#I think it is fascinating that he takes the clipboard to his talk with eddie actually and is uncharacteristically demanding during it

[stagefoureddiediaz]

It hits me so hard once I think how Bobby even being part of the family still did set a line in his role for the kids (more for himself) with thoughts of how he was just "the best buddy" figure and how he didn't take more attitude due his fear of the kids reminding him he is not their father, because he considers himself "nobody's father". But once they got put in danger he forgot this line himself put (1/2)

Hey Nonnie

Thanks for making me feel all emotional!!

But its so true - seeing where Bobby has come from in season 1 to where he's at now is such an amazing and heartwarming thing, and it's been such a quiet and understated transition that I think many people haven't really appreciated it. I know that I am only really getting to really understand his journey as I've been rewatching this week - the Bobby of season 1 and 2 is a million miles away from the Bobby we have now and as you put it - its a beautiful progression - especially as he built it - he built both of his families.

People are quite rightly talking about 5 being the season of Eddie, but it's also been the season of Bobby - we have seen him quietly do his thing - showing us how far he has come. Supporting Athena, and having her back at all times, being there to protect his family through the Jeffery and black out arc, especially the way they showed him parenting Harry when he got suspended from school - which was incredibly done and spoke volumes about the family dynamic the Grant Nash family have created. Supporting Michael and David through defend in place and then as they headed off to Haiti again all quiet and stoic but beautiful. Now we're getting to see the really interesting and wonderful relationship he's built with May come to the fore in Mayday - a relationship that, from Bobbys side, has so much more weight and meaning behind because of the way the show has chosen to focus on his relationship to Brooke - a focus that we're going to see the pay off for tonight!

Then there is the firefam - the most important family in the show - the dynamic we've been missing most of the season, but are starting to get back. This has actually been the most interesting thing to look at when i've rewatched season 5 - especially in 5b - Bobby being there for Eddie - as he has been from day 1, but also being able to see that he learnt from season 3 and put into practice (even if it happened off screen) the things he learnt from both the lawsuit arc with Buck and Eddies fight club arc, the way his relationships with both Eddie and Buck have changed and grown.

The most recent and intriguing development for me is the way his trust of Buck has grown and changed in 5 - since the crane climb, Bobby seems to have decided to change tack a bit with Buck - its like a lightbulb went off and its fascinating to watch Bobby giving more responsibility to Buck - the 'power tsar' and clipboard Buck during the black out, seemingly giving him free reign to train Ravi all the way through to handing over a scene to Buck in 5x14 - I can't wait to see if this continues and how it develops. It s actually one of the reasons I think Bobby might know about the will - because this shift times with Buck finding out about the will and it would explain why Bobby has been so accommodating to Buck's reluctance to accept that Eddie wasn't coming back post Christmas and why he didn't so much as raise and eyebrow post Eddies breakdown - when Buck was parenting Chris and looking after Eddie like they were in a relationship and not just friends.

Honestly I am fascinated by this whole dynamic and I will be going over it with a fine tooth comb in hiatus because I feel deeply that its something we're going to see play an important role in season 6 both in terms of the development of Bobby, Buck and Eddie independently, but also in Buddie going canon.

the Grant Nash family and the firefam dynamic are all so closely intertwined through Bobby and its been very engrossing to see it all fall apart around Bobby while he as remained largely 'unaffected' - standing steadfast and true at the centre - it feels very much like we're going to see Bobby break in some way - and then we'll get to see his combined families return the favour!

#kym answers things #nonnie asks #i have no idea what this became #911 on fox #911 spoilers #911 fox #911onfox #911 #bobby nash #bobby is such a dad #bobby nash - dad shaped #911 speculation

[clusterbuck]

Can I request 2. taking a young child trick or treating please?

okay. so. technically there is trick-or-treating, i promise! there's just also mostly all kinds of feelings.

buck pulls up to christopher's school the friday before halloween and immediately spots the kid across the yard, deep in conversation with one of his friends. even from this distance, buck recognises the way christopher gets when he's telling a story—the intense concentration on his face, the way he gestures to emphasise his point, sometimes waving a crutch around if just a hand isn't enough to drive it home.

buck doesn't want to interrupt him, because the story being told in the shade of the jungle gym is clearly a great epic to rival shakespeare or homer. the kid christopher is talking to looks fascinated, completely engrossed, and two or three other kids are drifting closer like they just can't resist hearing the rest of the story.

memories of school pick-ups and football games and study sessions bubble up, of conversations cut off with no consideration by the wills and whims of his mother or father, whichever got stuck driving him around on a given day. buck remembers the way it made him feel like he wasn't even a person, like the thoughts in his head were less important than his mother's salon appointment. the way it made him stop sharing those thoughts, eventually, because it wasn't like anyone cared.

so, yeah, he doesn't want to interrupt christopher.

he gets out of the jeep carefully, trying not to draw attention to himself, and wanders over to the teacher in charge of pick-up.

"hi there," she says, squinting at buck like she's trying to place him. "who are—oh, wait, picking up christopher diaz, right?"

"that's right," buck says. the teacher is vaguely familiar, like he's probably seen her before, but he can't place which of christopher's teachers she is. "i'm buck—uh, evan buckley? i should be on the pick-up list."

"of course, yes, that's all fine," she says, not even looking at the clipboard in her hand. "christopher is just over there, down by the jungle gym."

"yeah, i see him," buck says, shading his eyes with his hand to check on christopher. he's still talking, and his audience has expanded to four kids now. "but we're not in any rush, and it looks like he's got quite the story going. i can wait."

"of course," she says. "sorry it took me a second, it's just been a while since we've seen you."

"yeah, uh, we've had good shift schedules lately," buck says. "so eddie's been able to get to pick-up most days. but he's covering an extra shift today, so you get me instead."

"well, it's nice to see you too," the teacher says. "we always try to encourage both parents to be involved with school things, wherever possible."

"oh," buck says, blinking. "oh, no, i'm—i'm not his parent."

not really. no matter how much it feels like it sometimes, no matter that he loves christopher like he's his own flesh and blood—more than he loves most of his actual flesh-and-blood relatives, maddie excepted.

no matter that he loves eddie, too, more than enough to make them a family. it's not a unilateral decision; no amount of wishing on his part can make it true, not if eddie doesn't want it, too.

there are moments, sometimes, when he thinks maybe—when it seems like there's a possibility that eddie wants the same thing he does. but the moments keep evaporating into the wind and leaving no concrete trace behind, and buck keeps being too chickenshit to do anything about them, because no decision he's ever made has had this much riding on it.

"oh!" the teacher says, surprise and embarrassment warring for real estate on her face. "i'm so sorry, i shouldn't have—i just thought—you're on the pick-up list, you're his second emergency contact, and the way christopher talks about you... he said you're all going trick-or-treating on sunday?"

"we are, yeah," buck says. "it's not—i mean, i'm definitely a big part of his life, just. not a parent, just a friend."

the distinction feels artificial sometimes, because—what even is a parent? he's definitely more of a parent to christopher than either of his parents ever were to him. so maybe he's not with eddie, doesn't live in the same house or sleep in the bed—the world is full of divorced parents who don't do either. and that's not to even mention the fact that they do sleep in the same bed, sometimes, when they're crashing after a long shift and the only thing either of them cares about is the proximity of the nearest possible horizontal surface.

it's a line in the sand, the distinction between parent and something else, but it's one he needs to draw to remind himself of where things stand.

the teacher looks like she might be about to say something, but it's cut off by a loud, joyful yell of "buck!" echoing across the schoolyard. buck looks up to see christopher heading over to them with the world's biggest grin on his face, and takes off to meet him halfway.

"hey, buddy," he says, gathering christopher into a hug and spinning him around a couple of times. "did you miss me?"

"i just saw you yesterday," christopher says between giggles.

"so?" buck asks, setting him down and checking he's still got a grip on both his crutches. "i missed you since yesterday."

"maybe a little bit," christopher agrees, his tone magnanimous like he's granting buck a boon.

"i'll take that," buck laughs and ruffles his hair. "do you have all your stuff?"

christopher nods, and they start heading towards buck's jeep. they pass the teacher buck had been talking to, and he nudges christopher. "hey, say goodbye to—" he still doesn't know her name.

"bye, miss stevens!" christopher says, waving a crutch. "happy halloween!"

"happy halloween," she says, and buck doesn't know how to interpret her expression as she looks between him and christopher.

they're in the car and driving to the diaz house when christopher speaks up again. "dad missed you since yesterday."

buck grips the steering wheel and wonders what exactly christopher knows. "what makes you think that?"

"this morning he talked about you like five times," christopher says, clearly unimpressed. "he always talks about you when you're not there. like when we drove to school a song was on the radio, and he said hey, you know who likes this song? buck." he puts on an exaggerated, mocking tone of voice for that, and if buck didn't know better he'd think it sounds like the voice kids use to mock crushes in the schoolyard. "i think that means he missed you."

"huh," buck says, turning the comment over in his mind. and over and over, the whole drive home and the rest of the evening, through the rainstorm that picks up around dinnertime, all the way until eddie finally walks through the door sometime around midnight. he's clearly exhausted, dead on his feet and dripping even though the walk from his truck to the front door can't have been longer than fifteen seconds.

"bad shift?" buck asks, taking eddie's duffel bag so he can unlace his boots.

"just a long one," eddie says through a yawn. "busy. once it started raining..."

"yeah," buck says. los angeles is, famously, a terrible place to drive, and it's even worse in the rain. he knows what rainy shifts are like, especially once the sun goes down.

eddie frowns. "it's still pretty bad out there," he says. "you should probably just stay here." but there's something in his expression, a flick of his eyes and a twitch of his jaw—the ones that usually signal nerves, uncertainty—that makes buck think maybe the weather isn't the only reason eddie is asking him to stay.

dad missed you since yesterday, he thinks.

"yeah," he says. "okay."

--

buck spends all of saturday with eddie and christopher, and only goes home for the night because he needs a change of clothes. he's back bright and early sunday morning, ready to spend the day counting down the hours to when they can finally set off trick-or-treating. christopher has been impatient for weeks now, and buck doesn't imagine this final stretch is going to be any easier.

and it isn't, but the march of time is inevitable even when it is slow and so the hour finally arrives.

christopher has kept his costume a secret, claiming he wants it to be a surprise for buck. eddie has been obligingly tight-lipped about it no matter how much buck has tried to wheedle the truth from him, so buck has no idea what to expect once christopher asks him and eddie to assemble in the living room for the grand reveal.

never mind that eddie just helped him put the costume on and therefore definitely knows exactly what it is. christopher is not about to let them do this in half measures.

"i didn't raise him to be this dramatic, you know," eddie mutters as they listen to christopher making his way down the hallway to make his entrance. "he gets this from you."

buck turns to face him, quick and jerky like he's a marionette and eddie's holding the strings. which is... not untrue, on some level.

eddie doesn't seem to think there's anything unusual about what he's just said, but something warm blooms in buck's chest. he gets this from you. his artificial, arbitrary line in the sand between parent and not is blurring once again.

and it's being blurred by eddie, of all people. buck has heard the story of what happened in the suit store, knows all about eddie's reaction to someone flinging ana across that line. but there's no hint of panic in eddie's features now, just the same steady fondness he gets when he looks at christopher.

it's a lot to digest, and from the way eddie's starting to look concerned, buck thinks maybe he's been digesting it for a little too long. "i'm only nurturing his natural talent," he says, pulling out a grin, and eddie scoffs.

there's a sound from the living room door, and they turn to see christopher standing in the middle of the doorway and frowning at them.

"you were supposed to be watching me, not each other," he grumbles, and buck thinks he does a very good job of not choking on his own saliva.

"i'm sorry, buddy," eddie says. "do you want to do it again?"

"now you've both already seen it," christopher says. "it wouldn't be the same."

"if it helps, i really love your costume," buck says. christopher brightens immediately, looking down at himself like he's making sure the costume is still there.

"i wanted to be like you and dad," he says. he's dressed as a firefighter, and as far as buck can tell it's just a smaller version of a regulation lafd firefighter uniform, not one of those cheap poly-blend costumes sold in halloween stores that start coming apart as soon as you take them out of the plastic packaging. there's even a helmet, labelled 118 just like the ones he and eddie wear on duty.

"you are," he tells christopher. "just like us." then he ducks down to press a kiss to the top of christopher's helmet, which makes him laugh just like he'd known it would.

"so, we ready to go?" eddie asks, and christopher scrambles to start putting on his shoes.

"impressive costume," buck says. "how'd you pull it together?"

"carla, abuela, tía pepa..." eddie says, listing them off on his fingers. "a lot of help, is what i'm saying."

"i see how it is," buck says, putting on his best fake-offended voice. "everyone knew about it except me."

maybe christopher does get some of the dramatics from him.

eddie just laughs. "see if i ever put together a surprise for you again," he says, then nudges buck in the direction of the door. "now get a move on before the kid gets it in his head he doesn't need us."

eddie turns out to be something of a prophet. at the first house they reach, christopher turns and fixes buck and eddie both with a very serious look even as the brim of his slightly-too-large helmet slips lower and lower.

"you can wait here," he tells them at the foot of the driveway. "i'm nine now. i can go to the door by myself."

eddie looks over at buck, quirking his eyebrows like what do you think? buck looks up and down the driveway, and none of it looks particularly threatening. just a normal suburban driveway, almost identical to eddie's own.

he inclines his head at eddie. i don't see why not.

eddie nods, and the line in the sand of buck's mind grows fainter still.

"okay, christopher, here's the deal," eddie says. "you can go up to the door by yourself on two conditions. you go straight to the door and come straight back, and you always stay where we can see you. okay?"

"okay," christopher says, already turning to head towards the house.

he hasn't gotten more than five feet away when someone clears their throat. "that's such a great costume," a woman says somewhere to buck's left. "you guys have a really cute kid."

"oh, i'm—" buck starts, but he's cut off by eddie's warm and sincere thank you.

the woman smiles and moves on, and eddie shoots buck a curious look. "what were you about to say just now?"

the weight of eddie's gaze feels heavier than the situation merits, and buck frowns. "just that i'm not actually his dad," he says quickly. "i know you don't like it when people assume."

now it's eddie who's frowning. "what do you mean?"

"with ana—"

eddie waves a dismissive hand. "that was ana. this is different. it's—it's different when it's you."

buck moves closer, just barely a half-step. "why is it different?"

"you basically are his parent," eddie says easily, like he doesn't know how much this question keeps buck up at night sometimes. and how could he? "ana never was."

and it still kind of makes his head spin, but buck can accept this part. it makes sense to him. but—"what about the other part?" he asks.

"what other part?"

"it doesn't bother you that people assume we're married? one of christopher's teachers did when i picked him up on friday, you know."

it's starting to get dark, but in the glow of the various festive lights surrounding them, buck swears he sees a blush spreading across eddie's face.

"oh," eddie says. "uh." later, buck won't be able to determine what it was exactly, but something—some sixth sense or whisper of the universe—nudges him to take another step closer, until he's right up in eddie's personal space.

"eddie?"

eddie's eyes roam over buck's face, and whatever he's looking for, he must find it, because he takes a deep breath. "i kind of like it, actually."

buck isn't entirely sure who kisses who first, but that question ceased to have any priority the moment eddie's lips touched his. all that matters are eddie's hands finding his waist and eddie's mouth on his, eddie's jaw under his palm and the softness of eddie's hair at his fingertips.

"besides," eddie murmurs when they break apart. "i know a way we can fix the false assumption."

"what's that?"

"you could marry me for real."

buck surges against eddie again, and it's only the second time they've kissed but it feels like coming home.

"is that a yes?" eddie asks, and buck laughs as he nods, because in what universe is there even a question?

"that's a stop being so gross," christopher says next to them, but when they turn to face him they find him grinning, wide and joyous.

"how am i supposed to stay where you can see me if you keep looking at each other?" he asks, and eddie laughs.

"that's a very good point," he says. "we'll do better at the next house, okay?"

"you'd better," christopher says, trying to be serious, but all three of them are laughing when they turn to head to the next house, eddie's hand tucked firmly into buck's.

time is a construct so if you still want halloween prompt fills after halloween feel free to send me prompts

#911fic #buddie #i don't know what happened here but it's fine probably #may i offer you some parenthood feelings on this fine halloween evening #except it's mostly just pining disguised as parenthood feelings bc obviously buck is chris's parent #also i know i just changed my url to nogamediaz and this eddie has like. at least seven game #(on a scale of three to twenty-eight but still) #but just ignore it the universe needs balance and all that #ask emma #emma writes #jaskie

[notsugarandspice]

Not Here (Chapter 4)

Summary: Richard Tozier was living a rather ordinary life with his wife and child when something happened in the middle of the night, awakening something in him that was nowhere close to fear.

Pairings: Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak

Warnings: Teen and Up Audiences, Mature Language

Alien! Eddie, Dad! Richie, Science Fiction, Mystery

Note: Read the rest on ao3.

Day 10: The alien meets Timmy.

Richie doesn’t know how to feel about the changes in his life. All he knows is that everything is suddenly… better? He wakes up extra early to tickle Timmy out of bed, cook him chocolate chip pancakes, and drive him to school. Richie picks out his clothes the night before, laying them down on the chair, and reads his son a story every night before he drifts off, smiling at the imagery of purple dinosaurs. Richie doesn’t talk to Rachel almost at all, and she seems more than content - everything is just as she likes it to be. She is unbothered, wakes up after Timmy goes to school and spends the entire day shopping or pampering. Richie doesn’t have the heart to tell Timmy this is not how a mother should behave.

E-D is a constant presence in his life. Every lunch break he returns home, quickly makes himself a sandwich and sits with the alien in the attic. Eddie shows him more clips of its world - the most beautiful, picturesque place in existence. With every touch of this wonderful creature, Richie feels like he’s becoming a better man, a better dad, and a better human being. He smiles at everyone, goes grocery shopping twice a week, and makes an effort to spend more time with his son. He finally voluntarily speaks to his co-workers, especially Ben. His childhood friend has been concerned over the toxic atmosphere in their household but figured it’s not his place to talk. They’re going through plastic-wear inventory when Hanscom finally decides to speak up.

“Rich?”

Richie looks up at him from the clipboard where he’s doing the count of their losses.

“I know it’s not my place to talk-“ Ben stops when he sees Richie roll his eyes.

“Not this again, Haystack.” He starts mouthing numbers again.

“Look, I love Timmy. I really, really do. I think you and Rachel should get a divorce.” Ben walks up a little closer, looking up at Richie with sympathetic dark greens.

Richie sighs in defeat. “Why didn’t I marry someone as sweet as you, Benny boy?”

Ben blushes and walks back to the shelf. “Maybe because you didn’t get me knocked up?”

“Ooooh, Haystack gets off a good one, ladies and gents!”

They continue the count for a while, the store long closed, but as the hours pass, Richie begins to worry that it might not be the best idea to leave his son alone with Rachel.

“Hey, let’s continue tomorrow. I kind of want to check on Timmy.” Ben nods and gets up from the floor where he was pulling out the boxes to confirm the stock.

“By the way, where do you disappear for lunch all the time?”

Richie stops dead in his tracks and tries to busy himself with stacking the papers on his desk. “Uuuh, just home. Rach doesn’t really do anything, and I need to come back to do the dishes sometimes.”

Ben grabs his messenger bag and a book from the desk on the other side of the office. As owner and manager, they decided to have adjacent space. Richie hates to be alone anyway, and Ben is a great companion to gossip with.

“What, every day?” Ben laughs earnestly. “And I thought I ate too much.” Hanscom walks back to check that all the lights in the store are off.

“What can I say, Timothy is a growing lad,” says Richie in a British accent, earning another loud guffaw from his best friend.

He makes a mental note to go to the bar with Ben one of these days. Maybe when I don’t have an extraterrestrial living in my attic. But the thought only makes him melancholy.

Richie switches on the alarm, and they quickly make their way out. They wave each other goodbye in the parking lot, get into the cars, roll down the windows and back up at the same time. It’s one of Richie’s favorite routines of the day.

Richie unlocks the door and instantly tenses at how quiet it is. Nobody is downstairs, and he can’t hear any commotion in the rest of the house. He quickly throws his brown leather messenger bag on the dining chair and makes his way up the stairs. Richie peaks into Timmy’s room - it’s not time to sleep yet, but it’s late enough that he usually just plays toys in his room. His son isn’t there. Richie walks to Rachel’s bedroom and knocks hard, knowing that it will be locked. It’s always locked.

After rapping his knuckles on the door for almost two minutes he finally gives up, putting the ear to the dark wooden door. Richie can hear Rachel’s croaky voice coming from the bathroom and the sounds of splashing water. He knows she’s drinking because she always drinks when she takes a bath. Fucking woman lives in a bathtub. He irritably punches the door with the tip of his shoe and strolls up another flight of stairs leading to the attic. Richie can feel his heart jackhammering against the ribs, and he doesn’t even want to think of possibilities that might unravel themselves as he gets to the top.

And, just like he suspected, his son is in the attic, actually floating below the ceiling with the alien, giggling and swirling in the air. Richie feels a wave of nausea overcome him from the overprotective feelings he has for Timmy and he runs up to stand right below him. His hands are shaking, and he can’t get a word out - he’s also terrified of scaring either one of them, so he just stands there as leverage for several seconds. When Timmy does another swirl, and his face is pointed down, he finally notices Richie.

“Daddy!” His tiny finger is pointing at Richie’s horror-stricken face.

The alien first smiles at the intruder but upon seeing Richie’s expression loses some of the glow, and its hands stop moving. It slowly gestures towards Timmy’s body and guides the small boy down, making him float right in front of Richie’s face. Richie instantly wraps his arms around his son, breathing in the scent of bubblegum shampoo. Timmy instinctively positions himself on his father’s hip. Richie can feel his eyes burning with tears a little, and he knows he’s overreacting, knows that the alien didn’t do anything wrong - that Rachel is at fault here. But he can’t help but feel that he needs to break this situation down somehow. For both his and his son’s sake.

“Buddy, what are you doing here?” Richie pulls his son back a little to look at his small beaming face.

“Mommy left when I asked her to play the railroad, and I was bored. I found him.” Timmy points his finger at the alien that just floats below the window, looking intently at the interaction between the two.

“You can’t tell your mom about Eddie, okay?”

Timmy furrows his brows in confusion. “Eddie? He told me he’s E-D… um…”

Richie smiles for the first time since he got into the house. “That’s its real name. But don’t you like Eddie more?”

Timmy looks up and grins at the alien who smiles back in return, some of the glow returning to the body. “Sure.”

“Buddy, you have to promise me you won’t tell mom about this.” Richie looks pointedly at his son and pokes him in the side to pay attention.

Timmy giggles and looks at his dad. “Why can’t mommy know?”

Shit. “Because Eddie is my guest, not your mother’s. She doesn’t need to know, okay?”

His son takes some time to answer, but he gives Richie a small smile after a while. “Okay, daddy.”

Richie beams and kisses Timmy’s cheek, making his son giggle. There’s something warm and happy stirring in Richie’s chest, and he feels happy. Content. He finally looks up to connect eyes with E-D. The alien seems hesitant at first but then a spark of gold appears in its eyes, and it descends, planting its feet on the wooden floor next to the pair.

“I’m sorry,” says E-D, the warm electric sound filling an otherwise empty space.

Richie’s lost in his thoughts for a while, thinking whether he needs to warn the alien not to communicate with his son. But Timmy is looking at him with pure fascination, and Eddie seems to be harmless, so he decides against reprimanding.

“You have nothing to feel sorry for. Timmy likes you.” Richie smiles and the alien mirrors his action.

“I like Timmy.” Eddie touches a hand to Timmy’s bare foot, making the small boy laugh. “I like Richie.” E-D touches the other hand to Richie’s shoulder, and he can feel the heat through two layers of fabric.

But the look that the alien gives him is different than one his son received - it’s pointed and secretive. It seems like it’s holding the secrets of the universe in those large eyes. Richie feels his entire body cover in goosebumps.

His son extends a hand, and the alien touches its fingers to the small palm, and Timmy instantly pulls it back, laughing. “Hot!” 

The two other join in on the laugh and Richie’s eyes get glued to the gold dancing below the alien’s black orbs. Their eyes connect in some giddy attraction that Richie can confidently say he’s never felt before. He walks a little closer and wraps another arm around the alien. He knows how odd this entire situation is, but he can’t find within himself to care. The alien is friendly, doesn’t hurt his kid, and makes his body feel like Jell-O in the best possible way. He squeezes all three of them together, but he can’t help a creeping fear wrap around his throat, making his heartbeat speed up. But what now?

#reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #my writing