Here’s a fic idea I’ll eventually write (but who knows when that’ll be because, life)
Loceit secret husbands:
Look, Logan didn’t mean for it to be a secret, it’s just one of those things that never managed to come up!
It’s a college au but everyone’s older (like, late 20s, early 30s)
Logan didn’t get to go to college till later because he had to Save the Family Farm™️
Yes, that’s literally the reason
He had to work with Janus to do it and Janus was helping Logan as a Fuck You to his parents (also because Logan is a really good guy and he didn’t want to see him lose his place, okay!?)
Through the course of everything, they realize Saving the Farm would be easier if they were married. (Something about taxes and income and circumventing a lot of unnecessary paper work if they were just married)
So they get married. Fast forward 6 months later. Uh oh! Feelings.
So now the marriage of convience has become oh so different because both Logan and Janus realize oh, I actually love this person!
Eventually the feelings become apparent, there’s a big to do about it and now they’re fluffily domestic husbands.
Skip forword several years
Logan’s decided to go to college and get a degree to help with the running of the farm (I haven’t done research for this yet as to what his degree would be)
There he meets Roman, Remus, Virgil, and Patton
Roman, Virgil, and Patton get together by middle of their second year
They joke with Logan about finding a man, but they don’t press him, it’s all in jest as friends do!
Somehow Remus is the only one who knows Logan is married
Remus noticed the ring like, 2 weeks in, and asked because he was curious.
The others just think it’s a stylistic choice (I can’t decide if it’s a metal ring or a silicone one or Logan switches them out...)
Fast forward to senior year
There’s a massive winter storm right as winter breaks starting that causes power to go out. No telling when it’ll actually be on.
Because of this Logan invites them to his house, cause they’ve got the equipment to keep power going
They squad knows he works on a farm the don’t know he owns and lives on the farm
So, they roll up to this gorgeous farmhouse, decked out for Christmas
It legit looks like the cover of a Christmas novel (which it was last year and Janus still clucks about it)
So Logan pulls in first, followed shortly by Roman and crew, and Remus separate.
Enter Janus, who’s carrying up firewood
Logan gets stupidly excited and jumps out of his truck and runs towards Janus (I say stupidly cause Logan tends to show emotions in a way that isn’t always In Your face so it shocks the others (except maybe Remus)
By the time Logan’s out of the truck Janus is on the porch stacking firewood
He turns at the call of his name and sees Logan sprinting towards him
He grins widely and meets him halfway, embracing each other on the top of the steps
With their schedules lately there hasn’t been much time for them to actually see each other
Logan sweeps Janus up in the embrace spinning him before slowing down and setting Janus down. (Yes Janus is shorter)
Logan pulls away just enough to cup Janus’s face and kiss him passionately (it’s been a hot minute, okay!)
Roman, Virgil, and Patton are out of the car at this point and are all slack jawed like, who is this and what is happening???
Remus gives them all of 30 seconds before he starts whooping and hollering
They startle away, looking kinda sheepish (or so the others think, really it’s just that I’m so I love look they look at each other with) and start down the steps towards everyone
The squads looking at Logan like, ‘what just happend????’ But respectfully, ya know??
Logan and Janus reach everyone and Logan goes ‘Roman, Patton, Virgil, Remus, this is my husband Janus. Janus these are my friends I’ve talked about before’ and points them all out.
Janus responds with the ‘ It’s nice to meet you, Logan talks about y’all all the time’
He’s met with shocked silence. Janus interprets it as they don’t like him (in reality they’re just trying to figure out when Logan got a husband and didn’t invite them
Roman finally goes to ask the obvious question but Virgil elbows him and Patton breaks the quiet with greetings to stop Roman
It’s awkward and they finally get inside and Remus is the only one acting normal cause he been knew
Janus and Remus immediately get along surprisingly well
The others are still in shock and marveling at the evidence that Logan and Janus have been together a While
They muddle through until the evening when they get Logan alone in the guest bedroom (he’d come to see if they needed anything)
Virgil starts first ‘Dude, what even!?’ Since when are you in a relationship???
Logan’s confused, ‘uh, since ever?’ He tried to go the joking route thinking they’re joking, they’re not
Roman finally asks ‘why didn’t you tell us you were married!?’
Logan, I did, multiple times!
Patton: no, you’ve mentioned a partner, never a husband,
Logan: I talk about Janus all the time!
Roman: No, you talk about Dee, your partner that you work with
Logan stands there puzzled, trying to think how they came to this conclusion.
Then it hits him, Junior year, Janus had called while he was at lunch asking about farm business or something. And he called him Dee. It’s a thing him and Janus started doing years ago, using Janus’s middle name when they didn’t want to be connect as husbands (for certain business purposes and what not)
And Logan never actually clarified or specified he was married or who ‘Dee’ was
And all the times they’d teased him about needing a man, he’d nevered realized they weren’t talking about Janus. (Or something like that)
He tells them all of this
They are baffled
Patton: Logan, honey, how long have y’all been married??
Logan:.......10 years this September
Roman, Virgil, and Patton in varying degrees: 10 YEARS?!
Janus hears the outburst and comes knocking at the quest bedroom door
Logan grabs it, sees the distraught look on Janus’s face and pulls him in close, cooing,
‘Roman, Virgil, Patton, would y’all grab Remus and meet us down stairs?’
And because he’s Logan and his husband is upset and he can, he picks Janus up bridal style and heads downstairs
By the time the others come down Janus has tea and Logan has explained the misunderstanding to Janus
Janus is still kinda upset but more amused at this point and willing to listen to see where this goes
The others sit, and Logan explains how they got together and why
They sit there quietly and Roman, Virgil, and Patton apologize to Janus
They all marvel at how big of dumbasses they really are like, between all of them Janus and Remus are the ones with the Brain cells
It takes a bit for everyone to really be comfortable, but it finally happens tho!!
After that they all get a lot closer and become better friends
Well, that’s it for this part!! If y’all have questions about this au please ask!!
There’s a very good possibility that some details will change because I don’t know when this will get written, but eventually!!
I do plan for there to be multiple parts, the fic outlined above as well as a prequel fic that details Logan and Janus getting together. Like I said tho, who knows when it’ll get written...
hey so i sat down this morning with only "buck registering exactly wtf he said to tommy that morning mid conversation with hen at a bobthena bbq post bobby rescue/bobby retirement" as a jumping off point and wrote this all in one sitting, from top to bottom
many cakes and yadda yadda
It hits him halfway through a conversation with Hen.
They and the rest of the extended 118 family are at Bobby and Athena's new home for a joint House Finished slash Bobby's Not Sick Anymore slash Official Retirement of one Robert Wade Nash slash Congratulations Captain Howard "Chimney" Han! slash Welcome to the World, Kevin Daniel Han! party.
It's definitely a mouthful, and didn't want to fit on either the banner or sheet cake that were ordered, but Buck can't get back into that whole 120 character maximum fiasco because he's just had a realization.
A horrible realization.
A life-changing realization.
He'd taken one (1) measly glance at Eddie across the yard, finding him a faux-exasperated yet willing jungle gym for Jee-yun and Mara, both girls hanging delightedly off either one of his best friend's arms, and he'd thought back on something he thought he'd shoved away into the trash along with the leftover bowls of fruit and scrambled eggs from that morning.
"Buck?" Hen asks, surely due to the sudden cutoff of conversation and what's probably the most tragically devastated expression to ever grace a person's face on his.
"S-sorry, sorry, I just—" he's already walking away.
"Buck?"
He turns to face her instead, walking backward into the house from the yard. "S–Hen, gotta—Maddie." He manages, as if that explains anything, and spins on his heel to desperately search for his sister.
He finds her in conversation with Athena, the two of them on a pair of what are assuredly extremely comfortable chairs (Buck hasn't had a chance to try it out yet) in the living room.
"Maddie," he insists, belatedly realizing he's cut off something Athena was saying.
"Buck." she returns, one brow raised at him in exasperation, her hand patting baby Kevin steadily where he lays on her shoulder.
"Maddie I need your help."
"Everything okay, Buckaroo?"
Buck glances at Athena, then up at the movement he sees out the corner of his eye. Bobby has come through from their new kitchen with a platter of prepped burger patties ready to go on the grill, his expression just a hair more concerned than Maddie or Athena's
"You alright, kid?" Bobby asks, setting his platter down near the door and moving to stand behind Athena's chair.
"I'm f—" He can't get the word out. "I just need to talk to Maddie."
All three give him a calculating look before Maddie sighs, "Okay, let me find Howie," she says, moving to stand with the baby.
All at once, Buck feels guilty, "Wait, I ca—"
"You hand him here, honey," Athena says, standing before he or Maddie can, "I'll take him while he's still sleeping and I'll find Chimney if he starts making a fuss."
Relieved, Maddie passes him up after giving his forehead a kiss.
She stands as Athena bobs softly away with his nephew, and Buck can't help but feel a tiny bubble of relief break through his panic.
"Maddie, I'm—" he tries, holding a hand out to help her up.
"It's okay, Evan, I'm just going to go to the bathroom quick before we start." she sighs, taking his hand and scooting to the edge of the chair before pausing. "Actually, I think I need to pump too."
Buck opens his mouth to try to apologize again—ready to do his damndest to shove everything away back into the trash can in the back of his head where they'd come from—when Bobby speaks up.
"You can use our room if you need the privacy, has an ensuite and everything." he says, smiling down at her.
"Thank you, Bobby." Maddie sighs, pulling herself up with Buck's hand and muttering, "Those chairs are way too comfortable."
Bobby snorts a laugh, moving to retrieve his plate of burgers. "Don't I know it."
Bobby follows Athena and Kevin into the yard while Buck follows his sister to her bag by the door and then down the hall to the master bedroom.
She takes the bag into the bathroom, and when she comes back out, she is drying and assembling the parts to her pump without batting an eye.
"Okay, baby brother, what's going on in that head of yours.." she sighs, sitting on the edge of Bobby and Athena's bed.
He gives her a moment to get herself set up, and as soon as the little machine is humming along, he blurts it out.
"I told Tommy I was in love with Eddie."
For a long, long moment, Maddie just stares at him.
He listens to rhythmic hum of Maddie's pump, to the sounds of the party going on outside, the sounds of the kids laughing and yelling, finds himself easily picking out the specific register of Eddie's voice out of all the others.
"Okay." Maddie says eventually. "Okay… was there something that led you two to that bit of information?"
Groaning, Buck lets his face fall into his hands. "I slept with Tommy."
"Oh my god."
He picks his head back up again at her apparent surprise, "You knew this alrea—"
"Please tell me you didn't say Eddie's name whi—"
"Jesus, Maddie! No!"
She half laughs, "Sorry, sorry, so you slept with Tommy and then you told him afterwards that you love Eddie?"
"No!" he insists, then: "Well, kind of."
"Evan!" she laughs, still shocked.
"Stop laughing at me!"
"I'm not!"
"You are!"
"Okay! Okay, not laughing." she pledges, holding her hands up as if in surrender.
For another moment, they are quiet.
"So…it was after?"
Buck groans, flopping backward onto Bobby and Athena's unfairly comfortable bed.
Maddie giggles again, but falls quiet waiting for him to explain.
"It was the morning after, and I woke up without him in bed and was like, okay. That's fine, y'know? Like, it was obviously just a hookup after Ravi brought him over at the bar—"
"Ravi did what?"
Buck waves his hands around and shushes her without taking his eyes off the ceiling.
"That's how that happened in the first place; Ravi and I ran into him at the bar, we went back to Ed—my place and hooked up, but that's not the point.
"I woke up and he was gone, but when I went into the kitchen to make coffee or something to get my hangover to go away, he was there in the kitchen making breakfast."
"That was nice of him," Maddie hedges.
"It was, and I said so, and asked him if he thought I wouldn't break his heart anymore and he said 'Not as much, now that the competition is out of the way.'."
"Right. You told me this. And then when I asked if you were in love with Eddie, you said no."
"Because I wasn't. Or at least, didn't think I was!
"Like I said before, everyone keeps expecting me to be pining after my straight best friend—"
"Are you? In love with Eddie?"
Embarrassingly, despite the teasing he knows she's trying to go for by repeating the same words they'd said before, Buck feels his eyes start to burn when he says: "Yes."
Even more embarrassingly, he actually sobs after he says that.
"Oh Ev, come here.." Maddie soothes, pulling at his hand to get him to sit up and lean into her.
He tucks his head under hers into her neck the best he can; its uncomfortable, but the soothing motion of her hand on his back and the grounding of the weight of her head on his makes his brain quiet for a while.
Eventually, she nudges him up so she can turn off her pump and stow the fresh bags into the cooler pack she and Chim had brought with them, so Buck flops back onto his back and stares up at the ceiling again while he listens to her clean out the machine and pack it away.
He feels it when she comes back to sit beside him, the mattress dipping under her weight.
"So you told Tommy you were in love with Eddie, but didn't realize you did until now? Is that what I'm hearing."
"Mhmm."
"What did you say, exactly?"
Buck feels his cheeks heat. He'd tell Maddie anything, will tell Maddie anything, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.
"I said: 'I don't have to want to sleep with everyone I have feelings for, and I don't have to have feelings for everyone I sleep with.'."
"And Eddie is the first."
"Mhmm."
"You would not sleep with him? If he didn't want to?"
Buck turns his head to stare at her. "That's what you got out of that?"
"It's surprising!" she defends, "You like the…physical aspects of a relationship."
"I know that!"
"That's why it was surprising to hear!"
"Loving him is more than enough!"
His words sink in quickly.
"Loving him, loving Christopher, is more than enough for me."
"Evan.."
"I know he's never going to feel the same, Mads," he says, sitting up again. "But they are the two most important people in my life, I won't lose them just because I have a feelings problem."
"Your feelings are not a problem." She insists sternly.
"In this instance they are."
"Evan—"
"Hey! There you two are!" Chim says, knocking on the slightly opened door before opening it. "Food's all ready when you are."
"Thanks Chim." Buck grouses, standing off the bed.
"Hey, everything okay?" he asks, seeming to clock the emotion in the room.
"Peachy, I was just letting Maddie know I'd probably be heading out after a bite." Buck says, forcing a smile. "Big day tomorrow."
"Evan." Maddie repeats.
"Big day?" Chim asks, stepping out of his way as he leaves the room.
"Yep! Starting a new Pilates program at a place downtown!" he lies, all but fleeing from the room.
He mingles again, talks to the others again, and pointedly ignores the almost-knowing looks he's getting from Hen when he chooses to eat his burger standing next to her instead of at Eddie's side.
He also pointedly ignores Maddie's exasperated gaze and Chimney's confused one, pleasantly surprised to see it there instead of the specific secret-panic expression Chim likes to wear when he knows something he shouldn't—not that he was expecting that Maddie woul—nevermind. He's got to get out of here.
He finishes his burger and is about to finish saying his goodbyes to everyone when Eddie tries to corner him in the kitchen.
"Buck, everything okay?"
Buck hates how fast his heart starts beating even before he can turn around.
"Yeah Eddie, I'm good, why?" he asks, turning to face his friend (who he is in love with). "Listen, I was just about to come find you, I gotta—" he starts before Eddie can continue, but cuts himself off.
He looks at Eddie and it hurts, he looks at Eddie and sees the years, years of trials and tribulations they've gone through apart and together and—
If he tells Eddie he's leaving, he'll never hear the end of it. He'll insist on knowing why Buck is leaving early, he'll call him out on his Pilates excuse because he knows that Buck would've told him months ago about a Pilates class, and he knows that Eddie knows if there was a Pilates class, then Buck would've been nagging at Eddie to go with him until Eddie finally caved.
He knows this, he knows Eddie knows this, and he loves him so damn much.
"I still gotta ask Chris about the Orcas exhibit at the Natural History Museum, are you sure he'll want to go with me?"
Eddie blinks at him. "Of course he'll go with you, Buck, but—"
"Great! I'm gonna go find him!"
He shuffles out of the kitchen via the other side of the island (out of grabbing territory) as Eddie tries another, "Buck—"
He finds Chris easily, sitting in the squashy chair Maddie had abandoned earlier in the night with his Switch in hand.
"Hey! Chris," Buck says, squatting down beside him.
"Hi Buck!" Chris greets him back, smiling up at him briefly before going back to his Switch.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you about going with me to the new Orca exhibit at the Museum before I go."
Chris snorts, "Yeah, I'll go!" then the rest of what Buck said seems to sink in. "Wait, y-you're leaving?"
"Yeah bud," Buck pats his shoulder. "I gotta head out but I wanted to say bye to you before I did."
"Wh-why do you have to leave?" he asks, putting his system to sleep and setting it in his lap.
Just like with Eddie, there's no use in lying to Christopher. "I'm feeling a lot of big things right now and I don't want to ruin the party for everyone else."
"The party will be ruined if you leave."
Buck's heart aches. "That's sweet of you to say, kid." he says, ruffling the curls on Chris's head. "But I think this shindig is dying down anyway, don't you?"
Chris peers at him over his glasses, and for some godforsaken reason, Buck feels like Chris can see right to his gooey center and knows exactly what Buck only just figured out.
"I hope you feel better, Buck."
Buck lets out a shaky breath. "Me too, kid."
- - - - -
Getting a call in the middle of the night is pretty much anyone's worst nightmare.
For Eddie, being however many miles, hours, or dollars away from LA when he got his mid-night call, was the worst of the worst.
He had just gotten his son back, he was just finding his footing away from Bu—the home he'd known for years, just settling with some not-so-easy realizations about himself… and now his phone was ringing in the middle of the night.
He answered the phone.
He felt his entire life flicker out under Maddie's breathless "Eddie?"
He felt his entire life flame guiltily back again when she told him it was Bobby, not Buck.
He felt all those realizations he had been keeping at an arm's length snap into place as he hung up the phone.
Bobby was hurt, not Buck.
Maddie's voice on the other end of That Call scared him so badly he'd had a staring contest with the wall opposite his bed when the call ended and it wasn't Buck.
Eddie likes to tell people later that it was a quick 10 minute crisis, but the reality was that the entire 10 minutes he'd spent staring at the wall before he'd picked up the phone again to book tickets back home was the longest quick 10 minutes of his life.
The entire time, his brain kept repeating I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
Over and over and over again.
Now he's back, they're back for good, and Eddie's brain still won't shut up about it.
I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
I'm in love with him. I'm in love with Buck.
Still playing on a loop, still no less true than the first time, but manageable. Quieter.
Less quiet when Buck is seemingly avoiding him at the 118's Celecongratuparty ("It's the House Finished slash Bobby's Not Sick Anymore slash Official Retirement of one Robert Wade Nash slash Congratulations Captain Howard "Chimney" Han! slash Welcome to the World, Kevin Daniel Han! party, Eddie, get it right." the Buck from last week repeats in his mind.)
Everything was fine at first, he and Buck meeting up and splitting off at various points over the course of the evening, then Buck and Maddie disappeared, and now Eddie is having to corner his best friend in the Grant-Nash kitchen to try and get some answers out of him.
Which fails spectacularly, if he would say so himself.
Buck flees his presence, and before Eddie can follow him to his son's side and confront him again, Mara and Jee-yun are on his heels, insisting on him being their own personal mobile swing.
And what is he gonna do, not bend to the whims of his two friends' adorable daughters? What is he, a heathen?
So Eddie carts the girls to and fro while they swing to and fro, and soon, his arms are sore, his Buck is gone, and his son says "Buck said he had too many feelings to stay."
Eddie frowns. "Too many feelings?"
"That's what he said."
Eddie scrubs through his brain about anything that had seemed off with Buck lately, any nothing that his friend's surprisingly anxious mind could whip up into a big pile of something when Chris speaks up again.
"Maybe he's having the same ones as you, dad."
That had been another long conversation with his son; there were tears, anger, but also lots of hugs and in the end, ready acceptance, but Eddie didn't think that—
"What do you mean?"
"C'mon dad, it took me a bit, but I knew it w-was gonna be Buck."
Eddie lets out a breath. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"I think I knew that too." Eddie admits quietly, "Way before I should've."
"A-are you gonna find him?"
"Mijo, we don't know—"
"Aunt Maddie would know."
Eddie blinks at him. Then grins. "Aunt Maddie, huh?"
"Yeah, sh-she and Buck left for a bit. She w-would know what his big feelings are."
Eddie presses a kiss to Chris' forehead with an exaggerated Muah! "Love ya, kid."
"Love you too dad."
Eddie finds Maddie chatting with Karen, Baby Kevin strapped to her chest.
"Maddie, hey, do you know where Buck went?"
She sighs in response. "He left, didn't he."
"Seems so."
She sighs again, "Well, he hasn't officially closed on his house yet so he'd either go to my house or yours."
"Where do you think 'big feelings' will send him?" Eddie asks.
Maddie opens her mouth to answer, but Karen cuts in with: "Wait, is this about what I think it is?" Maddie nudges her pointedly with her elbow, but Karen ignores her. "Hen and I will be glad to have Chris over."
"That would be great, Karen." he says to her, then turns to Maddie. "I think I have some equally big feelings to share with your brother."
Karen gasps, but Maddie only smiles.
"Be good to him, Eddie."
"Nothing I'd rather be."
He gives them a quick goodbye, thanks Bobby and Athena for hosting, lets Chris know about staying with Denny and the Wilson's, and heads out.
He swings by Maddie and Chimney's place first since it's just a bit out of the way on the way home, but there's no Buck in the driveway.
Turning onto South Bedford, he's relieved when he sees Buck's Jeep in it's normal spot in Eddie's driveway.
He parks his truck, and is passing the Jeep on the way to the front door when he realizes Buck is still sitting in the driver's seat.
"Buck?"
He doesn't seem to hear him, so Eddie taps on the window to get his attention.
Buck flinches at the sound, but rolls down the window. "H-hey Eddie, what're you doing here?"
Eddie looks back at his house in confusion, then back at Buck. "At my house? Coming home, I think."
"Shouldn't you be at the party?"
"Shouldn't you?" Eddie counters.
Buck just shakes his head and looks back out the windshield.
"Hey, you wanna come inside?"
After a moment, Buck nods; he rolls up his window and steps out of his Jeep, locking it behind him as he follows Eddie into the house.
Seemingly on autopilot, Buck toes off his shoes by the door, strips off his jacket, and heads into the kitchen with Eddie right behind him.
Buck opens the fridge and pulls out a couple bottles of beer, twisting the caps off both of them and passing one to Eddie before leaning back into the corner of counter next to the fridge.
"So." Eddie hedges.
"Hm?"
"Chris said you told him you had some big feelings earlier."
Buck freezes with his beer halfway to his mouth.
"Not really, no." he manages, taking a sip from his bottle.
"Really?"
"Mhm."
"That's a shame."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Why's that?"
"I had some pretty big feelings too, a while back," Eddie sighs, acting sheepish. "And, well, I had hoped you did too so you could maybe help with them?"
"Eddie, I—" Buck clears his throat, "I'd be happy to help."
"Even if you didn't have any recently?"
"Of course." Buck smiles, completely sincere. "What were they about?"
Hook, line, and sinker.
"Well, I…"
Eddie's throat threatens to close up on him. Damn, he was supposed to be better at this? He knows what his feelings are, he just has to say it.
Say it.
Say. It.
"You don't have to—"
"I'm getting there!" Eddie insists, "They're just… They're pretty big feelings."
Buck smiles softly at him.
Eddie takes a breath. Looks down at the floor.
"I realized I may—no, I know I have new big feelings about someone in particular and I don't know if I should tell them, or how they're going to react when I do."
When Buck doesn't say anything for a long moment, Eddie makes himself look up. And what he finds is heartbreaking.
Buck looks devastated.
"Buck? You o—"
"Who is it? Wait, you don't have to tell me, just.." he glances over at Eddie. "Who is it?"
Despite everything going on with his best friend's face right now, Eddie can't help but smile.
"We've been friends for a while." he says.
Buck glances up and away again. "Yeah?"
"More like best friends." Buck's face scrunches painfully. "For what, seven years now?"
This time, Buck's face scrunches in confusion.
"Yeah," Eddie says, despite Buck not saying anything. "First day I met them, they hated me."
"That sucks."
Eddie shrugs, stepping closer. "Not really, it only lasted half a shift."
Buck's lips twitch. "That's good."
"It is. We've been like this ever since." Eddie demonstrates by twisting two of his fingers together, getting Buck to look at him instead of the floor.
"They've had my back, and I've had theirs;" he takes another step closer to Buck, setting his untouched beer on a bit of open counter as he passes. "They helped me get my son the care he needed when I felt like I was drowning, they helped me build my son a harness so he could skateboard,"
Eddie steps closer. "I thought I'd lost them when the engine got blown up; you might've seen it, it was all over the news."
Buck's lips twitch again. "Yeah, I think I saw something about that."
"I thought I lost them to a tsunami along with my son too, but they never stopped looking for him. The entire time." He takes another step.
Buck shifts against the counter, looking Eddie up and down warily.
"Then I legally couldn't talk to them for a while, and I missed them so damn much." Another step.
Buck squirms, setting down his bottle and crossing his arms over his chest as looks down at his feet again.
"I got stuck 40 feet underground and all I could think of was them." Another step.
"Eddie…" Buck pleads, finally looking at him with tears in his eyes.
But Eddie's on a roll now, he can't stop.
"I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen to my son if I didn't make it, but I'd hoped they'd always be there for each other, so I made them my son's legal guardian if something were ever to happen to me.
"And not long after that, I did almost—" he can't even get it out. "But they were there. Right in front of me with my blood on their face, and I thought… At least Chris will be okay.
"Then I lost them for real. A whole 3 minutes and 17 seconds where I had to live in a world without them." A last step. He's toe-to-toe with Buck now. "The relief I felt when he took a breath on his own again was second only to seeing Christopher again after the tsunami."
"Eddie…" Buck unwinds his arms and wraps them around Eddie instead.
"I had to leave for a little while recently, but he was insane enough to take over my lease for me while I was gone."
That finally gets Buck to laugh, even if it's just one soft chuckle. "I knew it, you're in love with Freddie Fakeman."
Eddie laughs, sinking into Buck's arms. "I'm so in love with him it's a little scary."
Buck squeezes him tighter, resting his head on Eddie's. "It doesn't have to be scary."
"I know." Eddie acquiesces, "Doesn't mean it's not."
"You know what?"
"Hm?"
"If it makes you feel any better, I think Freddie Fakeman is in love with you, too."
Eddie can't help the grin that takes over his face.
"Is that why he felt the need to flee from me earlier?"
"He didn't flee, he just…"
"Ran away? Escaped? Absconded?"
"You're very funny."
"I try."
They're quiet for a moment, but eventually Eddie feels Buck shift uncertainly.
"Maybe he was also realizing something similar and didn't know to deal with it."
"We could've dealt with it together."
"He said he didn't want to ruin the most important thing in his life." he whispers.
"He should've just talked to me instead of you." Eddie whispers back.
Buck laughs, a short rumbling thing that Eddie enjoys hearing directly from his chest. "I'll make sure he knows that."
For another long moment, they just hold each other, then Eddie pulls back just far enough to look Buck in the eye.
"Hi." he says, successfully breaking the last of the tension when Buck snorts.
"Hi Eddie."
"You know what I just realized?"
"What's that?"
"I'm not in love with Freddie Fakeman." Eddie says, feeling Buck stiffen under him.
He untangles his arms from around Buck's waist and moves them to sit on either side of his neck instead, feeling the soft strands of his hair weave between his fingers.
"I'm in love with you, Buck."
Buck relaxes again, relief flooding through him. "You're an asshole, you know that?"
"But you love me anyway."
"Yeah." A hand finds it's way from Eddie's waist to the back of his neck, and a pair of lips find their way to his. "I really do."
yeah i'm not sure how i'm feeling about the title lol
Me: *Flash back of all the check please pages in a montage.* Ya know, just seeing people talk about it online, and how everyone hates Vegas, and ya know, it’s Carolina!
it’s actually quite easy to take over a small local government group if you really want to, bc if you volunteer consistently people will just put you in charge of whatever. I’m now one of like three people at a nature preserve making official decisions about trails, events, putting in a prairie, and designing a series of illustrations for a storybook trail etc., and it’s just because last summer I started coming over once a week to help the naturalist out for a couple hours. Mine now. you too can steal an organization and shape it to your will 🫵
Two of my friends and I have taken over the local guild that runs a large portion of charity events in our town. We’re changing bylaws and setting new policies and coordinating with other groups. All we did was volunteer, and they practically strongarmed us into accepting the president, vice president (me) and treasurer positions. VOLUNTEER, KIDS. YOU TOO CAN LET THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF POWER GO TO YOUR HEADS.
The Coruscant Post stamp - Capital of the Galactic Republic with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Initially, it was just a sketch, so as not to focus too much on the cowboy image and to practice drawing from a shape, but it ended up turning into this!
It's probably worth mentioning that Kenobi is probably my favorite character, and actor Ewan McGregor is just perfect for the role!
Maybe it makes sense to create a pack of such stamps...
Anakin was almost the most normal Master in the Disaster Lineage because you have Yoda who had probably taught so many students atp that he was like a Mormon mom with Dooku like “idk just do your fucking schoolwork and then just be home by 4 AM. whatever” which led to a lack of emotional connection and resentment over Yoda’s longevity and perceived complacency in an aging Order. So Dooku wanted to break away from traditional Jedi ideals but was also never taught how to connect as more than student and teacher so he got Qui-Gon and kind of panicked and went hey you know what bonds people? Talking about intellectual revolution. So Qui-Gon was taught with the constant contradiction of everyone around him being like hey this is how you should be doing this and then having his Master turn around and go WRONGGGG LOLOL!!! and watching his Master descend into QAnon conspiracy theories and then Qui-Gon decides “ok well I will take what I can get from this whole freedom of thought thing and leave the QAnon aspect behind.” Except then Qui-Gon turned into the Order’s weedsmoking libmaxxing opposite to Dooku’s right wing xenophobic tendencies. So he then turned around, got his own Padawan, and proceeded to alienate that Padawan with his white cis male leftism. So you get centrist “my opinion is ☝️ that I wholly support the Council’s opinion” Obi-Wan who became this way because he desperately desired an older man to guide him in a queer sort of way and that older man said “ew.” Where he then finds himself the older man to a younger man’s queer fantasies and is like woahhhh wait I didn’t think I was gonna be the older man in this scenario! so it gets awkward and Anakin’s sexual frustration leads to a more appropriate outlet of political frustration over Obi-Wan’s centrism. And then Anakin gets Ahsoka and is completely normal. Just entirely normal. No power struggle. No daily political debates at dinner. They’re 19 and 14 respectively so all they talk about is the new space xbox. It works perfectly. Anakin isn’t even a leading cause in Ahsoka leaving the Order. And then he realizes he has a son later in life and the dormant crazy obsessive boymom in him jumps out like BAHHHHHH and he becomes weirder about Luke than all of the former Masters were about their students combined. He was SO close.
I just want to point out the massive amount of brownie points Staff just scored by just being reasonable and listening to feedback. This is the kind of win that extremely rarely you see a tech team achieving from their users point of view.
So...
Once more, Tumblr wins over all other platforms by not doing anything.
It has been literal years since I’ve actively written/worked on anything and in the past three days I’ve outlined/wrote a buddie fic and am currently writing/outlining a 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lonestar fic where the firehouses are ‘alive’
I’ve either been reading too many things or summer planning is waking up ALL of the creative juices
