#9-1-1 speculation

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

I'll Be Your Hero

I did a quick 1,562 words based on this picture this morning:

I'll Be Your Hero (1562 words) by NeverlandPoet Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Tommy Kinard Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Tommy Kinard, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Karen Wilson, Athena Grant, Vincent Gerrard, Maddie Buckley, Howie "Chimney" Han Additional Tags: Fluff, firefam - Freeform, Evan "Buck" Buckley Loves Tommy Kinard, Tommy Kinard Loves Evan "Buck" Buckley, Speculation for 9-1-1 (TV) Season 7, Season 7 episode 9 speculation, speculation based on promo pics, POV Tommy Kinard

Read under the cut or on AO3 (see above for link)

— Choose your own part, make it worth and return —

"We get a medal and cake, I could get used to that," Buck whispers in his boyfriend's ear.

He’s enthusiastic, almost brimming with energy, it’s adding to the delicate whiff of his breath on Tommy's skin. A stimulating mixture, alas, it’s the wrong time and place for this kind of thoughts. Tommy just smiles, clutches his plate of cake and wishes the celebrations would come to an end.

Buck is quite distracting. Since he has this medal around his neck, he looks like a Labrador puppy who has been given his first treat. That's a praise kink, for sure, and Tommy just knows he's gotta store this information deep in his mind. Most of all, the man just looks so happy. So content. Tommy never knew that seeing someone else so happy could be so important to him. He looks at Buck – his boyfriend, for goodness sake, how did that actually happen? – and his throat constricts, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he has stuffed far too big a piece of cake into his mouth.

Tommy is nervous for reasons not entirely clear to him. This accolade is superfluous, he thinks, and maybe it has something to do with that; after all, what they did was a certain gray area. However, a small voice inside him is more indicative of the people who are here today. Gerrard is here, for example. And Tommy, known to be so confident, so serene, realizes that he is not quite so calm inside.

Buck is, of course, responsible for this. Evan. A name that melts in the mouth like the sweetest candy. A man that has melted Tommy’s heart, in several ways. But also the reason for his restlessness. Buck is so excited, so happy, but also... sensitive, in a very good, but vulnerable way. And Tommy would hate to see that happy face crumble over a stupid remark.

Tommy feels Buck's hand on his arm. Damn, that uniform adds something to the man’s hotness, he’s hardly listening to the words tumbling out of this beautiful lips.

"... with Christopher, I'll be right back," Buck says.

He’s gone in a flash, and Tommy feels strangely lonely in a crowd of people to whom he should also belong. It’s nobody’s fault but his own he still feels disconnected. He’s used to not getting too involved with people. This façade has crumbled quite a bit since he started dating Evan, though.

He gives himself a jolt and wanders around, the plate of cake still firmly in his hand, without actually knowing exactly what kind of cake it is and how it tasted. Hearing his name startles him, he almost drops it.

"Tommy!"

This is Hen and her wife Karen. He remembers Hen talking about her. She looks nice. So why is he nervous?

"Hey," he says, undecided where to put the plate of cake, so he keeps clutching it. "Karen, right? You must be proud of Henrietta."

It's just small talk, harmless, but Tommy wonders why the two of them are ... scrutinizing him like that.

"Oh, I only call her that when she's up to something," Karen replies, smiling.

"Must have received her with Henrietta! then, when you found out about the ship," Tommy says, overemphasizing the name with raised brows.

They laugh, he feels like he's broken the ice, and Karen says, "I'm glad this achievement is being recognized. Yours, especially, Tommy. I'm glad you brought them all back in one piece."

"More or less," he shrugs, watching the women exchange affectionate glances.

That's us, he thinks, at some point. A pleasant idea for someone who – perhaps for a moment – thought that the 118’s pretty boy was just in for a one-night stand. This turned into a few nights, the best nights Tommy can imagine, and he found out that Buck is, contrary to the rumors, a man for more. Tommy can think of a lot more.

"We wanted to talk to you about something," Hen interjects, and now they exchange another look, but Tommy can't quite interpret it.

"Oh?" he says, something's up, clearly, and he holds on to his plate like a lifeline for some reason.

"We're happy for you, really," Karen says, and Hen cocks a brow as she looks at her wife.

"Why the telling off, then?" she asks.

"Never said I'm not happy for them, Hen."

So, Karen is clearly the strict one in this relationship, fine, but they both seem to have forgotten that Tommy is still there, and he blinks in confusion.

"I’m not sure what…" he starts, but Karen cuts him short, and now her whole demeanor says this is serious.

"We care for Evan," she says. "Extended family, so to speak. He means a lot to Hen, and therefore he means a lot to me, and we don't want him to get hurt."

"I don't intend to..."

Karen raises a hand, now she strangely looks like his elementary school teacher, and Tommy sees Hen gently push her hand down.

"He's been hurt a lot," she continues. "And all of this is new to him."

"We've suspected for years that he's not as straight as his girlfriends suggested," Hen interjects, and now the tension drops noticeably, and they share a laugh.

"Just be good to him," adds Karen.

Looking at her, Tommy thinks how strange it is to hear this from a woman he has only known for two minutes, but that she’s so right. He wants nothing more than to be good to, good for Evan.

"I promise."

Tommy feels like his voice doesn't quite belong to him, and there must have been something in it that softens the faces of the two women in front of him.

"That's all I need," Hen says warmly, patting Tommy's shoulder encouragingly, "and if you ever need help, come to us."

"Help?" asks Tommy with a crooked smile, slightly confused.

"Oh, you don't even realize what you've gotten yourself into yet. Evan Buckley is a force of nature."

Giggling and waving, the two walk on and Tommy stays behind, blinking. A force of nature, yes, that's for sure. He looks at the cake on his plate, realizes he's had his thumb in it the whole time and licks it, indecently reminded of Evan again. Where is that man anyway? Tommy looks around and sees him sitting at a table with Christopher, and it's unclear who’s talking whose ears off.

Indecisively, he moves in this direction, carefully avoiding Bobby. They only locked eyes for a minute, and the captain instantly had a look on his face that said "he needs the talk."

However, he can't quite escape Athena, the woman suddenly builds up in front of him saying, "Tommy! I hope you have a minute later, Bobby and I would love to chat."

They've already thanked him for the rescue in private, but of course that was before they knew about him and Buck, so Tommy knows exactly – thanks in part to Hen and Karen – what kind of conversation this is going to be.

"Sure," he says with a disarming smile and escapes her for now.

He doesn't get far, because there are Howie and Maddie, arms linked (God, all the couples here are so sweet).

"Oh, Tommy," Maddie says, and Howie next to her just goes, "Uh-oh, Tommy."

Maddie gives her husband a stern look, and he continues, "She wants to give you the Buck talk."

"You'll have to get in line."

Howie laughs, while Maddie looks confused. Fortunately, Buck arrives at this moment as if he’s heard his name, and as always it seems like the sun rises for Tommy. Buck is still pretty wound up, and although Tommy knows the man can take care of himself, he also knows he's going to need some time to calm down after all of this.

"Oh God, that's his Tommy face, let's go," Howie says, pulling Maddie aside before she can say anything.

If that's his Tommy face, then... Tommy's throat is getting tight again, and he hasn't touched the cake for a while. Buck, at any rate, looks at him with shining eyes, an almost longing smile, his head slightly tilted, his hair a little tousled; damn, Tommy wants nothing more than to press a kiss to those tender lips right now. He clears his throat.

"All good?" he asks.

Buck's expression changes slightly, his smile deepens.

"I'm doing great, what about you?" he asks quietly as he puts a hand on Tommy's arm.

The touch burns in the best way possible. Before Tommy can answer, Gerrard approaches. There’s the hint of a frown on Evan’s face, and Tommy braces himself. His boyfriend seems to notice the tension in his muscles, because he gives him a look that is not just affection, but... understanding.

"Buckley, Kinard," says Gerrard, "good job."

Quite a bit of praise from this man's mouth, and many years ago that would have been important to Tommy. Evan has witnessed the man himself, but many things he knows only because Tommy has told him, and Tommy already knows what he thinks about the former captain.

"To Tommy's credit," Buck says. And then he looks at Tommy, puts an arm around him, and Gerrard's eyes go wide as he adds, "I'm extremely proud of my brave boyfriend."

[likeshipsonthesea]

I love your recent posts about Eddie and Shannon and their relationship. I just don’t see how the show can address any of that with the way they’ve written this arc. There’s no one who can criticise Eddie’s feelings of ‘she was the love of my life, I’m broken without her’ except us the audience. There are no characters who saw their relationship as it actually was, so how can the show steer Eddie in that direction? I feel like they’re gonna leave it as she’s his Great Dead Love and that’s that

i see what you mean, and tbh i'm not sure what the show is going to do with this arc on-screen. they have a bunch of storylines to tie up in this finale episode (here's hoping we don't get any cliffhangers 🤞) and i don't know how much time they will have to devote to eddie, or even what they want to do with that time. it's possible they have a completely different perspective on this and will take it a whole other way, but i have faith that the show will tell the story they want to tell and, if the past six seasons are any indication, i will enjoy that story

all that being said, if we're talking dream arc, this is what i would want

as far as who can tell eddie "hey, you're looking at your marriage with rose-colored glasses, this is how it actually is," i've got two ideas for this. one is eddie himself, and the second is his parents, specifically helena, who has been rumored to be in the s7 finale. i'm kinda more excited about the second, so let's get the first one out of the way

eddie himself - hopefully after the clusterfuck that is explaining to his son that he's been seeing a dead ringer for his dead mom and she cosplayed as mommy to give eddie closure, eddie will talk about this in therapy, and through the skills he's learned and a frank discussion (pun intended) he will be forced to confront the reality of his marriage and start to address the trauma he has from everything with shannon

p cut and dry, my typical eddie-goes-to-therapy kinda story. we've all been here before.

now, for the good stuff 😈 (putting this under a read-more bc i have Thoughts)

helena. the diaz mother we all know and have complicated feelings over. or not-so-complicated feelings over, given the "don't drag [chris] down with you" line. i know i keep asking y'all to think of things from the white woman's perspective, but bear with me just one moment while i do this again

helena married into a large mexican family in the 80s. she had a mother in law whose cooking was renowned, a husband always away on business, and three children to bring up along with keeping her home together. given how everyone in their family seemed to treat shannon, i'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume there were some heavy expectations on helena to be the wife everyone thought ramon deserved, and i'm gonna assume that meant a lot of tradition--cooking the right things, doing the holidays the right way, teaching the kids the right values, etc. etc.

i think it was hard. i think helena didn't always meet the expectations put on her. i know it was played as a joke, but during ramon's retirement party, eddie and pepa were concerned that helena was cooking a specific dish (i can't remember which one atm) until abuela assured them she was in charge of it. meaning this is probably a running joke, helena not cooking things as well as she ought to.

also, raising three kids with a physically absent husband in a town that (i'm assuming) is full of in-laws seems hard to me, too. (if this is sounding familiar, yes i'm about to make a shannon comparison just gimme another second). the stories we hear about eddie as a kid are yes, reflections of traditional masculinity and eddie falling short of that, but also reflections on his parenting--how could helena let her son try to cook? that should be her job, she should be watching him! how could she let him try to drive at 8? tsk tsk and all that

i think helena has become a part of the diaz family fully, but i don't think it was always easy, and i think when her son married a white woman who didn't fit the expectations of a diaz wife either, helena recognized that. i think helena saw herself in shannon so clearly.

and instead of breaking the cycle and offering shannon that support and empathy that shannon (and young helena) needed, helena enforced those expectations even harsher. helena did it, so shannon had to, too.

maybe it was out of protection--she wanted shannon to fit into the family the way helena had learned to. maybe it was common generational sentiment, i.e. it's the Right way or it's the way I did it so therefore you have to do it that way, too. maybe it was a means of reinforcing her own place in the family, as she was no longer the newbie, shannon was.

whatever it was, i don't think she was conscious of it, and especially after shannon left her son, helena refused to acknowledge she was anything like shannon at all.

until now.

(yes i've found my way back to the point, i usually do i promise--and yes my adhd meds are THRIVING rn)

both helena's husband and son have done a lot of emotional work in the recent years and i think it's likely she would take a queue from them (and if her daughters are anything like me, i'm sure they're trying to nudge her towards a therapist at every turn). helena very well may be in a place where she can acknowledge how the expectations she's lived under may have been stifling, and given her son's recent encounter with kim, she very well may be in a place to acknowledge how similar shannon was to her.

and that's where, dear anon, your point comes in.

because helena was there for shannon and eddie's entire marriage. ramon was working, eddie was in the war, abuela and pepa were in la, but helena was right down the street (idk if she was actually right down the street but you know what i mean). helena knew shannon as an 18-20yo woman, as a new mother, as a struggling mother. she was in the unique position of watching shannon go through a marriage alone and remembering exactly how that felt.

kim may look like shannon, but she has no idea how shannon felt during her marriage. eddie can say all the things he wants to say, but it's like talking to a gravestone. i think helena can say the things eddie needs to hear, even if he may not want to hear them.

....and now i really wanna write that conversation. fuck.

[handbellanon]

Look I dislike Gerrard being at the medal ceremony as much as the next person, but if they’re doing it to bring him back as interim captain while Bobby’s out, I hope we get a glorious return to form where Buck slaps him with a hostile work environment suit, but this time for the right reasons, on behalf of the rest of the 118 as well as himself

[nurse-buckley]

What if Chris is the one to bring Buck out of the coma, hmm? Because “No one will ever fight for my son as hard as you.”

[nubpher]

Buck doesn't know yet that he's secretly queen of the bees! 🤴🐝

[meep-meep-richie]

Guys I just saw this on my TL; please shoot me some ideas what to think of this?!!

[bornunderabluemoonbaby]

To all my 911blr Mutuals

Do any of us ACTUALLY believe that the Diaz parents won't try to take custody of Chris? Like do we honestly believe Helena didn't start judge shopping the instant they got into their rental to go to the airport? Serious question.

[some-little-infamy]

Okay so hear me out. This episode seems to be calling back to everyone’s ‘greatest hits’ of past injuries, right? So in the spirit of everything coming back to a former moment, I would like to propose:  Buck sacrificing himself (or putting himself in even more danger) to rescue Bobby. 

While Buck was in his coma the thing that drove him out at the end was the fact that Bobby wasn’t alive in his coma world. He couldn’t stay in a world without Bobby, couldn’t imagine it - not knowing the positive affect Bobby has on every life he touches, especially within the 118. Buck saved himself so that he could live in a world that has Bobby Nash alive and well in it, and so it only makes sense that if Bobby’s life is on the line Buck going to do whatever it takes to save him.

Bobby is the reason Buck came back, so what if Buck reasons that the reason he came back for Bobby was to save Bobby... no matter what? 

[sam-blackbird]

(this post is about 9-1-1 show, season 6, speculation for episode 17 that will air tomorrow in US time (and Tuesday early morning in European time zone))

I made a weird dream in which the person that popped up at Buck’s door wasn’t Eddie, or Kameron, but Abby.

[loveyougoodbi]

But it would make so much sense. So much sense that.... oh God. Eddie catches Cristopher in a lie. What if... what if the lie really is about buck. That he is his father what if. What if Buck accepts to do this (or thinks about doing it) and then 🥺 he gets told about the history of cancer thing and then 🥺 he's sad and then eddie tells him about what Christopher said what if 😭😭😭😭😭

[myriadofunchartedworlds]

Random thought

But what if this isn’t AU!Buck? What if this is coma dream Daniel?

[alkaysani]

okay what if buck gets it? what if he tells eddie something along the lines that living in a home where your own parents have not dealt with grief can have long lasting effects on the children? how living with the ghost of someone so loved but not grieved can harm kids even though you do their best to hide them from it?

the way his parents and maddie hid daniel from him and the effects that he has felt to this day? what if he says something about maybe chris not being there while eddie truly dealt with his grief will be the best thing in the long run? not just for chris, but for eddie as well?

dealing with your grief doesn’t have to be too late

it hurts now, it sucks but eddie has to deal with his grief

he needs to do things for himself first

[nurse-buckley]

Firefighters showing up at Maddie’s door again. Maddie having to ask “which one?” again. Her life falling apart again, but this time it’s Chimney.

[tommykinard6]

Speculation here, of course.

But if Gerrard being there does turn into a thing, I actually want that to be when Tommy’s cool confidence drops for the first time in front of Evan.

Gerrard looks at him and Tommy is 9 years old again, looking desperately for approval and attention from his parents and being willfully ignored and pushed aside.

Gerrard’s gaze moves to Evan and Tommy is 21 and deployed. There are people dying, he’s lost part of the squad he was flying and he knows his job but he’s still scared. His CO is killed and he’s left just trying to keep the helicopter up and flying.

Gerrard says something, whether it be passive or scathing, and Tommy is 27 and trying desperately to fit into the old boys club, looking for the approval and acceptance he’s never fully gotten. He doesn’t care if he has to change anymore. He’s just tired of being alone, having nothing.

Then Evan’s hand wraps around his arm and he’s brought back to the present with an almost inaudible gasp, finding himself staring at the one authority figure he ever acted against, the man who he’d filed a complaint against. The one who helped him into one of the worst places in his life and left him there.

Evan says something to Gerrard and Tommy doesn’t even hear it, but then Evan’s casually walking them away and to a nearby set of chairs. And Tommy doesn’t know what he said, but he knows what just happened and he kisses Evan senseless for it, not caring about anyone else. No one’s looking, anyway.

Evan returns it just as fervently and Tommy thinks that maybe he’ll never be alone again.

[jackwhiteprophetic]

When Eddie goes to talk to hot Priest over multiple episodes and starts to process his catholic guilt and childhood and such and then after a bad call invites Buck to go to church with him and then bam we have literally redone Bathena YAY

[ravi-is-my-beloved]

I know this probably won't ever happen on the show, but I need Bobby to make either a traditionally Mexican or a traditionally Indian dish for Eddie/Ravi because we haven't seen him do many different cultural dishes and Bobby says he made it less spicy than the recipe called for (because of course he did).

So we see everyone eating and the only ones who aren't sweating and reaching for their water are Ravi, Eddie, and Chimney because the dishes in their cultures are already spicy. They're just chilling, complimenting Bobby on how well he cooked the dish. Meanwhile, Bobby is regretting his decision to make a spicy dish as he keeps having to take sips of his water in between bites.

Also, I need to see Ravi add even more spice to his plate because "It's too bland for my tastes." Because I feel like he'd do that. (I'm projecting my Indian mother onto him, okay.)