#ambernotember

(From @ambernotember )

xo @ambernotember

thank youuuu @ambernotember!!

i'm picturing this to be like, early s3 era, when buck has some time on his hands while he's off and so he goes down particular rabbit holes on porn websites a few too many times for it to be considered a one-off anymore and then he goes down even more rabbit holes on wikipedia and all the queer history websites he can find

hen was not the only out member of the 118 at large, but bobby knows her best, so she's the one he gently volun-tells to represent them at the lafd pride booth every time it's the 118's turn to participate. she doesn't mind doing it, exactly, but after buck comes back from his leave and blurts out that he's bi one night at family dinner, she very happily shoves him in bobby's direction when it's that time of year again

buck, of course, gets INTO it. he's got the themed shirt, he's read all the pamphlets they're giving out; he even lets one of the other firefighters there, a paramedic named jenna from the 133, paint the bi flag on one cheek and the pride flag on the other. there's six firefighters there, but four of them are out in the crowd giving out rainbow-festooned lafd stickers and pins, so at the booth it's just buck and tommy, a pilot from the 217. he did not let jenna paint his face, but he did let her give him a sparkly rainbow temporary tattoo on his bicep and he's got a little pronoun pin with a gay flag background on his shirt.

tommy tells buck that he doesn't really mind the idea of doing these things, but he doesn't usually volunteer. usually he feels like it's not really his place as someone who's only been out a few years, but this year, his best friend guilted him into it. he's sarcastic and a bit bitchy when talking to buck and jenna and the other firefighters, but he also talks so kindly to kids who come by looking nervous

he tells buck in bits and pieces how he remembers what it's like to be that young and that scared and feeling like all of his options would make him hide his true self. how it took him until a few years ago to stop feeling like that scared kid all the time and if he can give even one kid like him hope for the future, he's happy. 

buck is halfway in love by lunchtime.

he copes by asking incessant questions about harbour and muay thai when there's nobody at the booth, trying to keep tommy's attention on him. tommy lets him, a little bit baffled but charmed. when it's time to close up the booth, buck asks if he can get tommy's number so he can get that tour of harbour, eager to spend more time with him. tommy gives it to him, and says he's happy to do the tour if that's what he really wants, but would buck like to go for a drink right now instead?

and obviously, yes, yes he would.

@ambernotember xoxo

hi amber!! oh i love this let's gooo

1. the difference is there was no encephalitis call. chim doesn't get sick, he makes it to the bachelor party, he even has a good time! buck's feeling great, everyone's having fun, he can't wait for the wedding tomorrow-

tommy shows up and everyone else might as well stop existing.

by the time tommy gets called out to the angeles crest fire, buck - thanks largely to some tequila - is about 30 seconds from pulling him into the nearest empty room. he's maudlin the rest of the evening because he didn't kiss tommy goodbye; at this point only chim, maddie, and eddie know about them, and buck had thought that he wanted to go slow with coming out. that stops mattering the second tommy's out the door.

(Lyrics from roadtripsong by Abby Cates)

- @ambernotember xo

tommy introspective fic, starting from when he left the army.

(for those of you who don't know my headcanon, tommy got an early hardship discharge when he was almost four years in because his dad died and his mom tried to kill herself.)

a lot of trying to get away and always being drawn back, mirrored with flying and being grounded and being blown up and being allowed back in the air.

being in the closet, leaving abby, tiptoeing out of the closet, jumping into a queer friend group and then getting overwhelmed and taking a step back.

how evan says "that was the most fun i'd had since getting struck by lightning" and realizing that he'd flown without worries for the first time in years, which is insane because they were going into a hurricane, but he'd been with his first crew and their new crew and it had felt like there was nothing they couldn't do if they stuck together.

xo @ambernotember

hey, amber! thanks for the ask. This is still untitled and I've definitely shared it before, but here's a bit from Tommy's 50th birthday celebration (for context, they're in a movie theater)

Evan kisses him--cherry Icee and buttery popcorn lingering on his tongue. It's the best thing Tommy's ever tasted. Evan's eyes are still closed when they part and he hums, his lips upturned in a soft smile. He looks at Tommy, lifts his cup in a toast and says, "here's to fifty more." Tommy grimaces. "Fifty? Thirty, maybe." Evan's lips part, a wounded sound falling out of him. "Forty."

(@ambernotember)

I know I sent you a tidbit of something that was going to be for this prompt fill but I decided to use that for something else so here is something completely different! oops another au. went for strangers on the road from this poll though if I ever end up writing more I may add the other winner too. I've been yelling at @trombonechurchill about my desire to write something medieval-ish ever since I saw this gorgeous artwork by @chimneyz, though also very much based on my own fencing experience and desire to write homoerotic swordfighting. of which there is tragically none in this ficlet. but it's the thought that counts. gonna call this sweetmeats au just in case I decide to return to it

-

sharing a dessert [bucktommy | 620 words]

The young knight has the sleeves of his undershirt rolled up, tendons shifting in strong forearms as he pokes and prods at the coals of the fire, getting them to spread evenly.

“You’re planning to cook?” Tommy inquires, his resolution to only engage in conversation for the sake of acquiring news quickly forgotten. Sure, the man doesn’t appear to be traveling particularly light, but neither has Tommy spotted any fresh game on him that would require preparation.

Blue eyes blink up at him, contrasted by bright splashes of pink high on the man’s cheeks from the fire’s heat. It’s a very pleasing look on him. Tommy decides he won’t notice such things going forward.

He fails at that, too, when the knight smiles at him, cheeks dimpling sweetly.

“Not cook, exactly, but I have some hand pies that taste much better warmed. Would you want one?” With that, he produces a bundle from the satchel behind him and unwraps the waxed cloth, showing Tommy its contents: flaky dough brushed generously with egg wash, shining and golden and crisp despite their time packed away. Not the pies one buys at the riverside market, where the dough is just a necessary vessel for the often questionable filling. These were made with care in a home. They look much, much better than the dried provisions Tommy plans to fill his stomach with, the hard bread that he needs to moisten to be able to eat. And here he’d thought his meal would be a luxury since he had wine to wash it down with tonight.

“A kind offer, but unnecessary,” he wills himself to say. There’s no need to be indebted to this stranger if he can help it.

For his part, the knight just glances up at him a moment, then continues on, undeterred. “I have herbelades, as well as sweet pies with apple, if you rather not eat pork,” he says, tilting the wax cloth so that Tommy can better see. “I, uh, made those myself,” he adds as if embarrassed. “I learned it in my lord’s kitchens so I wouldn’t have to go without.”

“You baked these?” Tommy finds himself asking. It’s a disarmingly charming thought, this knight begging his way into some lord or inn’s kitchen to bake sweet apple pastries to eat on his travels. Tommy wonders, not for the first time, who this man’s patron is, what lord would provide for his knights to spend their free time baking in kitchens instead of inflicting their boredom on the local peasantry.

“I did,” the knight confirms. He doesn’t insist Tommy take one or even repeat the offer, but he places three hand pies on the stones by the fire: one of the herbelades, and two of the apple, the dough yellow with saffron and smelling sweetly of cinnamon and cloves and ginger. The scent makes Tommy’s mouth water, his stomach audibly interested, and the knight grins up at him from his place by the fire. “It won’t be but a moment,” he says knowingly.

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Tommy tries, but he can hear how unconvincing he sounds. He’s always had a weakness for sweets - and for men with even sweeter smiles.

“I insist,” the knight says, and Tommy is unable to argue, is left only to wonder at this strange young knight, traveling alone with satchels laden with pastries that smell like heaven. If Tommy were the kind of man to believe in the fantastical tales the old ladies tell, he would be afraid this man was one of the fair folk come to lure him into the woods with the promise of sweet treats for eternity. Thankfully, he isn’t, and Tommy knows these woods better than anyone.

-

thank you @ambernotember <3

- @ambernotember xo

Wellllllll. A bucktommy angst, probably. It'd have to be from Tommy's POV, maybe a character study of their relationship from the beginning. Or maybe just reconciliation somewhere in the mess of seasons 8 and 9. Something about them rebuilding their relationship bit by bit and Tommy learning to trust Buck with his heart.

Alternatively, a fun one could be Buck with Theo, learning to be what Theo needs as a parent? I think there's a lot to explore there that I don't think the show will do, but there's that post that I cannot find, or a poem, that's like 'everyone said I'd understand when I had a kid like me, well now I do and they're easy to love,' ya know? I'm not like the biggest fan of Theo's plotline in canon but there's been good fics and I really do think Buck taking this new opportunity and like. doing his absolute best to make sure his grief for Bobby, and for Connor and Kameron, and whatever else is happening by then, doesn't touch Theo the way his life was always defined by others' grief. And like. helping Theo understand his own grief (since he ya know lost his parents), and the two of them healing together.

@ambernotember

Hi, @ambernotember! Thanks for the ask! This was a fun one to come up with! “Tommy, my body does not bend that way.” Evan grumbled, grunting to himself as something popped while they got into position.

“Well, don’t force yourself.” Tommy ran a comforting hand down his back. “Here, why don’t we switch spots?” They shuffled around a bit and Evan stretched out his leg with a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, that’s better.” He frowned a bit, glancing over at Tommy. “Will your back be okay with the twist, though?”

“I did yoga with Maddie and Karen this morning,” Tommy reminded him with a grin. “I can more than handle it.”

“Somebody’s confident,” Evan shot back, laughing when Tommy just scrunched his nose at him in reply.

“Is everybody ready to go again?” Emily called out from the front of the room and both of them instantly focused back in on the task at hand.

Neither of them ever thought they’d be learning to dance at this stage of their lives, but when the twins’ teacher emailed everyone with a proposal for a surprise routine from all of the parents at the end of this year’s recital, well, they couldn’t say no.

The idea of surprising Mitchell and Mabel and the looks on their faces was too good to resist.

Which was how they found themselves at the studio every Thursday night for the past six weeks, contorting their bodies in new and interesting ways as they tried to learn a (very modified for non-dancing old people, Tommy suspected) three-minute hip-hop routine.

“Hey,” Evan whispered at Tommy, eyes bright. “Think we can talk Emily into teaching us a flip too?”

Only Evan. Tommy snorted, shaking his head. “Why don’t we focus on making our way through the actual basics first.”

“Yeah, fair point,” Evan nodded with a little chuckle. “The kids would lose their minds though.”

Tommy couldn’t argue with that. And really...they still had a few more weeks left so it couldn’t hurt to ask, right?

“Okay!” Emily yelled. “From the top! And five, six, seven, eight…”