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Buck had been having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. It was a combination of things, every day piling up a little more. On Monday he had lost someone. It always hit him hard when that happened. He felt like he failed the person every time. His day off on Tuesday was a complete mess. Maddie had to cancel their plans last minute. He knew they wouldn’t have any other time off that week to meet. On Wednesday, there was a large fire that caused Buck to pull some of his usual heroics that caused him to get yelled at. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but there wasn’t any other way to save the person. He hated when he got yelled at for things that lead to more lives being saved. Sure, it put his life in danger, but that was his job. Thursday started with Buck getting into a minor crash. He was fine, but his car had to go into the shop. L.A. drivers were just the worst. They said it would take a week to fix. Having to get rides from friends was the worst. It meant he was restricted to basically going to and from work. Then, on the first call of Friday he got injured. It was nothing major, but he got caught on some glass and cut his arm open. He had to get a couple of stitches, and it meant he was on light duty for the rest of the shift. He should have been sent home, but he argued to stay and just be on desk duty. Buck knew Bobby would go for it, especially since he could watch Buck and make sure he didn’t get up to anything stupid.
The thing that was looming over him the most was the fight he and Eddie had the previous weekend. Eddie wanted to ask Ana out on a date, and Buck told him that was a bad idea. It was a whole long argument, and the two hadn’t spoken since except on calls. Buck understood that Eddie was ready to date again, but dating one of Christopher’s teachers was not a good look. Especially if it ended badly, it could impact his schooling. The year was almost over, and Eddie could wait. They didn’t see eye to eye on the subject, and likely wouldn’t.
The rest of the fire station was tired of the tension between the two. They didn’t work as well when they were fighting, and it was obvious. With such a small crew, it was easier to notice when they were fighting. They even changed where they sat at the dinner table, messing up the seating for everyone else. The station had grown used to the sexual tension between the two, and the fact they were basically dating, but their arguments like this were just too much.
Towards the end of the shift, Hen and Chim hatched a plan. Was it the best plan, absolutely not, but it was a solution. It was cliche, but if it worked the two did not care. It was a two part plan. Step one was splitting up and getting each of the boys to agree to a favour. Chim asked Eddie to go grab some new sheets from the linen closet. Hen asked Buck to take a walk with her that would just happen to go past the linen closet. Step one went off without a hitch. Step two took a little more finessing. Hen had to time it out perfectly. Eddie’s back was turned, Buck was distracted. All it took was one little push to send Buck into the closet and her quick reaction to lock them in.
“You’re staying in there until you two figure out whatever the hell’s been going on this week.” They heard Hen’s voice through the door.
This was not the first time Hen had locked Buck in a closet, and probably wouldn’t be the last. It was an easy way to keep him out of trouble. Usually he was alone, but since Eddie wasn’t bother to talk to him it would be just like that anyways.
Buck reached up and grabbed a few pillows before sitting down and leaning on one against the wall, stretching his legs out. He threw the spare at Eddie. “I know we aren’t talking, but you may as well get comfortable. We either ‘figure it out’ or we get out of here when the shift ends.” Buck checked his watch. “It’s going to be a long 2 hours.” He pulled out his phone, not bothering to see if Eddie would take his advice.
Eddie was still dealing with the shock of the whole situation. Really he should have seen this coming. His co-workers were all children. He put the linens back on the shelf, and grabbed the pillow from where it had fallen after hitting him. He sat down in a similar position to Buck, trying his best to not accidentally kick the other man. Small closets weren’t exactly designed for two fully grown men to sit down in. He pulled his phone out and noticed a text from Carla.
“Chris wants to know if you’re still coming for movie night after shift.” Eddie kept his voice short. He didn’t want another argument, but he was hoping Buck would say yes. He didn’t want to disappoint Chris.
“Well I don’t have a car right now, so probably not. I’ll make it up to him next weekend.” Buck didn’t want to miss movie night, but sitting in a car silently with Eddie sounded like the worst thing in the world after being locked in together. He knew they were both stubborn, and unlikely to give in.
Eddie chewed on his lip for second, thinking. Apologizing to Buck and admitting he was right would end being locked in the closet and give Chris movie night. But if he gave in, he would have to admit why he even asked her out in the first place. He wasn’t ready for that, not in a small space where anything could go wrong. He knew why he didn’t ask for anyone else’s opinions on asking Ana out. He knew Buck was right, that dating his kid’s teacher was an awful idea. However, it was nice to actually have someone want to date him for a change. She knew that he had a kid, and that wouldn’t be an issue to deal with down the road. However, she wasn’t really his type. It would be shitty of him to date her just to get over someone else when he knew there was never any real plans to go further.
“Fine, you’re right. I shouldn’t ask Ana out. It would be a bad move in so many different ways.” Eddie spoke, defeat in his voice.
“Are you saying that so I’ll come to movie night or because you actually agree with me.” Buck spoke without looking up from his phone. Plenty of his and Eddie’s stupider arguments ended with one of them just agreeing the other was right to end the standoff. This was an argument Buck actually cared about, and wasn’t going to let it end easily.
“It’s because you’re right. It wouldn’t be fair to her or Christopher. I shouldn’t date to get over people, and I definitely shouldn’t date someone who could impact my son’s life so heavily.”
Buck locked his phone and put it in his pocket. “Glad you finally came around. However, if you need to get over someone you’ve got two options. The first is if it’s about Shannon I think you need to talk to Frank about that one. If it’s not about her, then ask the person out on a date. I know you haven’t because even if you didn’t tell me, you would have told Carla and she’s been mostly silent about you dating.” Buck and Carla probably shouldn’t have gossiped about Eddie as often as they did, but it was too late to change.
Eddie felt his eyebrows jump “Mostly silent?” Carla wasn’t exactly subtle about dropping hints that Eddie should ask Buck out. He didn’t know if she was getting on his case about it too.
A blush overtook Buck’s face. “You know Carla, she means well. If she’s right about who you’re trying to get over, then I think you should go for it.”
Eddie felt his heart rate spike. Buck knew. He probably knew without Carla telling him. Eddie wasn’t exactly the best at being subtle. He had hoped Buck would just pass parts of their friendship as just guys being guys, but it clearly hadn’t happened. He had two choices. He could deflect. Make some joke that they would both laugh at, show off some new photos of Christopher, and they would both shove this event far back in their memories. Or, he could actually do something about it. It seemed like Buck wasn’t upset about the situation. They had a good friendship, and really had all the bones built for a solid relationship. Really they were basically dating already. If Eddie had a dollar for every time he had been told what a cute kid they had, he could retire.
Eddie made his choice. He stood up, and offered his hand out to Buck. Buck looked confused for a second, but took the offered hand.
“There was no good way to do this while we sat. We did this kind of backwards, but I guess there is no right way.”
Buck started to respond, but before he could he felt Eddie’s lips press softly against him. It short lived, as the klaxons started blaring. The two jumped apart upon hearing them. Hen shoved the door open to let Eddie out.
“We’ll talk about this tonight at movie night, but I’m glad you did that.” Buck grinned with one of his smiles that could light up a room. Eddie gave him a quick nod before running out to go put his gear on. Buck knew that they likely wouldn’t end up talking as much as continuing what the alarms had interrupted, and he was fine with that.