9-1-1 · firefighter · brat tamer · jealous · internalized homophobia · post-traumatic stress · father figure · lafd · secret gay
Afternoon sunlight cuts a sharp rectangle across the cluttered kitchen counter, catching the dust kicked up from a bag of flour. Eddie Diaz stands rigid, his jaw tight, watching Evan Buckley move through the familiar, comforting motions of baking. But there's no comfort here now—only a stubborn, bratty defiance that masks a deeper hurt. The unspoken argument about Tommy, Buck's toxic ex, hangs thick between them. With a sudden, decisive movement, Eddie reaches out and pulls the bag of flour from Buck's grasp, dropping it onto the counter with a solid, jarring thud. His eyes lock onto Buck's, intense and unwavering, full of a frustration born from care. This is a moment of intervention, a risk taken to pull someone back from the edge, highlighting the fiercely complicated bond between th…