#the 18 year old and the 118 year old

[yoonyia]

I need to draw Lau and lutangalo sitting on the floor peeling oranges and just roasting eachother, first being passive aggressive then it evolving into a screamfest

[diazisms]

also i know people are assuming tommy is the same age as lou (39) but that would mean he was 18 in chimney begins which seems silly and impossible.

also sorry for spamming you ik we don’t know each other i’m just super high thinking about him

he COULD be lou’s actual age (39) if we assume he was 20 in 2005 during chimney begins. he would’ve probably gone straight into the academy after high school and finished his probationary year by 19 which means by the time chim joined he would’ve been relatively new to the station but already part of the crew.

which, honestly, is a headcanon i can get behind. tommy was a bystander and ignored a lot of the shit that was going on in the firehouse under captain gerrard. knowing now that he’s gay, if he was 20 and just barely out of his probie year, it makes his behavior way more understandable and also makes the shift in it after gerrard leaves and bobby comes in a lot more honest and just a little heartbreaking. (especially now that we know tommy is jealous of how the 118 is a family. he was a kid looking to belong, too.)

tommy being 39/40 now would make him barely an adult when we first saw him. and the layers to that are incredible. the tommy we knew before s7 was kind of a douchebag and we had basically nothing on him at all. knowing that tommy must’ve been a 20 year old gay kid who joined the academy fresh out of high school just trying to fit in and not get harassed by his boss and his coworkers?

like, it doesn’t excuse the behavior, but it explains a lot.

so personally i’m a fan of the idea that tommy is lou’s age………..buuuuut i’m also never opposed to an age gap ;)

[a-deep-ocean-of-secrets]

What do we think Tommy's dating history is?

We are all very familiar with Buck’s extensive dating history and his serious relationships, so I thought we’d throw Tommy a bone and speculate a bit on his past. Let’s start at the beginning. 

In 7x10, he revealed to Buck that his father was a lot like Gerrard, so Tommy essentially grew up in a homophobic household. When did Tommy start realizing he had feelings for guys instead of girls? Middle school? High school? And, with the bigotry he would have been facing at home, would he have acted on those feelings at all? Or do we think he tried to push such desires aside and have girlfriends instead? Did he ever have a crush on a boy at school? Maybe he would have kissed one and claimed it was a ‘drunken mistake’ at a party, or under the guise of a dare he might have kissed a boy under the bleachers. Or maybe he had one close guy friend and they would ‘help each other out’, but would staunchly proclaim ‘no homo’ afterward. 

Next is his time in the army. It’s a sad thought that he might have viewed joining the army as an escape from his father but would have ended up in an even harsher environment under DADT and with COs who most likely shared traits with both his father and Gerrard. He would have had to actively hide his sexuality (if he had even made peace with it yet, which is unlikely since he probably went into the army right at 18). Do we think he would have let himself explore any potential feelings he might have had for his fellow brothers in arms? I know some theorize that the reason he left the army could have been a dishonorable discharge due to DADT, but he didn’t express any negativity when briefly speaking of his time in the army to Buck. I think he would have kept a tight lid on his feelings, and maybe continued to believe he was straight. 

Assuming right after he left the army he went into firefighting, that puts him at the 118 with Gerrard, who was terrible. So he was once again under the thumb of a bigot. From “Chimney Begins”, we know he claimed to have a girlfriend, but he was quick to have an excuse for why she couldn’t come and cook for the 118. Was the girlfriend real or just a lie for Tommy to pass as straight? If she was real, were they in a genuine relationship or was Tommy using her as a beard? And if Tommy was secretly single, was he exploring his feelings for men on the down low? Going to gay bars or clubs? Hooking up, but never taking it further than a one-night stand? How much self-loathing would he have been dealing with? 

Jump ahead to Hen arriving at the 118 and being unapologetically herself, which helped in getting Gerrard ousted. A few years pass as the 118 cycles through captains but has a better workplace environment. Even as Tommy has become closer to Hen and Chimney, he still doesn’t feel comfortable coming out, probably due to the lingering effects of Gerrard. But in that time, do we think he has taken more steps in accepting being gay? Maybe he has tried dating instead of just hooking up. Or was he still firmly in the closet? 

He told Buck on their first date that it wasn’t until he left the 118 that he felt ready to fully embrace his identity. So, in universe, he has only been out of the closet for six to seven years. What did that look like when he finally accepted that he was gay? Did he have a Buck 1.0 phase where he sowed his wild oats? Did he want something serious right off the bat? We know, just like Buck, he’s dated people he’s met on calls and that it never ended well. 

Has he had a serious boyfriend? Do we think he’s ever exchanged an ‘I love you’ with someone? Moved in with someone? Maybe he even planned to one day marry one of his partners? What is his type? We know he doesn’t like dark and broody (case in point: Buck). What was he looking for when his old pal called him up and asked him to fly them into a hurricane to look for a lost cruise ship?

[leandra-winchester]

The Tommy timeline is making me insane

We know the 911 writers are REALLY crap about timelines. I mean, just within the Eddie Begins episode there are several dates that just don't add up. I love those writers, but they can't even count to 10, lol.

Tommy was never supposed to come back, so him being in his late 20s-ish in 2005 when Chim joins the 118 was of no consequence, but now that Tommy is back, that makes it really difficult to say how old he really is.

Some people have speculated that he's 45, but I find that too old. Lou was born in Nov 1984, which makes him 39 currently. I could see Tommy being 1-2 years older than that AT MOST.

So let's say Tommy was born in early 1983 and go from there.

He would have started school at 6.5 and finished HS at 18 years old in 2001. Which means he could have joined the army that year and started training to be a helicopter pilot.

There's a program called "From Street to Seat", also sometimes called "High school to Flight School", so that is a possibility. Training would have been around 2 - 2.5 years until he'd achieved the rank of Warranty Officer and be a fully trained helicopter pilot in late 2003. After that, you have to enlist for TEN years at minimum to repay them getting you through flight school.

At that point, the US had entered the war in Afghanistan and just started the one in Iraq.

Tommy could have been stationed anywhere in the US, or been deployed to one of those countries, or at first, as a still very young officer, been deployed to an allied country like Germany. In the early 2000s, there were many bases in Germany where US soldiers were stationed, only serving short missions in Afghanistan or Iraq. So that's an option if we don't want him to be permanently stationed inside a war zone.

Now, how did young Tommy leave the army early so he ended up being a firefighter just two years later?

Well, there's always medical discharge, but if it was for any injury, him already being a member of the team (and by the looks of it no longer a probie) in 2005 is a bit tight. He'd have to recover from his injury, then apply, then be accepted, do the basic training at the academy (18 weeks) and his probie year... so yeah, that's really a very tight timeline.

Another option would have been Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Back then, army members could not be actively asked if they're gay and therefore fired for it, but if they voluntarily disclosed/confirmed it, they would be kicked out.

If he was lucky (and probably the version I'm going for in my fic), and had a very lenient superior officer, he might be offered medical discharge for depression. Usually, that can get you out of the army pretty quickly.

So, to recap:

Born between Jan/June 1983

Finished high school summer 2001, joined the army

Finished flight school in fall 2003, was deployed somewhere or in service in the US

Found out/discharged in early 2004

Started LAFD academy in summer/fall 2004

Started his probie year end of 2004

Just finished it when Chimney joined in (should be late) 2005, at now 22 years old.

Still an incredibly tight timeline, and I wish Chim joining had been more like 2007 or so, but alas. It works.

You are welcome.

And I need to lie down. God I hate inconsistent timelines, lol.

Oh and I just looked it up, and apparently you're only a probie for 6 months at the LAFD, so I guess that makes it a little easier.

I mean, if you shift things around a little, you could even make him only 40 now, born in summer 1983 instead of early. Maybe he was initially gifted and able to enroll in school at just barely 6 years old.

[erodingsinner]

okay here's my pitch for a Karen Begins ep:

The episode opens with Karen pacing nervously around the house while Hen tries to calm her down, Hen apologizes for not being able to come with Karen to pick her dad up from the airport because she has a shift. We learn Karen and her dad haven't spoken to each other since she was 18, and maybe they're seeing eachother now because someone in Karen's family passed away and her dad wants to make amends. In the car with her dad, things are obviously tense, they start to argue, it gets heated and Karen doesn't pay enough attention to the road so she has to swerve last minute and they fall into a ravine.

The next thing we see is a little girl, four or five years old, sitting criss cross on the floor watching the Moon Landing on TV, she turns to her dad and says she wants to do that, her dad laughs and says 'sure sweetie' in a very patronizing tone.

The flashbacks from Karen's life are interspersed with scenes of the 118 trying to rescue Karen and her father. We see her working hard to understand science, her first crush in highschool, her siblings, her mom... Her father tells her to 'be realistic' because gay people aren't allowed to be astronauts anyway, which just makes Karen work harder.

We eventually see what caused them to drift apart, maybe because he didn't believe in her or something else that explains why I can't remember any mention of him in the show. Obviously this is 911 so, after they're rescued, this would end with her forgiving him, but in my mind it ends with her proudly saying that he was wrong to not believe in her, that she's a rocket scientist with two great kids and a wonderful wife, the end.

[stardustbuck]

the most plausible tommy kinard timeline/age to me is that if the show is currently in 2024, tommy was in the 118 in 2005 and he possibly started there in 2004, his military requirements would have been at least 6 years at the time he was enlisted without him being discharged early (i personally hc he served his full enlistment period ik other ppl suggest he could have been discharged but im not a fan of that theory imo) so that puts us at around either 1997/1998 for when he enlisted. depending on if tommy was 17/18 when he enlisted then that puts us at around 1979/1980/1981 for when he was born. so he’d be 43-45 years old which isn’t much older than 39/40 (lou’s age) literally at all and overall makes the most sense with what information we have currently.

also most of the characters are roughly around the same age as their actors. not exactly the same age because their ages are pretty much never spoken about at all. ex: ryan is older than eddie’s supposed age, angela bassett is also older than athena’s supposed age, so is it really so weird that lou could just be a few years younger than tommy’s age? it’s not like you turn 40 and immediately turn into a grandpa lmao.

anyway, 911 timelines make little sense. we may never even get a confirmation of tommy’s age and live in mystery forever. maybe it’ll be a running gag that no one knows how old tommy is. anyways, despite all of this please keeping writing tommy at whatever age you feel, whether you wanna write him as 39 or 53 i really don’t care, i’m just rambling because i want to make sense of canonicity.

[stealingpotatoes]

So, quick Vernestra Rwoh lore:

Youngest Jedi Knight ever, got knighted at 18 and immediately took a 16-year-old Padawan because she was the only one who knew how to handle his fresh trauma (i.e. his master being murdered).

She’s ~118 years old in The Acolyte.

wow that shitty green face paint must have some GOOD moisturiser in it, she does not look 118

[lemotmo]

To the Nonny who posted an ask about...

... how they think that Buddie shouldn't happen in season 8, but rather in season 9.

Okay, look. I read your ask and I understand where you are coming from. I get your frustration. I do.

None of us really expect Eddie to jump out of the closet in episode 1 and shack up with Buck in episode 2? You know? Sure, we joke about it, but we all know it's going to take some time.

I understand that you, as a writer, want to see everything developed and treated with caution. I get why you don't want the Buddie narrative to be rushed. I do. In an ideal world, I would happily sit down and watch two seasons of a very obvious Buddie build-up. I think most of us would, because the 'Will they? Won't they?' of it all? Delicious.

But we also need to be serious here. This is 911. This show is filled with underdeveloped narratives and very flawed character arcs. Realism isn't very high on their priority list. It never was.

This is the show that had Buck realise he was bisexual in one single episode and he didn't even flinch.

This is the show that had Eddie on the path to healing, but then decided he should meet his dead wife's doppelgänger so they could take away his son in the end.

This is the show that has Athena running around playing Robocop, threatening people as she, and she alone, solves all the crimes and murders in LA. Yet she gets to keep her job without any problems.

This is the show that had Bobby dead for 14 minutes, but two weeks later he was walking into the 118, smiling and hugging the others, as if he had had a minor cold and he was coming back from a week off sick.

And yes, Eddie (and all of the other characters really) has a lot of issues and realistically this would take years of therapy and working on himself, but we all know it'll only take a few episodes for him to feel better again. Cue Christopher returns home and all is well again in the Diaz household. Happy times.

It is all far from realistic, but fundamentally that's the nature of this show. It's a silly, wholesome, found-family, sometimes nerve-wracking, highly unrealistic fire fighter procedural.

And that's the whole point of it. The audience love this show because it is so ridiculously over the top. The episodes with the disasters are so iconic! These characters go through the craziest shit and always end up being okay again. It's a big old dose of the found-family trope that everybody loves to watch.

So ultimately, I don't fully disagree with you. You have a great point. And for some other more realistic procedurals? I might even have fully agreed.

But for 911? Knowing this show and how they do things? I'm fully convinced that, if they wanted to pull off queer Eddie and canon Buddie in one single season? They could and they would.

They wouldn't go there right away, because they would need to build the tension. 18 episodes is enough for them to take that tension and use it to elevate the hype. And then in episode 18? BOOM! They drop the 'fully canon' Buddie bomb for real. This way people will go into the hiatus all hyped up, which is always a good thing for a TV-show.

If they decide to not drop the 'fully canon' Buddie bomb in season 8, I do fully expect them to make it canonically absolutely clear that Eddie and Buck are in love. Again, all to create hype during hiatus.

In the end, does it really matter how and when it happens? Whatever the showrunners and writers decide upon? All we, as an audience and as a fandom, can do is accept it and go with it.

And you know what? I'll be seated and transfixed in front of my TV-screen for all of it.

What can I say? I love this flawed, but awesome TV-show so much. ❤️

[pancrasefighter69]

Louis Fairhurst, UK Champion Muay Thai fighter. Fighting out of Salford, England; his fight record is 18 wins, 0 losses, and 0 draws. 17 years old. 5'9" tall and 53.5 kg or 118 lbs. Bantamweight.

[coolattas]

thinking about lucretia adventurezone and grinding my teeth down to the gums because holy fuck dude. holy shit. she was impossibly, horribly young on the starblaster. three hops and a jump from being a fucking baby. the two-sunned planet is devoured by the hunger in the same year that she graduates from high school. she is easily the youngest of the birds, even considering the differing rates of aging amongst the rest of the crew. teenaged astrophysicist, wizard, author, artist, without ties solid enough back home to keep her from the starblaster's maiden voyage. she writes and rewrites every moment she can wring from her memories into enough notebooks that it's damn near arthritis-inducing to step within 50 feet of the stacks upon stacks of field notes, of detailed accounts and gentle, domestic benignity. she loves and she loses and it still can't ever prepare her for the next decade. a century dwarfs the time she spends alone running the bureau, but the sheer magnitude of her loss is incomparable. lucretia learns to live in the stolen century, learns to rely on others, learns to trust and care and laugh and build, create, sacrifice, indulge. she pries these things away from herself in the name of a greater good, to what she believes to be their only hope. she sees the agony they're in, and she inadvertently compounds that anguish when she tries to fix it. she is 18 and 118 when she feeds fisher her journals. she is 30 and 130 and 50 and 150 when taako holds a staff to her chest and counts down like it means anything to her anymore that she dies. maybe it's atonement, but even that sounds far too holy a word to describe it. her brother grips her life in his hands, and she thinks it's only fair that he is the one to soundly smother it at last. the lonely journal-keeper is so young and so impossibly old and she is so, so tired. her family will outlive her by centuries. she will be a fine powder, dust beneath the crust of the planet, long before she believes their forgiveness will ever be known. if that day comes at all. everything she has ever done is soured by a guilt so weighty that she spends every day trying to play damage control with the havoc she feels solely responsible for having wrought. she lives within the confines of dichotomy, of red and blue and good and bad, even when she knows she's lying through her teeth, because its easier to live with herself (it's not) when she justifies it, when everyone else lives and dies by the idea that she got it right. she spends 12 years alone, sitting in the thick of her own grief. she mourns men who are right in front of her face. she sees the way they have changed, so fundamentally, sees the ways her choices have ruined them. 12 years is such a long time to be alone. 12 fucking years. she ages 32 in the same span, shedding decades in wonderland in the blink of an eye, and she knows she's running out of time. she's willing to give up whatever she has left, without question. lucretia loves so fiercely and so unquestionably and still she believes herself to be irredeemably cruel when really she was just so scared, tethered to any sense of hope only by the idea that she was doing right by her family. in a position that no one should have to be in, a situation that virtually no one else could truly understand. she was so young and she suffered so, so much. more than any person should. she is flawed but she is not the monster she convinces herself she has become. lucretia adventurezone they could never make me hate you lets kiss on the mouth ok?

[whineandcheese24]

how old is tommy

everybody's been confused about tommy's age, so I thought I'd put out my theory.

lou is 39 years old so it would make sense for tommy to be around that age. if tommy had joined the lafd right out of high school he could have been there for two years by the time chim joined in 2005 and he'd be 39.

but then we come to the problem of him being in the army. even if he had joined right out of high school, pilots have to complete a year of training, and are then required to serve for 10 years, meaning if he had completed his service, he would have to be 29 by the time he joined the lafd. assuming he wasn't a probie at the same time as chim, and he would have had to be 30 in 2005, making him almost 50 now, which doesn't feel quite right

but the key phrase in that last part is "if he completed his service". though we don't know his exact orientation, we do know tommy isn't straight, and he would have been serving in the army during dadt. if someone found out about his sexuality, he could have been discharged before his mandated service was completed.

there are a lot of assumptions and non-exact amounts here, so I haven't really cleared anything up, but personally, I like to think he's 42. he joined the army right out of high school, did his one year of training and 2 years of service before getting discharged, took a year to get his bearings/join the fire academy, and was at the 118 for about a year when chim joined, making him 23 in 2005, and 42 now. why? I'll explain

even though you legally become an adult at 18, you're still not really a fully formed person yet. if tommy was 18 when he joined the army, even if he already knew he was queer, his time in the army would have been instrumental to how he views himself and his identity, just in terms of growing up and being an adult. if he was already out and proud, the army would have broken his confidence down, and if he never accepted himself, they would have just reinforced whatever self-loathing he had. plus if he didn't even know, finding out you're gay when it could lose you your job is traumatizing. having tommy join the army fresh out of high school, and then get discharged 3 years later gives him enough time to have the training necessary to still be a pilot 20 years later, and enough time to really have been broken down by the system, while still not being too old when he joins the lafd

i don't know what the policy is for telling people why you got discharged, but if tommy could have kept it a secret at the lafd, he probs would have. obviously the writers probably weren't planning this when they introduced him, but having him not only be closeted queer, but also have him be fired for being queer adds a really interesting layer to his character and his interactions with chim and hen in the begins episodes.

and as for why have him be 42 instead of say, 41 or 43? because Abby was 42. someone pointed out that tommy and abby parallel each other in how they're both people who have helped/are helping buck better understand who he is and what he wants for himself in terms of a romantic relationship. having him be 42 makes that connection

[sarahsmi13s]

When Sharks Attack

whumptober day 9: scar reveal

pairing: evan 'buck' buckley x reader

characters: evan buckley, fem!reader, the 118

warnings: blood, shark attacks, scar reveal, language, anxiety attack, let me know if i missed anything please

word count: ~1.3k

a/n: this is for whumptober! please please please proceed with caution and use discretion, protect your peace

also if you are on the whump taglist but are not familiar with a character, you can skip it will not hurt my feelings!

whumptober 2023 masterlist

summary: when a call takes you to the scene of a shark attack you can't help but feel a sense of deja vu and reveal the one think you never thought you could

You sighed as you looked in the mirror, your fingers running over the arch shaped scar on your skin. It was old but it was as visible as ever. The scar rounded your hip before it disappeared under your waistband before it finished on the top half of your thigh. You were glad it was in a spot that could be hidden, but you also hated that you had to hide them.

It’s not that you were ashamed or anything, there was nothing to be ashamed of. But you didn’t want anyone to see the scars, they were jagged and ugly. You didn’t like people seeing them.

In the years since you obtained them, you had barely been intimate with anyone, not even your current partner, Buck.

You trusted him with your life, with everything. But in the past, people saw the marks on your torso and they ran. And you couldn’t lose Buck, you couldn’t.

You heard the bathroom door open and you dropped your shirt and started tucking it. 

“Hey, Cap has lunch ready,” Hen said as she poked her head in. You nodded and sent her a smile in the mirror, “Okay, thank you. I’ll be out in just a sec.” She smiled back and nodded, “Alright.”

She left, patting the door frame as she did, and you sighed a little before taking a deep breath and leaving the bathroom.

During lunch the bell went off. In the commotion all you caught was the location before you were getting in the truck and going toward the scene.

You had a pit in your stomach the whole ride to the beach and you didn’t know why. 

That was until you made it through the crowd of people on the dock and saw it.

A bull shark had gotten a hold of a fisherman and wouldn’t let go. 

The scent of copper and salt water filled your senses. Blood stained the dock and the man was shouting in pain as the beast refused to release him.

That pit in your stomach turned to bricks as you stopped moving. Your side began to burn and itch. You suddenly weren’t seeing the fisherman, but yourself on the dock next to your board and bleeding from your side.

You were 18 when it happened. You were surfing with some friends, padding into shore when a great white thought you looked like its next meal. The shark took a test bite out of your side and upper half of your thigh. It was a quick bite, but it was enough. 

Internal organs were damaged and you had nearly bled out on the beach but you were stabilized and taken to the hospital just in time. 

You survived, yes, but you haven’t gone back in the water since.

“Y/N? You okay?” Buck asked, turning to when he noticed you hadn’t moved.

With your heartbeat in your ears you hadn’t heard him and you all but shoved your gear in Bobby's chest and took off towards the engine.

They called after you but they quickly turned back to the emergency at hand.

You made it to the engine, leaning against it and ripping your button up open and untucking it and your undershirt.

Taking deep, grounding breaths, you rubbed and scratched at your side. 

Your scars always did this when you were stressed or when you got anxiety. Especially in the event of flashbacks or situations that triggered you.

Tears slipped down your cheeks and you wiped them away quickly with your free hand.

“Fuck, pull yourself together Y/N this is completely unprofessional,” you scolded as you tried to shake out the tension in your fingers. “You should be better than this. It's been 6 years.”

“Honey? Y/N, baby, what’s wrong?” 

You gasped, startled as you felt Buck’s hands on you. You hadn’t heard him calling for you or running up to you. 

“Not-Nothing Buck, it’s okay. I’m okay.” You had dropped your shirt and looked up at Buck’s eyes to find them fixated on your side.

Shit. He saw.

“Buck..” 

“What happened?”

You sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the cab of the engine and getting in. You closed the door and sat across from him. You rested your arms on your knees and played with your fingers. Now was the moment, and you were dreading it.

“The summer before I went to college… a few friends and I were surfing, on this beach actually,” you started not looking Buck in the eye. He mimicked your position and spoke softly to you, “I didn’t know you were a surfer.” You chuckled dryly, “I’m not… not anymore.” 

Buck just nodded, staying silent as you continued. “We were paddling into shore and all of a sudden I had this intense, hot pain in my side… A um, a great white had taken a test bite. I was brought into shore and I almost bled out in the sand.”

“But you didn’t,” Buck said, holding your hand in his. “You’re here, with us, with me.”  You nodded, sniffling a little. “I know that, I know. I just – it was terrifying…”

He nodded and kissed your hands. “I-I’m sorry I never told you sooner…” “Don’t apologize, honey. You don’t owe me anything,” he soothed, rubbing your knuckles.

You sniffle again and pull your hands away to wipe your eyes. “I should have been more professional, it was 6 years ago…” He shook his head, “Hey, you can’t control how situations make you feel, Y/N.” “I guess not…” 

Buck’s eyes flicked from your face to your side as he bit his lip. He knew it wasn’t his place, but he had to ask.

“Why did you never tell me?”

You sighed, “I was scared…” He furrowed his brow, “Scared? Scared of what?” You wrapped your arms around yourself, “They aren’t… pretty. And when people have seen them in the past…”

Buck’s heart broke. “You thought I would leave you…” You nodded, not looking at him. He tilted your chin up, “I don’t care about some scars, Y/N. They make you you.”

“You might not say that after you see them…” 

“Then show me…”

Your head whipped up to him, “Wh-what?” His face was nothing but serious, “Show me, Y/N.”

His blue eyes held nothing but genuineness and you nodded before standing.

Gulping, you lift up your shirt and look away from him as he sees the entirety of your scar. “If you want to end it-” He cut you off, “Don’t even finish that thought, I’m not going anywhere.”

He brings his hand up, his fingertips running over the marked skin delicately. 

“They’re beautiful…” 

You snorted, “I appreciate the lie Buck…” “I’m not lying. Do you know what scars mean?” You didn’t respond, looking down at your boots. “They mean you survived. That attack could have one or two outcomes. One of those outcomes includes me never getting the chance to meet you, and the other includes you and me in this truck having this conversation.”

He stood, “So, they’re beautiful because you are. Because you are alive.” 

You looked up at him as his finger hooked under your chin, “I love them because I love you. Nothing will ever change that.” 

You capture his lips in a kiss as tears still slip down your face. “Thank you, Buck… I love you too. But… I still don’t think I’m ready for sex, there’s just a lot I think I need to work through,” you told him honestly. He nodded and pecked your lips, “Whenever you're ready, I’ll be there. And I’ll be by your side until then.”

You smiled and wrapped your arms around him, “Thank you Buck.” He kissed your head, “Any time Y/N.”

taglist: @bradleybeachbabe @mayhemmanaged @kmc1989 @lovinglyeternal @horseshoegirl @cassiemitchell @fanboyswhore9 @nightowlalltheway @86laura11 @els-marvelvsp @valmare @startrekfangirl2233

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[cuteboymichaelsheensworld]

There's been a lot of debate about the timeline on the show. But, I still can't figure out how old the sexiest firefighter according to People magazine is. The dating site says he's 52. In 2018 that is the first season, Buck has been in part 118 for half a year now. So here it is: 24-18=6

So if we add 52 to 6, we get 58 years. But Bobby says Buck has been in the unit for seven years. So we're 52 adding up to 7. That's 59 years. But the wiki says Bobby was born in '68, which makes him 56.

2024 - 1968=56

So how old is this guy? Give him a birthday party so we can find out not only his birthday, but also his years.

I need to see Bobby being congratulated by his family. Giving him presents and telling him words of love. Athena's gift of incredibly attractive lingerie on her hot sexy body. And Bobby's love-fucked and aroused look at his lovely wife.

I literally need to see Bobby Nash's naked torso and Athena Nash's shapely legs to my heart's content.

[annabelle--cane]

do we have any information on the approximate dates or year that TMA takes place in? I’m obsessed with timelines and I’m so curious about if those dates are Known or not or can only be guessed about

yes we do! some parts of the timeline are a little vague, but every live and "in situ" statement (with a few exceptions) has a date attached to it. I won't go through every known date, and I'm also not scrupulously checking to make sure I've copied all these numbers down correctly so there's probably an error or two in here, but some significant ones include:

s1

mag 13 - alone: the first live statement and the first hard date for the show, 13 january 2016

mag 22 - colony: martin's statement after being trapped by jane prentiss, 12 march 2016

mag 26 - a distortion: sasha's statement about meeting michael, 2 april 2016 (<- that was my fourteenth birthday :3)

mag 38 / mag 39 / mag 40: jane prentiss's attack on the institute, sasha's death, and all the debrief statements afterwards, 29 july 2016

s2

mag 41 - too deep: jon's statement about exploring the tunnels and his first supplemental tape about gertrude's murder, 2 september 2016

mag 43 - section 31: basira's statement about diego molina + the start of her giving gertrude's old tapes to jon, 19 september 2016

mag 47 - the new door: helen's statement about the hallways, we meet michael in person for the first time, 2 october 2016

mag 61 - hard shoulder: daisy's statement about seeing the coffin for the first time, 1 december 2016

mag 73 - police lights: basira's statement about rescuing callum brodie from maxwell rayner, 11 february 2017

mag 76 - the smell of blood: melanie's statement about her investigations into war ghosts, at the end she and jon have a bit of a fight about how That Is Not Sasha, 13 february 2017

mag 78 / mag 79 / mag 80: jon releases not-sasha from the table, martin and tim get trapped in the corridors, jon meets leiter, elias smashes leitner with a metal pipe, all on 16 february 2017

s3

mag 81 / mag 82: jon makes a statement at georgie's place about a guest for mr spider at the same time as daisy interviews the remaining archives staff to try and ascertain his whereabouts, 18 february 2017

mag 89 - twice as bright: statement of jude perry, ft. jon hand crispification, 24 april 2017

mag 91 / mag 92 (/ maybe mag 93?): statement of mike crew, death of mike crew, jon daisy and basira's encounter in the woods, the big elias conversation at the institute, 28 april 2017. mag 93 might also be recorded on this day, I'm not quite sure, because georgie's statement (mag 94) is 29 april, but I don't know if that's fully the next day or if jon got back really late on the 28th, recorded mag 93, and then georgie gave her statement in the wee hours of the 29th. up to interpretation and how little sleep you envision jon as having.

mag 100 - I guess you had to be there: lynne hammond's is 2 may 2017, robin lennox's is 20 may 2017, brian finlinson's is 26 may 2017, and "john smith's" statement doesn't have a date.

mag 111 - family business: gerry's posthumous statement about smirke's 14, 30 june 2017. again, trevor and julia's statement about how they met in mag 109 is dated 29 june, and I don't know if it's an either-side-of-midnight thing or a full day elapsed between them.

mag 118 - the masquerade: martin and melanie pull a fast one on elias while the rest of the gang sets up explosives in the unknowing, 6 august 2017.

mag 120 - eye contact: elias's statement about jon's coma dreams + elias's arrest, 9 august 2017.

s4

mag 121 / mag 122: oliver banks gives his statement about point nemo and jon wakes up, 15 february 2018

mag 128 - heavy goods: breekon deliver's the coffin and jon slurps a statement right out of his head, 3 march 2018

mag 132 - entombed: jon buries himself alive to rescue daisy, 24-26 march 2018

mag 141 - doomed voyage: on the boat to norway jon slurps a statement about mikaele salesa out of a shiphand's head, 11 june 2018

mag 142 - scrutiny: jess tyrell comes in to complain about jon slurping a statement out of her head and haunting her nightmares, 12 june 2018

mag 146 / mag 147: jon gets intervened on about all the brain slurping, they go to hilltop road and find annabelle's statement, 20 july 2018

mag 157 / mag 158 / mag 159: peter releases not-sasha and brings martin to the panopticon for a showdown with "elias," julia and trevor attack the institute, daisy goes monster mode, and jon follows martin into the lonely and saves him with the power of gay love and also slurping peter lukas's brain so hard he explodes badly, 25 september 2018

mag 160 - the eye opens: jon reads a normal statement and nothing bad happens, 18 october 2018.

s5

fuck if I know

[cowboysandpilots]

Over the Balcony (18+)

This is a continuation of this little ficlet

—

Eddie took his challenge of finding a time when the firehouse was empty very seriously. It started off as a joke, a little tease, but now he really wanted to do it.

The firehouse was rarely empty, but they were having some routine maintenance made on the alarms and the speakers, which meant that the 118 was bunking with another firehouse, and their house would be empty for at least a few days. That's when Eddie put his plan into action.

He snuck into the firehouse after he knew that all the workers had left for the night and texted Buck to meet him there. The other man was confused but showed up, of course. Holding his arms out in question. "I don't think we're supposed to be in here."

Eddie can't help but chuckle. "I wouldn't expect you to worry about that."

"Hey, old me wouldn't, but you know I'm trying to be better. I haven't stolen a fire truck in years." Buck grins.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna need you to bring back Buck 1.0 for this. Just for a little while." Eddie smirks, brushing his thumb over Buck's cheek.

"Why? What are we doing?" He snorts softly

Eddie leans forward and kisses up Buck's jaw before turning him around to face the view of the lower level. "I'm gonna fuck you over the balcony." He says lowly into Buck's ear from behind.

Buck can't help but shiver, and he's already half-hard in his pants. He never actually thought Eddie would take him up on this; it was just a joke, right? Not anymore. "Yeah, yeah." Buck breathes because he sure as hell isn't gonna say no.

While Eddie is reaching into one of his pockets for the small bottle of lube and the condom he brought, Buck is working on getting his pants about halfway down his thighs. They both knew this wasn't going to be anything but a quick fuck; it couldn't be, for risk of getting caught.

Eddie slicked up two fingers with a generous amount of lube, kissing down Buck's neck with his hand gently placed on the man's throat. He waits until Buck seems distracted by the feeling and a little more relaxed before he carefully works both of his fingers into the man's tight hole and scissors him open.

By the time Eddie has him stretched enough to take his cock, Buck is practically shaking and buckling at the knees. He lets out an obscenely loud moan as Eddie curls his fingers up and presses right against his prostate. It echos off the empty walls, and it makes them both blush, and Eddie tells him not to stop even though he removes his fingers right after.

Eddie takes his time lubing up his condom-covered cock after he's got his own pants down, listening to Buck's ragged breathing. Just thinking about the fact that he was the one to do that makes his cock twitch in his hand.

Buck turns his head back as much as he can to kiss Eddie. It's awkward, and the position puts a crick in his neck, but he could care less because Eddie uses the kiss to push the blunt head of his cock into Buck's ready opening, and it makes him moan into the kiss, only breaking when Eddie has bottomed out. His breath is still ragged, and Eddie barely gives him any time to adjust before he's pulling back out just halfway and slamming back in, making Buck moan again.

"That's it, baby, sound so good. Wanna hear you." Eddie grunts out, rocking his hips forward so hard that Buck has to brace himself on the railing of the balcony, already bent at the stomach.

It's much hotter than Buck even thought it would be when he first teased Eddie about it. His knuckles are white against the railing, and he knows his hips are going to be bruised from the way they keep slamming into the glass. He doesn't let the moans stop coming or the strangled whines of his boyfriend's name when Eddie reaches around to start stroking him.

"Fuck, oh fuck. Harder. Wanna feel this for weeks." Buck admits, and it makes Eddie chuckle breathlessly.

"I can never say no to you, cowboy." He places his free hand on Buck's upper back between his shoulder blades to push him further over the balcony and pushes his ass out and up a bit more to let Eddie thrust harder.

At this point, Buck is hoping that this railing is not real glass and just plexi glass because it's shaking with each thrust that are coming in quick succession, and he's not sure how they would explain it breaking from this. He's moaning to the ground that he can't even see while his eyes are screwed shut with equal pleasure, and the pain that being bent like this is causing him.

The tightness in his stomach seems to come way too quick, and he has to force actual words to come out of his mouth instead of just desperate whines and whimpers. "I'm gonna cum, I'm gonna cum" He manages to grunt out. A warning that doesn't even make Eddie falter.

"Right there with you, baby," Eddie grunts back, and he sounds just as desperate as Buck feels when the grip on his cock tightens and speeds up.

It's just a minute before Buck is cumming, thick white ropes splattering against the glass in front of him with a loud shout of Eddie's name. The sheer force of his orgasm causes him to clench around Eddie's thick cock, and that's what ultimately does him in, tipping him over the edge and shooting his load into the condom, still buried deep inside Buck.

Every inch of him wishes that his cum was coating the inside of Buck instead of the condom, but he knew they wouldn't have time for a cleanup like that in a place like this. They stay like that for a while, though, Eddie's chest against Buck's back while they both try to catch their breath. It's only after Eddie had pulled out and disposed of the condom that Buck speaks, blissed-out smile still on his lips.

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. I'm definitely gonna want to do that again, and we won't get another chance."

Eddie only smirks. "Maybe not after today, but I don't think they'll be back again tonight." He says with a raised eyebrow.

Buck leans forward and kisses Eddie as an answer, pushing his tongue into the older man's mouth.

Yeah, they had all night.

—

Spare change? 🤲🏻

[buckslafdhoodie]

curtain’s closed (i’m watching you this time), a bucktommy fic!

length: 5,511 words

language: english

tags: fluff, mild hurt/comfort, exhausted! buck, soft buck, soft tommy, sleepy cuddles, date night, domestic vibes, buck-centric narrative, big spoon! tommy, little spoon! buck

site: ao3 (linked here!)

summary:

"That's not the job, Evan," Tommy turned his head, pressing his lips to the crown of Buck's head.

"That's all you, sweetheart." Tommy murmured into his hair and Buck? Buck was so gone for this man that it was a bit ridiculous. As he lay there, his face smushed against his gorgeous pilot boyfriend's neck, drawing lazy circles on Tommy's shoulder and grinning like a fool, Buck realized he could see a future here. Not a few weeks or months, but years of companionship, of kindness, of stories swapped and gentle embraces, inside jokes and shared closets and--

Oh, he'd done it now. Buck was well aware there was no backpedaling now that his mind had caught up with something he had subconsciously been tiptoeing around since the fateful cat-5 mouth static.

“B’careful there, Tommy… You keep saying stuff like that and I’ll start to think you like me.”

(or, Tommy comes over after a hard shift for Buck and has to herd his overworked boyfriend to bed. Buck gets to be the little spoon, Tommy gets to give his boyfriend the praise he desperately needs, and Buck is still tormented by his lack of a couch and his love of clipboards, somehow)

inspired by @breadandjamsforfrances’s post about buck being the little spoon for the first time and @buckevantommy’s request for some evan little spoon/human blanket fics!

Buck wasn’t nervous. He wasn’t! It wouldn’t be the first time that Tommy was in his apartment, between their first kiss and the subsequent dinner dates that he had hosted over the past month or so.

Okay, so maybe it was the first time that Tommy had texted Buck before the 118’s shift was even over asking to see him. It had been a hard shift, starting with a call to an electrical fire at a daycare that had Buck scouring the building for an unaccounted-for child until Bobby had to physically wrest him from the crumbling structure and only getting more hectic and taxing as the hours passed.

So it goes without saying that seeing the notification from his boyfriend (god, would that ever get old?) had been a welcome sight, even if the unexplained spontaneity was a bit unnerving. It certainly had not in any way triggered an afternoon of methodically going from one corner to the other of the loft, cleaning every speck of dust in sight, throwing his bedding in the wash, and even running to the store to pick up some beer and then promptly panicking, calling Eddie when the wall of bottles and cans towering over him all started to blur together.

Buck’s phone buzzed against the freshly cleaned counter. Peering over at it from his place in front of the sink, the man’s eyebrows furrowed a little bit when his eyes caught on Eddie’s name instead of Tommy’s, seeing as it was nearly seven and Tommy was not one to be late (barring the occasional massive forest fire, of course).

[18:50] tubbs (eddie): I hope he gets there before Clipboard Buck does

Buck audibly groaned, rolling his eyes fondly at the device as he finished drying the glass in his hand and set it on the drying rack before scooping up his phone and responding.

[18:50] crockett (buck): was the capitalization necessary???

[18:50] tubbs (eddie): Yes.

[18:51] crockett (buck): >:(

[18:51] crockett (buck): also, rude!!!!

[18:51] crockett (buck): your hatred towards my poor clipboard is cruel!

[18:52] tubbs (eddie): I don’t know what to tell you Buck!!!

[18:53] tubbs (eddie): Even the strongest of men cannot handle Clipboard Buck!

The fact that Buck could pinpoint the exact exasperated look on his best friend’s face in his mind was a bit concerning, honestly. In the relative quiet of his flat, though, surrounded by the whirring of fan blades and the quiet buzz of his appliances, the man couldn’t find it within himself to get self-conscious at the idea of caring that much about a friend like he would have up until joining the 118.

[18:54] crockett (buck): don’t u worry, the clipboard is safely stored away

[18:54] crockett (buck): it served its purpose well

[18:54] tubbs (eddie): I’m not even gonna ask.

Then, there was a lull in the texts. In place of the flow of banter, Buck’s mind went into overdrive once again, the doubts creeping into his brain like lichen in the cracks of a lone forest stone. The sound of his thumbs hitting the screen of his phone as he typed and deleted about a dozen different messages was oddly soothing. About halfway into a rambling and probably ill-advised text about Tommy’s fashion choices, Buck’s phone buzzed yet again.

[18:56] tubbs (eddie): Relax, man.

[18:56] tubbs (eddie): I think your typing bubble is going to seize if you keep doing whatever it is that you’re doing over there.

Buck snorted, feeling a bit of the tension coiling in his shoulders fall away. Still, the jittery, nervous energy was making itself heard, loud and clear, through his thumb’s jerky movements as he forced himself to type an actual response to Eddie and hit send like it was a life-or-death situation.

[18:57] crockett (buck): whatifhesbreakingupwithme?????

[18:57] tubbs (eddie): He isn’t.

[18:57] crockett (buck): HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!?

[18:58] tubbs (eddie): He let you blow up his phone with the history of tornado alley at 4am…?

[18:58] crockett (buck): …

Had that really been 4am? A quick swipe into his and Tommy’s text thread showed that, yes, Buck had gone down that particular rabbit hole at 4:12 in the morning and for some reason his boyfriend had entertained it. The corners of his mouth twitched up into a soft smile as he returned to the conversation with Eddie.

[18:58] crockett (buck): fair point

[18:58] crockett (buck): i’m freaking out over nothing, aren’t i???

[18:59] tubbs (eddie): Yeah but that’s okay. It just feeds Hen’s golden retriever theory.

[18:59] crockett (buck): pfft thanks man

It was at that moment that Buck glanced up and caught sight of the glowing “6:59” of the oven’s clock. In a moment of panic, the man nearly dropped his phone as he fumbled to finish up his conversation with Eddie.

[18:59] crockett (buck): he’s probably on his way up now, gtg

[19:00] tubbs (eddie): Have fun, man!!

[19:00] tubbs (eddie): Not too much though lol.

No sooner had Buck placed the phone back on the counter when three quiet knocks sounded from the front door. The blonde didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until he pulled the door open and found himself standing face-to-face with Tommy. Tommy, who stood there in a simple gray tee shirt, a light-weight denim jacket, and jeans like he was unaware of his ability to make any outfit look like it was made for him, somehow. The pilot's usually immaculate hair was less styled than usual, a couple of loose little brown waves falling just below his hairline. Just looking at the man, his boyfriend, made Buck feel like the air in his lungs had been punched out of him.

"Hey, you." Tommy's voice jarred Buck out of his praise-filled train of thought, amused and warm in a way the younger man thought he would never fully get used to.

"Hi, hey, uh–" As Buck's voice cracked, he could already feel the warmth of what was undoubtedly an outrageous blush working its way up the back of his neck. “You made it with a minute to spare!”

“It would have been more but I spent about ten minutes driving ‘round the block,” Tommy accepted Buck’s silent invitation inside, stepping around him and stooping down to untie his boots. “Someone really needs to teach some of your neighbors parking etiquette. I didn’t realize that it was possible to park so perfectly in between two spots.”

“Oh my god, I know right?” Buck groused as he closed the door, idly listening to the deadbolt click into place while his eyes drank in the sight of Tommy’s jacket pulled taut across his shoulders.

‘God, Buck, let the man at least take off his shoes before you jump his bones–’ His inner voice which, at this moment, sounded suspiciously like Hen reminded him of his priorities as Tommy straightened up. Good boyfriend duties first, there was more than enough time for embarrassing amounts of thirsty thoughts and flirting later.

“Here, let me.” Buck reached out, tugging lightly on the collar of Tommy’s jacket and helping the man shuck it off his shoulders, thrilled to catch the sight of his boyfriend’s dimpled smile as he made his way to the dining table to carefully drape it over the back of one of the chairs.

The sound of Tommy following him across the room was the only warning that Buck got before two strong arms were curling themselves around his waist; a warm, sturdy weight that never failed to ignite the warm campfire in his chest. The culprit in question chuckled as the blonde realized he had practically melted back into the embrace.

“What’re you laughing at?” Buck questioned with no real accusation in his voice, carefully spinning around so that he could look at Tommy rather than stare out the window at the sun as it made its descent toward the horizon. He found himself hooking his right arm around his boyfriend’s neck while his left hand came to rest on Tommy’s bicep as if it were second nature.

Maybe it was, honestly.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I would say you got off shift 12 minutes ago, not twelve hours. You seem… keyed up.” Tommy quirked an eyebrow at Buck, his bright blue eyes seeming to tear through the younger man’s outer facade like paper. Usually, that would send Buck on the defense but he found none of that nerve-wracking, prickly feeling crawling up his throat this time; instead, he chuckled sheepishly and used the hand behind Tommy’s head to gesture vaguely.

“I may have had too much energy and went on a bit of a cleaning spree,” Buck explained, his voice dropping down to match Tommy’s as he waited for the other man to glance around, judge the apartment, maybe make a quip about the place needing a good spruce up or something.

But of course, this was Tommy. If there was one thing Buck could count on Tommy for, the man could surprise him with even the smallest of acts.

“Your place is cleaner than like 95% of men in their thirties, Evan– how did you even manage to find eight hours worth of stuff to clean in here?” Tommy was looking right at him, his undivided attention pinned on Buck as his eyes hopped from point to point on his face, as if he were trying to solve a puzzle.

“I also went to the store, grabbed some groceries, a few different options for dinner if you haven’t already eaten which– shit, I should have asked you earlier! I can always just whip something up quick for myself later or if you aren’t feeling my cooking we could do takeou– mmh!” Tommy had apparently picked up on the easiest way to get Buck to stop running his mouth a mile a minute, as one second he was dividing his attention between the brunette’s amused expression and the fridge to his left, and the next he was instinctively closing his eyes as Tommy’s big palm curled around his jaw and he became suitably distracted by the feeling of slightly chapped lips pressed against his.

Buck genuinely couldn’t think of anything more enjoyable than this: being wrapped up in an embrace with his gorgeous, considerate, unfairly competent boyfriend, losing the seemingly constant edge of anxiety and stress that he carried around like a set of weights upon his shoulders under the more pressing weight of Tommy���s gentle yet insistent lips upon his, the scrape of stubble and the smell of aftershave like catnip to him.

Idly, Buck wondered what it was like for Tommy. Was he just as content being in Buck’s space? As easily lost in the simple act of being close and melting into each other with a familiarity that the blonde knew couldn’t just be his imagination. There was deep curiosity inside himself that urged him to beg Tommy for a glimpse inside his mind, to promise he’d listen to every word if the older man would let him. But even that voice was overpowered by the pure single-mindedness that kissing Tommy brought out in him.

Eventually, they pulled apart, although they didn’t go far, barely a few inches separating their faces as Tommy spoke, his eyes glinting in a way that Buck was finding hard to ignore.

“I don’t think I know of anyone else on the face of the planet that could work a twenty-four hour shift, clean his entire apartment, come up with and go grocery shopping for multiple meals, and still manage to be as energetic as you are, Evan. It’s equally impressive as it is mildly concerning.” Tommy ran his thumb across Buck’s cheek, tracing the bone beneath his stubbly skin with a reverence that had his earlier flush returning with a vengeance. “What’s your secret? Or is that just how you’ve always been?”

“I’ve gone a mile a minute since I was born, according to Maddie.” Buck laughed softly, his right hand coming up to idly scrape his fingernails through the short hair at the nape of Tommy’s neck as he continued, his voice taking on a softer edge: “Well, I mean… knowing you’d be here may have given me a pretty sizable boost as well, if I’m honest.”

For a moment, the silence between them made it feel like they were on pause, time going by around them while they stood still. Buck waited with bated breath, somehow nervous he had somehow messed up the moment by being too honest, or maybe he had shown his hand too early. And then, like the sun breaking through the clouds on an overcast day, Tommy smiled and the prettiest shade of pink spread from the tips of his ears to the apples of his cheeks. Buck couldn’t help it as his mouth split into a grin at the sight.

“You didn’t– Evan, you really didn’t have to do that for me. You just got off of a hectic shift and probably needed a nap more than the loft needed a deep clean.” Tommy tilted his head, taking his eyes off Buck for a few seconds to scan over the apartment loosely before returning his gaze to him. “I promise you that I don’t mind some dust or clutter or even an unmade bed.”

Buck gasped dramatically, lifting his hand off Tommy’s bicep to clutch his imaginary pearls, his commitment to the bit trumping his need to soak in his boyfriend’s proximity. “Tommy Kinard, if you think I’d ever let such a handsome guest in my home without making the bed, you must have a horrible impression of me and my hosting standards!” Buck wasn’t sure where the pompous attitude came from, in all honesty– maybe he had been watching too many of Maddie’s dramas.

Tommy barked out a laugh that had Buck melting on the inside before seemingly pulling his composure back into place, fixing the other man with a faux-serious look that, if Buck didn’t know better, he would have thought it was real.

“Evan Buckley, I know you would never willingly leave your bed unmade, you keep quite the tight ship around here. I was simply stating that even if you were a hoarder, I would still come over as often as I could manage.” The implied “for you” at the end of the sentence made Buck silently curse his light complexion as he was sure that he was probably redder than the 118’s engines.

A quiet laugh made its way out of Buck’s mouth as he dropped his hand back to Tommy’s arm: “Yeah, I don’t see myself becoming a hoarder any time soon– I have enough stuff scattered around here as it is!”

Tommy silently raised an eyebrow at him. Before he could even make the comment Buck knew was coming, the younger man surged forward to place a firm kiss on his boyfriend’s mouth, giving him a taste of his own medicine for once. This kiss broke off quicker as Buck pulled back to grumble playfully against Tommy’s jawline.

“If you even mention the C word in this house I am not cooking dinner, do you hear me, mister?”

“... Evan, you’re not cooking dinner either way– you’ve been awake for the better part of thirty-six hours– I am making you something quick and getting you to bed before you drop.” Tommy’s words baffled Buck. Weren’t they supposed to be having date night? Of course Buck would cook! He was not that tired!

“I did not just clean and buy groceries and make you drive all the way out here for you to spend a few minutes cooking and then leave like a maid!!” Buck said incredulously, eyebrows furrowed as he searched Tommy’s face for clues as to what was going through his head.

“Ev–” Tommy started to speak, Buck cutting him off, the metaphorical boulder inside his brain having already picked up too much speed to stop now.

“No, Tommy! Today has been long, sure– I did only get to sleep for maybe thirty minutes in between the 8-car pile up and the campers who nearly started a brush fire. Twice. But I have been really excited about getting to see you all day! Hell–”

“Evan–”

“I was so amped that I decided to buy a different beer than usual and called Eddie in a panic because I somehow don’t know what kind of beer you like which is kind of a problem we need to solve, by the way–”

“You didn’t have to–”

“-and now you’re here and I’m going to cook you whatever you want and we’re gonna watch some random documentary and cuddle and have a full night together while our days off line up, okay?!”

“Evan, I’m not going to leave!” Tommy’s hands went from Buck’s waist to cupping his jaw, gentle but insistent. “Now, will you breathe for a second, babe? You’re gonna go blue at this rate.” It took a second for Buck to process Tommy’s words, realizing his boyfriend was right. Taking a second to drop his head down on the other’s broad shoulder and taking a couple of deep breaths, the brunette’s hands came to rub up and down his back in a soothing manner.

“...’M sorry, didn’t mean to get so heated with you.” Buck apologized quietly, his voice muffled by the fabric of Tommy’s tee shirt. He couldn’t bring himself to pull away just yet, the weight of Tommy’s arms keeping him grounded.

“You’re good, I should have realized that being vague would set you into a spiral, especially with how little sleep you’re running on right now.” Tommy sighed softly, his tone just as apologetic as Buck’s, which didn’t seem right in the former’s mind but, like a wave a mile high, his little outburst had seemingly sapped the last of the energy from his body. He quickly realized he'd have to pick his fights carefully here before he embarrassed himself even further.

“You’re… not leaving?” Buck just had to clarify that. If he was getting shipped off to bed, did that mean Tommy planned on just… hanging around? Watching some TV? Reading a book? Taking embarrassing photos of him while he slept to send to Chimney and Eddie?

“No.” The way Tommy said that simple word made his knees weak; it was so unbelievably tender, like the idea in and of itself physically pained the pilot to even think about. Beneath Buck's forehead, Tommy’s muscles stiffened up. The sleepy blonde made an involuntary, confused noise in the back of his throat.

“I mean, unless you want me to…?” Oh.

Oh. Tommy thought Buck wanted to kick him out? That was so absurd that he couldn’t help but start laughing, hard enough that he could hear the chair behind him jostling against the table, creating a horrible, cacophonous sound with the echo of his near-delirious laughter.

After a few moments, Tommy joined in; it took them well over a minute to wind down, Buck’s head pressed against the side of his boyfriend’s neck and said boyfriend’s arms squeezing around his waist once again.

“I just went on a whole ramble about you not leaving, do I need to get a sign above the door that says ‘Tommy Kinard is ALWAYS Welcome’ on it or something?” Buck said, his tone teasing as he peeled himself away from Tommy’s neck, blinking his eyes a couple of times to try and discreetly fight the impending drowsiness seeping deep into his bones.

“I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed, but what about when I mention the couch?” Buck gasped dramatically, clumsily trying to cover Tommy’s mouth with his hand but missing. Badly. He somehow completely missed his boyfriend’s mouth, instead slapping his hand haphazardly on Tommy’s chin. After staring at his hand for a few seconds, Buck concluded that okay, maybe he was losing his fight against exhaustion a bit more than he thought.

“Alright, I think maybe dinner can wait– you are beyond exhausted.” Tommy echoed his sentiment sternly, dropping one of his arms from around Buck and using the other to nudge at the small of his back, pushing him towards the stairs.

Buck went willingly, mental flashes of him losing consciousness and cracking his skull open on the stairs or maybe the dining table acting as a great motivator for him to accept Tommy’s help getting to bed. Somewhere in the myriad of thoughts swirling around his exhausted mind, guilt was starting to seep into the forefront of his mind.

Even with Tommy’s reassurances and the soft pressure of his hand on Buck’s back, steadying him on their short trip up the stairs, his brain was sure that he’d fucked up. Tommy nudged him towards the bathroom as they reached the top of the stairs. He shuffled his way inside, listening to his mind idly pondering what Frank would have to say about this sudden bowling ball of guilt sitting in his stomach.

As the door clicked shut behind Buck, he could hear Tommy moving outside, the sound of fabric rustling, and the quiet humming of a tune that the blonde couldn’t place. Tragically, turning on the tap drowned out that heart-achingly domestic ambiance. The knowledge of what was waiting for him on the other side of the thin door spurred him through brushing his teeth and quickly washing his face. After some consideration, he stripped off the dark jeans he had tugged on earlier in favor of his boxers and the maroon tee shirt.

Stepping back into his bedroom, Buck was drawn immediately to the sight of his bed: the gray duvet had one corner flipped up from where it once was neatly tucked in. Not only that, but the water glass that habitually sat on his bedside table had been refilled, and the lights on the bottom floor of his loft were all turned off, leaving the small lamps on either end of his bed as the only light source in the apartment. Buck could already feel his lips curling up in a smile, touched by Tommy’s attention to detail and care no matter how many times the other man unknowingly put it on display.

Speaking of Tommy, Buck’s eyes drifted over to the man who stood by the short bookshelf mainly used as a TV stand. The pilot held a small stuffed animal, a cat Buck could have picked out from a lineup any day.

"That's probably one of my favorite things in this place." Buck walked over, bumping his shoulder against Tommy's as he came to stand side by side with his boyfriend.

"It was a gift from a little girl. Angel. She uh... She got trapped in a housefire way back when I first started with the LAFD," Tommy tilted his head to glance at Buck, eyes sparkling with interest so pure that the sleepy man couldn't help but continue, struggling to return his gaze to the toy as he spoke.

"She was this tiny little kid standing like right next to the engine, crying real bad and holding this little stuffed animal with a death grip. I stopped to make sure she wasn't injured and turned out, the poor kid's cat was still inside. So I ran in, the house was pretty much in shambles at that point... But I had this feeling, I guess," Buck could almost feel the flames of the home's hallways as he spoke, recalling Bobby's voice yelling at him through the comms under the sound of beams buckling and the fire roaring beside him.

"I ran into the room at the end of the hall and 'lo and behold, there was this giant tabby cat under the kid's bed." Buck made a vague gesture with his hands, recalling the fluffy beast he almost mistook as a winter jacket that got shoved under the bed. Beside him, Tommy huffed out a surprised laugh, looking between the blonde and the tiny tabby toy with amusement.

"I know, I know, I was just as surprised! I thought I was looking for a little kitten, maybe, or a smaller cat at least. It had to be some sorta Maine Coon or a Siberian or something-- It was the size of a backpack!" Buck couldn't help but laugh as well, dropping his head onto Tommy's shoulder as he did so, relishing in his ability to be the one leaning rather than the one being leaned on for a moment. It was nice, he had to admit.

"When I brought the cat out to her, she turned to me with the biggest, teariest smile and traded me. The toy for the cat. I tried to give it back but she said that she didn't need it, I'd given her the real thing back." Buck finished, his eyes suspiciously wet. Thankfully, Tommy didn't call him out on it. Instead, the older man carefully put the stuffed toy back in its place on the shelf and turned to face him, an indescribably soft expression on his face.

"I think you have the biggest heart of anyone I've met, Evan." The sincerity in Tommy's voice nearly bowled Buck over with its intensity. The part of Buck that always yearned to be seen and cared for was practically vibrating beneath his skin, fighting with the part of him that wanted to brush off Tommy's kindness, make some ill-placed joke, or perhaps a half-hearted denial.

"I- I'm not... I was just doing my job--" Buck croaked out, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.

"Yeah, maybe at first. Checking in on her, making sure she wasn't hurt both definitely fall under doing your job," Tommy tugged on Buck's free hand, guiding him towards the side of the bed with the duvet flipped over, his clear eyes staying locked on Buck's even as he walked his way backward towards the bed.

"But you ran into a burning building alone, searching for a cat that you figured would be too small to see easily through the smoke, you hauled that cat out of there, alive." When Tommy nudged Buck onto the bed, he obliged, crawling into the bed with one hand still clutching Tommy's as if the man would disappear without it. Thankfully, it seemed Tommy felt the same way, following right behind him.

After a bit of shuffling and adjusting, including Tommy fighting with his jeans while Buck fought with the sheets he somehow already had tangled around his legs, they quickly found a comfortable balance. Buck was pretty much on top of Tommy, his head tucked under his boyfriend's stubble-covered chin. Their legs intertwined as Buck curled in towards Tommy, who was lying on his back with his arm around Buck's shoulders.

The rumble of Tommy's voice right beneath his ear was soft and soothing. Buck idly wondered if, in another life, Tommy had been a cat, the soft rumbling reminding his sleep-addled mind of a cat's purr. "You know how I really know you weren't just doing your job, Ev?" Buck craned his head back, his answering "No, how?" muffled against the column of Tommy's neck.

"When that girl gave you her stuffed animal, you kept it. You didn't leave it at the firehouse, or throw it out, or donate it. You put it right there in front of your bed, and stood there to tell me the story even though you're running on fumes. That's not the job, Evan," Tommy turned his head, pressing his lips to the crown of Buck's head.

"That's all you, sweetheart." Tommy murmured into his hair and Buck? Buck was so gone for this man that it was a bit ridiculous. As he lay there, his face smushed against his gorgeous pilot boyfriend's neck, drawing lazy circles on Tommy's shoulder and grinning like a fool, Buck realized he could see a future here. Not a few weeks or months, but years of companionship, of kindness, of stories swapped and gentle embraces, inside jokes and shared closets and--

Oh, he'd done it now. Buck was well aware there was no backpedaling now that his mind had caught up with something he had subconsciously been tiptoeing around since the fateful cat-5 mouth static.

“B’careful there, Tommy… You keep saying stuff like that and I’ll start to think you like me.” Buck mumbled, his voice coming out far softer than he had expected (and maybe a bit slurred but who could blame him, he was more comfortable lying there with his boyfriend than he had been since he couldn’t even remember when).

“I’m not dating you cause I feel ‘meh’ towards you, Ev– you know that, right?” Tommy’s hand squeezed Buck’s shoulder gently, a comforting gesture for the both of them.

“Mmhm… Don’t worry, Hen can’t tease you for liking me if I like you more.” If Buck was asked later where this comment came from, he’d blame it on being on the verge of falling asleep, and spew some facts about how exhaustion for over 18 can cause one to act similarly to someone at the legal limit for alcohol consumption. Secretly, Buck knew it was his way of letting Tommy know that he was in it, ready and willing to be teased and seen as a love-struck fool when it came to his boyfriend because… well, who wouldn’t?!

Buck didn’t stay awake long enough to hear Tommy’s response or to feel the other man carefully shift him onto his side so that he could flip off the lights and crawl right back into bed behind him, curling almost protectively around the firefighter with a grin hidden in the dark of the room as Buck practically burrowed himself back into the embrace with a tender, sleepy sound that could melt the ice caps.

As Buck and Tommy had both suspected would happen, the blonde-haired man slept for what would have been record-breaking amounts of time if it weren’t for the many injury-induced recovery comas that he’d been subject to over his time as an LAFD firefighter. Buck only woke once during the night, his eyes fluttering open to the faint light of the slowly lightening sky illuminating the loft. For a moment, the man didn’t register the body plastered to his back as anything more than an oddly moved pillow until the dull thump-thump-thump of Tommy’s heartbeat kickstarted his sleepy brain. It couldn’t have been later than three or four in the morning and Buck knew he should just close his eyes and let sleep drag him back under but the call of his boyfriend curled against him was more appealing.

Despite his many relationships and flings, Buck couldn’t recall ever being the little spoon. Once, when he and Taylor’s relationship was still new, he woke up to go on shift and found her arm thrown over his hip but that was nothing like this. From head to toe, he was engulfed by Tommy, his broad chest pressed flush to Buck’s back and one of his thighs slotting perfectly between his own. It was warm and all-encompassing and oddly, Buck felt protected in a way he couldn’t quite put words to.

It was almost like Tommy had found a way to bundle Buck up without making him feel trapped or suffocated, simply supported and cared for and loved in a way he had only ever felt in brief intangible moments in the past. Carefully, as to not disturb his lovely boyfriend, Buck rolled over, gazing up at Tommy through half-closed eyes, admiring him for so long it probably would have been creepy if it weren’t for the fact that it was mostly dark out and Tommy was peacefully dozing, unaware of his gaze.

After what could have been a second or an hour, Tommy’s arms squeezed around Buck’s waist, pulling him impossibly closer and Buck closed his eyes, humming happily as he slowly let himself fall back asleep, mentally ingraining the image of Tommy with his messy hair lit by the cool morning light into his brain, the serenity flooding his system like a drug he would never get enough of.

(Eventually, Buck woke up at nearly eleven in the morning on top of Tommy to the muted sound of the man in question typing something on his phone with one hand while the other rubbed circles on his lower back. He was confused as to how he got there, considering they had both been on their sides, but according to his boyfriend, Buck had crawled entirely on top of Tommy in protest after the man got up to use the bathroom. Although Tommy insisted it had been “frankly adorable, ten out of ten would get crushed by you anytime,” Buck rolled out of bed with a blush down to his chest, locking himself in the bathroom in his embarrassment at the cost of hearing Tommy’s teasing laughter but not being able to see his gorgeous smile.)