#GivingLousday

December 2, 2025

[givinglousday2025]

Special thanks to our admin @katherinehepbcrn @actuallybrini and @fakemouthstaticpilot.

An even bigger thanks to our wonderful volunteers @peppermintquartz @buffaluff @buckbuckleykinard @totallyjustabunchofhocuspocus @citrus-lou @beanarie @kitty-tommykinarddefender.

And the biggest thanks to everyone who donated. We could not have done it without your kindness and generosity. We are so proud of everyone. Thank you all so, so much.

[louferrignojrsource]

March 12th, 2026 - Shanna Ferrigno Insta Story

[bigkuzdra]

François Arnaud arrives at the 41st Artios Awards in LA

[leafshino84]

His smile just made my day infinitely better. 🥹

[givinglousday2025]

With the holidays just about over and all the raffle prizes have been handed out, a very special thank you to everyone who contributed to #GivingLousday2025!

An extra special thanks to all our admin @katherinehepbcrn @fakemouthstaticpilot and @actuallybrini.

To our wonderful volunteers @peppermintquartz @totallyjustabunchofhocuspocus @buffaluff @buckbuckleykinard @citrus-lou @beanarie and @kitty-tommykinarddefender.

This drive was an incredible success and an absolute joy to do. Thank you all so, so much.

[totallyjustabunchofhocuspocus]

The Desire of Your Heart Constitutes Your Prayer 1/2

For @meibhin and the Giving Lousday fundraiser...sorry about the wait, it got a bit away from me and things kind of, ahem, exploded for me this December.

Pairing: Buck/Tommy

Magical Realism!AU (cursed!Buck)

Am I playing with the angstiest fucking supernatural trope I can? Yes. Yes I am. But y'all know you love it ;)

It wasn’t a curse.

Not in the traditional sense. Not in the sense that Buck had been the particular target of a spell, or the collateral of a magical deal, or even just a blundering fool who had crossed a witch and suffered the consequences. Buck had not even been born when the magic that was ruining his fucking life was laid on his family.

Neither had his parents. His grandparents. Their grandparents. Hell, he wasn’t even sure there had been Buckleys in Pennsylvania yet, when one of his ancestors had stupidly, stupidly trusted a witch not to fuck them over in a magical deal. Whatever it was they’d gotten, Buck certainly hoped it was worth it. Because it had ruined everything for dozens of descendants after them.

Not everyone.

Not even most of them.

Nope, just one unlucky person every few decades. According to his father, the record was seventy years. Seventy years with no one in any of the family branches being born with the small blotch of pinked skin that marked them as the next unlucky victim of the Buckley family burden. Sometimes, Buck wondered if that was why his parents had felt comfortable having more than one child. The idea of a family with a hereditary curse as nasty as theirs having two children (let alone three…not that Buck had been planned initially) seemed risky. Still, they had. And in addition to not being the savior for their older son they had wanted him to be, Buck had been born with the curse mark on his brow.

Sometimes, Buck wondered if it was his punishment for not being able to save his brother.

Not often.

Not for very long.

But sometimes.

The terms of the curse were simple, though they meant something a little different for every Buckley child born to it. Whatever contract had been drawn up all those centuries ago was lost and gone forever…but family lore passed it down fairly clearly. Long ago, a witch had granted one of his ancestors their heart’s desire. So in turn, that was the price. Over and over. At least once every few generations. A child would be born in the family who was destined to always lose their heart’s desire. And not just once. No, no, that would be too kind for the brand of magic you dealt with when you went to a witch. The Buckley child whose brow was kissed with the curse would find their heart’s desire over and over in their life, only for it to slip through their fingers. Again, and again, and again. And each time they lost it, someone around them would gain their heart’s desire. Someone close, someone they loved, someone they thought loved them. That person could break the curse, if they were willing to give up what they gained.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Buckley family lore didn’t include many stories of Buckley children who escaped the curse.

The curse had taken countless forms over the centuries. A heart could desire any number of things, after all. Power. Money. Security. Comfort. Luxury. Love. Sex. Friends. Family. Children. Long life. Health. Buck had heard dozens of different stories of what he might expect the curse to take from him by the time he left home. And still, it wasn’t until he’d kissed Abby in her kitchen and for the first time in his life felt the gnawing, grasping hunger that had sat beneath his breastbone as long as he could remember settle that he truly understood the magnitude of what had been done to him.

The mark on his brow burned and ached all night that night, and he’d tried so hard to deny what it meant. Tried to make himself believe he was wrong, tried to tell himself that he was imagining it.

When Abby walked away from him, the doors swishing closed behind her as she headed off on the adventure that she’d been craving all her life, he realized the trap he’d unintentionally laid for himself. What Buck wanted more than anything else was to be loved. Not the way Maddie loved him. Not the way his parents should have loved him. Not the way Bobby, Hen, and Chim loved him. Not the way Eddie and Chris would come to love him. Above all else, he wanted to be someone’s everything. He wanted someone who couldn’t wait to share all of life’s joys and sadnesses and messes and triumphs and pains with him. He wanted to be the first thing someone thought of when they thought home. He wanted someone to understand what all the poems and songs and stories were talking about when they were with him. He wanted to be known. To be seen. To be chosen and cherished and kept. He wanted to offer all of it back to someone, offer up everything in him with a joyful smile and have it received as a gift. Buck wanted a love.

And because Buck could never do anything by halves, even when he really should—the most likely person the curse would set its sights on to mock him with a possible escape was the person he was fucking losing to the curse. A perfect circle of torment for him. How could he ask the person he loved to give up what would make them happiest? Their heart’s desire?

He watched Abby walk away, knowing a life together was what he wanted most, but she wanted something else entirely. Something far away, along a path he couldn’t follow. He watched her leave, and thought that nothing could ever hurt like this again.

He tried to guard his heart. He’d gotten by on casual hookups and shallow dating for years…there was no reason he couldn’t do the same now. Except now the magic was active. And Buckley children were cursed to lose their heart’s desire over and over again. He tried to guard his heart, but he’d never been very good at it. A childhood starved of affection and love except for his sister had left him defenseless against it when it found him. He craved love like a flower seeking sunlight, could no more close his heart off from it than he could stop the tides. Even when he told himself he wouldn’t let it grow large enough and deep enough to trigger the curse, he couldn’t help himself.

Ali.

Taylor.

Natalia.

He loved them. He loved them and wanted them and needed them, and it was always going to end in pain. Always going to end with the mark on his brow burning like a firebrand. Different reasons. Different words. Different ways it ended. But always the same result. He watched them walk away, and couldn’t bring himself to tell them about the curse. About the chance they had to break it, if they were willing to give up what they really wanted most in life for him. He loved them too much to ask it.

After Natalia he truly thought he was done. Done trying. Done opening himself up just to lose everything as soon as it became important to him. There was no use fighting the curse, or trying to avoid it, and he knew that he’d never be able to ask another person to fulfill the requirements to break it. His life was not empty. He had Maddie and her family. Eddie and Chris. Bobby and the rest of the 118. So what if it stabbed a little to watch them all go home to their families and know there was nothing but silence waiting for him? So what if the family he had built around himself lacked the one thing that would make it perfect? So what if he’d never get to find and keep for himself the kind of love his sister had? He could live with it. There was no other choice.

And then he’d met Tommy.

[buffaluff]

happy holidays to @unfuckablebogtroll ! thank you so much for contributing to @givinglousday2025 💖❄️

[beanarie]

"i kind of can't stop thinking about him."

for @buckbuckys who chose a blue-themed moodboard for @givinglousday2025

[buckbuckleykinard996]

This sketch is for @crimsonflower19 who won a raffle prize in the #givinglousday (@givinglousday2025) raffle!!! This was a delight to put together and I hope its as fluffy as you’d hoped!!!

[givinglousday2025]

Just a reminder to our wonderful volunteers that the raffle prizes are due to be posted by Christmas Day. Please reach out to me if this is going to be an issue.

Happy holidays!

[citrus-lou]

This is for @beanarie who won a raffle prize from @katherinehepbcrn #givinglousday campaign.

🩶

[citrus-lou]

This is for the person who wants to remain anon who won one of @katherinehepbcrn #givinglousday charity raffle prizes.

They requested Lou smiling 🩶

[givinglousday2025]

Just a reminder to our wonderful volunteers that the raffle wins are due to be posted by Christmas. Please reach out to me if this is an issue.

[kitty-tommykinarddefender]

This is a very special one to me, because @v88sy made a request for @givinglousday2025, and now we have this cute picnic where we can meet Noodles, Tommy’s ferret friend. Well, more like Evan's now🥰

Thanks again and I hope you love it as much as I do!

[givinglousday2025]

Congratulations to the winners of the #GivingLousday raffle!

FICS @sierranovembr @seddair @meibhin MOODBOARD @buckbuckys

ART @crimsonflower19 @unfuckablebogtroll @v88sy

GIFS @beanarie and the generous person who donated the largest amount and wished to remain anonymous.

Thank you all so, so much and I hope you enjoy your prizes!

[peppermintquartz]

For @sierranovembr ❤️❤️

Thank you for contributing to #GivingLousDay! ❤️❤️

+++

Buck is slicing the apples using a mandoline, a podcast on the ravens living at the Tower of London playing in the background. He wonders if he can train crows as well, just to freak Chimney out.

Maybe that isn't a kind thing to think, but hey. He's in his own house, in his own kitchen, making what he wants without a single snide comment from anyone.

Who cares if it isn't kind in his head.

He's so absorbed in his task that the doorbell doesn't grab his attention until it become an extended buzzing. Setting the apple slices into the glass bowl of water (with a spritz of lemon juice), he hurries to the door, drying his hands on his apron before flipping up the cover to the peephole.

Oh.

A rush of warm affection floods his body. It's Tommy outside in a dark Henley under a brown leather jacket, looking nervous yet resolute. His curls are swept back from his brow and he's fidgeting with a box about half the size of a shoebox.

Taking a deep breath, Buck opens the door. Tommy nearly jumps in surprise.

"Hey. Uh, I wasn't expecting you," Buck says, smiling. "What's up?"

"Hey, hi." Tommy's face runs through a myriad of expressions, landing on uncertain fondness. "I was, um, in the neighborhood, and I saw something that I thought..." His voice falters. "I thought it'd be a nice early Christmas present."

Buck is bemused. "It's November."

"A very early Christmas present."

Grinning now, Buck holds out both hands for it. Tommy puts the box in them. It's surprisingly heavy.

"Don't shake it," Tommy warns. He turns, as if ready to leave now that his gift is delivered, but Buck hooks his elbow with his right hand.

It feels familiar. Tommy stares at Buck's hand and then at him.

"Thank you," he says quietly, with a gentle smile that turns into a smirk. "Eddie told you my new address? What did it take you?"

"Well, not much. A bit of humiliation," Tommy admits. His cheeks flush. "I got there, I was staring at the box, I started talking the second the door opened, I had this whole speech that he let me get through halfway before I looked up... He was grinning like he'd won the lottery. Then he tells me you've moved. Again." There is a hint of judgement there, even if Tommy is keeping his tone as neutral as possible.

Buck laughs and shakes his head. it's good that someone is taking note of how absurd it is that he's had to move so soon after moving into his new sublet. Still, he has to be fair. "It's not as bad as it sounds. He paid me back the money I had to put down for first and last, and covered the cost of movers once I got this place."

"Well, in that case, that's your housewarming gift then," Tommy says. "It's a quartz cluster. The vendor said it'll help cleanse negative energies."

"You're not new agey," Buck says, arching a brow. "Unless that's changed...?"

"No, nothing's changed about me." Tommy's eyes are so expressive. How did Buck never really notice all the things Tommy says with his eyes? He's talking about more than the crystal and, from the pause in the conversation, they both know it.

Buck tightens his hold on Tommy's elbow. "I'm making apple pie. Come inside and give me the full speech you prepared."

"Are you sure?" Tommy's eyes scan his face like he's looking for a tell.

Certainty blooms within Buck's ribs and spreads like warm honey through his veins. "More than anything."

+++

[peppermintquartz]

For @seddair ❤️❤️

Thank you for contributing to #GivingLousDay! I had to tweak your prompt slightly and it's more than 500 words, but here it is :)

Hope you like it!

+++

"I'd like to buy you a beer," Evan offers.

For a moment, Tommy wishes really hard that he had time travel powers. Then he would go back a week, make sure he doesn't call Chaz, doesn't ask for two tickets to the big fight, doesn't book the chopper. Because the way Evan is looking at him all wide-eyed and smiling is way more enticing than the bout between Nunez and Macleod.

His hesitation makes Evan's smile dim a little. It disappears entirely when a truck honks at them.

"Hey Tommy! Where do I park?" Eddie shouts, leaning out the window.

Evan doesn't hide his dismay. "Eddie's here?"

"Yeah, I, uh, invited him to watch a fight." Tommy feels the back of his neck burning as he gestures to Eddie where to park. The notion of disappointing Eddie and going for drinks with Evan crosses his mind. He likes Eddie well enough, but he wants to know Evan better.

Eddie and Evan talk a little as Eddie comes over. Tommy feels really bad when Eddie shares that they're going to the sold-out championship fight.

But the thought of leaving Evan alone here while he and Eddie go have fun...

"Hey, you know what? Why don't you come along? I mean, the helicopter can definitely fit one more firefighter," Tommy blurts out.

It's like watching the sun come out after a storm. Evan's smile is full of disbelief. "R-really? You're cool with me tagging along?"

"I wouldn't have asked otherwise," Tommy replies. "Come on, I'll even let you sit shotgun."

Evan ducks his head and inches forward. "So, where are we going for this fight that you need to fly?"

With a whoop, Eddie jogs ahead to the helicopter that Tommy, throwing up his arms like a boy. "Vegas, baby!"

+++

Twenty minutes into the one-hour flight and Tommy knows he's not going to watch the championship fight. Evan's face is so expressive, taking in the aerial views and asking interesting questions. Tommy wants to answer everything in detail.

"Don't lure my best friend away from the 118 with your fancy flying machines," Eddie says over the comms at one point. He's laughing though, so Tommy takes it as a tease.

"I'm not leaving the 118, I was just curious." Evan turns a little in his seat to glare at his friend. The way his left hand grips the handhold tells Tommy that Evan won't be joining Harbor to be a pilot even if he does leave the 118. The guy doesn't love flying the way Tommy and the other pilots do.

He can't help stealing glances at Evan, and he notices Evan looking at him as well, his cheeks pink whenever their eyes meet. There is something there. Tommy wants to know if he has a chance.

Meanwhile, Eddie's talking about Nunez's chances of retaining. If Evan wasn't here, Tommy would be debating Eddie. As it is, he's too distracted by the plumpness of Evan's lips and his restless fidgeting with his straps.

Chaz is waiting for them at the tarmac. "Tommy, my man!" He gives Tommy a hearty thump on the back. "I thought you were just bringing a plus-one?"

"Yeah, Eddie's going to the fight." Tommy looks over his shoulder at Evan and Eddie talking to each other, Eddie gesticulating and miming a punch. "Listen, uh, I'm gonna ask you to take Eddie and you can have my ticket, give it to whomever?"

For a six-foot-six giant of a fight promoter, Chaz can be subtle. He tilts down his mirrored shades. "Which one? The leggy kid?"

Tommy shrugs, almost bashful. "Could be something. Might be nothing."

Chaz claps him on the back again. "Good luck, man." He turns to the duo and walks over to shake hands, leaving Tommy to stroll up behind him. "Yo, Eddie?"

"That's me."

"Chaz here. You're coming with me. We may be able to go have a little chat with Nunez before the fight, pep him up."

Eddie's jaw drops. "For real? Dude! Tommy, you have the coolest friends!"

"I do, yeah," Tommy replies. "Hey, I'm gonna hang out with Evan, if you're good with that? Chaz will show you the best time."

"You're not coming with?" But Eddie's already falling in step with Chaz.

Tommy waves him off. "Nah. Evan owes me a drink and I know just the place."

"Oh, b-but you don't have to..." Evan is flustered. "Tommy, you wanted to watch the fight, you flew us here! I can find somewhere to hang out until you guys are done, a-and we can have dinner together."

Tommy studies Evan. His scrutiny seems to make the latter nervous; he turns adorably pink. "It's cool, Evan, I already watched Nunez win his belt so I'm not missing out." As Eddie and Chaz get into Chaz's car, he adds, "And honestly, I think getting to know you is more important." Smiling and motioning to the car rental place, he asks, "Let's find us a place for that beer."

+++

[givinglousday2025]

Three hours left on #GivingLousday!

And if you are more comfortable donating directing to the Alzheimer's Association, feel free to do so. Just remember to take a screenshot of your donation and drop it in our inbox so we can add it to the overall tally.

It has been an incredible day for this drive. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and participated.