring off with angry, too-righteous townies, and--)

A sniffle jerks him out of his thoughts. 

Eddie gasps, entirely unsure of when he stopped breathing. Stumbles back and turns, right in time for Steve to come out of his room and amble down their hallway. 

One hand rubs at his eyes, and the other is--the other has…

Eddie identifies the cheaply printed, stapled zine immediately. It's one he's wanted to read for a while now, solely because it features a story about Kirk and Spock being stuck in a cave together on a planet that has  bat-like, vicious animals on it. 

Kirk gets bitten after something goes wrong with the transporter and, look, it’s carthiatic okay!? Sue a guy for wanting to read a romance about a situation he identifies with! 

Steve looks up from the zine and startles. 

For a second his eyes go dark and flat, the same way Eddies and Robins and Nancy's and everyone's does when caught off guard. 

It's gone in a flash though, Steve visibly relaxing when he clocks that it's just Eddie. 

He keeps the zine pressed to his sweater clad chest,  and huffs out a laugh that's half forced and half pure relief.

“Fuck Eds, you scared me! I didn’t know you could be quiet.” 

“Uh huh.” Eddie manages, voice sounding totally and absolutely normal and not at all ten octaves higher than it usually is. 

They stare at each other for a second. Long enough that Steve's eyebrows crinkle in the middle, which is the first hint that he’s beginning to worry, and Eddie really cannot handle Steve being worried right now.  

“What's--” Eddie’s voice cracks and he coughs to recover. “what's that?” 

Steve frowns at him for a moment, until Eddie gestures at the zine in his hands. 

“Oh!”

Steve holds it up, as if to show it off. 

“It's a little book Robin got in the mail. It has a bunch of stories in it. They're normally boring as fuck but this one's from Star Trek.” 

Hearing the words ‘Star Trek’ out of Steve’s mouth shouldn’t be weird, not anymore, when Eddie and Dustin have been on a two man mission to nerdify Harrington as much as possible, but it still kicks like a mule to hear him say such things without any prompting. 

“You know what Star Trek is?”

“Eddie,” Steve tuts, tongue clicking in his mouth. “everyone knows what Star Trek is. It’s nerd shit, but like, old nerd shit. My grandparents used to watch it when I stayed over. This?” 

 He shakes the zine, so hard Eddie wants to snatch it away from him.

 “This isn't nerd shit. This is excellent.”

Steve gives the zine an appreciative glance and hell, maybe Eddie accidentally walked into another dimension. 

He’s been trying to get Steve to read more, rediscover the joys of books the public school system does its best to destroy, but until now Steve hasn’t really taken to it. 

Enjoys when Eddie reads aloud sometimes, and has started to bug Robin to do it for him too, but otherwise?

Eddie’s nerve seen him with anything that had the written word on it that wasn’t a cooking or car related magazine. 

“Honestly,” Steve’s saying, “I think Robs fucked up, this isn't her style at all. She’s gonna be pissed.” 

He eyes the thing appreciatively, like the gift it is. 

“I'm stealing it the second she figures that out.” He adds decisively. 

“You like it?” Eddie asks. 

“Mmm.” 

“Even though it's--it's got…Kirk…” 

Steve's frowning at him again. “What?” 

“It's queer man. It's really queer.” 

Steve peers at him, the crinkle back in his eyebrows. 

“I know. Wait, how do you--” 

And well. It’s now or never. 

“It's mine.” Eddie says in a rush.

“No it's not.” Steve scoffs, and okay, maybe this is a dream. Eddie pinched himself twice already, but perhaps a third time would wake him up?

(It does not.)

“it was even addressed to Robin. Well,” Steve has one hand on a hip now, his default position when arguing, “Robbie, but she goes by that sometimes.” 

Which Robin does, but not in the fucking mail.

Without a word, Eddie turns and goes for the envelope the zine came in. 

Steve follows, invading Eddie’s space to peer over his shoulder (and that’s Eddie’s fault too, that closeness, but he didn’t think it would be turned on him in a moment like this--) 

There's a sticker on the envelope’s label.

 It’s barely hanging on, half of it curled into the air.  Round and yellow, with little black lines, it becomes immediately obvious that one of Robin's smiley face stickers has migrated again. 

They're all over the apartment. Remnants of a phase she went through after she stole a roll of them from her and Steve’s job at a local toy store.

This one had clearly jumped ship from its original spot (likely on the ceiling somewhere), and was now firmly over the E in Eddie's name. 

‘Ddie’ still isn't exactly ‘Obbie’  but--

Steve leans around, snatching the envelope up and bringing it close to his face. 

Far too close, like he can't read it, eyes squinting as he examines the label--and suddenly Eddie knows exactly what happened. 

He laughs, an explosion of noise that's half hysterical and half disbelief. 

Steve looks at him. 

“What?” 

“Oh my God,” Eddie says, one finger jabbing in the air in the vague direction of Steve’s nose. “I told you you needed glasses!” 

“I do not!” Steve protests immediately, but his eyes are darting around the envelope. 

He’s scrambling to figure out what Eddie’s seeing, trying desperately to find a hole that can prove himself right. 

Eddie decides to help him, by plucking the smiley sticker off the envelope. 

“See?” He jeers, and shit okay, maybe his life isn’t over just yet. “It says Eddie, not Robbie!” 

“You guys have got to start using your government names for this shit.” Steve bitches, but it’s weak.

Eddie feels a grin coming on, and lets it overtake his face. 

“So...Kirk and Spock huh?” 

“They’re cute.” Steve defends instantly, before sighing his defeat and tossing the envelope on the table. 

The zine he keeps in his hands. 

Eddie crosses his arms and leans against their rickety table. “Even though they’re both guys?” 

“I thought we were past this!” Steve whines. “I went to a gay bar with Robin last weekend!” 

Which is news to Eddie. 

“You didn’t invite me?” He gasps, feigning hurt by putting a hand over his heart. 

Truthfully he still hasn’t fully recovered--is play acting himself, almost, but is rapidly coming around to the idea of Steve appreciating queer fanfiction. 

“We did!” Steve rolls his eyes so dramatically his whole head moves. “We absolutely did, You said,” 

Here Steve’s voice pitches into a mockery of Eddie’s  that he will not give him points for, even if it is a little hilarious, “Me? At some loser bar? Fuck no, I’ve got a campaign to write. Starbuck, don’t you have homework?” 

“I didn’t know that was a gay bar!” 

“You did! Robin told you!” 

“Okay well, I wasn’t listening!”  

“Clearly. I keep telling you we need a fucking--system or, I don’t know, a code word or something!”  

“Yeah well, when you wanna make us a safe word for conversations, big boy, you let me know.” 

They’re both laughing a little now, this argument veering into familiar territory, with Eddie not really listening and Steve mocking him for it later. (As well as vice versa, with startling regularity.) 

“You really like it though?”  Eddie says after the laughter winds down, gesturing to the zine still clutched in Steve’s hand. 

“Yeah.” Steve confirms, easy as he’s said anything else. Like this isn’t embarrassing, or almost worse than the time Wayne found Eddie’s porno mags and alphabetized them as a joke. 

“It's part of a mail tree. I’m supposed to send it on to the next person when I’m done with it. I make copies though,” Eddie rushes to add, because Steve is now clutching the little booklet to his chest in horror, as if Eddie was about to rip it out of his hands. “If you like I’ll show you my other ones?” 

Steve eases his grip, giving Eddie the little smile he makes that makes his stomach flip. 

“That’d be cool.” 

(Later, Steve pokes at Eddie’s thigh from where they’re both sprawled on Eddie’s bed, Steve having switched the new zine out for one of Eddie’s copies. “Are you going to laugh at me if I ask you to read some of these aloud?” 

“Only if you don’t laugh when I ask you to take me to that gay bar.” 

“Deal, but on the grounds you’re barred from making fun of my flirting attempts. Robin doing it was bad enough.” 

“Well you deserve it if you’re hitting on women at a gay bar, Stevie.” 

“I wasn't hitting on women you asshole.” Steve says and oh.

Oh.

Eddie feels the floor drop out from under him for the second time that day. 

At least this time it’s not fear that thunders through him, but possibility.) 

[greenbergsays]

If you like 9-1-1 fic, you're gonna do me a solid and go read this fic right here

[Link]

Now, right about now, you're looking at the tags and the summary, you're realizing it's the first person POV of an OC, and you're probably saying, "Des, what the fuck are you reccing me right now?"

I need you to know: I never read first person POV in fanfic. I honestly dislike first person POV as a whole because it's so hard to get right.

So how 'bout you just trust that I would never steer you wrong and give it a chance, okay? Okay.

Good talk, team.

[babybucks]

so unsure of your welcome

pre-slash buck/eddie | gen | 461 words

s07e04 ficlet + jealous buck + insecure buck

There’s an itchy feeling that Buck can’t place. It started when he saw Eddie and Tommy leaving together on a helicopter, got worse when he had to hear about ringside tickets and muay thai and karaoke and trivia bars, and became impossible to ignore with when you meet somebody and you just click. Or: a ficlet of Buck spiraling up to the basketball scene.

read on ao3

[tonnerredebrest]

SEAL-ing love, or a Seal!Buck AU

(Don’t mind this title its horrible) (also my first contribution to the fandom)

Eddie joins the 118. When he asks Buck what branch he was in, the latter decides to hate him. Maybe a call and working together can bring them closer.

First day of work, and apparently there’s a beauty contest for firefighters? Eddie can still hear his old basic training sergeant screaming in his ears about they didn’t need beauty sleep, and to get out of bed at 0400 sharp. But hey, maybe that little competition could be a way to get better acquainted to the others.

He warmed up pretty nice to the 118. Henrie-, no, Hen, is of good company, her teammate Chimney - don’t ask about the name - too. The Captain Nash is a fair man, makes Eddie remember a Lieutenant from his second tour. The other members of A-shift all gave him smile too, not really up for rough housing when they heard he was in the army.

And yet, there is one person Eddie didn’t managed to get too. He is working out alone, Chimney not far from him, but he knows they aren’t alone. It’s a dark corner, a too dark one, which caught his attention. Even after three years, spacial awareness dies hard, even States side. It shouldn’t be there, which means someone created it.

Someone Eddie suspect being “Buck”, the only other member who didn’t smiled at him.

It’s true they didn’t started on the greatest of terms. When it was his turn to greet Eddie, the latter immediately recognised that posture. Straight back, feet’s just wide enough, eyes assessing if he was carrying a weapon or not.

Buck screamed military with all his might. Eddie couldn’t have known the line “Nice to meet you, Evan. Which branch?” will earn him a death stare and a colder hello than Alaskan nights. Buck didn’t respond, and promptly walked away, to everyone’s surprise. The rest didn’t heard what had been said, but they sure did saw how Buck stormed off.

Anyway, Eddie has bigger problems than a teammate not looking forward to working with him, and starring at him from afar. Who knows, maybe Buck is one of those kids who got through the Marines and found out the brutality of war unbearable, and left Afghanistan screaming and crying. Or maybe he is one of those ones who did’t get through Basic Training, and holds a grudge since. Or even one of those Airmen who did nothing appart filling paper forms and crumbling under their desires to join the battlefield and the pressure of filling AF Form 724 and AF Form 988 correctly.

Eddie doesn’t have more time to wonder about such things that the alarm goes off, and they need to go. Gearing up, he glances for a sec over his left. Buck’s sleeves are slightly upper that usual, and Eddie catching a glimpse of a wound. Gunshot, well trained, his brain supplies before he can even think about it. Huh, unusual for a firefighter.

The ride to the scene goes as smoothly as possible, and when they arrive, Eddie is sure the universe is trying to tell him something. The victim is an old man who got a grenade stuck in his leg. Eddie thought that he was military as well, but turns out he is just “an avid collector”. As they charge the man on the gurney and into the ambulance, he can swear he hears Buck muttering about “stolen valour”.

“Right, Buck, Eddie, you got with Chimney in the ambulance,” Cap says, looking expectantly at them.

Eddie just shrugs, Buck tries to argue.

“You need to trust each other, make peace, from whatever has happened between you two. Go in the ambulance, this is an order.”

Both firefighters cannot do anything against it. Eddie looks over at Buck, but the latter has already left for the vehicle. The ex-medic just sighs, and follows suit. Chimney is over checking on the vitals, while Buck and him are cleaning the wound. To Eddie’s wonder, they can actually work together.

As they try to stop the blood from covering the grande, Buck suddenly stops.

“Stop the car!” He orders, and yeah, that was 100% what Eddie used to hear back in the Army. “Stop the car, now!”

“What the hell, Buck?” Chimney seems scandalised, perfectly reflecting how Eddie is feeling.

“Look at the frag,” Buck says to him, getting his hands away from the wound.

As Eddie leans forward, his eyes immediately catch a glimpse of yellow. Shit. Practice grenades are blue, only live one yellow.

“He’s right, stop the car.”

“Why? Is this some kind of joke I’m not one?”

“You see that yellow colour? It means its a live round,” Eddie says, pointing at the leg.

“Fuck,” Chimney answers. “How has it not detonated yet?”

“I don’t know for sure-“ Eddie starts.

“The sensor hasn’t been activated,” Buck finishes.

Chimney shoots an interrogative look at Buck, as does Eddie, but he still radios Cap. Soon enough, the whole road is cleared, and the LAPD is there. Only Buck and Eddie remain in the ambulance, waiting for what’s next.

“No military help before 1 hour,” Cap comes back.

“He’s not going to make it, sir,” Eddie answers, having seen things moderately close to in.

“I know, we need to find a solution,” the captain replies, clearly already tired of this shift.

Eddie looks at the wound again. He is, was, a medic. He isn’t intimate with how a grenade works, apart from the unpin, throw, and boom part. On the other side, Buck looks at the live round as if it personally offended him.

“I’ll operate, get the sensor out,” the blond man finished by saying, just as Cap was leaving.

“What? You don’t know how to do that,” Nash answers, more confused than ever.

“I do.”

Eddie doesn't know the man for long, but he hasn’t seen someone as sure of them than now.

“Look, Cap, I’ll be here, make sure he doesn't butcher our man,” Eddie offers.

“I can’t ask that of you, Diaz. You have a kid at home.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering.”

Both men look into each other’s eyes, before the older firefighters gives up.

“Make you you three get out of there alive,” he says as he leaves the ambulance.

Buck and Eddie immediately get work. The blond man’s mouvement are precise, his hands dont shake, like a true soldier. Soon enough, the grenade is out of the victime, who is being evacuated outside of the blast zone.

It’s only them now, with Buck having a live round in his hands.

“Give it to me,” Eddie says.

“No man, run away before it explodes,” Buck doubles down.

“It’s an order, soldier,” he doesn’t pull up rank, and he wasn’t even a non-commissioned officer, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Pretty sure I had a higher rank than you, mud dog.”

Ok, now Eddie knows for sure that guy is ex-military. He doesn’t have to comment on it that Cap commands them to abandons the vehicle, leaving the grenade behind.

“On three?” Buck asks, an air of challenge in his eyes.

“You bet, jar head,” Eddie replies.

Before he knows it, they are out of the ambulance, and the round explodes. Looking back at Buck, he can see his absolutely confused, then reeling. Eddie cant help it but laugh.

“Not a crayon eater, you fucker.”

It doesn't take much to take Eddie on the ground.

“Good joke, puddle pirate.”

Buck joins him in his laugh. The 118 looks at them like they lost their minds, but the adrenaline crash is familiar for them. When they catch their breath again, they are surrounded by their teammates.

“Good one, Buck,” Eddie says, extending his hands. “You can trust me anytime.”

“You too, Eddie,” the blond man answers, bringing the other in a hug.

The firefighters of the 118 let out a sight of relief, the two not fighting anymore. As they disband towards the truck, to finally get back to the station, Buck whispers something to Eddie:

“Not one of those either, ground pounder.”

Eddie wants to catch him, but it’s too late, the other ran away. As he gets back to the truck too, he makes a mental note to find out which branch, even there’s not a lot of options left. Not a Marine, not Army, not a Coast Guard. Surely not a Airman, no USAF personnel has this physique. Only one choice left: the Navy.

He catches Buck’s eyes, and cant help but wink at him. Got you, squid.

—————

AF Form 724 : officer feedback AF Form 988 : leave request Jar head/crayon eater: Marines Puddle pirate: Coast Guard Ground pounder/mud dog: Army Squid: Navy

[sylvanfreckles]

@whumptober-archive

Day Thirteen: Cold Compress

Summary: After Miri's Christmas party, Rei wakes up to find that he isn't recovering from his wounds as easily as he thought. Thankfully, his friend and their daughter are here to look after him. As a family should.

"Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.” -William Shakespeare

[peanutbutterbuddietime]

Read the full story on AO3

“Come to Italy with me.”

The words rushed out of his mouth before he had a chance to even think of saying hello.

“What?” Eddie stared at him with obvious confusion written on his face. When he heard the front door open he had expected to see Buck joining him in the kitchen, but he wasn’t expecting a frantic Buck, ready with a loaded question.

“You and Chris. Come to Italy with me.” He said again, presuming that statement gave more of an explanation.

Eddie continued to stare at Buck in the doorway, searching his eyes for any sign of a joke or explanation.

“Hear me out.”

Buck made his way over to where Eddie was standing by the sink, having just paused washing dishes from dinner when Bucks strange request came out.

“When I was in therapy, Dr. Copeland told me about past patients who had similar experiences to me. And that many of those patients decided to take a trip to explore the world and themselves to gain some perspective.”

“So, you want to go to Italy?” Eddie interrupted. “And you want us to come with?” He was confused. A journey of self discovery didn’t usually include your best friend and his son in a foreign country.

“Well..” Buck seemed hesitant to explain, blushing a bit as he continued.

“I’m not sure I could be away from you guys for that long.” He immediately noticed his use of ‘you guys’ and flustered, tried to cover it up.

[bucksboobs]

Poseygste?

I was there Gandalf… 3,000 years ago.

Basically once upon a time there was a lil show called Teen Wolf on MTV and that show had a weirdly popular crack ship called Sterek (Mieczysław “Stiles”Stilinski/Derek Hale) it dominated the fandom at the time as the One True Pairing of the fandom kinda just based on vibes at first but the show did start throwing out teases near the end of season 2. In 2013, they were the runner-up pairing just behind Destiel in the AfterElton.com (now called The Backlot) Slash Madness Tournament, beating out several canon ships at the time.

Basically the fandom culture has gotten to the point where it was kind of assumed if you were a fan of Teen Wolf you were a fan of Sterek and if you weren’t well something was wrong with you (kind of like 911 and Buddie pre-s7). So, naturally, as MTV was pretty plugged into fandom culture at the time, they would often approve Sterek related questions for interviews. This got to the point were actors that had nothing to do with the ship were being asked about this ship that had next to no canon material outside mostly violent interactions (remember this is post season 2 pre season 3 timeframe) where for example Derek, a 20 something with supernatural powers, smashed Stiles, a 16 year old with no powers, head into a steering wheel. Anyway the main character of Teen Wolf, believe it or not, is neither of these two but in fact one Scott McCall played by Tyler Garcia Posey. So one can imagine Posey’s understandable frustration with being asked multiple times about a ship that was manufactured by fandom and almost completely irrelevant to the actual show.

Cut to the pre-promotion for season 3 and one of the first and only questions an interviewer asks Posey, the star of the show, is about Sterek. Not about the season ahead, not about Scott’s character arc this season, about a fanon ship his character is not even a part of. He answers “Sterek is this weird, bizarre twisted phenomenon and I think anyone who watches the show solely for that is not watching for the right reasons.” The fandom got really really mad because 1) he shat on the most popular ship of the fandom and 2) he did so with some words that some people interpreted as homophobic (personally I disagreed at the time and disagree to this day that he meant it homophobically— in fact he would later come out as bi/pan)

This catalyzed a divide in fandom as Stereks relentlessly attack Posey and his character in ways that weren’t always justified and other people, later dubbed The Scott McCall Defense Squad defended Posey’s words as being about Sterek as a phenomenon not as a ship, in which case he was right that Sterek was kind of weird in that it sprang up as the main ship when Scott and Stiles had a pretty codependent relationship, and Danny Mahealani was canonically gay and the show had twice teased the idea of Scott and Danny as a couple by this point (funnily enough both times by their lacrosse coach). The whole situation was looked back at as “Poseygate” and was a formative moment in shaping Teen Wolf fandom.

TL;DR: Poseygate was when Tyler Posey insulted Sterek, a popular ship in his show.

[wikiangela]

fuck it friday

tagged by @hippolotamus @fortheloveofbuddie 💖

so I started a new wip lol 🙈 I really need to work on all the other ones but I'll get to everything haha so i'm not sure if any of this makes sense for buck tbh but idgaf, this is just me projecting my own thoughts and feelings™️ and making it about him processing his death lol 💁 it is gonna be pre-slash buddie tho bc obviously I have to 😂

ngl i kinda don't wanna share any of it but also i wanna share all of it bc i'm kinda loving how it's turning out haha so fuck it, here are two short snippets haha

___

Ever since he died, Buck has been feeling… off. Numb. Sad. Exhausted. He’s not even sure how to explain it, how to voice it, so he doesn’t. When people ask how he is, he says he’s fine. And he is, he swears he is. He’s okay, he’s alive, he has his amazing friends and family, a job he loves, everything is fine. But… but. He’s not sure what the hell is wrong, but a part of him is not fine. Hasn’t been fine since the lightning strike.

(...)

He doesn’t want to go home. He just wants to keep driving, wherever the road takes him. Driving is good, he likes driving, letting his thoughts wander, listening to music, having control of something. He thinks that’s it, that’s why. Driving is one of the few times he feels fully in control, his feet controlling the speed, hands holding the steering wheel and dictating the direction. Whether he makes it to work or gives into the thoughts that tell him to not turn the wheel and let his car crash into a tree or a building, or another car – it’s all up to him. He doesn’t- he won’t crash his car on purpose, but sometimes he wonders… maybe at least that’ll make him feel something. Make him hurt, make him scared, anything. Make him die, this time permanently- he doesn’t want that. He doesn’t, he swears he doesn’t. He just wonders sometimes, that’s all.

He doesn’t wanna go home, so he decides to keep driving. Just a few more minutes, to clear his head.

___

no pressure tags: @elvensorceress @gaydiaz @diazass @thebravebitch @silentxxsoul @shortsighted-owl @eddiebabygirldiaz @arthursdent @911onabc @housewifebuck @watchyourbuck @underwater-ninja-13 @eowon @loserdiaz @evanbegins @ladydorian05 @wildlife4life @diazpatcher @lover-of-mine @monsterrae1 @thewolvesof1998 @puppyboybuckley @weewootruck @buckaroosheart @spagheddiediaz @steadfastsaturnsrings @rainbow-nerdss @malewifediaz @giddyupbuck @jeeyuns @epicbuddieficrecs @pirrusstuff @spotsandsocks @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @hoodie-buck @diazsdimples @theotherbuckley @nmcggg @daffi-990 @jesuisici33 @disasterbuckdiaz @exhuastedpigeon @rogerzsteven @honestlydarkprincess

[schrijverr]

Worse, My In-Laws Are in Town

Divergence from chapter 11, where Buck comes back into work looking down after Chris’s birthday and just honestly tells everyone that his in-laws are in town when they ask what got him in a bad mood.

On AO3.

Ships: Buddie (pre-slash)

Warnings: referenced ableism, referenced homophobia, referenced emotionally abusive parents

~~~

Buck drags himself into work after the weekend with Helena and Ramon. The prospect of having to do that for an entire week is daunting and draining, and he doesn’t have the energy in him to pretend he’s looking forward to the week.

The reprieve work will give him is nice, but he has to be at work with the knowledge they’re in his home at this very moment, probably ruining Eddie’s day more and poisoning the whole house. It feels a little bit dramatic, but they just make him so angry, so frustrated.

He hopes that his shift with the 118 will help. They’re his family too, a family he can run to when it gets rough at home. And it sure is rough at home right now.

Indeed, they pick up on his mood in seconds. Chimney takes one look at him and whistles: “Oef, bad date?”

Buck remembers the fib he told when he ran out of work on Friday and he knows he can play it off now, should he want to. It still doesn’t feel like Eddie is his to keep and he knows he will lose Chris alongside Eddie. But it is his family at this point in time and he is dragging it into work. He can’t lie to everyone about why he’s in a mood, he doesn’t have the energy.

And on top of that, if he’s honest with himself, he needs to vent to someone. Someone, who isn’t Eddie, someone who won’t get defensive or try to see their side. Someone who will just let him bitch for a moment.

So, he doesn’t play it off, instead taking the mug of coffee Bobby offers him as he slumps down over the breakfast bar and groans: “Worse, my in-laws are in town.”

It’s deadly quiet.

Buck now realizes it was probably quite the thing to drop on everyone, but it’s too late to take it back and undo it. He is proven correct in that notion when all of them start yelling at the same time, with all of them yelling some variation of: “You’re married?!”

“Uh, yeah, I am,” Buck says sheepishly. “Didn’t I mention that?”

“No, you did not mention that,” Hen humpfs, crossing her arms.

“Oh, my bad,” Buck tries his best innocent look, as he says that, hoping it will read as honest, because he does feel bad for never sharing, even if he had his reasons.

He hopes that will be the end of the freak out, so he can complain about Helena and Ramon now – maybe even get some advice – but that doesn’t happen. Instead, Bobby frowns: “You got married and didn’t invite us?”

“Yeah, what the hell. You didn’t invite us to your wedding?” Chimney demands indignantly, backing Bobby up, before Buck can even begin to figure out why Bobby asked that.

“I’m so confused,” Buck says.

“So are we,” Hen snorts.

Buck ignores her as he says: “How could I have invited any of you? I didn’t even know you yet. Plus, it was a shotgun courthouse wedding. We invited one person.”

Again there is a silence, this one less shocked confusion and more of a tentative, ‘what are we going to say, that’s a little jikes’-silence, which he doesn’t understand. He just wanted some support on how to deal with his in-laws, maybe blow off some steam. Fuck, he knew he should have kept his mouth shut.

Chimney is the one that answers, though he keeps sending glances over to Hen as he does. “Uhm, if they know you… uh, cheated on their kid on the job, then, uh- then it might make sense why them being in town is not good for you.”

For a moment, Buck stares at him without comprehending, then he suddenly remembers that he got nearly fired for sleeping with multiple women on the job and everyone was there for that. It’s just so normal for him that he didn’t even think of that. “Oh, no, we- we have an open marriage, I didn’t cheat on Eddie,” he trips over himself to assure them.

“Oh, that’s good,” Chimney says high pitched with the relief, while Hen mouths “Eddie,” to herself, as Bobby repeats: “Open marriage?” with a confused voice.

Unsure where to start, Buck decides to respond to Bobby to fully clear the air. “Yeah, an open marriage, it’s when you open your relationship up to other people. Me and Eddie have always agreed dating and sleeping with others is totally fine.”

“Ah,” Bobby nods after a second. “I, uh- I didn’t know that was a thing.”

“Most people don’t,” Buck smiles in what he hopes is an assuring manner. He didn’t really plan on explaining that to Bobby today.

“So, if it’s not the cheating, then why are you upset they’re in town?” Chimney asks conversationally, getting them back on the intended track.

“Because they hate my guts,” Buck pouts miserably. “And I just hate how they make Eddie act. I know it’s not my place, because they’re not my parents and I don’t want to fall into the trope of hating your in-laws, but ugh- It’s just so frustrating. Eddie actually slept on the couch the whole weekend, all because his dad made a comment about him becoming a kept man. It makes me want to punch him, but I’m also not just going to punch him.”

Hen has snapped out of her revelry and is now making a sympathetic face as she asks: “Eddie’s parents are homophobic?”

“Very,” Buck replies empathetically. “And it’s not just shitty of them to be, it’s totally unfounded too. I mean, they don’t even know I’m bi and Eddie is straight! Not to mention that he’s not a-”

“Wait,” Hen cuts him off and he looks at her with a confused noise. She says: “Eddie’s straight?”

“Oh yeah, he is,” Buck says, realizing he probably should have clarified that. Probably would have made the whole assurance he wasn’t cheating more smooth too. “It’s a marriage of convenience thing, we’ve never been together, we just got married for Chris. We’re friends.”

“Chris?” Chimney repeats in confusion. “Who the fuck is Chris?”

“It might be best if you started from the beginning here, Buck,” Bobby tells him. “This is a lot all of a sudden.”

Buck blushes. It is a lot. He’s a lot. He’s truly just embarrassing himself left and right, it would have been better for him to keep his mouth shut. However, that’s too late now, so he shortly recaps. “I met Eddie over two years ago now. I knew his ex-wife first, Shannon. She came by the farm I worked on and we chatted, became friendly, I met their kid, Chris-”

“Wait, Chris is a kid?” Chimney interrupts.

“Yeah, he turned seven this weekend, I took time off for his birthday. It’s why Helena and Ramon – my in-laws – are in town, to celebrate,” Buck explains.

“And you’re still involved in his life, I take it?” Hen asks.

Buck nods: “I adopted him. Stepparent adoption. It’s why I married Eddie. Shannon signed over custody and left without saying to take care of her sick mom. So, I kind of offered my help and then we became co-parents, but then Chris’s hospital bills came in. So, Eddie re-enlisted in the army – he’s an army medic – and we got married so I could adopt Chris so I’d have the legal backing to keep him while Eddie was away. That was about a year and a half ago.”

“Did Chris have an accident?” Hen asks, ever the paramedic.

“No, CP,” Buck says. “He has crutches and he is following along normally in school, just trouble when it comes to writing and the finer motor skills and such. We try to let him be as independent as possible where we can, but Eddie’s mom insist he’s ‘fragile’ and ‘special’ and we’re being too rough, as if we’re not doing exactly as the doctors prescribed.”

“Oh, one of those people,” Chimney nods understandingly, a mild disgust in his voice as he says it.

“Yeah.” Buck rubs his face. “This whole weekend has been a fight about how to wrap gifts, what proper gifts are for his age, how Chris should eat, what Chris should eat, how he should move, how we handle him. Eddie had to physically restrain her at some point to get her to stop. And now it turns out, they’re not just here for the weekend, they’re here for the whole week. Fucking lovely.”

“That explains the whole sour mood when you came in,” Chimney says, before nudging Buck and trying to joke: “But at least you’re working today.”

“Small mercies,” Buck snort. Then he sobers up a little: “But I feel bad for leaving Eddie with them, who knows what sort of things they’re filling his mind with while I’m here.”

“What sort of stuff are you afraid they’ll say?” Hen asks curiously but compassionately too. “You said Eddie slept on the couch, was he supposed to sleep in your bed? Are you scared they’ll turn him against you with their homophobia?”

“No, no, Eddie’s not homophobic, just very much toxic masculinity poured in from birth,” Buck assures her. “Like, we shared a bed when we lived in Texas, just because we didn’t have any space and I couldn’t sleep on the couch forever. It’s nothing new, he’s just getting in his head about it, because now his dad is there to make comments about it.”

“And that doesn’t bother you at all,” Hen says pointedly, not believing him for a second.

“I mean, it’s hurting my feelings a little bit, but I know it’s not about me,” Buck shrugs. “It’s just that it’s an affront to Ramon’s masculinity that Eddie is married to me, even if he knows it’s not like that. Eddie doesn’t think like his dad, but he does care what his dad thinks. And what his mom thinks. I’m mostly worried about what she says.”

“What kind of things does she say then?” Hen asks, wondering what could be worse than the homophobia and misogyny Ramon is paddling onto his son. Though she can probably take a pretty educated guess with the earlier comments about her.

“She goes in on his parenting- Well, technically both our parenting, but she’s never acknowledged my contributions a day in her life, so it’s mostly harking on about Eddie’s parenting,” Buck says. “She’s been trying to take Chris from Eddie from the moment he came back from his second tour. There’s a reason I needed the legal backing to take care of Chris before he went on his third and that reason is named Helena. He quite literally married me, because he didn’t trust his own mom to give his son back to him.”

“Pfew, that’s a lot,” Chimney comments. “I’m still a little reeling right now.”

“Welcome to my world,” Buck snorts humorlessly.

“Seriously, Buck, that is a lot. Custody can be rough,” Hen says, placing a hand on his arm. There is something thick in her voice and Buck wants to ask, but with the way Chimney is delicately dancing around her, he doesn’t know if it will be welcome.

“Thanks,” he finally settles on saying. “So far it hasn’t actually come to that and I’m probably just being dramatic.”

“We’re here for you anyway,” Bobby says. He’s been a little quiet ever since Chris was first mentioned, however, now he makes himself known again. “You can always talk to us about this sort of stuff and you are more than welcome to hang around here if you don’t want to go home yet. As is Eddie.”

“Though he’s probably planning on making some overtime himself this week,” Chimney jokes.

“No, Eddie doesn’t work, so he’ll appreciate the offer. We both do,” Buck says. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Bobby smiles paternally.

“Can I ask why he doesn’t work?” Hen asks.

“His squadron got shot down with the helicopter they were in. He earned a Silver Star, along three bullets in his body,” Buck answers. “He’s still recovering, which is why we’re still married. We’re gonna see where we stand when he’s okay again, until then Chris is on my insurance and I kind of pay the bills.”

Hen gasps: “That’s why you asked so much about the insurance when Bobby nearly fired you. That’s what you wanted to tell me.”

“Ah, yeah, well…” Buck awkwardly rubs the back of his head. “I did, yeah.”

“And on the roof, you wanted to tell me you had a family,” Bobby realizes. “You were trying to convince me, but I didn’t let you finish. Why didn’t you say anything then?”

Buck shrugs and looks away as he mumbles: “It didn’t end up being necessary.”

Bobby squints at him suspiciously, not buying what he’s selling and Buck holds his breath, anxiously awaiting what he’ll do. If he’ll push why Buck never said, he might have to confess all his stupid insecurities about being abandoned, not to mention his huge crush on Eddie. He’d prefer it if they didn’t force that out of him, especially in front of Chimney, who’d probably spill the second he met Eddie.

Fortunately, Bobby doesn’t push, though maybe that’s because the alarm rings and they have to run to answer.

During the call, his head still isn’t all there. He keeps being worried for Eddie and trying to come up with a way to pull him out of his parents’ shit, but not finding anything. The others don’t seem to mind that much, letting him stay off to the side on the call and leaving him alone on the drive back.

When they’re at the station again, Bobby wordlessly offers him to help chop up breakfast to give his hands something to do. An offer that he takes gratefully.

They cut in silence for a few moments, before Bobby, ever so perceptive, catches on that Buck needs to let this out more, because he opens with: “Mind still elsewhere?”

“Yeah,” Buck chuckles sheepishly, before gesturing vaguely to his head with the hand that is not holding a knife. “Sorry, not all here today.”

“It’s alright, happens to all of us,” Bobby says.

The two of them are quiet for another second, then Buck takes the silent invitation and starts talking. “It’s just- I feel so helpless, you know? I want to say something, help, but unless it’s about Chris, it really isn’t any of my business. But I see it hurts Eddie. I hate watching that.”

Bobby hums thoughtfully as he mulls the words over for a moment. Then he says: “Eddie probably appreciates you just being there.”

“Is that enough?” Buck asks rhetorically. “I mean, it’s never been the best relationship and there is so much history between them, even before I came in the picture, and I probably only made it worse. It feels like I should be doing more than just sitting there, watching it happen, while my only contribution is not getting mad at Eddie too. For shutting me out. For listening to them.”

“That is enough,” Bobby answers anyway.

Buck scoffs.

“No, Buck, look at me,” Bobby says gently. “Come on, kid.”

His mind tries to tell him he’s making the tone up, that Bobby is disappointed in him that he’s not doing more, that he thinks Buck is an immature kid, who doesn’t know what he’s doing. However, he looks anyway, a little reluctantly.

He doesn’t find any disappointment or judgment like he was expecting, instead Bobby looks sympathetic and understanding. Buck swallows heavily, suddenly feeling very small in a good way under Bobby’s gaze.

“You’re not the punk I thought you were when you walked in here. Not only have you grown in this job, but outside of it too, you’re being a parent and a partner,” Bobby says. Buck is about to correct the partner part, but Bobby is quicker. “I know you’re friends not lovers, but you still have his back. The two of you are in this together, I can hear it in the way you talk about him. Or am I wrong?”

“No. No, you’re not,” Buck says quietly, blushing despite himself.

Bobby nods, more to himself, then goes on: “It’s clear Eddie has some baggage with his parents, but you have a trust with him, a closeness, those things don’t come for free. You’ve shown you’re ready to be in his corner, but it sounds like you’re hoping to pull him out of this trap he’s in with his family. That’s not going to happen. What Eddie needs, is for you to step inside with him, keep him company there. I know you can do that.”

Buck thinks it over for a moment. Having Bobby say he knows Buck can do it, that he can be what Eddie needs, is soothing. But is it really enough to silently stand by his side? To stand inside the trap that is his parents? Maybe, it is.

This whole time he’s been frustrated with Eddie wanting him to snap out of the practically conditioned reaction he’s had to his parents. However, maybe that isn’t what Eddie needs him to do.

Eddie has always needed him to be there next to him, to be a rock when the tide that is his parents washes over him. He doesn’t need someone to point out he’s being a stupid asshole, Eddie is aware of that, he needs someone to be in his corner when he can snap out of it. That’s all Buck has to do. That’s all Buck can do.

Yeah, Bobby is right. Eddie needs him to have his back, like he always has and Buck can totally do that.

His heart feels lighter and he can feel a weight shift from his shoulders. He sends Bobby a bright grin and hopes it conveys how much he means it when he says: “Thank you, Cap.”

“Of course,” Bobby smiles back. “Hand me the bell peppers?”

“Oh yeah, here.”

Bobby continues working on breakfast, but as he works, he asks: “So, tell me more about Chris. What’s your son like?” content to listen to Buck babble about how great his Superman is.

It’s nice. He hadn’t realized how badly he wanted to brag about Chris, until he can. He knows that one day soon, he’s going to have to tell them that Eddie is leaving him, go through the hardships of a divorce with all the uncertainty that comes with that, but he at least has people in his corner when it happens.

Afterwards, his head is on right and he’s a lot more useful on calls.

In the downtime the others ask him questions, clearly still adjusting to the mental image of Buck as a father. He tries not to take it to heart too much, he is the one that leaned into the frat boy stereotype they put on him after all.

Around lunch time he texts Eddie to check up on how it’s going with his parents, telling him about the offer of hiding out at the firehouse.

Eddie responds: At this point, I might take you up on that.

It’s a nightmare.

Taking them out to lunch, so fingers crossed.

iew, good luck, Buck texts back.

Thanks lol., he gets back

Then Eddie goes radio silent, so Buck assumes he’s out at lunch. He gets not wanting to be on his phone during that. Not that it stops Buck from checking his own every other second, just to make sure he doesn’t miss Eddie texting him.

It might be for the best – for his sanity that is – that they get called away before he can drive himself and the others up the wall with his worrying. This is further aided by him stupidly dropping his phone in a fumble to get into his turnouts and not having the time to pick it up again. So, he can’t check on the call or during the drive.

By the time they get back, Buck is itching to get to his phone. However, he doesn’t spot it lying anywhere on the floor after he shrugged off the coat and put it away so he can maneuver better.

Before, he can properly start searching, he’s distracted by Chimney saying: “Anyone know that guy?”

Buck looks over to where Chimney is indicating to see Eddie sitting on the bottom steps to the loft. He is holding Buck’s phone and staring emptily at it.

“Eddie?” Buck calls out confused. “What are you doing here?”

Eddie looks up with a start as if snapped out of his thoughts. He spots Buck, still only halfway out of his turnouts, and blinks for a few seconds. Then he shakes his head and kind dumbly says: “You dropped your phone.”

The others are watching curiously, but Buck ignores them, jogging over and taking the phone from Eddie with a “Thanks,” then quietly he asks: “Seriously, are you okay? I thought you were doing lunch with Helena and Ramon?”

“Uh, didn’t go well,” Eddie mumbles, looking away with flushed cheeks. “They pushed my buttons, as always. I snapped at them. Gave them the keys to my truck and told them to go home by themselves, then Ubered here.” He finally meets Buck’s eyes. It’s clear he’s embarrassed about it as he says: “Hope that offer to hide out here was genuine.”

“Yeah, course it is,” Buck assures him immediately with a soft grin. He’s not going to push on the whole parent thing with everyone hovering and trying to eavesdrop. So he raises his voice so that everyone can hear as he adds: “I’m sure everyone is dying to meet you.”

When he looks back at the others, they don’t even try to look ashamed as they drop what they were pretending to be doing so they can come over to meet Eddie. They receive him with the same warmth that Buck had been met with on his first day, none of them mentioning Buck’s bitch fest about his parents, nor the fact that before this morning, none of them knew Eddie existed.

Chimney gets there first, holding out his hand as he grins: “Ah, the non-husband-husband.”

“That is one way to describe it,” Eddie laughs, though there is an undertone Buck can’t place. “I’m Eddie, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Chimney.”

“Ah, yes, a familiar name. Buck still hasn’t told me why they call you that.”

“A gentleman doesn’t reveal his secrets.”

“Pff, you’re as far from a gentleman as it gets,” Hen snorts, ignoring Chimney’s offended guffaw as she moves in to shake Eddie’s hand as well. “I’m Hen.”

“Eddie.”

Then it’s Bobby’s turn to introduce himself and Buck can’t help but be a little anxious. After Chris, Eddie and Bobby are the two most important people in his life and he wants them to like each other.

Bobby gives Eddie a firm handshake as he nods: “It’s good to meet you. I’m Buck’s Captain, Bobby Nash.”

Automatically Eddie’s posture stiffens into a more military hold as he shakes Bobby’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, sir. Eddie Diaz. Buck speaks highly of you.”

“I’m glad to hear that. And just Bobby is fine,” Bobby smiles, as he lets go. “Now, tell me, what would you like for lunch?”

“Oh, I- I just ate and I don’t want to impose,” Eddie starts politely declining.

“We haven’t eaten yet, guests get to pick,” Buck says, before he nudges Eddie. “Tell him to make hotdish casserole.”

“It’s Eddie’s choice, not yours, Buck,” Hen scolds him.

“Like you never do that when Karen’s here,” Buck says, sticking out his tongue at her.

“This is so unfair, why do I never get guests that make Bobby cook what I want?” Chimney complains.

“Guess you need to make more friends,” Hen shrugs with a slightly mischievous grin.

“As if you wouldn’t be left high and dry if I started living up to my potential and making all the friends I could,” Chimney exclaims indignantly.

Eddie appears to be slightly overwhelmed while Hen and Chimney continue to bicker. He gives Buck a helpless look. Unhelpfully, Buck just whispers: “Hotdish casserole.”

“Hotdish casserole, I guess?” Eddie tells Bobby uncertainly, while Buck fist pumps.

“Hotdish casserole it is,” Bobby nods, having observed the whole thing with resigned fondness, before making his way up the stairs.

“Bobby, tell Hen she’s being mean,” Chimney calls out, skipping up the steps after him. “And can I still pick what we eat for dinner?”

“No, it’s my turn,” Hen yells, also quickly following after him. “Eddie just moves the turns up one, you don’t get to skip my turn.”

Within seconds Eddie and Buck are suddenly the only ones standing at the bottom of the stairs. Eddie stares after the others for a moment, then turns to Buck and dazedly asks: “Is it always like that?”

“Yeah, it’s great,” Buck grins. “Now, I’m gonna ditch these pants. Up for being tossed the wolves without me or are you gonna wait down here?”

“Uh, I’ll wait down here,” Eddie says a bit too quickly, but Buck doesn’t call him out on it.

Buck makes his way over to where they store their gear and Eddie follows after him. To fill the air, he asks: “Did Chris get to school okay this morning?”

“Yeah, he did, he did,” Eddie says. “You know mom, she was up bright and early to tell me Chris’s PT was wrong, but she made breakfast and she insisted on driving him to school, which meant I didn’t have to be out there in the morning rush and I didn’t have to talk to the moms in the drop off line. So, I’m counting it as a win overall.”

“Fair enough,” Buck says, stepping out of his turnout pants. “I don’t know why you don’t like talking to the moms, they’re so nice.”

“They’re invasive,” Eddie wrinkles his nose.

“They’re nice,” Buck protests, putting away the pants and starting to walk towards the stairs.

“No, they’re nosy and you know it,” Eddie says. “Last week, Janet asked me why only me and you did drop off and never Chris’s mother.”

“Yeah, but Janet is a bitch, she doesn’t count.”

“She does count, she’s part of the pick up/drop off line. Very prominently.”

“But she is an outlier, all the other moms are nice. Stacy, for example, Stacy is nice.”

“Stacy is only nice to you, because she wants to fuck you. She hates my guts.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Buck frowns, he can’t imagine that Stacy hates Eddie. “And she’s never made a move on me.”

“Yeah, ‘cause she thinks you’re gay and married to me, dumbass.”

“Well, then she’s not a homewrecker,” Buck points out.

“Wow, one point to Stacy for basic fucking human decency,” Eddie sniffs.

“You’re just being mean, because you hate talking to people,” Buck says. “Stacy is nice. She gave me that cookie recipe for the bake sale. And Barbara is nice too, you can’t deny that.”

“Of course I can’t deny Barbara is nice, but she’s the actual outlier. And Stacy’s cookies were crumbly and dry.”

“Man, you are such a drama queen, you ate like ten of those cookies,” Buck laughs, though he can’t deny that he’s having a grand old time bickering with Eddie about the moms from Chris’s school. It doesn’t hurt either that Eddie looks relaxed again, mirth in his eyes even as he bitches.

“I’m not going to say no to cookies just because they’re crumbly and dry,” Eddie rolls his eyes.

“Chris gets that sweet tooth from you. The fact that you, good sir, don’t have more cavities is a miracle, I swear to god.”

“Hey, why are you singling me out?” Eddie asks offendedly.

“Because I brush Chris’s teeth,” Buck snorts.

“I brush my teeth too,” Eddie sulks. At this point, they’ve arrived upstairs, so Eddie clears his throat and changes topic: “Anyway, what’s this hotdish casserole all about? Since when are you a fan of that, I’ve literally never heard you about that before.”

“Oh, yeah, I made it for Chris once while you were on tour, but he didn’t like it. So, I don’t make it at home anymore,” Buck shrugs. “It’s a Midwestern thing. Bobby’s version is great, so I eat it at work instead.”

“It’s pretty good,” Chimney involves himself in the conversation. “It took me a while to warm up to Bobby’s Midwestern dishes, but it’s not bad when you get used to it.”

“Not much spice though,” Hen says.

“Ah, that’s familiar,” Eddie grimaces. “Buck also doesn’t use many spices.”

“Oi, I’ve gotten better at that,” Buck protests. “And you don’t get to judge my cooking when you burn water.”

Eddie gets wide eyes and elbows Buck in the side as he exclaims: “Don’t tell them that!”

Hen and Chimney burst out laughing and Chimney brightly assures Eddie: “It’s okay, Buckaroo already told us all about how you can’t cook,” as next to him Hen nods her agreement with a sympathetic look on her face.

“Why would you do that?” Eddie hisses.

“It naturally came up in conversation!” Buck defends himself slightly panicked. To deflect he quickly shifts gears: “Anyway, Eddie is planning on joining the fire academy. Maybe you guys can tell him more about the paramedic work? I’m gonna see if Bobby needs some help.”

Then he fully abandons Eddie to his fate (though he does it with the knowledge that Chim and Hen will keep the bullying to a minimum until Eddie is more familiar and they’re great at making people feel comfortable). Eddie will be fine. Probably.

Indeed when he and Bobby come back with the hotdish casserole, Hen and Chimney are explaining what they do and the difference to being just a firefighter in great detail as Eddie listens intently.

Over lunch, they talk more about firefighting in general, but they also ask Eddie a bit about his background and how he met Buck and such. It gives Eddie the opportunity to get some payback about the cooking, but Buck would like to have it on record that his spice tolerance wasn’t that bad and neither was his Spanish pronunciation, Eddie is exaggerating.

It’s quite nice to hang out with Eddie and the 118. Buck feels high on life and he has all but forgotten the bad mood he was in that morning.

However, reality comes crashing down on him when Eddie looks at his watch and sighs: “Guess I should get going if I want to pick up Chris on time.”

“You gonna Uber back and get the truck or do you wanna borrow the Jeep?” Buck asks, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“Can I borrow the Jeep?” Eddie replies, sounding hopeful at the thought of not having to face his parents without Chris as a shield.

“Course, as long as you come pick me up at the end of my shift too,” Buck grins. “I’m sure your parents will watch Chris while you do that.”

“Don’t remind me,” Eddie rolls his eyes as he gets up. “Where are your keys?”

Before Buck can answer, Hen asks: “You have a kid’s seat in your Jeep? I never noticed that.”

“Huh, me neither,” Chimney agrees.

“It’s not that weird you guys didn’t notice. I don’t think anyone makes it a habit to go to all the cars and look inside. I don’t at least,” Buck shrugs as the others nod that that makes sense. Buck gets up and says: “Keys are in my locker. Code is Chris’s birthday, so you should be able to get in yourself, but I’ll walk with you.”

“Great, thanks.” Eddie turns to everyone. “It was good to meet you all. Thank you for having me.”

“Of course, you’re always welcome in our house. It was nice to meet you too,” Bobby tells him kindly and Chimney and Hen are quick to agree with that.

With the goodbyes behind them, Eddie walks away, Buck right behind him. As they pass the pole, Buck gestures to it with a shit eating grin. “Wanna use the pole, Eddie?”

“I’m not a little kid,” Eddie deadpans.

“Don’t be a spoilsport, it’s part of the job. You want to be a firefighter, right? Firefighters go down the pole,” Buck insists a little too gleefully. It is partly for his own amusement, but it is also to make Eddie smile again. He can see that Eddie doesn’t like that he has to go and face his parents, leave the safe haven of the 118.

“No, you’re gonna make me go down the pole and then use the stairs.”

“Pinky promise, I won’t. I’ll even go first,” Buck says, holding out his pinky. “I can show you, so you’ll have a leg up on everyone else on your first day.”

“It’s going down a pole, I think I’ll live.”

“There’s a technique to it,” Buck says, wiggling his pinky in Eddie’s face once more as he makes a face he hopes is enticing.

Eddie looks at Buck for a beat, then he sighs and sags in defeat as he interlocks pinkies with Buck while Buck cheers. “Fine,” he sighs like a man getting ready for the gallows.

Buck shows him how to go down the pole properly, going down first as promised. Eddie looks to the ceiling for a moment, muttering to himself that this is stupid and pointedly not looking back to where the others are still sitting around the table, before following Buck down.

“That wasn’t so bad, eh?” Buck nudges him with his shoulder when he has landed.

“I guess not,” Eddie says, fighting a smile. Buck can see it, but he graciously doesn’t comment on it, instead leading the way to his locker so he can hand over the keys.

Once he’s dug it out of his bag, he holds it out to Eddie, but then he closes his hand before Eddie can take it. Eddie sends him a confused look and Buck hesitates for a moment, then he asks: “Will you tell me what made you snap later?”

Eddie blushes and doesn’t meet his eyes. “Maybe.”

“Hey, I won’t judge,” Buck says, giving Eddie imploring eyes. “I just want to know so I can tell you they’re wrong, okay? I’m here. I have your back. Whatever stupid shit it was, don’t let it get to you, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie replies, still sounding unsure, but with a tentative smile on his lips.

Buck hands him the keys at that. He grins and claps Eddie on the back, switching to a less serious tone as he says: “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

“You’re a dork,” Eddie rolls his eyes, but he’s laughing too.

“A dork that’s lending you his car, so don’t get too cocky, Mister,” Buck corrects.

“Yeah, yeah, thank you,” Eddie says already walking away. He turns around after a few steps to call back: “Have a good day!”

“You too! Say hi to Chris for me,” Buck yells back as he waves.

Upstairs, Bobby, Chimney and Hen are leaning on the balustrade of the loft in a row, watching the two of them say their goodbyes. Chimney speaks up first: “Thirty bucks on them being married for real before Chris is a teenager.”

“Tsk, coward. Fifty on them being married for real by this time next year,” Hen says.

“Deal.” The two of them shake hands, then look over at Bobby. “What about you?”

“This is highly unprofessional,” Bobby tells them. Neither of them buy it for a second, giving him a judgmental look. Bobby only lasts two seconds before he breaks and says: “Twenty on them taking a decade.”

“Harsh,” Chimney whistles. “I like it.”

“Maybe he’s right,” Hen says thoughtfully. “We are talking about Buck…”

At this point, they are interrupted by Buck himself, who has spotted them up there and calls up: “What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing,” they all collectively yell back, much to Buck’s confusion, though he just shrugs and takes it in stride as he goes towards the stairs to rejoin them.

~~

A/N:

I’ll never get tired of writing the confused 118 trying to piece together Buck (or Eddie, but we haven’t gotten to a version of that) telling the story, as they struggle to quickly mentally adjust the image they have of him lol. Hope y’all don’t get tired of reading it either xp

Also, I fucking love writing silly conversations between people, I am fully using these AUAUs to write banter to amuse myself and I will not apologize for that

[tiktaalic]

Why are you (and others) so convinced that Neil Gaiman must be lying when he implies that he and Terry Pratchett always intended Azicrow to be canon in the potential second Good Omens book? I'm new to this fandom so don't know the backstory, but Gaiman has been writing gay characters (and nonbinary angels) since the '90s, and Pratchett according to fans is an ally. I've seen a few receipts (about Gaiman not "getting" slash) from the early oughts, but the South Downs cottage endgame comes from a conversation G&P had about the sequel in 2005 (see the story here: https://. thegoodomensdumpster. tumblr.com/ post/621209875504054272/.. where-the-south-downs-thing-comes-from). He seems credible but did he say something since then?

I mean. Even in the excerpt you sent there’s this.

people have asked him about the south downs, and scenes in the book, and any time he's asked he takes the chance to reiterate that it's Not Canon. this has been the line for 30 years. this was the line a month! before the show aired. i think it's true that the planned sequel was aziraphale and crowley focused. this makes sense to me. they were on book covers, they were people's favorites. i dont think this means hes been planning a romance since the 90s. prior to the show, the stances neil gaiman had, had repeatedly on record, and never strayed from were:

+ it's fine if you like azcrow i want you to continue to have fun with it if you like it, but it's not canon, it is strictly 100% fanon.

+ the sequel is about aziraphale and crowley

+ i am not comfortable making a season two because it would involve creating new content that terry would not have input on.

after season one aired, the stances were:

+ i intended azcrow as a love story. i always have.

+ season 2 coming july 2023!

+ the new seasons that i'm writing were something i discussed with terry decades ago.

which is simply. not true. either he spent 30 years lying. because. ??? or he has spent the years after season 1 garnered a lot of praise for having gay people in it lying. because it makes him look good, and because s2 (and 3) will make money. one of these options makes sense. one of them doesnt. like.

this was one MONTH before the show. if he for real always since nineteen ninety meant azcrow was in a relationship. why would he. a month before his show. say DONT get it twisted it's NOT a love life.

i also dont think its worth anything to compare representation in gomens to his other works, bc his other works are very very different. gomens is solidly pg13 lighthearted romp. and - as someone who has read a lot of neil gaiman's work, and liked a lot of neil gaiman's work, most of it errs to the side of i'm SICK. i'm TWISTED. im FUCKED UP and WEIRD. and. to be clear. i am not calling him homophobic. i am not doubting that he legitimately cares about gay people in his life. but i do think. he like many other men. were like. you know what'll take this fucked up weird story from a 10 to a 100. if there were GAY MEN in it. and to be doubly clear. i am speaking primarily about american gods, which is what i remember with most clarity. which is fine. its a fine thing to do. representation win the guy who writes weird horror adjacent sex scenes wrote one about men. (this is a gross oversimplification of sex scenes in american gods).

and again i well and truly do not blame the man for being like. um. actually i dont want the characters i based on me and my buddy to be in love or have sex in my lighthearted pg 13 story. i think this is a very normal stance to have! i would never fault someone for this stance! it's just. the lying. the people who are ragging on him are primarily composed, from what i can tell, of book fans who followed him pre show. because he was exceedingly consistent about his opinions pre show. again. if you followed him at any point! before the show you would see his opinions iterated then reiterated. if you followed him a MONTH! 30 DAYS! before the show you would see his pre show opinions. because he's expressed the exact same opinion dozens of times since 1990. and they quite literally only changed once it came out and people started praising him.

[ndoandou]

Ikevamp bois playing modern games part 2

Vincent

Vincent is way into.. gartic phone

Qnd perhaps skribble.io

Like way into it

He would sit down 12 hours in front of the computer and guess what HES BEEN PLAYING GARTIC PHONE AND SKRIBBLE.IO IN A LOBBY OF RANDOMS

12 HRS IN HES STILL NOT DONE WITH BOTH GAMES

Hed obv speedrun a drawing in a short period of time and manage to make it look *chefs kiss*

Imagine if skribble.io had a vc feature tho

No no, like imagine if people were actually toxic in this goofy ahh game

They would yell down vincent down the mic telling him to go play with photoshop

Randoms are salty that vincent can draw and portray even the most ridicilous prompts which results him with the highest score always

Not to mention hes really good at guessing even the shittiest drawimgs from other ppl

"Broer how- that persons drawing looks ridicilous, even arthur's dog could draw that"

"Don't be mean theo! I could guess the drawing from the emotional connection i felt from it"

Jean

Jean has a shitty brick nokia phone

And he really loves playing snake II

No im serious

Well i suppose momte doesnt trust him with any other phones than that

the last time he was given a smartphone he downloaded some hack and slash game

took the word slash literally and then proceeded to cut the phone into two

comte was too stunned to speak

momte didn’t want his kids to miss out on gadgets but he cant have jean destroying his smartphone

BINGO! a nokia 3310 it is! 

jean didnt know how to react at first, but he found it easier to navigate and thats when he found out baout snake II

found it a bit pointless at first but despite saying that, he doesnt realize that thats the only thing he does besids fencing

snake II is his pre workout

the only thing he will be doing before his fencing practice

before meals

and before bed

‘‘jean are you sure you haven’t had enough of snake II..?’‘ comte asked causiously as he never know how his son Jean would react

jean looked at comte and stayed silent for a hot minute

‘‘no’‘

Napoleon

OK FLASH BACK TO MY E BOY NAPOLEON FANART FROM 2021

its official

He plays league of legends

Napoleon is deffo a jungle/top main

Jungle preferabbly

Bros actually cracked coz hed turn any non meta champs into an absolute beast

I see him being especially good with pantheon jungle

Hed play league with jean tbh

And jean would be a dedicated top

But i dont see jean being the best player..

No, like imagine napoleon defending jean from "top troll" and getting spammed "?" On his lane

Napo would literally go to that persons lane just to steal their minion last hits

If hes feeling extra hed even use pantheons ult to yeet over to that player to ks all the minions on that person's lane 😭

"Jgl troll gg"

Ok napo is actually not toxic and is rly nice to play with

Hed even supp for you if ur learning a new champ

Hes only toxic to people who are toxic to his buddies

Comte

Ill be honest

Comte looks like someone who would download all games from every ad pop up he gets

And im talking about anything gacha related

He does not care whether the game is explicit or not as long as he can collect pretty characters

Is he interested in the gameplay??? Probably not.

"For what reason did you spend $$$$$$ on xxx game???" Leonardo asked as he scrolled through comte's in game billings, cocking an eyebrow

"Hm? Well i simply wanted to collect all of these lovely looking characters."

"Without leveling up your characters?"

"Non"

"Do you understand how to play this game?"

Comte only looked at him with his unwavering smile

"honestly this is the most ridicilous spending ive witness from you, heh" Leo snorted

"Much appreciated, but i dont recal asking for any input, old friend" comte retorted

Leo looked at him and sighed

"Honestly at this point i shouldn't be surprised"

.

.

This took me forever to upload because i coulndn't figure what type of game comte would play then one day i was like AHAAAAA

Also i didn't proof read as always so pls dont chop my head off :"))

[onceandfuturelesbian]

WHY DO PEOPLE ON AO3 TAG MERLIN/ARTHUR PENDRAGON AS GEN???!!?!!!????? (pre-slash is okay)

THE SLASH (/) MEANS A RELATIONSHIP (romantic/sexual idc)

THE ‘AND’ (&) MEANS THEY’RE BUDDIES (totally platonic)

guys pls why are you putting ‘merlin/arthur pendragon’ in the relationships category on ao3 if they’re just friends in ur fic

imma fight

[duplicitywrites]

Kind of insane how…long I’ve been lingering around tom riddle fanfiction. It’s worrying. It’s amazing. My dad gave me his old iPhone in sixth grade and it basically ruined my life /lh. I remember sitting in some store in the mall, waiting for my parents to pick out a watch or shirt or whatever, while I read tom riddle x oc fanfiction on fanfiction.net. I remember evenings where all I did was read tom riddle/hermione granger ( which…yeah ). I remember slacking off studying for my sixth grade mid terms by reading Tom Riddle x OC fics on quotev. Mind you, I was also reading Draco x hermione/OC and the odd Fremione or George x oc fics as well, but tom riddle dominated my fanfiction consumption. I think the only period of time where I just- stopped reading anything tom-related was a couple of months in seventh grade where I by accident started reading drarry and became very quickly obsessed with it ( and as my internet history will show, I may still have an on and off obsession with drarry lmao ). I abandoned pretty much every single ship I used to read pre-drarry and became a full-time mlm fanfic consumer. Then I finally decided to brave ao3 and there was even MORE drarry to read, and it was miles better than anything I’d read yet. I really don’t remember how I started reading tomarry. I think it was because I was slacking off studying for my eighth grade mid terms lmao and I saw the tag and thought ‘why not?’ And here I am. More years of my life, gone to you Tom. You never could be satisfied by an obsession with a half life. You want it all. I want it all.

can’t wait to be reading taco fics in hospice care

thank you anon for your life story, i salute every step of your journey whole heartedly 🫡

as a kid we didn't have wifi at home for the longest time because my dad refused to get it, so when i was at school i saved dozens of chapters on my phone so later when i was in bed supposed to be sleeping i could read fanfic instead LOL

another funny thing is while i had slash ships in other fandoms, i never had a slash ship in hp until tomarry! i've always liked harry-centric fics, but i suppose i never found the perfect match for him until tom | vee 🥰

also that last sentence took me out LMAO you and me in hospice care together buddy 🤝🏼 taco forever

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 37 – ACTION / ADVENTURE

What You Bring in From the Cold by navaan

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 6,438 Tags: World War II, Getting Together, Snowed In

Summary: “What do you mean, go look for Captain America? He died during the last Great War.” Fury has a strange job for Tony Stark that involves following the last steps Captain America took before he went MIA in World War I.

Reasons why I love it: I really like the Noir premise, especially Pepper and Rhodey being absolute badasses while helping Tony. And Tony finding Steve is always a treat, especially when it leads into huddling for warmth and some emotional heart-to-heart. This fic is wonderful, and you should definitely read it!

Mining and Misadventures (The Pirates! In Space! Remix) by Woad

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 1,480 Tags: Space Pirates, First Meetings, Pre-Slash

Summary: Tony and Rhodey pick the wrong outpost to raid. Lucky, someone else is just as keen as they are to escape the mining facility where they're being held.

Reasons why I love it: This fic is so fricking good, I wish it was a billion words long, because I would gobble it up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The amount of worldbuilding in so few words is incredible, and I love the way it all ties back into canon. Definitely check this one out, it's amazing!

Behind the Mask by gottalovev

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 8,156 Tags: Multiverse, Identity Porn, Hurt/Comfort

Summary: The circumstances on how Tony met Captain Steve Rogers on the eve of Operation Rebirth were strange enough, but the captain's secrets have secrets, and it's driving Tony crazy.

Reasons why I love it: Aaaah, the reveal of which Steve Rogers we're dealing with here is so good! I love how well the two multiverses merge together, and the smut at the end was a nice bonus on top of an incredible story. I hope you check this one out, because it's amazing!

Tony Stark and the Amazonian Adventure by valdomarx

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 5,541 Tags: Pre-Serum Steve, Adventurer Tony, Developing Relationship

Summary: Steve may be a skinny city boy, but he's determined to prove he can keep up with the great adventurer Tony Stark. They're heading deep into the Amazon rainforest to hunt down an ancient statue rumored to posses dark powers. Steve's prepared for the gargantuan insects, dangerous ravines, and crumbling ancient temples. What he isn't prepared for is his feelings about Tony.

Reasons why I love it: This fic gives me major Indiana Jones vibes, and it's everything I ever wanted! The setting and atmosphere are so good, and I can't blame Steve for falling head over heels for Tony. He truly is a dashing rake. This fic is wonderful, and you should definitely read it!

Like A House on Fire by Neverever

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 4,856 Tags: Meet-Cute, Parties, Spies & Secret Agents

Summary: Bored and restless, Tony Stark goes to a party and meets Roger Stevens. Who turns out to be nothing like Tony expected.

Reasons why I love it: The banted between Steve and Tony is impeccable. I love the whole buddy cop energy they've got going on, and the ending makes me want to read a million more words in this universe, it's so good. If you haven't read this one yet, you're seriously missing out, so get right on it!

[wellcollapse]

wip wednesday (thursday?)

thank you @captain-hen for tagging me 🥰

here's a snippet from the buddie roommates slash madney wedding planning slash evan buckley bisexual awakening fic!!

Once Chris finishes his cake, he looks over at Eddie and Eddie wordlessly slides over his own piece. But Chris doesn’t take it, his fork hovering in midair above the plate.  It’s instinct, to want to immediately ask what’s wrong, and it takes every fiber in Eddie’s being not to overwhelm him when he looks like he’s working up to something.   “Dad?” Christopher finally says, twisting in his mouth in an uncomfortable expression that reminds Eddie painfully of Shannon. He presses two fingers to the ever-persistent ache over his heart before tilting his head and gesturing for Chris to go on. Christopher points to the corner of the garden, right behind their makeshift dance floor, where Buck is standing there gazing blankly ahead, arms crossed and eyes vacant. “He looks really upset,” Christopher comments softly.  Eddie exhales, not knowing whether he should thank or curse the EMS gods or whatever other heavenly figure that Eddie doesn’t believe in that he somehow ended up with the most perceptive kid on the planet. “I know, buddy, I know.” Eddie sighs, leaning forward and brushing a hand through Christopher’s hair. “I’m not sure I’m the right person to help, though.”  Christopher turns that look on him, the one that ages him two decades and is a stark reminder that at age twelve, Christopher’s been through more than most people would experience in a lifetime. His voice is gentle and firm and all-knowing at the same time when he places a hand on Eddie’s arm, and says, “You can try.” 

tagging (pre-emptively for next week since i'm late) @housewifebuck @basiltonpitch @shitouttabuck @diazblunt and anyone else who wants to do this :)

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Hey look friend's material

by Speechless_since_1998 "Bruce, I made a friend!" “That's wonderful, buddy,” Bruce said, as he examined the documents he had on the kitchen counter. The coffee was now cold in front of him, but sooner or later Bruce will drink it, if only as an involuntary gesture. “He's amazing,” Tim continued, excited. “Mhm mmhm…” “He is really smart. “ “Mmmhm…” “He doesn't think I'm weird. Well, maybe a little, but he likes that I'm different! Just like him!” “Mhmhm…” “And he's also a clone of Superman! But he's cooler! ” “Wonderful…Wait, he is what?!” Words: 1174, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, Kon-El | Conner Kent Relationships: Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Alfred Pennyworth Additional Tags: Kid Fic, Tim Drake Joins the Batfamily Early, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Kid Tim Drake, Kid Kon-El | Conner Kent, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Father-Son Relationship, Gen or Pre-Slash, Cute Ending, Meet-Cute, Cute Kids, Friendship/Love, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff via https://ift.tt/seR8CTZ