...well it's been over ten years since I've attempted this site but hi I guess.
I think I joined the blue birb site for hockey reasons, Discord because chemistry, and here (at least this go-around) mainly because of a little weewoo firefighter show - tumblr was grumping at me for trying to browse without signing up, oops.
Chances are if I'm not online (lol) I'm in the lab yelling at science for not cooperating, at one of my happy places (farmer's market, local botanical garden, my favorite cafe), in the kitchen attempting to cook something, on the couch rewatching something for the millionth time, or...more than one of the above.
Side note: same Ao3 name.
ETA: icon pic was one I took after feeding a giraffe at the zoo last summer (but is currently my Dumpster Fire O'Lantern from this year because spooky season), header pic is sunset at a lighthouse from a few years ago
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If I had a nickel for every time Jennifer Love Hewitt played a character married to a paramedic, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
hi! are you thinking any bucktommy thoughts in the airport?
i want them to go places. they're two characters who have been A LOT of places, then landed in LA and seem to have never gone anywhere again (besides Crossover Land).
i want to find out whether they're actually good traveling with each other: who wants a full itinerary and who wants to take four hours in a museum and then have a really lazy meal. i think it would be so sad if they got Through Everything and then it turned out they're great at home but rub each other wrong in any other place on earth. but i'm also a very stubborn solo traveler who leaves a lot of blank space on the itinerary for relaxing and whatever comes up. i hope they're those kinds of travelers so i don't have to research shit to do if i want to write about them going places
also: if anyone wants to write a bucktommy au of the pairing that could be amazing (or actually, what if everyone just reads casey mcquiston's the pairing, which made me ugly sob for a REALLY long time. there are romance feels but also gender feels that ripped my heart out)
(i should specify: the pairing is about exes who broke up on their way to a wine tour all over france (literally mid journey), never spoke after that, then a year or so later decide to use their voucher for the canceled trip on the very same trip and... oops. fall in love again!!)
AU prompt !!! A bit more serious than my usual shenanigans
May and Ravi childhood penpals. She gets an assignment at school to write to a penpal, and she chooses a boy in a kids’ cancer ward. It starts out as just fulfilling the assignment, but after a few letters Ravi writes back and a friendship is struck. It means a lot of both of them and they continue for a few years (maybe until the start of the show) when they lose touch.
May always wonders what happened to her childhood friend, until one day she and Ravi are talking after a date and he brings up letters he used to get, and how much they meant to him…
Idk how much you’d need to stretch canon, but I find the idea of them reconnecting once their adults to be very sweet (I also don’t know how old Ravi is supposed to be ??? So I don’t know when makes sense that they’d start writing but that’s why it’s AU lmao)
woohoo! let’s go! Uh, current day is season 8 divergent
1. May’s Grade 5 class starts doing a penpal program with a local children’s hospital. May writes about her annoying little brother and the bracelets she and her friends made on the weekend. She doesn’t know who it’s going to yet, so she doesn’t know what they might be interested in. Her dad let her help with some of the new flowers in the garden a couple weeks ago and she adds that in too. Their teacher has them sign with just their initials. When her mom hears that she nods in approval. May doesn’t know why.
2. She gets a letter back from a boy a year older than her. He has two sisters, one older, one younger. He tells her he’s in the hospital for cancer treatment. He doesn’t usually have to stay there, but they’re trying a new chemo and they don’t want him to have a bad reaction at home. May thinks that sounds pretty awful. He’s interested in the garden and the bracelets, and what games her brother is playing. May draws him a photo of the garden and names as many of the flowers as she can remember, and tells him about Harry’s love of Mario Kart and Pokémon. She takes off her bracelet and slips it into the envelope, because she’d learned how to make adjustable ones and it should fit him. She does also ask for his favourite colours so she can make him one that’s just for him, not a reused one.
3. His favourite colour is green, so May makes him a bracelet with four different colours of green, plus a cream to split them up. It takes her most of the weekend, because the first one comes out crooked and she remakes it so he’ll have a better one. She keeps the first one for herself. He’s good at math, and he sends her some tips to help out, since he’s already done that year. She does better on her next math test and her dad is so proud. So is her penpal. She sends him updates on the garden and her mom helps her press one of the flowers to send to him. They don’t have any green flowers, but she picks a daisy with some nice leaves so he at least has a little green. A fresh flower would probably be better but she doesn’t know how long it takes for the letters to get there.
4. They don’t do penpals in sixth grade, but the last May had heard, he was about to get out of the hospital. She hopes he’s doing well. The green bracelet lasted most of the summer, until it fell off when she was weeding the garden with her dad. She has a box for birthday cards and letters from her grandparents, and she adds in her penpal’s letters and the frayed green bracelet.
5. May kind of forgets about her penpal over the years, just thinking about him when she has to rearrange her letter box. Luckily it’s at her apartment when Mom and Bobby’s place catches fire, because she would have been devastated to loose all of that on top of everything else. Honestly, she and Harry were luckier than Mom and Bobby, because most of their current stuff was at May’s apartment or with Dad, and May’s been obsessively updating their family photos ever since she worked at dispatch and realized just how many things can happen to a house.
6. In the aftermath of the fire, May runs into the 118 a lot more. They’re always at Mom and Bobby’s apartment trying to figure out what to do about their (hopefully temporary) Captain Gerrard problem. One day she and Ravi are leaving at the same time, and almost bump into each other going out the door. They laugh and ride the elevator down together and Ravi asks her if she wants to get a coffee.
7. Ravi’s really fun, May realizes. They leave the coffee shop with each other’s numbers and plans for dinner.
May and Ravi’s shared experiences of being first responders makes dating a lot easier, actually. May’s finishing up her last year at university, and Ravi’s shift hours are weird, but they make it work, texting and calling when they can’t see each other in person.
It’s a little weird when the rest of the 118 finds out — May has to borrow Ravi’s car when her’s is in the shop, so she drives him to the station — but otherwise it’s really, really good.
8. Mara reminds May of herself, a little bit. Their trauma is different but they both had to deal with too much too young. She tries to remember what she liked at that age, to connect with Mara, and remembers the bracelets she used to make in middle school. She stops at a craft store and picks up one of the bags of thread for friendship bracelets.
The first few she makes are wonky, but eventually she gets back into the groove. She wants to have nice examples for Mara.
She brings her supplies over to Ravi’s house one night, thinking she can make him one. When she asks for his favourite colour, he says green, and she picks out a few different shades. She almost goes with a white to separate them, but picks up the cream instead because it looks nicer next to the greens, a little softer than the white.
Ravi watches curiously as she cuts the thread and gets started.
“I used to have a bracelet like that when I was a kid,” he says.
“Oh yeah? Did you learn how to make them at summer camp? Or did your sisters make you one?” May’s focused on the bracelet.
“Uh, a penpal actually,” Ravi tells her. “She gave me one that she’d already made, then made me a green one — that’s been my favourite colour forever.”
“A penpal?” May looks up at him.
Ravi nods. “Yeah, when I was in the hospital. It was like a school project thing, but she was really nice.”
“Did she have a little brother and garden with her dad?”
“…yes,” Ravi says slowly. “How did you know that?”
“MG,” May points at herself. “And you were RP.”
Ravi sits down next to her. “Wow, what are the chances?”
“I have no idea,” May laughs.
“I loved getting your letters,” Ravi says earnestly. “I couldn’t wear the bracelets right away because of the IVs and stuff, but as soon as I got out I wore them.” He smiles. “And I really loved hearing about your garden. Being inside was so boring.”
“Next you’re going to tell me you still have them,” May laughs.
“I do,” Ravi says. “Well, they’re at my parents’, but I still have them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You know,” May says, an idea forming in her mind, “you have a lot of space in your yard here.”
“Yeah?”
“We could make a garden here.”
“With lots of daisies?”
“With lots of daisies.”
Ravi looks at her. “Do you need to finish that bracelet right now?”
“No.”
Ravi scoops her off the couch as she laughs, carrying her down the hall to the bedroom.
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Buck who gets Theo as a baby and he and Tommy have to take Theo for a drive to fall asleep. Tommy carries Theo to bed, kisses his little forehead, then has to go back and carry Buck to bed because he also fell asleep in the drive.
hello i have been tagged by/am no pressure tagging DEAR FRIENDS @leashybebes @wee-fuckin-woo @ambernotember @sierranovembr @emphasisonthehomo @evanquackley @capitalnineteen @frogsinflannel @chococara25 @exhaustedpirate @sad-girl-hours23 @winter-parrot @devirnis @ YOU YES YOU READING THIS if you're working on something please post some of it and tag me in it!! :)
i am actually making good progress on sexy speech therapy so here's another little treat! we all remember as teens we had car rides with our parents or siblings where we revealed Too Much, right?
"What ab-bout yo-ou? W-would you ra-a-ather dri-ive?"
"Well, I make a pretty passenger princess, don't I?"
Tommy looks over at Evan. He has a teasing tilt to his grin, and his eyes are the same blue as the sky through the window behind him. Tommy's stomach feels hot. "Y-y-yeah, I gue-ess," he says. His voice is a little raspy, and he clears his throat.
"So?"
Raising an eyebrow, Tommy parrots, "So?"
"Got any siblings?"
Tommy shakes his head. "O-only child. Ne-e-ever had anyo-o-one to drive ar-r-r-r— around with whe-en I wa-a-as a 'shitty pret-teen'," he quotes. "Wha-at's it like ha-a-aving a sis-ster?"
He looks over to see Evan staring out the window. "It was good. She was the best part of growing up. I missed her a lot when she left."
"Mi-i-issed her?"
"Oh! She, uh, it's really her story to tell. But she was in a bad situation and was gone for a few years. All sorted, though. She killed him — in self-defence! — so she's good now."
Tommy looks over at Evan, incredulous. There is no possible way for Tommy to respond to that.
The plastic of Evan's cup squeaks as he fiddles with the straw. "What, uh, what about you? How'd you grow up?"
Lonely. Bored. Scared. Tommy raises one shoulder instead of answering. He isn't paying Evan to have to deal with all his bullshit. The stuttering thing is already annoying enough, Tommy's sure.
The turn signal clicks, loud in the suddenly quiet car, only Stevie Nicks crooning softly to fill the silence.
Evan scratches the back of his neck. "S-sorry. Fair enough."
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118 bucktommy (I can fit so many scenarios into this bad boy) and Tommy has such a big crush on the probie that he's afraid it can be seen from outer space. And Tommy is no longer lying about who he is, but he hasn't gone on any dates with guys or hooked up or gotten on any apps and he just desperately needs to get his hands/mouth/hole on a dick and that need only seems to increase when Evan's around
Tommy gets distracted by the way Evan's tongue pokes out when he concentrates
He has to turn and walk in the opposite direction whenever he sees Evan rolling the firehose because he somehow makes it look sexy (or maybe it's that Tommy's imagining Evan's hands on him instead)
Tommy's also never realized just how many things are phallic, but Evan always seems to have them in his hands (water bottles, any number of tools, the microphone at karaoke night--pressed against lips which Tommy cannot fathom is sanitary but he can't stop staring anyway) or in or around his mouth (bananas--so many bananas, cucumbers--and seriously what kind of freak just eats a cucumber whole? Tommy's kind of freak apparently, carrots)
One of these days Tommy is just going to spontaneously combust from sexual frustration or worse, have a wet dream while they're all sleeping in their bunks.
...
Meanwhile, Evan had taken one look at Tommy on his first day and thought I want him.
Remember when I posted about leather daddy Tommy? Twice?
full grain
Explicit — 5,486 words
”New to the lifestyle?” Tommy asked, and pushed a glass into his hands. ”You have that look about you.”
He had to bite his tongue, before his mouth had the chance to ask if he looked gay. ”What– What lifestyle is that?”
Tommy's eyes were twinkling. ”You're in a leather bar, kid.”
It's starting to run away from me like a train wreck but we'll see how it goes when i get to Athena and Hen
+++
Just when Chimney thinks he has finally got on top of the paperwork, a new email pings his inbox, and it’s from Chief Simpson. Sighing, he opens it and reads it.
Then he shuts the laptop and massages his temples.
Of course it’s about Buck.
He has thirty minutes to the end of shift, and he has been looking forward to going home for a hot bath, a quick nap, and maybe one of the bimbap rolls in the fridge, the spicy one, but now he has to go to meet Simpson. For an informal chat over coffee, Simpson said in his email, but it's clear Chimney cannot turn down the invite.
The idea of meeting the fire chief for an informal chat over coffee unnerves Chimney. Simpson isn't the sort to befriend his subordinates. Everyone knows he isn't even planning to stay LAFD his whole career. Being chummy with the underlings is not high on his to-do list, so this meeting has to be about some bothersome matter.
What the hell has Buck done to catch Simpson's eye?
5-in-1 AU prompt: someone (or something? is Miceli's actually cursed?) that isn't Eddie interrupts Buck and Tommy's first date
alli! between this and the roommates prompt you are cooking, girl.
this prompt is also called "how many times can i say tommy knows a guy and write a crossover" and it is going under a cut right away because it is LONG. like, a few words under 2k. also i wrote a five plus one because buck was sad he didn't get to get interrupted
"uncle tommy!" a college-aged girl dropped onto the bench beside tommy, reaching across him and taking a piece of pizza. "oh, thank god. you would not believe it, they lost our order and i'm starving."
"kate," tommy said firmly. "i'm—"
"oh my god, on a date, i'm so sorry." she stuck her hand out, brushing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "kate ross. sorry for crashing, i'm just—"
"starving," buck finished with her, grinning.
"you would not believe how many calories you burn swimming," kate continued. "mom would murder me if she knew that i waited until nine to eat."
"that's because your mom's a nurse and she knows her stuff."
"yeah so i balance it out with dad's bad doctor habits." kate winked at buck and drained the rest of tommy's beer. "gotta go! have fun."
"you have a sister too?" buck asked, watching kate run off.
tommy shook his head. "i flew a heart to seattle for her dad when first pres' life flight was on their way to portland and he was so grateful he said i was an honorary family member for life. figured that was it, but then kate moved down here for school and now i have a roommate on long weekends."
tommy sighed as their waitress stopped in the middle of the restaurant to talk to one of the other servers. she handed their billfold over to the guy, and tommy squinted at the half-pony that was all he could see of the other server. then he turned around and tommy got a faceful of a familiar smirk. he swallowed a groan, not wanting evan to think it was related to their conversation.
"your bill," eliot spencer said, sliding to a stop beside them. tommy took it immediately. "credit."
"unfortunately our machine is broken. do you mind accompanying me to the counter while we use our extremely old card imprinter. i would bring it over, but it's bolted down."
evan opened his mouth and as much as tommy wanted to know what he was about to say, he wasn't wiling to risk letting eliot stick around. "yeah, that's fine. i'll be right back, evan." he's out of the booth and following eliot before evan can offer to come with them, and eliot shoots a look over his shoulder. "nice friend you got there, kinard."
"shut up, eliot. i was having a perfectly nice dinner and—"
"i need your help."
"the army doesn't exactly approve of me these days."
"not the army, my other job." eliot slipped him a phone number, handing the receipt back to him. "dinner's on us. give me a call when you get home, i'll let you know what i need."
"what if i wasn't planning on going home?" tommy asked, rolling his eyes. he had zero plans for that — even before evan had told him it was his 'first date with a dude' — but eliot didn't need to know that.
"it's important, tommy."
"must be if you set up a sting just to say hi when you have my number," tommy agreed, shaking his head. "okay. i'll call you in an hour."
tommy was just debating whether they should ask for the check or not when he heard the noise of a scuffle and then two people were crashing into the table they were sitting at. he blinked, glad that he'd had his beer in his hand. the last thing they needed was broken glass on the floor.
evan yelped, scrambling back from the wreckage.
everyone else in the restaurant seemed to be frozen, though tommy thought that he heard someone back in the kitchen on the phone with 911.
what were the chances that athena or the 118 were going to be the ones to be responding to the call? tommy sighed, draining the rest of his beer and jamming the heel of his boot into one guy's wrist when he went for a knife, pinning his arm to the floor.
"kinard! nice to see ya, buddy. thanks for the assist."
"ewan," tommy sighed when the other man surged up and he got a proper look at him. "i should have known. only you would start a fist fight in the middle of the oldest italian restaurant in town."
"well, funny story—" ewan cut himself off and coldcocked the guy underneath him, shaking his head in mock dismay. "no one has manners these days. did you know someone's been following you for the last two days?"
tommy sighed harder. he'd been ignoring that feeling since he'd clocked it, because he'd been out of the service for over a decade and a half and he'd wanted to believe that he was imagining things. "…yeah."
"and you didn't do anything about it? you're getting slow, old man."
"fuck off."
ewan laughed, pulling out a few zipties and trussing the guy up. "hey, how do you feel about free meals? my sister's getting married in a month."
tommy finally looked up at evan, just in time to see his face go through the same journey tommy was sure his had during the 'first date with a dude' speech. "i'll have to see what my schedule looks like," he said finally. 'i'll explain later' he mouthed at evan, although he wasn't sure how one could explain ewan o'hara when there were about twenty nondisclosure agreements involved. "but tell her congratulations for me in the meantime."
"why is it that whenever i get an insane call, at least one member of the 118 is involved?"
"evening, sergeant grant," tommy said, standing up and carefully navigating the broken furniture. "just lucky, i guess."
"tommy! man, i haven't seen you in a minute. geez, it's nice to see you. i've been stuck with nick and jess this week and you wouldn't believe how gross they're getting. it's like they forget that i still live there, you know? and—"
"hey, coach, we were actually kind of—" tommy gestured between them and buck felt his cheeks go hot. he bit the inside of his cheek, trying to tamp down on the way that tommy was trying to tell his friend to get lost made him feel. buck had done that when his friends had interrupted dates with girls, and whenever he'd gotten them to go away his dates had always thanked him for not letting it turn into a bro-out. he got it now.
"damn it, not you too. who am i supposed to bachelor out with now?" coach groaned, giving buck a considering look. "i'll forgive you if you bring the new guy to the game next week, though."
tommy laughed. "you don't want to see evan play basketball, coach."
buck winced, laughing with him. tommy's eyes sparkled. "last time i tried, i nearly broke my best friend's ankle."
"i'm sure you've improved since middle school, legs," coach said.
"that was on thursday," tommy told coach, winking at buck.
"oh damn, you nearly took out a firefighter?" coach shook his head. "well, maybe he can be the water boy. sorry for crashing, t. i'll see you on the court."
buck waited until coach was halfway across the restaurant before looking over at tommy. "coach?"
"sometimes i can't make the first responder pickup game, so i found another one that's close to station. coach runs our team."
"but what's his first name?" buck pressed, intrigued. the fact that tommy was apparently more into basketball than buck had realised was something he could worry about later.
tommy shrugged. "dunno, everyone just calls him coach. for a minute i thought it was winston, but that turned out to be his roommate."
buck laughed. "you don't know his first name? tommy!"
"you're right, i forgot. we don't know anyone who goes almost exclusively by their own nickname," tommy agreed, and buck flicked the straw wrapper he'd balled up at tommy from across the table.
"no, john. that's not how it works. you can't actually—"
tommy knew that voice. he hadn't looked away from evan the entire dinner — he wondered if evan knew how magnetic he really was when he got going — but he turned around when a napkin made contact with the back of his head.
"i'm so sorry, i like to talk with my ha—"
"yeah. i know. don't worry about it. hi, bailey."
"tommy! oh my god! i haven't seen you since the—"
"—the muay thai tournament last year, yeah. you kicked my ass, huh?"
"well it was only fair, after the way that you swore you didn't know capoeira at all and then…"
"in my defense, sanchez did call it something else when he taught it to me."
"oh sure, blame it on the mythical army buddy."
"the same way that you blamed muay thai on your mythical reserve…" tommy trailed off at the look he was getting from bailey's dinner date. "sorry. we didn't even introduce ourselves before we got carried away."
"you get used to it," he said, offering tommy a hand. "john. bailey's worse half."
"tommy kinard. this is evan. we were just grabbing dinner and then a movie."
"john, tommy's a firefighter pilot," bailey gushed, her eyes lighting up. "how did you meet him, evan?"
"ah, he flew us into a hurricane to find a capsized cruise ship," evan said politely, aiming a baffled look at tommy.
"oh, you're a firefighter too! — wait, tommy! that counts as an extreme weather flight, and you said you'd take me on the next one."
"sorry bailey, i didn't know it was happening until we were about to go up. next time, really."
"oh good, there's two of you adrenaline junkies," john said, offering evan a commiserating nod. "don't suppose you know construction?"
"i actually worked for a contractor out in michigan for almost a year," evan offers, grinning back at him. "i could probably do just about anything reno-wise."
their waitress reappeared with the bill and tommy paid for it, excusing themselves from the conversation and wishing john and bailey a good rest of the night. evan waited until they were on the sidewalk before turning to tommy with an eyebrow raised. "just how many people do you know in this town?"
"hmm? sorry," tommy said, not sorry at all. "i was a little distracted by the image of you wearing a tool belt and knocking down a wall with a sledgehammer."
"why?" evan asked, taking a step closer. "you thinking of renovating your house?"
plus one time it happened to buck
"holy shit," josh said, sitting down at the table beside buck and tommy. buck nearly choked on his beer and josh laughed, handing him a napkin. "i don't believe it. i thought you were joking when you asked your sister if she was setting us up."
"i — i was joking about that," buck said, looking between them. he really hoped tommy wasn't getting the wrong idea. "what are you doing here, josh?"
"getting dinner," josh said slowly, arching an eyebrow at buck. "do you want me to get another table and pretend i never saw you here?"
"why would you do that?" buck frowned. tommy arched an eyebrow at him.
"because you're getting dinner with tommy, who i… know? from around? we have friends in common?" josh prodded, giving buck a significant look. "i'm not about to out anyone, buck."
"i'm not — i mean — lots of people check out hot guys, josh!" buck exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
"and most of them are interested in dating those hot guys," josh agreed, shooting an amused look at tommy. "have a good night, you two. i'm going to get a table on the other side of the restaurant."
"so," tommy's eyes sparkled as he smirked at buck. "what kind of hot guys do you check out?"
buck groaned. "can we ignore the last five minutes?"
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If you're still doing five fact au prompts how about an AU where Buck and Tommy are football (soccer) players playing for rival club teams and then when the world cup comes around, they both get called up for the National team and find that they play insanely well together and that it could be so much more between them.
All I know about soccer I learned from Ted Lasso. Enjoy! (Also please know that physically, I’m picturing them as Jamie Tartt and Roy Kent). This is… 3k. Oops
1. Evan Buckley gets drafted to a football club right out of high school. He’d started out playing American football, but his parents hadn’t liked the tackling aspect, and he’d switched to soccer. He plays two years at college before he joins the team officially — they’d wanted him to get some experience in England before he started playing with them. He loves being away from home, being independent, even if he’s really only passing his classes because of a couple of tutors.
2. While he’s playing at college, Tommy Kinard gets a four year contact with a team in England. He’s been a big name in the states for awhile, but he had never expressed any desire to play overseas. so it’s pretty surprising. The team that signs him isn’t doing great, but Tommy is a turning point for them, and they rise through the ranks quickly, advancing both years. By the time Buck starts playing, his and Tommy’s teams have become quite the rivals.
3. Buck gets a reputation as a bit of a hothead on the pitch. The broadcasters call his attitude “typically American” and he’s accused of being a braggart and a ball hog. His first game against Tommy is only his fifth game with the team, and Tommy literally steals the ball out from under him and gets an assist on his teammate’s goal. Buck is fuming, desperate to prove himself, and gets a yellow card for holding Tommy’s jersey on the next play. His coach makes a gesture that Buck knows means he’ll get a good yelling at later. Tommy gives him a salute as he moves to a new position during the stoppage of play.
4. Buck does get reamed out by his coach later, but mostly for making it so obvious. He catches an interview with Tommy later where Tommy laughs off the incident, saying that Buck is young and meant no harm by it. Buck seethes, because he absolutely had meant it.
5. The next time their teams play, Tommy is benched with some sort of strain or something. Buck plays ferociously, racking up a goal and two assists and pissing off most of the players on the field. He narrowly avoids a yellow card. He has to sit for the press after, and recites the usual platitudes about how much he’s enjoying playing with his team, how hard their goal keeper works, how much he likes his teammates, etc.
6. The time after that, one of Tommy’s teammates gets a little too close to Buck’s goal keeper, and Buck gets in his face about it. Tommy pulls his teammate away, but Buck keeps an eye on him. When he sees him trying the same trick again, Buck dives between them, bodily stopping the other player. The two teams converge on each other and there are whistles blowing and the refs pulling people apart and general chaos. Warnings are given out and the other team’s player gets a yellow card for attempted interference. Tommy glares at Buck and Buck salutes him, like Tommy had in their first game. Buck gets the ball and as he goes to take a shot, he’s hit from the side and goes down. As he tries to gasp in air and clutches at his ankle, he sees Tommy being helped up by one of his teammates. Tommy gets an immediate red card. Buck has to be helped off the pitch by his team’s trainer, and an x-ray reveals it’s just a sprain, but a sprained ankle for a football player isn’t good either. He sees Tommy’s press conference and apology, and he doesn’t buy a single word of his remorse.
7. Buck’s still out the next time their teams meet, but his guys aren’t afraid to rough Tommy up a little for him, and they give him the game winning ball in the locker room after the game.
8. Sports writers start writing about the American rivalry on the pitch. Buck ignores it. Tommy laughs it off publically, says they both play hard but it’s not personal.
9. Both teams make it to the playoffs but they don’t face each other. Buck’s team gets eliminated in the first round, Tommy’s in the second. Buck goes back to the States for part of the off season, then travels for a couple weeks with some of the guys on his team through Europe.
10. By the time Buck’s second season starts, the stories about his and Tommy’s rivalry are everywhere. There are even rumors that one of his new tattoos is some kind of dig at Tommy. The way their schedules line up this year, they play a couple times at the beginning of the season and a couple at the end, but not in the middle. Buck figures the news will die down then, but they play the same team back to back and someone tries to turn that into a story, because apparently they went to the same restaurant. (A lot of footballers ate there because the staff was so good and normal about them).
11. Neither of them get red carded this season, but there are a lot of rude looks and gestures exchanged between them. When Tommy’s team plays at Buck’s stadium, Buck and his teammates bribe a stadium worker to let them into the opposing locker room and they smear the underside of the benches with slow drying glue. Tommy’s face is thunderous when they come out to the pitch, but his team keeps him far away from Buck, who can’t quite wipe the cocky grin off his face.
12. They face each other in the playoffs this year, and it’s definitely chippy. Tommy’s team advances and Buck goes to Mallorca to drown his sorrows. He hears about Tommy being pulled from the playoffs because of an emergency appendectomy, and he gets his club manager to find out what hospital he’s in and send a get well basket. Buck gets a thank you message a few days later, passed through several different players to get to him.
13. The off season isn’t quite as relaxing this year because there’s a major tournament coming up and Buck’s hoping to make the US team. Every time he hears an announcement for one of his teammates, he deflates a little bit inside because shouldn’t he have heard already? He hears that Tommy gets a spot, and he gets moody and grumpy and silently curses his years at college for putting him behind in the sport. Buck’s one of the last players announced for the team, and he's thrilled, and then he realizes this means he needs to play on a team with Tommy. Shit.
14. The tournament breaks up the season and they get about three weeks to practice with their national teams. Buck doesn’t know a lot of the American players personally, but he’s always been good at making friends, so he’s only a little worried.
“Hope we don’t have to worry about you going after Tommy now that you’re on the same team,” he's greeted by Eddie Diaz, forward, when he walks in. A couple of other guys stifle laughs.
Buck grins and says, “Nothing to worry about,” as he heads for his stall. Which is next to Tommy's. Because they’re both defenders.
Howie Han, striker, grins and pops his gum. “This is going to be fun.”
The irritating thing is that Howie — “call me Chimney” — is right. It is fun. These guys are great to play with. He and Tommy are connecting seamlessly. Buck puts it down to getting to know each other’s styles over the past two and a half years.
15. Tommy and Buck stay late after practice one day to work on some mechanics by themselves. As they’re leaving the practice stadium, a younger guy in a bright shirt comes up to them.
“Mister, uh, Mister Kinard? Could I get your autograph?”
The kid’s practically shaking like a leaf. He’s probably 18, maybe 19. Tommy accepts the soccer ball he’s holding, signing it with a sharpie.
“I know, uh, I know you can’t add anything to your kit but I thought you might like this for walk-ins?” The kid stammers and hands him a pin. Tommy looks like he’s about to start crying, and he asks if he can give the kid a hug and take a picture. Buck takes it for them, making sure to take a few in case someone blinks.
It’s not until they’re in the team car back to the hotel that Buck sees what the pin actually is. It’s a pride flag — the most updated flag, Buck’s pretty sure.
“Why’d he give you that?” Buck asks curiously.
Tommy looks at him in disbelief. “I’m gay, Evan.”
“Oh.” Buck hadn’t known that. He sits back against the car seat and thinks.
Tommy doesn’t say anything else on the ride, and he splits off and heads for the hotel bar where Buck can see a couple of other guys, without even saying good night to Buck.
Buck goes up to his hotel room and digs through his backpack. Perfect. He did bring them. He pulls a couple of the small items out, tucking them into a small ziploc bag he’s brought for his toiletries in case he needed it, then puts it with his gear for the next day.
16. He corners Tommy before they get on the team bus the next morning.
“This is for your pin,” he says, thrusting the bag at Tommy.
Tommy stares at the little metal bits in confusion. “What… is it?”
“Locking pin backs,” Buck tells him. “So it can’t fall off.”
“That’s what you were thinking about it the car,” Tommy realizes.
“Yeah?”
“I thought you were trying to figure out how to tell me you were okay playing with a gay guy.”
“I’m an ally,” Buck protests, maybe a little indignantly. “I put a rainbow flag on my Instagram bio every year for Pride.”
Tommy gives him a toothy grin and steers him towards the bus. “Good to know.”
18. When he gets out of the shower that night, there’s a notification on his phone showing that Tommy has followed him on Instagram. Buck follows him back.
19. “I’ve never see anyone so excited for practice,” Chimney said. Buck tried to rein himself in.
“It’s not practice — not that I’m not excited about practice,” Buck corrects himself. “Nevermind. You’ll see.”
“Cryptic,” Eddie says.
After practice, Buck gets everyone to stay in the locker room.
“I have something for our bags for the tournament,” Buck says, handing out individual bags with pins and locking backs. He'd had the pins rush delivered to the hotel and he hadn’t been sure they’d show up in time.
“Pride flags?” Chimney asks.
Buck shrugs. “Yeah, it’s Pride Month, and football is for everyone, right?”
“Cool.” Chimney pins his on his bag right away, and the rest of them follow suit. Buck grins.
20. They’ve made it to the round of 16, and they have a few days until their next match. They’re spread out among a few different hotel rooms, drinking and chatting. Buck finds himself sitting next to Tommy after he’s had a couple of beers, so he doesn’t think too long before he leans in and goes “how did you know you liked men?”
Tommy gives him a look he can’t quite read. “I realized when other guys talked about their girlfriends, I didn’t feel the same way they did about women, but I did feel that way about men.”
“Huh.” Buck considers this. “So you feel totally different ways about men and women?”
“Yeah.”
21. Buck should be focused on the upcoming match, but he’s hung up on that conversation with Tommy. Because… he’s starting to think that he doesn’t feel differently about men and women. He feels the same about them. Like, he can appreciate a hot guy’s ass just as much as a hot woman’s, right? That’s normal. Probably.
There’s a lot of pride merch and flyers around for Pride Month, and it makes him curious. He opens an incognito window on his laptop and types in one of the program names he remembers from the flyers.
22. They win their match, which Buck is happy about, even though he got pulled just after half time. That was fair, he’d been a little off his game, he can admit it. Tommy sits next to him on the bus back to the hotel and nudges their knees together.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” Buck nods. “Thanks.”
Tommy looks at him, that same look from the night in the hotel room. “Yeah,” he finally says.
“Oh. Do you have Hen’s number?” Hen is one of their physical therapists, and Buck can’t believe he hadn’t thought to talk to her yet.
Tommy pulls up her contact and shares it with Buck.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Tommy checks before they get off the bus.
“All good,” Buck promises.
23. His talk with Hen is… enlightening, to say the least. He feels a lot better by the time they have their next match. He doesn’t get pulled until the last fifteen minutes, because they’re worried about the heat. He's got an assist on Eddie’s goal and Tommy has one on Chimney’s.
They celebrate in the locker room, plastic tarps up as they spray champagne, big googles on their faces to protect their eyes. Half the guys are shirtless, the rest of them are so drenched they might as well be. Buck tries not to linger on Tommy’s abs for too long.
24. Buck sneaks out of his room and knocks on Tommy’s door. It takes a minute, but Tommy answers, squinting into the hallway light, hair ruffled from the long day. Or a shower, Buck’s mind helpfully supplies.
“Evan?”
“Could we, uh. Could I talk to you?”
25. Tommy lets him in, makes him a shitty decaf hotel room coffee, and sits with him on the couch.
“I’m not… I’m not straight,” Buck tells him. “And. Uh. I have a crush on you.”
Tommy pauses with his coffee halfway to his mouth. He’s so still he’s practically a statue.
Buck waits one breath, two, then shoots up from the couch. “NevermindignorethatI’llseeyouatpractice,” he says, words running together until they’re one.
He doesn’t have time to turn around before Tommy’s hand is clamped around his wrist, solid and warm.
“Sit, Evan.”
Buck sits back down.
Tommy looks at him curiously. “You glued my team’s locker room.”
“Yeah, uh,” Buck scratches his head with his free hand, conscious of the fact Tommy’s still holding his other wrist. “There are probably better ways to get your attention?”
Tommy grins, and he takes Buck’s other hand. “Yeah, probably.” The words are teasing. “I guess it worked, though.”
“Re-really?”
Tommy nods. Buck starts to lean in, but Tommy stops him with a gentle hand to his chest. “We still have games to play,” he reminds Buck. “We shouldn’t… do anything yet.”
Buck would be crushed, if not for the regret he can see on Tommy’s face.
“Okay,” he says.
26. Buck can’t let himself be alone with Tommy, or he’ll do something he shouldn’t. Tommy smirks every time he invites Chimney or Eddie to hang out with them, like he knows exactly what Buck is doing. Well, he probably does. Tommy had lifted up his shirt to wipe his forehead during practice and Buck had damn near tripped over his own feet.
27. They get eliminated in the semi-finals. It’s not for lack of trying, though. Buck gets a goal, Eddie has two, one of the younger guys, Ravi gets one. The other team just gets one extra goal in the shoot out. (Buck fucking hates shoot outs.)
28. Tommy shoots him a look when they’re getting off the team bus. Buck goes to his room, waits five minutes, then knocks on Tommy’s door. The door swings open and Tommy practically drags him inside, their mouths crashing together as Buck finally, finally, gets to kiss Tommy.
When Buck starts pushing them towards the bed and they almost trip over their feet, they pull apart so they can see where they’re going. Buck realizes Tommy’s in nothing but his boxers and almost swallows his tongue.
“I think I’m over dressed,” he jokes, and Tommy reaches for him to even it out.
29. Eventually their kisses become slower, less frantic, and Buck can really take stock of all of the differences between Tommy and anyone he’s been with before. No one’s actually been able to hold him down before. His abs are insane, and Buck’s fascinated by the way Tommy’s chest hair feels against his palms.
Tommy pulls their hips together and grinds against him until they both come, holding himself up over Buck as Buck pants below him, fingers digging into Tommy’s hips.
“Holy shit,” Buck says.
Tommy laughs and leans in for a long, slow kiss. “Can you stay tonight?”
“Can I stay forever?” Buck blurts out. Tommy’s eyes sparkle when he laughs.
Tommy grabs them clothes to change into, and Buck slips into the pajama pants gratefully. It takes a couple tries to find a comfortable position to sleep in — Buck ends up half draped across Tommy’s chest. He’s still shirtless, and the warmth of his skin seeps into Buck’s cheek. His head rises and falls as Tommy breathes, and he stays awake a little bit longer just to enjoy it more.
30. They wake up tangled, arms around each other and knees knocking. Buck can feel how hard Tommy is, and Buck doesn’t hesitate to shove his shorts down, licking his hand before wrapping it around Tommy. The angle’s different, and it takes him a second to get a good rhythm, but he gets to kiss Tommy through his orgasm and feel him come in the space between them and honestly, Buck really wouldn’t mind waking up this way every day. Tommy blows him, and Buck’s definitely going to have to practice that, because he knows what Tommy’s packing. They shower together, and Tommy loans him a shirt so he doesn’t look so much like he’s been out all night.
“What are we going to do when we get home?” Buck asks, realization slamming into him like a ton of bricks that he and Tommy aren’t going to be sharing a hotel forever. He won’t be able to go down the hall and see him.
“We'll figure it out,” Tommy says, holding him and kissing his birthmark.
Amber!! 🫶 An au where Tommy never kissed Buck at the loft but they remained friends and the mutual pining was so unbearable for whoever were around them 👀👀
hi hi hi!! I hope the pining comes through enough - Buck is oblivious for much of this haha
1. Once he’s dropped Eddie off at home and made sure he’s okay — Chris has the instructions for his meds, that kid is awesome — he gets Evan’s address from Chris. He wants to go and clear the air. It’s pretty obvious that whatever is going on between him and Eddie has at least a little bit to do with him. He drives over there, groaning at the lack of parking options as he has to circle circle the block before he can find a spot. Evan opens the door, and Tommy immediately apologizes for getting between him and Eddie. He didn’t mean to, Eddie and Evan are both great, they hadn’t meant to hang out without him. Evan looks surprised, but invites him in and offers him a beer. Tommy doesn’t work until noon tomorrow, so he says yes to the offer. Evan admits he was jealous, especially of the trivia, which gets them talking about the bar trivia night Tommy goes to and the wildest things Buck knows, and by the time Tommy leaves, Evan has a standing invite to trivia nights. He’d admitted he wasn’t really into fights, but Tommy offered to teach him about the sport if he ever wanted. Tommy leaves feeling lighter and like he hasn’t fucked up a years long friendship accidentally.
2. Evan is intensely competitive at trivia nights. It’s— well, it’s kind of cute, if Tommy is being honest. He gets all flushed and stutters when he’s excited about an answer. He also flirts with every waitress their table has. Tommy had heard a fair bit about Evan’s dating history from Eddie and Chris, and he’s well aware of his own crush on the guy, but he knows better than to ask out a straight guy. Evan makes that a little hard to remember the first time they win when he’s there, as he bumps their arms together and grins at Tommy specifically, leaning in to Tommy while they eat their free nachos and drink their free pitcher. Viv, one of the other pilots from Harbour, is there, and gives him a look. Tommy wishes her wife was there to distract her from Tommy and his problems. He just shakes his head a little at her.
3. Tommy is so cool! So. Cool. He flies helicopters and planes, he knows Muay Thai, he goes to trivia. Buck’s just waiting to find out he scuba dives or climbs mountains or something else equally awesome. Buck helps them win the second time he comes to trivia and he feels like the smile is never going to leave his face. He asks Chimney questions about what Tommy likes, because he’s going to have a Muay Thai lesson with him next week and he feels like he should take something as a thank you. Hen asks what he’s going to do if he doesn’t like it and he just shrugs. Even if he didn’t like it, Tommy still gave up his time, right? He should still get something for it, and he already told Buck he wouldn’t let him pay for the lesson. Then he starts asking Chim and Hen about stories from when they still worked with Tommy.
4. Buck invites Tommy to Chimney’s bachelor party. It’s nice that they’re reconnecting, right? Tommy shows up even though he’s on call. everyone’s excited to see him, and Buck spends so much time following him around and trying to talk to him that it takes him over an hour to realize that Chimney hasn’t shown up to his own party. While he’s trying to call Chimney, Tommy gets a call from work and has to go in. Buck pauses in between calls to say goodbye to Tommy and “be safe” slips out before he can think about it too hard. He spends the rest of the night tryingto track down Chimney and checking his phone for updates from Tommy. He has to rope Josh into the search, but they find Chim before sunrise. The wedding still happens in the hospital, but Chim is allowed to put his suit on and stand up with Maddie. Buck’s already arranged with the photographer to do a make up day for better photos. He’s been texting Tommy updates so he lets him know they've moved to the hospital even though he’s still working the fire. When Tommy appears after they've cut the cake, sooty and still in his turnouts, to congratulate Chim and Maddie before he has to go back to the fire, Buck puts an extra large piece of cake between two plates to make kind of a take out container, and nearly shoves it into Tommy’s hand. He also walks him back to the doors and watches him get back into the ambulance he apparently rode in with. One of the other firefighters who is driving rolls down the window and yells something to Buck as they’re pulling out, but Buck doesnt catch it because another two ambulances pull up as they’re leaving. Buck texts Tommy later to make sure he got home okay and gets a reply the next morning— Tommy tells him hed gotten home the night before but basically passed out right away. He sends Buck a picture of his sooty pillowcase and Buck sends back his sympathies.
5. Tommy gets a medal with them. Buck doesn’t mean to keep hanging around him, but — well, they’re the only two without someone else there. It just makes sense. He meets Tommy and Chim and Hen’s old captain, and glares daggers at him when he makes a shitty comment to Tommy. Chim compares him to a guard dog and — it’s not like Tommy can’t take care of himself but Buck’s not going to just stand there and do nothing. And it was just a look. He would have done the same for Chim or Hen. He definitely sticks close to Tommy after that though, so he doesn’t have to deal with Gerrard alone. Ravi makes a joke about them being like those magnets that don’t separate. That makes Tommy flush and look uncomfortable, and Buck can’t figure out why. If it’s okay for Tommy and Eddie to be friends then surely it's okay for Buck and Tommy to be friends?
6. Tommy’s surprised when Evan’s texts and calls continue beyond the medal ceremony. Now that they don’t have mutual events on the horizon, he’d figured it would peter off. But Evan still texts him near daily updates and Tommy’s been caught by his coworkers way too many times reading his texts and smiling about them. They spend the lead up of every trivia night teasing him about Evan and making sure there’s always a spot next to Tommy for him. Tommy thinks they’re being ridiculous, and after he says so, the next trivia night they make sure there’s no seats on the same side of the table as Tommy by the time Evan gets there. He pouts and misses three answers that Tommy knows he knows. Tommy ignores the looks his coworkers give him. They place fourth and Evan has a look somewhere between shame and like some kicked his puppy. He doesn’t join in on the conversation much, nursing his beer until he and Tommy are the only ones left. Evan pays both bills and trails after Tommy to his truck even though they’ve already said goodbye.
“Do you not want me to come to trivia anymore?” Evan blurts out.
“What?”
“You usually save the seat next to you for me and today you didn’t. Am I — bothering you?”
“What? No, Evan, of course not.”
“Well, everyone else was giving me weird looks.”
“Those looks weren’t for you, they were for me.” Evan looks at him in confusion. “Evan, I’m gay.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
“They’re teasing me about that.”
Evan looks angry. “Why would they tease you about that? That’s just — that’s not something to tease about.”
“They think there’s something… between us,” Tommy admits, waving his hand between them.
“Oh. Oh!”
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Tommy says. “I’ll tell them to cut it out.”
“You’ve never made me uncomfortable,” Evan says forcefully. “Never, Tommy.”
“Okay. Good. So everything is good between us? We can just go back to normal?”
“Sure.” Evan says, but his expression still looks a bit funny.
“I won’t be here for trivia next week, I have a shift, but I’ll see you the week after that?”
“Yeah, okay.”
Evan watches him as he gets in his truck and starts to drive away. Tommy waves as he pulls out of the parking lot.
7. Evan’s texts slow over the next week and Tommy tries not to mope. So much for things being normal between them. His coworkers definitely notice, because more treats than normal are appearing in the break room, but no one says anything. He notices a couple pitying looks when they think he’s not paying attention.
8. Evan texts him the day after trivia and asks if he wants to come over for a coffee. It’s been a long shift and Tommy kind of just wants to roll into bed for ten to twelve hours, but he also wants things to be normal with Evan again too, so he says yes.
9. Evan ushers him to a chair when he gets there, the little crease between his eyebrows that he gets when he's concerned out in full force. He puts a coffee mug in front of Tommy and slides him a plate full of muffins and cookies. Evan doesn’t sit though, he hovers awkwardly at the other side of the table.
“How’s the coffee? I couldn’t remember how you usually take it.”
“Mm, not like this,” Tommy says, “but it’s good.”
“I can remake it,” Evan offers.
“It’s fine. You can sit down.”
Evan notices he’s still standing and sinks into the other chair.
“Are you okay?” Tommy asks.
Evan nods, then shakes his head. “What if I don’t want things to go back to normal?”
The coffee turns to ash in Tommy’s mouth. Ah, this is why they didn’t go out for coffee. Evan’s letting him down easy, in private.
“Yeah, okay,” Tommy says, his voice sounding distant and dull. He puts his mug down and stands up. “No problem, Evan.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about what your friends were saying and I — wait, where are you going?” Evan jumps up, putting himself between Tommy and the door.
“You said you didn’t want things to go back to normal,” Tommy says, confused.
“Yeah, because your friends were right,” Evan says, tilting his head to the side a little. “I— I think there is something here. And I want to, I want to see where it could go.”
Tommy stops thinking, and reaches out to tilt Evan’s chin slightly with two fingers, leaning in to kiss him. It’s soft, and gentle, and not as long as Tommy would like, but he needs to make sure that Evan’s okay with this. He pulls back and watches as Evan’s eyelids flutter open, a soft smile on his face.
