#sorry about the tmmy face

[sadgayeddie]

[paperyowl]

Saltommy, T-Rated, Protective

+++

Tommy looked up, and he saw the moment that Sal's face changed. Something made his eyes grow icy cold. The sight made Tommy's heart stutter and his breath catch. It didn't suit Sal one bit.

He was halfway across the scene before Gerrad's shout of 'Come back here, Kinard' even registered. But it hardly mattered. Tommy had only one goal, and he never even paused before he was right by Sal's side, shoulder to shoulder, facing off against one of the bystanders of a car crash that had resulted in miraculously mild injuries.

"Sir," Sal said through clenched teeth, squaring his shoulders in a way that lined his body up with Tommy. His tone belied the politeness of the words, cloyingly sweet and sounding patronizing. "Would you please step back?"

In a man who swore with every other breath, always lining up sarcastic replies and constantly speaking with the kind of voice that made the impossible heat in him unmistakable, this kind of attitude was scary. Tommy had to lock his knees to avoid reacting physically. He knew Sal well, some days better than he knew himself - and he'd never met this version of him.

The elderly man standing across from them scoffed - and Tommy didn't understand how he couldn't see the eruption waiting to happen, how he didn't cower in the face of hell-frozen-over-kind-of fury barely kept in check.

Tommy knew he wanted to flinch from it and give Sal space. But he needed to stay because he had to try to defuse this. Before Sal ended up self-destructing.

"Sal," Tommy said, willing himself to breathe the warmth back into him. It wasn't a call back home; Tommy didn't have the right. But he imagined that's what his voice sounded like: "Come on, let's go."

Like a mad person, the bystander drew a breath as if to speak. Ironically, it was Tommy who snapped, focusing on this absolute idiot of a person.

"Shut up."

He said it in a way that left no room for argument. It certainly left the bystander speechless. To Tommy's surprise, Sal immediately moved with the gentle suggestion of a pull at his arm. After they'd turned and started walking back to the engine, Tommy was vaguely aware of the man yelling behind them and, a minute later, of Gerrad reprimanding him for not reacting to his earlier call.

"Sorry, Captain."  

He wasn't proud of it, but Tommy knew what he could get away with and made use of that knowledge. Tommy had an inkling that the worst he had to fear was a few shifts as the man behind. (He was lucky Gerrad hadn't heard any of the words exchanged.) No part of him cared.

What Tommy did wonder about was the way Sal stared at him in the engine, all quiet and vaguely wonderous. Even some banter between Howie and someone who'd filled in from B-shift didn't deter Sal's focus. Tommy didn't linger - but he knew that he'd eventually end up alone with Sal.

He was proven right, too, when Sal finally corned Tommy in the locker near the end of their shift. Tommy half expected Sal to berate him. Maybe he would raise his voice a little, or he'd-

"You didn't hear what he said," Sal stated, like the conversation had started somewhere earlier and Tommy had missed it. This wasn't what he had expected. Tmmy shook his head. No, he hadn't heard.

"How did you know? That he said something shitty?"

"Your eyes," Tommy responded, probably too fast.

Sal raised an eyebrow. While they were alone, he wouldn't even give Tommy shit about his phrasing - and wasn't there a whole other layer of undiscovered demons in that fact alone? - but he waited Tommy out instead. They'd grown to know each other well.

"You're eyes were... they were so cold."

Tommy didn't look at Sal when he said it, focusing on a spot somewhere over his shoulder. He didn't want to see if that was some sort of betrayal in Sal's book, whether he was angry at Tommy after all.

"Aren't you going to ask?"

Tommy shrugged. " Figured you'd tell me if you wanted me to know."

Sal was in his space in a flurry of movement, making Tommy draw in a breath when he realized that they stood too close for him to look anywhere but right back at Sal without dropping his eyes. Sal held onto Tommy with a hand just above his elbow.

"I'm not going to repeat it," Sal said, vaguely furious, entirely protective. "He was just jealous of how hot you are."

The words startled a laugh out of Tommy - or they would have if Sal hadn't swallowed the noise in a kiss that spelt out a truth that Tommy had only been able to guess at before. Like this, Sal was all heat.

[lover-of-mine]

Need to mention this cause i think i didnt see anyone mention it. Theres one still (both really but one is more obvious) where tmmy is looking down at buck. That striked me as a very literal metaphor.

Oh, but honey I am SO with you. There's something about the way Buck looks up at his love interests while in crisis, and to see that made me go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because they are making something about their dynamic clear in a metaphorical way. And to have that moment where he's looking up at Tommy is interesting. Especially because it hasn't happened before, they tend to be on the same level, so they are misaligning here. Especially if Tommy is weirded out by the boils on Buck's face, this could be interesting, because it is another moment where Buck is vulnerable where he's not meeting Buck.

And I need to make this about buddie, sorry. A problem with buddie was that Buck looks up at Eddie when he's emotionally vulnerable, but if the conversation is about Eddie, they are on the same level. It's a bad pattern that they started to break during season 7, we got Eddie looking up at Buck and then them on the same level while Buck is feeling vulnerable with the coming out scene.

I wrote about 28472348097 metas on this but I have a point I promise, the buddie still intrigues me because I can't figure out why would they be shaking hands, so I'm kinda wondering if this isn't Eddie helping Buck up.

Which could be fun to play with it considering Eddie seems to be going all medic on Buck, to have Eddie take care of him and then "lift" him up, it would be symbolic in many ways to show that contrast. Sorry, I got lost in the sauce, I'm 100% with you, it does seem like the looking down on Buck is literal.

[saveahorserideaneddie]

God I wish I could be positive like other anons that said that for them 7x04 is the biggest confirmation buddie is happening. Please ignore this if you don’t feel like consoling me about my pessimist rant. I was optimistic but 7x04 made me a pessimist.

I just keep thinking “if 7x04 was supposed to be about buddie why was not about buddie?

Let me explain: it was the perfect setup for starting buddie. You know how it’s a bait and switch. They could have just not switched. They could have had Eddie go to buck instead of Tmmy and have Eddie say “you’re irreplaceable” which would have been much more meaningful and then “you know I can have more than a friend, right?” And buck could have said “maybe i don’t wanna be your friend” and boom you have bisexual buck and can get rid of that old ugly man.

It was the perfect setup, you need to change literally ONE SCENE. I literally can’t find a reason why they didn’t do it. My BFF said “they couldn’t make them come out at the same time” but they wouldn’t have. Eddie could have rejected him and then spend s7 coming to terms with his feelings instead of the shit that happened. I don’t believe in the “it’s cuz it’s a slow burn” theory because 6 years is slow enough. I wanna be a truther so bad but ever since 7x04 I’ve been slowly losing hope.

I flip flop between being optimistic and pessimistic… to me i can see the vision of whst they were *trying* to do with 7x4 but with no chemistry and one of the actors being so inept at their job it just fell completely flat… it felt unearned in a way bc we have seen buck and eddie interracting for 6 years, and the entire episode was centered around buck pining for eddie’s attention (im sorry, there is not way any of what buck did in that episode was out of any interest in Timmy Turner) just to throw the curveball at the end. The point of a bait and switch is thay the switch has to be believable, and earned— but it wasn’t because you spent the entire episode talking about eddie. Why not have buck’s jealousy be solely “oh i hate Tylenol, he’s so ughh and i hate him and i can’t stand him” bc if it had been that i would be more inclined to believe that buck had some sort of unconscious interest in him.

but that’s not what they did, they made him go gaga over eddie the entire episode.

another thing they could have done to make the switch effective is actually given Tuberculosis a role within the episode other thsn to show up and kiss buck… like showcase him and buck interacting more… build sublte tension there that makes it believable that buck is attracted to him… don’t just shove him in a corner and leave him collecting dust (don’t get me wrong i am NOT campaigning for them giving that man more screentime in fact i want that man off my screen as soon as possible which should have been the end of 7x3)

so from a narrative standpoint… to have eddie so intrinsically linked to Buck’s emotional arc in 7x4, i can absolutely see the vision of trying to do the whole misplaced feelings thing… even if they didn’t stick the landing at all bc lfj’s face is so stiff from all the botox that he can’t emote to save his life.

to me where things start to fall apart is after 7x4…. they had the perfect opportunity for buck to have his arc in 7x5, “mess things up with Tiramisu” (even though i fully side with buck in everything that happened on that date, like bffr) and then end the episode with them deciding to no longer pursue a relationship because they want different things (buck wants a relationship but is still new to this, Tire-Iron is old af and just wants a boytoy) and have them part ways… but they decided to double down on the relationship, having Buck invite a man he has known for 5 minutes to his sister’s wedding and then proceeded to make the wedding about buck??? that’s where the writers truly lost me. especially after they spent the first part of that ep establishing that Tricycle is nothing but dismissive and condescending to Buck just to make the whole wedding scene about them??? there was no need for that cringe-ass kiss (even if it had been a buddie plot point that kiss would have made me cringe bc the way it was written was so fuckin corny and also we waited too damn long for the madney wedding for it to be about someone else).

then ofc there’s the medal ceremony where we once again see Tuberculosis being dismissive of buck, and then 7x10 where he steamrolls over buck trying to have a meaningful conversation for him to just make a fucking sex joke…..

like i keep flip flopping back and forth bc i KNOW that T-rex has no substance as a character and no personality whatsoever beyond kissing buck, but i don’t understand why they’ve kept him around this long? There were plenty of opportunities to end things between them… 7x10 had a golden opportunity to solidify buck prioritizing bobby/eddie over his relationship and having Trampoline get upset and move on?? 7x9 could have had Bobby tell buck that he didn’t think Tablecloth was a good partner for him, comparing her to Abby and Taylor.

He was nowhere to be SEEN in 7x7

There could have been a moment in 7x6 where Eddie and Buck had a heart to heart (not even to make buddie go canon in that ep, but for eddie to point out that Truckstop doesn’t seem all that interested in him— hell or even hav HEN do it??)

After the entirety of 7b my trust in Tim has dwindled down so severely that I genuinely am trying not to form any expectations from s8… like i am fully prepared to just be disappointed again.

That being said I do think there is still so much potential for them to fix the mess quickly if they actually put in the time and effort… my issue is that idk if I trust them to fix the mess or just make it worse.

Plus if the same thing happens with s8 as s7 where they get renewed early on, that runs the risk of Tim changing the story yet again and dragging out plot points that don’t need to be dragged out.

Like it has fully been 6 seasons. Booth and Brennan were together by then, there is no reason buddie needs another full season…. especially after they’ve given themselves yet another wide open road to give us eddie coming to terms with his feelings; whether they go down that route or try to rehash shannon again is yet to be seen…

i saw someone else on here say something (and i cannot for the life of me remember who said it so full credit to that person for this quote) but it was along the lines of (and this is SEVERELY paraphrased) “tim made the choice to kill of shannon. if you wanted her to still be around then you shouldn’t have killed her. you made the choice, so stick with it.” and i feel like that applies to a LOT of the character regression/retconning we saw in s7

so i’m still in that boat of until they actually make the show good again, I’m gonna sit and wait because it’s not worth getting my hopes up and stressed about something that may not even happen bc the writers love toying either our emotions more than they love telling the story the way they themse have set it up to be told.

(also this applies to the show as a whole, not just buddie, there were so many plotlines in s7 that just careened into the realm of melodramatic soap opera to me in a way that was so ooc for the show… what happened to the little procedural dramedy? why is the cartel here committing arson? why are there pirates attacking a cruise ship in an arc that lasts all of 5 minutes? i miss the s2/3/4 era so badly (yes, say what you will about s4 but i enjoyed that season) and i really thought we were going to be getting that back in s7 (and pirate plot aside, eps 1-3 showed promise, and tbh aside from the kiss at the end 7x6 is one of my favorite episodes of the show in general, but as far as the season as a whole it just fell so flat for me)

[thesunandmoonmakeone]

JUST MY 2 CENTS

It’s truly amazing how they think and created all those HCs about #that couple. Like if that’s what you want, by all means do so. But to treat it like it’s canon? NO WAY. The way buddies do the same yet we get policed over it??? The way they act like buck is this idiot character who was “saved” by tmmy the talking tree trunk. And how tmmy is this “big protector”. Literally every time i see these takes, i ask myself, are these scenes not airing on my tv?like when they say “he was considerate of bucks feelings" when we know that’s not the case. Otherwise why lead him on during the date? Tmmy was out the moment buck made the “cool chicks” comment. Like why be petty and make the “joke" "Guess you can never have enough closet space. Ain't that the truth, right, Evan?" LIKE YOURSELF were hiding who you were? And here you are almost outing him? Thats your protector? “This is my first date with a dude”. Really tmmy didn’t clock it.. what 30yr says dude?? To lead him on and not tell him until basically opening the car door and immediately after leaving the restaurant you order it? Giving no indication you were done? Or during the date itself? I wonder why we didn’t see the continuation of the date? Reminded me and buck and Natalia first dare. For them to say this man is "so confident” we are yet to see this? In what way is he confident? In his sexuality?Obviously not lol. Well, in his job? If that’s that makes him confident then…… Then they made BUCK apologize because he wasn’t ready to come out to his best friend… The way they sped run the relationship by inviting him to his sisters wedding? I’m Sorry but you JUST CAME OUT. Has it even been 48hrs? This is a fictional show to which they could have made tmmy be a part of the bachelor party or the search rescue. Now that i think of it, what did the bachelor party serve in connection with the rest of the episode? We know they cut 30minutes of the episodes… i wonder what they cut???? Literally they could have made the medal scene be sweet and warm but it’s “enjoy it while it lasts”. REALLY? do we remember how buck wanted to have a medal and what it meant to him? They could have made them at least act like a couple… you wouldn’t even be able to tell they were dating if you didn’t watch the previous episodes. The dinner scene? The “daddy joke”. Like. Do they even care about this relationship. For for the love of god, you are allow to dislike a queer couple and queer character. Stop shielding them. They are allowed the same criticism. It’s not homophobic to hate tmmy or hate the relationship.

Imagine calling Eddie a "straight man" who still has grief over wife… how long has it been? They go on to say "this is why Eddie has to perform on dates" and "he never had to be with anything with Shannon expect himself". "He never had to be anything with Shannon expect himself". Simply where was this? What flashbacks and scenes with Shannon did you watch where Eddie was himself? Was it when he enlisted Shannon without telling her the FIRST TIME? Or was it THE SECOND time. Or was it after Eddie was discharged from the hospital and we got to see their life before Shannon left? Better yet, do you even remember why Shannon left and how he TREATED her. Shannon’s words, i don’t need a PROVIDER. “Eddie now has to realize he is enough. For Chris, for himself and for others". Isn't this bucks coma dream? Him realizing he's enough. Coma buck said to Bobby "I matter here" and Bobby responding with "you haven't learned a damn thing"." They went on to say “The only person we don't see or hear in the coma is Eddie." They continued “it's because buck sees Eddie as a brother. And buck faced off Daniel and himself, Because Daniel is the brother he couldn't save. The brother he never had. Eddie is also the brother he never had yet has saved" the whole point of the dream, was about buck. It was never about anyone else but himself. The dream literally is that. A dream. A life with loving parents/family and one where Daniel lived. This is if buck never had the life he did hence never meeting the 118. That's why Eddie isn't there. It's literally explained. If buck never goes and becomes a firefighter, he never meets Eddie. Buck is the Eddie gets in touch with Carla. Remember the flashback in Eddie begins? His parents basically shaming Eddie and saying "who's gonna watch Christopher while you’re at work". If Eddie never meets buck, he never meets Carla. That's why he's in Texas in the dream. He lost his custody because buck wasn't there, and therefore Eddie never got the help. I can’t with this narrative that “buddie is never going to happen” because for 6 seasons it was “queer buck is never going to happen” and look where we are now. I’m sick and tired of this superiority complex. Like, you’re making bucks bi arc about Timmy instead of buck himself. Oliver admitted bi buck was shot down in s4. He had to wait another 3 seasons for bibuck to happen. Were the same people saying “bi buck will never happen” during those times, now saying buddie will never happen 🫢🫢🫢 if so; that’s fucking crazy and sad. You never cared about buddie and the family that we have been graced with on our screen. The 6 years of content. Let’s not forget, bi buck this season was an afterthought. It was gonna be a continuation of Buck and Natalia. And then when the actress couldn’t come back, it was gonna be Buck and Lucy. And then Tmmy and Eddie. And then FINALLY we got Buck and Tmmy.

[bedfordxx]

i want ppl to understand more the idea of eddie being gay even more bc he was always pressure into dating women by everyone in his life and in every relationship he was basically trapped in a way?

that’s how buck and eddie’s sexuality feels different, besides him “clearly” (hc )being demisexual. since the “they were not my type” scene he told us that WOMEN are not his type, while looking at buck for like 4 seconds. and buck was like “yeah mine either, not anymore” okay bisexual

his relationships shows us that he just doesn’t want to be there, he literally performs with them even when they are a month or so dating. not just first date. he doesn’t show his real self, he isn’t open with them. i truly hate to see him w women not just because he’s gay but because they are way too good for him, he just needs to leave them alone.

ofc this could also just be because of the fact that writers always write friendships more carefully and they are always more complex than actual canon relationships especially if they are m/m, but they wrote eddie so gay coded even if you take buck out of the picture for a sec you can see that. and if we’re gonna talk about buddie the constant parallel with couples of the show or just other movies/ stuff its just annoying if you want to deny or just say “we don’t wanna be accused of queerbaiting” then stop? paralleling ? canon? couples?

i’m an eddie stan first, human second so if i don’t get gay eddie it will be the dumbest thing ever but i just need them to leave him be to have his own sl but tthe fact is they’ve opened a door they will never be able to close.

huh, okay ? competition? are you? i’m sorry there’s no turning back in the gay eddie or buddie agenda after that ep i fear even more w us having 3 episodes basically screaming at our faces that EDDIE IS IN FACT GAY

buck saying “i didn’t mean to out you” to who? yeah eddie.

priest saying “i think you’re denying yourself because you don’t feel worthy RIGHT NOW” they had a “im straight’’ scene ffs

tmmy laughing at the idea of eddie being straight, and seeing him as competition? sir you’re not even in the picture if you think you’re competing with eddie diaz,you need to be checked