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It started after the close call with Bobby and the radiation. May started seeing buck more, it was only a bit weird. He started coming home with her stepdad after work for dinner, coming round before their afternoon shifts for lunch. If she didn't know any better, she would assume he was just coming around for the free food.
But she saw the way the man watched his captain before his clean bill of health as if he was terrified he would drop dead right in front of him. She knew because it was the same way that Harry looked at him, the same way that she knew she must have been looking at him too.
After that, he's coming round more out of habit, and to make the most of his time with the captain while he could. You never knew what would happen on a call and Buck didn't want to have any regrets.
If he wasn't at the Nash-Grant house, he was at Eddie's, or Chim and Maddies, or even occasionally Hens. It had been a long time since he'd gone home without seeing his family outside of work.
May and Harry were used to it now, even looked forward to it, especially when Buck took the time to sit and talk through courses with May, or play video games with Harry, he'd even tried to help Harry with his maths homework but May wasn't sure who came out of that more confused. She was sure she heard Buck muttering "who thought it was a smart idea to put letters in math,"
Buck had even started coming around unannounced around Dinner times, or even sometimes just to give Athena a hand with the chores that she'd been complaining about needing to do.
That's why May wasn't all that surprised to open the door one Friday night with an apron on and some sort of tomato sauce smeared on her forehead, to find Buck standing there.
"hey, Mum and Bobby are out for date night but I'm cooking if you want to stay," May says holding the door open for the firefighter. Buck considers it for a second before nodding and following the teenager inside.
"What are you trying to cook?" Buck asks. May can't help but send him a glare, caught up on the word 'trying,' but with a sigh, replies "Spaghetti bolognese,"
"You need a hand?" Buck asks hopefully. It was something May had picked up on a long time ago, Buck was a people pleaser from the moment she met him, but now, she was beginning to feel like it was more than that, more like he relied on the approval of other people as a measure of his own self-worth. It made her want to wrap him up in a hug just like her mum does when she's having a bad day.
"Bobby doesn't let you in the kitchen, why should eye," She asks playfully narrowing her eyes at him.
"Cause I've learnt a lot from watching your stepdad cook," Buck asks more than says.
May only pretends to consider it for a moment before letting Buck help her. She was unwilling to admit that she needed the help anyway.
They work with and around each other in perfect harmony, its a form of teamwork not unlike what Buck is used to at work. As they work, Buck chopping up more veggies while May stirs the rest of the sauce on the stove, they talk. May talks about her friends, and to bother her and Bucks surprise, opens up about the boy she went on a date with the week before.
In turn, Buck talks about his life too.
"So they were playing chess right, Eddie had literally just taught Chris how to play and I kid you not, that kid had Eddie in a couple of moves," Buck says, a laugh escaping is pink lips. "And you'd think he was letting Chris win right?" May nods along to the story, unable to stop her smile at the happy twinkle in her friends' eyes as he talks about his boys. "But after we put him to bed Eddie was still all pouty and frowny and so I asked him what was wrong, and he looks at me with the widest puppy dog eyes you can even imagine and just goes, 'I wasn't letting him beat me,'"
May can't help but laugh along with Buck as they finish up the cooking. She can't help but think to herself 'god, does this man even know how in love with Eddie he is?'
Buck stays for dinner and a movie afterwards but leaves before Athena and Bobby even get home from their date night.
Buck coming over, even when Bobby and Athena are out, becomes a pretty common thing too. May found that she'd picked up on her stepdads love for cooking, especially as a relaxing activity and it was always just more fun when Buck was around. She got to hear all the fun gossip about the 118 that the other adults didn't feel comfortable telling her, and listen to Buck wax poetic about his best friend and his best friends kid and she got to bitch and gossip about her friends and dating life without any judgment. And so, whenever she had the kitchen to herself, she would text Buck to come over and help her cook.
The first time May comes over to Bucks house unannounced, it's with a white envelope being clutched in one hand and a bag full of baking ingredients in the other. Its ten in the morning on bucks day off and when the door opens in front of her, May is faced with a very obviously sleep ruffled Buck.
"May? what are you doing here?" The man says rubbing his eyes sleepily and stepping aside so that May can come in.
"The letter came," May says holding it up, hands shaking slightly. The statement wakes Buck up faster than any coffee ever could because this was it, it was the letter, the letter that determines Mays future. Its the letter from her dream university telling her if she got in or not.
"Did you get in?" Buck asks, frantically. May didn't look like she'd just received good news, but she didn't look like she'd just received bad news either, much to Bucks confusion.
"I haven't opened it yet," She replies quietly and at Buck's confused expression explains, "I wanted to open it with you first,"
Buck can't help but feel warmth bloom in his chest at the fact, he knew they were friends, he'd go as far as to easily consider May family and this was reassurance that she felt the same. "Okay," He tells her, "You want some coffee?"
Ten minutes later, the two are sitting on Bucks couch as May carefully tears the envelope open. Buck watches her face as she reads the letter, almost missing her whispered "I got in,"
"Buck I got in," She exclaims louder this time throwing her arms around the man's shoulders. He pulls her into a tight hug muttering how he knew she would, and how proud he was of her.
When they pull apart, it's with soft content smiles, May can't help but voice something she'd been thinking of earlier. "Man it's a pity that California doesn't allow adult adoptions, then Bobby could adopt you and you could actually be my big brother," This sets Buck off with a loud laugh and a load of happiness. It felt good to be told that the people you thought so much of as family thought the same way of you.
They bake cookies and May tells Buck about how she'd gone on another date with that boy but didn't think things were going to work between them. She wasn't all that sad about it, they were friends, she just couldn't see herself talking to people about him the same way that Buck talked about Eddie and that was a sure sign that she didn't actually like the guy all that much.
They spend the rest of the day together, talking and bitching, Buck finally gets a chance to bitch about how much hair Chim had and how it's just everywhere to someone who finds the fact equally disgusting. His sister had just laughed at him.
May even helped him pick out an outfit to wear to Eddies for dinner that night before she left and made her way home to share the good news with the rest of her family.
The university May ends up going to isn't all that far from home. In fact, it's close enough that she often comes home for the weekends or visits after classes. Sometimes, she even heads to Bucks apartment to study in the quiet that she can't seem to find anywhere else. Buck had gotten a key made up for her and everything.
May was out at a party not far from campus. It was one of those parties, with loud music and red plastic cups and so, as any eighteen-year-old college student would be and were, May was drinking. Or rather, at this point of the night, May was really drunk. Somehow, sometime during the night, her friend that was with her, the one who was meant to be driving her back to her dorm, had disappeared, just up and vanished, probably forgotten about her and left the party, leaving her stranded and far too drunk to be trying to make her own way home on her own.
So she pulled out her phone, looking through the contacts she'd recently texted. She couldn't call her friends to come to pick her up, they were all either inside, piss face drunk or had already left. She couldn't call her mum because she would just come round and bust the party and then proceed to tell her off for underage drinking. She couldn't call her dad or Bobby because they would probably give her the 'i'm not mad, just disappointed' face and then proceed to tell her mum who would be both mad AND disappointed and wouldn't be afraid to show it.
And so her thumb hovered over the next contact down. The one affectionately named "Yucky Bucky the Ducky." May thought it was hilarious.
She taps the call button and brings the phone up to her ear, wrapping her arm tightly around herself in an attempt to block out the cool night air.
"May? Its one in the morning, what's up," Buck asks, voice depend from sleep. If she didn't think of the man as a brother, she'd probably think he sounded hot.
"Heeey Buckaroo," She says unnecessarily drawing out the ends of both words and making herself giggle. It was very clear to both of them that she was very drunk.
"May where are you, I'm coming to pick you up," Buck says. May hears a thud through the phone signalling that Buck had fallen out of the bed in his haste that sends her into hysterics and earns her a grumbled "Shut up,"
She texts him the address and waits for him on the curb, telling him all about her night through the phone, including a brief hook up with one of the guys from one of her classes. All in far more detail than Buck ever needed.
"Come on, let's get you home," Buck says, helping the younger girl into his car.
"wait, no," May says, eyes wide with fear as Buck leans over her to buckle her in, carefully avoiding her chest area which was way more on show than he would have liked. It may be her body and her choice, he won't disagree with that, doesn't mean he has to like it.
"Why no,"
"I lost my key card," May says looking sad. Buck stays standing in the door of the passenger side of his car. "You lost your key card," He deadpans but May just nods.
"Bobby and Athenas then," Buck says making to move around to his side of the car. A tight grip on his Jacket sleeve and a hissed "Are you insane, my mum will kill me," make him stop.
"Fine, you can stay at mine, but you're not having my bed, you can sleep on the couch... just don't throw up in my car, please?"
He lets her have the bed.
She fell asleep in the car and Buck ended up carrying her up to his apartment, grumbling because it was the middle of the night and he was tired. Yet, he didn't dare wake her, she looked far too peaceful to do that.
He also couldn't just leave her on the couch, he was a gentleman. He carried her carefully up the steps, slipped her ridiculously high heels off and tucked her into his bed. He couldn't help a small grimace at what that pink lipstick was probably going to do to his pillow but he leaves that to be dealt with by tomorrow Buck and makes his way back downstairs to the dreaded couch that he had already spent far too many nights on.
He makes sure to give May hell the next morning, opening the blinds up to let the sunlight in and being as loud as possible in between holding her hair back as she throws up and cooking her a good hearty breakfast.
He doesn't see May after that until almost a month later. He was at work messing around with Eddie in between calls when he hears Chim shout from downstairs, "Hey May's here,"
Buck smiles and waits for Bobby to lead May upstairs. He doesn't hear her tell her stepfather, "Actually I'm here to see Buck,"
"Hey kiddo," Buck says, wrapping his arms around her and pressing a kiss to her temple, Eddie can't help but note how alike the action was to how Buck greats Christopher. "What're you doing here?"
May hold up a grocery bad of goods in explanation which no one but Buck seems to get. He lets out an understanding "ah" and leads her over to the kitchen.
The rest of the team watch as they easily move around each other, laughing and preparing everything for banana choc-chip muffins to be made. They watch as they talk and laugh and get into a weirdly heated argument about whether to make muffins or a cake. Buck ends up relenting as he notices something that clues him into May's real reason for being there. Unfortunately, it wasn't just because she missed him.
May watched as Buck kept sneaking glances at Eddie, meeting his eye as the other man watched them cook. She let out a small sad sigh that was inaudible to anyone but Buck who was standing right next to her.
"Alright kid, are you going to tell me what's wrong? Is someone fucking with you because if they are, I won't hold back from beating up a child,"
"Dude, I'm eighteen, if anyone was fucking with me, which they're not, they probably would be too," May says with a small pitiful excuse of a laugh.
Buck waves his hand in a dismissive gesture, "Eh still a child to me," She glares at him and he gives her one of his patented cheeky smirks which only leads her to roll her eyes.
She looks over to where the team; her stepfather included, was sitting on the couches, just out of earshot.
"Remember that boy I told you about, Jeremy?" May says quietly. Buck thinks back, vaguely remembering a phonecall about a cute boy who was super nice and really good looking that May had met in the campus Library.
"Library boy," Buck nods along and May cant help the affectionate smile forming on her face, it drops the second she starts talking again though.
"I ran into him again at the library when I went to study with Maggie, and well, They really hit it off," She says sadly.
"Oh," Buck says confused. "Oh," Buck exclaims once more, eyes wide with realisation. "What the fu- really? What the hell has Maggie got that you haven't?" He says, unbeknownst to him loud enough for the rest of the team to hear. In fact, their whole conversation was.
"Tits," May replies simply. Bucks eyes get impossibly wider before he starts laughing loud enough to ring out through most of the station.
Once he'd finally calmed down, he turns to May, who had a small smile on her face and was now carefully putting the tray of muffins into the oven. "Honestly May, he's missing out, I mean, you are awesome. He probably wasn't worth it anyway. probably had a third nipple, or like really gross morning breath,"
"You have really gross morning breath," May points out causing Buck to clutch his heart in offence. "But thanks, Buck,"
"Any time kiddo," Buck says, pulling her into a tight hug and resting his chin on the top of her head, "Anytime" he repeats.
The next week was Buck's birthday and May had been tasked with helping Eddie set up for the surprise party they were throwing him. As far as Buck knows, he's going out to the movies with May and Harry to celebrate. But right now, May is stuck with Eddie.
She was listening to Eddie talk about Buck, about how he'd gotten home from dinner with his sister the other night to find Buck in Chris's bed with Chris reading to him instead of the other way round. He was saying so with such a wide and affectionate grin on his face that May just wanted to grab both men by the hair, push their faces together and shout "Kiss," Because despite the fact that they were so obviously in love with one another, neither was willing to make a move.
So several hours later, when she finally gets Buck alone, she puts her hands on her hips and just looks at him. She looks so much like her mother at this moment that Buck is actually kind of intimidated. "What, what did I do wrong," Buck asks, eyes wide.
"You Even Buckley need to hurry up and get yo man already," May says throwing her arms up in exasperation. Bucks eyebrows furrow with confusion and an amused smile tugs at his features. "You! Eddie! Kiss him alre-" Mays cut off from her shouting by a hand over her mouth. She glares at Buck before childishly licking his hand. He scrunched his nose in disgust and wipes his hand on her face making May squirm and squeal, he laughs.
"I'm serious Buck! You're around here because you don't want to waste opportunities with Bobby but what about Eddie? What if something happens at work tomorrow and one of you dies, not having done something about your damn feelings sounds like it would be a pretty big regret," May says, voice soft but words harsh. Harsh enough to startle Buck into realising she was right.
"May, stop being so smart and reasonable, I'm the adult here, you're not even old enough to drink," Buck pouts. May looks around to see her parents and Bobby too caught up in other conversations, reaches forward stealing Bucks beer and takes a swig before placing it back in his hand with a cheeky smirk of her own.
"Go get your man already," May tells him. and with a not and an air of Determination, she watches as he walks off towards Eddie.
He doesn't even say anything. just taps the other man on the shoulder, takes one look at Eddie's pleased smile at his appearance and leans in covering it with a kiss.
May both wants to smack herself in the forehead or shout and whistle in celebration. She opts for the second option and apparently so does everyone else who noticed Buck and Eddie.
May really hopes that one day, she finds someone who loves her and who she loves as much as Buck and Eddie love each other.