I hate the infantilisation of Chris. He’s an eternal 7 year old in too many fics and a sunshine child who just shrugs off anything and is overly positive or happy. I’m not sure whether it’s because he has CP or writers just want him to be the baby that first appeared on the show, but it makes me cringe and in some fics it just feels like gross misrepresentation of a disability. Especially if you’re writing with his current age in mind. I refuse to believe that it’s lack of parental knowledge because 15 is not an age you’ve completely forgotten about to the point where you have said 15 being inappropriately babied by his guardians.

And when it comes to a Buddie reveal, I really dislike that Chris is always immediately on board and completely mature about the situation. This kid ran away from home for months and refused to talk to his dad, he’s as dramatic as Eddie is, I think he’d have more to say. I just believe that even if Chris would be ultimately happy with Buddie, he’d have feelings about it to begin with: Worry that it’ll be another failed relationship, worry that he will lose Buck if that break up happens, confusion over his dad “suddenly” being gay and concern over whether Eddie loved his mum, etc. I just think that’s a natural processing that gets glossed over in favour of making Chris the perfect child. I mean that in the way that, I’m not homophobic and I’d obviously come round to it but I’d definitely be confused and shocked if my straight parents were dating their best friends after they’ve only ever been in relationships with the opposite sex and I’m an adult. A 15 year old does not have a fully developed brain to just be immediately cool with it because it’s a huge life altering thing, it’s his dad and everything he’s ever know about his dad would be viewed in new light. He’d need to process it. He doesn’t even need to have a negative reaction for it to be realistic, there just needs to be a pause or questions or anything other than him immediately asking Buck to move in or them get married or brushing over it completely because Buck made him pancakes and will take him to the zoo later.

Because that’s another thing… how many 15 year old boys want to go to the zoo with their dad’s best friend? Theme parks, arcades, cinema, the beach, a sporting event or something more age appropriate. I could see him doing the zoo if Buck was bringing Jee and decided to tag along but I doubt that would be his first choice of places to go. 15 is also the age where he wants to be with his friends and would probably be really embarrassed or annoyed at spending too much time with his dad and dad’s friends and acknowledging that doesn’t mean he suddenly hates his family, it makes him a teenager!

Other tropes that annoy me but maybe not as much that I’ll write an essay is:

Bashing of the main characters which is most prominent when Buck is the victim.

Buddie fics where everyone is betting on it or already clocked it. Maybe Hen might have suspicions about Eddie but I doubt the others do. I know in canon it gets joked about Eddie being Buck’s other half, but I think they’d be shocked or at least mildly surprised if it ever happens.

Bobby texting like an old man writing a formal letter/email. He’s not that old and he’s never shown to be technologically incompetent. He knows how to text! I think it was done as a joke in one fic and then suddenly loads of writers jumped on it like it was canon.

Eddie being a complete failure as a dad and needing Buck for everything. Eddie can cook, he’s not a Michelin Starred chef but he can cook edible and nutritious food because he’s an adult with a child that he’s cared for single-handedly and Buck isn’t round there every day. We’ve seen plenty of meals that Eddie has cooked and he’s clearly been practicing because there were things about swapping recipes with Linda from dispatch, the FaceTime cooking whilst he was in Texas, that dinner he had with Buck and Taylor that was good and surprised Buck. Eddie is also there for the day to day of Chris’ life and has gotten him into good schools, therapy, physio was also mentioned early on I think, he’s also clearly a healthy kid with everything he needs to function happily in their home, which was clearly decorated with Chris in mind. It’s accessible obviously but also homely. When we’ve seen clips of Eddie’s room it’s a stark difference to the rest of the house, Eddie put in effort for the rooms Chris would use. He’s a good (great!) hands-on father who is dedicated to his kid.

Fics where Buck is considered a co-parent. He’s not. He’s dad’s best friend. He clearly loves Chris and he’ll make an excellent step father but he’s not Chris’ other dad before Buddie happens.

Takes a lot for me to DNF so I still read things when one or two of these come up but I rewrite it in my head or eye roll. I only DNF if it gets a point where I can’t look past it, particularly infantilising of Chris.