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Purpose of this blog: 1. I will make my own rec posts with fics I've personally read.
2. I will reblog other people's recommendations.
3. You can also tag me in your own posted fics and I will reblog that as well.
4. You can send in asks for recs or to find lost fics! *note I am not that great at finding lost fic but I WILL try and if anything i'll post the ask so maybe someone else might know!
Disclaimer: Please be aware that, I, the owner of this blog, am a Buddie shipper only and thus this blog will only be recommending Buck/Eddie fics. However, I welcome fics of all the other canon couples in 911. (Bathena, Henren, Madney). As well as certain crack ship/non canon couples if people are interested in those!
✿ if you're an author, please feel free to tag me in your fic posts!
✿ if you're a reader, feel free to send fic rec requests, or tag me in your own fic rec posts so i can reblog!
✿ if you're going crazy because you can't find a fic that you swear you had open two seconds ago, let me know, i'll help you find it!!
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✿ my personal recs
✿ other's rec lists
✿ fics posted by author
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note: this blog is a work in progress. i'm still trying to figure out how exactly to organize everything. reach out if you have any suggestions!
“What’re the best flowers to say ‘Congratulations on Not Dying.”
Karen looks up from where she’s been fussing with an arrangement, setting aside the Baby’s Breath with a sigh of a relief, interest piqued as the woman at the counter adjusts her glasses.
“I guess it depends,” she settles on, giving the woman another look up and down and raising her eyebrows.
“... On what?” The woman responds, propping her own hand on the counter and popping her hip out and Karen feels a smile fighting its way onto her face as they try to suss each other out.
“Variables.”
---
aka The henren flowershop AU
Read here or on AO3
“What’re the best flowers to say ‘Congratulations on Not Dying.”
Karen looks up from where she’s been fussing with an arrangement, setting aside the Baby’s Breath with a sigh of a relief, interest piqued as the woman at the counter adjusts her glasses. She’s been tweaking this last bouquet for the past hour now easily and the flowers are probably more than due to go back in the freezer before they start drooping. Besides, there’s an interesting look on the face of the woman who’s just walked in, contrite and yet conspiratorial and Karen can’t help but lean into her space some, propping her chin into her hands as braces an elbow on the counter.
“I guess it depends,” she settles on, giving the woman another look up and down and raising her eyebrows.
“... On what?” The woman responds, propping her own hand on the counter and popping her hip out and Karen feels a smile fighting its way onto her face as they try to suss each other out.
“Variables.”
“Variables?”
💐💐💐💐
“So-” Hen starts, breezing past Karen and making a beeline for the counter as Karen struggles to untangle herself from the hose she’d been using to mist the ferns near the front.
“Oh no, what this time?” Karen says in disbelief, finally catching up to where Hen's already parked herself, picking the squirt bottle out of Hen’s grip that she’d been fiddling with and aiming at her threateningly till she raises her palms in defeat. “I hope you guys get insurance because the number of Get Well Soon bouquets you come in here buying is starting to get concerning,” she says, finally settling herself in behind the counter and making herself comfortable, ready for whatever insane injury or event her or the 118 managed to get themselves into this time.
“You’re my flower girl, where else would I go? But no, it’s a good one this time,” Hen says with a fond twist of her mouth and Karen can’t help the way face goes warm as her eyes trace the curve of Hen’s lips for a moment as she parses that one.
“I’ve got my cake guy and my flower girl,” Hen says easily, ticking them off on her fingers and looking pleased with herself.
“Uh huh,” Karen says flatly, doing her best to hide the way the word ‘my’ makes her stomach flutter with a roll of her eyes. “You said it’s good news for once? I didn’t think you guys were capable of that,” she ribs gently.
“Yeah, our little probie survived his probationary period, and he only got fired twice which I think we can all agree is a miracle,” Hen says, eyes still shining in that way that she knows drives Karen wild wanting more details. Karen tries not to take the bait.
“Oh well if he only got fired two times I better bust out the good flowers,” she says, shaking her head.
“Does this mean you’ve been holding out on me?” Hen asks, mock offended. Karen just hums, already reaching for a bundle of dahlias and holding them up questioningly.
At first, Hen had let Karen have free reign, giving her the general occasion (and boy had some of those been a doozy until she’d gotten used to the 118’s special kind of chaos), but now Hen seems to enjoy being involved, or at the very least sitting at the counter and running a commentary as she put something together. Karen likes it.
It’s not exactly a lonely existence, working in the shop, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy Hen’s company when she dropped by. Hen’s special brand of teasing that felt like a chess match and a hug at the same time. It’s all Karen can do to keep up and give as good as she gets before she gets too flustered.
“What about some of the green things in there too?” Hen offers helpfully as Karen gets finished trimming a few stems, setting the shears aside so she can level Hen with a properly unimpressed look. Hen continues to twirl a finger in the air, motioning vaguely to the buckets of flowers near Karen’s elbow.
“Ferns? You mean ferns, one of the most basic ass-”
“Look we didn’t all go to flower school-”
“I’ll have you know I have a botany degree thank you very much- Ugh, flower school, unbelievable.”
“Wow, really?” Karen’s surprised that Hen looks suitably impressed at that, her hands stilling when Hen gives her another once over.
“Well yeah, they don’t just let anyone work in florists you know,” she says, stuffing a few ferns into the arrangement with a little more force that is perhaps strictly necessary so she doesn’t do anything crazy like ask Hen if she thinks masters in botany are hot, not that's exactly doing much with it right now. Who asks that, who thinks that?
And yet, even as Karen finishes up the bouquet for Hen’s probie, watching her sign the congratulatory note with a message Karen’s pretty sure borders on insulting if not for the fond smile as Hen did it, she can’t help but replay the look in Hen’s eyes and wonder if she wasn’t imagining the interest in Hen’s eyes.
💐💐💐💐
Hen looks a lot more somber as she pushes her way into the shop that morning. The sky outside seems to agree with her, an ugly, smoggy gray that Karen knows will threaten rain without ever actually following through. Story of Karen’s life, really, she thinks, brushing a few pieces of imaginary dirt from her shoulders as she meets Hen at the counter.
“What’s the occasion today then?” She asks, softer than she might normally, Hen still looking fragile around the edges or maybe like she didn’t get quite enough sleep last night. Having since learned that Hen’s a firefighter that doesn’t seem all that unlikely.
“Just- Something to cheer someone up,” Hen says with a weak smile and Karen feels her heart pang, nodding quietly.
“Sure, grab a seat- Or… Can I get you some coffee maybe?” She offers, waving a fluttering hand to the backroom where she stashed a Keurig in the first month of opening the shop having realized her boutique dreams of patronizing the local coffee shop down the block were dashed at the sight of a $15 latte.
Hen seems ready to wave her off, already shaking her head and Karen feels herself deflate, diverting to grab a vase so Hen can get back to wherever she needs to be before Hen cuts her off.
“Coffee would be great actually. Thank you.”
💐💐💐💐
That Summer is LA is a doozy and frankly Karen is surprised it takes as long as it does before someone on the street ends up popping a hydrant. It’s not until after the kids have had their fill and dispersed that she starts realizing there might be a bigger problem than drought restrictions, frowning as water spreading across the street creeps closer and closer to the shopfront, already soaking into the soles of her Keds.
“Thank you so much for coming, I didn’t want to call the emergency line of a hydrant but well, I rent the shop space and I don’t think my plants need this much watering,” Karen says in a rush from where she’s moving her display of buckets and flowers from the sidewalk as the 118 pull up.
She doesn’t think this is technically fair use of the contact number Hen had left on all her flower orders but sometimes needs must. Besides, despite what has to be a busy fire season for the 118 it seems they’ve managed to avoid any incidents major enough to require cake and flowers and Karen would be lying if she maybe didn’t sort of have an ulterior motive calling up her local fire station.
“Not a problem at all, all part of the job,” The 118 captain assures her as the team disperse from the truck. Karen goes to thank them again, lifting an arm to shield her eyes from the bright sun overhead and nearly swallowing her tongue as she catches sight of Hen in her turnouts.
She’s foregone the heavy coat Karen normally associates with firefighters, left in nothing but the bunker pants and tight fitting tank top as she hefts the heavy tool to turn off the hydrant. Water gleans off her arms as the muscles flex under wet skin and Karen feels her entire body flush, blatantly staring and unable to stop. She never thought suspenders could do it for her but wow.
“Arms…” She manages faintly.
“What was that?” A voice to her left pipes up and Karen jumps enough to actually splash a bit in the water around their feet. The firefighter next to her grins, popping his gum. “Hen’s really something, huh. One of our best,” he says conversationally and Karen presses her lips together, clearing her throat quickly.
“Uh, yep. Yep she sure is,” she says faintly, eyes already tracking slowly back to where Hen’s finished re-tightening the bolts on the hydrant, her laugh carrying across the street as Karen watches her lift the hem of her tank top and twist it, releasing a rivulet of water down the planes of Hen’s revealed stomach. Karen’s glad there’s medical professionals here cause she’s going to pass out.
“One of our very best, very single firefighters,” the guy next to her continues, the words knocking Karen’s gaze loose as it snaps back to him.
“What, no- I wasn’t-” Karen sighs, “Was I that obvious?”
“A billboard would have been more subtle.”
Karen groans.
"Don't worry," the guy says, grinning behind his sunglasses. "I won't tell anyone."
💐💐💐💐
It's shocking how something so small can be so damning Karen thinks, staring down at the tiny red one on her email inbox. A few pixels to signal the entirety of the rest of her life, her career, only a little tap of her fingertip away.
Karen's been staring at it for almost a full 14 hours now, playing chicken with her inbox half the night last night before finally shoving her phone under her pillow to get a few hours of uneasy sleep before coming today.
And now she's right back to staring.
"If I'm interrupting something between you and the flowers I can come back later," Hen says teasingly from somewhere behind her.
Karen nearly launches her phone into a nearby bucket of lavender, pawing at it before it can tumble out her hands and hurriedly locking the screen. Pointedly ignoring Hen’s eyebrow, Karen leads them back over to the counter, email burning a hole in her pocket.
“So, who nearly died this time,” Karen says quickly, shaking out her hair in a way that she hopes is suitably distracting enough that Hen won’t ask about her recent foray into phone shot put.
Hen’s eyebrow stays raised but a fond smile joins it as her eyes trace down Karen’s neck so she thinks she’s in the clear.
“Managed to not blow up another probie, though not for lack of trying, so I need something obnoxious for his badge ceremony,” Hen says, finally drawing her eyes away from Karen’s warming face and to the rows of flowers and ribbons behind her.
“Another one? I’m shocked they keep giving you any,” Karen says mildly.
[Hen laughs and Karen's drawn in by the sound, the amused tilt of Hen's head and lips. Hen gives a pithy reply, something about she has a good feeling about this new probie.
They chat for awhile, as Karen puts an arrangement together ("No, bigger, I want him struggling to fit this through the door when he takes it home.") and Hen fills in how everyone at the 118 is doing, Buck's leg, Chim being back at work etc. Karen's relieved.
"So, what about you, what's got you so jumpy?" Hen asks, steepling her fingers as Karen does her best to look as busy as possible to give herself a few extra moments to formulate a response.
"Oh you know, just the usual, nothing as exciting as what you guys are doing day to day."
"You don't believe that, you spent like an hour detailing soil salinity to me once, I know you get excited about all this."
"Well, soil salinity is an important-" Karen cuts herself off with a sigh at Hen's raised eyebrow. "It's nothing, it's just- " She drums her nails on the Formica counter top, relived when Hen seems content to let her percolate on it for a moment.
"Have you ever been scared to take that next big step?" Karen finally manages. It feels like a stupid question, levied at someone like Hen, with the sorts of things she does every day, but Hen's eyes soften immediately and Karen thinks maybe it was the right one to ask.
"Yeah, all the time. It's never easy, especially when you don't know if it's going to work out," Hen says knowingly. "I wasn't always a firefighter you know."
"I find that hard to imagine," Karen says softly. Whatever Hen did before, Karen was sure she was just as fearless (though maybe in a slightly less sexy uniform. If that were possible she thinks, eyes skating at the curve of Hen's biceps under the sleeves of her uniform shirt, where the taper of her belt hugs her waist.
"Well, it's true, sometimes the hardest thing is admitting when it's time to move on." Hen tilts her head, nudging Karen to continue. It's always felt daunting, bringing up these things with people, like she's asking for too much. But Hen makes her feel calm. Like someone's going to be there to offer her a hand up if she stumbles.
"There's this program, once in a life time grant type deal, studying Kidney Ferns."
"That sounds amazing, Karen-"
"It's in New Zealand. For six months."
"Annnd. You don't want to go to Hobbiton?" Karen huffs a laugh.
"No, no I mean I do I would, who wouldn't, I just. I don't know. Things are good here, right? Surely at some point you're suppose to just be content with what you have right?When am I supposed be done asking for more?"
"Never." Hen's eyes are dark and solid on her face and Karen swallows.
"You should go for it." Hen's closer now, bent partly over the counter. Karen's not sure when she moved to match her but they're both there, sharing space, like two brackets curled together.
"Go for it?" Karen repeats, lips simply copying the same shapes as her eyes linger on Hen's mouth
"Mhmm," Hen says, their noses practically brushing as she hums into the inches of space between them. Hen wants her to be brave. Hen wants her to be okay with wanting and taking.
Karen inhales.
She leans forward.
And she takes.
💐💐💐💐
The next few months pass in a whirl of stolen moments and notes left in elaborate bouquets. What can Karen say, she's inspired and Hen's schedule is more than a little difficult to work around.
They savor the moments they do have, long evenings and quiet mornings wrapped in each other until Hen's due to leave for another shift. Now, Karen watches Hen from where she's sprawled among the pillows, early morning light branching across the sheets still tangled around her legs as she watches Hen shrug into her uniform shirt.
Her heart beats painfully in her chest, watching the way the light falls across Hen's skin, the shell of her ear, her fingers as she fastens the button of her shirt.
This is all so new, this thing between them and Karen's shocked to find how easily she's slipped into it, how easily Hen fits into her life. They both agreed they were keeping it casual, they're busy, attractive people, it doesn't have to be that deep. Except maybe. Karen wants it to be.
But Karen has a reply back from the fellowship waiting in her inbox for her with the offer of the grant in New Zealand. She's put off answering as long as she can. If she doesn't take it, she'll miss her chance.
If Hen walks out that door, she'll miss her chance.
"Hey," Karen says, shifting up onto her elbows with a rustle of sheets, "Maybe when you're done later, we could dinner."
"Breakfast, 24 hour shift," Hen corrects absentmindedly.
"Okay, yeah, breakfast. That works too. I just thought maybe we could go out, you know. A proper date." Hen's hesitation is obvious and damning, her shoulders shifting up as she busies herself searching for her watch. Oh. Okay then. Karen sits up more, pulling the sheets higher over her legs, twisting them in her lap, feeling exposed now that Hen's fully dressed.
"You don't want to?" She asks as Hen's silence drags on long enough for her to locate her shoes. Hen finally looks up, mouth a thin line.
"It's not that I don't want to, it's more, well. We agreed right? That neither of us had the time of energy for anything serious. Dates and sleepovers and all this is kind of serious."
"I thought maybe we could make time. Nothing's-" Karen swallows, "-Nothing's changed for you?" They've changed for Karen. Somewhere along the way, everything changed.
"Why are you suddenly asking?" Karen glances at her phone, the phantom weight of the email still sitting there pulling her eyes like a black hole.
"I got the grant. They want me on a plane in two weeks."
"And you'll be gone for six months."
Karen nods wordlessly.
"And you decided now was the time to try and start a relationship? Karen, come on, what are you thinking?" Hen's not unkind as she says it but Karen feels herself cracking open anyway. "You're not thinking of staying, are you? Baby… This is what you wanted remember, you have to go, why are you even hesitating?"
"Because of you," Karen blurts out, confession ripped off like a band-aid. She likes to imagine she didn't see Hen flinch.
"Me," Hen almost sounds amused, Karen feels like she's wilting, drying out in the sun. "I thought this was your dream, something outside flower orders and fertilizer?"
"Maybe I can have more than one dream." Karen doesn't need to hear Hen's answer, can see it already played out on the soft planes of her face. The pity in her eyes. Karen lept before she looked and now she's falling. And she's landing alone.
"So that's it then, that's all you wanted out of this? Just a bit of fun?"
"Not like that I just. You're great, I'm just not in a place for any attachments. I'm sorry. I hope it works out for you." Hen pats Karen's ankle, thumb lingering over the curve of her foot. Karen tries to savor the warmth, hates herself for wanting to lean into it as Hen retracts it.
She doesn't say anything as Hen walks away, door shutting softly in the distance. So this is how Karen's love life falls apart she thinks, dropping hopelessly back into the blankets. Not with a bang, but with with a whimper.
It's easy, after that, to pull up the email and accept. There's obviously nothing waiting for her here.
💐💐💐💐
If Karen thought things had moved fast with Hen it was nothing to the next few weeks. Cleaning out the shop was a huge chore, made only bearable by Chimney's amicable (if suspicious) support. He hadn't been willing to explain what he planned to do with her left over stock and she wasn't going to ask.
Before she knows it, her apartment is sublet, her things in storage and her bags sitting packed at her feet outside LAX.
She distracted by staring down the arrivals board by the insistent ringing of her phone and Karen frowns at the sight of Chimney's name lit up on the screen.
"Chim, I'm sorry, but I'm about to head security I don't have a lot of time-" She starts, pulled to an immediate, frozen stop at Chim's next words.
"Karen, Karen something happened. It's Hen-"Karen's heart feels like her heart's dropped to her sensible, easy-on airport shoes. "Karen, I'm so sorry-"
Chim's voice is muffled, like he's moving in a hurry, the sudden, static-y sound of air cutting across the line followed by what sounds suspiciously like a car door opening and closing in rapid succession.
Karen flinches as the sound of an overhead flight announcement echoes across the line.
"Chim…" She says slowly, glancing over her shoulder. "Where are you?"
"Ah beans," Chim says.
"Hen's fine, isn't she."
"Welll, for whatever definition of 'fine'," Chimney drawls. "Look, I'm sorry, my only job was to keep to distracted long enough to give her a chance."
"A chance for what?"
"A chance to catch you before Security," Hen's voice says from behind her, breathless as Karen spins to face her. Her chest is heaving, a bouquet of grocery store roses clutched tightly in her hand.
Hen stepped forward, plastic of the bouquet crinkling quietly and Karen feels that weight again, the soft warmth of Hen's eyes on her.
"I just needed to know," Hen says softly.
"Know what?" Karen barely breathes, barely dares to, having Hen this close again.
"What flowers should I get to tell someone you're in love with them and that they're worth the wait. Any wait. Any dream?"
"Some things are better said with words," Karen says wetly, disbelieving as Hen grins, towing her in with a hand gently on her neck. "Or even better…" She leans in, smell of roses in her hair, and presses her lips to Hen's.
Rating: G
Summary:
Eddie focuses on the two of them and not the vast expanse of blue glittering in the sun. He focuses on their peals of laughter instead of the quiet voice doing its best to entice him.
He can do this. He can spend the day at the beach with his boys and be okay.
OR: the one where Eddie is forced to reveal a secret to Buck when he finds himself sick after a day at the beach.
Eddie finds him in the locker room after a shower that is neither long enough nor hot enough—Chim still feels like he's got grime in his very pores, but he also really wants to get home and hug his wife and his little girl and maybe retreat to his own shower, where he can cry a little bit without half the station seeing it. He thinks he needs to cry a little bit, right now.
"So, can I have my phone back?" Eddie asks, and Chim looks up to see him leaning in the doorway, looking like a particularly disgruntled male model in an LAFD t-shirt and sweatpants that probably belong to Buck, from how many times they've been rolled up at the ankles.
"That depends," Chim says, turning back to zip his bag up. "Are you going to do something stupid?"
"I was gonna call my kid and let him know that everyone's okay," Eddie says dryly. "That count as stupid?"
"I meant more like booking a red-eye to Texas."
"Yeah. I know."
"So are you?"
"I—" Uncharacteristically, Eddie hesitates. "I have a job waiting for me in El Paso."
"You really think you wouldn't have a place at the 118?"
"No, I know, I just. With Cap gone—"
"Come on," Chim says impatiently, turning to fully face him. Eddie rubs the back of his neck, wincing. "You didn't hear my speech out there? It was a good speech, I thought."
"It was a great speech."
"Exactly. Look, if you really want to go live in Texas, for some ungodly reason, I guess that's your choice, but—"
"I have a job offer. I bought a house."
"So?"
"So," Eddie says, and then he stops and makes a face, like saying it out loud has made him hear it for the first time. The lack of any I want to in all that logic. "Hen and Karen said I should stay."
"Hen and Karen are wise and brilliant women. What did Buck say?"
Eddie opens his mouth, then shuts it, then looks at the floor. "Buck hasn't said anything about it."
"Really."
"I mean, we kind of got into it the other day, but that was mostly me just—I don't know. He found out about it from Ravi, and he wasn't happy about that. But he didn't ask me to stay."
"For the love of all that is holy," Chim sighs. He doesn't really have the patience or the energy right now for this new phase of their long-running emotionally constipated mating ritual, but he supposes he did ask.
"What?" Eddie asks.
"Absolutely nothing," Chim says. He leans over to retrieve Eddie's phone from the bench next to him and holds it out. Warily, Eddie takes it. "Here. Call your kid. I am going to go home and spend some quality time with my family, after this shitshow of a day."
Eddie, to his credit, doesn't pretend not to get the point. "My family's in Texas. Other than Chris. Well, and Pepa."
"Are they?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Haven't you been sleeping on Buck's couch this whole time?"
Eddie flinches a little, then glances up at Chim with huge, guilty eyes, which makes Chim suddenly wonder if they've actually been sharing the bed on some sort of convoluted pretext, Jesus wept. "That's different. And, you know, with Chris—"
"Maybe you should talk to him, is all I'm saying," Chim says, without specifying which him he's referring to.
"Yeah," Eddie mutters, rubbing at his eyebrow. "I mean, he still has a couple of weeks of school left, so. I don't know."
"Right," Chim sighs, and he makes himself stop there, because he promised Maddie he wouldn't interfere, and he keeps his promises. "I'm going home. Thanks for the assist out there today, Eddie."
"Hey, anytime," Eddie says, and then his mouth does a weird lopsided little wince. He starts to say something, then shakes his head, spins his phone a couple of times, and then unlocks it and opens his contacts.
It rings twice, and then, distantly, Chim can hear a cracking, anxious teenaged voice: "Dad?"
"Hey, mijo," Eddie says, his shoulders slumping in a long exhale. "Hey. We're okay. "We're all okay."
That's a long way from true, in the grand scheme of things. But at least today, everyone walked away in one piece. Chim shoulders his bag and claps Eddie on the shoulder as he heads past out into the engine bay, into the sunlit lot beyond.
-
Maddie has to pick Jee-Yun up from daycare, so Chim gets home first. He does take that shower, and he does lean his forehead against the tile wall and cry while the water beats his hair flat—loose, shaky sobs that leave him feeling scraped clean in the aftermath. He can't stop seeing Athena standing in the rubble, straight-backed and wet-eyed, saying, He was so proud of you.
I don't know what the hell to do about any of this, Bobby, he thinks, as he tilts his face into the spray to wash the tears away, turns the shower off, reaches for a towel.
Maddie and Jee are home by the time he wanders out in the coziest sweats he owns. Jee barrels into him, chattering excitedly about the bird's nest on the tree by the playground—and Ms. Liu says that we can't bother them because then they'll get scared and fly away and not come back—and Maddie smiles tiredly over her head.
"Long day?" she asks.
"LIke you wouldn't believe," Chim admits. He reaches down to scoop Jee into his arms, settling her on his hip as he leans in to kiss Maddie. "I yelled at everybody."
"You yelled at everybody?" she repeats, smiling faintly.
"I did, yeah. Did you know that Buck put in for a transfer?"
Maddie blinks. "No. I—he didn't say anything to me."
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"I'm worried about him," she admits. Then, with a wry little smile, "I'm worried about everyone, I guess."
"Yeah. Me too." He rubs a hand over his face. "We got back to the station, and Eddie—he showed up, you know, right in the thick of it, big damn hero moment—and then he was still going to go back to Texas. And I think I just—snapped."
"And yelled at everybody."
"It was maybe more of a lecture. I don't know." He shifts Jee's weight on his hip. "Hen turned down the captain's job."
"Oh," Maddie says softly.
"Just. Feels like—everything is falling apart, with Bobby gone, and nobody's even trying to hold it together, and I know, I know that's not fair, but—"
"I don't think you have to be fair about this."
"Maybe."
"Definitely," she counters.
"Yeah, I don't know," Chim sighs. "Hey, what do you want to do about dinner? I'm really feeling like I could go for some empanadas."
"Las Mariposas?" Maddie asks, hopping on the conversational redirect with her usual grace. "They have those jicama fries that Jee likes, right?"
"Fries," Jee adds solemnly.
Chim looks down at her, and abruptly has to blink away more tears. Jee doesn't seem to notice, though Maddie definitely does. He smiles, only slightly wobbly. "Okay. Fries for you, and empanadas for me and Mommy. Sound good?"
"Sounds good."
"I'll put the order in," Maddie says. "Can you get her cleaned up? There was a yogurt incident in the car, and I think her hands are still sticky."
"Oh, now she tells me," Chim says, but the smile feels more secure on his face now. "Yeah, I got her."
"I know," Maddie says. She pauses, then touches his cheek briefly and gently, and follows the touch with a kiss. "You've got us."
"Yeah," Chim manages, and it's choked, a little bit, before he shakes his head and laughs again, looks down at Jee. "Alright, Miss Sticky Fingers, let's get you cleaned up."
omg! i would love to!! quick warning: i am terrible at keeping track of the fics i have read so these are only a few of my faves. and it's mostly buddie or madney fics! so in no particular order...
then help me with the crossword in the mornings by sibylsleaves
Eddie shrugs, goes back to chopping cilantro. “I guess I didn’t think you were that serious about moving out right now. I kinda figured you’d just…”
“Stay?” Buck says, his voice suddenly so quiet Eddie’s not sure he really heard it at all.
He looks over his shoulder at Buck who has a distant sort of look on his face. “Yeah. I mean. Chris and I make pretty good roommates, don’t we?”
Eddie finds a way to make Buck stay.
[buddie] [15k] [mature]
[i became obsessed with this fic before i even read it. i saw a snippet on tumblr and there was no going back. eddie's love for buck is so effortless but so big. i think i described it as eddie running through a field of daises meanwhile buck's running through a burning building. everyone just stop what you're doing and read this actually.]
once in a long while by comsortegoya
Bobby takes on the responsability of watching over Buck after an accident during work leaves him 25 years younger.
[buck&bobby] [61k] [general audiences]
[the thing about this fic is that it captures the platonic and familial relationships so beautifully that i never wanted to leave that little universe. it's such an interesting concept that lends to such an interesting manner for bobby to explore his paternal role towards buck. also maddie haunting the narrative yay <3]
everyone knows how much i love you by bucksbeagle
“That’s Captain Diaz? Of the 133?” Cassidy asked. He stopped by the academy last week to drop off lunch for Buck — Cassidy got there early that morning, so she’d been one of the few who spotted him. It took everything in her not to laugh when she’d heard Buck flirtatiously yell “hi captain” across the room at him when he arrived. Eddie turned bright red.
Buck grinned wide. “Yeah, we’ve been married for six years. We were partners on the job before I started here.”
or: 5 times Buck’s recruits see how obsessed Buck is with Eddie/his family + one time a recruit is completely oblivious.
[buddie] [5k] [teen and up audiences]
[i'm such a sucker for outsider pov fics especially when it comes to my ships and this one is perfect. buddie are so domestic and in love it's so cute. and they have their little buckley diaz clan!! eek!! also i've made dana my blorbo. she's mine now.]
life cycles by waveridden
Howie puts the car in park. Maddie blurts out, “I’m not ready to have sex yet.”
(Or: everything is about the sex they're not having, except the sex, which might be something else. Hell if Maddie knows what, though.)
[maddiecentric,madney] [explicit] [10k]
[truly one of my favourite madney fics of all time. it's hot and sweet. <- nowhere near an adequate enough summary so you should definitely check it out. maddie's internal dialogue is so perfectly captured. and the author did such a wonderful and empathetic job of exploring this aspect of madney's relationship, especially in the wake of what maddie has been through.]
Absolution by NamesNamesandMoreNames
“Bobby,” she says, voice cracking, “there’s only one dose.”
“One dose,” he agrees, his voice solid and unwavering. “And it belongs to Firefighter Han when it gets here. Just wanted to keep you informed, Dispatch.”
Bobby requests a closed channel with dispatch and Maddie obliges.
[maddie&bobby, madney] [1k] [teen and up audiences]
[i love it!!! when characters!!! have to face!!! impossible!!! situations!!! aaahh!!! canonically this episode was hard enough but to explore what it would be like if maddie was in the know??? ouch x 1000. maybe a million.]
cockroach by waltztangocache
Reaction 1 to realizing you maybe can’t (as in can’t, really can’t) die: abject panic.
Reaction 2: huh, Maddie thinks, vacantly looking in the mirror as she dries her hair, all those times when I wondered how it didn’t happen out there, stumbling through the snow in Big Bear, maybe this was how.
Reaction 3, if you have the sort of morbidly practical streak that Maddie does: storing this information away for later, in case it somehow comes in useful. When Chimney appears on the CCTVs in Amber’s basement, Maddie thinks, I could do this. She can’t take him. I could do this for him, I could keep him safe.
(Maddie can't die. Chimney still can. To worry is to suffer twice.)
[madney] [4k] [mature]
[this fic takes survivor girl maddie han to a whole new level. it's somehow simultaneously devestating yet hopeful. madney's relationship is such a shining light here. i really really love this fic.]
through the wire by glitterjemstone
She smirks as she swipes to answer the call. “911, what’s your emergency?”
“I—uh—I seem to have found myself alone.”
**
Maddie works a night shift, Chim needs help getting to sleep.
[ao3 account only]
[madney] [1k] [explicit]
[madney phone sex!!!! yAAYYY. i can't believe this is an underrated trope for them. this is so hot and so fun. they deserve to have this truly.]
Nothing Left But You by Daisies_and_Briars
In May of 2021, 25% of Earth's population suddenly disappears. Including Eddie.
In May of 2026, they all come back.
Eddie finds himself suddenly in the middle of a world he doesn't recognize, where the people he loves most have changed significantly.
[ao3 account only]
[buddie,madney,others] [27k] [teen and up audiences]
[SUCH a beautiful story omg. inspired by mcu but it's not an actual crossover. it feels like someone took that quote “what is grief if not love preserving?” and made it into a fic. also. grief for the living is such a great trope!! specifically want to wrap eddie up in warm blanket and kiss him on the forehead in this one.]
Waves (it comes and goes) by orphan_account
Evan Buckley left his past behind when he left home for good at age 19. But an unexpected phone call on a quiet shift disrupts the life he's built for himself: forcing him to confront his past in order to build a new future.
[buckcentric] [40k] [mature]
[i feel like this must be a classic fic atp. it's no longer canon compliant (written before buck begins i believe) but it's such a lovely exploration of childhood trauma and the consequences it has on your life from then on. i haven't put it on the list but i'm reccing the sequel ofc.]
Habitual Damage by eggmacguffin
About a week after starting back at the 118, and about three weeks before he was supposed to start getting a steady check again, Buck quietly moved out of his loft—
—and into his jeep.
[buddie,buck&bobby,others] [52k] [teen and up audiences]
[if you know me then you know that i'm not big on lawsuit fics BUT i'm so glad i clicked on this one. i think it does a really good job of being fair and sympathetic to what everyone was going through at the time. whilst also fully diving into the messiness and angst that made this arc so juicy. a special round of applause for every buck and bobby scene for the way they stabbed me in the heart and gave me a warm hug at the same time.]
friends to lovers | first kiss | tending to wounds | getting together | buckfidelity | denial of feelings | season 8 | inspired by ‘the summer i turned pretty’
Buck retrieved the ointment from the medical kit in silence. He shuffled closer, the sink no longer a roadblock between them, and settled right next to Eddie. As he started to apply it to the gash, Eddie cried out in pain, his body doubling over in retaliation and his head falling to rest on Buck’s shoulder for support.
Time froze.
Buck’s entire body stilled as the warmth of Eddie’s head against his shoulder began to bleed through his shirt and spread everywhere in his body like wildfire. An innocent touch, a response to pain from an injury, but a connection that ignited something inside of Buck.
or; buck tends to eddie’s wounds in a not so platonic way.
Rating: E
Summary:
After Eddie saves the son of a witch from a fire. Seeing that he's a man that's used to repressing himself she decides to repay him by casting a spell on him to lower his imbibitions. A typical night of hanging out for Buck and Eddie is derailed when the magic hits and all Eddie want's is Buck.
1K | explicit
restraints | PWP | oral sex | established relationship
originally posted on the wee woo kinkmeme
Point Me in a Crooked Line [On Ao3]
"I hope you know where the key is," Hen says, watching Karen circle the bed with a mischievous smile, handcuffs dangling from one finger like the tease she is. "If I have to call Athena to come rescue us—"
"Didn't you have to rescue her from exactly that problem?" Karen asks, kneeling on the mattress and crawling over until she's close enough to kiss Hen deeply, languidly, sweet enough that by the time it's over Hen has kind of forgotten what they were talking about.
She blinks, then says, "Exactly."
"The key is right there on the nightstand," Karen says, and kisses her again. "Now, are you going to ravish me, or what?"
"I don't know if you're supposed to be this impatient about being ravished," Hen says thoughtfully. She wraps her fingers around Karen's wrist, squeezing just enough to get a delicious shiver out of her.
"Well, I wouldn't have to be impatient if—" Karen breaks off when Hen slides one of the cuffs around her wrist, tightening it just enough for her to feel the pressure of steel against her skin. She breathes in shakily, then out. "Okay."
"Okay?" Hen asks, with a smug tilt to her smile that she can feel from the inside. Normally, that would get Karen to roll her eyes, but right now she's just staring at Hen, lips parted, eyes wide, beautiful, beautiful.
"Yeah," she says, a beat too late. Breathy. Hen rewards her with a kiss, just a quick one, and affixes the handcuff to the—thankfully sturdy—headboard.
"Other hand," she says.
Karen gives it to her. Hen presses a kiss to the inside of her wrist before repeating the process with the other pair of handcuffs, leaving her spread out on the bed, arms stretched, the loose open-front robe she was wearing sliding off her shoulders, baring her to Hen. The soft swell of her tits and stomach, her thighs spread slightly, enough for Hen to see the slickness already glistening in her public hair.
"Comfy?" she asks.
"Mmhm."
"Words, baby."
Karen breathes out, shuddering. "Yeah."
"Good," Hen says, and kisses her. She takes her time with it, because she can—Karen kisses back, sloppy, eager, whining a little every time Hen breaks it. The handcuffs clink faintly as Hen kisses down her throat, down her chest, stopping to suckle at a nipple until it hardens in her mouth and Karen is making breathy little sounds above her. Normally, she'd be grabbing at Hen now, pulling her up for a kiss or pushing her further southward, but now all she can do is take it.
It's good for both of them, Hen thinks. Good for her, and good for Karen to have to take a minute, slow down, breathe. The other way around is fun, too, but there's something indulgent in moments like this that she loves.
"Please," Karen whispers, shaky, arching up against Hen's mouth. Hen lets her hand rest just above Karen's public bone, feels her try to work her hips up into the touch, which is just a little too far away from where she wants it.
"Oh, I'm taking my time," she murmurs, and keeps kissing lower—the generous softness of Karen's stomach, the pucker and dip of an old appendectomy scar, the crease of her hip, the smell of sex thick in her nose. It's tempting, but she keeps moving, kissing down the inside of Karen's thigh, biting at the tender skin there while Karen shudders.
"You're a sadist," Karen says breathily, and Hen looks up to grin at her. Her chest is heaving, her mouth open and wet. "I don't know why I agreed to this."
"Mm." Hen kisses the inside of her thigh again. "Want me to unlock those?"
"No."
She muffles a laugh against Karen's knee. "Okay."
"Just. you know, stating. For the record."
"Mm. Noted." She sets about sucking another mark higher up the inside of Karen's thigh, slides her hands up, spreading Karen's legs further apart as she works her way slowly up her thigh. Karen's squirming by the time she finally reaches her destination, nuzzles her face between her legs, lipping at her clit and then withdrawing before Karen can push up into the touch.
"Hen, Hen, please—"
She lifts her head briefly. Karen's got her head tilted back, gasping, her legs flexing restlessly against the mattress, her hands twisting against the cuffs. She's so fucking gorgeous like this, pinned in place, lost in how Hen is making her feel. Overwhelmed by affection, Hen drops another kiss on her soft hip before dipping her head back down, sliding two fingers into Karen's pussy, flattening her tongue over her clit the way she likes. Karen moans, pressing up into it, while Hen works her to the brink, then stops, mouthing kisses against the insides of her thighs. Karen squirms, making breathy little noises, but she doesn't say anything as Hen lets her come down a little bit from it, then leans in to start all over again.
By the fourth time, there's slickness smeared all down Karen's thighs, all over Hen's chin, and Karen is panting, please, please pleasepleaseplease, on every breath, so this time she doesn't stop, winding her higher and higher until Karen is wailing, fists knocking against the headboard, thighs shaking as she comes against Hen's mouth.
She doesn't let off until Karen is sobbing, trembling beneath her, and then she finally slides her wet fingers out, rests her chin on Karen's thigh for a moment, feels her tremble, presses her own thighs together just to feel the bloom of wet heat. It wouldn't take much to get herself off now, but instead she crawls back up until she can kiss Karen's slack and breathless mouth.
"Hey, baby," Karen breathes when they part. She looks dazed in the best possible way.
"Hey," Hen whispers back. She sits back on her heels to slide her fingers beneath first one handcuff and then the other, feeling the indentations that the metal has left where Karen was pulling at them. "These still feel okay?"
"Mmhm," Karen murmurs. "You don't have to take them off yet."
"Oh, don't worry," Hen says, and she's grinning as she drops another kiss on Karen's mouth. "I'm just getting started with you."
“I bring slightly singed goodies,” Hen grins, shaking a box of treats from the bakery fire enticingly.
“Aw, baby,” Karen smirks, “you know I love your goodies.”
Or, a series of moments in Hen's life during pride month.
Rating: M
Summary:
In which Eddie takes a chance on a classified ad looking for a roommate halfway across the country. The only problem being it turns out that Evan is not, in fact, the kind looking woman he thought he was communicating with, but instead a six-foot-two golden retriever of joy called Buck that he has absolutely no idea what to do with. Until, of course, he does.
Sometimes Eddie’s highs are heavy and lazy, a slow but inevitable slide into unconsciousness. Sometimes they’re fizzy and light, and he wants to talk to everyone, laugh at everything, stay high forever.
Sometimes they’re purely sensation seeking, and all Eddie wants to do is rub his feet together under the covers like a grasshopper, or chug an ice cold glass of lemonade, or lay on his back in the grass and feel the breeze ruffling his hair. Sometimes he turns mushy, like someone left a faucet on inside his heart, and all the soft, gooey pieces of himself he keeps tucked away are flowing out, filling him with so much love and tenderness it feels like he might drown.
Sometimes when Eddie gets high it makes him want to fuck his best friend. It’s really a mixed bag.
Buck and Eddie get injured on the job and decide to smoke a lot of weed about it.
tags: recreational drug use, marijuana, friends with benefits, getting together, canon compliant, shotgunning, roommates, evan buckley praise kink, fluff and humor, smut, platonic hand jobs
She jerks at the sound of a throat clearing behind her, angling her head around to see a man in the doorway of the tattoo shop, one shoulder propped against the frame. He’s chewing gum like it’s his job, mouth tilted like it’s permanently curled around a half-formed joke. The tank-top and shorts reveal arms and legs completely covered in tattoos.
“You coming in?”
She blinks, realizes he’s talking to her. “Um, what?”
He laughs, a little huff of air that jerks his shoulders. “I’ve watched you hover outside the door all day. You coming in any time soon?”
Heat flushes across her face. Her gaze skids away. “You’re closed now, surely.”
He just shrugs. “Well, I own the place, so. The hours are whatever I want them to be.” His smile widens. “And you look like someone who needs a tattoo.”
*
Or, 5 times Maddie walks into Chimney's life, plus one time Chimney walks into hers.
Summary:
“That’s the third one this week!” Karen says, “and it’s only Wednesday!”
“What a *hussy*,” Hen teases, smiling into Karen’s hair when it makes her laugh.
---
Or - Hen and Karen get a new neighbor who may or may not be running a swingers club. Shenanigans ensue!
Fluff and silliness, like 3.5k
Minor team shenanigans. Minor Buddie, both & and /.
Hi, shamelessly submitting my own fic, but I’m really proud of it :)
At Fort Benning, Eddie Diaz was stripped of more than his hair.
Years later, a barbershop in LA — and a man named Buck — might help him put the pieces back together.
This isn’t just about haircuts. It’s about consent, kindness, and the long road back to yourself.
—
“Hair doesn’t care where it’s cut,” Buck said. “It’s where you feel the safest.”
Eddie pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.
I’m okay. I’m safe.
Buck is keeping me safe.
This is probably the craziest, most impulsive thing Buck has ever done. And considering insane, hare-brained stunts are kind of Buck’s MO, that’s saying a lot.
In which Buck, reeling from the fact that his best friend is moving to Texas, does questionable things with Eddie's personnel file, impulsively gets a tattoo, realizes he's in love, and discovers that Eddie does, in fact, match his freak.
