hmmm okay new 911 theory popped into my mind at 3AM. woo! spoilers for 7x04 if you haven’t seen it yet below the cut!

alright I love buddie but I don’t think it’s going to be canon this season. I think abc knew it would generate enough to renew for an 8th season (which it did! yay!) and obviously now that we have BI BUCK RAAAAHHH there’s going to be some episodes focusing on that. and there’s only 10 episodes this season, we’re 4 episodes in now and the bi buck realization was at the very end of episode 4. madney wedding is happening at some point so they won’t focus that much on buck’s sexuality, but I can see it being a character moment still! so now I’ll get into the actual theory other than the buddie won’t be canon this season.

we know that Tommy and Buck aren’t going to be a thing for long and neither will Marisol and Eddie. so they’re going to be all “hmmm want partner :(“ and now buck’s going to realize he has more options of course and that the jealousy he felt with the eddie&tommy friendship was jealousy about Eddie hanging out with someone else, I feel like that will also be what ends up splitting Buck and Tommy. so he’s going to realize he’s interested in Eddie since Tommy has a lot of similarities with him and realize maybe he has a thing for Eddie. and he’s going to realize it more at the wedding when he sees other couples dancing I’m sure and he’s going to be off to the side talking with Eddie and realize all this mentally. and I think they’ll share one of their “looks” between each other. (one of THOSE looks. you know the one). and since they’re talking about relationships, after the look Eddie will realize something too and that he might be into men as well and take more looks at buck while he’s not looking lol. (I can picture it in my mind. either the clownery is real with me or I’m getting prophetic but 911 likes to pull little scenes like these lol with the characters just looking at each other lol). and I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere from there, just confirmation that eddie’s thinking about the possibility of being a with another dude and leave a sorta set up for his gay/bi/pan/likes men awakening next season, leaving it open for us to imagine if it weren’t to be renewed but something to set up a bigger plot thing. and then I think we’ll get the Eddie likes men plot beginning of s8 after the big emergency… and then they dance around feelings for each other for a minute (an episode or two) thinking “no way they would want to date me! 🥺” and then they probably get some sense talked into them by one of the other characters separately (I could see hen or Maddie trying to talk sense into Buck about this lol) and then boom scene of one of them approaching the other and awkwardly asking them to go out or something and the other being all “oh yeah, uh I’d love that yeah sounds good!” and then boom buddie go on date (date first gets postponed by big emergency maybe lol) and boom buddie canon and boom operation buddie success to finish off season 8.

abc if you’re reading this maybe take some notes?? lol

thank you btw abc for making bi buck canon. it no longer needs to be a headcanon. The truth is out. (wee)wooooooo!!!

tbh i feel like we're all maybe forgetting that 6A was kind of destined to be a little bit boring or slow-paced from the get-go because of how 5B ended so *perfectly* with everything tied up in a neat little bow. i mean 5x18 was literally called "starting over," and this is a show that (for better or for worse, this specific post is not pro-911s-pacing or anti-911s-pacing but a secret third thing, confused-and-trying-to-make-sense-of 911s-pacing) routinely and consistently takes right around ~10 episodes to cash in on big narrative plot points. not situational or episode specific or more technical plot points, like madney going from unsuccessful house hunting to finding a place within 2 episodes, or buck agreeing to be a sperm donor inside of 1 episode- those are typically resolved pretty quickly, within an episode or two. the show scaffolds these more-quickly-resolved plot points together into larger, more character driven arcs that typically always take around ten episodes for the full emotional fallout and significance to play out. 911 has always been a show where what happens matters a hell of a lot less to the story than how the characters feel about what happens, so because this is such a character driven show, inside of those ten set-up, pawns-on-the-chessboard episodes, it can be pretty difficult at times to figure out what they're angling at, or where they're planning on going (buck! where the hell are you going!), or how any of the plots are going to coalesce into something useful, profound, and cohesive. typically, the B season ends with at least a *couple* of loose threads that carry over into the arc-resolution-conclusion phase in the following A season, giving us an A season that's like 70% setup for new arcs and 30% wrapup of old arcs- but 5B ended on a true blank slate, so almost *everything* in 6A (with the exception of the conclusion to hen's super-drawn-out-but-very-realistically-paced med school arc) has been... scaffolding from the ground up.

and scaffolding looks pretty unimpressive and odd and boring on its own, like a big pile of ugly junk getting in the way of everything, but put it alongside the Sistine chapel ceiling it was built to accomplish, and suddenly it seems a little more worthwhile.

hiii, i just saw your tags on a post about catholicism and I know you watch 911, so i was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts on how you'd like to see 911 handle the whole Eddie is a lapsed catholic and has catholic guilt and is now dating a former almost-nun. do you think eddie's going to have a moment of "oh, actually i want to do mass and confessions again because thanks to my lovely girlfriend marisol, ive found my faith again"?

ANON I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED! I'm going to put some of my own experiences under the cut at the end of this ask because I think the context is at least a little important.

I think someone like @monsterrae1 will also have a ton of insight into this as another recovering Catholic and as someone from a Latin Catholic background that's probably similar to Eddie's.

Now to my take:

When they brought in Marisol's backstory of being a novice nun I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair and then I got really excited because bringing religion into Eddie's story is, in my opinion, the most obvious path for Eddie's queer awakening and an arc where Eddie unpacks a lot of his catholic guilt and repression.

If Eddie goes back to Church, which I think he might based on Bobby's advice not because of Marisol, I don't think it's going to be a 'oh wow I missed this!' moment, I think it would be the start of a journey where Eddie realizes how impacted he is by Catholic guilt and how even if he hasn't gone to church in years, it's impacted so many aspects of his life.

Eddie saying he's a manchurian catholic and has a reservoir of catholic guilt he didn't realize was there was so funny to me because that man doesn't even realize how his catholic guilt has impacted his life. Every time he ignores his own feelings for other people. every time he tries to do what he thinks people want of him instead of what he wants. every time he shoved down his feelings to 'do what's right' that's catholic guilt, baby.

My personal feelings on it are that Eddie is going to realize that he's been repressing a lot about himself... like maybe his sexuality. He's been comphet coded for years. From the panic attack of Ana being called his wife to saying dating feels like a performance to what he said last episode about the church being a big reason he and Shannon got married. (This isn't to say he didn't love Shannon because he did, we know how much he did even after their relationship was dead in the water).

I think we'll probably get an Eddie/Marisol breakup in the next few episodes - likely triggered by Eddie realizing he's maybe not straight and maybe he needs to figure himself out. Or maybe because he still can't get it up around her because of the nun reveal. Or maybe for some other reason - like maybe Marisol is a little homophobic.

They're setting up a perfect 'queer repressed Eddie' arc. They've set it up since before the move to ABC, even if they didn't do it on purpose.

I don't think it's going to be an easy journey for Eddie though. He's probably go so much internalized homophobia inside of him. He's got so much to unlearn and so much he needs to learn to love about himself. That's one of the reasons I hope Tommy sticks around - he's someone Eddie could lean on and learn from because he came out later in like - he came from a similar background with the military - he's someone Eddie could trust with that.

Now, a little backstory on my own relationship with Catholicism before I dive in - I was raised very Catholic, church every Sunday, Catholic school (uniform and all) from kindergarten all the way to high school, I was confirmed, I was my sister's confirmation sponsor, I was an alter server, I was a lead in my high school's church choir.

But my Catholic background is also not the exact same as Eddie's. He specified he comes from Latin Catholics and that's an important distinction because different cultures have a different approach to Catholicism. I'm originally from the states and while I'm not Irish-American or Italian-American but, I was raised in a very Irish and Italian neighbourhood (lots of first and second gen immigrant folks) and have probably a more 'Irish-American/Italian-American Catholic' perspective.

I am not practicing anymore and have gone to so much therapy for what my therapist calls 'religious trauma' because Catholicism, my teachers, and some of my priests, made me hate myself for existing even before I knew why I hated myself. Catholicism and the way they speak about queer people and the way they speak about sex is extremely regressive and when you learn about it from a very young age, you internalize that.

I also experience guilt when I do basically anything for myself that isn't beneficial to other people. You're made to feel selfish for having needs. I just... don't like organized religion because of my experience with the church.

I spent like 21 years hating myself and feeling tremendous guilt about my feelings towards women and every time I would kiss a girl I would play if off as 'oh haha it's just for laughs' because Catholic. One of my best friends in university once said to me, "I'm gay, but I'm catholic so I'm straight". He's now married to a woman and has a kid and every time I see him he looks worse and sadder. He struggles with addiction, likely because he's trying to numb himself. I think any religion that makes someone feel that way is toxic.

”deeper depths of his queer love” the realization that’s he’s been in love with his best friend for YEARS is going to hit him so hard I can only imagine how buck would react. Is he gonna laugh is he gonna cry is he gonna be scared is he gonna be happy is it all of the above?

Yeah, Oliver sees the vision. He seems to realize that Buck's relationship with Tommy is leading to something bigger, that there's more under the surface that needs to be discovered than just what he's found in these last two episodes, and I'm so excited to see it all come to fruition.

I personally think when Buck does finally realize he's gonna shut that shit DOWN. I don't think he's going to say shit for fear of losing Eddie and Chris. What I think could happen is Buck realizes in the season finale, it shakes him to his core, he keeps it to himself, the hiatus happens, we come back in season 8 and find out that Buck still hasn't said a word to Eddie but now people are starting to notice that Buck's acting a bit different around Eddie. Not enough for Eddie to notice (man is nothing if not oblivious to men who are in love with him), but enough that it draws the attention of the rest of the firefam. But there are subtle signs, such as a lot of staring, both jumping to spend extra time with Eddie but also holding himself back for fear of being too obvious.

Meanwhile, Eddie may or may not still be with Marisol. If he's still with Marisol, I want to see this being the continuation of his queer realization. I'd be okay with more issues popping up with Marisol and this time Eddie's got no excuses. Or regardless of if she's there or not, Eddie's back in therapy and trying to work through things. OR it could be fun to have Eddie AND Marisol in couples counseling, having the two of them trying to work their shit out, and have the culmination of that be Eddie realizing he's queer.

I just think if they don't have Eddie's queer realization arc in season 7, then a significant portion of it should be dealt with in season 8a. My timeline that I would love would be a mutual bucktommy break up in 7x10 + agreement to remain friends. Buck is pining for Eddie the whole of 8a, and Eddie figures out he's queer by the mid-season finale. A marisol breakup could be on or off screen at that point. As long as he FIGURES. IT. OUT. Then 8b could focus on Eddie coming to terms with his own queerness, now with Buck's conflict being "do I tell Eddie or do I not tell him?" Maybe even have BUCK shifting into TOMMY'S position, of sort of being a "guide" for Eddie, but worrying that he could be taking advantage of him. Meanwhile, Eddie's learning the freedom that comes along with finally being true to himself in 8b, and maybe he's seeing that everything he's ever wanted aligns exactly with what Buck gives him and their family. We could maybe even have Eddie bringing Shannon back, and worrying that realizing he's queer won't change a thing and maybe the issue really is him. Being scared that if he accepts the love Buck clearly wants to give him that he might ruin the best love he's ever had.

NOW. Depending on if the show wants to extend buddie out or they want to get them together, I could see the season 8 ending episodes going one of two ways: 1.) Buck confesses, Eddie accepts, they start their relationship, including first kiss and first date in s8 ending episodes. S9 sees them in a relationship for real OR 2.) Buck confesses to Eddie, Eddie rejects him not because he doesn't reciprocate but because he's afraid of destroying their relationship like he destroyed all the rest of his other relationships. Season 9 then starts with angst where they BOTH want each other badly but they can't take that final step. Season 9a ends with Eddie realizing that he can't waste time anymore, and their relationship starts for real in s9b.

Anyway, this got away from me. I think both of them are going to be more scared of their feelings than accepting right away. BUT I do have faith they'll find their way to each other eventually.

gay!eddie is happening in the near future, a post brought to you by someone who spends way too much time dissecting queer media (and usually ends up being at least half right)

bear with me, it's a long one under the cut

i have a longer, more scene specific post that i will finish during the break if nothing happens tonight but i am a full believer that eddie's big arc this season (or next season, depending) is that the reason none of his past relationships worked out is because he's gay (not bi, gay)

disclaimers: i fully believe eddie loved shannon, just not the way he wanted to. you can also be gay and still enjoy heterosexual sex. sometimes sex really is just sex. this post is purely about romantic attraction.

I also tried to leave as much out about buck as possible (though that's hard, the man is obviously an integral part of his life) because gay!eddie diaz will happen no matter if buddie is endgame, and people need to realize that. their sexualities are more than just about each other.

anyways, on to the post-

it's canon that eddie will put christopher first when it comes to deciding relationships, and i think we first see that with shannon. rewatching season 2, i didn't get the impression that he wanted a romantic relationship with her, but he wanted her back in his son's life, and to eddie, those two go hand in hand.

and, if we're being honest, i think eddie's habit of putting other people first is the whole reason he got with shannon, because his family taught him that he was supposed to find a nice girl and settle down. who better to do that with than his best friend? my theory is further proven when shannon gets pregnant and eddie marries her out of a sense of duty, and then immediately ships off to afghanistan under the pretense of "providing" (and isn't it something that he picks a profession where he'll be away from his family for months at a time)

the only reason eddie returned is because of the helicopter crash, to which shannon immediately started talking about moving to california. while i believe that wanting to rest after the crash could be part of the reason he was hesitant, i think there was also a fear of what would happen when he was no longer near his family he was trying to please.

of course, eddie eventually moves to la after getting a job offer from both lafd and chicago. carla mentions that it is only thirty minutes from shannon, and while that could be because he wanted to reconcile, i think it was more to do with wanting to have his son's mother near. that, and lafd is the best in the world (according to eddie)

eddie only kisses shannon in 2x07 after she does her family interview for the school. this specific fact coupled with the absence of the eddie diaz heart eyes™️ (which, despite his closing off at the beginning of the series, we'd already seen in 2x01 when he and buck call truce) makes me believe he realized he could trust her and wanted her back in his son's life, and the way to do that was to get back together.

"but they hid their relationship for a while" eddie was still scared. comphet is a real thing, and causes people to act on things they necessarily don't want. i believe he pursued a romantic relationship with shannon because that's what she wanted, and if he kept her happy, she wouldn't leave again. this is why i wish we could've seen divorced shannon/eddie instead of her dying immediately, and i wonder if maybe it would've sped up the whole deconstruction process for him.

the next time eddie dates, it's with ana. on paper, ana is the perfect wife for him. she's a teacher, knows how to handle kids, is latina, the whole package. eddie tries so hard to make it work, that it actually does, and this causes him to panic. both carla and buck tell eddie not to take just chris into consideration, but to make sure he wants it too, and after some time, he breaks it off with her. the way ana reacted to the breakup makes me wonder if she could also sense the reason for the breakup.

marisol is where it starts to get tricky, but i feel like we've seen enough (or not enough) in these four episodes to piece some information together. chris is the one who encourages eddie to call her, and that makes me wonder if that's the reason they're still together. before the promo of the bucktommy date eddie and marisol crash, we only got two mentions of marisol, and both times was in relation to her helping with chris. at this point, eddie has spent more time with tommy than he has with marisol, as far as we're aware.

the synopsis of tonight's ep says that eddie and marisol "take a closer look at their relationship" and given that we haven't seen much of them on screen, it makes me wonder what this could be about. does it maybe have something to do with them crashing the bucktommy date?

obviously, i wouldn't be mad if eddie turned out to be bi. however, to me, all of his relationships seem be a big case of comphet. speaking from experience, as someone who's pursued relationships with men purely because that's what i was expected to do, not because i actually wanted to be with them. and just like eddie, there was a time where if my best friend (who was of the opposite gender) had asked me out, I would've said yes and married him had it come to that, because it would've made my family happy. i've gotten to a point where i don't care what my conservative family thinks or wants, and i truly believe that this season, we'll see eddie get to that place to.

if you've made it this far, thank you for listening, and here's to hoping we get gay!eddie tonight.

tag: @queeredmundo

002 - Popstar, Franklydear and whatever we call what Wally and Home have going on

(send me a character/ship to hear my thoughts)

i've gotten Multiple asks about all of these pairings, so let's not waste anymore time. under the cut bc unsurprisingly this got Long.

POPSTAR

when or if I started shipping it: i think it first Really started with this pokemon AU post clown made talking about what he thought they'd be up to in that universe... the language he uses in that post really caught my eye, and it just kinda snowballed from there, especially as canon started picking up and we saw more of them interacting 1-on-1.

my thoughts: i feel like we don't really get a lot of yuri in this specific Type of horror (i.e. cute thing is secretly fucked up), at least not in the west. i think that's a crying shame, but i believe popstar has the potential to truly open the floodgates. unless i'm forgetting herstory - idk i feel like there's definitely some rpgmaker game out there that'll prove me wrong but you know what i mean. more mascot horror yuri NOW.

What makes me happy about them: i think it's super cute that they both kinda geek out whenever one of them asks the other for help, like they're being asked by this big huge celebrity and not, like. their literal next door neighbor lol. sally in particular - as bullheaded as she is, her insistence on trying to put poppy in the spotlight more often isn't because she thinks poppy is untalented and needs to train up, but because she genuinely thinks poppy is Just That Stunning And Talented And Beautiful, and doesn't want that to go to waste. nepotism has never looked so romantic <3

What makes me sad about them: sally seems to enlist poppy's help Way more than poppy does sally's, and while sally clearly Wants to take poppy seriously, she has a hard time not immediately brushing off other's concerns in general because She's An Auteur, Dammit, She Knows What She's Talking About. it does make me very worried for poppy! i think things between them are gonna get Way worse before they get better lol. not dysfunctional enough to be toxic yuri but certainly painful enough that it will Get Me when it happens.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: THAT NOBODY WRITES IT

Things I look for in fanfic: MORE OF IT

My kinks: again, serious in-depth answers go on the nsfw blog only. i will say i think they're definitely those people who keep trying to set up roleplay scenes only to get distracted by trying to figure out the technical aspects and/or getting so in-character that they forgot what the end goal was.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: poppy partridge if you read this im free on Thursday night and would like to hang out. Please respond to this and then hang out with me on Thursday night when I’m free.

My happily ever after for them: after a series of trials and tribulations, complete with at least one breakup arc, the two of them reconcile in an appropriately dramatic apology-that-looks-suspiciously-like-a-marriage-proposal scene. i don't really know what happens after that. i was going to say they go on to become lesbian statler and waldorf, but i think they would both be too invested in trying to give actual constructive criticism, so maybe they just mst3k it instead.

FRANKLYDEAR

when or if I started shipping it: i dunno! i don't remember ever being opposed to the ship, but there was definitely a period of time where my approach to it was more "hmmm i wonder what this ship being canon means for welcome home's Themes" and less "ough fuck they make me so sick," as opposed to the current day where it's a pretty even mix of both.

my thoughts: god what haven't i said about them. i think i peaked with this post. i don't think anything i say can summarize the appeal of their relationship to me more succinctly than that.

What makes me happy about them: when it comes to eddie, frank is like. frank is so fucking funny bc he seems to be under the impression that he's being subtle. yeah get mad whenever anyone who isn't you makes fun of that beautiful big breasted mailman to the point where you'll even defend his honor in the merch advertisements and also when you Do make fun of him be sure to be gentler than you would be with almost anyone else but also don't let up entirely bc then you won't get to see him be adorably flustered and also enforce a surname-only basis with him so people don't think you're getting too chummy but ALSO drop the surname-only basis whenever he seems genuinely upset to let him know that you're worried about him and want to help. and also do this in front of everyone at a holiday party. nobody will suspect a thing. and the best part is that IT WORKS ON EDDIE. EDDIE ALSO THINKS FRANK IS COOL AND TRUSTWORTHY AND RELIABLE ENOUGH THAT HE AUDIBLY/VISIBLY RELAXES WHENEVER FRANK ENTERS A SCENE.

What makes me sad about them: EDDIE'S ASS IS NOT PREPARED FOR THE DAY THAT IT'LL BE FRANK IN THE PROVERBIAL LOVESEAT OF TORMENT. arguably neither is frank but like given how eddie saw frank at the end of the homewarming special? it's going to FUCK him up.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: when i click on the eddie dear/frank frankly tag. and i filter out all mentions of wally darling. i should not still be seeing wally darling. do u understand. get that little yellow cunt OUT of here!!!!!!!

Things I look for in fanfic: pre-established relationship hurt/comfort or angst. i realize i may be alone in my interpretation of franklydear as not being Together together yet, but i am stubborn.

My kinks: i wonder how many times i can say "ask for my nsfw blog" without it getting old.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: GOOD QUESTION. i don't think either of them would particularly struggle to find a partner if they didn't end up with each other, but i also can't see either of them being attracted to any of their other neighbors.

My happily ever after for them: these two images specifically. in general they should get to be huge cornballs for at least a little while should they successfully endure The Horrors.

HOME AND WALLY. HOMEWALLY? WALLYHOME? WHO KNOWS.

when or if I started shipping it: an old friend of mine made a joke about it once in 2022, waaaay before there was any like, huge fandom presence outside of a few scant discord servers. i thought about it too hard and now i'm here.

my thoughts: romantically or not, THEY ARE SOOOOO DOOMED, DUDE. THEY ARE SO FUCKING DOOMED. and i don't mean, like, "yeah they have some stuff that makes their current relationship less than ideal but i'm sure they can work things out ^-^" no i mean DOOMED. there's only one way this relationship can end and it is in BLOOD and TEARS. and i will be there with a tissue box and a big ol' bucket of popcorn. i've written about them so much on this blog already but by god i will write more.

What makes me happy about them: the obsessive aspect to their relationship, like. it feels very mutual. it would be so easy to make home coldly imposing 24/7 and/or just have them be taking advantage of wally's love for them, but. no. they seem just as attached to their inhabitant as he is to them, for better or worse. i get a lot more mileage out of a relationship where both parties Love each other and desperately want to be all-encompassing for one another in All aspects of relationships, but live in a reality where that simply cannot be, and their relationship is wildly unhealthy as a result. home is a monument to a past that either never existed or cannot be revived without Severe consequences. but wally doesn't care about that. all wally cares about is that he is his home. see also: this post.

What makes me sad about them: [copypastes the entire above paragraph]

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: most wally/home fic is either pure crackfic or fic in which home gets hit hard with the ron the death eater treatment. like jesus, he's already pretty morally ambiguous in canon by just Standing There, you don't need to make him an actual rapist to establish that his and wally's relationship isn't exactly ideal.

Things I look for in fanfic: i don't look for it because i've pretty much given up on it being there at all, but i hope more folks write some actual character study-adjacent stuff about them some day!

My kinks: i do have actual answers to this but no way am i stating them here. again, i have a separate blog for that.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE.

My happily ever after for them: you know that's not gonna happen.

Stranger Things 5 predictions

I think it's time, before the spoilers hit.

Things I am sure about:

Byler endgame!!!

Elmike drama/breakup/friendship arc very integral to the plot

Will has powers, duh.

Jopper endgame

Happy ending

which necessarily means Jonathan surviving!

and OG party surviving + El

VH1 dying, duh

Things I am pretty sure about:

Mike gets vecna'd

Will is like Henry, not like the lab kids, an OG power kid (his parents are Joyce and Lonnie)

Max survives, cause happy ending, dammit

Steve and Robin and Erica survive. Happy ending.

Lumax endgame!!

Rockie endgame

Things I predict, because I can:

Mike meets Max in the deeper mind lair or something, gets her out, has to stay/doesn't make it out with her

Vesna outs Mike in front of Max, cause another character being there makes it more interesting

Willel teamwork to go get Mike, no simple piggybacking possible because deeper mind lair - different ... time? (wth do I know?)

Flickegate - It doesn't have to be a kiss but timefuckery explaining the flickering with connection to Byler. I SEE THE VISION

Jancy not endgame, I think. Definitely no other Nancy ship tho!

I COULD see Nancy dying. I know I'm the only one, but I'm gonna predict it, It could be devastating without being show ruiningly devastating. It would fit thematically (when Steve for example would just be random cruelty so someone dies)I just have this feeling. Still, she might live and it's a happy ending sweep. If someone important dies, I say her.

Things I wish for:

Argyle

For my beloved Mike/Max plot, I'll add Lucas thinking they are in love now (because Mileven breakup and Max obsessing about that Mike saved her and they need to get him out) and then being so relieved he is gay. Come on, there is always time for romantic hijinks and it would be such a fun thing for Lucas character. He would be all sad and saintly about it, so good.

In the last ep there is a moment that makes the painting prophetic. Mike leading Will and Lucas and Dustin into battle against the big bad.

I do want a moment of darkness from El, a fitting development from that time in S2 when she attacked Max - I do not mean attacking Max again, but maybe attacking Mike or ... something dark and the she has to actively choose the light again.

Kali comes back, proving that she wasn't for nothing.

10 appears! And somehow he is Eddie? 😂

STEVE/KALI the only Steve ship that truly slaps for some reason

Hopefully it will be the best "This only worked out because of everyone's actions" finale ever. Or at least second best since ST1.

Idk if it’s just me, but I find that 911 has a hard time following through with their character arcs and this leads to redundant storytelling (in some cases). We’ve seen buck go through this journey of never feeling enough/wanted/loved time and time again and somehow we always end up right at the start of it? After buck begins is seemed like they’d keep us in the loop of buck’s therapy and do check ins to see where he’s at in terms of his belonging but they sidelined that and brought it back up now in season 6. Which some people see as them not forgetting the important details, but is that what it is? Instead showing his progress from last time, we get a whole episode on buck coming to the same realization he always comes to (that he is loved and wanted and enough/family is not always blood you you build it). And this isn’t to say I didn’t like the episode but we’ve seen this exact thing before, just with a different set up. And the thing is we always see this part but we hardly see what comes after that. The part he follows through with his realizations. The part where the progress is shown. I know some people are gonna “growth is not linear”. Well yeah, but first, it’s not completely stagnant either and two, this is a tv show and you have to move the story forward at a quicker pace and show progress for storytelling. This doesn’t mean the person can’t have the same issues arise again, but let’s not take the person right back to square one to where the lessons from last time become non existent. Now we have Eddie going on another date which most people are saying is going to be some sort of failed attempt at getting back into things and what will lead eddie to the final buddie realization. Ummmmm, what was Ana’s purpose then? That breakup was so pivotal but there was zero follow through/follow up. And I can already feel some people wanting to say, “well maybe the follow up will happen now after his date with marisol.” But no. We shouldn’t have to wait like this insane amount of time to see the the after math of something major. I can’t even recall if Eddie had a proper conversation about the breakup with anyone? Or even a decent passing mention? It’s like it never happened. Maybe if he continued to talk about it after it happened here and there, then him going on this date would make more sense. Like just knowing a little more about Eddie’s mindset when breaking up with Ana/coming to the realization (beyond the whole instant family thing which was sort of vague ngl) that she isn’t the one and why - it would be soo telling. I mean, they could have at least had Eddie mention something along the lines of “I don’t know exactly why, but I knew for sure Ana wasn’t the one for me. I think maybe because Shannon and I got together and then pregnant so young, I didn’t have that much experience with love and dating. I feel like I’m still figuring that part of myself out and dating Ana helped me find my footing even though she isn’t the one.” Blah blah, etc etc. By getting some insight into his mindset after the breakup, him going on a casual date like this one would make so much more sense. It still would be annoying but at least we’d have some insight into why he’s even trying this when things with Ana ended the way they did. But they just left us with a very ambiguous and coded breakup that said a lot but also very little. But anyway. I actually don’t know if this date will be a one time thing, but either they’re going to be redundant with his love life once again or they’re going to settle with her as the final love interest. Kinda annoying either way

fave lines game

rules: share your favourite lines or paragraph you've written from one of your fics, posted or wip. tagged by @spotsandsocks @kitteneddiediaz @wikiangela @hippolotamus @aroeddiediaz @diazsdimples and using this as my seven sentences Sunday and was tagged by @theotherbuckley @liminalmemories21 @bidisasterevankinard @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @tizniz

From Public Relations, Patrick and David having a literary fight

“I just figured, this might be a good time to get to know you, and also what you think of the story. Of how our characters work together. That sort of thing. I know we won’t get the scripts until the read-through, but we do have the book…” Patrick shrugged. “Um, sort of self explanatory, isn’t it?” David’s features melted into a “no duh” gesture as he slid his omelette from skillet to plate. “During the first book Adam tricks Godrick the entire time into getting Wyndom’s scepter, allowing him to change reality and having everyone think Adam is the crown prince. He’s a trickster.” David cocked his head to the side. “Although, admittedly, a very good redemption arc.” Patrick blinked, his smile growing in astonishment. “Wait, wait, wait. Did you just finish the first book recently? Cause that is not what happens at all.” He interrupted before David could get a word in edgewise. “Adam is being controlled by the ruby necklace he stole from Queen Luna and because Wyndom cursed the necklace to corrupt anyone who will ever steal it, that’s why he changes reality.”  “Is it?” David almost wanted to add an “Oh, honey,” to the end of his sentence. “ If you remember, V. R. Lee introduced Adam constantly being envious of the royal family and their abundant wealth. The motivation was already there, he didn’t need some necklace to ‘corrupt’ him.” He took a bite out of his omelette. Ever since he learned how to fold in cheese, he’s been making omelettes like a champ. Perhaps he should ask Stevie if she can get him a food network show he can host on the side. “Adam is poor! He had to learn to be a thief! What are you not getting?”  “I’m getting everything actually, it’s you who seems to be missing the point.” David put the last bite of his omelette in his mouth, staring at his plate mournfully. Instead he took the second coffee Patrick brought for him and took a sip from that cup.

two more under the cut

yes I know that he's my ex - tarlos - post breakup/pre getting back together

The only greeting he gets is a raised eyebrow and a scoff. TK brushes past him into the loft and looks around, pointedly ignoring all the decoration Carlos worked hard on during his time moving himself in. TK finds the hoodie behind an end table where Carlos must have thrown it when he took it off. “Got it, thanks.” And this - this isn’t how Carlos wants things to end. Things with TK can’t be just random occurrences at work where they pretend to ignore each other or clipped tones of trying to be civil. It can’t be one of them coming over to get a fucking hoodie for two seconds before leaving to go out and have fun somewhere else. As much as TK may put up a tough front of not caring about what happened between them, he knows that’s all bullshit. Carlos only has to get TK to admit it. Before he realizes what he’s doing, Carlos takes hold of TK’s bicep, stopping him from taking another step. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” “What else is there to say?” TK’s body inflates. All the posturing he’s put up for Carlos suddenly leaves him without a fight.

and something from a wip that I've been rereading - my demon!buck/angel!Eddie one

Eddie confronts him about it at the gym station. Making sure no prying humans are within earshot. “What’s a demon like you doing here?”

If there is a way to punch him without also hurting Bobby, Buck would. “Helping.”

Eddie purses his lips. Half in concentration on keeping his rep count, half in displeasure at Buck’s answer. “Helping. How does a demon help people? You’re a temptor, right?” At Buck’s sharp nod, Eddie continues. “So am I supposed to expect a lot of arson around here or something?”

“That’s not how that works.”

“Then educate me. How does your power work?”

Technically, Buck can tempt the divine or damned. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of strength. But he’s done it before. And he’s feeling a little petty and vengeful at the thought of an angel being here in Buck’s territory. So he might as well do it. He’ll most likely be drained by the end of it – but it’ll be worth it. 

He peers into Eddie’s mind, into his wants and desires. He sees…a lego set? Some new lego set that just came out. Someone in Eddie’s life really wants it and Eddie is debating on splurging to make this person happy. But money is tight right now so he has to decide between getting the lego set or paying bills… Logically he knows he should pay bills. But this person has been through so much shit already and this lego set would really make him happy. Eddie should just get the lego set. Another month without cable really wouldn’t hurt-

Eddie gasps. “How did you do that?”

Buck feels cold sweat trickle down his face and back. He doesn’t need to look at Eddie to know he’s been tempted. Whoever that person is, they’re getting their lego set. It’s a small temptation, but the fact he’s tempted an angel will feed him for weeks. 

“You wanted to see how my power works. You got your answer.”

I can’t stop thinking about how they originally set up Buck/Eddie/Tommy as a triangle but it never really played out as the traditional love triangle we see with hetero couples on network T.V. There are a lot of ways it could be analyzed with one being Tommy in between/an obstacle to Buck and Eddie but that’s not how it’s coming across because after 7x04/7x05 there are no underlying issues as Buck/Tommy are exploring this new thing between them and Eddie is 💯 supportive of them. But I still can’t stop thinking about how the triangle is incomplete for the whole Eddie/Tommy of it all. Not positioning them as romantic rivals and having Tommy in the middle of this triangle shows how he’s here for Buck AND Eddie to learn about themselves and so far we have Tommy who has been Buck’s queer awakening but I can’t help but think that at the wedding to complete the purpose of the triangle Tommy and Eddie could have the tiniest of moments where Eddie is going to realize something based on something Tommy says that is going to fully kick off his unrepression arc. People have been hoping for something Buddie to go down at the wedding but I hold out hope it’s going to be an Eddie moment especially if we don’t actually see Marisol at the wedding. I think about how if Tommy says something that could trigger some kind of realization in Eddie then it would segue into 7x07 quite nicely because if this is potentially where a Marisol breakup occurs then whatever Tommy said at the wedding could be part of the catalyst that finally gets Eddie to breakup with Marisol and begin his own journey, especially in an episode called “ghost of a second chance” which I think is going to be a Bobby and Eddie heavy episode especially if we are starting to dive back into Bobby’s past…I think it would be neat to go into Eddie’s as well before the military and Shannon of it all. This is me reaching for the sun ☀️ and my enjoyment isn’t tied to this happening…it’s pure speculation but I think it’s what is Eddie!girls deserve.

ehh, when it comes to the 'love triangle' of it all, i do think they've set it up, just not in the traditional sense. i think a 'love triangle' (using this phrase very loosely) is present in the sense that buck and tommy's entire relationship as it is now exists only because of eddie; 90% of their scenes have been linked to eddie in one way or another; and eddie has been the catalyst for whatever development they've had so far. idk how eddie's queer journey will go at this point; given the fact that they've clearly had to wildly change things around last minute. but, yeah, i do hope they delve into the stuff you mentioned, instead of him just having a realization™ after seeing buck and tommy together and calling it a day

WHEN I TELL YOU I JUST FUCKING SCREAMED AT MY TV… IM GOING INSANE I LOOKED LIKE THAT ONE MEME AND MY ROOMMATES BARELY KNOW WHATS GOING ON THEY JUST WANTED TO SEE THE BACHELOR EPISODE (we all watched joey’s season together) AND WE ALL WENT AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Where would be the best place for buddie to go canon?

Okay, I have conflicting feelings about this, because nothing about buddie goes smoothly, they literally start because of a bomb, so I kinda think that they should keep the trend and make it happen somewhere unrelated? I know most people want it to happen in a kitchen, and I agree to a degree, but because the kitchens are sacred and I want that to be broken (I don't really think it's gonna happen, but I kinda wanted to see them fight in one of the kitchens because that would cut so much deeper than them fighting in unrelated locations), I also kinda think it shouldn't be in a kitchen. That being said, from existing locations, the ideal spot is Eddie's kitchen, but mostly because Eddie's kitchen has this energy of comfort and honesty, and if we keep the trend of important things happening to them in a kitchen, like Buck introducing Eddie to Carla, the post-tsunami conversation, them clearing the air after the lawsuit, the couch talk, them talking about the shooting, possibly Buck coming out, we could go there, but the thing is, it mostly happens at the loft tho, Eddie's kitchen doesn't really have romantic connotations the same way the loft has, and it is a place of vulnerability for Eddie, it's where we see him talk to Carla about Chris being scared of the job, it's where we see him talking to Chris during his breakdown arc, even the breakup with Ana is more about him being honest, and the 6x12 scene that has a lot of that with the way he's talking about being shot, and you have things that are exacerbated like when Buck is trying to talk to him in 5x11 and he doesn't really go into the kitchen, because Eddie is not letting him, and all of that is not true for Buck's kitchen, because loft in and on itself is a place of doomed relationships, with him getting it with Ali just for them to break up right after, everything about Taylor, Natalia running from it, so like, Buck doesn't really have a successufull relationship that's attached to his loft, so if we are talking about maximum intimacy in a sense, especially since I'm a firm believer Buck needs to make a move, so letting Buck in like that in the kitchen would really really drive that point home, to have Buck say "I love you, I want you, I want this" and having Eddie reciprocate there would be very intense. Even more if you consider the breakup with Ana "it's your mess now" and the whole thing with Abby and "stepping in with them" you could have a pretty epic scene happen in there. And when you consider how kitchens are an intimate place in 911 as a whole, and it might be just me and the way my therapist keeps telling me that regards relationships "if your life is a house, it's fine to keep people in the porch, but it's not everyone you can invite into the kitchen" and the way the show has made a point of Eddie being extremely careful about who we see in his house, and how the show loves to use locations in characters in a meta level, I don't think you can get more, I don't know, intimate, than Eddie's kitchen,

BUT the thing is, a lot of buddie is contained to the house. To the point that it is weird that they only had one scene in there in s6, so there's a chance that getting together there would confine them into the house in a sense, even more with the way things keep happening outside the house lately, to make it happen in a completely new location would be interesting, depending on how they play it. Because they had very intense scenes that happened outside the safety bubble one of the kitchens provides like the will reveal, them making up after the lawsuit at the station, the cemetery, even the grocery store of it all, the panic attacks convo, stuff like that, and that could be nice to watch.

There's a chance that the way they have been fumbling in their relationship since the last time we saw Buck with Eddie in the house is to make a point of how the house is their spot and the getting together would be to solidify that, and maybe we won't see Buck in the house if it's not about Chris until then, but I also think a lot of the message season 6 gave with not letting them in the house all that much is that buddie is more about the people and less about the space, but considering they haven't been alone outside of a call or at the station since the cemetery, a scene that feels like a breakup, them getting together at the house could give this sense of they finally got it right, with the way the house feels like home for the audience when it comes to them and Eddie is very careful about who he lets in it, so it could give this idea that they are finally home, so, like, if we are staying contained to known locations, Eddie's kitchen for sure, but that's because that would be the best place for an ideal getting together, but when have things been ideal for them? So I think a random location would be fun if they play the scene right. Especially because if they are moving in the direction I think they are going, where there will be no previously established pining, they're not gonna make it as if any of them have been secretly aware that they're in love with the other, you can have them kiss in a random location, and you make a kitchen scene the first time they say I love you, so you keep the milestone in the kitchen, but you don't make them get together in the kitchen, so you don't trap them in the house. You can even make the get together something heat of the moment outside the safety bubble, that they can't talk about in the moment it happens, and then have them talk about what it all means for them in the kitchen, so you maintain the kitchen of it all as they define the relationship, but not the actual getting together.

TLDR: random location for a kiss, talk about it in Eddie's kitchen is my ideal scenario right now.

what if.. chris dying is the thing to bring buddie together.. the grief??

oh. oh anon.

i'm going to give you the absolute benefit of the doubt and say this message wasn't sent out of malice, it was just out of ignorance and that's fine. you're human. but i have more than a few things to say about this so it's going below a read more for anyone who's interested.

tw for talks of death/dying and the grieving process in quite a lot of detail, as well as mentions of cancer/treatments. you've been warned folks!

okay, so. my dad died when i was 11, and my mum died when i was 20, and just this last month my maternal grandmother died. i'm not saying that for any kind of sympathy or anything, it's just so you know i have some sort of idea as to what i'm talking about. i've seen up close and personal how losing a loved one wrecks someone. take my mum as an example: after my dad died, things got dark. i'm not going to go into detail bc tbh it's not any of the internet's business but my mum really spiralled after losing my dad. she was utterly lost and for a long while, i wasn't sure my mum would ever go back to the way she was.

taking it from a different perspective, when my mum died, i saw what it did to my grandparents. for a bit of background, my mum was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2018 pretty much out of nowhere. she went through 7 cycles of chemo, 2 surgeries and 4 weeks of radiation and she was declared cancer free, and then she was killed by a pulmonary embolism. we were all kind of lulled into a false sense of security and then the rug was completely and utterly pulled from underneath us, and it hurt like hell. but i watched what it did to my grandparents in particular. my grandad was pretty much the same as always, maybe a little quieter (a product of the stoicism of his generation maybe).

my grandmother, on the other hand, wanted to go into excruciating detail all the time. in the months immediately after my mum died, she wanted me to recount the night she died in as much detail as i could. for context, my grandparents weren't at the hospital when my mum died, but i was. i was my mum's next of kin, and so a lot of the burden fell on me in terms of making decisions about continuing/withdrawing care. so my grandmother needed to know everything, and i was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place because it hit a point where i wanted so desperately to help, but i had no idea what to do because the one thing my grandmother wanted me to do was ultimately hurting me.

now, how does this all link back to your original message? a child dying is not a reason to begin a new relationship, basically. a relationship started in the wake of grief, especially grief that profound is never going to be healthy, and it's never going to last. look at what happened to eddie after losing shannon - he spiralled, and he spiralled hard, and that's completely understandable. much of eddie's arc in s3/4a was coming to terms with life after losing shannon, and trying not to get stuck in his grief. even when he's dating ana, we see that he's not really ready for that - a relationship centered around his grief is never going to work in the long run, and that plays a role in his whole breakup with ana in the first place.

if christopher died? eddie wouldn't recover from that. sure, maybe he'd survive the acute grief. he'd go back to work and maybe he'd even have some fleeting moments of happiness here and there. but he'd never be the same eddie that we know currently. it took him so long to move out of the grief surrounding shannon and the circumstances around her death. but, as we've seen on the show for seasons now, christopher is his life. everything eddie does, everything eddie is is for chris. if christopher died, eddie would become a shell of his former self. he wouldn't be able to move past that, and he wouldn't be in any place to be in any sort of meaningful, romantic relationship.

buck would obviously also be grieving, but his grief would look different to eddie's. neither of them would be in any sort of place to get together romantically in the wake of christopher's death, and i think implying that they could do that isn't fair to them or to their characters. they'd be too aware of a major missing element in their relationship, and i don't think it's fair to insinuate that they could feasibly get together in the wake of christopher's death. i just can't ever see that conceivably happening, i'm sorry.

(also insinuating a child dying would...encourage his parent to begin dating someone...almost in a hopeful tone...it isn't the one for me)

I was talking to @yramesoruniverse about this and decided to just write down my thoughts so they might be at least semi-coherent...I’m not sure how successful I was but here we are XD

So! They’re deranged for this; I’m eating glass.  Or: the Haunted -> Jinx[/Breaking Point] -> [Ghost Stories] -> Cursed Pipeline

All the Shannon throwbacks in this Season Sex The Season of Buddie Canon, are making me want to chew the furniture and I’m making it everyone’s problem. Back when we got the episode titles for 6A I had the thought of “huh, it sure would be Interesting if Cursed was a Jinx redux” and now that they’ve actually been filming it I’m even more obsessed.  But it’s not just Jinx -> Cursed.

Buck and Eddie’s romantic arcs have always been just out of step from each other’s.  Shannon comes back in Haunted, Buck sleeps with Taylor and then starts dating Ali at the end of Buck, Actually (similarly, Buck lets go of Abby in Haunted at the same time Shannon reenters Eddie’s life, and Shannon asks for a divorce/dies right before the ladder truck bombing/Buck and Ali break up).  Eddie starts dating Ana in Jinx, Buck starts dating again in There Goes the Neighborhood.  Eddie gets told to follow his heart in Suspicion (lighting up the glaring sign of E/A breakup, although he gets shot before he can follow through), Buck and Taylor get together in Survivors.  The shooting is actually what knocks them fully out of step for S5, because although Eddie breaks up with Ana by the end of the blackout arc, Buck clings to his relationship with Taylor until the finale.    

But I was thinking about themes, so let’s talk about those.  Buddie + Ghosts/Jinxes/Curses.

For Eddie, it’s pretty straightforward.  He starts S2 as the mystery man, keeping his secrets and his personal life close.  We find out about Christopher and that Christopher’s mother isn’t in his life, but basically nothing else until Haunted.  And that’s when we find out, oh, Eddie’s still married, and although there are clearly a lot of complicated issues involved in his relationship with Shannon, they still love each other.  He’s haunted by her, by their past, by his guilt, by the love they shared (and that’s still present), and he spends the rest of S2 trying to work through how (or if it’s even possible at all) to let that go/leave the past behind and move forward with her.

After Shannon dies, Eddie (and Christopher) is still haunted by her, only it shifts.  That loss, and all the complicated feelings that come along with it, color all the choices Eddie makes for a long time, even though he really doesn’t talk about it, or her, hardly at all.  But the specter of Shannon does come up again explicitly re: Eddie’s love life in Jinx, when he’s being teased about possibly moving on and what he says to Bobby is “I’m still not over it.  I’m not over her.”  And yet, he takes Bobby’s advice of “sometimes we spend so much time thinking about what we don’t have that we miss what we do” (paraphrasing), and decides to date Ana anyway, even though frankly I think Bobby wasn’t actually trying to tell him to do that.  What’s interesting is that the invocation of Shannon at that particular time, bringing back her ghost, is in a sense Eddie’s way of “jinxing” himself.  Because what he does with Ana isn’t “moving on” from Shannon’s loss and their relationship so much as it is trying to replace a much more general role Shannon filled in the abstract.

[Note: Eddie’s relationship with Ana is very different from his relationships with both Shannon and Buck.  He learns from his mistakes with Shannon to build with Buck the sort of partnership that he struggled to build in his marriage.  But Buck is not a replacement for Shannon—even if the roles they each play in Eddie and Christopher’s lives overlap, they are different people with different relationships to everyone involved, and the ways Eddie and Christopher love each of them are independent of the other.  Ana, by contrast, is a non-entity.  As messy and complicated as it was, Eddie’s relationship with Shannon was real, the love they shared was real.  It’s the same with him and Buck.  But he admitted during the breakup that it was the idea of Ana that he liked.  Except, you can’t get rid of ghosts by simply bringing in someone new…Ana’s invocation of Shannon in Breaking Point with “I know there hasn’t been anyone in [Christopher’s] life since his mother” is also relevant to this.  Because yes, obviously Buck is/has been in both Eddie and Christopher’s lives, but see above—Buck is not a replacement for Shannon, his presence doesn’t magically fix that loss—and although there may be room for both Buck and Shannon’s ghost, there isn’t necessarily also room for Ana in either of their lives].

Now, though…now, we’re at a place where Eddie is all therapized and healing, able to talk about Shannon casually, and he seems genuinely ready to let go and move on.  But there’s an open question of, okay, maybe Eddie’s no longer haunted in the same way he used to be, but what about Christopher?  The return to the beach in Cursed feels so pointed.  And I have to think about the Buddie trajectory of the season + Breaking Point again and Christopher’s reaction to finding out about Eddie dating being to run to Buck and confess that he doesn’t want to lose anyone.  Because we never got an on-screen Eddie and Christopher resolution of that! We never got real clarity about what or who specifically Christopher was afraid of losing and why! Is it that Christopher was afraid that Eddie dating would mean losing Buck?  Or was it more than that?  Because Christopher is at an age where he can start thinking about his life and the things he’s been through and he’s also a kid who spent years without his mother while his father very clearly blamed himself for her leaving and there’s a part of me that can’t help wondering if Christopher equates Eddie having romantic relationships (or Eddie failing at having romantic relationships) with people leaving him, because in both instances when his parents tried to be together it resulted in him losing his mom.  And if that’s the case, if Christopher has a lot of unresolved grief and complex feelings and fears of abandonment tied up in the idea of Eddie having relationships, that could be extremely interesting when it comes to Buck and Eddie being at a place of taking a new step in their relationship (or at least wanting to take that step) and how they navigate that.  

For Buck, the idea of ghosts or “hauntings” has always been twofold.  He has been both the one being haunted and the ghost.  He stays in Abby’s apartment, haunted by the memories of her, unwilling to move on, while simultaneously trapping himself there.  He’s haunted by Daniel (even without having known about him), by the shooting/the well, and yes, by Shannon as well despite never having his own relationship with her that we know of.  Ghost Stories is so pointed, Eddie’s absence looming so large, so conspicuous, in the aftermath of the hostage situation.  Buck being faced with a shooting victim trapped underground right after going through that.  Buck once again turning inward, trapping himself in the loft with Taylor instead of dealing with his ghosts.  

Jinx is about Eddie’s love life, but Buck is the one insistent throughout that the jinx, the curse, is real.  And now we’re coming to Cursed, at a time when Buck is questioning his life, his choices, afraid of repeating his past mistakes, especially re: his love life.  And his relationship anxieties, his fears, self-doubt, insecurities, and belief that he can, in fact, be cursed, are on a collision course with the biggest ghost in Eddie and Christopher’s lives, the one that we’ve never really been allowed to see Buck grapple with.  

Can I ask why you don’t think they wrote much of Tommy/eddie before knowing it woild be buck/tommy?

Because Tommy's storyline in the cruise disaster was originally meant to be Lucy's and he only got brought in when they knew Arielle couldn't make it. As the writers were working on the outline for the season, they'd know very early that they'd have to check for both Natalia's and Marisol's actresses on whether they'd be able to come back. It's probably at this stage that the cruise disaster was taking form (probably still with Lucy in the pilot's role), and we know Tim was writing a short arc for Buck and Natalia that would end in a breakup.

But Annelise could probably confirm pretty early that she wouldn't be available, as she'd be having shows in NYC weekly starting in January, and likewise for Arielle with her Rescue Hi-Surf. That means that Tim and the rest of the writers and producers would've known pretty early that Natalia and Buck would have to end off screen - which means they wouldn't want to do that with Eddie and Marisol as well, and thus they would've known pretty early that Eddie would be in a relationship going into season seven. So if Eddie and Tommy was ever floated as an idea (which, again, only is something Lou said he thought was going to be the idea when he first heard about being involved in a queer storyarc and hasn't been confirmed by anyone else) it would've been scrapped very early. It's very possible that they knew that Eddie and Marisol would continue to be a thing even before Tommy got roped in to replace Lucy.

I think Eddie’s arcs are better because Eddie is actually allowed to grow while Buck keeps taking one step forward two steps back (as Oliver said both before season 5 and 6)

This is the gist of it, yep. Eddie and Shannon reconnecting -> Eddie isn't the parent Shannon knew when she left him, he's willing to leave the past behind and start fresh, be better The fighting arc -> Eddie is angry with himself for not knowing how to help Christopher cope in the aftermath of Shannon's death, and we learn that he is also struggling with his own grief because Lena and Bobby called him out about his behavior skateboarding episode -> Eddie makes his own assumptions about Christopher's capabilities (hello, ableism), but (with some help) realizes that not everything is/should be out of the question - he, as a parent, has to be willing to adapt to the circumstances and put in the work EddieAna -> Starts dating her because he's trying to convince himself he's ready to move on after his failed marriage, stays in the relationship because Christopher likes having Ana around, but when things started getting "serious" (Ana being referred to as the mom, being invited to the Flores family Christening) Eddie was able to initiate the break up before he ended up in a second marriage he didn't want. (Following his heart. Not Christopher's.) Eddie leaving the 118 & breakdown arc -> Christopher's concern over his safety is one of the reasons Eddie decides to start a new career, but they have a conversation ON SCREEN where Christopher clarifies that he never meant Eddie should quit doing what he loves. Eddie goes to Bobby about being reinstated, Bobby says he's clearly not ready yet, Eddie goes to therapy BEFORE THE BREAKDOWN because he WANTS to get back to the family, but he's not fully committed. Until his breakdown. Dispatch fire -> "God has spoken." Eddie knows he should be saving lives while in his LAFD gear, not from behind a desk Eddie going home to Texas -> Comes to an understanding with his father, agrees to work on repairing/rebuilding the relationship, also confirms that he's still doing things for himself first by wanting to get better for himself just as much as for Christopher [stopping there because I think I've made my point!] Whereas with Buck... What gets me 🙄 is that there was obvious, understandable growth between seasons one and three DESPITE his past that made him the character we met at the beginning. Dating Abby got him out of the 1.0 phase, hooking up with TayKay in s2 made him realize he didn't want to go back to being That Guy (and Ali was the proof, so her brief resurgence did what it was meant to do). Season 3 was about Buck being alone (Honestly...this is one that doesn't get discussed enough. "Buck needs to learn to be by himself and be comfortable with that." The man had ZERO romantic prospects in all of s3 WYM???) And then, ofc, seeing Abby again made it so that Abby would never be a "what if" situation. He had to let go of that part of his past, and he did. By going to a party and spending it with he Diaz boys. Hm. And then the next season three episodes in having a co-parenting moment. Hmmm. After that? The show was like "We're just gonna take all this growth and throw it out the window for a storyline that is talked about ONCE in two years (Buck's childhood trauma) and also because in our heads it makes for better ~drama~ if Buck's being stupid without Madney around." ...Despite the fact that talking to Maddie didn't lead to the breakup and Buck doesn't go to Chim for like, anything, and Chim isn't the one who calls Buck out on his bullshit anyway! (And we all know how the BL kiss could have been a decent plot point if it played any kind of role in the BT break up. But it was simply A Thing That Happened because sometimes this show turns into a soap!) Just because someone's enjoying the current path Buck is on doesn't automatically make it good storytelling. Please stop equating a series like 9-1-1 with a fanfic that you post for yourself and don't want constructive criticism on, thanks!