canon divergence fic from 3x16 where chim is moved by buck to touch base with his old pal tommy for a drink and a catch up this time instead of a favor. couple weeks later chim mentions he's catching up with tommy again, and buck is like, "wait, who's tommy?" and chim explains he's an old 118 friend, one of his first friends on the job - after eli and before hen - and he left to join the 217. anyway buck rocks up to the bar later having forgotten about chim's friend date; he's had a crappy day and doesn't wanna bring down the vibe but chim insists he join them so he does.
so s3!buck meets tommy. the buck who hasn't had any luck in love since he watched abby leave and who had a rough time with the whole red situation. buck or chim introduces him as evan buckley so tommy calls him evan and buck doesn't think to correct him.
chim explains roughly about buck having a hard time in love and tommy sympathises, saying his last relationship didn't work out and the one before that couldn't handle his job, throwing in a male pronoun and casting an eye chim's way to gague his reaction. chim takes it in stride, only needing a second to orient. "well, that's his loss." and then buck is commiserating with tommy about finding someone you like but who can't handle the job - iterating that the job is his life, but since red? he wants more. he just doesn't know if he'll find it. and maybe tommy hasn't been looking for relationship material for a couple of years after those bad breakups, choosing instead to just enjoy himself as much as possible and avoid heartbreak - and buck knows what that's like he's been there, and chim offers up a few tales of buck 1.0 including theft of a fire engine for a hookup which has tommy laughing in disbelief.
all this to say: s3!buck meets tommy and they strike up a friendship that eventually serves as catalyst for buck's bi awakening. i'll take every alternate meeting of these two in canon i can get, but i just finished s3 so this is where my head is at rn. i just like the idea of chim reconnecting with tommy a lot sooner, and tommy getting to reconnect and know the rest of the 118 sooner. i also like the idea of getting to know this tommy who is somewhere between his 118 years and season 7; i don't think he'd be the same guy we meet in s7, i mean he's comfortable in his sexuality but maybe he's a little less settled than later seasons tommy.
