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sweetwriting · 2 years

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FOUND FAMILY - SO SIMPLE EVEN YOUR KIDS CAN DO IT

Category: Gen

Genre: Angst/Fluff, Romance, Hurt/Comfort

Fandoms: 9-1-1

Continuity: Post 5x10 Wrapped in Red. Not really 5B speculation but kinda

Summary: Eddie's depressed and scared, Buck's angry and sad

A/N: I had to cut the chapter 'cause I can't finish it for now (it's been waiting for a week now). Took me 3 rereads before chosing where to cut it but I really like this cut now:) (also there's one sentencethat ended up a lot like one specific scene in 511 and I feel vindicated)

Word Count: 2 270

Chapter number and title : Chapter 3 – How do we get up ?

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Read it on AO3

He woke up to a headache and a migraine stronger than any kind of headache he’s ever had. Or maybe that’s an exaggeration but it’s up there with the worst he’s had after he was a mix of injured and dehydrated. It took him a few minutes to realize that he still had his socks on and that he hadn’t had any nightmare. For the first time in a month. Which was highly surprising. Until he got back to his pillow and memories of the night before started coming back. He threw the covers to the other side of the bed and got up in a hurry, not knowing where exactly he was going but stopping once he saw Buck’s mop of hair lightened by the yellow undertones of his house at sunrise.

It was…Eddie didn’t know what it was…both ways. He didn’t know if it was the situation of waking up to Buck in his house, or Buck having helped him through whatever last night was, or the knowledge that Buck had spent the night for the first time in forever. He also didn’t know what the was was about. God his head was killing him, he didn’t even understand where his brain was going. Was there even a meaning to his questioning the term “was”? He needed an aspirin. Honestly, he’d take 10 if it wasn’t for the risk of dying from an overdose. He also couldn’t make himself move away from his best friend who was snoring on his couch.

He did manage to leave for the kitchen after a few minutes but still tried to keep an eye on Buck when he wasn’t closing his eyes and taking his head in his hand, pressing on whichever places would relieve a bit of the pain. After a while he just moved to the living room and took the plaid laying on his armchair before sitting in its place and putting it over his eyes. Somehow his migraine had gotten worse and he needed complete darkness. He also needed quiet but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Buck’s side. He wanted to think but he couldn’t get past the pain so for now, he would have to wait it out. It took him an hour but he fell back asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When he was woken up by the sun, the only thing Buck could do was groan, hating every second of it but as soon as he opened his eyes and started to scan his environment -which might or might not have taken up to a few minutes- they settled on a potato shape plaid on the couch next to him. He could see a part of a nose through a small triangle but no other skin was visible. He almost felt like laughing but then he remembered why he had been sleeping at Eddie’s, as well as where he had left Eddie the night before and sucked in a breath.

That’s when the potato stirred. The undulating plaid made for a strange picture and at any other time he would have laughed but right now all he wanted was a hug so he stayed where he was, trying to move as little as possible so he wouldn’t scare Eddie while he was waking up. Or at least as slowly and soundless as he could which, given his stature was almost impossible. He went to the kitchen to get Eddie a glass of water and an aspirin though he figured the aspirin might not be used yet as there was already a bottle on the table.

When he went back to the living room, Eddie had lost the plaid and was leaning forward, his head buried in his hands so Buck put the glass on the coffee table in front of him. Hesitating a bit before sitting on the side of the couch that was closest to Eddie.

He nudged the glass a bit toward Eddie who lifted his head but refused to look at Buck as he took the glass to drink it. Well at least that was something…

“Eddie-“

“I really don’t want to talk about it Buck,” his voice was rough from sleep and probably from crying too but it only served to annoy Buck.

“So you’re just gonna ignore it until it goes away? Because I’d figure at least after last night you would have realized that avoiding your issues might not be a good idea!” Eddie frowned but didn’t reply. He still wasn’t looking at Buck. And Buck well. He was scared. And angry. So angry. So he stopped thinking and just started talking, not that it was easy as he could feel a weight in his throat and in his chest.

“Eddie…Why are you still not talking to me. I-I t-tried to give you space. But i-it just keeps getting worse and I-I can’t keep doing this. It’s like Christmas all over again and,” the weight shifted, it trembled and he could feel his voice so soft with uncertainty not even two seconds ago harden. “It won’t be possible to keep going if we don’t say anything! I need you to talk to me even if it’s to say that you’re not ready to talk yet! We’re supposed to have each other’s back so why don’t you trust me to have yours!”

Eddie hadn’t moved. He was still ignoring him and Buck. He wanted to help, he wanted it so badly it hurt but it downed on him for the first time since Devon, he truly understood that you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. And right now, well for months now that was where Eddie was at and Buck wouldn’t be able to change anything. It wasn’t like Taylor who simply didn’t want to be vulnerable with him, it was that Eddie was incapable of that at the moment and probably wouldn’t be as long as he was left to it. He didn’t know if it was with him or just in general. It’s not like Eddie had ever been forthcoming with anyone other than him, Carla and Bobby. He might have talked to the other two and Buck was relegated to a simple acquaintance who had no weight in Eddie’s life anymore. So he took his phone out.

Which is the one thing that deigned get Eddie’s attention apparently. He looked miserable, which was probably why he hadn’t wanted to look at Buck since Buck wasn’t part of the circle privy to Eddie’s feelings anymore.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Carla and Bobby. I know that even if you don’t talk to me about how you feel anymore you still talk a little to them and it’s fine if you don’t want me here when you’re not okay but you need someone and they seem like the best option to help you.”

“Don’t I-” his voice was trembling but it got steadier as he changed the subject “please sit down you’re too tall for this to happen with you standing. I’m…I’m…God why is this so hard?”

Buck had sat down as soon as Eddie asked him to and chose to keep quiet and let him struggle. It’s not like he wanted to. He wanted nothing more than to help him go through this but he didn’t know how and he would be lying if he said there wasn’t a tiny part of him that was relieved to see him try to talk to him even if it meant hurting him because he was an asshole like that.

“I’m seeing Frank again.”

And it was like all the fight he had in him left in a second. He closed the plaid against himself again, hiding most of his face as Buck…well Buck’s brain stopped. He didn’t exactly know what to think or say since the idea of Eddie accepting therapy seemed as far fetched as seeing a penguin in the Sahara desert. He also didn’t know what to say at the fact that therapy had Eddie like that. He knew that talking could sometimes….unsettle you. He had ended more than once crying in his shower so he wouldn’t bother Taylor, he had had panic attacks, but the state Eddie had been in was worse than bad. And he knew Eddie had been repressing a lot but being faced with this reaction it was…

~ ~ ~ ~

“He doesn’t know her the way I do.”

“Well you don’t know her the way he does. When you think of your sister, you see this person you’ve always looked up to. The woman who’s taken care of you. But maybe that’s not who she is right now. This time, maybe she’s the one who needs to be taken care of.”

~ ~ ~ ~ Oh. Well not “Oh” Oh. It wasn’t like completely out of nowhere. He knew Eddie wasn’t Okay. But giving him space might have had an even worse effect than he had thought and –

“Sue forced me. Apparently normal dispatchers only get one session to see if they’re fit but she’s used to former first responders from the LAFD coming to her station and blowing a fuse because they can’t deal with not being able to act as a way to process stress and trauma. It’s probably made worse by the fact that two of her team know me so she has the proof of almost everything that happened to me in the archives ready to be used.”

Buck had refocused on Eddie who had taken off the plaid from its cocoon position to a burrito one so his face wasn’t hidden anymore. He still wasn’t looking Buck in the eyes but at least his face wasn’t completely turned away anymore.

“I’m…We’re going through the fear part right now and it’s…It’s a lot and with what happened with the truck….I know it was a couple of seconds and the truck blew up after you answered me but…I had a session the day before and I already had a hard time controlling myself and that happened and it was too much and I’m so sorry. It’s not even your fault and I know you’re gonna start thinking it was and I can’t really talk. Because if I do then I risk everything coming back up and I couldn’t…I still can’t but I’m trying and I don’t even think that makes sense and I’m a complete mess and-”

“Okay breathe, you’re starting to panic, can I touch you?” Buck had closed the distance between them as soon as he heard Eddie’s breath pick up. The man was on the verge of another panic attack but he wasn’t there yet and when he nodded, Buck put two fingers on his inner wrist. “follow my lead, you know the drill. Breathe in,” he slowly glided his fingers up to Eddie’s elbow for three seconds. “Breathe out.” And back to his wrist for 3 seconds too. And again. “Breathe in, Breathe out.”

It took a minute but Eddie had calmed down and Buck gave him his glass of water without breaking contact. Eddie still wasn’t looking at him.

“Sorry I’m not. I can’t talk because everything’s a mess and I don’t…Letting anyone, even you, see me like this is…it’s too much and I can’t…right now it’s too much I’m sorry”.

Buck’s hand was still on Eddie’s arm and while it didn’t seem like a good idea to hug the man right now, no matter how much he wanted to, touch didn’t seem to alienate him so he just rubbed his skin as soothingly as he could.

“Eddie, I’m not asking you to describe every single thought you have. I’m your best friend not your therapist. I just…you know you don’t have to pretend with me. I…I know I don’t make it easy and I tend to put others on a pedestal, like with Maddie but you know I won’t judge either if you try to break it”.

At that Eddie looked him in the eye and the intensity there almost gave him a heart attack.

“Hey no. It’s not your fault. Yeah it didn’t help but I was also scared you would see me like this and I did everything I could so you wouldn’t think it was possible for me to panic. You were right I…We’re supposed to have each other’s back in all parts of our lives but outside of work and Christopher I’ve made it impossible for it to happen. I was trying so hard to do what I’ve always done that I didn’t think about what it could do to us. And I probably won’t be able to talk about this for a while but..”

Buck’s chest had warmed over, the way it did when he was with his Diaz boys. Nothing was solved but Eddie had talked to him and he felt like he was on cloud 9.

“Hey it’s ok, I just don’t want you to pretend. If you want me to take Chris so you can recharge or if you need him nearby but aren’t in a state to entertain him, just ask. Hell if you just want to watch dumb movies with Ice Cream I’m game. I…I miss you and I wanna have your back again Eddie.”

Eddie smiled then and well, the Diaz had an uncanny ability to warm him from head to toe with just a smile because of how warm they were. He put his other hand on top of buck’s before he replied.

“I miss you and I want to have your back again too.”

#911 fox #Buddie #Evan 'Buck' Buckley #Eddie Diaz

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sweetwriting · 2 years

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FOUND FAMILY - So Simple Even Your Kids Can Do It

Category: Gen

Genre: Angst/Fluff, Romance, Hurt/Comfort

Fandoms: 9-1-1

Continuity: Post 5x10 Wrapped in Red. Not really 5B speculation but kinda

Summary: Depression and Hypervigilance in one body. What could possibly go wrong :D ?

Word Count: 4 264

Chapter number and title : Chapter 2 – Consequences of an Incident

Previous Chapters / Next Chapters

Read it on AO3

Buck barely had time to step through his door that Taylor was on him, her hands all over his arms before cupping his head. Checking up on him. Warming him up with her worry.

“I’m okay, I have a barely there concussion and I’m a giant bruise but nothing dangerous,” he said as he reveled in her care while she silently led him to the couch.

She sat next to him, still holding on to his arm, she didn’t try to hide her wobbly lips and he didn’t have it in his heart to say anything more.

“I’m still going to check on you, I need to see it for myself”. And well, what could he say to that when he was warm all over at hearing the concern in her voice.

“I’m mad at you. I told you to be more careful, you know you’re not invincible Buck!” She started slowly taking off his clothes to make sure he wasn’t uncomfortable and started at his ankles.

“You promised you’d be more careful,” she was making her way to his hips.

“You’re an asshole and an idiot you know that, right.” Now finishing with his temples. Mapping each of his bruises and…

Well Buck was only human, one thing led to another and next thing he knew he had a very different reason for his lack of clothes than Taylor checking on his bruises.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eddie was feeling betrayed by his thought the moment he started to think “I wish I could talk with Frank right now” when he got home after his shift.

He wanted to call Buck to check on him but it felt like picking his phone, looking through his contacts for Buck and press on the call button was the most complicated and unachievable task in the world. He also figured Buck would be with Taylor and, well Eddie hadn’t been that good of a friend lately, and Taylor had probably picked up most of his duties since she was his girlfriend -at least that’s what he had gathered from the group’s discussions.

Before he left the 118, his exhaustion and worry for Christopher would have been enough for this line of thoughts to flicker out and come morning, he’d be completely able to put them on the back burner. But he was not in the 118 anymore and if being part of dispatch was still incredibly stressful, tiring him out mentally and emotionally, he did not have the physical exhaustion that went with it. At least not the same. Mental and emotional exhaustion did affect his physical fatigue but more in a “can’t move” way than in a “need to sleep it out” way. Hie mind either blank or whirling with thoughts. It did end up fatiguing him enough to go to sleep but only after thinking for hours on end and heightening the chances of nightmares showing up.

So here he was trying to occupy himself while Christopher was doing his homework in his room. A part of him needed to occupy itself and had already catalogued most of what needed to be done, but a different part just…didn’t. And they were warring against each other while he was just…waiting to see which one would win or waiting until this internal war tired him enough that he would end up between wakefulness and sleepiness until Christopher either called for him or got out of his room.

That is, until his eyes caught something he had been avoiding for month. Except right now he couldn’t do anything which included avoiding uncomfortable thoughts. There was a remote on one of the sideboards that shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t its actual place but him and Christopher kept putting it here. Before it would have been the place where Buck would leave his phone, either to charge it or to focus on whatever he was doing. It hadn’t been used that way for months and the place was small enough to not be noticeable. Eddie had refused to notice it, aside from putting the remote there to prevent it from feeling empty.

Except now he couldn’t really think about anything else. His sides had stopped warring against each other. Reaching some sort of truce where Eddie wouldn’t move because he refused to. His thoughts being focused on this place, moving would have meant altering it. He wasn’t ready. Right now, noticing was enough. At least according to Frank. They were gonna work on the whole “failing my family” fear when it came to unravelling his problems but noticing there were problems was a good thing. It was another list in the making. He hadn’t actually started writing it and he’d probably have forgotten half the things he noticed by the time he starts but he couldn’t really bring himself to care.

He spent an uncomfortable amount of time thinking about the remote’s place. About why he had put a remote there instead of something more permanent. Why he had put something that was lifted from it at least twice a day, that could keep on moving. About why he was thinking so deeply about a fucking remote. It was just a remote there was no need to give a symbolic meaning to its place.

Yet he did.

Then Christopher came out of his room and Eddie managed to get out of his head for a little while and managed to do the laundry and clean the living room after he cooked a very basic recipe because he couldn’t do anything more complicated than precooked frozen vegetables (Christopher’s latest favorite was a Mediterranean poelée -whatever poelée meant- that Buck had recommended). They continued their routine and went to bed, Eddie struggling to fall asleep until at least 1AM.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buck woke up feeling warm, little spooned within Taylor’s arm trying to stay there as much as he could before Taylor turned around to turn off her alarm clock. He pretended to sleep when she got up so he wouldn’t have to deal with the idea of getting up.

Taylor had been working on a story for a few days and was being all secretive about it. It had been a while since she had been excited about a story to the point of lamenting not being able to talk to him about it yet. Usually while she liked to talk about her stories, it also didn’t phase her to have to keep some parts secrets. She liked talking but it wasn’t really a need for her. Right now that meant that she left a bit earlier and came to his pl home a bit later than normal and she was always in a rush to get to work when she woke up which was way too much energy than what Buck could withstand at the moment. Between the adrenalin of the truck call and the whole sex part he was exhausted. A good exhausted but exhausted nonetheless and he didn’t have to go to work for another 5 hours. He fully intended to sleep most of that time.

Which he did. He slept for three more hours after Taylor left and spent the rest of that time preparing for Bobby’s next lecture when he walked in for his next shift.

Considering the look Lucy threw him he had gotten the right idea. And when Bobby waved at him to come sit next to him, he almost felt the dread evaporate. At least Bobby wasn’t going to ignore him which was a pretty good win in his book. Even if he might risk being benched.

“You do know you’re going to be benched for the first half of this shift?”

“Yeah I had kind of guessed. But I’m not sure what happened with my rope, I was sure it was as well done as the others,” OK so he was trying to butter Bobby a little, but you can’t blame him. He might be happy that Bobby was talking to him but that didn’t mean he enjoyed having Bobby annoyed with him. Though considering Bobby’s face this might not have been the best thing to say.

“First of all, this isn’t the reason I’m benching you. But I can tell you what happened. You never check as much your own material as you do others’.

Don’t think Eddie didn’t tell me some of the signs to watch out for after he left,” And Buck didn’t know how to feel as Bobby fixed him with a sad and disappointed look. He was used to those sure but crane incident aside, it had been a while since he had one as gut wrenching as this one. “I’m benching you because you jumped on a rigged truck right after Lucy without being sure your ropes would be able to hold on and only verified them after. I know that you and Lucy have some daredevil competition going on and while I’m not a fan of it, you usually make sure your protections are good to work. But it’s like the more time passes, the more you allow yourself to skip some of the protective measures. If this keeps up I’m going to have to bench the both of you until a psych eval can clear you. The 147 asked for Lucy to come here because they saw how you’ve calmed down the past few years and Lucy’s lack of self-preservation was going to lead her to be either fired or benched indeterminately. If you want to have your competition, I’ll allow it but you have to think about your safety too otherwise we won’t be able to keep you. I’ll also have to recommend you for a psych eval. Some other stations may be fine with this kind of behavior but you should know by know that the 118 is not one of them and-“ the siren sounded, calling the team to a new call and forcing Bobby to stop mid-sentence. Not that Buck hadn’t known where Bobby was going. He had almost finished his spiel after all. ”We’ll continue this when I’m back. And you need to rest so I don’t want to see you lifting weights today.”

He left while Lucy was coming upstairs with a smirk on her face.

“Did he have time to finish grounding you too?”

“Mostly. It’s not like he’s wrong but it feels weird especially since...Wait I think he said Eddie told on me or something.” He couldn’t actually remember what Bobby had said and he hadn’t really paid attention either but still…He was going to ask him to clarify it later.

“C’mon we had our gear and it was kind of an emergency! Plus, you had your overly worried former army medic ex on the other side of the phone. It’s not like waiting longer would have helped!”

“And yet. I fell down a moving truck while I should have been secured so he’s not wrong.” No matter how annoying Buck thought that was, he had matured a bit in the past four years and even he could understand what he did wrong. He didn’t regret it though. Prioritizing the victims’ and his teammate’s safety was his job. Said teammate meanwhile was rolling her eyes.

“Why are you actually trying to be mature? You’re the same as I am. You like the adrenalin of the job.” She sighed as she settled next to him and started to look over the list of chores left “I get that you’re trying to do the whole adult thing for your kid and your ex but that doesn’t mean you have to discard who you are completely.”

“It’s not that, Taylor was super worried and I promised her to try and be better. I also kind of promised myself to try and be more mature.” Lucy had been making jokes about him and Eddie being exes since the moment she joined and while he had tried to make her stop, it only spurred her on. Also she wasn’t completely wrong even if he and Eddie weren’t the romantic type of exes, a big part of their current situation was similar. So now he just accepted that this was how she viewed them.

After that they each went on doing their chores before the others got back, joking around to pass the time.

Still he couldn’t help thinking. He hadn’t actually been that much reckless this time. At least not that much more than usual and he didn’t understand why this was the call that set Bobby off. Was it because it reminded him of the truck that fell on Buck? Maybe, it was because of a kid who wanted his revenge on Bobby that he happened after all and while Buck never blamed Bobby about that, he could see the man feeling guilty about it anyway.

When they got back Buck couldn’t help but ask what Bobby meant when he said Eddie had warned him.

“Just that. He reminded me and made me promise to make sur you didn’t forget to take care of yourself while making sure everybody else was safe.

Which I’ve failed obviously. So don’t expect me not to get on your case from now on” to which Buck groaned.

Luckily tomorrow was Saturday which meant that in the evening he could go get Christopher so he could spend the night and the whole Sunday with him. He wasn’t sure whether Taylor would be here though. While she and Christopher had a much better relationship than she had with Eddie, they didn’t exactly click either so while they got along Taylor didn’t especially care to spend time with them when Buck had his Superman with him. So he might have the time to ask Eddie what that was about.

All in all he did leave this shift 20 hours later feeling much calmer than he was when he started it. To the point that he almost didn’t mind Bobby’s raised eyebrow when he told him his next session with Dr Copeland was in 3 weeks.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eddie was not feeling well. Not only did he fall asleep late but he also woke up twice from nightmares so bad he was still shaking when he wasn’t forcing himself to stay still to avoid worrying Christopher. And he hated this feeling of feeling so wrong footed and so completely and utterly scared. Of every sound, of every smell. He just couldn’t sit and relax. Every time he tried to take a small nap the sheer terror he felt made him almost jump out of the couch. He just couldn’t. Stop.

He sent a message for Carla to bring Christopher to Abuela because it was only 2PM and he was on edge. Christopher should not see him like this.

He had mostly managed to keep himself in check so far but for the first time he wasn’t sure he was going to manage it for long. So he hid in his room until she came and told Christopher Buck would come take him from her place because Eddie was getting sick and he was scare he’d spread it to Christopher.

It only worsened from then on. Every single sound in the street, not just the big ones but something as simple as the wind would set him off. So when he heard the sound of a car in his driveways and someone coming up he froze and he could feel the fright reaching new heights as his hands trembled. He tried to take his bat but he needed four tries before managing to keep his grip on it. When the door opened, he swung.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buck was trying out different speeches in his mind. He and Eddie didn’t talk anymore. They kept everything surface level. But when he chose to leave without talking to Buck about it before (or after), he still took the time to try and protect him. Now Buck wasn’t dumb. He knew perfectly well that even if they had their issues Eddie still cared. The way they worked together during calls was proof of that. There were parts that they just…knew and understood completely about the others. But with everything that was going on Buck…Well Buck thought that in Eddie’s case it was reserved strictly for their calls. Everybody knew he was reckless and they all knew on a surface level that it was caused by his parents’ lack of care. Eddie was the only non-therapist one who had noticed -that he knew of- it expended to Buck’s lack of self-esteem. But when Eddie left, Buck had made incredible efforts to stop that. There was no reason to think he’d revert back to it. At least Buck didn’t expect it.

And yet…

So now, he was here a bit early to talk with him.

Nowadays he usually knocked when visiting Eddie’s house. But he made an exception when he got Christopher for the night because Christopher usually roped Eddie into trying to fit almost an entire bookcase in his bag and it was just easier for everyone if Buck let himself in. Still as he arrived next to the house, the utter silence and lack of light set off an alarm in his head. And he was lucky it did because the moment he opened the door he heard a weird noise in the air and only had time to jump back, yelling a short “What the hell?” before trying to attack his assailant. That was when the streetlights caught on his attacker and the shock stopped his moves. He looked completely out of his mind and Buck couldn’t help the cry that came out of his mouth then.

The “Eddie”, that came out was half sob, half pleading. Pleading for what he wasn’t sure. But it was there nonetheless.

At that Eddie stopped. His eyes seemed to clear and then he just. He stopped. And Buck wanted to run to him because he wasn’t, wasn’t in his right state of mind but was scared he would just be setting him off so he stayed where he was.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He had attacked Buck. He had just attacked his second favorite person in the world. He was. He didn’t know what was going one. He was so…too much. Everything was too much. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t keep standing. He couldn’t keep everything in anymore. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.

And Buck was here. Looking…Something. Eddie couldn’t decipher it because he couldn’t. He only knew he wasn’t standing anymore because the angle was different but he didn’t know what it was. Where he was. He just couldn’t.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buck had been scared a lot in his life. He could say without hesitation than in the past few years. Christopher and Eddie had been the top reasons for his biggest scares along with Maddie.

It had never been this kind of fear though. Because Eddie didn’t crack. He had a level of repression that was almost inhumane and, honestly, Buck sometimes doubted Eddie was capable of not repressing his feelings. He knew the chances of Eddie exploding were high especially since they were partners for almost four years but it all felt. Theoretical. Far away. A panic attack masquerading as a heart attack was one thing but this…This was more than that.

And then he saw Eddie fall down in a sitting position. Back against the table, clutching the fucking bat like it was a lifeline sobbing and repeating “I can’t”, over and over and over even during and after Buck asked him if he could step closer and hug him. He acquiesced but kept to his mantra until all energy left him, almost lifeless in Buck’s arms.

Luckily, he had exhausted himself enough that within a few minutes his breathes became less and less shallow. Until they were calm to the point that if Eddie’s face didn’t still look haunted, with tear streaks and he wasn’t in Buck’s arms, Buck would have believed he made it up (and Buck didn’t have the imagination required for a scenario like this). He wasn’t sure how long it was since he came through the door, or since Eddie started crying…or sleeping. He wasn’t sure if he had been here for 5 minutes or 5 hours and frankly he didn’t care. Until he realized he hadn’t seen nor heard Christopher since he entered the house. He didn’t know whether he should go check on him directly or take Eddie to his room first. On the one hand it would probably be better for Christopher not to see his dad like this. On the other hand, if Christopher needed his help urgently he needed to be there, especially since he didn’t know how long it had been.

Still, he chose to get Eddie out of the way first. Since both bedrooms entrance faced each other, he would just deposit Eddie on his bed before looking.

So he looked. And looked. But he couldn’t find Christopher. His overnight bag was gone and so were the books he told Buck he was reading. When he was done he went to Eddie’s bedroom and started looking for his phone which was out of battery. Of course. It took 5 minutes for it to be charged enough that Buck could open it (Eddie had changed his password, luckily Buck had forced him to record his fingerprints before and those didn’t change. It was scary how this reminded him of Chim, Maddie and Doug and he did his best not to let the panic overwhelm him).

Eddie had two new messages from Carla. Buck looked a bit above to see when the conversation had started and there he saw it. Eddie asking Carla to come take Christopher until Buck came to take him to his place because he felt too sick and didn’t want to infect Christopher. Carla agreeing, then Carla asking Eddie if he knew where Buck was because he hadn’t come at the agreed time and hadn’t answered his phone. Which is when he realized he had been so lost in his thoughts that he had left his phone behind. Hopefully he only left it in his car.

He decided to call Carla from Eddie’s phone so as to not worry them more. Because he could imagine how worried Christopher was. When he heard Carla’s “finally” he immediately launched into an explanation he hoped didn’t give away too much of Eddie’s state and trying not to let his voice give it away.

“Hi Carla, I’m sorry Eddie forgot to warn me because he was in a pretty bad shape. I kinda forgot my phone in my car so I couldn’t warn you and his was completely out of battery. He forgot to actually take care of himself so I put him to bed and then I looked for Christopher all around the house so I just saw your message on his phone. Do you think you can keep an eye on him until tomorrow afternoon? I think right now I’d prefer to make sure Eddie doesn’t try to cook chicken soup for himself…”

“Aw Buckaroo that’s ok, we were a bit worried but we know how the traffic is in LA so we thought it was just that. And of course he can stay here. Here he wants to talk to you.”

“Hey Buck!”

“Hey Superman!”

“Why aren’t you coming? We were supposed to have this day for us.”

And Buck, well, could you blame him for the wave of fondness he felt at that moment. The calmness he felt hearing that Christopher was okay and talking about their time together as if it was special…his heart always felt full but right now it was even more welcome than usual.

“Your dad was sick enough that he forgot to warn me you weren’t here and I found him trying to cook chicken soup for himself. I couldn’t just let him. Like sure he probably wasn’t going to cause himself food poisoning but since he’s sick he should a soup that actually warms him you know, like when you had the flu 2 months ago? So I figured I should stay with him until tomorrow around noon while you stay with Carla so you don’t get sick too. You don’t mind?”

Christopher took a few seconds to think. Buck could imagine him pouting because of his disappointment but he didn’t expect what the boy said next. “Are you gonna be friends again?”

Because of course he had noticed the space between them. Granted it was a lot easier to see since they weren’t forced to spend between 12 and 24 hours together now.

“It’s not that we’re not friends anymore, it’s just that we’ve had some issues. We still care about each other a lot though and we still take care of each other so it might take time but we’ll find a way. Don’t worry.”

“Ok.”

And that was it. The call ended and Buck…Well he was exhausted but he still took the time to at least take off Eddie’s shoes and socks, to go look in his car and hope his phone was there (it was) and then made the couch to sleep in it. Tomorrow was probably going to be just as tiring. He just hoped Eddie wasn’t going to completely ignore the meltdown he just had. He didn’t think he could take it.

#911 fox #Buddie #Evan 'Buck' Buckley #Eddie Diaz #911 main cast

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sweetwriting · 2 years

Text

FOUND FAMILY - So Simple Even Your Kids Can Do It

Category: Gen

Genre: Angst/Fluff, Romance, Hurt/Comfort

Fandoms: 9-1-1

Continuity: Post 5x10 Wrapped in Red. Not really 5B speculation but kinda

Summary: Slaps a picture of Eddie's face: This bad boy can fit so much trauma inside.

ft Therapy, Eddie's PoV on last chapter and then some and finally, Sue being everyone's mom

Word Count: 3001

Chapter number and title : chapter 1: The Stuff of Nightmares - Buck’s POV

Previous Chapters / Next Chapters

Read it on AO3

“Think about a time you felt most afraid?” Frank had asked in one of their first session.

“What are you afraid of?” Frank had asked again in his third one.

“Pretty open ended question don’t you think ?” he had replied. Sarcasm to avoid answering a personal question. That was a classic Eddie move. Frank had looked at him with that look. The look that said he knew what Eddie was doing. The look that asked “what are you doing here if you're going to avoid questions like that ?”. OK maybe the second one was a stretch to remind himself why he was here and that’s because even if he really, really, really disliked the idea of going to therapy, he needed to come.

As he had once said to Frank that he didn’t want his son to become like him and Christopher had been hiding his fear since the shooting to avoid worrying him. Eddie hadn’t wanted that for his son then and he still doesn’t want it now.

And while he had avoided admitting it to himself for months on end, he still had nightmares, actually had more of them now and the panic attacks, while not as big as they had been with Ana, were still there. So, after he left the 118 and got a mostly desk job at the FPB which he left within less than a week because he could not stay behind a desk and run numbers, after he tried for the 911 dispatch center’s EMS/Paramedic specialty and after talking to Sue, he was back in Frank’s office. Mostly because he was forced to since the Dispatch center still had proof of some of the Events he went through and they couldn’t in good conscience hire someone who went through so many traumatic events in so little time to work behind a phone to help others. Normally it was just one session but Sue had advocated for 2 months’ worth of bi-weekly appointment even if Frank had cleared him due to Eddie being good at dealing with pressure during calls. Because being held at gunpoint twice within six months and leaving your job because you worry your son to go into one that’s less dangerous because you still help people from afar without being able to act when you try to help them requires more therapy for you than other people.

For the first two sessions Frank’s had gone easy on him. Asking him questions while giving him an out along with them, or simply switching the subject if he hadn’t shown a sign he’d answer within 5 minutes and left it at that. But now… well he still let Eddie not answer if he really didn’t want to but he didn’t give him an out. It was up to Eddie to make his choice and to say whether he wanted to talk about something or not. Frank was nothing if not direct. Not forcing anyone but also not letting them escape unless they specifically asked for it (or he might have done it in other cases but Eddie hadn’t been in those).

That’s why Eddie was here. Because while he’d love to keep repressing and avoiding, he needed this job and because…Christopher was emulating him. He was aware that Eddie wasn’t feeling well (or so Carla said) and he was worried about him when it should have been the other way around. So he’s here. And he couldn’t answer this question with anything other than sarcasm. But after Frank’s look he added.

“I’m scared for Chris.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank had told him that while it was a good thing he had managed to find an answer so quickly Eddie had actually been right in saying it needed to be narrowed down. So, his exercise for their next session was to write down a list of other plausible answers.

And look. Eddie had tried. Not very hard sure but he had tried. Only then Buck came to bring Christopher home and Eddie could only think of everything and nothing at once. Because he was starting to understand some things. Like how he had forgotten how to ask Buck about his life, even if most of the time he hadn’t needed to because they used to talk so much he had probably never known in the first place and now he was lost. Or how he simply missed the man.

Now the most personal info he got on Buck was from May who got it from Bobby and Athena.

How he wished he could bring up his therapy session, how hard it was to be on the other side of emergencies and not being able to act directly. How he was starting to realize he should have taken a leaf out of Maddie’s book and at least tell Buck before he left. How he should have done better than her and talk to him regularly after he left which…okay it was incredibly harsh on Maddie and it was unfair but he knew Buck and he knew how torn up he had been from not having any news even if they hadn’t exactly talked about it since their last real heart to heart on Buck’s balcony. Which was a while ago.

Yet no matter how hard he tried the only things that came out were cordial and polite greetings and work anecdotes, and they still joked around but the subjects only got deeper when they were talking about Christopher.

One more fear. Or several he wasn’t sure and when he got back to the list, his brain was still blank.

So he wrote down one word: Buck.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Christopher hadn’t been mad at his decision but he hadn’t been happy either. Knowing that his father wasn’t a direct line of danger had helped digesting it but he had been mad to be presented with the fait accompli. Which was what made Eddie realize that Buck probably also had an issue with it. He had also been scared of not seeing Buck as much as he usually did but Eddie had known it would never happen to Christopher again. Buck would never leave him voluntarily. So things had been a bit tense at first, then Buck came and got Christopher for a whole day, and then again a week later and things got better even if Buck almost never stayed past dinner though Christopher hadn’t remarked on it yet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He woke up from a nightmare, again. He was sweaty and shaking and he could still see some parts when he closed his eyes while trying to avoid said parts. So now he was sitting at the foot of his bed, head in hands, rocking himself to try and appease the uncomfortable feeling under his skin, exhausted and fatigued after reliving being buried in a tunnel with little to no light, little to no air, a lot of dirt and the will to fight to come back home without knowing if he ever would. At that point he had only known that while he might die trying to find an out, he would have been definitely dead if he had stayed wherever he was and he had to get home.

By now his list had taken some shape, he had even started ordering it from scariest to not as scary.

Leaving Christopher

Traumatizing Christopher

Christopher becoming as closed off as he was

Christopher being hurt

Failing his family

Failing his team

Remembering how close he had been to death, not knowing whether he’d survive Several times such as - Afghanistan - The Well - The Shooting - Mitchell

Buck

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank had lifted an eyebrow as he read the list but didn’t pry. Yet. Just said it was one more step toward understanding and learning to deal and defuse whatever reaction Eddie got from his trauma.

It used to be so much easier.

When he was first discharged, he had PT and had to get reacquainted with his family and then he had worked several jobs. When he moved to LA, between paying for the house and paying for his FFT he had needed a side job. When he joined the 118, the 12 and 24 hours shifts made sure he was exhausted enough to sleep without dreaming.

But then he got shot and while the dreams didn’t come all at once as he was still very busy with PT and entertaining Ana, they had still started making themselves known.

Frank said the same as that cardiologist: Repression.

And well, Eddie wasn’t dumb but apparently he spent so much of his life repressing pretty much everything that he ended up not remembering how to do anything else and not realizing he was doing it half the time.

And Frank wasn’t… He was not the soft type of therapist. When they needed it, he allowed his patients time and space and empathy -too much in Eddie’s opinion and he didn’t really know what to do with it half the time. However he also knew when to shake them.

“Back when you first came here you said you didn’t want Christopher to become like you and you wanted to try being better at expressing your own emotions. Clearly you were not ready to do it then and we’ve done more progress in the past week than you did the whole month after Christopher’s nightmares 2 years ago, though part of it is probably due to the fact that you have been here before. It’s obvious that Christopher is your priority however, before we can get there I believe we have to deal with at least one of the items on this list.”

“What? We’re gonna go back to my childhood and talk about how my mother is the root of all my issues? I thought you were a real therapist” Frank leveled him with the patient type of look that annoyed Eddie so easily. And yeah Ok they had breached his family during his first sessions all those years ago, he had literally left his State to escape them and Frank was at least somewhat aware of that so of course he knew Eddie was deflecting but knowing that didn’t mean Eddie had to like it.

“Why do you believe hiding from your emotion shows more strength than braving them?”

That was a punch in the gut.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That session had unsettled him so much he couldn’t stop spacing out for the next 12 hours.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A new day, a new nightmare.

It was a terrible way to start the day and, to be honest, it only got worse.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

« Sir I need you to keep your foot on the gas »

The call had come a few minutes ago. Josh made a comment about the movie speed but Eddie didn’t really remember it so he focused on what was happening.

A man and his niece, Daryll and Rebecca were in their family truck, going to something, he hadn’t been paying attention when the man told him he had gotten a message telling him his truck would explode if he went under 50m/h. And it was scary but he managed to send a team, the closest one was the 118. He had not yet gotten used to hearing Bobby on the other side of this line. It was only the second time he heard him since starting at dispatch two weeks ago.

“Copy that Dispatch. ETA 3 minutes”

“Alright Daryll, I just sent you one of my favorite teams, they’ll be here within the next 3 minutes and are gonna get you out of here as quickly as possible but for that I need you to keep going.”

He switched channel to talk to the team and gather more information on their plan so he could reassure the victim.

“What’s your plan Cap?” which was a bit informal but Eddie felt he could be given some slack given the high stress of the situation.

“For now we only have jumping on the trunk’s cargo bed and extracting the victims. Buckley and Donato are ready to go as soon as we get in view of the truck.

Look.

« Truck », « Buck » and « bomb » were not words he had wanted to hear in the same phrase ever again. And yet.

While they did hold the memory of their first rapprochement, of the moment they clicked and that memory had… it was special, they also held the memory of being so helpless, right after Shannon’s death, of seeing Buck crushed under a truck, of having to watch from afar a crazy guy threatening to kill his best friend, or, at least, preventing them from helping, from soothing the incredible pain he was probably in.

And he… he couldn’t…

He was gripping his desk as he heard himself reply with a “roger that”. Josh was asking him if he needed to be replaced.

Eddie refused.

He may not be able to act directly but he could at least try and keep Buck safe from where he was and for now, that would have enough.

As a former firefighter, former army medic and certified EMT he was allowed to take a situation like this into his own hands if there was no one specialized on the scene. And honestly had it just been the bomb he might not have taken control as fast as he did, but with the 118 on the scene, with Buck’s reckless abandon to protecting others, he had acted on impulse and taken charge of the situation.

“Patch me through to them, I’ll help them deal with the bomb if needed until someone more qualified’s available”.

Just then Bobby’s “Alright then” was interrupted by a panicked Ravi screaming after Buck.

Eddie’s blood froze again.

“Firefighter Buckley why did firefighter Panikkar yell at you like that?”

“Following my partner dispatch,” and ouch, if he wasn’t panicking this would have hurt so much. He was certain of that because he could feel the undercurrent of hurt amidst the pool of severe anxiety rising. And then because Buck still obviously cares too much about him he added “Try not to worry too much, it’s not the first time we’re dealing with a bomb together Eddie, it’ll just be a bit different than usual”.

“As long as it only ends the same way as the grenade, I’m game but don’t ask the impossible. Not worrying about you is a hard thing especially since I’m the one who would have to tell Christopher. And please try to listen to your captain’s orders”.

Where was Buck right now? Near the victims? Still far enough that he could run if he needed to? Not that he would do it if there was a chance of saving the victims but Eddie could hope.

“Aw that’s cute, is there anything new we should know?”

“No Cap gave you all the details so just be careful.”

“Copy that. Daryll, Rebecca! it’s the LAFD we’re gonna break the glass so we can get you out and on our truck as fast as possible OK!”

Eddie didn’t really know what was going on but apparently they had gotten Rebecca out and were almost done getting Daryll out after getting him into a harness.

He heard movement and then Buck, screamed. Well everybody else did really, they screamed his name but Eddie couldn’t focus on them. And then he heard the truck explode.

“BUCK! DO YOU COPY? BUCK!”

He yelled his best friend’s name for…he didn’t actually know how long, he yelled until he heard him.

“I’m good Eddie, the truck had slowed down a lot by the time I fell and Hen’s checking me out. At most I’ll have a headache and will stay inside with Christopher when I see him on Thursday.”

“You better. Don’t forget Hen will tell me what I need to know”.

And then he hung up.

He knew Josh was still here but he still jumped when he heard him.

“You need a break, and I can see you start shaking your head but even if we forget that this is your former team and partner, this call was your first big adrenalin rush without being able to act and you will need some time to adjust.”

Eddie hated that Josh was right and he made sure his face showed it but he still went to the break room where Sue was waiting for him with coffee. They sat in silence for a few minutes before he broke it.

“Is this why you asked me to see Frank for two months?”

“Mostly yes”, she took a sip waiting him out.

“I knew I’d probably be worried but I didn’t expect that, especially considering I’ve barely had any calls with the 118’s A shift yet”.

“That’s actually part of the reason why you haven’t had many shifts in common. When a first responder who’s usually on the scene becomes part of our team, we tend to ease them in, which includes making sure they won’t have to listen to their former team being in danger.”

It made sense to Eddie, First responders tended to have a sort of hivemind quality to them so needing to adjust before sending them to dangerous situations was probably a good idea. Still something caught his interest.

“Part of the reason ?” Sue smiled sympathetically, she knew she had caught him but that wasn’t the cause of this smile.

“The other part is that you’re the former partner of Maddie’s younger brother. I’ve seen her worry over him for three years and I don’t doubt you’re going to keep this torch going.”

Which.

Fuck.

#911 fox #Buddie #Evan 'Buck' Buckley #Eddie Diaz #911 main cast

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sweetwriting · 2 years

Text

FOUND FAMILY - So Simple Even Your Kids Can Do It

Category: Gen

Genre: Angst/Fluff, Romance, Hurt/Comfort

Fandoms: 9-1-1

Continuity: Post 5x10 Wrapped in Red. Not really 5B speculation but kinda

Summary: Leaving the 118 hadn't actually changed their relationship much because they had started drifting apart a while ago. They just...Weren't forced to spend time together anymore.

Two dumbasses who love each other very much (just, maybe not as platonically as they believed) learn to navigate their trauma before remembering that maybe, just maybe, they should talk because they fucking miss each other.

Word Count: 2435

AN: Hey everyone! it's been a while. I come back with a different fandom but as always I'm a sucker for the found family trope and this show's summary is basically 'Dramatic Firefighters and their found family' with the addition of 'classic procedural show slowburn but make it queer" so... I had no chance.

Chapter number and title : Prologue - Buck's POV

Previous Chapters / Next Chapters

Read it on AO3

Buck knew that he had been part of the rare people who were awarded the gift of knowing the map of Eddie’s inner workings by the man himself, if not the only person that wasn’t born in his family. Sure it wasn’t a detailed map but it was specific enough for him to guess some of the unwritten details.

So, really, he should have known to act instead of waiting for Eddie to get his head out of his butt and get him to at least admit he wasn’t completely fine. But he had only done it once when Eddie couldn’t deny the fact that he had gone to the ER. He hadn’t done it at any other time. Because he usually followed Eddie’s lead. He waited for Eddie to stop hiding, probing him a bit to see where he was at. Eddie rarely ever got into details about what was troubling him but he generally at least talked about the fact that there was a problem. Or he had...before the shooting…

Knowing that Buck had waited, and he hadn’t talked about his own issues with the shooting because if Eddie wasn’t ready to talk about it, it would have been unfair for Buck to force him. And they had started to drift apart.

It wasn’t completely obvious at first aside from the fact that Buck missed him even when they were in the same room but then he realized it was because they were out of each other’s orbit most of the time. They were still in sync when they teamed up but that’s all they had become. Colleagues, teammates.

The only time this distance closed was when they talked about Christopher.

And Eddie leaving the 118 well…Hadn’t actually changed anything because they didn’t really spend time with each other anymore. So they talked about Christopher and sometimes Buck would stay for dinner or for movies if Christopher asked but he never stayed afterwards. Because the only thing that changed was that they weren’t forced to spend time together at work anymore, they didn’t have the 118 around them to talk to about whatever was going on in their life, didn’t have the 118 to allow them to know about each other’s life indirectly. So now they talked about the dumbest or weirdest calls they had since they last saw each other but that was as far as it got.

Christopher and other people’s stories. Not their own.

And he missed it. He missed Eddie so much but he was also so, so, so mad at him for refusing to let him in, for letting, for encouraging this drift to enlarge until only emptiness remained. Because while Buck had been scared to go too far he still had tried. Not enough, barely anything really, but he had still tried and Eddie had chosen to shut him out completely. To the point of avoiding most of Buck’s own issues unless they were brought up when they were with the team.

And look Buck knew Eddie was like…Capital “R” Repressed. The street fighting kinda proved that and even if Eddie hadn’t gone back to it, it didn’t mean he had found a way to deal with his issues that was healthy, simply not as bad as that mess had been…or at least less likely to get him arrested again…

In the meantime, Buck had…greatly lessened his sessions with Dr Copeland. Not that he thought he was above therapy, but he figured that with Taylor in the picture he didn’t need it as much. He also thought that if he spaced out the sessions it wouldn’t be as hard to talk about the shooting, or the crane, or the kidnapping, or Maddie leaving, or betraying Chim and him leaving and that it was still better than to not talk about it. But with one session every month and a half well… They had barely even breached the subject of him dating Taylor aside from “Between my girlfriend, Christopher, Eddie, and Maddie and her baby I’m swamped and oh no I have a shift on that day, how about three weeks after since I don’t have anything planned yet?”. He wasn’t proud of it and he was sure Dr Copeland had known what he was doing but he also felt bad at the idea of bringing Taylor up in therapy considering their relationship was still new enough that she shouldn’t bring with her problems big enough to talk about in therapy. Especially considering…Everything else.

So he hadn’t gone in a while and it definitely didn’t help because he was so angry, so mad, all the fucking time, Eddie leaving had just worsened it it but it was already settled within his chest and growing steadily long before that. So he tried not to lash out at other people, not to make it their problems but sometimes it still came out. In a too harsh comment or with a gesture that slightly more violent than usual. He didn’t think anyone had noticed (Eddie would have noticed before the shooting, actually Eddie had noticed it before) because he was much better at hiding his feelings than any of them realized. He had spent a lifetime perfecting it even if he had had to change his methods since hook ups weren’t exactly his thing nowadays.

Point is, he was a mess and Eddie leaving without talking to him first was the last straw for them so now they just…continued to exist separately as Christopher’s caretakers. Buck spent some time with Chris, sometimes even had him a whole Week-End and he organized most everything through text messages with either Carla or Eddie.

The worst part was that he understood. He probably understood more than Eddie himself did. Because even Eddie doesn’t have access to the detailed map of his inner workings and, to be honest, probably didn’t even read the normal map most of the time. So Buck could guess easily that while Eddie was indeed leaving because Christopher had expressed his fear of Eddie dying, Eddie reacted the way he did because he was just as scared as Christopher was. Because he still understood the core of who Eddie was and he knew what had happened to him so he could make an educated guess but…he didn’t actually know where Eddie was at because he didn’t know him anymore.

Now Eddie had been gone from the 118 for a month, and they were still drifting apart more than ever. And Christopher was starting to notice. Or had noticed a while ago and only started mentioning it now.

And Buck, well, he didn’t know what to do. So for now he just ignored it until his next therapy appointment.

Working helped. Working with Lucy specifically. She was no Eddie of course, even at their worst him and Eddie were in complete sync when working, but she was similar enough to Buck that they partnered up rather well. Not that Bobby or Hen would agree. He could see them frown sometimes when they were being maybe a bit too reckless. He had been way worse as a probie but it’s true that aside from the crane incident when Eddie was at the hospital, Buck hadn’t been as reckless for the past two years as he had been in a single month with Lucy at his side.

Even outside of their adrenalin seeking fun, she was a pretty cool person, a fairly badass one actually and had it been Buck 2.0 he might have felt threatened but despite his issues, at this point he knew Bobby and Hen weren’t gonna replace him. So he was happy to team up with her. Taylor though? Not so much. At first he thought her moodiness was due to misplaced jealousy as he talked a lot about Lucy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As it turned out the recklessness was the problem. This morning’s last call had ended up on the internet and when he got home, she was there ready to chew him.

“Why do you keep doing this?” Great she was yelling again. Granted that was the most interest they had shown each other outside of sex in a while and a small part of him was glad she was worried. Which was stupid, of course she was worried since she loved him.

Still, it would have been nice for her to wait until after he had taken his coat and shoes off. And as if he wasn’t already annoyed at the pitying looks he got from Hen, being yelled at as soon as he got through his door wasn’t the best thing in the world for the anger that was constantly simmering beneath his skin.

“Doing what? Taking risks? I’ve always taken risks! I’m kind of known for that. It’s not like it’s new!”

They were each on a side of the bar and that was good as he used the surface to try and avoid sudden movements while she was angrily holding on to the bar.

“Not like that! It’s as if you’re trying to one up the other as to who will get hurt the worst on a call! I thought being a firefighter was something you couldn’t see yourself stopped doing so why do you keep trying to find new ways to stop your career? God I’m so annoyed with you right now! I thought I could talk to you about this right now but I’m actually too worried for words so I’m gonna go back to my place. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That had been a week ago. They hadn’t really talked about it again. She had mostly just said she loved him and pressured him into promising he’d take less risks. And he did, just…Probably not the way she expected.

They were on a call about a bomb put in someone’s SUV and Eddie was on the other side of the line. It’s not like it was the first time this happened and usually Buck did his best not to feel too wrongfooted at hearing Eddie through this line. He had actually mostly managed that but a bomb call? In a truck? without Eddie? It was a bit too on the nose from the universe even if he didn’t know what it could really mean. He already knew he missed Eddie like hell and Eddie would most likely be able to help in defusing the bomb if needed so he wasn’t sure why the universe chose to align so many elements together.

The point is, he followed Lucy on the truck’s cargo bed and he could hear Ravi scream at him because they had jumped too soon. But Lucy was his new partner and if she jumped he had to have her back.

“Firefighter Buckley why did firefighter Panikkar yell at you like that?” Oh Eddie was worried, it was nice to know he still at least cared enough for that. Which wasn’t actually fair to Eddie who generally cared too much for his own good but he did feel some sort of vindication right now. He made sure his and Lucy’s safety rope were still tied to the truck.

“Following my partner dispatch” he paused for half a second and added in a tone that shouldn’t be this soft considering their current relationship “Try not to worry too much, it’s not the first time we’re dealing with a bomb together Eddie, it’ll just be a bit different than usual” he said as he omitted that the first one had technically been a grenade and followed Lucy toward the front of the truck just as she eyed him with an expression he refused to think about right now.

They were now near the back window, ready to extract the victims.

“Aw that’s cute, is there anything new we should know?”

“No Cap gave you all the details so just be careful”

“Copy that. Daryll, Rebecca! it’s the LAFD we’re gonna break the glass so we can get you out and on our truck as fast as possible OK!”

They waited until they heard a fait positive answer and Lucy broke the glass. After they extracted the young woman, Buck started fasten the harness around her while Lucy started positioning the older man so they were ready to take him and jump back on their own truck.

Which they succeeded. They all jumped and were caught by their team except Buck hadn’t paid as much attention to his own rope as he had Lucy’s and the victims. Luckily the 118 truck had already slowed down when he fell and he had good reflexes so he managed to and protect his head with his arms and tried to roll off the momentum but he could still feel himself lose consciousness as he heard the faint sound of his name.

Only to wake up before he had even come to a stop. He was confused but he probably hadn’t fainted for more than 5 seconds.

As soon as he stopped, he could hear Hen and the rest of his team call out to him. He knew that as soon as he was out of the woods he’d be in trouble. If not with Bobby then at least with Taylor.

Well and Eddie.

“You better. Don’t forget Hen will tell me what I need to know”.

And then he hung up.

At least now the only one Buck was dealing with was Hen, though he felt bad for worrying her. If the way she held him was any indication (and it was), she was pretty scared.

“We’re gonna get you and the victims to the hospital Buckaroo. You don’t seem to be too hurt but I’d feel better if you got a scan ok?”

He wondered when she had had the time to put all her tools back in their rightful place which meant she was probably right to want him to go in. Not that he liked it.

“Yeah ok, I’m following your lead Dr Wilson” he said as they smiled at each other.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

AN2: I started drafting the layout for this months ago but couldn't start writing before this week. I kinda wish I had managed to do it before the start of 5B but...oh well....

About Buddie, I'm following the themes of the show so it's gonna be a mid-burn or a slow-burn as in: neither has resolved enough of their issues to be together right now. Some of the canon themes for these dumbasses include Buck learning to put boundaries and learning to not chase after ppl bc ‘abandonment issues’ as well asa Eddie learning to put boundaries and chase after what he wants instead of drowning under everybody’s expectations. That means no good life-changing decisions are made from desperation when it comes to these two so I won't do that to them. Also Christopher needs help. His parents just divorced but he hasn't been warned and has to deal with the fallout.

About Taylor... I like her because she's a complete asshole but as a LI for Buck she just weirds me out and I think it's obvious in my writing so half the scenes I wanted for her my be cut and just reported on after they happened by Buck

#911 fox #Buddie #Evan 'Buck' Buckley #Eddie Diaz #911 main cast

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sweetwriting · 4 years

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TimKon Week 2020 Day 6: Au Temps des Cerises

Category: Gen or Pre-slash

Genre: Angst/Fluff,

Fandoms: DC Comics, Red Robin, Teamverse

Continuity: Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint Future AU

Summary: I mixed both prompts, you get canon era Bakery and Coffeeshop AU. I'm proud of what I did in just 2 hours

Word Count: 1840

AN: Hey everyone! hope you enjoy this. Warning, the beginning might be a bit hard.

PS: I know lots of this could be solved by going to the authorities but I didn’t want to

PPS: I might actually go in more depth later.

Prompt: Canon AU – Coffeeshop/Bakery

Can be read on AO3

Conner had been living in California for 2 weeks now. He was going to start his classes there next week and had mostly used that time to settle in his apartment, his neighborhood and his job.

He was working at a small bakery near his apartment and thanks to everything Ma had taught him he could do something other than just staying near the register.

Truthfully he didn’t need it, Bruce Wayne and later on Dick Grayson made sure every young hero who wanted to study got a scholarship so they wouldn’t be burdened by having to work in addition to studying and heroing.

But Conner needed it. He needed to keep busy.

Because when he had been brought back to life, it was to the news that Tim Drake had died while looking for a flimsy hope that Bruce Wayne was still alive.

That had been about 5 months ago.

At first he had tried to follow his trail and find his voice but his powers were nowhere near Clark’s and after three months he finally gave in.

Tim was dead.

But he couldn’t accept that and move on. He tried to bury himself in heroing, in catching up on homework, on helping Ma. But in order to really bury everything he had to use his powers and that meant he was done very quickly with high school and he needed something new and time consuming.

He chose to study both Law and Psychology. Tim had told him once that he was too emotional to take a step back when he needed it but that he also had the uncanny ability to perceive parts of people no one else noticed. Tim would talk to him about it sometimes. Or about how he and Batman dealt with the law in Gotham. About a lot of things really, but he had once told him it could be useful in their line of work, in knowing how to deal with victims and criminal.

So Conner was pursuing it.

Partly because Tim’s advice had been sound, partly because it was one of the last talks he had had with Tim.

He didn’t really hang out with the Teen Titans. He was there when he wasn’t busy but…he had tried for a bit. Got back together with Cassie, hung out with Bart. But he couldn’t do that in hero form and as Titans…Well even if they called themselves family they didn’t hang out together the way they had done in Young Justice. When they’d just play ping-pong and other dumb things. Now him and Bart still tried but Conner wouldn’t be able to actually do that until he at least managed to accept Tim’s death.

But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

It was his third week at Au Temps des Cerises, the little bakery and he would start his classes in two days. His boss, a sweet middle aged woman called Samantha had just asked him to go deliver some of their baked goods to a coffee shop and a restaurant for a taste test. If they liked it well enough then they sign a contract to sell them.

He was just finished with the restaurant manager and their chef and was heading toward the Café Culturel et Solidaire, a small café not far from Conner’s campus. Not that he’d ever gotten anywhere near close to it before. He liked coffee but not more than any other drink. Apparently that coffee shop was not very well known but pretty cheap and with quite a few regulars.

As he was nearing it however, he started losing his focus which meant he lost control of his super hearing. And he heard him.

His voice was coming from the coffee shop.

Before he knew what was happening, Conner was running toward it and opened the doors with a bang yelling Tim’s name.

Which obviously meant that he scared more than half of the people in the shop, including the staff. Including the boy at the register, who looked so much like Tim. Probably the source of the voice. He walked toward him.

“Have we met?”

- - - - - - - - - -

Conner was waiting in the Café Culturel et Solidaire’s kitchen. After being shocked silent by Tim’s -he knew he was Tim…he didn’t know how he knew it but he did- answer he screamed again.

“Of course! How dare you say that to your best friend!”

Tim startled. “Wha- No! I meant that literally I… Look…Are you part of the Bakery that was supposed to drop by?”

Conner stopped for a second, reminded that he had a big bag with the name and logo of his workplace in his arms. He nodded and Tim sighed.

“Ok, go wait in the kitchen, I’m gonna get the manager and I’ll be off soon just…Stop making a scene.”

So Conner had followed the instructions and was now waiting for the manager to taste test the bakeries.

He didn’t have to wait more than five minutes before a man who seemed to be in his early 60’s came in and after a good 20 minutes, the Au Temps des Cerises bakery had a new deal. The old man did look at him in a slightly distrustful way though.

When he got out, most of the clients that had been there when he had entered were gone and he let out a relieved sigh. Especially when he saw Tim waiting for him.

The young man looked up at that moment and it allowed Conner to see how nervous he was. He sighed. He didn’t like the idea of Tim being nervous because of him. And he knew there was something wrong. Or at least he hoped. It was a horrible thing to say but he hoped that there was a good reason for Tim just leaving like that.

They got out of the shop and started walking. From what Conner could guess, they were going toward the big parc near the campus.

They spent the first couple of minutes in silence. It seemed longer. Then Tim breathed in and said:

“I meant what I said when I asked if we had met before. It wasn’t to be mean or anything but I was comatose for 5 months when I was in Paris and when I woke up I had lost all my memories. I only knew my first name and that I was from the US. Granted that was deduced from my accent and the fact that I didn’t speak a work of French. I worked there for two months in a small toy shop because the owner was the brother of my doctor and took pity on me.

When they found me I only had a book and some money on me. Turns out my passport was hidden in it so after two months I took the first flight I could afford. Now I’m working in that café because I needed the money to go to the address on the passport and coffee shop will accept pretty much anyone who asks and can handle the rhythm.

You…You knew my name. You just saw me through the window and you recognized me so I just…I was surprised.”

Conner was relieved. Of course it was awful for Tim and that meant his best friend had forgotten him but he hadn’t avoided him on purpose. Now how would he be able to manage that was a different question entirely.

But he didn’t care. It was Tim. Tim was alive and there was a chance he could get his best friend back.

So he hugged him. Also he cried on his shoulder but that was just a detail.

AN: As always, Tim will never be a coffee addict in my fics. For one thing he drank like 3 cups of coffee in canon overall. So while he can enjoy it, that's pretty much all there's to it, so, when compared to Dick and Barbara who are often, often often seen with a mug of coffee in hand, it's even more laughable to me. Also the guy loves to sleep. He's not gonna force himself to stay awake if he doesn't absolutely have to. That's why he falls asleep on a roller coaster, he just changed his sleep schedule.

Anyway, the idea is that Tim will remember things after a while in Gotham. Dick's been crying for months and now that his baby brother is back he won't leave him alone. They don't bring up the reason why Tim left. Things explode, which help Tim get the last of his memories back, they get Bruce back. Tim and Dick are mending things. Meanwhile Conner is happily baking for Tim and he's learning how to be around people again after shutting everybody out. Bart also gets lots of Cake. Ma's happy Conner's feeling better. Did I say Conner baked for Tim? 'Cause it's important.

#TimKon Week #TimKon #Tim Drake #Conner Kent #DC Comics #OTP:TimKon #BrOTP: BartKon #BrOTP: TimKon #Angst & Fluff #Post Crisis #Red Robin Comics #Teen Titans v3

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sweetwriting · 4 years

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I won’t be able to write or post anything on friday or saturday so I’ll do both sunday

#TimKon Week #2020

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sweetwriting · 4 years

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TimKon Week 2020 Day 5: What would it feel like?

Category: Gen

Genre: Hurt/Comfort

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teamverse

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint

Summary: Tim was the only one without a soulmate. Even if no one knew, it was lonely.

Word Count: 1 862

AN: Hola everyone. - Ok so while I enjoy reading Soulmates AU because of the variety of different kinds of soulmate AUs in fandoms, I have a hard time writing about predestination 'cause I don't believe in it. Especially not in any kind of romantic/Platonic format. As far as I believe soulmates are simply souls that have met several times and recognize each other (ofc that's only if you think reincarnation is possible).- I think Red String of Fate is more of an East Asia thing than an Asian thing in general but I couldn’t remember and don’t have the time to do research rn so that’s that and I’m going off the idea that by the time Tim’s grandpa died, it had spread around.Anyway, Enjoy

Prompt: Soulmate AU - Hurt/Comfort

To read it on AO3

It was strange.

Tim could see marks on people. Sometimes it was timers, other times it was symbols, they could be static or moving, it could also be just matching lines separated in green, red and purple. Sometimes it was just writing or drawing that would disappear for some reason like erasable ink. More sadly, sometimes people share scars or pain. He only realized what he was seeing when he saw the picture of his grandparents whose pinkies were linked with a red string. His parents didn’t talk to him much about family traditions, he just knew that one of his great grandparents was Vietnamese and his mother had mentioned something called the red string of fate once. So he just did a quick internet search and tadaah. He knew what it was.

The question though was why he could see them when no one, not even metahumans could see them considering he was neither magic, a meta human nor an alien.

Or why he didn’t have one either.

Maybe it was simply a matter of not being able to see his own Soulmate. Or maybe it was in a place he could not see (which…he was torn between hoping for and not).

Or maybe he just didn’t have a soulmate.

But…aside from him everyone had a soulmate, their soulmarks might not always be visible but he could feel them, even if it was about sharing emotions. Was the fact that he could see the marks due to him not having one? Or did he not have one because he could see them?

It was rare for Tim to stop and think about that.

Despite his pretty great intelligence, if he dare think so himself, he was not the type to think too much about things that had no immediate effect on him (no matter how much he tried to pretend otherwise). So thinking about soulmates was not very interesting. People were linked to each other; he wasn’t linked to anyone or he was and couldn’t see it. The only thing he learned from that was that your soulmate didn’t have to be a romantic partner. So he wouldn’t have to feel bad if one day he wanted romance…for some reason.

Either way Soulmates didn’t concern him. So he usually didn’t think about it. To him soulmarks were like eye or hair color. Just a thing that was there.

But once in a while, when he was alone on his own, he thought about it. It would be nice to have someone else. Someone with whom he could share a part of his soul and know it would be accepted.

It hadn’t happened since he had met Bruce though. Because he was almost never completely alone even though his father was still comatose. Or maybe because of it. He really didn’t want to think about that.

It was the first time in a bit more than a year since he thought about it actually. And he didn’t know why as there was nothing in his current life that warranted it. There was just this strange warmth. That made him wish.

- - - - - -

Then he met Ari and Steph and he knew he wasn’t their soulmates but he knew soulmates didn’t have to be romantic so he tried.

- - - - - - -

A year passed and he met Superboy for the first time. And he could feel it. Even The Kid had a Soulmate. Apparently his soulmark wasn’t a visible one, but it was there nonetheless. How unfair. Well not really. It was just further proof he was his own person as Superman’s soulmark was a pen on his left arm.

He had talked to Batman about his “ability” once when he talked about someone’s soul mark allowing him to recognize a perp. He could have lied and said it was a tatoo but since Batman couldn’t see it, it was useless. Granted that’s what he thought afterward, he hadn’t even thought of lying when it happened. The only reason he hadn’t told Bruce in the first place was because he hadn’t thought about it. According to Zatana it wasn’t due to magic nor was he tested as a metahuman and he was human. Apparently he was just more sensitive to this wavelength just like some people were weak against electronics and others to sounds.

- - - - - - -

He had met St

- - - - - - -

Months passed.

He and Superboy became friends. Good Friends. Or as good as they could be with Tim being unable to reveal his real identity.

Which is to mean that soon enough it also started going badly. Granted the first time was because of Match, it doesn’t change that Kon felt hurt and started becoming distrustful over Tim’s identity.

But if anything, Kon was perceptive even if he didn’t always know how to draw the right conclusion. He knew Tim had issues, and he had his own so he saw the dots….he just connected the wrong ones together.

Still. They bonded, even if a part of their relationship was deteriorating (and boy did it deteriorate once they were on Apokolips) there were slightly more normal parts that helped when they were just hanging out. Of course Tim’s ID was in the way but now he could show his face and joke and just…hang out. He always felt better after hanging out with Kon, except when he was being insufferable. It was a 50/50 on which one would happen but Tim was always ready to risk it.

Until the war. He understood where Kon was coming from but…He couldn’t deal with it so he left. It felt cold. Because Kon was literally the last person he wanted to talk to. As in if he had anyone he wanted to be the last person he thought of or talked to, he wanted it to be Kon. As if that wasn’t surprising enough.

- - - - - - - - -

Stephanie died. So did his dad. Being near Conner was comforting. His presence helped even if it didn’t solve anything. Just being near him helped him believe he could burry his pain. Granted the man himself refused to let him do so. Because he was his best friend.

How do you tell someone you know they have a soul because they have a soulmate? Well you just tell them. Everything. And it helped, for a bit. But then Luthor took over and no matter what Tim said, Conner’s guilt was in the way. It might have helped if his guilt hadn’t gotten in the way. Also their trip to the future felt like a proof Tim was mistaken. Because what if his “soulmark” was just a pale copy of Clark’s. Enough to exist but not enough to copy the mark. And Tim could understand this point but he just didn’t believe it. He didn’t believe it, not until Raven proved him he had a soul. Tim felt a bit miffed but he understood how Conner felt even if for different reasons.

- - - - - - - - -

Then Conner died. The warmth left. More importantly he left. He was taken away. And Tim was left again.

It’s the first time Tim thought that maybe he had a soulmate.

He never felt as heartbroken as he was now.

- - - - - - - -

More than a year and a half passed. Tim was still grieving. He didn’t know what to do. All his loved ones just kept dying and he just felt so cold. Stuff happened.

Conner came back. He wasn’t so cold anymore but he just…He had something to do. He had to find Bruce. Even for Conner he couldn’t stop.

He didn’t have to. Conner found him. He was really there. And he was the only one who believed him. And Tim knew it was really him because the warmth was back tenfold. He felt so much alive again.

If Conner believed him… It renewed his hope he could find Bruce.

- - - - - - - -

After a while the Status Quo came back and Tim came back to the Teen Titans. After Conner and Cassie broke up. It wasn’t easy. He felt like a buffer sometimes. But he didn’t care. Even if Conner and Cassie had issues, they usually were fairly mature about their break-up. Probably more for Tim and Bart’s sake than anything else but Tim wasn’t gonna complain.

- - - - - -

And then one day Tim got badly hurt on a Titans mission. It was rare for Tim to be really hurt when he was on a team mission and usually it wasn’t anything Conner couldn’t help with his TTK, but this time Tim was badly hurt to the point of fainting and Conner couldn’t not hold onto him. He needed the reassurance his best friend was gonna be okay.

Which is when he felt both pain and comfort. Tim opened his eyes for a second in what looked like surprise but fainted again. He looked like he didn’t feel as bad though. Maybe Conner had a new power? He didn’t know…or really care. At that point all he wanted was to get Tim back to the tower so he could get help and hope that he was relieving his pain if only a little bit.

- - - - - -

When Tim woke up, he felt like he was in a cocoon of warmth. He was so comfortable he almost went back to sleep. But that wasn’t normal. So he opened his eyes and felt Conner’s eyes on him. The boy immediately went for a hug but then seemed to remember Tim was still hurt….Even if he didn’t really feel hurt. Huh.

After a few second spent taking in the other’s state, Conner started:

“You’ve been asleep for the past two days and you’re supposed to stay in bed for the next three days after you wake up. Doctor’s order. Which I’ll make sure you follow so no funny business.”

Tim cracked a smile and nodded.

“So you’ll be my nurse?”

Conner nodded, seriously.

“Apparently I can reduce your physical pain when my skin touches yours. And it’s not a new power. I tested it on Rose. It’s only you.”

Tim froze. So it was true. He actually….

“We’re soulmates aren’t we? You told me some people had pain or emotion based soulmarks and that’s what we have right?”

He actually had a soulmate. It wasn’t just wishful thinking. It was Conner of course. Who else. There was almost no one he loved as much as Conner and definitely no one he loved more.

“Hey Tim….You’re crying. I mean I know I’m probably not the best person you could hope for but, I mean at least now you know you have a soulmate too…”

Tim jumped in Conner’s arms and hugged him as tight as he could without injuring himself further.

“Idiot. I’m so happy your my soulmate! You have no idea. I’m just overwhelmed”.

“Oh”.

- - - - - -

So…It turns out Tim had a soulmate. It turned out to be his best friend, the person he loved more than anything.

And while he could feel Bruce judging him all the way from Gotham when, after he told him, Conner could be heard from the other side of the door, He was probably the happiest he had been in years.

AN: Hope you enjoyed it ! As you can see it can be read as either friendship or romance. It their case it's intertwined and I don't have the time to try and push it further in the realm of romance right now.In this the warmth Tim feels is mostly due to being sensitive to soulmates bond. So when he feels his at his most powerful (since it's skin touchbased, the closer Kon is, the better) he feels all warm and Tingly 'cause his and Kon's soul just...keep trying to be in the other's close relationships circle. No matter the life.

#TimKon Week #TimKon #Tim Drake #Conner Kent #Kon El #BrOTP: TimKon #OTP:TimKon #Young Justice (1998)#Teen Titans v3 #Angst & Fluff

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sweetwriting · 4 years

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TimKon Week 2020 Day 4: Happy Birthday to You!

Category: Gen or Pre-slash

Genre: Angst/Fluff, mostly fluff

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teamverse

Continuity: Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint Future AU

Summary: What kind of birthday party do you give a kid who was abused by her parents when your own birthdays were already outside of the norm?

Word Count: 1840

AN: Hola everyone. This was inspired by an old WIP of mine. it's kind of a plot bunny of a different fic. Anyway enjoy

Prompt: Raising A Child - Fluff

Can be read on AO3

October 16th

It was Helena’s first birthday with them. Tim didn’t know what to do. To be fair he wasn’t familiar with children’s birthdays. Most of his had been spent with his parents being brought to shows he liked or that they’d thought he’d like. And then they forgot it one year and the next they were out of commission.

Helena came from an abusive home and he didn’t want to overwhelm her too much as she had been prone to having panic attacks when he didn’t pay attention and did something that was apparently outrageously nice. So he wanted her to have a great birthday but not so outrageous she’d faint.

Conner had made fun of him because he was apparently over worrying over “normal stuff”, but Conner was the last person allowed to talk to him about that. Partly because he hadn’t celebrated a normal birthday of his….ever, but also because the only kid’s birthdays he had gone to were Traya’s and Jon’s.

Still Conner had been there since the beginning so he kind of had a say in what they’d be doing for her birthday.

Speaking of which, they were supposed to meet for lunch for that exact purpose and Conner was late. For the 3rd time this week. It was getting real annoying real fast.

He looked at his phone to see if he had received any new message. And he had. Apparently Conner was late because he was walking with a classmate of his and couldn’t use his powers. So Tim waited.

Ten minutes later, Conner finally appeared around the corner. With a very pretty girl on his arm. Tim couldn’t believe Conner was late because he was flirting...Actually he could…He probably would have been too if he were in his place…If it was just a normal lunch but they were supposed to talk about Helena’s birthday! It was not a normal lunch.

Conner waved goodbye after the pretty girl kissed his cheek and then “sprinted” toward Tim who was crossing his arms in annoyance. As he arrived next to him Conner looked sheepish.

“Look I know what it looked like but she started talking about a school project at first and I couldn’t blow her off and then she said we were walking in the same direction so I had to….and then I used the opportunity, I wasn’t gonna miss that but still!”

Tim raised an eyebrow, just to mess with him but Conner saw right through him, untangled his arms by taking one of his hand and dragging him toward the restaurant Tim had been waiting in front of.

They settled down and started having their lunch when Tim received a new email notification. Which he showed to Conner. Now that could be a nice present.

- - - - - - - -

October 21st

Helena had had a fairly good day so far. Tim and Kon had woke her up with a cup of sweet tea and croissant while wishing her a happy birthday, Kon had even decided to accompany her alongside Tim this morning (even if he was gonna be late to class). Ana and Alois had also wished her a happy birthday and none of their teachers had given them any test.

Now it was time to go home and wait for Tim and Kon to come back home (well…Technically Kon already had his own apartment but he was there so rarely she hadn’t known about it for 7 months, when he talked about being with his girlfriend which had brought a new surprise as she had also thought he was in love with Tim. Even if they had told her immediately they weren’t).

Whatever. She hoped her da they wouldn’t be too long to get home as she usually was one her own for about three hours on her own before Kon would be there. And it had been so nice up until now.

But when she got out of the school, both Tim and Kon were waiting for her? Along with Bart, Cassie, Rose and Kiran.

She ran toward them and hugged Tim and Kon at the same time…kind of, she was way too small to manage but she tried and she considered that it was what mattered. She then went to hug the other four. Apparently they were gonna celebrate her birthday together. The only things missing were her Tim and Kon’s families. And a few others. Granted too many of them might be a bit too much for her. Family dinners at Wayne Manor were already too much even if there was never the full family roster at once.

When they arrived home however Anita and Cissie were waiting for them along with Donald and Oshi who lived with Anita and Cissie’s parents. Helena liked them, well…mostly Oshi. Most of the time Donald was not fun. They were a bit older than her but always nice.

They all ate very small pieces of cake (but her par Tim and Kon prevented her from eating more than two small pieces) and celebrated (with presents and everything). However at 4:30PM they had to leave though Bart promised he’d come back later. Only to be replaced by Jon, Ma, Lois and Clark. Who celebrated with a different, but still small, cake. At 6PM, they left too, only to be replaced by Dick, Alfred, Barbara, Bruce and Cass. With another cake. Now she understood why Tim and Kon had refused to let her eat more than two pieces every time.

So far this was the best birthday ever!

Her fath Tim and Kon had basically allowed her to celebrate her birthday with her favorite people without getting overwhelmed. She was getting tired though and nodding off on Dick’s lap. That was their cue to start leaving. Though Cass was staying with them for the night as would Bart.

Once they were all gone Tim and Kon had asked Cass if they could leave them alone. Once they did, they all sat down on the carpet. They both looked pretty serious. Oh no. She should have known it was too good to be true. But she had started getting used to this life. Was this whole birthday thing just there to butter her up? They were never this serious with her unless they were talking about her parents and her stay here with her foster dad, Tim.

Oh nononononononono. Did her parents get the right to get her back? No. Last she’d seen them they were trash talking the Court assigned parenting classes they were supposed to take. They shouldn’t be able to take her back.

Suddenly she felt a familiar weight on her shoulders and she heard Tim say “it’s okay, it’s not bad news, it’s simply important”.

The next few minutes were spent with Kon tracing circles against her back and Tim guiding her breathing until she calmed down.

Once that was done she was slowly being glided on Kon’s lap, probably by the hands on her shoulders, even if she felt like she was in a warm cocoon, she loved his TTK so much. Kon kept tracing small circles on her back while Tim was patting her head slowly.

That was actually rather nice. The only good part about her panicking way too easily.

But then Tim pulled away and got papers out of his bag. That was the cue to return to the conversation that hadn’t even started yet.

Tim took a big gulp of air. He seemed nervous. Which was making her nervous, but then Kon was hugging her and she felt better. She felt him nod against her.

“Ok so, it’s been a bit more than a year since you were found in the street and we hadn’t been able to celebrate your birthday back then aside from getting you actual clothes and furniture and a cake, so I wasn’t sure how to do this but I think up until now we managed pretty well. Now since your parents never made an effort to go to the court mandated parenting classes during that time, It’s actually possible for you to be adopted as of last week.”

She could feel her heart start shrinking. They were going to make her go away.

“Which is why I sent a form as soon as I was allowed to do so. Now of course it’ll depend on whether or not you also want to become officially my kid. I merely sent the form so that I could have the papers ready when we talked about it so here goes.

Helena, would you like to officially become my child and live with me until you decide you’re too good for me and move out to live your life even if you’ll always have a room here ? We had already kind of talked about it but it always seemed too soon for that. It’s nothing to feel pressurized about. I won’t be mad if you don’t want to and we just won’t sign the papers. It won’t change the fact that I love you and you’ll always have a home here if you want to”

Helena froze. She had been staying here for a year. Tim and Kon had taken care of her so much. But what if it was like with her previous adopted parents? They had loved her very much before her dad decided to close his shop. On the other hand Tim and Kon had Cass and Bart and Dick and everyone else also looking after her. She knew she could talk to them and be listened to. At least Bart and Cass would listen to her (Dick tended to be a bit blind about Tim’s shortcomings which was pretty cute most of the time but could be irritating at others). She could feel her eyes start to well up when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Maybe it was too much. We should probably wait before telling her the other news”.

She turned to Kon and asked him in the most polite way she could muster what he meant.

“What? What is it? Kon? You can’t just say that and not tell me! That’s no fair!”

He looked above her head at Tim and he probably received a positive answer because he smiled and explained.

“Tim and I signed a Co-Parenting agreement. Of course it’s only if you accept his adoption and want me to be involved too but…yeah, I’d like to be your official parent too”.

She was crying now.

They wanted her too.

They really did.

It wasn’t just wishful thinking. It wasn’t them just being nice to her because she was sad. It’s not like they had never told her they loved her but it was always so hard to believe, even if they showed it every day.

“As if I’d say no to that !”

And she launched herself at Tim with Kon right behind him who scooped them in a hug.

This was the best birthday ever.

AN: - Alright so here Donald and Oshi are Anita's parents who returned to an infant state in YJ. As such they’re like a couple years older than Helena.

- Helena is, in fact, Helena Kyle (her favorite color is obviously Red, that's why she imprinted on Tim). Basically her parents were nice at first but life became hard and they ended up moving to try their chance in Cali and it didn't work out so they took it on her. Red Robin now Flamebird found her right after she ran away and took her to the emergencies where she met Conner who was waiting for them (Tim had called on the way) so Tim could disappear and change. So until she learned their secret IDs, she thought the first one she had met was Conner even if only by a few minutes. Also she calls him Kon 'cause she doesn't like Conner as a name. She writes it "Con" to people who don't know about the secret (because that's how she wrote it when she thought it was just a nickname). She just turned 8 - Jon was born a year after Canon ended for the Pre Flashpoint universe so he's a year and a half - two years younger than Helena. - Bart, Conner and Cass have their own room because of how often they come. - Tim and Kon live in California. They moved there a couple of months before finding Helena. Kon needs sun ok. Tim's working fo the police station as a civilian working his way up so he can have his two years of work in law enforcement so he can open his detective agency with KOn. Kon's a double major of Law and Psychology (with a minor in international Law)

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sweetwriting · 4 years

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TimKon Week 2020 Day 3: Whaaaaaaat is that?

Category: Gen or Pre-slash

Genre: Angst/Fluff

Fandoms: DC Comics, Teamverse

Continuity: Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint Future AU

Summary: Seriously? They had been called for that?

Word Count: 1211

AN: Welcome to round Three.

Hello everyone. Since my mom's basque (her dad went from the Spanish side to the French side, the regions have their own cultural differences but then there's also those added by the French/Spanish separation. It's a bit weird) even if she moved to Paris when she was young and both her parents passed away before I was born, most of what I know comes from her. I don't actually use much of it here. Because I can't get into the details I'd want to go into which is why the Supernatural theme is pretty light.

Prompt: Supernatural (I don’t write smut so for once I won’t combine the prompts)

Can be read on AO3

Tim had just rejoined the Titans a few months ago and, while he was happy to be with his friends again. He had to admit that sometimes the weird things that happened around them were just….A bit too much. Even for him (and he had learned to take things in stride years ago). So now, here they were. In a country that wasn’t really one. Separated in two by the countries they officially belonged to, with which they shared the official language. Separated by a mountain range called the Pyrenees. Which was where they were right now. And according to his GPS, they had crossed over from the Spanish side to the French one.

He wasn’t sure what was going on. Or he did somewhat. The Giant in front of them had sort of explained. He was just glad Cassie’s mom had taught her some ancient languages to talk to him. Bart probably could have helped but he had been distracted and came back after the giant had started talking with Cassie. Which was weird. She was flying so they could talk face to face but the Giant was dressed like a fishermen from an old tale while Cassie was wearing jeans.

They had been called there by an American tourist who saw what looked like a Giant come down the mountains. Most of the people in the surrounding area didn’t even seemed fazed when they had snooped around.

Right now he was lounging against Conner who was playing with his fingers (apparently his gloves’ texture was too weird. It kinda felt like watching a kid play with Slime). While Bart was trying to explain one of the games he had created. Tim and Conner had been there when he had. So Tim knew he should probably stop him from telling Rose of all people. But she had tried to calm down a bit and Conner did trust her. Sort of.

Cassie turned to them.

“Ok so this guy’s called Olentzero and he’s basically the Santa of this place. He’s the last of his kind and their name is literally written as Gentils around these parts. I don’t know who speaks French or not but it means nice….so…yeah. I think we were called for nothing. He said there was a nice inn not far from here if we wanted to settle for the night. He’s scouting to see the houses he should be bringing presents to in a few days.”

Tim Conner and Rose groaned while Bart pouted, but he got over it quickly and started talking to Rose again who rolled her eyes and muttered a “might as well”.

- - -

They all bid goodbye to the Giant, Gent-something and looked at Tim’s phone and then his GPS to find the inn he had mentioned. They chose to go to the town in civilian clothes and paid for two bedrooms with two beds. The boys had no problem sharing and Cassie and Rose ignored each other most of the time. Or rather, Cassie ignored Rose’s taunting. When she went to the other room to wake the boys up she had seen that they had brought the two beds together and were basically just cuddling each other. If she had known she’d have joined them. It couldn’t be worse than having to deal with Rose. Except for the ex-boyfriend awkwardness.

She woke them up and they all left after eating breakfast. As annoying as it was that they had travel only to find out there was no actual threat, it was a nice place to visit and she had found a creature from a mythology she didn’t know much about and she couldn’t wait to tell her mom. So she turned to Tim who was piloting their ship back to the US with Conner leaning against his seat from behind and playing with his hair. It was a bit weird. They had never had issues with casually touching each other, but neither of them were good at initiating affection-filled gestures when it wasn’t needed for comfort in relationships that weren’t romantically induced. But since Tim had come back to the Teen Titans, they became more common.

It was probably to the trauma of losing Conner for Tim, and the trauma of Tim being so lost he wasn’t there to welcome his best friends back for Conner. Neither really wanted to let the other go. It was kind of the same for all of them really. But they took it a step further for each other (and that’s counting giving in every time Bart asked for a hug).

Things were better between her and Conner. The truth is that, even if breaking up had been hard, she had realized that she had moved on from him while he was still dead. It still wasn’t easy to accept but she was getting there. And celibacy seemed to do him some good. There was a weird time when he and Rose had kind of flirted but it never went past flirting and she stopped soon enough because, just like with Kid Devil, Rose had found someone she could actually get along with…kind of. It was strange for Cassie to even think of, much less admit, but it was true. It would probably be better for Rose anyway. Or was it just wishful thinking? She wasn’t ready to let Conner go yet. She knew that, even if she had no choice in what he did. Growing up was hard and annoying. She often spent time alone. Kiran wasn’t available and the 5 of them were the main team that went out in the past few weeks. Which was annoying as both duos were composed of one person she’d like to hang out with and one she’d rather avoid. Bart with a crush was cute though. He had gotten over his crush on Kiran when he realized boys weren’t really her thing. She just hopped Rose would be careful when rejecting him.

Wait.

She turned to Conner and Tim.

Oh.

She wasn’t sure what to think. Both of her ex-boyfriends….even if she never really counted as an actual boyfriend. Things made sense.

Did they know?

She looked more closely at them. They were joking around about weird things happening every time Tim went to France or something. Ugh, she knew that look. And she had never seen it on either boy’s face, ever.

Well that stung. She knew hers and Conner’s relationship hadn’t been that great but still. To be faire she didn’t know much about Tim’s romantic history and Conner’s was filled with creeps. She was probably the most normal girlfriend he’d had and she was Wonder Girl. Wasn’t that why he had broken up with her in the first place?

It was probably best for both boys if they didn’t realize anything for now then. She didn’t want Conner to find someone else yes, but more importantly, her boys were too hurt. She didn’t want them to form a relationship if they risked hurting each other because of bad experience. She’d only act if in ten years they were still two oblivious pining idiots.

Either way they were going to be fine.

Maybe that was Olentzero gift for her. Realizing this.

AN: Jentilaks are giants, it's true that some french people called them with the french word for nice, but that's not what it actually means. It' s just a play on words that happened over time. Anyway, they threw stones but have disappeared when Christianity started in the Basque Country and only Olentzero remains. I love Basque Mythology even if very little remained from pre-christian times. It's interesting to see how the myths were adapted to christianity as they were converted very recently compared to most of Europe.

#TimKon Week #Conner Kent #TimKon #Tim Drake #Cassandra Sandsmark #Rose Wilson #Bart Allen #Friendship: Teen Titan's Core 4 #OTP:TimKon #BrOT3: TimKonBart #BrOT4: TimKonBartCassie #DC Comics #Teen Titans v3 #Post Crisis

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