Lee Pace & Lou Ferrigno Jr. are my top 2 contenders for Eric Bennett. Like, they're both SO perfect. If unknowns get cast, fantastic!! but truly while reading Common Goal, all I could see was just Lee/Lou
AU: Sal and Tommy are 35, married, and have been at the 118 (with Hen and Chim) for eight years. Buck is 26 in Peru. Sal and Tommy are on vacation to celebrate each of them transferring (122, lieutentant position with intent to become Captain very soon and 217, pilot). Whirlwind romance that ends up with Buck following them back to LA and being married right before Buck's probie year.
mooorrrre under the cut :)) again just straight up stream of conciousness hope ya like it :)
Buck is constantly talking about his partner but never mentions being married and never mentions there being two of them.
Bobby is out for some reason, nothing major but their temporary Captain is a complete idiot, making every wrong call and unfortunately Buck gets the short end of the stick.
He's being wheeled on a gurney with a pipe sticking out of his leg. Hen and Chimney are on either side of him trying to get him into the ambulance when their Captain comes over and starts berating Buck for "not paying attention," "doing this to himself," and "making the Captain look bad." It's all bullshit and everyone knows it, but Buck had started to be in a weird headspace right before the call, only intensifying as the call went on.
He was generally very good at keeping a hold on his emotions, but the pain, anxiety, and headspace is a godawful combination and he can feel his breath getting faster and tears filling his eyes.
There's an onlooker recording the Captain yelling at a clearly injured and emotionally distressed firefighter. They post it to Twitter and tag it LAFire118, a tag Sal has saved (as well as LAAir217 & LAFire217).
He sees the video and sees red. Him and Tommy call Hen and ask what hospital. She's confused, because as far as she knows, they have no idea who Buck is. She tells them anyway, past and present 118 support she guesses.
Buck is already heading back to surgery when Sal and Tommy storm in.
"Where the hell is that rat bastard?"
"Woah, Deluca, calm the hell down."
"Don't tell me to calm down, Hen. Where's the Stronzo who berated my fucking husband while he's bleeding out through a goddamn rusted pipe?"
"Wait-"
"Hen."
"He's back at the scene or headed back to the station. The fire was almost out when we left."
Sal turned to Tommy. "Stay here." Sal gave him a quick pat to the cheek and a squeeze on his bicep.
Sal was gonna make that sad excuse for a Captain pay. He quickly sent a text to his friend in the Union before speeding off to the 118.
currently writing the fic but my fave headcanon is, as much as I love rich boy tommy, tommy being spoiled by his two trust fund boyfriends is delicious.
more under the cut :)) hope you enjoy, it was literally just an hour long stream of conciousness, hope it makes sense lmao
it was also supposed to be just headcanons and bullet points but this is like nearly a full fledged fic lmao who knew all it took to get me writing was writing in in blog form?
Sal isn't spoiled and he's known how to handle investments and truly obscene amounts of money since he was 16. His parents made sure he was financially literate and would never allow him to be frivolous with his money. As a 45 year old Captain of a fire station, he lets himself be as frivolous as he wants (which thankfully is not wasted on what his parents were worried about him spending all his money on; drugs, sports cars, all the "classics").
He's been spoiling Tommy since he came in, 23 and surviving off of granola bars and spite and now they live in a beautiful house together that Tommy hadn't ever imagined in his wildest dreams.
It had only been about three months of Sal providing Tommy with better clothes, clothes Tommy didn't have to mend himself, food that didn't come frozen or packaged with an expiration date three years off;
"seriously, Tommy, you're a firefighter now, you need fresh and healthy, not frozen and packed with enough chemicals to kill a small mammal."
Sal was out of town when Tommy had called him saying he was about to leave for his apartment, a falling apart shoebox that was literally a health hazard. Sal wanted to buy him a condo or something that wouldn't kill him in a month but Tommy put his foot down on that, not because he didnt want to but because his pride and father's voice wouldn't let him. He had worked himself into a horrible panic attack the first time he tried to explain it to Sal a week into their relationship. He couldn't breathe and he was scratching at his neck like it was the only thing that could provide relief.
"Easy, honey, easy," Sal gently sat him down on his own leather couch. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have ambushed you with that. That's a lot to offer so quickly."
Tommy just nodded and tucked his head into Sal's chest. "I-I'm so thankful for the offer, but it's too much, I-" he could feel himself getting sick again.
Sal rubbed his back. "It's okay, it's okay. It can be shelved. All the way to the back."
"T-thank you."
"Fuck, Tory, I'm glad you weren't here for this today. Gerrard reamed every one of us, more than usual. Anderson nearly fucking killed me after mishandling my rigging and I got punished because "why wouldnt you check your own equipment, kinard? lazy asking others to do it for you." I'm just-" Tommy flipped Sal's house key in between his fingers. He'd never been to Sal's without him before but all he wanted was Sal's California King, blasted AC, clean & fresh but peppered with Sal's own smell scented home. "W-would it be okay if I went to your place tonight?"
"Oh, amore, of course."
Tommy gripped the key tight and took a deep breath. "A-and maybe we could talk about getting me out of my shoebox?"
Sal breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, honey, absolutely." He wasnt sure what Tommy had in mind, but he'd go at his speed, whether it was just a normal apartment for Tommy, his own condo, or moving in to his place, Sal was ready.
He regularly takes them to Italy, the first time Tommy stepped off the plane, he nearly burst into tears because waiting for Tommy was his own Nonna who he hadn't seen since he was 12 and she paid for a trip for them to come to Italy for his Nonno's funeral. Thomas Sr didn't like feeling "emasculated" by having his 64 year old mother-in-law pay for his family's expenses for the entire trip so he cut ties with her and made sure Tommy could never contact her.
When Evan comes into the picture, Tommy doesn't even know how he's become more spoiled but he has.
Evan comes from guilt money. He found out about Daniel way sooner and instead of sitting down like a family to talk about it, they threw money at Evan and told him to do whatever he wants so he did.
He travelled the world, settling on L.A. when Maddie had called him saying she left Doug and she'd be going to the complete opposite of Boston. He still becomes a firefighter; years of travelling, living the absolute perfect life, and letting himself enjoy life's pleasures had left him feeling empty and he wanted to do something meaningful. The 118 doesn't know he's rich and Howie doesn't find out about him or Maddie for a while. However, if the 118 has the best equipment and newest toys, that's between him and his checkbook.
When Evan joins in on Tommy and Sal, Evan takes the absolute most delight in spoiling Tommy.
While Sal loves to take them on trips and literally buying Tommy his own helicopter because his man deserves to fly whenever he feels like it, Evan loves to take Tommy shopping and building him whatever he dreams of.
Tommy grew up with wearing his father's old clothes, stained with ash and beer spills. The teachers noticed the smell, the dirt, none of them brave enough to say anything. Police Chief Kinard Sr's reputation preceeded him.
Evan loves to have Tommy put a show on for him, trying on the finest, softest fabrics in the low light of their bedroom.
He loves when Tommy's ears turn pink when Evan asks him to turn so he can see every angle.
It was also Evan's idea to put a mirror on the ceiling of their bedroom, a perk, the three of them love to take advantage of almost nightly.
for Tommy's 40th birthday, Evan used his construction skills (he got bored in South America and joined a construction crew and spent months building countless houses; it was right before LA, when he was realizing he wanted a purpose in life and construction was a fantastic start) to completely redo/add to Tommy's garage.
Tommy had spent a few of his summers going to Lachey's Mechanics and watching, slowly learning how to build and take apart machines and put them back together. It had become his dream to be able to have his own shop or at least set up at some point.
The garage he already had was incredible, but Evan took it to a whole new level for his birthday. He had completely remodeled it, adding a loft that Tommy could use as an art studio when he needed a break from the grease.
The three men spent a very long time christening every surface of that building.
None of them have to work again, but they enjoy what they do and love coming home to their favourite people in the whole world night after night, surrounding each other in the best life possible.
