I want to defend Buck’s use of the ouija board beyond simply Buck being naïve.
Yes, the ouija board is silly. But Buck is someone who has shown belief in the supernatural. And he’s drowning in grief and he just wants something to cling onto, something to hope for, which is what the ouija board gave him. It’s also a state of denial on Buck’s part — thinking that he really can talk to Bobby again, that he might actually be there in the house.
IMO, the episode wasn’t saying Buck was dumb for wanting to try a ouija board — because this episode was all about grief rituals and how humans need ways to connect, religious or not, with their loved ones who have passed.
The ouija board. The funeral. Praying after Abuela died. Athena keeping Bobby’s turnouts safe. Buck keeping a photo of Bobby and making Bobby’s recipes. And of course, Día de los Muertos.
These things aren’t going to bring someone back, they’re not going to automatically fix grief, but they help us connect to their memory. Even if it might seem pointless, humans need tactile things to help us through the grief.
These things give us something to do with the grief, a place for the grief to go. Like Chris said, it makes us feel like they’re still here.
By the end of the episode, IMO, Buck has shifted his grieving from a state of denial to something more positive: helping Dwayne and setting him up at an AA meeting. In the end, it wasn’t a ouija board he needed to connect with Bobby, it was kindness, which Buck is great at 🥹
(Also, this is a half-formed thought, but i think there’s an interesting comparison to be made with Bobby’s turnouts, Harry, and Athena: how to Harry, the turnouts are just that — turnouts. To him, the turnouts aren’t Bobby, they’re not his spirit, his personality, his body. But to Athena, they are. We give inanimate objects meaning, we talk to them when we’re alone but that doesn’t make us dumb.)
All this fighting about Eddie or Tommy, Buddie or Bucktommy- we’re not getting either guys. We’re most likely not even going to get anymore Henren, because abc are cowards that cave to what the corrupt administration want. And we all know they don’t want any of that.
a whole bunch of gazan mutual aid projects and nonprofits. if the decision of which individual fundraiser to give to feels too daunting, or if you just want to help as many people as possible in one go, these are great initiatives to support.
care for gaza - focuses on providing food and essential supplies. donate here or here.
connecting humanity - securing internet access via donations of virtual sim cards (esims). if you can't afford a whole plan yourself, crips for esims is a communal pool that will use your donation to purchase and maintain esims
gaza soup kitchen - provides food, medical care, and classes for children. also has a gofundme
glia gaza medical support initiative - provides medical care through field clinics and tents at hospitals. donations can also be sent through their website.
ele elna elak - provides clean water, food, clothing, and shelter. they also have a gofundme
life for gaza - raising money for the gaza municipality to repair water and waste management infrastructure
taawon - partners with local civil organizations to provide food, water, medical care, shelter, and basic supplies
the sameer project - running various initiatives providing tents, medical care, and necessities. they have their own encampment project focused on sheltering families with children, sick and disabled members, or members in need of perinatal care
islamic relief worldwide's gaza emergency appeal - provides food, water, hygiene kits, medical supplies, and psychological support
baitulmaal - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, shelter, and medical supplies
gaza mutual aid fund - distributes food, hygiene products, water, and other essential supplies, including financial support. run by @/el-shab-hussein's amazing friend Mona. updates can be found on her instagram.
hygiene kits for gaza - provides hygiene supplies including menstrual products, wipes, and toothbrushes/toothpaste
anera - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, hygiene supplies, medicine, blankets and mattresses, and psychological care
palestine children's relief fund - provides supplies and support with a focus on children. also has an initiative for lebanon
dahnoun mutual aid - provides water, food, tents, baby supplies, financial support, and other necessities. updates can be found through their instagram
certainly this is not an exhaustive list, so please feel free to add on other projects or organizations that i didn't include. and as always, please take the time to donate if you can and share. it truly makes all the difference.
I had to re-watch that scene and see's right. I feel like I got collectively gas lit by the fandom. Everyone from YouTube comment section to tumblr seems to be omitting words.
Everyone also conveniently ignoring the fact that Buck admits to having said the fact that he doesn't have feeling for Eddie "in the meanist way possible".
Bucktommy alternate meeting where Buck is at a bar and while waiting for a drink he just happens to overhear the guy next to him have an awkward run-in with an ex, and the ex is being such a jerk to this guy who seems to be just taking it and sipping sadly on his fancy beer that Buck jumps in like “Hey asshole I don’t appreciate you talking like that to my boyfriend”
(Tommy rolls with it. Buck still thinks he’s straight. He gets kind of into his performance as disgruntled new boyfriend and kisses Tommy and learns maybe he’s not as straight as he thought)
AITA for breaking up with my bf after he asked me to move in
So i (m45) had been dating this guy (m33) who only realised he was into men as well as women after i kissed him. He's really sweet and very enthusiastic about our relationship and experimenting and things had been going great until our six-month anniversary. We didn't really talk about whether we were celebrating it but then he took me out to dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date (it ended terribly too is that an omen?) and it got kinda weird when it came up that i used to be engaged to this woman for a while before i finally came out as gay. I didn't get why that was making things weird until a few days later he told me that HE was the himbo my ex dated when she had a bit of a crazy phase after her mom died and like that was all weird enough as it is but then he said he wanted me to move into his loft. That he rents. When i own a house. It just felt like he wasn't thinking seriously about it and rushing into things so i told him im just his first not his last and broke it off. I thought it was the right thing at the time but I've done nothing but regret it since. AITA?
Edit: yes i said the words "she went crazy and started dating a himbo half her age" to his face it was rude i told him i didn't mean it later when i realised he was the himbo i know i was rude to say that part but this isn't about that!
Update: it's been months since this post but something new happened and im not gonna talk about it with anyone in my life so...
I bumped into my ex last night at a bar he was out with a friend and i was just catching a game we ended up going back to his new place (which is actually his best friend's old place apparently the guy had to move to texas all of a sudden) and we hooked up and it was phenomenal and i had so much hope that we could fix things bc i felt like maybe he wanted me back too which is absurd but I'll take it. Except things went terribly wrong again. I was making us breakfast when he woke up and he looked so cute and so happy i asked him to get back together and he hadn't said yes exactly but he looked happy about it he was flirting things were good until i went and shoved my foot in my mouth and let it slip that i was insecure about his best friend and thought that he had feelings for him (which, like, he is living in the guy's house!) and he seemed kinda hurt by this bc he got really mad and maybe implied he didn't have feelings for me anymore which made me sad so i left idk aita again or am i just a loser
Edit: no i didn't bring up the best friend problem before when we were dating. The guy (best friend) had recently had some family troubles and his son was living in texas with his parents so he was really lonely and spending a lot of time with us which i was totally okay with bc he was my friend too but i just felt insecure bc of how close they are they've known each other for years and my ex once saved the guy's life they can get kinda intense
Edit 2?: the friend is straight and my ex said he had no romantic interest in him and honestly i do believe him idk why i didn't just tell him i believe him on it
Edit 3: no we have never had a serious conversation about our future that didn't end terribly. Yes he's never been the one breaking up with me. No he has never shown signs of cheating on me im just being insecure. No i haven't really talked to him about being insecure. What does all this have to do with whether or not he's into me.
Edit 4: Why is everyone saying he probably doesn't know that I'm serious about him!?!
Edit 5: i have technically broken things off with him three times if you guys are counting me leaving after we hooked up bc i ended our first date cause i didn't think he was ready to publicly date a man and i didn't want to be back in the closet but then he asked me to go to his sister's wedding with him so we kept dating
Edit 6: his sister was marrying my old close friend from my previous job (he works there now we met through the friend) so it wasn't actually as insane for me to be at the wedding as you all are saying. The ceremony ended up happening in a hospital anyway cause the groom caught encephalitis. It was casual everyone was very cool about it.
Edit 7: no more encephalitis comments please WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE THINKS I DON'T LOVE HIM HOW CAN ANYONE NOT
I did this last year for season 8, but this time I figured I would focus solely on Buck’s love life.
Give me confident bisexual Buck making new friends and going out. He thinks he’s over Tommy and decides to ask his new queer friends to help set him up on blind dates.
Except every single one ends up with Tommy. His friends all know him for wildly different reasons. ‘Oh, this guy built a ramp for my grandmother’s porch after she fell and broke her hip.’ And ‘I met this cute guy on an insane backpacking trip a few summers ago’ and more things like that.
Every. Single. Time. It’s Tommy Kinard sitting at the other end of that table, eyes wide and a hesitant smile on his face.
So Buck gets to learn more about Tommy on each of these dates, the way he should have done during their first six months of dating. And he shares in turn. Tommy tells him about a summer spent with his aunt and Buck tells him about bartending in Peru.
Buck needs to fix his jeep. Tommy knows a guy. 'Oh we meet on a hiking trip'.
'Chimney needs to reserve a seat at this expensive restaurant. Tommy knows a guy. 'Oh I helped install anti-slip grabs for the owners grandmother'.
Hen needs to book good flight tickets for a family trip. Tommy knows a guy. 'Oh I have hooked up with many pilots. I still talk to them. Let me know which flight you have booked, I'll ask them to upgrade you'.
Eddie wants Chris to join this very accredited high school that accommodates to his special needs, but it's difficult to get in. Tommy knows a guy. 'Oh I plan bi-yearly trips to the harbor for the school. Don't worry I'll give you a good name. You'll get in no problem. '.
Ravi wants to donate one of his flats for charity because being a firefighter has taught him how landlords have contributed to homelessness. Tommy knows a guy. 'Oh I am part of this group that teaches Martial arts and self defence to queer kids. I know the father of one of the kids who can help you'.
Each time Tommy knows a guy, it gets more outrageous. And each and every time Buck's love and horniness for this man grows. Truly two freaks made for each other.
I'd like to address something that I've noticed for a while about the buddie section of the fandom... and that's the fact that right now they treat Eddie like some kind of pet they feel sorry for because he hasn't realized his "queerness" yet. As if, somehow, his value as a character cannot stand alone unless he's only gay/bi/demisexual for Buck.
Are y'all saying that his character ONLY has value if he's with Buck? Are you saying that his "queerness" is equal to his value as a character and if he's not queer by 8x06 or in the future of the series, that his character won't bear much interest for you? Because that's insane.
I've also noticed that Eddie's character is only valuable to you when Christopher's bond with Buck is at the fore. So we see Eddie and Chris at odds as of s7, and a MAJORITY of the buddie stans concerns is:
Chris needs to come back and then his dads will realize their feelings for each other.
Eddie's religious crisis/catholic guilt HAS to be tied to his queer realization and his love for Buck, and not toxic masculinity within American-Mexican households (which can include queerness but is not how the issue was presented in the show about the Diaz family)
No. Instead the issue of catholic guilt was tied to toxic masculinity and machismo where Eddie not only had to grow up at a very young age due to his absent father, but also was forced to be "the man of the house" which inherently affected his ability to keep/maintain healthy relationships with women/possible future love interests and his relationship with his son.
But instead of this, buddies are only concerned with how everything that's happened to Eddie is somehow related to Buck. As if his entire life is centered around the man.
It is incredibly disheartening and disingenuous to say that you love and care about the buddie ship, when you CLEARLY are only concerned about one half of the ship, ie. Buck. And further, it is quite fickle to celebrate Eddie's queerness only as it relates to Buck, the same way y'all were ecstatic about Buck's bisexuality only when it concerned buddie/Eddie, & completely bypassed/destroyed/discriminated/hated on the canonically gay character he discovered his bisexuality with.
"Big day, huh Wilson?" Shepherd, the firefighter from Shift C ribbed Hen.
"Come on. We don't even know if bill will get passed. Tell Jemma hi for me." She bumped the man's fist.
Tommy was giving her a puzzled look as she shoved her clothes in her locker.
"Hit your head, Kinard?" She raised an eyebrow.
"What was all that about?" Tommy pointed towards the man leaving the station.
"Nothing. He's just talking about this bill getting passed to lift the marriage ban for us." Tommy's puzzled look reminded her of the kind of person she was speaking to. "Queer people, Tommy. God can you be more uninformed?"
She stormed out of the changing room, Tommy following her.
"I'm sorry. Honest mistake."
She was about to tell Tommy that he was a mistake (she was mad sue her) but Sal interrupted the two of them, Howie right behind him.
"Look who's here." He gestured towards the new guy walking into the station. Their new captain. And they didn't even get to put the money in the pot this time.
"Two weeks."
"One."
"Three days."
Never mind.
"One month." The three of them stared at Tommy. "What? He looks promising."
The three guys handed Hen the money and they went to greet their new leader. The last one lasted almost an entire month before his reluctance to take Sal's hunch seriously resulted in a person dying. A camera had picked up him refusing to entertain Sal and he ended up being fired. Chimney had won that one. Didn't feel like one though.
"Good evening firefighters, I'm Michael Baker. I'll be your captain from now on."
Tommy was wrong. This was gonna be rough.
~~
Today was a mess. Tommy couldn't have been more wrong. Which wasn't surprising at all. There was a reason he never won these bets.
Was there even a standard for the captains these days or were they just picking people up from the streets for the 118. If not for her and Tommy, the little six year old boy would've been dead. Another life lost because of a careless captain. And she was the diversity hire?
Sal was furious. She could see it on his face. The only thing holding him back right now were both Howie and Tommy. Tommy had a death grip on his arm, trying to prevent him from doing anything stupid. Howie was fixing up Tommy, a nasty gash on his arm because of a stray piece of debris. Hen focused on the boy in front of her. Count it as her preventing herself from doing anything stupid.
"You okay?" She asked him after patching him up. Another quick once-over and yes, he was all fixed up. All thanks to Tommy who had used himself as a shield to save the kid. The kid nodded and ran towards his wailing parents, all smiles and laughs.
It was her turn to glare at their 'captain'. His face was filled with regret sure, but the regret would've been there regardless. If Hen hadn't caught the lone shoe and if Tommy hadn't ran into the explosion zone, she didn't even wanna think about it.
She packed up the supplies and started moving towards the ambulance. She and Sal made eye contact and mutual understanding passed between them. Whatever happened, this one wasn't staying. She really should've paid attention in front of her because the collision between her and unknown woman knocked the wind out of her.
"OH MY GOD, I"M SO SORRY." She quickly scrambled to pull Hen up, which Hen graciously accepted.
"It's okay. Why are you two in such a rush?" She looked at the two women, holding hands, out of breath and. Oh. Oh.
"WE CAN GET MARRIED. THEY LIFTED THE BAN." She practically screamed at the top of lungs, grabbed her girlfriend's hand and ran off. Oh my god. OH MY GOD. Pulling out her phone, she immediately called Karen.
"KAREN. THEY LIFTED THE BAN."
"I KNOW. I ASKED JAMES IF I COULD LEAVE AND HE SAID YES. WHERE DO WANNA GET MARRIED?"
"ANYWHERE. WAIT- HEY, WHERE ARE YOU TWO GETTING MARRIED?" She screamed at the people running.
"THERE'S MAN NEAR THE COURTHOUSE. HE'S MARRYING PEOPLE. FOR FREE. WOO!!" The man yelled before being grabbed by his partner and rushed in the direction of this supposed man who was marrying queer people.
"Karen, how long till you can get to 300 Oakway lane?" Hen asked her future wife. Just thinking that made her giddy.
"Umm, like in 10 minutes or so. Why?"
"Somebody's marrying couples there. I need you to get here quick."
"I'm already out."
"Great, I'll meet you there. Love you."
"Love you, bye."
She turned towards her team. It looked like Sal was about to start arguing with Baker despite Howie and Tommy holding him back, and as evil as it may've been, she saw an opportunity. Wow, she was a terrible paramedic because of what she was about to do.
Stealing an ambulance to get married. Not a very smart thing to do. At least she could say it was for love when she gets terminated.
She reached much earlier than Karen so she had gotten to witness a few 'weddings'. And those people seemed so happy. The people in front of her were excited at the prospect of getting married, of being each other's husbands or wives, and Hen could feel the excitement creep into her bones as well. Well, she was getting married to the love of her life, damn right she was excited.
Karen found her before she could and greeted her with a hug and a kiss.
"Lucky I was wearing blue today, am I right?" Karen joked.
"Technically, the turnouts are blueish too." Hen pointed towards her dusty apparel.
"Yes, but I'm looking prettier." Karen wiggled her shoulders smugly and Hen couldn't help but fall in love with her even more.
"Yes, you are."
Karen covered her face like whenever she did when she was flustered. It was one of the many traits she found adorable about her future wife.
The couple in front of them finished, happy screams erupting from the group that was surrounding them. Hen slid her hand into Karen's, holding it tightly, trying to stop the nervous jitters. Karen brought their hands up and gently kissed the back of Hen's, calming her nerves.
They walked forward, ready to start a new chapter in their lives when a familiar voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Call me old-school but aren't there supposed to be witnesses in a wedding?"
Howie. With Sal and Tommy by his side.
"Guys? What are you doing here?" She chuckled in disbelief.
"What are we doing here? Our Hen's getting married, of course we'd be here." Sal answered.
"What about Baker?" She noted the absence of their transfer.
"He's an old softie. Some emotional blackmail and he caved. He's waiting in the truck." Howie dismissed with a wave of his hand.
"Although full disclosure, we may have lied to him about there being some emergency here so we may have to knock someone out." Tommy added. "I'm kidding obviously."
Hen couldn't believe it. She thought they'd have to go through this alone. She shouldn't have underestimated her team. Howie and Tommy hugged Karen and the five of them moved towards the man sitting on the bench, paperwork in front.
"Woah, the word's is really picking up around here huh? I guess I'm stuck for the rest of the day. And honestly, there's nothing I'd rather be doing." The man in the chair laughed out before getting up and shaking Karen and Hen's hands. "Zach Stone. At your service. I assume you wanna save the chit chat and get right into it?"
"Yes, please." Karen's urgency was really adorable.
"I'm Henrietta, she's Karen." Hen clarified.
"Okay, today is a beautiful celebration of love, devotion and partnership. Today told us that despite hardships, despite pains, love perseveres. Do you Henrietta take Karen, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health, to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
Henrietta tried to summon all her love for Karen and express it to her when she said I do. Because that was truly how she felt.
"I do."
"Do you Karen, take Henrietta, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in he-"
"I DO." Karen was gleefully jumping up and down before jumping on Hen, kissing her hard.
"Well, now I'd tell you to kiss your wife but that seems redundant."
"Sorry." Karen said sheepishly but Hen knew she didn't regret it. Not one bit.
A loud pop made all of them flinch. They all glared at Tommy, who was currently gripping a large party popper, frozen in place.
"It was Howie's idea." Tommy immediately threw him under the bus.
"I was being sarcastic." Howie ripped the empty cardboard roll out of his hand's and started smacking him in the head with it.
"Okay then, now who's next? Is it you two?" Zach pointed towards Howie and Tommy and the group burst into laughter once more. They did end up having to use the ambulance when someone when someone fainted after getting married.
~~
[A/N: Can you believe i wrote this like a month before this event? The universe aligned for this moment and I wish I was a better writer to give this more justice but whatever can we do. Also the pre-118 118 dynamics are just so interesting to me like, they feel like the marauders to me (fuck jk rowling)]
Not bringing up Tommy's past behavior from Chimney Begins and Hen Begins or discussing it at length in a fanfiction is actually not ignoring his past. It's also not pretending he didn't behave badly in the past.
That all of that was not brought up again on our screens in s7 or s8 isn't ignoring or retconning his past behavior either. (And it wasn't even really ignored. In the dinner scene at the end of season 7, Tommy did freely admit he didn't behave very well and that he didn't like the kind of guy he was back then.)
It's been many, many years since all of that happened. Chimney Begins took place in 2005, Hen Begins in 2008. That's nearly twenty years. Are you going around to new people you date or even just befriend and tell them all about your bad behavior from two decades ago? Are you bringing up your bad behavior of two years ago with people with whom you've clearly worked through that behavior to apologize for it again every other month?
The difference between Tommy and Gerrard is that Tommy actually got a redemption arc on our screen, back in season 2 during all three Beginns episodes. (But of course, several people arguing this kind of point recently admitted not watching Bobby Beginns Again when they claimed Tommy doesn't even know Bobby.) Gerrard, on the other hand, showed the exact same horrible behavior in season 7 and then, to some degree, at the start of season 8 until they somehow retconned him around the whole Brad thing.
You don't like Tommy, fine. But stop claiming the only valid way for anyone to deal with his character without appearing racist or homophobic for liking Tommy is by spending hundreds of words showing Tommy groveling for forgiveness for things that have been dealt with between the characters years ago.
Somehow I went from reblogging this to being three seasons deep in the weewoo show. Be careful out there, y'all. The queer firefighters will suck you in and get you hooked.
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