#tommy and maddie and karen friendship

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

Big Brother is Watching (and Giving You Kudos)

Happy (Belated) Birthday, @nine-one-wanton! I hope you had a wonderful day and are enjoying your continued celebration!

BuckTommy | Rated: T | 7.7K | complete | ao3 (A sequel to Hotshots' Number Two Fans)

Summary: Redacted by the government of the United States of America. Preview:

“That was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Tommy fell back against the couch as the credits rolled, his heart still racing. “Holy shit.”

It was premiere night for the new season of Hotshots. Karen and Maddie were at the new house with him while Evan was over at Maddie and Chim’s, giving a hand with the kids. They’d been looking forward to tonight for months and it had been a great time…

Aside from the chicken.

“I swear, this is proof,” Karen said, still cackling with Maddie as they fell into each other’s sides. “Mitt Raenim reads the fanfic. I know it, I know he does. That was basically your story, Tommy.” Her giggles started up all over again. “Oh, my god, your face when the chicken came on screen!”

“Roosters are dangerous,” Tommy grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “They have talons, okay? Very sharp talons.”

“We know, sweetie,” Maddie said as she patted Tommy’s knee. “Now, aggressive chicken aside, I have to say that animal control officer was hot.” She waggled her eyebrows at them as she reached for another brownie.

“I can objectively agree with that,” Karen said, toasting Maddie’s brownie with a cookie.

Tommy shook off his fowl flashbacks to nod. “And I can very much unobjectively agree,” he said. “Man knew how to wrangle and he looked good doing it.”

“You know who he would be so cute with?” Maddie snapped her fingers as she turned to Tommy who already knew exactly who she was thinking of.

“Dr. Monclair from last season?”

“Yes!” Maddie bounced excitedly in her seat. “You have to write something!”

“Come on, rare pair king,” Karen called out. “Give the people what they want! And by the people, I mean us.”

[continue reading on ao3]

See who the agents are here!

[chimneyz]

maddie and karen go out for brunch once a week at the same location every time, sometimes athena joins them. they sip their mimosas and char about how absolutely insane their life partners are and how much they love them for it. they will also chit chat about 118 gossip because there is so much gossip. they have been doing this for months. recently maddie has been bringing along buck who is still devastated from the break up. he tries to put on a smile but maddie and karen can see it doesn't fully reach his eyes. karen confides in maddie saying that she still has been in contact with tommy (she has a little book club that tommy is a part of) and that tommy has also been an absolute mess. maddie is a little skeptical because that is her baby brother he hurt. so she goes over to one of these book clubs to see for herself and karen was right he is a mess. karen and maddie's brunches have moved on from chit chat to scheming a plan to get buck and tommy together by valentines day. over the top shenanigans ensues, but they have a detailed plan on what to do, they eventually get their friends to help as well. turns out maddie and karen are quite the force to be reckoned with and it's low key a little scary. (this is when chimney learns that there is a clipboard version of maddie as well and it both scares him and turns him on) this will not be last time maddie and karen scheme.

[tevanbegins]

The only people thinking that Bucktommy's storyline is ruining the show are the B*ddie fanatics and the homophobic fans who are disappointed that Buck came out as queer. However, the rest of the viewers don't think that way at all. Even if you put aside the BT fandom, the general audiences still enjoy the show. The improved viewership ratings reflect that.

BoBs don't want Buck to end up with the first ever man he has dated (this only bc said man isn't Eddie); they believe he needs to 'explore' his bisexuality more. The GA, on the other hand, is happy to see that Buck is finally settling into a stable, healthy relationship with a caring partner who respects him and reciprocates his feelings equally. Apart from many queer fans who are celebrating this crucial LGBTQ+ representation, most of the GA probably doesn't even care that Buck is with a man and the queerness of it all. They just like seeing a beloved character finally finding true love, after seasons of stumbling through a series of failed relationships.

Buck and Tommy's love story not only sustained the existing viewership, but boosted it further by drawing in plenty more new viewers to the show. This is apparent through the impressive ratings, and the fact that the show's renewal for season 8 was confirmed not long after 'Buck, Bothered and Bewildered' aired.

Another thing that BoBs don't realise is that the GA also comprises casual watchers and people who might not care about Buck or Eddie at all. The show has an Oscar & Emmy-winning actress among its main cast - Angela Bassett. It also has another beloved veteran actor like Peter Krause. There are people who are watching this show for them. There are people who may be far more invested in Bobby-Athena, Maddie-Chimney, or the Hen-Karen storylines than whatever the hell's going on with Buck or Eddie. Or there may be audiences who appreciate the platonic friendship between Buck-Eddie the same way they like Hen-Chimney or Hen-Athena with zero expectation of it turning romantic.

The only reason why it seems that B*ddie is the most popular thing about 9-1-1 is that their fandom is a loud and hyperactive majority across social media. Other fandom stans and GA/casual viewers may not be as dominant on socials, but they exist in a lot higher numbers than BoBs can ever imagine. BoBs overestimate their clout.

Bucktommies obviously love Tommy Kinard with their whole hearts, adore how good he is with Buck, and so would love for them to be endgame. But BoBs don't realise that even the audiences that are not hugely invested in Tevan as us BTs, are not losing sleep over the fact that Buck is with Tommy and not Eddie. They watch the show for other characters and storylines and all the drama and action. Buck's love life doesn't hamper their enjoyment of the show; they may be neutral to it. Even if not all of them maybe loving Tommy, doesn't mean they hate him either.

Again, the reason why Buck or Eddie's past relationships with their female LIs weren't popular even among the GA the way Madney, Henren, or Bathena are, is not because they wanted Buck and Eddie to end up together. I believe it's because those romantic storylines were half-baked or poorly-written, not making the casual viewer care enough. If Buck ever had a female LI with as much potential as Tommy, or if Eddie could treat a partner decently, those hypothetical ships could become popular too. People enjoy Bucktommy because of how beautiful their love story is overall, not simply because it's a 'queer' love story. Their storyline has the potential to be long-term, and Tommy being well-integrated with the rest of the characters solidifies the possibility of him and Buck going a long way.

What excuse would the BoBs who want Buck to experiment have had if Buck hadn't come out last season and Tommy were a woman? What if that storyline would still show a positive romantic development for Buck where the new female LI put in an equal amount of effort into the relationship, like Tommy has? Yes, a lot of the initial hype around Bucktommy was because it's a queer love story, but even if you replaced Tommy with a female character and made her care about Buck the same way that Tommy does, or have Buck be as smitten with her as he is with Tommy, many audiences would still dig that.

The same-sex aspect of it is just icing on the cake; the cake would still have been delicious if baked well (but the icing is significant for queer fans who crave good representation on TV.) But integrating Buck's bisexuality arc into a thriving relationship with a pre-established character is a welcome development for queer fans and GA alike. The viewership stats prove that Bucktommy is definitely not damaging the show, but contributing to making it more successful if anything.

So the BoBs need to know that all their constant whining, cyberbullying and Tommy/LFJR slander is not going to scare ABC or the showrunner & writing staff into giving them what they want. B*ddie fanatics are too tiny a portion of this gigantic equation (that exists far beyond the confines of social media), and losing them is not going to affect the network or the people making the show.

Even in the unfortunate scenario that Bucktommy doesn't last, most of the GA/casual viewers will still not stop watching the show. We BTs will be heartbroken and cry for a few weeks and then move on, because the show's writers can do what they want and owe us nothing. But we're not going to spend years bullying and threatening them for not making our ship endgame. That's the power of GA and the show will continue for as long as it has the ratings and network support to back it up, regardless of who Buck ends up with.

And for now, the GA is enjoying Buck with Tommy, so luckily things aren't looking too shabby for the BT fandom and the storyline should stay its course unless the writers decide otherwise, which they don't really have a reason to given the largely positive response reflected through the ratings. Even though we can't predict what happens in the future, we'll cherish every small or big Bucktommy win that comes our way until then! BoBs can keep screaming into the void as usual, but things wouldn't change because they think they can make it happen. That's all.

___

[bekkachaos]

*buddie rant incoming*

The thing is right, so many shows have found it hard to introduce love interests for established characters when those love interests haven't been part of the show previously or for a decent amount of time before becoming the LI. Especially on long-running shows (I'm talking five plus seasons). Because the established characters are so fleshed out and have so many facets to them, introducing new love interests out of nowhere that have no history in the show seems out of place. That's why Tommy worked better than most of the other love interests they've tried to bring in for Buck or Eddie, because at least he had roots in the show prior to being considered as a LI.

All of the other characters have had the same love interest either from the pilot (Hen and Karen) Or are established by season 2 with another main (Bobby and Athena & Chimney and Maddie). Eddie and Maddie might not have been in the first season, but they were introduced early enough as main characters and given the kind of story progression and character development that they needed outside of being there only to progress the story of another character.

Now you might throw out the old "it worked in shows like Grey's Anatomy" and yeah, you'd be right, but in shows like Grey's there were multiple lead characters who were single and dating as well as more established couples or 'will-they-wont-theys'. In 911 the only lead characters who are single and haven't been romantically tied to one other character for the duration of their run or multiple seasons, are Buck and Eddie.

Out of all Buck's love interests, Taylor had previously been given the most backstory, but it always felt like we weren't supposed to be invested in them because it was made to seem like she was always going to put her job over Buck and that he had more trust and stability in his friendships (with Eddie especially). In season 1, Abby wasn't a love interest for Buck. It was the other way around because she was the main character, he was the one serving a purpose for her before she left and then her leaving was a catalyst for him. Ali, we barely got anything for, never really learnt much about her, she was an empty love interest much the same as Marisol was for Eddie. Because the thing in common with both of those is that we see the very early hints of dating and then the next time you see those characters they are in established relationships, we've got to see none of the getting to know each other phase, never get attached to the LI. Our main characters have gotten to do that behind the scenes but the audience doesn't get to engage so we don't really care about them. I'm not even going to start on Shannon, that's a whole other post on its own.

Another big problem is that because Buck and Eddie haven't had stable love interests with longevity, their friendship and partnership has been parallelled to the other main characters and their relationships (all of which being romantic pairings). We see that they can form deep and meaningful relationships because they have that with one another, but no other relationships they've been in that we've seen has had the same kind of unconditional "I'm there for you no matter what and I know you're there for me even when I'm wrong" kind of feeling. They've all been rushed or superficial.

Basically, trying to introduce someone for either of them now is going to feel so shallow and out of place compared to the other relationships in the show and compared to what they both deserve in terms of love and a partner.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[moonydanny]

Fuck It Friday

Tagged by the wonderful @qwordavoider <3

Okay, here's another little fic idea I wanna flesh out because I feel like the 118 need a good dressing down (and also 'cause I need an outlet for my frustration over the fucking breakup... still).

Buck's a bit resentful of his friends, if he’s honest.

Chim, Hen, Eddie. They all dropped Tommy like a hot potato after he broke up with Buck. They knew, they knew Tommy didn’t have anyone.

Sure, Tommy had a bunch of casual friends and acquaintances, he always “knew a guy”, but he wasn’t really close with anyone. His coworkers at Harbor were the kind of friends you talk to on shifts about life stuff, sure, the ones you grab drinks with after a shift every now and then, but they were nowhere near as close as the 118 crew was.

Tommy didn’t have anyone he considered family. Buck had told them once, how much he appreciated them being friends with Tommy and bringing him into the fold, because he knew how much Tommy appreciated it, how much he craved it, how much he needed it.

And they had all told Tommy once, at a barbeque at Hen and Karen’s house, Chim and Hen and Eddie threw at Tommy the “you’re one of us now, Kinard” line. But now? They all dropped him like it was nothing. Like he was nothing.

And of course a part of Buck was warmed at the thought that it was because they were having his back after Tommy broke his heart, but Tommy had also broken his own heart. Buck had no doubt in his mind that Tommy was also having a hard time, he saw it all over his face that night at the loft.

So one day, about 3 weeks after the break up, they’re all hanging out at Maddie and Chimney’s place, when Buck can’t keep it in any longer and he snaps. He’s looking at his phone and someone makes another snarky comment about him still waiting to see if Tommy would ‘bubble’ him again.

Buck sees red.

He asks them if anyone has heard from Tommy, if any of them had reached out to him, and they all say no. He tells everyone that he appreciates all the support they’ve been giving him, truly, but they’ve all been a little condescending and overprotective, to be honest, and WHY THE FUCK has no one checked in on Tommy? They all knew how much he cared for Buck, they all had teased them both about it enough, how smitten they were, so they all had to know that this was also probably taking a toll on Tommy. And didn’t they tell him once that "he was one of us now"? Was that a lie? They ALL KNEW that Tommy didn’t have a support system like this, he didn’t have a family like this. Eddie had said multiple times that he was glad to have him as a friend, Chim and Hen had said they were really happy they had gotten the chance to rekindle their friendship. Well, so much for that, no?

Yeah, fuck that.

Open @ tag for anyone who just needs an excuse to post something <3

[thatmexisaurusrex]

If it sparks joy … bucktommy + madney wine night microfic please?

Send Me a Headcanon or a Microfic Prompt

Oh my gosh, I love love love this microfic prompt. And I hope it's okay that I throw in a free Henren along with your Madney and BuckTommy here ❤️ it kind of grew into this silly thing that was more about friendships than the ships, so I hope you like it haha Thank you for sending in the prompt 🥰

Wine Night

"I can't fit there," said Tommy, his body swaying from side to side, "I'm too big. I'm gonna squish you both."

"What? No. No, sit," said Karen as she and Maddie patted the middle seat of the couch.

"Yeah. Sit with us, Tommy," said Maddie excitedly, "Sit with the cool kids."

"One of us, one of us, one of us," chanted Karen and Maddie, and - and Tommy wasn't sure if that sounded cool, but he liked being included.

Tommy Kinard was.

Well.

Okay, Tommy Kinard was a little tipsy, giggling as he flopped onto the couch.

"See? There was enough space," said Karen when there clearly wasn't.

Karen and Maddie were sort of readjusting their position so that they were half on each of Tommy's thighs. But they didn't seem to mind and Tommy didn't really either.

"We should do this more often," said Tommy.

"Wine nights?" asked Maddie, "I do like wine nights. I like wine."

"I know nothing about wine. But, I - I like hanging out with you guys," offered Tommy, "I like this moment."

"You don't need to be a sommelier to join the monthly wine night, Tommy," said Karen as she patted his chest, "You just need heart. And a good charcuterie board."

Tommy snorted.

"I'll make sure to bring that next time," Tommy said as he - as he spotted Evan.

Smiling.

And wandering over to the couch.

"Hey. No more room left here. Only the cool kids are allowed," warned Karen.

"Yeah. Cool kids," said Maddie in the least cool way Tommy had ever seen someone say that.

And.

Tommy couldn't help but snicker.

"I've been recruited, Evan," said Tommy as - as Evan reached a hand out.

And.

And Tommy couldn't help but take it.

Maddie and Karen booed.

"Et tu, Tommy?" bemoaned Karen.

"Being part of a group used to mean something," grumbled Maddie.

"We're heading home," said Evan apologetically, "I got a Lyft."

"Good idea. Neither of us are in shape to get home," said Tommy as he leaned on Evan; felt Evan's arm wrap around his waist, "You always have good ideas."

"I could say the same to you," said Evan as they walked over to Chimney and Hen.

"Thanks for having us, Howie," said Tommy as he pulled the Chim and Hen into a big group hug, "God, I missed this."

"We missed you too. You could have hung out with us whenever," said Hen.

And.

And Hen was right.

"I should have. I should have been better about keeping up with you two," agreed Tommy.

"Well. You're here now," said Hen with a smile.

"It's good to have you around again," said Chimney, "We're still on for pickup basketball with Eddie on Thursday, right?"

"Definitely," said Tommy.

And as he and Evan exchanged goodnights with everyone at the wine night, Tommy felt himself gravitating more and more into Evan's personal space; practically half in Evan's lap for no reason in the Lyft.

"I love our friends," gushed Tommy, way more sloshed than he thought he was.

Closing his eyes as he let Evan bring him a little closer.

"I love them too," said Evan quietly, "I love you."

Tommy grinned, gazing into his boyfriend's eyes.

"You know I love you," said Tommy simply, landing a sloppy kiss decidedly not on Evan's lips.

Which made Evan laugh.

And pull Tommy into a more coordinated kiss.

[kinardsboy]

Tommy Karen best friendism is sooo important to me. Like maybe he gets invited to a movie night with Maddie, Karen and Athena, he’s a little nervous at first despite his cool demeanor because well, he knows their partners and he’s met them professionally or at work events like the medal ceremony but never one on one.

Karen, immediately picks up on this and pulls him into the kitchen for a moment. She smiles and tells him not to worry and that they’re all really excited to get to know him, they havent seen Buck this happy and satisfied with his romantic life in years.

This conversation of course sparks a friendship that consists of Micheal/Bobby level shenanigans with Hen disappointingly shaking her head as she tells them that they’re supposed to be the responsible ones while Buck tries not to cheer them on

[bucksboobs]

Some people are also assuming Tommy’s jealousy is going to lead to their breakup because Tommy won’t be able to get over everything Buck has 😭 some of them actually think his jealousy is coming from a bad place. I’ve seen some wild theories

Well. The jealousy comments are planting something and a breakup being the payoff is a valid extrapolation, but personally I think a more interesting payoff would be if his jealousy gets resolved. If he gets to rekindle his friendship with Hen and Chimney, continue to build a his friendship with Eddie, get to know Bobby and Maddie and Karen, etc. I think a better payoff would be him getting that family he’s so jealous of

[ranbling]

Okay, so how I think Buddie could be canon before s8B

ep1-3: they will probably focus on opening diseaster/Gerrard, however they can lay the groundwork here: Eddie mentioning he's doing a lots of soulsearching in therapy, Buck and Tommy having conflicts because of Gerrard and how Tommy advices Buck to handle the situation

ep4: Buck and Tommy breakup (i could see them breaking up in ep5 or even 6, but we don't see a lot of Tommy and only hear the problems from Buck, maybe going to Hen for advice) while we get a scene of Eddie in therapy, he's talking about his childhood and how he was put in the "the man of the house" position at a very young age and maybe show the start of his repression issues and maybe even include Shannon and his religious upbringing

ep5: more scenes of Eddie in therapy, he's talking about his relationship with Shannon, how he loved her, but they were young and he was expected to marry her and why he ran away to the army multiple times, maybe talk about how he romanticises the relationship. Him and Buck are shown hanging out together, just being themselves

ep6: Eddie in therapy, they reach the shooting and Eddie starts to remember what happened then ('cause I 100% believe Eddie realised his feelings for Buck back then, but supressed the whole memory 'cause of the trauma), the episode ends with Eddie having his feelings realisation moment. Buck is broke up with Tommy by this episode the latest (and its important that Buck is the one ending the relationship!!)

ep7: Eddie has multiple converstation with Hen and Karen about realising he's queer later in life and how he feels about Buck. He's acting kinda weird around Buck and Buck tries to talk about it, but Eddie is not ready for that converstation yet. Maddie and Buck have a convo about what Maddie meant by displaced feelings (but Maddie does not tell Buck that she thinks Buck has a crush on Eddie), but gently nudges her towards that. Buck also has a feelings realisation by the end of the episode

ep8: both Buck and Eddie are weird around eachother! They're both afraid of ruining their friendship and try to act normal around the other and totally missing the mark. In the second half of the episode there is a big emergency (i'm thinking fire or building collapse) and Eddie is trapped (callback to the well) and he says his goodbyes to Buck, tries to tell him he loves him "and there is something i need to tell you now, in case i don't make it out...." but the radio cuts and we see Buck being totally distraught and end of episode

ep9: starts with the team trying to get to Eddie and Bobby trying to bench Buck because he's too worried, but he won't stand down. They get Eddie out and we get a confession scene in the hospital

[buckevantommy]

no fucking clue what happened to the reblog i just queued but it basically said season 7 tommy was set up for wanting a family dynamic like the 118 (the found family buck has) and that should be explored in season 8 with tommy struggling with imposter syndrome. so we get that showing through in the extensions of his relationship with buck, feeling like he still isn't worthy or doesn't quite belong - but we see a rekindling of his friendships with howie and hen and his continuing friendship with eddie (which i think will be important for eddie too given his hard time atm) and forming friendships with maddie and athena and karen. everyone is welcoming him into the fold, but then there's gerrard's presence reminding him of who he used to be so it takes a while (and a plotpoint or two) to convince him he's not only welcome and wanted but safe.

so yeah. buck including him in family matters is one part of it. the extended firefam accepting him as one of their own is another part of it. tommy standing up to gerrard (face to face) is another part of it. and tommy doing a bit more introspection is the final part of it.

[ikilledyvette]

THINGS I'D LOVE TO SEE IN SEASON 8 of 9-1-1

(in no particular order)

More Hen & Buck scenes, with or without tequila. (One of my favorite things about S6 was all the Hen and Buck time.)

Literally any kind of happy storyline for Maddie where she doesn't have to cry. (Let that poor woman breathe! JLH has been crying for literal decades now!)

Buck and Tommy continue their sweet, funny, and actually interesting romantic relationship. They can fight or have problems, sure, but not stupid bullshit problems created for The Drama. If they absolutely must break up, it's not because one or both of them have spontaneously turned into assholes. THERE WILL BE NO INFIDELITY, GODDAMNIT.

Seriously, though, Buck/Tommy are so fucking adorable, so ideally for me ... no breakup at all, please.

Zero romance for Eddie. Instead, Eddie goes back to therapy (with Frank, grief support group, etc.) and then fixes things with Christopher when Christopher comes back. (WHEN, I say, because the alternative is far too bleak.) Eddie can have romance again in S9, after he's doing better, and if the writers ever manage to give him a canonical love interest that he actually seems interested in. (TBH, I'd give someone's LEFT HAND to see Aromantic Eddie, but even for a dream list, that seems ... unlikely.)

One episode dedicated to Team Shenanigans and Hijinks. Alternatively, someone (probably Eddie) says the q-word again.

Buck having a delayed emotional breakdown about one of the following traumas: getting his leg crushed by a firetruck, surviving a tsunami, seeing Eddie get shot right in front of him, being a savior baby/lousy parents are still lousy, etc.

Someone in the 118 specifically chooses NOT to forgive their shitty parents, and everyone else on the team supports that decision. My personal favorites here are Chim and Buck, but honestly, I would take anyone. (Tommy, too, and I suspect he's the most likely candidate.)

Eddie is in full Passive Aggressive Sass Mode whenever dealing with Gerard. I want the same sort of bitchy commentary he made while he was taken hostage in that ambulance.

Let Eddie and Maddie actually have a scene together! They have a frankly weird amount in common for characters who basically never interact! (Alternatively, let Eddie and Linda's friendship from S5 continue! They can text each other recipes or something!)

More Radiohead and/or surreal nightmare imagery because that scene from "Chimney Begins" still haunts me in the best of ways.

The reappearance of any or all of the following characters (with the caveat that they are NOT allowed to die): Eli, Carla, Albert, Frank, Ruth from the gas station, and—of course—Karen. Always more Karen.

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

Big Brother is Watching (and Giving You Kudos)

[chimneyz]

i saw a post of a screenshot of a tweet that was made pre season seven finale about bobby retiring and tommy taking over as captain so follow me as i share my thoughts on this au:

almost everything that happened in season eight stays the same. bobby goes to help athena with the plane, hen and karen get back mara, eddie plans on moving to el paso to be with his son (but he has a conversation with hen and chimney about it), chimney and maddie are expecting their second child. so on and so forth.

(no brad no gerrard)

tommy is now captain of the 118 and is doing a good job about it. even is rebuilding his friendship with hen and chimney. tommy has these lunches with bobby to learn for bobby. (every mone still goes to bobby for advice) bobby kind of becomes a mentor to tommy.

but there is a catch, buck and tommy still break up. it's really awkward at the station. buck is still baking like crazy but hiding it from tommy not wanting to show how much this is effecting him. and tommy is also a mess but hides it, he doesn't want his station think he is unfit to be captain. the mid-season finale happens and it's actually a big even with a life threatening call that nearly kills tommy and buck is freaking out not wanting to lose tommy.

the mid-season finale cliff hanger is that tommy has transferred to another station without saying goodbye.

[salty-autistic-writer]

What makes life worth living? 

Tommy didn’t always have an answer to this question. He remembers a moment in his therapist’s office when he thought about it and didn’t know what to say. It was right after he left the military and was supposed to prove that he was stable enough to work for the fire department.

The question was: What makes life worth living?

But his mind decided to change it to: What makes my life worth living?

And suddenly Tommy got scared. He was at a loss for words. He just sat there and stared into the void, the question echoing around in his head, bouncing off the walls. The therapist didn’t push, but he also clearly didn’t approve of the silence, because he scheduled even more appointments.

What makes life worth living?

The thing is. Tommy always felt a little lost in some way. Like he was a lonely boat on the ocean, thrown around by invisible waves. His parent’s marriage shattered in front of his eyes and their family fell apart. Friendships never stuck. Relationships didn’t even get a chance to begin before they ended. The army was a means to an end. At least it gave him flying which always made him feel free in a certain way, but it also gave him nightmares filled with explosions, gunshots and screaming.

Now that was over too and Tommy was back at the start. Wherever that was supposed to be. He never really felt like he belonged somewhere. Like he fit in. The fire department was probably not going to be any different.

What makes life worth living?

You wake up in the morning, do your routine, go to work, do the chores, waste time with a hobby, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. It’s best to not falter. Not to give yourself time to think. Because then you start to think about questions like: what makes life worth living? And you are going to realise that your life is not that great. That something is missing. That you’re not happy. And that you don’t know how to fix something without knowing the reason why it’s broken in the first place.

What makes life worth living?

It’s astonishing how much of a difference it can make to meet the right people at the exact right time. They make you start to see things differently. Make you think. Maybe even make you realise some things about yourself. Like the fact that you were hiding behind several layers of masks and that not everyone shies away when you lift them. Or that the past made you so scared, that you are standing in your own way, keeping yourself from making new happier experiences because you already fear that the future is never going to be any different from what you know. They show you that it’s not too late to change.

What makes life worth living?

It’s Christmas and the merry tone of Jingle Bells floats through the living room. The rainbow-coloured baubles on the Christmas Tree reflect the lights of the garlands decorating the windows. Tommy looks at the people surrounding him. Maddie and Chimney are laughing and filming while Jee and Mara are unpacking their presents. Denny and Chris are already playing with a new Rubik's cube. Eddie is assuring Evan that no, he can’t eat any more cookies but that they really are delicious. Bobby and Athena are talking to Hen and Karen, all with steaming mugs filled with mulled wine in their hands.

What makes life worth living?

Tommy smiles. It’s the little moments, he decides then. Little moments that brighten your day. Little moments spent with people who really care about you and accept you for who you are. Little family moments. And moments filled with good things. Nice food, music, laughter, surprise, dancing. Moments that create memories which you can come back to on darker days.

Evan comes over with his plate of cookies, beaming at Tommy. He’s wearing a Santa Hat and the little white bobble at the end of it jumps with each of his steps. “Do you want another cookie, babe?”

“Of course,” Tommy says, smiling.

This is what makes life worth living.

(Written for tevan advent caleandar Day 1 - AO3 Link)

[whineandcheese24]

assuming Tommy sticks around, I really hope we get to see more of his and Eddie's friendships, mostly because Eddie deserves more friends to hang out with that aren't either from work or paid to take care of his kid, and it's a good way to integrate Tommy into the main cast even if he's not a main character (this is I think part of the problem with Karen, because they didn't really develop her relationship with any of the other 118ers, Maddie or Athena) but also because of the comedic potential of Buck and Tommy getting in a fight and both going to Eddie separately for advice is too good to pass up

[jewishgirlrevolt]

Parallels to the rest of the 118 and BuckTommy (I may be crazy. But we still have a week before the episode)

So I just had a thought about the framing of this episode in terms of character and interactions.

The episode obviously focused on Henren and BuckTommy. But we also have the Wilsons and the Hans. Even have a quick moment between Maddie and Karen. We also have Bobby and Athena sitting next to each other in the hospital scene.

But it also continues establishing other units. Friendships too. Hen and Chim wanting to be fair to each other (even if it was off camera), we got Maddie and Josh (heck, even a small nod to Josh and Eddie with Josh's costume which the actor playing Josh confirmed was supposed to be an Eddie reference). And of course Denny, Mara, and Mara and Jee.

The scene in the hospital: it opens with Chim talking to Maddie and asking about Mara and Jee. We see Athena and Bobby sitting together, then we get to BuckTommy, with Eddie on the outside of the framing.

So Chim and Eddie are sitting on the outside, while Bobby and Athena are sitting nearly back to back to Buck and Tommy. And I also want it noted that throughout this episode Eddie is a bit off, off to the side of Buck in every scene. That notes, perhaps that they're still friends, but demonstrates the difference between their friendship, and Buck and Tommy's relationship. I hope this makes sense. IDK if this means anything, but I do find it interesting how every friendship, familial relationship got a moment in this episode. And I think it shows that friendships aren't perfect, but also that they are different from your love relationships.