#btweek2022

[xthesirenx]

bucktaylor week (day 2) → hugs or kisses

[gins-potter]

BuckTaylor Week Day 1

Title: Better Together

Prompt: “I’m 80% sure this will work.” + working together

There was something adorable about Buck’s perplexed frown as he gazed down at the two pieces of wood in his hands; so much so that Taylor had to fight the urge to smile as she watched and propped a hand on her hip.  She thought they’d well and truly conquered the world of flatpacking back when they’d first moved in together, and certainly when they’d bought their house, and yet here they were, stumped but a bit of wood, some nails, and a set of completely incomprehensible instructions.  

Without Buck, Taylor might have found the situation infuriating, would have gotten frustrated and probably abandoned the project, but with him she found herself just enjoying the time together, no matter how they spent it.  And besides there was something calming about Buck’s patience, something about it that reassured her that they would figure this out, as long as they worked together.

“I feel like we’re missing something,” Buck said, the furrow in his brow deepening.  

Taylor’s hand itched to press her thumb there and smooth out the wrinkle but before she could do so, or even respond, he was surging up on his knees to rifle through all the spare parts and discarded wrapping that had become a jumbled mess on the floor.  

“Why would they have nails in the first place if they weren’t going to include a hammer,” he mumbled to himself as he searched.  “Where am I going to find a hammer?  Bobby probably has one.  Or maybe I could just use this piece as a hammer?”  He glanced up, one of the wooden planks already held aloft to strike the nails, and caught sight of Taylor’s dubious expression.  He grinned, “I’m 80% sure this will work.”

“I’m not sure I’m okay with that 20% margin of error,” she grumbled, leaning down to brace one hand against his shoulder while the other rubbed circles into the hard well of her stomach.  “Buck,” she said sweetly, gazing into his eyes.  “I love you, but if you break any part of this crib I will kill you.  And then send you out to buy a replacement.”

Buck’s eyes sparkled as he ducked his head to press a quick kiss to her belly.  “Don’t worry, baby,” he whispered and Taylor smiled, threading her fingers through the little curls at the base of his neck.  “We’ll make sure you have somewhere to sleep before you arrive.”

“Yes,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper.  “But only if he doesn’t try to hammer a nail in with a piece of wood.”

“I’m not sure what your Momma wants me to use,” he said in sing song to her bump.

“The hammer that Bobby gave us after we stole his last time we had to flatpack something?”

Buck stopped murmuring to her belly long enough to cock his head, sheepish smile crossing his face.  “Forgot we had that.”

“Uh huh,” she said with a grin, and started levering herself to the ground.  Buck hovered around her, hands fluttering a little nervously like he wanted to help, until she got settled, then swore he’d be right back as he dashed outside.  Taylor had thought that Buck’s protectiveness during her pregnancy would have gotten on her nerves by now but once they’d found a happy middle ground Taylor had found the whole thing rather endearing.

Taylor rubbed her stomach, smiling at the little feet that tapped against her hands.  Gazing around the nursery that was slowly coming together, Taylor had to acknowledge to herself that she never thought she’d get to have something as special as this.  After her mother’s death and her father’s imprisonment, she’d taught herself to withdraw, to trust only herself so she never had to feel the same kind of pain ever again.  And it had been a fine life, if not a lonely one, but then Buck had blown into her life.  And he’d been so open, with his affection, with his love, with every part of himself, and she’d learnt how much better everything could get if she allowed herself to be open like that too.

“We really lucked in, little bean,” she said quietly, hunching over a little as if being closer would help the baby hear her.  “I’m pretty sure you got the best daddy in the business.  He’s got the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known, he’ll go to the ends of the earth to make sure you have everything you need, and there’ll never be a day where you don’t feel completely cherished.”

There was a soft rustle from the doorway and Taylor didn’t have to look up to know that Buck had returned even though she hadn’t heard his approach.  She didn’t lift her head, a little embarrassed at having been caught out in her sappy moment, but she could imagine the fond look on his face as he beheld her.

“I’m not so sure about all of that, bean,” he said, coming closer and flopping onto the ground beside Taylor.  “But I do know that your Momma’s the smartest, most beautiful, most amazing woman in the whole wide world.  And I pity the person who ever tries to hurt you, bean, because she’s pretty fierce, your Momma.”

“You’re a dork,” Taylor said, even as she smiled and leaned over to press a sweet kiss to his lips.

“But your dork, right?”

“Right.”

Once they had the hammer, the rest of the construction of the crib went a lot faster.  Taylor got handed the instructions to read, even though she was sure that half of them were in another language and the pictures weren’t much help either.  But between the two of them they got the crib finished and stood back, arms looped around each other’s waists.

“It’s coming together, huh?” Taylor said, leaning her head against Buck’s chest as she gazed around the room.  An underwater mural dominated one wall before fading into the soft cream of the other walls, the furniture was all made of the same pale wood, and they’d forgone carpet in favour of a large area rug.

Buck hummed in response, and swayed them back and forth a little.  “It’s perfect.  You’re perfect.”  He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as one hand held her close and the other tapped out a matching rhythm to their bean’s little kicks.

[chromatophorica]

9-1-1 Fic; BuckTaylor Week #1

Title: even in my worst times, you could see the best in me Pairing: Buck/Taylor Chapters/Length: 1/1 | 3,752 words Rating/Warnings: Teen+; arsonists (not B/T tho) Summary: “I think I see something up there.” As Taylor starts towards it, Buck quickly grabs her arm. “Then why would we walk towards it? This is the part of the movie where someone says ‘let’s split up’ and people die.” He’s not prone to watching scary movies, he’s usually watching movies with Chris after all, but he totally sees this on Scooby-Doo and Daphne always gets trapped somewhere. In this scenario, Buck is sure he’s Daphne. --- Taylor Kelly is on the case of an arsonist in LA, she naturally drives her equally curious boyfriend into her shenanigans. There's no way this can possibly go wrong... Right? Part 1 of BuckTaylor Week; "I'm 80% sure this will work." + Working Together

Link: Fic on AO3

[infinite-beginnings]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Taylor Kelly, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Firehouse 118 Crew Characters: Evan "Buck" Buckley, Taylor Kelly, Bobby Nash, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Athena Grant, Ravi Panikkar, Original Characters Additional Tags: Febuwhump, Febuwhump 2022, Used as an experiment, Kidnapped, Burns, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, worried taylor kelly, bucktaylor, bucktaylor week, btweek, Buck Whump, Evan Buckley Whump Series: Part 7 of Febuwhump 2022 Summary:

Buck disappears from a fire the 118 are fighting. Taylor is reporting on the fire and figures out something is wrong. She teams up with Athena and the 118 crew to try to figure out what happened to Buck before it's too late

Okay, this is a long one because I combined two days. I'm also including a couple of the prompts for BuckTaylor week hosted by @dailybucktaylor. Day 8- “Hey, hey - I’ve got you” + Worry and Day 9- “I’m not going anywhere” + hurt/comfort

[xthesirenx]

bucktaylor week (day 4) → moment you began to ship them

[xthesirenx]

bucktaylor week (day 1) → song

[gins-potter]

BuckTaylor Week Day 7

Title: Smile So Big

Prompt: “It’s a good look on you.” + firefam

a kinda late and kinda cracky final fic for bucktaylor week

“So, there’s something up with Buck, right?”

It’s Chimney who asks the question as he drops into a seat at the table, but Eddie, who’s setting the table for dinner, and Hen, who claims to be supervising, both nod in instant agreement, settling in around him so they can discuss the matter further.  Bobby, who’s in the kitchen, working on dinner for the station, lifts his eyes to watch them but doesn’t interject with his own opinion.

“Oh absolutely,” Hen says, pursing her lips.

“I mean, it can’t be normal,” Chimney continues in the hushed tones of one discussing someone with a terminal illness.  “To be that happy?”

All three of them lean over in unison so they can peer over the railing to where Buck is on the lower level, actually whistling, as he polishes the door handles of one of the trucks.

Because the thing is, Buck is normally a pretty happy guy; he’s quick to smile, always up for a joke or a prank, and doesn’t tend to sweat the small stuff.  But there’s that, normal, level of happy, and then there’s whatever Buck has been lately.  The kind of happy that has him beaming from the minute he walks in for his shift to the minute he leaves, the kind of happy that has him pointing out the silver lining in every situation, the kind of happy where he volunteers to do the jobs that everyone else is doing their best to get out of, and not only volunteers but seems ecstatically happy to be doing them.  It’s more than a little bizarre, and frankly, it’s really starting to worry his friends.

“Whatever he’s on, I want some,” Eddie mumbles, straightening in his seat.

“When did this start?” Hen asks, prepared to work through this methodically.  “It’s been at least a week, right?”

Chimney frowns and scratches his chin as he thinks.  “Since last Thursday, maybe?  He took the morning off to take Taylor to that doctor’s appointment, remember?  He brought brownies in for everyone that afternoon when he got back, and he’s been all smiley ever since.”

“You think something happened after the appointment?” Eddie asks.

“Must be,” Chimney says decisively.  “I doubt he’d be so happy if something had happened at the appointment, and he was already like this by the afternoon, so it has to be something in between.”

Their discussion is interrupted by a quiet scoff, one that’s quickly hidden by a false sounding cough.  The trio twist in their seats to get a look at Bobby, who's trying to hide that he’d been watching them theorise in total disbelief.

“What do you know?” Hen demands.

“That you three would never cut it as police detectives,” he says with a shake of his head as he neatly slices cucumber for the salad.

They ignore the jab and Chimney says, “But you know something.  Buck told you!”

“Buck hasn’t told me anything,” Bobby says carefully, maybe too carefully because Eddie bursts out-

“But you suspect something!”

Bobby just snorts and says, “Sure, and so would you three if you gave it a minute’s thought.”

He’s looking at them with slightly widened eyes, as if trying to emphasise something, but the other three are totally lost, gaping at him for a moment before turning to each other, as if all hoping that one of the others had worked it out.  Bobby scoffs again and just moves to the railing to announce that the food’s ready.

“Right,” Hen says in an undertone to the other two as firefighters stream up the stairs to eat.  “We’ll all try and get it out of Buck over the rest of the shift and then compare notes about what we find out.”

“Right!” the other two agree.

They all turn to see Buck gushing to Bobby about the food he’s prepared, that wide smile still stretched across his face.

“So weird,” Hen says with a delicate shiver, before going to join the chow line.

“So, Buck,” Chimney says, loudly and bluntly over dinner.  “Why are you in such a good mood lately?”

Hen wants to facepalm and Eddie rolls his eyes heavenward at the lack of subtlety, but both wait to hear his response, willing to concede defeat if an outright question is the key to getting the answers they crave.

But Buck just smiles, something knowing and secretive in it, and replies, “Why shouldn’t I be?  I have a job I love, a beautiful wife, and a great family.”  He gestures around at them all and they might have cooed at the sweet sentiments if it hadn’t completely failed to answer the question.

Chimney opens his mouth to continue the interrogation but Buck has already turned away, engaging a fellow firefighter in a conversation about her upcoming wedding.

Hen is slightly more subtle later that night as they’re preparing for bed, but only slightly.

Buck’s standing at the open door of his locker, messing around with his phone, smiling as he taps something out on it.

“You know, Buck,” she says casually, sweetly.  “If you ever wanted to talk about anything, I’m here.”

“I know, Hen,” he says simply.  “And I appreciate it.”

But he doesn’t elaborate further, just pats her shoulder as he walks past.

Eddie doesn’t get a chance to corner his friend until early the next morning when he finds him sitting on the bumper of one of the trucks watching the sunrise.  Their shift will end in only a couple hours and he knows this might be his last chance to find anything out before he has to compare notes with Chimney and Hen and Buck disappears for his forty-eight hours off shift.  So Eddie eases onto the bumper beside him and pretends to watch the sunrise also.

“You know, I consider you my best friend, right?” Eddie says casually, eyes not leaving the horizon. 

Buck blinks a little, looking surprised by the topic.  “Of course. I feel the same way.”

“So, if you had something you wanted to share, I’d be excited to hear it…” Eddie trails off and waits expectantly. 

Buck just chuckles quietly, claps Eddie on the shoulder and says, “And I’ll be excited to share it with you.” He doesn’t offer anything further and Eddie lets it go, the pair just sitting in comfortable silence as the sun steadily rises over their heads.

“Nothing, right?” Hen asks at the end of their shift, looking at the other two as they stand in the driveway

“Nothing,” they confirm glumly.

“Whatever it is, he’s not gonna talk about it until he’s ready,” Eddie says.

Bobby huffs a laugh as he walks by, ready to head home, but stops when Buck calls his name and jogs up to them all.

“You’re all going to be at Bobby’s tomorrow night for the barbecue, right?”

“I’ll be there with Karen and Denny,” Hen confirms.

“I’m bringing Chris,” Eddie adds.

“We’ll all be there,” Chimney finishes, referring to Maddie and Jee.

“Excellent,” Buck says, clapping his hands together.  But he doesn’t offer why exactly that’s excellent before he’s jogging off to his jeep, swinging himself inside, and driving off with a wave of his hand.

The next night does indeed find them all assembled at Bobby’s for dinner, with a lot of chatter and laughter being shared.  Hen, Eddie, and Chimney all keep half an eye on Buck but as the night wears on and his behaviour doesn’t yield any answers, they find their curiosity begin to ebb away.

That is until Buck calls for everyone’s attention claiming to have an announcement to make.  Taylor is at his side, her arm around his waist as she leans into him, a glowing smile gracing her face.  Hen, Chimney, and Eddie all straighten a little, wondering if this will be it.

“Some of you guys have noticed that I’ve been in a pretty good mood lately, and I’m sure have been curious why.  Well, Taylor had a doctor’s appointment last week and it confirmed something that we’ve suspected for a little while.  And there’s no one we wanted to tell before you all, our family, so we’re very excited to announce that Taylor’s pregnant.”

Maddie’s the first to react, letting out an excited shriek, but the others aren’t far behind, words of happiness and congratulations being called out as everyone stands and surges forward to embrace Buck and Taylor.

Hen, Chimney, and Eddie hang back for a moment to exchange glances.  

“We really should have seen that coming, huh?” Hen says, thinking about what Bobby had said.

“Yeah.”

“Uh huh.”

Then they shrug, identical smiles breaking over their faces, as they join the others in congratulating the pair.

“Fatherhood, hey, Buck?” Hen asks when it’s her turn to pull him into a hug.  She gives him a quick once over, noting his happy expression, the way he’s glowing almost as much as Taylor.  “It’s a good look on you.”

[gins-potter]

BuckTaylor Week Day 5

Title: Defend What’s Mine

Prompt: “So that happened.” + meeting the in laws

Taylor would have been nervous for the dinner with Buck’s parents even if she hadn’t known all the details of their past relationship.

She’d had long term relationships before but they’d rarely gotten to the point of meeting one another’s parents, and even when they had, it hadn’t felt anywhere near as important as this.  And the longer they’d put it off, the more her apprehension over the meeting had grown.

Buck had assured her for years that the reason he had never introduced her to them had everything to do with his poor relationship with them rather than any reflection of their relationship and Taylor, knowing what she did of them, had believed him.  But they couldn’t avoid it any longer, not when they were in town and had more or less invited themselves around to their apartment to celebrate their recent engagement.

But despite her nerves and his trepidation the dinner had started as smoothly as could be expected.  Sure, Buck’s parents were about as… friendly, as he had warned, but they managed to get to the dinner table without any voices being raised, which Buck had warned would be considered a win.  Yes, Buck’s father had asked with an infuriating condescending smile whether he was still allowing people to use his nickname, which had caused Buck’s smile to become fixed and distant until Taylor had reached out and taken his hand.  And, of course, there was the moment when his mother had inquired about Taylor’s job and had only sniffed and commented “how modern” when she'd told her about it.  Taylor’s back had stiffened, her entire body going a little cold at the dismissiveness in her tone, before relaxing once again when Buck had settled a hand, large and warm, on her back.

Still, they made it through dinner, enduring the Buckley’s cutting and backhanded comments, and Taylor thought they were home clear by the time she was offering coffee and slices of cake.  Right up until Buck’s mother rested her chin on her clasped hands and turned her frighteningly intense attention on Buck and Taylor.

“So,” she prompted, smile worryingly wide.  “How soon after the wedding are you two planning to get pregnant?”

“Oh,” Taylor said, blinking at the directness of the question.  Buck had only popped the question a few weeks before and they’d been too busy enjoying engaged bliss to start making plans for the wedding let alone for children.  “We hadn’t really talked about it,” she said carefully, with a sidelong glance at Buck.  They had in fact talked about children before, both agreeing that they wanted them, but Taylor wasn’t sure that she wanted to share that with Buck’s parents just then.

“Oh,” his mother said, deflating a little as she shared a sad look with her husband.  “Perhaps that’s for the best,” she added with a heavy sigh.

At Taylor’s side, Buck went rigid, and Taylor felt the fire, which had simmered in her stomach, growing with every barbed comment over dinner, spring higher.

“What do you mean by that?” Taylor asked tightly.  Buck’s hand went to her knee, squeezing gently, but it did little to extinguish that fire.  In fact, if anything, the show of love and support, made it burn all the more.

“Well,” his mother said, oblivious to the temper boiling under the surface.  “Just that Buck is such a daredevil, as I’m sure you know.”  She offered Taylor a commiserating smile that Taylor didn’t return.  “And with how dangerous his job is… it wouldn’t be fair on the child if something unfortunate were to happen.  And besides, I’m not sure Buck has quite the right temperament for fatherhood.”  Buck’s father was nodding mindlessly beside her, while Buck clenched his jaw and looked away, allowing the slight to roll off his back.

Well, Taylor wasn’t so willing.  

All of a sudden, she found herself on her feet, hands clenched into fists as she stared down at them.

“Well, I think you’re wrong.  I think Buck’s going to be an amazing father one day; he’s kind, and he’s patient, and when he loves someone he loves them with his whole heart.  And more than that, I think it’s incredibly sad that you don’t have the kind of faith in your son that he deserves.  And I think you have a lot of nerve coming into our home and talking to him that way.  In fact, I think it would be best if you left now.”

Buck’s parents gaped up at her, before turning their betrayed expressions on Buck, who’d sat quietly during Taylor’s tirade.

“Are you going to let her talk to us this way, Evan?” his mother said in a pitiful, warbling voice.

“I don’t let Taylor do anything, Mum,” is all Buck said in response.  “And I think she said it all.”

They just stared at him for a heartbeat longer, until Taylor said, in a dangerously low voice, “Please leave our home.”

They silently gathered their things and Taylor followed them to the door, seeing them out without another word.  That is until she was about to shut the door behind them and paused for a moment.

“And his name is Buck!” she called after them, before slamming the door.

Buck watched with an unreadable expression on her face as she blew back across the room to start stacking the dirty cups and plates from the table.  She hauled them over to the kitchen and practically threw them into the dishwasher, slamming the door shut when she was done.  And then the apartment just lapsed into a heavy silence, Buck still sitting at the table, while Taylor stood, hands braced on the kitchen counter, long hair falling forward to curtain her face.

“So,” Buck said, blowing out a long breath.  “That just happened.”

“I’m sorry, Buck.”

The words were so quiet that Buck almost missed them, but when they registered, he twisted in his seat in shock, staring at Taylor, still turned away from him.

“What?” he asked, rising from his seat and approaching her.  “What could you possibly have to be sorry for?”

It was only when he touched her shoulder that she turned to face him, her expression remorseful.  “I should have kept my cool, I shouldn’t have talked to them like that.”

“Taylor,” he said gently, thumb stroking along her jaw.  “I don’t think anyone’s stood up for me like that before.  Maddie’s tried but…” he sighed, and shook away the memories.  “I didn’t think I could love you anymore and then you go and do something like that.”

“You’re not mad?”

He leaned down and kissed her softly, sweetly.  “Never,” he breathed against her lips.  “Not for that.”