IT IS CHIVALRIC TO KISS ONE'S BROS

What if, instead of the loft, Ali and Buck found him a nice house in Tommy's neighborhood?

Thank you 🥹

1. Tommy comes back from his vacation in Yosemite, the one he was supposed to take with Chuck until Chuck decided they were "not heading somewhere real." He sees that the tenant at the house on the corner is finally moved in. There had been some kind of delay, and he'd been expecting to wander over and greet them--a couple, he's pretty sure, he saw a few coming through to see the house--before he left. The house had stayed empty, but now there's a Jeep in the driveway. He puts his stuff away, shoves everything else in the washing machine, and starts making a welcome baked ziti. When he walks it over later, there's a delay on the door getting answered, and it's because the guy who opens it is on crutches. "Hey, I'm your neighbor down at the purple-ish house," Tommy says, smiling. "You're...Evan, right?" He'd heard the guy's girlfriend call for him after the viewing. "Uh, y-yeah," he replies, smiling. "Nice to meet you, uh--" "Tommy," he says, holding up the tray of food. "I hope you like pasta and cheese." "Love it," Evan says. Tommy offers to bring it in, because he's not about to make him juggle the tray on crutches. The house is pretty sparse, even though it seems to be unpacked, and there's no sign of the girlfriend. Tommy scribbles down reheating instructions on a grocery list pad and sets it on the tray before putting it in the fridge with other covered dishes. "Meal train," Evan explains. "I got hurt at work."

2. It's a few days later when Tommy realizes he never sees the girlfriend, so maybe she didn't move in? But he's outside and checking his mail when he hears a familiar voice shout something. He looks up and sees Howie, of all people. Tommy drops his mail back in the box and crosses the street. Evan's balancing on his crutches, and Howie and a shorter woman are out front. "Who the hell let you in my neighborhood?" Tommy asks, and they both whip around, and Evan looks alarmed for a moment. But then Howie grins and laughs and all but tackles him in a hug, which still sends a little thrill through Tommy even if he'd squashed that crush years ago. "What the fuck, man?" Howie says, laughing. "How do you guys know each other?" Evan asks. "Tommy used to be one of ours, then he left us for the wild blue yonder," Howie explains. "You actually replaced him." And that's how Tommy finds out Evan is a firefighter. Within a couple of minutes, it's how he also connects the dots that Evan is the firefighter who was nearly killed by a bomb in a ladder truck.

3. Tommy sees a revolving door of people he used to work with, and it's surreal. They'd been so removed from his life for the last few years, and then they're suddenly just there. There's a day when Evan can't get to physical therapy because Bobby got called in, so Tommy takes him. And then takes him again. He also goes on quick walks with him, gets on Evan for trying to run too soon. "I just want to get back to work," Evan says, looking like he's about to cry. "You will," Tommy reassures him. "But you can't hurt yourself and set yourself back." And he fucks up for a second and squeezes the back of Evan's neck, but Evan doesn't freeze or flinch, he just nods and sniffs and they get back on their feet from the bench they'd stopped at. When Evan is trying to catch his breath and says his chest feels tight, Tommy asks if his leg is hurting more than it was a couple days before. "It's just sore," Evan argues, but Tommy hauls him into his truck and drives him to the ER. The pulmonary embolism isn't a huge clot, but it's there. Tommy squeezes his hand and calls Maddie, and they bring Evan back to run a catheter through his lung to get a clot busting drug straight into it.

4. Evan is staring up at the ceiling in the hospital and not speaking. He's awake, he can speak, but he's been quiet. Tommy's on his third logic puzzle in the book he'd bought in the gift shop. "You don't have to be here," Evan says finally. "I don't have to be most places," Tommy says, putting a dot in one of the boxes. "It's a matter of choice, and I'm choosing to be here. Unless you don't want me here." There's no response, and Tommy stays until Bobby shows up. Then he goes into the waiting room, and then Bobby drops into the chair next to him an hour later. "How bad was it?" Bobby asks. "Could've been worse," Tommy says. "You saved his life," Bobby points out. "I don't know what I'd do if this killed him." "It didn't, though," Tommy says. "He's going to be fine, he can even get back on the job soon if he wants." Bobby's mouth twists unhappily. "He'll want to. If you won't take him, I'll tell Sal to pick him up." "God, anything but that," Bobby says with a harsh laugh. "Kid's been through enough as it is." Tommy smiles and flips the page to a crossword. "Yeah, well, don't put him through more," he says, and Bobby hums.

I was tagged by @ambernotember today and... possibly some other people previously, I have not kept track, sorry.

No pressure tagging @corporatebanana, @geddyqueer, @sad-girl-hours23, @setmeatopthepyre, @trombonechurchill, @wee-fuckin-woo and anyone else that would like to hop on!

Sad Dag Hours under the cut.

just a quick little thing inspired by this post from @vastya36

He should have been paying attention to the fireworks. Buck cursed himself as he woke up in a smoke filled room, alarm blaring. The kids in the neighbourhood had been setting them off all week to celebrate the end of school, and it seemed like one of them had finally found it’s way into his house.

He grabbed the fire extinguisher he kept in his room and pulled his sleep shirt up over his mouth and nose, crawling to the door and carefully feeling the doorknob. Still cool to the touch. He couldn’t see any flames yet, just a lot of smoke.

He’d gone over a fire plan with Theo more than once, teaching him different ways out of the house. Hopefully he’d woken up faster than Buck — Buck cursed the long shift that had knocked him out so completely, it was literally his job to wake up at an alarm — but Buck couldn’t wait to find out, and crawled down the hall to Theo’s room, pausing to close the open door of the bathroom and guest room after clearing them and making sure Theo wasn’t hiding in either of them.

The smoke was stinging his eyes and he was coughing. He still hadn’t come across any flames, which meant the fire was probably at the front of the house. Theo’s room was at the back, and he didn’t know if that was good or bad yet.

He’d just opened Theo’s door when he heard footsteps and yelling. He hadn’t even thought to call 911. Thank god someone else had.

He was looking under Theo’s bed when a gloved hand wrapped around his ankle, pulling him backwards. Buck managed not to kick out, it wasn’t the firefighter’s fault, but he did try to struggle forward.

“I have to find Theo!” he yelled behind him.

“He’s outside, let’s go!” The firefighter yelled back, hauling Buck upright and over his shoulders, running for the patio door.

Being supportive of binary people is relatively simple, they have decided to sort themselves into one of the boxes that we have lots of experience interacting with. Being supportive of nonbinary people can be comparatively tricky, because you have to resist the urge to create box C and drop them all there. That's how we end up with various prejudices like "woman lite". Humans really, really like to categorize things. It helps us think. Unfortunately, sometimes it helps us think wrong.