#the first thing they ask you when you interview at the 118 is how is your relationship with your father

[crookedkingdom]

bobby dealing with his daddy issues by collecting firefighters with daddy issues and aggressively fathering them

[callsign-dexter]

Heartfelt Introductions

Summary: After 3 dates Buck thinks it's time to tell his boyfriend, Tommy Kinard, about his 5-year-old daughter, you. Much to Buck's surprise he wants to meet you that night.

Pairings: Evan Buckley x Daughter!Reader, Evan Buckley x Tommy Kinard

Warnings: slight angst, fluff

Firecracker

Masterlist

Buck was nervous and that was understandable, he was going out on a third date with a guy he really liked. He has pretty much told this guy everything about him but one thing, more like one person. You. His 5-year-old daughter who was a spitting image of him. Each time they went on a date they either met each other or took Tommy's car. Buck was scared that if he told Tommy about you then he would run off like everyone else. The truth was that Tommy loved kids and loved when dates had kids because it just showed how strong they were at raising a kid in a one-parent household. Buck didn't know how to bring it up.

Tommy had asked Buck on a third date after work and Buck eagerly agreed. They had just come back from a huge accident on the freeway. Everyone was exhausted and ready to go home. Buck was ready to go get you from school and spend the rest of the night playing games and cuddling you, just that thought brought a smile to his face. He had just changed out of his gear and headed up to the kitchen when Tommy was calling his name. Buck stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned and smiled when he saw his boyfriend coming up to him. He had been temporarily stationed at the 118 while they were a man down since they went on paternity leave. "Hey." Buck smiled.

"Hey, do you have plans for tomorrow night?" Tommy asked

"I haven't really planned on anything. What's up?" Buck asked

"I want to take you out on a date." He told him and Buck smiled.

"I would love that. What time are you planning on?" Buck asked

"7 PM?" Tommy asked

"That sounds perfect." Buck said and Tommy smiled. "I'm about to grab something to eat. Want anything?" He asked and Tommy continued to smile and nod his head.

"Actually I do." He said and Buck smiled and then they were climbing the stairs into the kitchen. The rest of the evening was spent together lounging around with each other being all boyfriend and boyfriend and hanging around with the team. Nobody said anything because they were just happy to see Buck finally happy and flourishing.

The end of their shift finally ended as they got back from a call and it was late. Everyone was exhausted and they were ready to be in their own bed with their loved ones. Buck was exhausted and his whole body hurt, he was doing a lot of heavy lifting on the last call and it took a toll on him although he should be used to it because he was picking you up non-stop and he trained for this. As he finished changing and was grabbing his bag Eddie was beside him "So you have any plans when you go home?" He asked and Buck turned to his best friend and smiled.

"Yea I do. I'm going to go and pick up Y/N and just cuddle her all night long." Buck said and Eddie smiled. Often times when Buck was at work and Maddie had the time off when she moved here she was watching you and other times you were left with someone Buck and Maddie interviewed thoroughly and felt like they could trust them.

When the 118 learned that Buck was a father to you they were shocked.

Bobby was the first one to know and that is because he was the one Buck was calling freaking out when your mom left, you were only a few days old when it happened. He was the captain so he had to know and often Buck would go to him for advice when he couldn't get you settled. Bobby was shocked that Buck fathered an offspring but he kind of expected it to happen at some point.

"I heard Y/N's name. How is the little Firecracker?" Hen asked as she came up to them. You were introduced to the team slowly the rest of the team was introduced to you and they all agreed that you were a spitting image of Buck and you were a little firecracker. You had gotten the nickname Firecracker because of your personality which you had gotten from Buck.

"She's great. Growing like a weed. So much energy." He said and they chuckled.

"Sounds like someone else we know." Hen chuckled and Buck rolled his eyes but smirked. "She's a great kid really. If your babysitter and Maddie can't babysit Karen and I would love to do it. Karen, Denny, and I love her." She added and Buck smiled.

"I really appreciate that." Buck said as they all began to file out of the locker rooms and towards their cars as they walked they chatted.

Hen was the second person to know you were 4-years-old. Buck had been working and was informed that his babysitter, Carla Price, couldn't babysit you the next day and he had an important appointment to go to. He was going on about it to Bobby and usually, he would offer to watch you but he couldn't that day. Hen just happened to be walking by and overheard the conversation she was quick to offer her and Karen's assistance. Buck thanked her profusely and she just smiled and chuckled telling him it wasn't a problem he showed her pictures and told her all about you. That afternoon he took you over there to them and it was an instant connection with Karen, Hen, Denny, and you. Buck knew he could trust the family and it was a major relief.

"Does Tommy know about Y/N?" Chimney asked as he caught up with Buck he had caught the tail end of the conversation.

"No he doesn't but I'm planning on telling him tomorrow night when we go to dinner." Buck said as he opened his driver's side back door and put his bag in. He caught sight of your car seat and he instantly felt better knowing he was coming home to you.

"I remember the first time meeting her. I was shocked but she's so adorable." Chimney said and Buck smiled.

"Thank you." Buck said

Chimney was the third person to find out. He had recently started to date Maddie. He had come over to her place for a night in. When he got there he walked to the door and knocked he wasn't expecting Buck to be there but wasn't surprised. They talked and he welcomed him in. You shouted "Daddy, save me!" and tackled Buck's legs and practically climbed up him to get away from Maddie who was attempting to clean you up. Chimney looked at Buck surprised and he explained everything as Maddie cleaned you up. They weren't expecting to babysit but Buck had something to do that night and begged Maddie to watch you and she agreed. You reminded Chimney of Buck and you looked like him so much that it was scary to him but then again he was your father so it made sense. You and Chimney quickly became best buds.

"How are you going to bring it up?" Eddie asked and Buck turned to his best friend.

"I'm not sure yet." Buck said as they all stood around and talked.

Eddie was the last to know since he was the last one to join. Right off the bat he could tell that Buck was a father he just had the look and the way he cared for children on calls just screamed dad. Eddie met you at a firehouse cookout, Buck had been a few minutes late because you were putting up a fight but eventually pouted and let him dress you. You pouted all the way to the cookout but when you got out and he took you to everyone you instantly lit up. You excitedly greeted everyone and then you met Eddie and Christopher and just like Hen, Karen, and Denny a bond was formed and you quickly learned you could trust the father and son duo. From time to time Eddie would babysit you without a fuss.

"Hey guys." Tommy's voice came through and everyone smiled at him and greeted him and they were quickly saying their goodbyes and now it was just him and Buck. "I was thinking we could go to the new Thai place downtown close to the prier. I know who much you like Thai." Tommy said and Buck smiled he really did pay attention to what Buck had said.

"Yea, I would love to go there. Been wanting to try it for a while now but never get a chance to." Buck said and Tommy smiled.

"Well now is your chance. Pick you up 6:30 PM?" He asked and Buck nodded and smiled.

"That would be perfect." Buck said and then they were both leaning in and kissing each other. Once air was needed the let up and both of them were smiling. "I love you." He added.

"I love you too. Be safe going home. Let me know when you're home." Tommy said

"I will as long as you be safe and le me know." Buck said

"You know I will." Tommy said and then they were kissing one more time and then they were getting in their vehicles and heading home. Buck to pick you up and then home and Tommy directly home. Buck couldn't wait to see you and cuddle you after being gone for 2 days and he was looking forward to his date.

He finally arrived at Maddie's to pick you up and take you home. Chimney had beaten him there so when Buck parked and walked to the door and rang the doorbell he was answering it. "Wondering when you were going to get here." Chimney joked and he Buck rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Tommy and I got to talking." Buck said as Chimney let him in and took him to the living room where Maddie was packing your stuff up. "Where is she?" Buck asked looking around.

"She's asleep. Fell asleep during dinner and figured I would just put her in bed until you got here." Maddie said and Buck smiled.

"Thank you, for everything." Buck said as he helped her and started to get things ready to go home. Chimney had walked out of the room to get you from the room.

"No need to thank me. We love watching her." Maddie said as Chimney walked in carrying a sleeping you and Buck smiled.

"There she is." Buck said walking over and taking you from the other man's arms your face scrunched up but you didn't wake, you must've sensed you were in your father's arms because you snuggled into his neck and settled down. Maddie was watching the encounter smiling, she was shocked when she learned that Buck had a kid but knew that the sleeping around would catch up to him at least it was with a girlfriend and not some random chick. "Alright lets get you home." Buck said speaking softly to you as he grabbed your things and headed to the front door with the other two adults following. They followed him out to his Jeep where he skillfully put everything away and then you into your car seat all without waking you up. Buck thanked his sister and brother-in-law again and hugged them and they said their goodbyes. He got into his Jeep and then he was heading home.

A short quick trip home and Buck was parking his Jeep in the parking lot. He would get your stuff later but right now he just wanted to get you into your bed and then fall into his bed. He once again got you out the car skillfully and quietly without waking you up. You squirmed and threw your arms around your father. "Daddy?" You mumbled in your seleep.

"Yes, Baby?" He asked

"Home?" You asked and he smiled and kissed the side of your head.

"Yea, Baby we are home." He said and you tightened your grip and fell back to sleep. He walked into the house after unlocking it, he took you to your room and laid you down thankfully Maddie had changed you into pajamas when she was babysitting you. He laid you down and pulled the covers over you, he then gave you kiss on your hairline and then he was walking out of your room to his room. He got ready for bed and then climbed into it thinking of the events and the upcoming date with Tommy while falling asleep with a smile.

--------

The next morning Buck was sleeping peacefully when something started to poke his face around 10 AM. It was annoying but maybe if he ignored it then it'll go away. After a minute it was working until a tiny well known voice started to speak into his ear. "Daddy." You said and he moved but made no move to wake up he heard you huff annoyed and mentally he smiled. "Daddy. I'm hungry." You said with more force and he opened his eyes. "About time." You said with sass and he couldn't help but chuckle, you were definitely his kid.

"Alright I'm up. What would you like to eat?" He asked sitting up to face you.

"Waffles!" You excitedly and he smiled and chuckled.

"Ok, waffles it is." He said moving to get up and you did the same. You followed him to the kitchen where he started to get the waffle maker out. He then got the batter out "Can you get out the milk and eggs out, please?" He asked and your eyes lit up and nodded your head enthusiastically you always loved when he asked you to help make food or help out in general.

"I can!" You said and hurriedly ran to the fridge and got what you needed as he supervised you ready to help when you needed. The look of concentration on your face was so cute and he had to smile and chuckle because he did the same thing and anybody would agree with that. You walked the milk over to him and handed it to him and then went back for the eggs when they were out you closed the fridge and took them over to him.

"Thank you, Baby Girl." He said as he took the eggs from you and you smiled.

"You're welcome, Daddy." You said and then the task of making waffles continued. Buck put on music softly in the background laughter, fun, and memories were being made this would be something you would remember and cherish for a long time. Soon the food was made and breakfast was eaten.

"So what do you want to do this afternoon?" Buck asked as he took the last bite of his waffles and you pulled a face that he does when he was thinking.

"I wanna go to the park with Uncle Eddie and Christopher." You say after a minute of thinking and Buck smiles. You mainly wanted to see Christopher and Buck knew this.

"I think they would love to see you." He said as he pulled out his phone and sent a text off to Eddie to see if he wanted to go. He instantly got a message back saying they would love to go. Buck was so happy when you quickly warmed up to Eddie and Christopher and it was probably because you could sense that Eddie and Buck were best friends. "Well it looks like we will be meeting them at the park." Buck said looking up at you and he could see your eyes light up.

"Yay!" You said

"Finish your breakfast and we'll get ready to go." Buck said and you nodded and started to shovel food in. "Whoa whoa slow down and take your time." He said and was glad when you listened to him. When you had finished he took the dishes and then sending you off to get ready as he went to get ready himself and prepared some snacks for everyone. When he checked on you and saw that you were good he then he went and grabbed your bags and his bag out of the car. He walked back into the house as you were coming out of your room.

"Ready, Daddy." You said and he smiled as he set bags down. You actually dressed yourself and it actually matched.

"I see that. Let me grab the food and we can go." He said and did just that and then the two of you were off to the park to meet Eddie and Christopher. The drive to the park wasn't that far and he could see Eddie's truck already there. He parked next to it and was getting out as Eddie and Christopher was walking over to them.

"Uncle Eddie!" You screeched as you were set down by your dad and took off towards him. Buck would've scolded you but seeing that it was Eddie he didn't he also knew Eddie would do it.

"Hey there Mini Buck." He said and picked you up. "You know you're not supposed to run off from your dad right? Even if it is me." He asked and you nodded and looked down.

"I'm sorry." You said and he hugged you and kissed your head.

"It's ok. Next time wait, ok?" He asked and you nodded.

"Ok." You said and then he was setting you down. You saw Christopher and got excited and hugged him the best you could as Buck came over.

"Long time no see." Eddie joked and Buck rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Nice to see you." Buck said and both men chuckled and they were following you and Christopher as the two of you took off and started playing together. You didn't care that he had crutches you both had fun together. The two fathers took a seat on the bench to keep an eye on the two of you and that gave them a chance to talk.

"So you have a date tonight?" Eddie said smiling and nudged his best friend.

"I do. Speaking of that. I need someone to watch Y/N tonight." Buck said and Eddie didn't even hesitate.

"You don't even have to ask. I would love to watch her." Eddie said and Buck looked relived as they both looked up when they heard you squeal. You were laughing as you and Christopher chased each other and that made the fathers smile. "So, when are you going to tell Tommy about Y/N?" He asked.

"I'm planning on telling him tonight. I just don't know if it should be before or after." Buck said and Eddie nodded turning to look at his friend watching you and Christopher.

"Want my opinion?" Eddie asked

"Please." Buck said turning to look at him.

"Tell him during dinner and introduce him after you get home. It'll give him time to process everything and prepare himself. You already know that she does well with meeting new people. She also picks up on your energy if you like someone she'll pick up on that and accept them easier, that is what happened when you introduced her to us." Eddie said and Buck nodded he knew Eddie was right and he trusted his best friend.

"Daddy, daddy!" You yelled out and he turned to look over as you rushed over to him.

"What is it, Baby?" He asked

"I thirsty." You said and he chuckled and pulled out a drink for you and handed it to you. Christopher wasn't too far behind you and he was getting one ready for him. You both drank happily and then the two of you were off again.

"You're just prepared for anything aren't ya?" Eddie asked smirking.

"Can't blame me." Buck said

"You got me there." Eddie said. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the park and then the 4 of you were heading to a little restaurant/bakery. After lunch you and your dad were heading home and Eddie and Christopher were heading home. Arrangements were made that Eddie was going to pick you up an hour before the date so Buck could pick up the house and make it tidy.

As the time was ticking closer for Tommy to be there to pick Buck up, Buck was getting nervous. Nervous about going out with him, nervous about bringing you up to the guy he really liked, and nervous about the meeting if it came to that. Eddie had come and picked you up around 5:30 PM and it was planned to bring you back to the house so you could be there when your father got home. He was almost done with the house and himself just as 6:30 PM there was a knock on the door and Buck was rushing to get it. He opened the door and there stood Tommy. "Hey." Buck said opening the door further and motioning him in and Tommy walked in taking in everything.

"Hey." Tommy said and looked over at Buck.

"I just need to do something real fast and then I'll be ready to go. I'm sorry." Buck said and Tommy smiled and shook his head.

"Evan, it is ok. Do what you need to do." Tommy said and Buck was instantly relieved.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Buck said and kissed him and then rushed off. Tommy chuckled and walked into the living room where he saw multiple kid's toys and then a photograph caught his eye. It was of Buck in his gear kneeling down and you were in a white dress with pigtails and you were kissing him, it made Tommy's heart swelled and made him smile. He got to noticing all the other pictures and they were mainly of you and Buck no mother in the picture anywhere. Tommy just smiled and wondered why Buck hadn't mentioned you but he understood it and wasn't going to push him into talking about you to him until he is ready. Having a kid was always a deal breaker and he understood that Buck wanted to make sure this was a serious thing before he brought anyone into your life. "Sorry are you ready to go?" Buck asked and Tommy turned to look at him and smiled.

"Right after you." Tommy said and so both men walked out of the house and to Tommy's car. As they started to head to the restaurant it was quiet but it was a comfortable quiet. Small talk was made and filled the car along with music playing softly in the background. Tommy was waiting for you to be brought up but he wasn't going to push the topic if Buck wasn't ready.

They got to the restaurant and Tommy parked and both men got out and walked to the building. Both of them walked in and Tommy went up to the stand and gave them his name and they were going to be seated almost instantly. They were seated near the back near a window looking out over the ocean, it was romantic. "I really love this place so far." Buck said and Tommy smiled.

"I'm glad you do because so do I." Tommy said. A waiter came by and took their order for drinks and he was quick to bring them back. That gave them enough time to look over the menu and then when the drinks came they gave him the order. Tommy could tell something was making Buck nervous but he wasn't going to make push it. Tommy tried to take Buck's mind off being nervous and it worked some as they talked about anything and everything. Food was brought out and they ate and when they were too full to finish their food they got to-go boxes. They did fight over the check but Tommy beat him to it.

"I need to tell you something." Buck said as Tommy finished signing his name and he looked up.

"You can tell me anything. I'm here for you Evan." Tommy said turning his full attention to the man in front of him. Buck took a deep breath and tried to still his fast beating heart.

"I have a 5-year-old kid. A daughter." Buck finally confessed and Tommy just smiled and nodded.

"I could tell you were a father when I met you." Tommy said and Buck looked shocked.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Buck asked

"I wanted you to come out and tell me instead of me pushing you to tell me. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. You mean a lot to me Evan and I like you a lot. I want us to be together." Tommy said and Buck seemed to be more relaxed.

"I'm so glad you're not running off. I learned my mistake about talking about Y/N straight on. She's my pride and joy." Buck said and Tommy saw his eyes light up when he talked to him about you and that made him smile.

"Tell me about her." Tommy said

"Really?" Buck asked and Tommy nodded.

"Really, I want to know more about her. You light up when you talk about her. So, Evan tell me about your daughter." Tommy said and Buck got all excited.

"Ummm where do I start. She's a really smart kid and so outgoing. Everyone gave her the nickname of Firecracker because that is what she is." Buck chuckled "Everyone says she's a exact copy of me. She loves everyone and is usually quick to bond with people it was that way when she met the team." Buck said and suddenly got self-conscious. "Sorry I'm rambling." He said and looked down.

"Evan." Tommy said and Buck looked up at him "It's ok. I told you to tell me about her. She sounds like a wonderful kid. I do want to ask about her mother. Where is she?" Tommy asked and Buck sighed.

"She left when Y/N was just a few days old during the night. She didn't leave an explanation she just packed up and left. I actually called Bobby in a panic that night and he was quick to come over. He had been a huge help especially when I couldn't settle Y/N but I think she was just picking up on my anxiety." Buck said and Tommy listened and continued to listen.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Evan. I just want you to know that I will be here for you and Y/N for as long as you will have me." Tommy said and Buck looked up and Tommy could see something in his eyes that he couldn't quite place maybe gratefulness or it was something else, relief maybe.

"Would you like to meet her?" Buck asked

"I would love to meet your daughter." Tommy said and Buck smiled.

"She's with Eddie and Christopher but they should be at the house now. I'll let them know we are on the way home when we get in the car." Buck said as they both stood up and before they could walk out of the restaurant Tommy kissed Buck and Buck kissed back. When they broke apart they were smiling like fools they grabbed their leftovers and they held hands as they walked out of the restaurant and to Tommy's car. They got in and headed back to the Buckley household. Buck sent a quick text to Eddie letting them know they were on their way to the house and that Tommy really wanted to meet you. Eddie was quick to text back about how exciting that was and how happy he was for him.

"Tell me more about her." Tommy said and Buck got excited and went on about your dislikes and likes. He talked about anything and everything and for once he wasn't nervous about telling his date about you. Tommy smiled as he drove and listened to his boyfriend passionately talk about you.

As the got closer to the residence Buck was becoming nervous. None of his dates made it to the point of them meeting you. Buck knew Tommy was going be different but he couldn't help but be nervous. They pulled up into the driveway and the headlights shined on Eddie's truck and his Jeep. "That's Eddie truck." Buck said and Tommy could sense his nervousness.

"It's ok. You're nervous and I get that. I would be too. Everything is going to work out." Tommy said as he parked behind Buck's Jeep and turned towards him. "I love you and I'm going to love your daughter. She may not like me at least not right away and if she never likes me that's ok, I'll still love her. You know why?" He asked and Buck shook his head.

"Why?" He asked

"Because I love you." Tommy said and Buck melted and his heart swelled he leaned over and kissed him.

"I love you too." Buck said when they pulled apart.

"Now lets get in there so I can meet your daughter and the first love of your life." Tommy said and Buck chuckled but he was right you would always be the first love of his life.

"Let's go." Buck said and took a deep breath they grabbed the leftovers and headed to the front of the house. Buck pulled out his key and unlocked the house and they walked in and was met with your voice in instant as they sat leftovers down

"Daddy home!" You shouted and took off from the living room and to your father who bent down and caught you in his arms. Tommy smiled at the interaction as he put the leftovers in the fridge.

"Hi, Baby." He said as Eddie appeared in the kitchen with Christopher in tow.

"Hey, Tommy." Eddie greeted the man with a bro hug.

"Hey." Tommy said and then they pulled apart and he turned to Buck as he started to speak.

"How was she?" Buck asked

"Too much like you." Eddie said and everyone chuckled "She was perfect. She ate pretty much all of her dinner and dessert afterward. We came back here and played with her toys while Christopher and I played on the Xbox." Eddie said and Buck nodded satisfied with the answer.

"Good. I'm glad she behaved." Buck said and Eddie nodded.

"Well we will get out of here so you three can have some time together." Eddie said and then he and Christopher said their goodbyes to everyone and they headed out. Once they were gone it was just Tommy, you, and Buck. The three of you walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Y/N, I would like you to meet Tommy." Buck said and you looked over at Tommy and looked him up and down and Buck was nervous because you weren't saying anything. So Tommy decided to speak up first.

"Hi Y/N it is nice to meet you." He said sweetly and that seemed to ease your nerves.

"Are you my daddy's boyfriend?" You asked and Buck was shocked that you would ask that first.

"Yes I am." Tommy said

"Are you going to leave my daddy?" You asked and Buck stayed quiet not wanting to interfere. He was shocked to hear the question he didn't think you knew about the other dates but then again you were smart and picked up emotions very easily. You knew something was wrong when your dad said he was going on a date and then came back all sad.

"No, I'm not. I love your dad. I'm going to stick around for as long as your dad and you will have me." He said and you nodded and then your mood changed and you crawled over your dad and hugged Tommy and he hugged you back. Buck looked so relieved and actually let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I want you to stick around for a long time." Buck said and Tommy smiled that answer just confirmed that Buck truly does love him and wants him around.

The rest of the night was Tommy getting to know you and questions were asked and answered. Talking and laughter filled the house and it was a sound that Buck loved. You kept pulling Tommy to play with you even though Buck told you to lay off some but Tommy waved him off and continued to play with you until you were crawling into your dad's lap and falling asleep. Buck excused himself while he went to put you down but he wasn't expecting Tommy to follow. Tommy smiled the entire time loving how careful he was with you. After Buck tucked you in and kissed your head he turned to Tommy who was smiling.

"What?" He asked and Tommy shook his head.

"You're so good with her. I can tell that you really love her." Tommy replied as Buck stepped out of the room and cracking the door they walked back to the living room.

"Thank you for not running away." Buck said

"Like I told you. I love you and in turn, I would love her. She's a sweet girl and I can totally agree that she is a copy and paste of you. She's a wonderful kid." Tommy said as he pulled Buck into his arms and he snuggled into them.

"I love you." Buck said and Tommy chuckled and smiled.

"Me too." He said

Buck had every right to be nervous, he was introducing his pride and joy, his entire world, his Firecracker, his Baby Girl, his Mini-Me to the man he loved. It was truly a heartfelt introduction and he was so glad it went off so smoothly. Tommy loved you and you loved him. As he cuddled into his boyfriend's arms he knew his world was complete and nothing could take it away from him not now and not ever. Too many times he was let down thinking he found the one to love you like their own and to love him but with Tommy, it wasn't like that. Tommy put his entire heart into loving Buck and you, even though he had only met you tonight. Buck felt like now the family was complete and he loved that feeling and wasn't going to let it go.

Tag list:

@kmc1989

@els-marvelvsp

@atarmychick007

@nyx2021

@grandstrangerphantom

@angenu01-blog

@gunsandguardians

[lemotmo]

What do you think the chances are that BT is actually endgame

Thank you for the interesting question Nonny. 😊

I've had some time to think about this and honestly?

Zero chances.

If you had asked me this question right after episode 7x04 had aired, I would have hesitated to answer this. I would have maybe said that there was a 20% chance, because we didn’t really know in what way they would develop Tommy as a character. The main question was whether or not he would only stay as a part of Buck’s arc or if he would get his own storyline.

Having watched the rest of season 7 and knowing what we know now? I can confidently say: ‘Nah, not a chance.’

And there are many reasons why I’m so confident about it:

The way that 7x04 was in essence not about Tommy at all, but all about Eddie. It was confirmed that this episode was shot from Buck’s point of view, so that makes it even more obvious that he was very conflicted on Eddie’s new friendship with Tommy and how Eddie almost seemed to shut him out of that friendship. Even more, Tommy essentially took Eddie out on ‘dates’ and I can’t help but wonder if subconsciously Buck was afraid that Eddie would be interested in Tommy instead of him. He then, in true Buck-style, proceeded to do some foolish things and got his emotions all mixed up. Tommy saw a chance and took it by kissing Buck.

And I’m sure Buck liked that kiss and developed a crush on Tommy. Otherwise he wouldn’t have made an effort to reconnect with him after that failed date. So I’m not saying Tommy doesn’t matter to him or doesn’t have an important part in his story. All I’m saying is that Tommy was basically the wrong guy at the right time.

The interview Tim did about Tommy wasn’t all that promising either. In it he said something about not expecting wedding bells for them and that it was just an entry level relationship. In other words he was warning the audience to not get too attached, because Tommy wasn’t sticking around. At the same time it was revealed by Lou that he was only going to do a few episodes and that originally he was supposed to kiss Eddie. Which is interesting, because it tells us that they were discussing getting Eddie out of that closet. But ultimately they decided on Buck first. Which was the better way to go in my opinion.

Tommy was hardly in the rest of season 7. The main reason for that was that he was introduced as a plot device in Buck’s narrative arc and he fulfilled that function just fine. Basically he only showed up to further Buck’s storyline and that was it. Even that hospital kiss was in function of having Buck come out to his family without making a big deal about it.

He also wasn’t always portrayed as the nicest guy who we should all root for.

First Tim made the decision to choose the man who made Chimney and Hen’s lives worse when they started out at the 118. Which is an odd choice if you ask me. Why would you choose the guy who was obviously a bully to become another character’s love interest? The answer to that question is easy: Because you want to make sure that people remember that this -on the surface- seemingly nice and agreeable guy who helped Hen to save Bathena, has kind of a shady past.

And this showed again and again in the show itself. The way Tommy abandoned Buck during a date and left him standing on the sidewalk as he drove off? The way he was always dismissive of Buck’s interests and used this very sarcastic -almost negative- humour on moments when Buck really could have used some support. Don’t even talk to me about that scene in the finale where he once again deflected Buck’s worry by making THAT joke at such a bad time.

I know deleted scenes aren’t really canon, but -in my opinion- they released that Tommy & Henren scene to, once again show us that Tommy really isn’t invested in his relationship with Buck. The fact that Hen and Karen were suspicious and didn’t trust him, is also notable. We as the audience were meant to see and share their concern.

The way that Oliver doesn’t acknowledge the relationship either speaks for itself. He has once said that he stopped talking about Buddie because, at that time it wasn’t an option because of FOX, and he didn’t want to lead people on.

Right before season 7 Oliver started talking Buddie to everyone who wanted to listen. There was so much promo with Ryan as well. But he never mentioned BT as anything that has a future. He mostly talks about Buck’s bisexuality and leaves Tommy out of it. He doesn’t engage with anything BT related. So to me, there is the possibility that he doesn’t want to lead people on.

The few times he did talk about Tommy it was in the same way he talked about Taylor and Natalia. Generic things to keep people interested, but we all know what happened to Taylor and Natalia, so…

The way the show does absolutely no promo for BT whatsoever is also very obvious. If they had really wanted to push BT, they would have made Oliver and Lou do extensive promo through interviews, photo shoots, magazine articles… all of the things to get them noticed. Kinda like with the actors that play TK and Carlos on Lone Star. There was none of that for BT. Yeah, one single really awkward interview where they didn’t even talk more than a minute about the show. That doesn’t count.

Oliver did do quite a lot of interviews after 7x04, but all of those were centred around Buck’s bisexuality. Tommy was hardly even mentioned. You know who was mentioned in those interviews? Eddie. A lot of these interviewers asked about the chances of Buddie happening. I think Oliver navigated those questions really well, not giving anything away, but at the same time hinting that there was a chance there if the story was told right.

Personally, I am convinced that Oliver and Ryan got the get-go on Buddie last season. But they were also told that the road towards Buddie wouldn’t be linear. They threw a new male love interest into the mix to help Buck realise some things about himself. And I do believe that season 8 will be about Eddie’s personal journey to figuring out who he is and figuring out his sexuality. I don’t think they will give Eddie a new love interest though. I think they might just make him realise he feels more for Buck than friendship and that will be the beginning of him questioning all of his life choices.

As for Tommy? I can see him in another episode or 2 in season 8, to close the arc for Buck’s narrative. But I don’t expect anything more than that.

However which way you turn it, the story will always end up with Buddie together.

Okay, now will everyone please remember that this is only my opinion and my own point of view. None of this is set in stone. This is the way I think it might go. But it could turn out different in many ways. The only thing I’m almost absolutely certain about is that BT isn’t going to last very long in season 8 and that the end goal will always be Buddie.

Also, don’t come into my inbox to hate on me over this. This is literally me talking and speculating about fictional characters on a TV-show. It isn’t all that deep. These people aren’t real. I’m allowed to have opinions about them, even if those opinions go against all of your opinions. If you don’t like reading this, just move on and go read posts that you do agree with. Life is too short to get angry and frustrated over the love life of fictional characters that live in a fictional world. Thank you.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Buck (and Eddie) mini meta - 7x10 (probably but could also be 7x09!)

I was going to make a quick post about this new shirt we have bts pictures of Buck and Eddie wearing - but well, I spiralled and it turned into this!! (under the cut to save your dash!)

So let's do Eddie first shall we!!

there are actually two shirts we've got bts of Eddie wearing which have me 👀👀👀

first up is this green number we have bts of him wearing at the firehouse (not 100% sure if this is an actual costume or just Ryan's clothes but I'm fairly sure it's an Eddie outfit!)

Why am I side eyeing so hard at this do you ask? well its a very similar shirt to the one we have seen him in before - in 5x13 when he has his break down. Its not the same, but similar - no cut off sleeves, but its the same army green.

We see this tee at he culmination of Eddie isolating himself from the fire fam (especially Buck) through the start of 5b and then blowing up his life in 5x13 - when he trashes his room and Chris calls Buck.

I think we're about to see something similar play out in the last couple of episodes of season 7 - Eddie increasingly choosing to isolate himself from the fire fam (especially Buck) as he spirals out with this vertigo arc. Ryan has said in interviews that Eddie will be isolated by the end of the season, this costume therefore parallels Eddies arc of 5b - especially if we include the use of white on Eddie as well (and Buck in Blue in the same scene!). Eddie does something drastic and then pretends everything is ok - before proceeding to spiral out and blow up his life in some way.

5x11 - we have the aftermath of Eddie leaving he 118 - dinner with Buck and Taylor when he and Buck have a mini disagreement about Eddie coming back to work - which is preceeded by us being shown how Eddie is not actually ok - leading in to 5x13 when Eddie has his breakdown whilst wearing an army green tee and Buck breaks down the door to get to him and literally steps in to the mess, bringing the 118 into help as well (represented by Bobby being there when Eddie wakes up).

Then we have season 7 - the aftermath of Eddie asking Marisol to move in with him and then it is made clear that Eddie has moved too fast, that he doesn't actually know Marisol, or ultimately feel comfortable with the relationship - and now we've watched him (still in white in the scene where he sees Kim) spiralling out and heading towards isolating himself in the same way he did in season 5. The use of a similar army green tee in 7x10 suggests that we're going to see something similar unfold as things come to a head in the vertigo arc. Im especially intrigued because Buck it seems is going to be in uniform for the scene (which side note plays into the Buck and Eddie blue green colour palette they've been using and in a reverse of the gym scene from 7x05!) we don't know where in the episode this scene falls, but my guess would be that its actually a scene from earlier in the episode - allowing for the blow up to happen and the fall out begin. (I also think this because of Helena and Ramon appearing - which I think will be later in the episode and in response to Kim's existence being more widely known about, but thats just me speculating!)

We do also have the t-shirt from 7x01 - which is not the same as the other two - its darker and more brownish than the two above, but it does play into a similar narrative - Eddie finding out about Chris and his multiple girlfriends and Buck stepping in (at Eddies request this time) to help and support the Diaz boys!

Eddie outfit two!

Then we have this outfit - which is contrary to popular belief, not the will reveal outfit, but actually the Ana as Eddies girlfriend reveal to Chris outfit.

The two outfits are very similar, but the will reveal outfit is a navy blue shirt (which is important as it plays into both blue/green and blue/yellow theory - which gains even more significance now we know that it is likely this was meant to be the beginning of at the very least a queer narrative for Buck and the implication is that it would've been the beginning of buddie canon) this shirt and the Ana reveal shirt are both black and have silver eyelets on the shirt opening

For me, the fact that it is the same outfit as that reveal rather than the will reveal is suggestive that this outfit is in some way going to be connected to the reveal of Kim. In the same way that the Ana reveal outfit is connected to two scenes

- Eddie telling Chris and the salad bowl getting smashed,

- Eddie realising Chris has gone missing only to find out he's run to Buck's

I feel like this one is also likely to be connected to two scenes - what they are and where this hospital scene fits within the wider episode, it is hard to fully form ideas on the full meaning behind the fact that he is wearing the same outfit. Because does this scene come before or after the arrival of Helena and Ramon, what is the connection to Bobby being in the hospital and Eddie wearing this outfit? My personal opiion is that this outfit is going to be involved in people finding out about Kim.

As an addition to this, we should also talk about the fact that Eddie always wears black in relation to key scenes with Marisol and Kim and it continues a trend of Eddie wearing black in key scenes in relation to his relationships.

When Eddie and Marisol meet at the hardware store he is in black, when asking her to move back out, black shirt. Then with Kim -both scenes with her when he talks to her he is in black - black shirt in the store and a black jacket when they go on their date.

He was also wearing Black in key moments with Shannon (divorce request scene as well as in flashbacks) and with Ana ( first meeting and panic attack scenes). I've spoken before about the choice to put him in a black singlet when he's in an emotionally vulnerable place, but with these additional scenes in mind, as well as the fact that we see him wearing black in the hospital during Bucks coma, as well as the fact we also get a similar shirt on Eddie back in 7x01.

I think its fair to associate black more generally with Eddie being in a vulnerable place emotionally - the singlets are just worn at points when those vulnerable moments are about to tip Eddie into something stupid and this makes the use of the singlet in 7x04 for the basketball game even more interesting as it places Eddie into emotional vulnerability around Bucks bi journey and less about Bucks own emotional vulnerability - plays a little into the idea that they were going to have Eddies queer journey come before Bucks!

From a purely speculative position - my feeling is that this outfit comes after the arrival of Helena and Ramon and possibly towards the end of the episode.

The fact Eddie is wearing it at the hospital is possibly important, but I get the feeling it will be an outfit with more than one key scene attached to it (much like Eddie being in a black shirt when Buck came out to him was in two key scenes - Bucks coming out and Eddie asking Marisol to move out).

In the same way that in season 4 the Ana reveal was paired with a scene where Chris runs to Buck my feeling is that we're going to see something similar in season 7 with this - further adding to the parallels between the two seasons (see this excellent post by @iinryer for more on those!).

Part of my thinking comes from the fact we had this other bts of Buck, Eddie, Chris and Helena and Ramon. So we know that Eddie will be wearing a maroon henley for a scene in this episode.

I've spoken about Eddie wearing maroon long sleeved tops in relation to things being about Chris and Eddie parenting, and this one is likely to follow that theme, especially with Chis seemingly wearing the same outfit he was wearing when the fact he had multiple girlfriends was revealed.

The fact that buck is in a reverse outfit to the one from his discussion with Chris after that reveal (navy blue bottoms and yellow ochre top v yellow ochre bottoms and navy blue top), suggests to me that the are trying to do a couple of things here - they are flipping the scene - so it is still about a multiple girlfriends reveal, just Eddies rather than Christophers. It is also possibly a way to contrast the fact they set up Buck as sitting in parallel to Shannon (from both a costuming and directorial perspective), now they are reversing it and setting them in juxtaposition with one another - playing on the concept of one being alive while the other is dead and contrasting the actual reality of Eddies life with Eddies rose tinted version of things - the version he's trying to recreate with a doppelgänger.

Onto Buck

The shirt that changes colour depending on which picture you look at - is it brown and cream or dark greyish brown and blue/grey?!!

My personal feeling is that it will look more brown and cream on camera, but that we might see a little bit of the blue pinstripe come through! This means we need to not only look at Buck in pinstripes, but also when he has worn brown!

So lets look at when we've seen Buck wear brown!

We have 2x05 - a scene where Maddie is ranting about Gloria calling her constantly. In this scene Buck is in a brown marl tee (you'll have to take my word for it - I ran out of pictures and this one was the least important!), personally I don't think it fits into the narrative as it is a tee rather than a shirt or jacket, so I'm not including it in my wider anaylsis!

We get Brown sports jacket Buck - in 3x04 when he delivers the results of the 118's assessment and discovers Lena filing his space - Buck gets jealous and a little mad. (had to include the still where Edie is checking out Bucks ass because it will never not be funny and now has the added layers to it`!)

one episode later and we get more brown in the divorced buddie era 1.0 supermarket arguement of 3x05.

Things go quiet on the brown front for Buck until 4x14 and the 'it would've been better if it had been me who got shot' scene - this is is a borderline brown - it sits in the yellow ochre spectrum, but is closer to brown than yellow! This, like the last tine he wore brown, comes in the aftermath of Buck doing something stupid (climbing the crane)

Then Buck doesn't wear any brown in season 5, so its on to season 6 where we have 6x04 and this russet brown (which is a reddish brown) which Buck wears when Connor pays him a visit regarding the sperm donation.

Then later in the same season - 6x18 - we have the most recent Buck in brown sighting - when he is talking to Connor once more about Kameron being at his loft. with the added bonus of this being veritcally ribbed making it look like stripes!

As you can see we only see Buck wear brown in very specific moments and they tend to come in pairs - we get bright russety browns in the build up to Buck doing something stupid followed by a darker more muddy brown in the aftermath (in both s2 and s6). Only the one from season 4 doesn't fit the pattern as it doesn't have a pair.

But while events in seasons 3 and six are essentially of Bucks making - he sets things in motion - season 4 is not - Buck is not the instigator, he is a bystander dropped into the middle of something, if anything the fact his brown has yellowish undertones plays into its having a reverse effect - that it is the same as the russet browns - setting something in motion, but its pair is the brighter yellow ochre shirt from the will reveal - which sits in opposition to the darker browns - its not something Buck needs or wants to try and fix - its more of an affirmation of Bucks belonging and not something he needs to fight for.

I've spoken before in various meta's about brown being a colour of stability support and protection. it is also a colour of wisdom and counsel - and I think all of these will come into play with this new shirt in some capacity, because to put Buck in brown at this point is definitely a choice with intention behind it.

Now onto Buck in vertical stripes!

We'll do the light ones first. It's still insane to me that the first time we ever see Buck in vertical stripes is the shooting scene in 4x13.

Then ten episodes later, in 5x13 we see the next white striped shirt and its when Taylor is moving into the loft. These are the only two we have in a white and black/grey colour way.

The next time we see light stripes is in 6x01 - only now they are cream and blue rather than white and black/grey - when Buck moves his armchair and decides he doesn't need a couch .

Followed by 6x08 when Buck is in Uncle Buck mode and looking after Jee and being given the run around by her - again cream and blue.

The last Buck in light shirts with stripes sighting is from 7x05 - when he meets with Tommy for coffee, this time its cream with black and red stripes.

Then we have a couple of outliers - this light blue jacket from 6x01

and this grey one from 6x09

Then we have the dark ones!

This one from 4x14 when Taylor appears back on his doorstep after the shooting and kissing him

This one from 5x09 - the most awkward 'I love you' scene in the history of mankind

6x04 when he tells Conor and Kameron that he will be their sperm donor

in 6x07 we get two - both when he is trying to donate sperm and not being successful in this endeavour

in 6x17 we see him in this shirt when Maddie comes by for help with getting her stuck engagement ring off

and finally we have Buck and Tommys first date - which ends in failure.

and now we have a brown and cream/blue one joining the mix!

I've written before about Bucks vertically striped shirts - in various episode metas, as well as a separate post which is linked on my pinned post under Buck, But I'm going to talk about them again because he just keeps on wearing them at really interesting moments!

Buck seems to wear them at moments when he is essentially ‘imprisoned’ by something mentally - at moments when he either steps forwards or backwards in his self development, or stays in stasis - and which of these it is, is determined by the colour of the shirt and the stripes. The lighter ones are connected to moving forward and ultimately escaping, while the darker ones are about Buck being trapped and moving in the wrong direction.

Starting with the white shirts - I know on the face of it, it isn't easy to see either of the white shirts with black pinstripes as Buck moving forward, but while the scenes they are worn in themselves may not seem to be freeing, the resulting actions - the will reveal for the first one and the second one reveals Bucks true thoughts on his and Taylors relationship and thus marks the beginning of the end, I mean obviously the kiss is the actual moment that marks the beginning of the end but this moment - when he is talking to Maddie, the audience is made aware that Buck really and truly isn't all in with Taylor and that he has imprisoned himself - his ability to recognise that - the fact he is able to verbalise that he is afraid of being left - that is the moment of growth and escape for him.

The unhappy moments, the moments when he is regressing or clinging are signified by the black shirts with white or silver pinstripes.

With Taylor the two scenes we get black shirts with pinstripes are connected to Buck being in trauma response mode - the first in the aftermath of the shooting - starting a relationship when he's in a super raw place - his best friend has been shot and he's looking after said best friends son and climbing cranes to try and protect the rest of his found family (also adding Maddie's impending PPD to this as well as the Daniel of it all although those are less central in this moment in time).

Then the second one comes in the 'I kinda love you for it' scene - and off the back of Buck feeling and fearing that he is being left - that Taylor is pulling away from him.

The three all connected to the sperm donation all play into the narrative that Buck hasn't thought the sperm donation through fully - that the universe is screaming at him and he's trapping himself in a prison - we do see some of that play out as the season progresses when he becomes embroiled in Conor and Kameron's marriage and pregnancy dramas when his part in it all should've been done.

The scene with the stuck ring is a scene very much about Maddie but Buck does drop himself in it on two fronts - the ring cutter and in letting Maddie know that Hen and Chim had an arguement over Chim proposing to Maddie.

Buck and Tommys first date - again a prison of Bucks own making - this shirt very much plays into the disastrous nature of the date - with Bucks 'I'm and Ally' and comment about going to 'find chicks'

Then we have the shirts that somewhere in the middle. - the blue one from 6x01 where we have a Buck doing some mental self torture trying to work out why he’s been passed over for the interim Captain job but finally figuring it out,

The three cream ones are all essentially the cure for the previous, darker stripes - they play into the idea that Buck is learning and growing - in a way he wasn't when it was just black and white shirts and stripes from seasons 4 and 5 when we got a white shirt followed soon after by a black shirt (4x13 - White - 4x14 - black) or vice versa (5x09 - black - 5x13 - white).

We have 6x01 with the blue then cream - Buck in a mental prison around what he wants in life, but choosing to embrace being on his own and seeing where life takes him by the end of the episode. 6x04 and 6x07's navy blues connected to the sperm donation arc followed by 6x08's cream and blue one of the very real children in his life - one who he gets to be an active part of watching grow up. 7x04's navy date shirt one followed by 7x05's cream, black and red shirt when Buck requests and is granted a do over with Tommy

So how is this brown and cream one going to fit in? Well that is the million $$$$ question isn't it! My feelings are that it's going to fit in with the pattern and have a reverse one to go with it. Now I have two theories - the first is that its actually the brown pair to the one from season 4 - that its going to connect into Buck's statement that it would've been better for Chris if he'd been the one hurt - and therefore connect into the will of it all, playing on the concept of Chris (and Buck) finding out about Kim - connecting Eddies outfit into the equation - and lead to Buck once again stepping up to look after or support Chris in some capacity (maybe we'll get a parallel of Chris running to Buck after finding out about Ana and have Chris running to Buck after finding out about Kim, who knows!).

The other option is that we'll only see the pair to this brown striped shirt later down the line - whether we see that before the end of the season or have to wait for the start of season 8 I do't know - it really depends on how they close out this season and the Buck and Eddie arcs.

I'd like to think the fact that its brown and therefore means stability, support, protection and wisdom, means that it will be connected to Buck discovering Eddies cheating and then stepping up to support him and Chris through the fall out (after perhaps taking a moment to consider things) and that it is tied into the season 4 parallels, but I guess we'll all have to wait and see!

Essentially all of Bucks striped and or brown tops have a pair and play on the idea of light and dark to varying degrees as well as the concept of being trapped or imprisoned by some form of traumatic event.

Hopefully this makes sense and that you've enjoyed reading this deep dive into Bucks stripes and Eddies wearing of black! I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Tagged people below

@theladyyavilee @mistmarauder @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @bewilderedbuckley @spotsandsocks

@bewitchedbewilderedbisexual @rogerzsteven @wanderingwomanwondering @oneawkwardcookie @leothil

@copyninjabuckley @shammers86 @crazyfangirlallert @missmagooglie @katyobsesses

@radiation-run @gayandbifiremenofmine @bi-moonlight @crazyaboutotps @princesschez75

@alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @sherlocking-out-loud @satashiiwrites @lover-of-mine @yramesoruniverse

@extasiswings @favouritealias @pop-kam @b-dwolf @maygrcnt

@chaosandwolves

[bekolxeram]

So... I said I couldn't wait for the plane disaster arc to be over, and I still stand by that statement. If you read my blog regularly, you'd know I loved it, the more plane stuff the merrier, but at the same time, it was a huge relief for me to finally be able to move on.

Warning: long rant incoming

I joined this fandom last season because of my love for BuckTommy and aviation, I've made it clear many times before. I saw comments downplaying Tommy's role in the cruise ship rescue, and I thought, well I know a thing or two about how hard flying is, especially flying a helicopter, so maybe I should write something about it.

Fast forward to last month, someone asked me whether Tommy could fly a plane realistically, so I answered it as they asked, realistically no. I can imagine him flying a light plane as a hobby, but never a four engine turboprop military plane that takes 5-12 crew members to fly, or an airliner that's basically a flying computer. I wasn't even aware of the Airport 1975 pilot transfer theory at first, so imagine my shock when I woke up to multiple posts naming my theory by name, (yeah, I said the water bomber in 2x14 belonged to CAL FIRE, I made my first post about this a long time ago, and I don't think anyone from the other side even made the effort to dig this deep, so those posts were referring to me) each with 400+ notes, and many reblogs by people I'd been following, telling me to shut the fuck up. It wasn't even aware that my aviation hc would be anything close to controversial, it deeply upset me and it fundamentally changed my interaction with the fandom as a whole.

I tried putting my more aviation focused posts under a specific tag that people can block if they're not interested, still, like clockwork, some posts popped up in the main ship tag around 6 hours later, digging up old interviews from Tim saying "Tommy did the water drop, just off screen" or expressing their disbelief that there were still people out there who thought Tommy didn't fly the air tanker.

I wanted to explain my reasoning, but I knew it would come across as needlessly confrontational, so I kept my mouth shut. I saw the pilot transfer theory gaining traction, I knew it was too crazy and too expensive for the show to pull off, but I kept my mouth shut. I even leaned into that theory at one point saying Tommy could be flying the helicopter in that stunt, but still the theory was hyped up more and more and its supporters were gradually getting more annoyed by me. I knew I would feel bad whether Tommy rappel into that cockpit or not, because on one hand, I hate that film with a burning passion, on the other, I basically stood back and watched everyone got their hopes way up then witnessed them getting crushed in real time.

Now Schrödinger's cat box is opened, without Tommy in it, I guess there's no need for me to self censor anymore. So here are some stuff I was too afraid to post when people were still deeply invested in their theory, before we all move on from this disaster arc.

The writers don't care about timeline, they can't even get when Tommy transferred out of the 118 right

Tommy supposedly left the 118 right before Buck joined, so 7 years ago, but in 7x09 Tommy said he joined Harbor 5 years ago. My very first post on this site is about this timeline conflict. My explanation was that it takes some years of training before you can even touch a helicopter at Air Ops (in real life LAFD sends you to LAPD for basic training), so Tommy probably only officially transferred to Harbor 5 years ago.

That led to a lot of comments saying the writers just didn't give a damn, they didn't care to google or get their story right, just accept it. But you don't even need to google. The description Tommy gave Buck in the Harbor tour scene was lifted straight from the LAFD Air Ops website, and you know what? If you scroll a little bit further down, you can clearly see the "at least two years of LAFD AIr Operations training line". It takes less than 5 minutes to read it all through.

Tim said Tommy did the water drop, so it's canon he flew that plane in 2x14

Someone pulled out Tim's interview specifically to disprove my CAL FIRE hc. Yeah, he did say Tommy did the water drop:

But I've never heard anyone from the show said Tommy was literally grabbing the yoke, pulling the thrust levers, flying the plane. A C-130 (or L-100 as the civilian variant) is not a single engine water scooper, it's a four engine monstrosity.

The heavier the plane, the faster it has to fly for the wings the generate enough lift to keep it in the sky, right? Well, in order to drop water/fire retardant in an accurate and effective fashion, the C-130 has to fly low and slow enough that the flight crew has to get used to hearing the "terrain! terrain! pull up!" and "stall! stall!" warnings at all time during a mission.

In fact, the C-130 water tanker usually flies behind a lead plane, most of the time a lighter business jet that surveys the area and plots the optimal route for the water drop. It fires a line of smoke to mark out the designated location for the payload, the C-130 behind it just has to release the water/fire retardant once the nose of the plane hit the trail of smoke.

That coordination is extremely cool.

The C-130 takes at the very least 3 crew members to fly: 2 pilots and a flight engineer, no fly-by-wire on this one, but it usually takes even more for a safer more accurate operation.

I can absolutely picture Tommy being one of the people sitting behind the pilots in 2x14. They didn't have a lead plane, so maybe the CAL FIRE guys asked him to pull his weight, since he was the one who asked for the favor and he was also an aerial firefighter, they needed an extra pair of professional eyes anyway. So technically he did the water drop, but he flew no plane that day. (I have a fully developed backstory in my head about Tommy's involvement in that episode, but unfortunately I'm not a good writer, and it'll probably piss people off more than it entertains them. It's about a clandestine mission à la 7x03 and Tommy's meet cute with his ex boyfriend)

If you've made it this far, you probably really like my blog or aviation stuff, and I think you for your support. At one point, I told myself I would leave the fandom behind if I saw one more post telling me to shut up, I got so closed to it. Now, reading post after post saying leaving the newly reintroduced pilot character out of the show's plane disaster arc is a missed opportunity just makes me, I don't know, kind of sad? I've always thought he's just a helicopter pilot, he wouldn't be much help in guiding the crippled jet down anyway, that I was right, but then what? It doesn't feel good to be right this time. I can accept not seeing Tommy working with the 118 on the ground, I can be patient and wait for a week longer for his presence, but accidentally annoying people with what I thought was fun trivia, watching hundreds of them clown on me for taking the show too seriously, for being a nitpicker, for being too obsessive, I don't think I can ever erase it from my mind.

Let's just hope we can all move on (mostly on my part), and I can return to making bad quality humorous gifs about our boys. I'll still post stuff about aviation, now that it's less controversial. If you're a brave soul you can go search for the tag I created for others to block (#aviation realism).

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: Eddie KNOWS Buck!

The title of episode 7x5 is "You don't know me" (it could change) and when I read it, all I could think about is something I haven't been able to forget since 6x4 aired. It was Buck’s conversation with Connor and IMO, it was weird and superficial for REASONS I might explain in a future post.

Anyway, Buck's overall arc in Season 6 was about him trying to be at ease while not making the same mistakes (which started at the end of 5x18). In 6x1, he wanted to be interim captain, then he went on to search for happiness in 6x2 followed by his decision to be Connor's sperm donor in 6x4 and that led to the comment included in the scene below, "I know those things about you". But the question is, does Connor really know Buck? 🤔

Reminder, based on the things that were shown in CANON in 4x5, Buck and Connor never really knew each other. They were acquaintances who met while they were in Peru and that was after Buck left Hershey when Maddie told him to "Go and be happy". During their conversation while Buck was bartending, Connor "suggested" Buck move to L.A. with him and the guys he knew because they were "kind of like a family". It's important to note that Connor said it after he stopped listening to Buck while he was trying to explain something to him.

Who always listens to Buck? EDDIE!

Now on to Season 7.

In the recent TCA interview, with regards to Buck’s self-discovery journey, OS commented that Buck’s sperm donation for his friends "hasn't necessarily played in any kind of conscious way so far" within the first 5 episodes (see below).

So the question is, could Buck tell Connor, "You don't know me!" in a conversation about the baby in 7x5 and it have something to do with Buck’s self-discovery journey? It's possible since as mentioned above, Connor doesn't really know Buck. Let's be real... when Connor reappeared they hadn't seen each other in three years and the attributes Connor mentioned about why he asked him to be his sperm donor instead of him going to a sperm bank aren't necessarily HEREDITARY.

Reminder, Buck likes to make things about himself and he likes to fix things. Therefore, the way things played out in 6A made it seem like he was making things about himself with the sperm donation too.

Here are a few of the comments that have been said to Buck and about him by his family.

In 3x1 and 3x2 (they replayed some of the scene from the end of 3x1 at the beginning of 3x2), Chris said, "You're going to be ok kid" after Buck told him he hopes he finds a job he likes and somethimg that makes him feel like he matters when he grows up. This happened after Buck quit the 118 but before the Tsunami.

In 3x6, Hen told Bobby, "I think Buck makes everything hard on Buck. The boy has two settings... zero and shut up before I smack you". They were discussing Bobby letting Buck work again after the lawsuit.

In 3x9, Eddie said, "So we're making this about you again?" while they were in the kitchen after Buck apologized for the second time following the lawsuit.

In 3x16 Chimney said, "So it's all about you?" when Buck was telling the team about Red.

In 3x16, Maddie said, "So you don't think this business with Red is hitting a little too close to home? A lonely hero firefighter who's pining for his lost love."

In 4x5, Athena said, "You never give up, that's what being Buck means to me" after he stayed in the warehouse fire against orders.

In 5x4, Eddie said, "You're the guy who likes to fix things" after Maddie and Chimney left.

In 6x11, dead Bobby said, "Aww kid, if what matters to you most is the way people see you... then you haven't learned a damn thing" in Buck’s coma dream.

They all know how Buck likes to make things about himself and at various points, they've said it in some form or another. Family won't hesitate to tell the people they love the truth unlike those who want to get what they can then leave like Connor did. And that's one of the reasons why I think Buck didn't talk to anyone about the sperm donation because if he had, they would have told him the truth. He did talk to Hen and even though she didn't discourage him, she did caution him about the possible ramifications of it except he was adamant about doing it and he wouldn't listen to the universe when it kept screaming at him.

Does Connor know Buck? NO!

The person who does know Buck is EDDIE!

Eddie not only knows him, HE SEES HIM! He also listens to him, he takes care of him and he's the one who's been there for him. In 6x1, he helped Buck see another side to Bobby's decision about interim captain. In 6x6, Eddie was the one who reassured him that Karen would be fine without a spleen. The list goes on and on but 9-1-1 made it a point in Season 6 to show the GA that NO ONE knows Buck like Eddie does and that continued even in 6x15 when Buck said that BS about ND seeing him.

No one believed it and it's possible Buck didn't believe it either.

The point of this post is that Buck’s breakdown may finally happen in Season 7 and it might have something to do with the sperm donation 👀.

Reminder, he didn't have one in season 6 even though he died and I think all of these things are related and could lead to it.

If Buck does have a breakdown, who's going to be by his side? EDDIE!

The same way Buck was by Eddie’s side after Eddie’s breakdown.

I said I wasn't going to speculate and I hadn't planned on it but I have so many thoughts about what could trigger Buck’s breakdown and I've been debating whether I'll post them. But I just might now that everything seems to be pointing in that direction.

Will Buck finally breakdown in season 7? Only the showrunner, writers and producers know the answer to that question.

[mischiefbuckley]

see it’s the fact that even despite their rocky beginning, buck grew to be an important person not only to eddie but to christopher as well and the fact that ryan in his latest interview said that, “‘I believe there’s an offer of comfort to Eddie knowing that even though Shannon isn’t there, he has somebody else in his life that he can kind of pass the reins to and say, ‘Hey, I need another perspective. Please help my son out,’” he said. “And Buck always shows up.”’

see I was also thinking earlier of the first time when buck finally learns about christopher. like eddie had started his day prior to the earthquake happening, taking his son to school in the morning and christopher being the adorable he is asks eddie “hey dad, do you think dogs know they’re dogs?” very cute adorable behavior from him and him being so in love and in admiration of his son he listens to him and tells him he loves him as christopher walks away to class. then we get the 118 in the truck heading to help out after the earthquake and eddie is in the truck trying to get ahold of the school to find out if anything happened. buck asks eddie “who you trying to get ahold of?” and that’s when eddie responds with “my son. I’m trying to reach my son.” and buck being buck responds with “whoa, you got a kid?” “and super adorable. I, uh, I love kids.” and eddie responds with like the most heartbreaking thing ever in like only the second episode of knowing him that “I love this one. I’m all he’s got.” little did you know the 6’2 gorgeous blue eyed handsome guy in front of you would be your co-parent to your son and someone that you could rely on for anything and everything regarding you and christopher including yk putting him in your will

while they are getting into the building, buck being buck and his random bits of facts and knowledge goes on to tell eddie “after northridge, FEMA spent $200 million retrofitting every school in the LAUSD. Ceiling tiles, lighting fixtures… Eddie, your kid is in the safest place he can be.” buck already starting that bond with eddie to reassure him that everything is fine and not to panic while they are on the job and eddie being eddie responds with “thought that was a high rise” referencing something Buck had said earlier when they arrived on the scene

and again this is the first time we see buck and eddie team up as friends after the whole tension from the previous episode. this is the first of what would become a normal work dynamic of them always being teamed up together because they do work well together as a team

and in the third episode we see them more of how they work together as a unit and how they fully start to trust each other and we do see other dynamics as well like their silly little banter/worry towards each other as when the elevator shaft is coming towards buck and allie we hear eddie yelling at buck “let’s go buck! move your ass!” and after buck and allie land on the floor where eddie and the man with a spinal injury are that buck says “I told you I liked our chances” again referring back to when buck was the one that had came up with the idea of going down through the elevator shaft

and the buck and eddie show up when chimney and bobby are planning on how to rescue hen and it starts to show the dynamic of how much each member of the 118 cares for one another and their safety and well being and how the 118 has gone from being a firefighter crew to being a family

and as buck and eddie are putting supplies away on the truck before leaving the scene buck’s phone buzzes indicating a message from maddie but buck goes on to tell eddie “hey. service” just giving eddie some peace of mind that he could finally get in contact with his son after the day that they both have had

and the final kicker to this disaster earthquake episode arc is that buck drives eddie to christopher’s school and we see two different perspectives here in the way where we see how much eddie loves and cares for his son and the way that now buck sees eddie in a new light. prior to knowing he had a son or even liking him in the slightest, all he had thought of eddie was that he was someone that was new in the 118 but also someone he was threatened by because he was this new person who had all this knowledge and confidence and buck was ultimately jealous of having another guy around his age around the team because again buck has his own problems with his insecurities and the way he raised growing up in his family dynamic (but that’s for another discussion)

but again just the way that buck stares at eddie while he’s hugging christopher after the day they both have had

IN CONCLUSION “AND BUCK ALWAYS SHOWS UP”

[northlt03]

NEED TO RANT ABT THE SURGE IN BUCKTOMMYS!! No one I know irl watches this show so this is the only place I can talk about it. I see so many people hailing the queer ship and calling the breakup biphobic/ homophobic. MIND YOU THERE'S A HAPPY LESBIAN COUPLE WITH TWO KIDS IN THE SHOW!!!

Also, they never really addressed Tommy's problematic past and when asked about it in an interview, the actor said that Tommy (at the ripe young age of his 30s) was spewing sexism as a joke!!??? And didn't realize women could do the job (I saw this in a ss on a different post, excuse me if it's not real btw). Not to mention the racism when Hen and Chim first joined the 118.

I understand there are other characters who have done bad stuff, Buck cheating, Eddie cheating, Hen cheating, Bobby with the fire, but we had whole arcs of them being apologetic and guilty about it and realizing their mistake before ultimately working to be better people!!!

Tommy's past on the other hand is never even mentioned and in this episode they're trying to frame him as a queer hero.

MIND YOU he dated Abby in like 2015-ish and led her on for months if not years.

Am I disappointed in the episode? Not a lot, I love Eddie's dance, him being able to be happy, the talk with the priest, Eddie in a tank top, Madney being pregnant, Bobby Nash just existing and Maddie being an absolute icon as always.

What I don't like is Josh's speech. I'm sure he doesn't know about Tommy's past, but this was a conscious choice from the show runners to paint Tommy as a queer hero who's been through so much. Girl.

ALSO CALLING OLIVER STARK BIPHOBIC?? HAVE YALL LOST YOUR DAMN MINDS?

BUCK HAS FUCKED BEFORE!! HE USED TO BE A SLUT!!! OR DID YOU MORONS FORGET BUCK 1.0??? HIM BEING OPEN TO EXPLORE IS THE MOST IN CHARACTER THING.

#LETBUCKFUCK

He's just a bisexual who happens to be a slut!!! He's not perpetuating the "bisexuals cheat" thing.

ANYWAY i just needed to rant idk i don't like Tommy, he's always been weird, calling Buck "Evan" when he told his PARENTS to call him Buck because everyone important to him does so. The only time Tommy does call him Buck is when he's leaving (GOOD RIDDANCE).

Not to mention, how are you dating someone for half a year and don't know they don't like basketball????

They let him go too easy idk.

Kinda off topic and delusional, but I genuinely thought Buddie would kiss when Buck shows up at his place SDFGHJKL

[alost-traveler]

I was kinda thinking about the future of Tommy. We can be sure that the character will come back for S8. Tommy was supposed to be there for only 4 episodes and that he already has been there for more.

As for now, Tommy has been seen in 7x03, 7x04, 7x05, 7x6 and 7x9 and he also was in the Finale.

For one, Lou and Oliver did an interview together and we can assume it's not the only one. You don't ask your actor to do a 5 minute interview in which they barely talk about the show (also I think that the host made the interview awkward and both Lou and Oliver were picking a bad vibe.) Also, this interview was done late this season. Tommy came back in 7x03 and kissed Buck in 7x04. Yes, both Lou and Oliver did interviews but none of them were together and it wasn't on set. As for now, the Access Hollywood interview was the second interview that Oliver did on set, the first one being the Zach show. The rest were by zoom or other facecams ways. As for Lou, it's the only interview that was recorded. Everytime he did an interview, it was for an article and we never had the audio.

Also, Lou does cameo, and if you have a problem with the price I don't think it's his fault I think he put them at the lowest he can but the site up the prices because of the demands. Simple economy lesson, the more there will be demands the less the offer will meet the demands and so in order to change that the price changes. More on the cameo part, Lou has changed the way he does cameo. When he used to talk about Tommy, he would talk freely about him, his cameo would be pretty straightforward and he even made a backstory for Tommy, which I love because as someone who likes to do some deep dives on a character's psyche, the backstory explains a ton. But recently, his demeanor changed. He did a cameo in which he was more vague and kept looking to the sides as if there was something or someone reminding him to "behave".

Another thing, Lou was added in a video the cast did for Instagram. A video that had everyone, minus Peter and Angela, might be exempt from social media because Angela is less active than the rest and Peter is non-existent (Thank you Kenny for giving us proof that Peter is still alive with your Tiktok or Instagram posts). Also, Tim had posted a BTS that was just a frame of Tommy and that could mean something.

But I also want to talk about something, the contract. When Tommy came back, Lou said that he was only there for 4 episodes. And that might be right, at the time. Upon seeing the reaction about Tommy and maybe seeing how well the producers seem to like Lou, his contract for S7 has been extended for two more episodes, including the finale. It doesn't make sense for someone like Lou who keeps talking about how good he feels on the 9-1-1 set to not ask to extend his contract.

But then what would happen in S8? I don't think Lou would or should get promoted to the main cast, regular at least. It doesn't come from some kind of hate for Tommy or Lou, I really like them both, but more in a storytelling point.

The show is a workplace drama meaning that the job is not only important but also kind of its own character. 9-1-1 also focuses on three jobs instead of one as other shows, like The Rookie, Station 19, Grey's Anatomy for instance, tend to do. On 9-1-1 we mostly focus on the 118, LAFD but also on the 911 operator and the LAPD. The show is mostly focused on the 118. Having Tommy as main would shake things up, it would add another station to focus on or have drastically more calls that will need air support but we would also need to introduce other characters from Harbor and I think the show would be too stacked. The only way to properly focus on Harbor would be to maybe have a spin-off focus on them with either Tommy as main character or as regular. Having Tommy a main on his show would cut down on his timescreen on 9-1-1 and thus impact the Buck/Tommy relationship; we saw that happen with Carina/Maya on Station 19/Grey's for instance.

Also if you're one of these people that think that the cast hates Lou. Oliver has only said nice things about him in interviews, Tracie has told that Lou was lovely when she went on live on the 9-1-1 Instagram page and Kenneth has been good friends with Lou since he was in S2. And if you think that Oliver hates Lou because he doesn't follow him on Instagram that would mean that Oliver also hates Tracie and Anirudh because he doesn't follow either of them. On Instagram, Oliver follows only the main cast of 9-1-1 and he seems to use his Instagram as more of a professional account. His posts are mostly show related, contrary to his stories in which he shares mostly his dogs.

Now as the main cast the easier way for them to add a character in the main cast would have them to either work at the 118, the LAPD, or the Dispatch center. It would be less likely to have someone work for the LAPD, the focus is more on Athena and she said multiple times that she hates working with someone. The Dispatch center could work better and we could up certain characters, like Linda or Josh, as main. That would work better. They are already existing characters that the public loves. We need more of them. The last case would have someone from the 118. They could either introduce someone new or push Ravi to main. Which would seem less likely. Anirudh seems to be the busiest actor in the show. I think he also got cast in another show and is also doing other shows outside of 9-1-1. He also seems to keep time to travel outside of work. You go King. Ravi as main would be possible, but it would also shake a lot from Anirudh's busy schedule.

Now, another character that fans have been begging for as main character is Karen. That would be trickier. If we follow my logic, you are free to disagree but be nice! Karen is neither from LAPD, Dispatch or the 118. She's Hen's wife and a rocket scientist. But that doesn't mean we wouldn't see more of her. 9-1-1 always showed us the characters' life outside of work. But since Hen is the only one from the main cast who has no one from her family as main, we saw less from her which is criminal. Maddie is with Chimney and both are main. Same for Bobby and Athena. Eddie and Chris are also part of the main cast, and Gavin seemed to have been pushed a little bit more upfront since he was part of the group promo for the season. As for Buck, for a while he had Taylor who had kinda her own thing and Tommy who also has his own thing.

Buck and Hen are in the same case, they both have their love interests that are not part of the main cast. Buck only Abby back in S1 but it mostly feels like Buck was the love interest since he was nowhere as important as he is now, same for Chimney.

But one thing that we saw in S7 is that Karen can be more important. She was there for when Hen came home after being demoted. Also the Mara storyline felt like it was more of a Karen and Hen than a Hen and Karen storyline and I would love to see more of Karen in S8. Honestly, I feel like she was in more episodes this season than she was in any others.

So now that I shared my thoughts you can share yours. Be nice or you will be blocked. There is too much unnecessary hate in the fandom for any characters and actors. I'm not going to tolerate people's shits.

[911-on-abc]

considering that buck and eddie pray together for bobby, that means they are still on somewhat good terms in that scene. what could happen after that alienates buck (or eddie) so much that eddie feels like he has nobody to run to?

Hi anon!! thank you for the ask! To be honest, I don't know the answer. Based on last week's episode and the stills we received today it seems to me that Buck will continue to support Eddie through this.

It is obvious that Eddie is struggling and has been struggling for a while and given how close their relationship is and what else they have supported each other through, I don't think Buck would abandon him.

Now, the speculation that Eddie will feel like he has nobody to run to comes from an interview that Ryan did 3ish weeks ago. In the morning I am going to read that interview again just to refresh myself on what he said and I'll add an addition to this post but here are my thoughts:

I think we should take Ryan's words with a grain of salt. First, there are things that Ryan could not say to avoid spoilers, so what he said obviously does not give us the full picture. Second, if my memory/information is correct, filming S7 ended last week. It is possible that when he gave that interview Ryan hadn't completed all of the filming for that arc, so he was also working with incomplete information. This is totally a stretch, so you should take my words with a grain of salt too lol but my point is that Ryan's words may not be entirely accurate regarding what is going to happen.

Okay last thing: I do not believe that the 118 would abandon Eddie. They accepted Hen cheating on Karen, Buck 1.0, and Buck and Lucy. They helped Eddie after they learned that he fought in a fucking fight club!!! They welcomed him back into the fold after he left. Eddie having an emotional affair with Kim is nowhere close to the worst thing a member of the 118 has done.

Anyways, I hope this answers your question. idk if this made any sense it's almost midnight so brain is at like 15% operating power right now. I'll add more to this in the morning, but thanks for the ask!!! <3

[buckaroo627]

Oliver Stark tv fanatic interview: silly & heartfelt, buck and eddie, idea in queer spaces, scaring the kids

“One of my favorite things about the show is that within a 42-minute episode, we’re able to kind of encapsulate all of those things,” Stark said. “There’s very much a silly, bordering on ridiculous plot going on, and then mirroring that is a really deep and heartfelt and heavy storyline.

Several beats throughout the hour feature Buck and Eddie having fun moments playing off one another, something Stark and Ryan Guzman always excel at.

“And whether or not Tommy ends up being the forever partner for Buck, he will always have been his first. And there will always be, I think, huge importance placed upon it for those reasons.”

“And Buck and Tommy are still learning about each other, and oftentimes, when you are learning about relatively new partners, you can discover something that can be a little jarring. And that’s something we’re going to lean into. “Then it’s up for the people in that relationship to figure out how to navigate through and past it.”

While Tommy may be the new person in his life, Buck had a past before him, and seeing as how 9-1-1 loves a throwback, I wondered who from Buck’s past Stark would like to see make a triumphant return.

“And with someone like a Lucy Donato or something, like an ex-partner who is now there to help shepherd him and boost his confidence. Yeah, I would love to see maybe something like that.”

“I think he’s maybe guileless sometimes, but really, we’ve seen time and time again that he is extremely knowledgeable about a wide-ranging spectrum of things and oftentimes has used these facts that he happens to know to help people in danger.

Buck may be settled now, but he does leave a few kids unsettled during the 118 haunted house, where he sees him ripping off poor Billy Boils’s arm when trying to give the kids some candy.

“I got asked to take it out because kids were scared of me because if you go big with the costume, it’s obviously fake. Whereas my one kind of creepy eye was troubling some of the children in the store.

Evans, W. (2024 Oct 24). Oliver Stark Talks 9-1-1 Halloween Episode, Buck’s Upcoming Relationship ‘Difficulties’ & More. TV Fanatic.

[outrunningthedark]

I just don’t get why Kristen won’t show Buck and Eddie’s friendship even if she has no intentions of making them canon

Because of how people react whenever they do have scenes together.

Fandom tries to talk a good game about “missing the friendship”, but we all know that most of those people will take any interaction and “analyze” it to support a canon romantic relationship. She doesn’t want to deal with those questions every time she agrees to an interview. She’s just gonna keep repeating herself unless things change.)

And on a different note, I don’t think it’s a Buddie problem as much as a Buck and Eddie problem.

Yes, Kristen used this season to try out different dynamics and thus had an excuse not to put Buddie together very much, but let’s look at them individually:

Buck:

- This is a season where he is learning to rely on and listen to himself instead of looking to others for reassurance or validation

- The Buck and Hen talks from 6x02 and 6x04 could be hand-waved like so:

*Hen being interim captain meant Buck should (logically) go to her if he’s struggling with something related to their job. Buck sought Bobby’s help the week before, but Bobby wasn’t an option that day.

*Hen has experience with choosing a sperm donor. She understands what a parent or parents are sometimes asking of another person - “Donor, not dad.”

Now, a lot of this fandom convinced itself that Buck and Eddie were avoiding the sperm donor thing because “they weren’t ready” to say certain truths, but with Buck having no regrets…the conversation is of little importance in 6B. That’s the one area (IMO) you could point to and ask yourself why the friendship wasn’t deemed valuable.

Eddie:

Eddie just had a season-long journey about mental health and recovery, so (unfortunately) it should have been assumed that he’d have a lesser role for this installment.

His main story lines were Chris wanting to gain more independence/attending a school dance and helping out an actress the 118 meets on a call.

Buck isn’t going to get involved with Eddie’s struggles or milestones as a dad unless it’s time to show how Buck truly is the co-parent. When he helped with the adaptive skateboard and took care of Chris while Eddie was in the hospital, Ana was a clear “obstacle” on the road to canon.

Buck…had no reason to be part of what Eddie was dealing with in Cursed, really. (Not with his own stuff going on, anyway. Convenient.) And that episode appears to be an example of different dynamics just because Kristen could - Eddie and Athena isn’t one we see very often.

If the limited Buddie scenes continue into s7, then yeah, we got a problem, but with both guys healing from personal trauma in back-to-back seasons, I think the biggest (potential) roadblock moving forward will be the relationship status. If one or both has a gf again, we’re not supposed to be expecting anything. But if they’re single for some of the first half… 👀👀

[feralkwe]

Fic Writer Interview

I was tagged by @veliseraptor - xoxo

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

a humble 34, but those are only the ones that made it to ao3. i've had several others strung across other platforms over the years, but these are the ones i care to keep track of.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

552,373. a little lower than i expected, but wordcount has never really been a thing i worry too much over. it's not a competition. a story takes as many words as it needs to be told.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

i actually had to look this up. i thought i knew off the top of my head, and i was pretty lose. they are:

a champion's expectation (118)

dossiers and snapshots (89)

a hero's lamentations (78)

a queen's regrets (66)

food for thought (63)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i do! one of my favorite things about fandom is the back and forth about things you love. fic serves that up rather well. i absolutely love discussing stories with people who enjoyed them.

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

hmm. a tough one, i think. i am probably suffering recency bias, but to the edge (and back again) may be the winner here. it's definitely up there. my current wip, thnks fr th mmrs may rival it, depending on how it goes. that one has the benefit of relationship angst, but isn't exclusively a canon character story where we all know the ending.

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

i like a little bittersweet in all of my endings, and i think a majority of my fic reflects that. however, a herald's faith definitely has the happiest ending, in my opinion. everyone in the story is where they should be or want to be at the end of the inquisition, even if that isn't always with each other. hence, the bitter in my sweet endings. it's what they all want, and that has to count for something.

7. Do you write crossovers?

i used to, but i don't anymore. i don't really like them as much as i did when i was a young fic writer learning what appealed to me. it's just not my thing.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

yup! it doesn't exist anymore because the platform where i first posted it no longer exists, but i got a fair bit (more than i'm used to for how little known my work is) for my handling of alistair in a queen's regrets. i still stand by my characterization and choices. he has a temper and breaking points, and i think his reactions in my story are very much in character. sorry not sorry to everyone who thinks he's made of cotton candy and smiles and nods. he's actually much more complex than that, and i think i write that very well.

9. Do you write smut?

absolutely i do. that's it. that's my answer.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge! i'm not a very popular or well-known writer, and i would be surprised if anyone has actually cared enough to steal my work. that's not like, false humility or anything. i'm not well-known in any fandom, for better or for worse.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

someone did approach me to ask if they could translate a queen's regrets to russian, but i have no idea if that ever happened! i never heard back from them. if anyone runs across it, i'd love to see it!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope. i'm not closed off to the idea, it's just never come up.

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

oh my goodness, what an unfair question! i am very much a multishipper with a ship-and-let-ship mindset. i don't actively ship things outside of my own ships, but i'm pretty easy to convince that something could work and would be interesting. i love seeing it, and will happily engage in talk about it if asked because i genuinely enjoy seeing people have fun.

my official answer is possibly cheating, but it's anders/mage rights. it is my ride or die, absolutely non-negotiably canon ship. i love the idea that yes, even if he does love your character, he will never love anything or anyone as much as he loves freedom for mages. it will always matter to him more than anyone or anything else. perhaps he is willing to drown the world in blood to keep you safe, but he has and will obliterate himself for the cause no matter what you do or think. i find that so incredibly satisfying.

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

hmm. i have a few marvel fics that i would love to have the desire to finish. i would say specifically dossiers and snapshots, which is a clint barton &-/ natasha romanov series of connected one-shots that i would rework into a cohesive multi-chapter story. at this point they would need to be torn apart and rewritten, which is only part of why it will likely never happen. the other is that despite how much i love the characters i chose for my stories, that phase of my fandom life has likely passed, and i'm okay with that.

15. What are your writing strengths?

i am very good at characterization. i am. this is fact. even though i toil and fret over every new character and voice i tackle, i think i always come out on top of it. the number of people who have told me they could imagine my characterization choices happening in canon reinforces this, and it is maybe the only thing about my fic writing that i am confident to maybe just shy of arrogance about.

i'm also good at dialogue, i think.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

probably description. it's something i'm picky about in reading any type of fiction. i have no patience for when it gets too flowery or when an author/writer refuses to leave anything to the reader's imagination. i will skim over it for understanding, but there is a point where it's just lost on me.

that translates into my writing to a point where i have to actively work against my impulse to be as concise as possible. i want so much for readers to be able to imagine what they like that sometimes i forget to give them touchstones for my own vision. i'm also forever paranoid that i am dreadfully repetitive. there is a sweet spot for me, both reading and writing, and achieving it is likely to always feel like a white whale.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

you have to be very, very careful with it. don't just trust google translate or whatever your tool of choice is with it. use it sparingly for best effect. if you're a native english speaker, don't fall into the trap of mixing it with english ("chinglish" "spanglish" etc) without consulting a native speaker. depending on the language you run the risk of getting very problematic very fast, and it's always, always best to err on the side of caution. and by caution, i mean native speaker opinion.

now, if native speakers of that language are your target, that is another thing altogether, and i have more thoughts on that. i love when ojibwe authors use anishinaabemowin and don't translate it for non-speakers. it's like a little love letter from them to me. i assume there are instances in other languages where this applies.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

technically the babysitter's club. i wrote and illustrated my own little books of it when i was a kid. the first fandom i officially wrote and published for was dragon age.

19. What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

mmm. i really, really would love to dip my toes into good omens. i think i understand the characters well enough to do it justice. but it's a big fandom full of so many incredible writers, and i have yet to come up with a viable premise that i think i could enact in a meaningful way. i'm not discounting it, but it's a fandom i'm active in, and i'd love to some day be a contributor.

also, i'd love to write some cute little bits for ryne/gaia in ffxiv. again, it's a matter of finding an idea that grabs me in a way that i think i could make magic happen. but they are so adorably sweet, and girl love is definitely something we need to see more of in any fandom, it's definitely on my bucket list.

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

again, recency bias, but my recently finished ffxiv fic, to the edge (and back again), about the journey of elidibus through the zodiark summoning up to the sundering, may be my best work yet.

i'm gonna tag @yamisnuffles, @icescrabblerjerky, @leggywillow, @squeeful, @tehjai, and anyone else who wants to consider themselves tagged for a bit of fun.

[lemotmo]

https://www.tumblr.com/lemotmo/752941391948218368/httpswwwusmagazinecomentertainmentnews9-1-1

I know you said you need to go to bed 😂 but I’m dying to know your thoughts on the full interview. Even if it’s just a quick abridged cliff notes version of them for tonight. Good bad more hopeful then ever?

LOL Nonny! I'm living on fumes right now. I'm so exhausted. But I'm posting this last thing before I crash in my bed.

The best part was definitely the clip they posted as a preview. They knew what we wanted to see. :D

The rest of the interview is great in my opinion. I love how he approached the Chris storyline and that final scene with Gavin. Imagining talking to your own son? That must have been tough.

I also like how he asked to be a bit more light-hearted for the first part of the season. Eddie definitely deserved that.

I also like how he talked about the bachelor party scene and Eddie letting go. Especially this:

"Guzman called it 'self-exploration' of letting Eddie 'release' all his 'responsibilities,' explaining the scene as, 'Let me not think about everything. Let me turn if all off. Be as much as I can in the moment."

And who was he in that moment with? Turning it all off and releasing it all? Buck. Everything in that scene was about them doing this together.

I didn't like how he said this could be a conduit for worse though. Please not another Eddie illigal fighting era! No Tim, NO!

And when he talked about how Eddie couldn't lose Bobby. Aw, bless his heart.

He keeps repeating falling back on his religion, so I'm thinking this will be a part of this new Eddie in season 8.

This next part definitely had me sitting up and paying attention:

I'm definitely eye-balling this part really hard. The way he keeps repeating that queer people relate to Eddie and how he -once again- repeats that sexual orientation isn't important when it comes to family like the 118. And then how Eddie, as someone raised Catholic and militant can let those 'boundaries' go? Closing yourself off? Yeah, this seems to be veeeery pointed into one direction.

I don't know, but to me this passage is very telling.

As for what he wishes for next season? I really want to see Eddie punch Gerrard in the face. That would be epic. Not to mention how fast Buck would go in protective mode. LOL!

And yes to scenes with JLH! Eddie needs scenes with his love interest's sister. ;b

Overall, this was a great interview. Nothing really new, outside of the whole Buck is co-parenting Chris information. But this seems a lot more hopeful than the interviews that were released right before the ending of season 7.

Hope that is enough to satisfy your needs Nonny! Off to bed!!!

[whateverthedragonswant]

thinking about buck and chris in the tsunami and buck helping build chris an adapted skateboard and buck being the one to sit next to chris and tell him his dad might not be coming home and eddie putting buck in his will and them having ONE SCENE together in all of 6a?like i 100% get wanting to focus on other relationships, but at this point it truly doesn’t make sense for there to be almost no buckley-diaz scenes because we KNOW how important they are to each other, romantic or not.

Hey, Anon!

I totally get what you're saying and I do agree but I also think they're still trying to show us in ways that Buck and Eddie are still very important to one another while we go through the first half of the season. They've had more than one scene together but they usually have someone else around. I think that's what you're referring to, right? The missing heart-to-hearts that they usually have? I completely get that this is throwing a lot of people off because it's not their usual pattern. Even when KR took over last season, we still got heart-to-hearts with both of them every so often. But here's the thing, I think we're going to get some of those back in 6B because if Buck does have a breakdown or he reaches a breaking point, there's no way Eddie wouldn't be part of that landscape. Because Eddie was so heavily involved in the story line two seasons ago:

Annnnd since we know the Buckley parents are returning and they're most likely it has to do with this story line for Buck this season, it stands to reason that at some point Eddie will be returning this for Buck:

And I am absolutely certain because this season so far we've seen:

Eddie reassuring Buck like he always has when Buck was worried about Karen (and this is definitely Eddie doing that by looking at Buck as he begins to speak when Buck wasn't even looking to him, he was saying it for everyone but more specifically Buck's benefit which is why we then get the looksie loo between them after he says it). Something he did in 3x16 about possibly losing contact with the firefam. Something he tried to do in 4x04 and 4x05.

And then we also get:

While it was kind of Buck and Eddie to do this for that person, isn't it weird that out of the 118, they're the only two? When you know if they had asked, Chim, Bobby, and Hen would have helped? And isn't it weird that the random people they bring with them are two men and two women, and the framing shows each man and each woman walking in together from both sides, behind Eddie, Buck, and the homeowner? They're showing this because that 5x18 scene was a big deal for these two, just like the will scene in 4x14 like you mentioned. But they also show Buck and Eddie in two different cars arriving (when they could have carpooled, especially given gas prices at that point lol) because they're on their own separate journeys, but they're going to arrive in the same place: together and back to their close relationship but this time knowing what they want and being all the stronger for it, stronger to the point that they can even help others like this homeowner. But overall one important thing: a solid, united team. And for any work partnership or friendship, this is one hell of a scenic route to go on to patch either of those up, when it won't lead somewhere past that.

So I get what you're saying and it is a bit of an odd route to take but I have faith that it will all pay off in the end. To me, as an amateur writer, it makes sense. If Buck breaks down, I don't see how anyone could justify Eddie not being there for him during that. Especially when they keep bringing to our attention that Eddie knows something is up with Buck (before learning about the donation), Eddie still knows things about Buck that no one else does (and vice versa as we saw play out in 6x09), and these two are still very much a unit, even if it's not happening physically on screen at the moment. And while I may not always agree with KR's talking points in certain interviews, I do think she's going in the direction she was told to do, just in her own way. And while it might not be the way we like, one thing they haven't gotten rid of is the story telling they're doing through other devices that films and television shows always use. Right now, KR doesn't need the GA to see Buddie, not overtly. Once it gets closer and Buck goes through what he has to, things will become less subtle. (and I have tbh, I don't even think it's really all that subtle anymore) But I still see the same story they've been telling the past few years, since season 3, and I don't see any indication that Buddie won't happen.

Like one of my other anons said, Buck spending time with other 118 members & Eddie doing the same...this is all a precursor to them eventually getting together. Once they do get together, they'll still have scenes with the firefam separately, just like we see with Hen and Karen, Chim and Maddie, Bobby and Athena, etc.

And I get what you mean about no Buckley-Diaz scenes butttt we did get that one scene in the season premiere and that is SO important because the first episode of a season always sets up what the main focal points are going to be for that season's story line of the show. And while we don't get anymore physical scenes with them, we do see Eddie and Buck discussing Chris' crush, Eddie asking Buck if Chris has told him any secrets, etc. It's still very present in the story line. And on top of that, since this season is about Buck finding out what he wants (and the donation comes into play), it makes sense that the Buckley-Diaz isn't the focus right now (scenes with the firefam or not) because Buck's relationship with both Eddie and Chris are solid. It's not coming into question right now; it's a given. Since Buck is going on this journey (and Eddie is doing his own as well), it makes sense that we don't see as much Chris/Buck or family scenes. We might get some more in 6B but I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't even be surprised if we only got one, if any at all.

Any other time we've gotten Buckley-Diaz scenes, it is always in relation to one of the three's emotional landscapes in the story. The show just worked hard to separate Eddie and Christopher so Eddie can find out what he wants for himself. They're now working to help Buck figure out what he wants. Christopher is doing well and the theme of his and Eddie's relationship this season is him getting older and not needing Eddie as much. It all makes sense then that we're not seeing the B-D unit as much this season.

But I feel you, Anon, I do. I get that this is frustrating for some. I partially blame that on the streaming culture we currently have because not only have we been waiting for this to happen for a long time, it's the waiting for weekly episodes, the winter break, the interviews in between, that kills us, too. I myself just recently gave up on a show that I regret starting because I care about the characters so much but the writing is questionable at best (which puts it very nicely) and they're more concerned with fanservice than they are good storytelling it feels like. I tried to have patience, to hang in there, trying to see what we were being told through every single device used, but I got so frustrated I said 'fuck it, I'll wait and binge when it's all said and done. I'm wasting too much time waiting and being frustrated about this so fuck it.' And it takes a lot for me to do that but getting back to the point, I get it if some people want to wait until it does happen, or that they can stream the full season once it's over. And I get the frustration, but I promise, I really do believe Buddie is on its way. It's just taking the long (scenic) route. Which is completely characteristic of slow burns but you also have networks and shows that love to milk the crap out of something like this, too. Whatever keeps people coming back to watch every week. But I get it all. I hope in this ramble somewhere I'm making sense lol.

So my very long point is to hang in there, Anon. It's coming, and I think once 6B airs in its entirety, it will all make sense. I think even rewatching all of 6A will even help pull the puzzle pieces together and all of the connections will be seen that much more. I plan to do that myself once I get some time.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, Anon!!! <3

[911firefox]

They literally reduced Eddie to “that angry guy” in Buck’s dream, what are you talking about? Now canonically deep down in Buck’s subconscious Eddie is just an angry guy. A failed parent. Not his best friend. Not something more which some delusional people try to use as a reason for Eddie not being there. The only reason Eddie wasn’t there is that the showrunner hates Eddie and Buck’s relationship wether it be friendship or romance and you choose to not see that, too afraid to criticise the show instead of standing up for your presumably favourite character. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

Hello again angry anon. I just had a really great nap so decided to humour you once more.

Firstly 'A failed parent' good parents lose custody all the time. Good parents in bad situations. Losing custody is not proof of being a failed parent. There's already an example in the show of Nia, her mum hit a bad situation and a bad time with the pandemic etc. Bad shit happens to good people. And that's true to real life, it's pretty scummy to assume keeping/getting custody = good person.

Eddie isn't in the dream world 118 because he didn't have the support system that enabled him in the 'real world'

The dream was the worst case scenario. Bobby wouldn't for sure have died without Buck, Eddie didn't need solely Buck for things to go his way but as the most important people in Buck's life it makes sense that his anxiety over them and the worse case scenario being worse. But if Eddie had been in the dream, I suspect you would have complained then too so 🤷

The angry descriptor is not something I liked either actually. But I'm guessing it was a clumsy way to allude to the episode rage and the street fighting. Either way there could have been much better ways to show he was overwhelmed that's true. They could have done better with this, yea.

I'm guessing they were talking about how when Eddie did have anger issues in the episode rage etc relating to his grief re Shannon, it was Bobby that stepped in and talked to him man to man. Considering Eddie kicked a guy's nose into his brain, that is pretty angry so maybe that's what Hen is talking about. That's admittedly a pure guess but you can't say that Eddie didn't need the 118 as a family to help him through his grief and rage-

Ahhh, the showrunner- every passive aggressive anon I've seen a friend get today is obsessed about the showrunner. I don't read her interviews since the first one she did that upset everyone. And before that I didn't really read any interviews with showrunners aside from tidbits that came across my dash so you do you but I'm not gonna stress about that. It's outta my power who the showrunner is, shows I've loved and characters I've loved have been done dirty before too. I can just hope not this time. Yelling on tumblr about it won't change her day so, for the most part I do my best to pay her no mind either.

Oh, Ryan Guzman has stipulation in his contract to work reduced hours on I believe two episodes a season and by the amount he was in I'd guess this was one. Perhaps that means next week in an episode dealing with PTS like he has too, he'll be way more prevalent. I really hope so but I'm also prepared to be disappointed. Is it ideal that this episode may have been the reduced episode? Depends on who you ask I guess. I can predict your answer.

I do actually criticize the show a lot when I think it's warranted, which tells me again you have no clue who I am and just want to yell on anon at people.

And you know what I do when I'm disappointed with a show? Well, I sure as shit don't go yelling at people on anon that's for sure.

One piece of advice for you: when a TV show stops being a source of joy or even mild entertainment for you, maybe stop watching.

Go play with a kitten, I am right now. It's super fun.