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brightsuzaku · 11 months

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Last Night's Dream was Yeerks! And Escape!

Hi everyone, so... I try to keep a daily dream journal, which I write down in the morning, assuming I remember it! Last night, I dreamed about Yeerks, apparently!

There is dream logic, so there's no way anyone should escape this easily, but do forgive that! I was dreaming, lol

It's also a rare dream where there's a beginning, a middle, and an end! That's Extremely Rare!

Our main character is basically... me? I'm unsure, but I took their first-person perspective!

As a note, the protagonist is apparently AFAB, but I generally avoided gendering them because nothing felt "clear", nor did gender matter in the dream, but they get called a "she" at one point! (I'm genderfluid personally, so no binary pronoun is wrong.) It's like, borderline misgendering and doesn't matter for the dream, but might matter to a reader, considering I've made a strong effort to avoid gendering this kid, otherwise.

Without further ado,

THE DREAM:

A teen (girl?) is hanging out with two friends, both boys, and both of which are Human-Controllers. They're nudging the teen into joining them at The Sharing.

As it happens, one of them jokes, "It's not like it's alien mind control or anything, it's just an after-school club! It's also a fun way to get your required 'community service' credits at school. You know, by planting trees or whatever."

There's no way to know how much slipped through that boy, but yeah, weird thing to say! Anyway, the teen awkwardly joins the boys as they go to a store to get fishing supplies for The Sharing. The store is also run by a middle-aged man who's also a Controller. While the boys look at fishing poles and tackle, the teen notices there's stairs that go upstairs in the shop, and downstairs, too.

"Oh, it's been about two days, eh? Yeah, it's down there. You're free to go," interrupts the older man, as the teen glances downstairs. He knows the boys are Controllers, and assumes the same for the teen.

"Hey, guys?" the teen calls out.

The two boys snap to attention, and one recognizes an opportunity. He nods, and begins leading the teen down the stairs while the other boy awkwardly follows.

7 steps down, through a door, and then down an even longer set of stairs, something doesn't seem right. The screams are the first to be heard. The teen struggles, but one of the boys then just forces them further forward, downward.

Then, you hear the crying.

They get pulled down to a whole Yeerk Pool, and the teen struggles against the two boys. Thankfully, the boys are just human Controllers, and get overpowered easily by their squirmy victim. An alert goes off as the teen high-tails it back up the stairs.

[cue the Mirror's Edge pursuit music]

Our hero forces their way back upstairs and out the doors of the store.

Unfortunately for all the Yeerks involved, these kids used to be real troublemakers. That's right, our protagonist teen is no stranger to running through the city in unconventional ways, and evading the police.

"GET HER!"

Sirens blare, you can hear the heart beat faster, as the teen goes running, vaulting, climbing, to get away. They get momentarily trapped by an area behind some buildings, blocked by chain-link fences. Thankfully, these are loading and storage areas, so nothing is electrified or barbed-wire.

The teen shimmies up fences with ease, and at one point bottle-necks the cop cars, climbs a chain-link gate, and the cops force the gate open. The teen crawls up over to the other side of the gate, JUMPS DOWN TO THE COP CARS, and goes running across them and away.

The cops don't shoot. They cannot afford to shoot, apparently their comms are mentioning a Sub-Visser's orders. They can't do anything too risky, like bring out a Blade Ship or Bugs, or anything, so there's just a chopper flying above.

At one point, the teen nearly gets caught, but is slapped by one of the cops. It hurts. After a moment, the teen kicks this lady down, and runs back into a winding alleyway.

Get over into that door down the left, the teen seems to think. They don't question it, adrenaline is pumping, and they run up a back-alley stoop, and barge into an unlocked door.

Up the stairs, too the roof.

The teen follows, realizing these aren't their own thoughts, exactly, even though it's their personal thought-voice. They don't care.

Escape is escape.

Moving their way to a roof, they spot an ordinary person, and a non-police chopper. Panic sets in.

Before the teen can panic and bolt, something else causes the teen's body to move, and follow the other guy onto the chopper. The police bird may not have noticed, yet, it's oddly still following something on the ground below with its spotlight.

"We need to escape them! Get in, now!"

The teen's body automatically slides into the seat on the chopper, and straps in, while the other guy slips into the co-pilot's seat, and a third person helps them take off.

"Are you ok, boss?"

The teen weakly tries to ask a question as this mysterious something relinquishes control, "What's going on?!"

My name is Illarim Five-Two-Six. I will not harm you. I won't even stay in your head. We're getting you away from them.

~~~~~~~~~~

THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE DREAM. ENJOY. Illarim 526 is a random Yeerk name my brain pulled. If they're an established character in Animorphs, then WHOOPS.

#longpost #dreams #CW brief possible misgendering #animorphs #Yeerks #brightsuzaku #text post

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saltisnacks · 2 years

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Three Buddie unfinished stories below. I hope you enjoy anyway. I didn't scan through these, so please ignore any massive errors.

The third story has an ending inspired from the penguin pair and their new chick. I didn't plan for this to get so long. Whoops!

#1 - more a prompt really. Feel free to take it.

Eddie arrives at the 118 to talk to Bobby about returning to the 118. No one knows. Not even Buck, who supported Eddie through his and Chris's start/return to therapy.

They're talking again, but things aren't quite right between them yet. Occasional blowups and misunderstandings. Their relationship isn't the same as it was and Eddie's worried it never will be (though he now realizes he loves Buck and wants more, but thinks that's impossible). He can see where they both went wrong and Chris does too.

The bays are empty due to a callout minutes before where the trucks drove past Eddie at a red light and can only stare at it as it passes with Buck at the wheel, who is too focused on driving to notice Eddie.

He notices changes and starts feeling nauseous. It feels like he's been erased. His name has been replaced. Some possible missing things:

Pictures on the cork board

His favorite mug

The fridge magnet he bought as a joke at Chimney

The slightly melted, but still usable, spoonula from the one time Bobby asked him to help cook.

His favorite pool cue.

The squeegee/sponge he preferred because it was the perfect length for him to clean the windshield from top to bottom.

The cue ball that broke in half from a scratch caused by Buck somehow that sent the ball rolling through the hole for the fireman pole before anyone could stop it, memorialized by Chim on a little shelf on the wall by the pool table.

Random miscellaneous things that would go unnoticed if a person didn't know where to look.

The others come back. He knows about Lucy, but he didn't know Buck had formed that tight of a relationship with her so quickly. He tries not to panic but he's been replaced. He's too late. He slumps to the floor out of sight behind the pool table.

"Hey, where's Buck?"

"Looking for Eddie. His truck is in the lot."

---

"Open it, Eddie."

Eddie opens Buck's locker to find several of the missing items stacked inside, barely leaving enough room for Buck's personal items. More in Chim's locker and Hens. His turnout and helmet are in Bobby's office.

Buck hands Eddie a jewelry box. Inside is his nameplate, shined and waiting.

Ending somehow leads to Buddie endgame.

---------

#2 Warning! This one is possible hurt/no comfort.

Chris does the same to Buck as he did to Eddie at Christmas during a game/movie night. Buck understands Eddie's situation now. But, he still tells Chris no. It's the job he loves and fought to get back.

"Are you going to quit, Buck? You could die, too."

Buck and Eddie get into an argument where a lot of hurtful things are said on both sides, more from Eddie than Buck. Buck walks out the door. Eddie has a panic attack and Chris is screaming.

A few days later, Eddie is in front of his lawyer's office wondering where things went wrong. The future he thought he saw crumbles to ashes behind his eyelids. He and Buck went up in destructive flames. He realizes it's the day he refused to believe the universe screams. When he ran into Ana and began that doomed relationship. Where his with Buck began to fracture. Where he talked to a man that couldn't be a firefighter despite wanting to be. He could be a firefighter, but does he want to be now?

Either he opens the door for the hurt/no comfort ending,

or...

He turns around and goes back to the truck. Buck was right and he should have listened. He now sees he needs to get Chris help as soon as possible. And maybe himself, but he doesn't matter right now. Only Chris.

And in turn the therapist tricks Eddie into his own talking at the same time, until Eddie catches on and finally agrees to his own therapy.

"46% of children with CP in a study reported anxiety, Eddie. It's more common than you think. Compound that with his inability to express his emotions and it's a dangerous cocktail. We can try him on a medication to see if this helps and continue his sessions."

"I didn't want him like me. He learned it from me. I don't... My dad."

"Toxic masculinity and Latin machismo. If I had a dollar for every... I'd be able to splurge on at least a Rolex."

---

"Eddie, nurture is one of the biggest ways a child learns. They mimic, emulate, and mirror. Especially their parents."

"He saw Shannon breaking things when she was upset. Now he's doing it, too."

---

"Eddie, you can't let every decision or choice you make be because of Chris."

"I get it. I begged my father to quit smoking, but he did until the week before we buried him for lung cancer despite having to use an electrolarynx."

"Imagine a teenager who hates her stepfather because he doesn't put up with the crap she tries to pull. There's no physical or mental abuse. He helps provide for the family. The mother understands because his actions are to discipline her. As a couple, they're happy and in love. But, the daughter keeps demanding she divorce him because he's "mean." He's ruining her life. Her friends make fun of her he took her phone. Should she divorce him? That's her kid that's unhappy. Or, should she sit the kid down and talk to her?"

"My kid tried to hide a kitten despite my many explanations that I'm highly allergic. I knew as soon as I started wheezing. Children sometimes don't get their way, especially if it's hurting another family member."

"If you understand Buck could die, too, why didn't you ask him to quit?"

"Your wife wasn't a firefighter."

"When is the last time you did something for yourself? Bought something for yourself? What do you like to do? No Chris. No Buck. Just you. If you had a completely free, no obligations day, what would you do?"

"I was shot! Not in a warzone, but in the middle of the street! Why me?! Why the fuck was it me?"

"Dragging him... Okay, let's talk about that comment right now."

"I screwed up. I overcorrected so badly, I'm in the ditch."

---

"Ed - Whoa!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You were right. I should have. You were right. I'm sorry."

"Eddie, shhh. I got you. Alright? Come here."

---

"How are you so forgiving? Of the things I said? I knew where to hurt you the worst. I took your insecurities and turned them into weaponized words."

"I knew you were hurting and confused, Eddie."

"Still."

"Sometimes you have to let the bird try to fly while it's wing is still broken so it realizes it's still in pain. That it needs to heal more. You were that bird in my mind, Eddie."

---

"You don't have to apologize. I understand because he blindsided me, too, but... I didn't realize it was the warning sign it should have been. What Chris asked of you... I didn't know he was going to do that, Buck.

---

"Can we try again? To fix...us? To go back to the way we were?"

"We can't, Eddie."

"What?"

"What we had... I don't think we can go back to that. Like Maddie and Chim weren't the same after Doug. They just started something else. Like a new beginning, I guess. Or Japanese kintsugi would be a better description, maybe?"

"Kint-what?"

--------

Eddie runs into the man from Jinxed. He finally succeeded and is now a probationary firefighter after a bit of jail time and therapy. He's excited and doesn't let Eddie get a word in edgewise.

He starts to remember his own excitement from his beginning days. The rush. The fulfilment of successfully saving someone. He misses it more than he ever has.

It's the jumpstart he needed to finally start getting the therapy Chris and he needs.

Buck has an amicable split from Taylor because she's moving to an affiliate news station for an anchor position and she knows he's not going to leave LA. His sister and Jee-Yun are there. And she hinted at Eddie, but it goes over his head.

Eddie goes with Chris to therapy where he starts asking questions about Shannon after she is brought up by the therapist. Eddie feels like an idiot and starts answering them.

"I don't remember her much."

"And I don't tell you about her. Mijo, I'm sorry."

"She loved Christmas. I remember that."

"And when she was done decorating, she always said "Perfect." with that little happy twirl of hers. Her mom teased her by telling me she did it every year since she was little. Her own Christmas magic."

"She didn't the year before she died. With the tree."

"No, she didn't. I get it now. Chris, I'm sorry."

"Chris, let's talk a little. Do you think of Christmas and your mom's death together?"

"Is that bad?"

Eddie can only meet the therapist eyes in understanding.

He starts his own therapy and slowly realizes he's quite fucked up in the head for many reasons. The therapist asks if he wants to start from the past to the present or go backwards through events. He chooses the past because he's further removed from it in his opinion.

The therapist goes a little further back and surprisingly asks about his childhood.

"Why?"

"Humor me."

Eddie rambles for a few sessions with guided questions from the therapist who only sighs at the end.

"What?"

"I really hope Latin machismo eventually fades one day just like the idea that not bathing was considered healthy. And no, I'm not being racist here, I can see you brewing for an argument. Let me explain. We also call it toxic masculinity.

Men having to provide for the women. Shannon stayed home to watch Chris while you provided for the family instead of her helping you. Your father insisted your mother stay at home despite being a registered nurse."

"She picked up a job after my sister started school at a nursing home. I think they argued when he came home. She hasn't had a job since."

"Controlling your choices or trying to force you to make one with his approval. Baseball instead of the science club. Soccer instead of theater with your sisters.

Applying for Texas A&M because that's where he went instead of University of Texas where you wanted to go. You even said yourself you think he threw away their acceptance letter. You wanted to be a nurse like your mother, but he "encouraged" you to go for a being a doctor. You burned out because it was too much, but you could have succeeded if you had stayed on track for nursing because it's what you really wanted at the time. If your son said he wanted to be a gardener, would you instead tell him to be a botanist?"

"No."

I...let my parents ruin my life and didn't fight back.

"Would you have married Shannon if they hadn't pushed?"

"We had already split up twice before. Our relationship...ran hot if you know what I mean. The one time we weren't careful enough, Chris happened. We were already halfway to split up again when she realized she was pregnant. We were always arguing. I don't ever remember even looking at rings before then. Maybe in passing, but it never solidified. Until Chris."

"No. Think again."

"Until my parents stepped in. Shannon didn't even want to get married until her mom encouraged her to because they just found out she was sick."

I let my parents control my life and didn't fight back.

"Do you regret it?"

"Chris? Never!"

"Marrying Shannon. Would you have still joined the military if you hadn't?"

"I had dropped out of my last year at A&M and was working at a garage. Shannon wanted an Aunt Annie pretzel from the mall because of cravings and while getting it, I walked passed a recruitment office. I signed up. I didn't even talk to her about it. I just did what I thought I could do to support her at the time."

I let my parents ruin Shannon's life and didn't fight back.

"Do you regret marrying Shannon?"

"She asked me for a divorce. Right before she died. She was leaving again and then she was gone forever. I was... confused and angry because I thought our family was going to be whole again. She told me she was pregnant! And then it all got ripped away. The baby and then her."

"Eddie, answer the question."

"Yes! Damn it! Yes! I wouldn't have gone to Afghanistan and avoided all of what happened to me! Shannon would have went to her mom instead of being around my controlling parents who made her feel like a worthless mother! We still would have had Chris. She could have found a man who loved her better than I could and been happy! I could have gone back to school for something. I could have found someone else, too, but I was stuck and couldn't even look at someone else without my father reminding me of my pointless vows! She'd probably still be alive and Chris would still have his mom!"

"Take a deep breath, Eddie."

---

"I... I've never admitted that out loud before."

"Last time we started talking about toxic masculinity. I have a few more things if you don't mind."

"I looked it up. I get what you're saying now. My friend, Buck. I told you about him. He helped me walk through all of it. He joked that all the website needed was a picture of my dad as an example."

"Your father always demanded respect from you and your sisters and if you didn't you were torn down until you did. Even when he's doing something that you don't agree with. Like harassing your neighbors just because they were lesbians. Your older sister tried to gently chide him and he basically went "This is my house, my rules. You will not tell me what to do.""

"In my defense, I didn't realize they were together until a few years later."

Thank you, Scott. I wonder where you are now? Did you succeed?

"The whole concept that men aren't supposed to show emotions. Your grandfather died when you were twelve. Why shouldn't you have cried? You watched your dog get hit by a car. A dog you'd had since you were seven, and you weren't supposed to cry. To be frank, and briefly unprofessional, that's bullshit and you know it. Do you expect the same from your son?"

"No! Well, he doesn't cry much anyway. He didn't even cry at... Shannon's funeral. Oh my god. Buck said he didn't cry when I was shot. Instead he comforted Buck."

I let my parents ruin me and didn't fight back until they tried to do the same to Chris.

"Children learn more from their parents even if they're not speaking."

"This ends. With me. I swear it ends."

"Then let's get started."

---

"If I may... When we were discussing Shannon you said something, twice in fact, that I'm not even sure you noticed because of what you were admitting."

"What?"

"For Shannon, you said she could have found a man. You, instead, for yourself said someone."

"Did I?"

"You did."

"I meant woman."

"Eddie."

"I'm... I'm... I was married and had a girlfriend!"

"So? There's your father again, right? The lesbians next door. He probably cussed or threw offensive words at Elton John. Maybe Catholic guilt mixed in?

"I..."

"High school. Look, Buck went on a research binge because a woman at a scene was asexual and the man hitting on her wasn't getting the hint. He tried to drug her drink, but ended up grabbing the wrong glass and dosed himself."

"How long, Eddie? How long have you denied yourself?"

"I'm not. Not... really, no. I just..."

"Eddie, how long have you known?"

"Karmic justice. Sorry. Continue."

"Shannon and I started out as friends. Her locker was always next to mine and seating charts almost always had us together because her name was alphabetically behind mine. Shannon Dickenson. I never had problems with sex with her... for the most part. Sometimes I just wasn't in the mood no matter what she did. That... was one of our first arguments actually."

"Buck started reading all of these sexualities to me because he thought there were only gay, bisexual, and straight. Gray ace made sense if you know what I mean."

"I'm aware of all the terminology."

"But once you started that fighting..."

"Poof, it got worse. I think I was forcing or tricking myself after she came back because I wanted that connection back. I thought it was back so it became easier. With Ana, it just...never clicked. I thought I could kiss her until I was driving home from... a bizarre date turned math lesson."

"Math?"

"She was a teacher. But on the drive home, I was relieved it didn't happen. She kept insinuating she wanted to have sex, taking my clothes off, but we never did. I kept hoping, but nothing. That solidified the gray ace in my head.

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Eddie, I told you on our first meeting that all lying must stop at the door for this to work. You said high school."

"One of the varsity pitchers, Elliot, my sophomore year took me under his wing. Before... before I really connected with Shannon. I didn't want to play baseball, but I was told I had a good fastball and he made it fun. We talked while goofing off as we tossed the ball back and forth. About anything we wanted to. Because of him, I was bumped to varsity mid season.

"Shannon and I were split up and my first year roommate, Scott, was openly gay. He was funny. Loved singing, although badly, and dancing around like nothing else mattered in the world. Flamboyant but not obnoxiously so. Brilliant. Like really brilliant. He was doing calculations that made my eyes cross with ease.

One game, I had to sit out because I had twisted my ankle and was benched for a week. Elliot was on the mound and for a few seconds a ray of sunlight hit him just right. Back straight, head up, ball tucked behind his back with his mitt down at his side. And it hit me. Then the shame quickly followed because he was a boy."

"Anyone else?"

He tinkered around with things people brought to him. He fixed the card reader for the building before the technician even got there. My computer was so advanced I could barely use it when he was done with it.

Spoke two languages besides English fluently. And he was so kind. Generous to a fault."

"Eddie."

"We ended up getting drunk one night on cheap beer another student had snuck in. I woke up naked in his bed. I didn't leave it before he woke up."

"How long were you together?"

"Until the end of the school term. He was offered a transfer to MIT because one of his professors had shown his designs to them. I wouldn't let him turn it down. It was MIT! I couldn't let him turn that down for me."

"I know. But you didn't want him to leave."

"No, I didn't."

"It was the right choice, Eddie. You didn't want to hold him back."

"I know. Once I arrived back home... It didn't feel wrong until I got home under their watchful eyes again."

"And then Shannon came back."

"During the summer between my third and fourth year. I dropped out right before Christmas break. I couldn't take it any more. Ha, Hen doesn't know why I help her so often with her studies. I forgot to tell her. Oops.

There was no one else in between Scott and Shannon. A few people tried, but I just wasn't interested in hooking up. I have only slept with two people my entire life. One woman and one man."

"There's no shame in that, Eddie. Not the number and not the genders. None."

"Isn't there?"

"Was Scott ashamed?"

"No."

"Is your friend Hen ashamed."

"No."

"Anyone else you know?"

"At first yes, but he isn't now. Oh."

"And I think he gets it."

"Shut up."

"Nope."

---

"So, Afghanistan."

"Been there, been shot, don't recommend."

"Nice try."

"So that didn't work?"

"Nope."

"Dammit."

---

"The ladder truck explosion."

"Why do we need to talk about that?"

"Keep humoring me."

---

"The well collapse."

"How do you even know that was me?"

"How about the several news cameras that recorded everything. All I have to do is Google and you're everywhere. You and Buck."

"Really?"

"Have you watched any of them?"

"No."

"I recommend you do."

"Why?"

"You'll see. Now tell me what happened from your perspective."

---

"How do you feel about talking about the sniper?"

"Nope. Not today."

"All right."

"Wait? What? No pushing this time?"

"No. How are you feeling in relation to Chris's therapy and talking about Shannon? I know we've talked about showing Chris how to healthily express emotions."

---

"I was shot. In broad daylight. In the middle of an LA street by someone with a vendetta against the fire department because the LAFD kept reviving his former partner! Then the wacko shot Bobby, too. I'm stuck in the hospital with Ana when all I wanted was my son and...

Then I almost drop out of a crashed medical helicopter, I don't even know how many stories to the ground, from the roof of a hospital.

Then I'm taken hostage with Buck by escaped prisoners because one of them had a dying son and demanded to be taken to him at the hospital! He killed himself, don't breathe a word of this to anyone or I'll sue, to save his son by giving him his heart. And, I somehow related to him because I would do anything for my son, too, and the thought makes me sick.

Then we almost lost two innocent children in the hospital fire because of a reflection!

My son, Shannon, my grandmother, Buck, Chim, Maddie, Athena, Bobby. Me. I hate hospitals! I hate hospitals!

And helicopters! If there's another helicopter involved, I'm walking the fuck away. I'll show someone else how to power them down and then I'm never going near one again. If there's ever a medivac, I'm going to the truck and staying there."

"Hospitals because you never know if they're going to come back out. Including yourself. Helicopters because it sounds like nothing good has ever happened to you while being in one. War and almost falling."

"Hen almost died in a crash and Taylor Kelly."

"The 118 responded to her helicopter accident a few years ago?"

"Yup. And I wish we hadn't."

"Why?"

"Nope."

"Your using a different tense, Eddie."

"What?"

"I'm going. I'm walking. You haven't noticed but you've been using present or future tense for a while when talking about the 118. When you first starting talking about it weeks ago, it was past tense. How do you feel about that? Then we'll back track to...all the rest.

---

"Taylor Kelly. News reporter and former girlfriend of one Evan "Buck" Buckley."

"Damn internet."

"So lets finally talk about Buck beyond the ladder truck and lawsuit."

"Do we have to?"

"If you can tell me right now why we need to talk about Buck, I'll let it go."

"I made his Christopher's guardian without asking him first?"

"You did what? That was your one chance to come clean, Eddie, before I poke and prod it out of you."

"Fuck."

---

During all of this, he has his own cheering squad in Buck and the 118, who he's still in contact with. He meets Lucy and isn't too enthused because she's encouraging Buck to do riskier and riskier rescues, and he's not there to stop him or have his back.

He meets back up with the man from Jinx for coffee where he learns he's had his first loss and is taking it hard. Their other station probie had made a major mistake and it cost him time he didn't have to get to the victim. Eddie walks him through his guilt and recommends seeing his therapist again, at least once.

Chris and Eddie both learn to deal with their traumas and their emotions. It's hard for Eddie, but he's trying for Chris. Especially about Shannon. He's been sharing one memory of her a night before bedtime.

Buck is Eddie's decompression after each session. Eddie can talk about it if he wants. If not, Buck just sits with him while reading a book, etc. in the silence.

"I have your back, Eddie. If you need to cry, then cry. If you need to punch something, we'll head to the gym. If you need to yell, I'll find the closest place to do it. And if you're happy... Show me that because it makes me happy, too."

Buck starts sharing funny and/or gross calls when Eddie asks.

---

"Evan Buckley, what the fuck were you thinking? Did you think I wouldn't see that all over the news?"

"I'm fine! I swear! Nothing happened."

"I don't care what she tells you, you are taking too many risks. This isn't a competition or a talent show. You're going to get hurt or worse. Or her. You want that on your conscience?"

"No. Ow!"

"Then quit it."

---

"So. I finally watched some footage from the well collapse."

"Um..."

"Care to explain?"

"Did Chris just call for me? I'll be right back."

---

A rescue to get a teenager out of a basement rec room at a youth center, under Bobby's order of, "Don't get caught, Eddie, or it's both our butts in the hot seat."

He tells Bobby when returns the spare turnout that he's ready to come back.

"After discussing it with Chris, of course. Do I need to recertify or reapply? Do you even have a spot for me?"

"Eddie, I've had you on extended unpaid medical leave with LAFD approval since the paperwork was filed after Christmas."

"That was months ago!"

"Yup."

"How did you..."

"I know my team. And I saw your face. You really don't like Lucy, do you?"

"Nope or that gear. It stinks."

"Agreed."

---

Chris surprises him by being really excited about the possibility of him going back.

"We were, uh, actually talking about it today when I picked him up from school. You tried to play it cool, but did you really think I wouldn't recognize you through that mask yesterday before you could run away? We were going to talk to you actually, but you brought it up first."

"Busted, I guess. That gear reeks, by the way. I don't think it's been used in years. Bobby is ordering a replacement."

"Why we're you there anyway?"

"I was at the bank. The atm closest to home chewed up my card. I had to go to a larger branch to replace it. Then the lot was blocked by you parking the 118 rig right in front of the exit."

"Oops?"

"So you're really okay with me going back?"

"Yeah, dad. Just be careful. And you have Buck."

"I will keep him as safe as I can, buddy, but..."

"There's no promises because anything can happen to anyone at any time. Whether their a firefighter or not. I know, Buck."

---

"Um, okay. So. Did you hear about the male penguins that have their own chick now?"

"Yea, I did."

"So... Random Eddie babble about penguins and how same sex pairings have adopted eggs for years and stuttering until " I hope I haven't been reading this wrong and if I ask you on a date, you'll say yes, and then Chris would be like our chick or whatever."

Buck busts out laughing, but quickly answers yes through his laughter when he sees Eddie start to get nervous and back up.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Why are you still laughing?"

"The stuttering, blushing. Chris is a penguin chick now. I just saw a whole different side of you, Eddie Diaz. Were you like that with Shannon and Ana?"

"Shannon, yes. Scott, yes. Ana, no. Did I really call Chris a chick?"

"Yup."

#pre relationship buddie prompts #buddie #not quite flushed out stories im releasing to the world #this is loooooong!#anti bucktaylor #just to be safe

8 notes · View notes