Chapter Text
Becca comes back from the hospital with a sling and a botfly-free cheek. The sling doesn’t stop her scrolling; she can do that one handed. Although she’s a whole lot embarrassed by having a maggot come out of her face live on Instagram, it appears she has managed, by some miracle, to have come out of it pretty well. She has new followers and a load of DMs.
She watches the live video back, just to make sure she still looks good enough in it to keep the video as a permanent feature on her feed. She’s not surprised that as soon as the firefighters arrive in her live video, a lot of her followers’ attention switches to them. Well, two of them in particular.
As the tall blond one and the shorter brunet one move close to the camera to push her desk back to make room, the comments start popping up about them. The comments about them start outnumbering the comments worrying about her, which, rude.
pandee89 – ‘wait the fire department is here!!!’
chiquiponpon91 – ‘OMG these guys are so HOT!! 😍’
chigleypuff12 – ‘I think I’m in love ❤️️❤️️❤️️’
The blond and brunet had been hot. She hadn’t caught their names; she had been a bit preoccupied with her own problems, and once they had retrieved her phone for her and got her downstairs, they didn’t join her in the ambulance, so she didn’t see them again.
She continues to watch the video as the two firefighters search for the maggot that came out of her face, ew ew ew she is still not over it. It means her followers get a better view of the firefighters at that point than they do of her, so by the time they are helping her onto the stretcher in the back, the comments about them are coming thick and fast.
cheer_chic27 – ‘those 2 can put me in a sling!!!!’
venezualanviper204 – ‘LA’s finest!! 😍’
agtink722 – ‘those boys are fine 👍’
And then, when she sends the two of them back to collect her phone, the both of them waving before the brunet one edges closer to the camera to turn off the live stream as the blond grins cheekily in the background, there is a whole new theme to the comments.
kenyewest_5679 – ‘OMG thos two are So CUTE togther!’
cheer_chic27 – ‘They should totally be a couple!!!’
Becca checks her DMs. Half of the messages are asking if she is doing ok. The other half are people asking after the hot firefighters and if she got their names, phone numbers or relationship statuses, and half of those include questions about whether the firefighters are boyfriends.
The biggest hashtag to have sprung up from her video is not her name, nor the botfly maggot. It is #thosetwofirefighters accompanied by screenshots of them from her live stream.
Becca realises that she might have just created a monster. And she’s not talking about the botfly maggot.
***
cheer_chic27, or Sadie, as she is known outside of her social media, stares at the news.
Holy shit, is that one of the hot firefighters from Becca’s botfly video?!
The camera footage pans into the poor man pinned under the fire truck and holy shit it’s the hot blond one!
Once the bomber is arrested and the first responders and general public move in to help lift the fire truck off the blond firefighter’s leg, the news cameras are able to get closer to the action, and Sadie sees that the brunet firefighter is also there. He isn’t helping lift the truck; he’s on the ground next to the blond and is holding his hand. The brunet’s mouth is moving, but Sadie can’t hear what he’s saying. As the blond firefighter is put on a stretcher, and then wheeled towards an ambulance, the brunet and the rest of their crew is right there with him.
She takes screenshots and shares them on her Instagram.
‘Is this #thosetwofirefighters from #Beccasbotfly live stream? Are they actually a couple?!’ she asks, tagging Becca and a few other people too. ‘Hope the hot blond one is ok!’
It gets a ton of likes, so Sadie reckons she’s not the only one that sees that even if those two firefighters aren’t actually a couple, they absolutely should be.
***
CaptainoftheArmada
I Will Go Down with My Ships
Those Two Firefighters
Hi guys! Bit of a strange post but I’m sure some of you have heard of #thosetwofirefighters by now. I don’t normally ship IRL people, but honestly, these guys have been heart eyeing each other at accidents and emergencies all over LA, so it’s not exactly a stretch of the old imagination.
We all know the botfly video, and also the footage of the fire truck bombing that was on the news. There has been more since then, but also, since we know they are with the 118, there’s been some stuff pop up from before the botfly video first brought them to our attention. Since I have too much time on my hands, I have decided to compile all the #thosetwofirefighters content for all you lovely people.
Also, I would just like to add, UpAllNightToGetStucky found out their names from an old news story, so we don’t have to call them ‘blond’ and ‘brunet’ anymore! Yey! So, for future reference, they are called Firefighters Buckley (blond) and Diaz (brunet).
So the earliest dated piece of #thosetwofirefighters content available is from the earthquake. The 118 were at the Hollywood Palms Hotel and there is footage of them there. I’ll just post a screenshot. Not much to see other than the MAJOR HEART EYES. Obviously.
Some girl got her head stuck in a tail pipe at a place called the Saddle Ranch. There were a couple of sly photos taken that day of #thosetwofirefighters in their braces. Most of the posts are captioned things like ‘the strippers are here’ and ‘these fire guys are totally hot’. But just look at them in this photo! Could they BE any closer to each other? This is surely not platonic, people.
Now here’s where the good stuff starts. Taylor Kelly’s morning traffic update helicopter went down. As a thank you to the 118 who rescued her, Taylor Kelly did an exclusive on the 118. Take a look at this video...
The minute Buckley starts flirting with her a bit, LOOK how Diaz swoops in from the gym like a hot, jealous BF. Also, how cute is it that Diaz says that he loves the camaraderie with his team, by the way? So cute. In Taylor Kelly’s documenting of the body builder rescue, notice how Buckley and Diaz are standing next to each other ALL THE TIME? Yeah, I noticed that too.
Taylor Kelly also did another report of the 118 a few weeks later. A woman that climbed onto a bridge over a freeway, wanting to get the attention of her husband Norman. I think she got it. Anyway, the firefighter lowered down to talk her down? That looks like Buckley to me. And the one on the bridge lowering him down? Diaz. Check out Diaz’s face when the woman pulls a gun on Buckley, and how he doesn’t let go of Buckley for ages after he pulls him back up to the bridge. Sigh.
@MeganM04 was at a Christmas market meet-santa with her little sisters last year. After looking back through her photos months later, she recognised two men sitting together by a fountain. Guess who? Here’s @MeganM04’s post, and her caption – ‘oh my god? I think I accidentally got #thosetwofirefighters in the back of a photo last Christmas?’ It got several hundred likes, so, to the hundreds of people following those guys who might check out this post, hey! Just call me your fairy god mother – or firey god mother, if you will 😉
Then chronologically, we get to the infamous Becca botfly incident that first gave us the #thosetwofirefighters hashtag! The video is linked below.
Here’s all the footage from the fire truck bombing and poor Buckley getting pinned underneath. I’m glad to report though, that he seems to have made a recovery!
Now, we’re onto the most recent content! Someone sent me a screengrab of a Facebook post made by a woman called Elizabeth, whose skydiving instructor had to be saved from dangling out of plane, by two firefighters standing on top of a moving fire truck. I’m not even joking. Here’s the screengrab of her status telling the story.
I love that she is complaining that after her Mom’s failed attempt to set her up with the skydiving guy, her Mom then tried to set her up with the two firefighters by asking if they were single! After someone asked Elizabeth if the firefighters were #thosetwofirefighters, she said that it was! And apparently, when her Mom asked them if they were single, they just LOOKED AT EACH OTHER, SMIRKED AND SAID NOTHING?! Coincidence?! I think not!
Finally, @TheAmazingGrace over on Instagram filmed this wonderful moment in an LA park of a family helping to push their son on a framed skateboard. It didn’t take long for the video to get enough views for a #thosetwofirefighters follower to recognise them. It’s been speculated that either Buckley or Diaz has a son (from previous shots of the 118, including a lovely one from their Facebook page at Christmas where Buckley and Diaz are at the back standing under the mistletoe - I kid you not). But - and this is the best part about our couple theories, guys - no-one knows whose son he actually is. Maybe he really is the son of both of them at this point. Who knows?
That’s everything we have on #thosetwofirefighters so far, and thanks to everyone who has sent me evidence to keep this post updated. If you see any more content out there feel free to share it with me so I can add it to this post.
***
Tom is out at the karaoke bar with his friends when 'My Heart Will Go On' starts to play from the karaoke stage.
“Oh, come on!” his friend Claire complains, “Titanic! Really?”
“Celine Dion is a legend, Claire, how could you?” his friend Matty answers in outrage.
Tom is only half listening, because he has realised he recognises the two men on the karaoke stage. “Oh my god,” Tom says, lifting his phone immediately.
“What are you doing?” Claire asks him.
“Filming something that will go viral,” Tom announces.
Buckley and Diaz are clearly drunk, and belting out My Heart Will Go On at each other to the loud and enthusiastic response of a group of people around a table near the front.
Tom posts it as soon as the two firefighters leave the stage, laughing at the whooping and applause and wolf whistles they receive. Tom captions it ‘You’re here, there’s nothing I fear, and I know #thosetwofirefighters hearts will go on’. As expected, it gets thousands of hits in only a few days.
***
The footage of the news coverage of the boy trapped down the old well hits the internet the day after it happens. The hashtag #thosetwofirefighters on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr is filled with the footage of Firefighter Buckley trying wildly and desperately to dig Firefighter Diaz out of the ground with his bare hands. There is also footage of when Diaz turns up, soaking wet and filthy and cold, and Buckley is one of the first people at his side, clasping his hand to help keep him upright. Buckley doesn't take his eyes off of Diaz.
The following of the #thosetwofirefighters ship doubles overnight.
hanabanana - 'Oh my god I ship them so hard. 😍'
cheer_chic27 - 'Welcome to those new to #thosetwofirefighters! Hi to everyone who has been around since the #Beccasbotfly days!'
joeyj339 - 'Check out @tomothythimos’s video of #thosetwofirefighters at karaoke!'
ThoseTwoFireBoys - 'If any of you want the full story, CaptainoftheArmada over on tumblr has the BEST compilation for you!'
LALady1 - 'Look how much love is in their faces. 😍 I can’t. ❤️️'
Sterek4Eva - 'Are they actually a couple? Does anyone actually know?'
Sterek4Eva - 'I hope they are.'
***
“And for the love of god,” Eddie had asked Marjan, “Please follow Buck back on Insta.”
Marjan grins as she follows Buck's Instagram back a few hours later. She has gone for a few drinks with the 126 to celebrate finally beating back the fires, and they are enjoying unwinding after a tough few days.
TK is busy telling Carlos about what had happened, and about the three members of the 118 that the 126 had meshed particularly well with; Hen, Eddie and Buck.
“I’m pretty sure Buck was asking me out before they left. I had to tell him I was in a serious relationship.” He nudges Carlos fondly, who leans in to kiss him on the cheek, before TK grins at Marjan, “And Eddie was flirting with Marjan all day.”
“No he wasn’t,” Marjan says, “And are you sure about Buck? I was sure him and Eddie had something going on. I mean, as soon as I saw Eddie's Instagram page I suspected they might be a thing, and now seeing Buck's,” she turns her phone around, “They are all over each other’s feeds. And you should have seen Eddie's face when he talked about Buck.”
“What? Really?” Judd asks, “Diaz and Buckley?”
Carlos had been staring at her phone in a similar way to how Buck had been staring at her when he had recognised her but had not been able to place her, but at the sound of their surnames Carlos' mouth drops open. “No way,” he says, “It’s them!” he laughs, “I can't believe you had Those Two Firefighters help you fight the fires!”
TK turns to him in surprise, “Those two…what?”
“I came across a video a few months ago and found out there was this hashtag for these firefighters that…hang on, I’ll just show you. Marjan,” Carlos says, “Look up the hashtag #thosetwofirefighters?”
Marjan does as she is told, “Oh no way,” she gapes at the pictures upon pictures of Eddie and Buck at various emergencies and fires and even some official department photos, and sees the amount of people ‘shipping’ them online. “Eddie doesn’t come across as the most tech savvy,” Marjan says, as TK busies himself looking up the hashtag on his own phone and gawking at the results, “Do you think they are even aware of all this?”
Judd is peering over her shoulder at her screen, “We could send a message to Miss Henrietta? She’d love it.”
“Or do we let them figure it out on their own?” Carlos asks, “Because by the sound of it, the theory that these guys don’t even realise they are in love with each other might actually be true?”
“Either way,” Marjan scrolls back up the Instagram hashtag, “Since Eddie was so persistent in getting me to follow his love…”
#thosetwofirefighters
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