#'lmao eddie you're so correct' did you even understand what he was saying

[poughkeepsies]

eddie's "but his wedding is about you?" comment was not him saying that buck bringing tommy to the wedding is making it about him btw. it was literally the exact opposite. in the most teasing way possible he was pointing out that the bachelor party and the wedding are literally the exact same situation, so if by his logic "officially" calling tommy his date to the wedding isn't an issue then it's silly to think the bachelor party would be either. if you took it the other way and decided this was some gotcha moment of eddie basically calling buck selfish for wanting to take a guy he likes to his sister's wedding then I fear you've not only misunderstood eddie's love for buck, but also buck's love for his sister and chimney and their love for him. also i think you're real fucking annoying.

[tidesreach]

Watching 2x01 and genuinely driving myself crazy with the realization that Buck actually falls for Eddie's personality. He's frustrated by everything else but the minute he sees Eddie being Eddie he starts paying attention. Eddie's intro is everyone else calling him handsome except for Buck. By the end of the episode Buck is cheering for Eddie the hardest and it all came because he likes EDDIE'S PERSONALITY. This following the pattern of him liking Abby before he even met her because he liked her personality?? TO BE SEEN AND FOUND AS A THEME AGAIN!

oh man stoppppp. you are so correct, anon. HE DOES. 2x01 actually makes me crazy. there is so much going on there. buck's immediate feelings about eddie are such a tangled mess. like, there's attraction there, which buck certainly does not recognise is attraction. (the fact that he is the only one who doesn't comment on how attractive eddie is makes me insane. it would have been less revealing if he did actually lmao.) so even though that physical attraction is there, it doesn't even register for buck. and then there's everything else, the feelings deeply rooted in his trauma. that this guy is going to replace him, be better than him, be more worthy than him, that everyone will love him more than buck. thus, the macho posturing and desperate attempts to prove his worth. like, almost immediately he sees eddie as ENEMY because of the perceived threat on his own worth. but then, yeah. eddie is eddie. he's good, he's compassionate, he's competent, he's understanding and non-judgemental. and that's the thing really. THAT’S what pulls buck in.

because EDDIE IS EDDIE. eddie, who sees past buck's knee-jerk reaction of hostility and distrust. like, by all rights eddie could bite back at buck and his deranged behaviour. he could write him off as a dickhead with a big ego and not bother with him, because yeah. buck is being a bit of a dick (affectionate). but he DOESN'T DO THAT because he, well. sees buck. he sees the personality beneath the posturing. he sees that there's more there. that there's some insecurity there. like, buck is constantly trying to provoke a reaction but instead of rising to it with the same hostile energy, eddie's like okay man. what's your problem? then actually listens to what buck's problem is and tries to reason with it. and there's a distinct shift after that. like, even before they pull the grenade out of that guy. there's a moment where eddie's explaining the intricacies of a grenade and its components, and that hostility and exasperation is gone from buck's expression. instead, he looks well. a little impressed. and then, the clincher i think is after, when eddie tells buck that he's badass under pressure. like, GOD. the way buck says "me?" like he’s genuinely asking "wait really? me?" and yeah. THAT’S IT. that's where he falls for eddie's personality, because he's been nothing but hostile towards him and eddie's just like. man, you're great. you can have my back any day. INSANE ACTUALLY.

in hindsight, it really sets up their entire relationship. the way buck just wants to be seen (eddie seeing beyond buck's hostility). and the way eddie just wants someone to be there, to have his back (buck getting into an ambulance with him where there is a live fucking grenade). WILD.

[butyoumakemesohot]

totally agree with you about the mischaracterization of s/teddie!! also this might be a bit of a hot take, but i think what it boils down to is persistent heteronormativity even with nonhet ships. so basically - you'll notice that in almost every ship (especially mlm ships, so that's what i'm referring to in this case), there's always the cute/innocent character (or in some cases, the "oh, poor baby" character who you're obviously supposed to feel bad for or protective of) and then the more capable, tougher, or bad-a** character (who, more often than not, "corrupts" the other). it's just perpetuating the stereotype that there has to be a more dominant or stronger person in the relationship, and in a het ship that would usually, not always but usually, be the male character by default. But because in nonhet ships there's not that automatic control dynamic (which is unnecessary anyways, in my opinion), the fic writers compensate by watering down the characters' canon personalities to fit into those two character archetypes (which are basically just the stereotypically feminine/masculine roles, dialed up to 100). alternatively there's also the "chaotic one" and the "babysitter", which i see both s/teddie and r/onance being forced into a lot of the time. but that's why, for example, a lot of people like j/ikook (j/imin and j/ungkook from b/t/s) - because j/imin is seen as more feminine/cute and j/ungkook is the tall muscly guy with tattoos, which plays right into the ideal stereotypical dynamic for fics. and that's why, in this case, you get all those posts about s/teve being bitchless (playing into the idea that he's the weaker one in the relationship bc he's "inexperienced") or calling him girlfriend/babygirl/malewife, etc. because he's being forced to fit the stereotypically feminine role - even all those posts about him being the "babysitter" of the group play into that!! and then that's also how you get e/ddie turned into a dom bad boy and all that but anyways!! sorry for sending you a whole essay lmao i just have a lot of Thoughts about this, and it really bothers me bc it happens in like??? every fandom??? and then the characters become these weird, distorted stereotypes instead of their canon personalities, which was the whole reason i liked them & shipped them together in the first place???? idk, it's a mess lmao

bestie you’re literally so correct. i feel like that’s why people pounced on the idea of ha/rringrove when billy was first introduced because people could more easily fit him and steve into that dynamic. (therefore completely disregarding all the fucked up shit billy did.) and when eddie was introduced and was actually shown being kind towards the kids and flirtatious towards steve - basically everything the ha/rringrove fandom wanted billy to be - people disregarded his behavior yet again and instead assigned those exact same roles onto him and steve. which makes me really sad tbh. eddie and steve are just so much more interesting than all that!

i must say i am guilty of calling steve babygirl (i’ve def done it on this blog lmao) but i do not wish to infantilize him! and i don’t mean it in the context of like. his sexual exploits or anything. but i totally get what you’re saying. the whole babysitter/“mom” trope was already played up far too much and now people refer to eddie as the “dad” and it’s like ??? oh wow yet another way of enforcing heteronormative gender roles onto an mlm ship. great job guys.

also, i didn’t even think about that in the context of ro/nance but i definitely agree!! i’m not gonna lie - and i realize this is a slight subject change lol - i’m already on the fence about them because nancy is a character i really struggle to sympathize with or understand sometimes. i think she’d realistically have to do a lot of personal growth to get to the point where she could even say she likes robin as more than a friend. also (don’t come for me!!!) she wasn’t even very nice to robin in the show lmao so i feel like ro/nance really only works in fanon. but even still, as you said, people love to assign stereotypical gender roles onto them in fics as well so idk.