Chapter Text
Eddie Diaz sits by himself in the waiting room of the hospital. His fingers anxiously run over the keys in his hand. One for his house, his truck, his locker at the firehouse, and one to his best friend’s apartment.
“Eddie, I think we should swap house keys just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“I dunno... Emergency? What if I fall in the shower and don’t come to work! I don’t want you and Bobby breaking down my door! I’d rather give you a key for peace of mind.”
Eddie laughs at the idea of him and Bobby breaking down Buck’s front door together. “Alright, Buck, we can go get keys made for each other.”
Eddies done waiting. He’s been in this waiting room for over 4 hours and still nothing. As he gets up to leave, he hears the nurse behind him,
“Mr. Diaz?” He whips his head around to meet the nurse’s gaze. He can’t get a read on the emotion of her face.
“How is he?” he asks her.
“They were able to stop the bleeding in surgery, which is a great sign. However, he did hit his head very hard and remains unconscious.”
“Well is he going to wake up anytime soon? Does he have a brain bleed? What exactly does that mean?” His mind is racing 100 miles per hour.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know when he will wake up. Thankfully, he does not have a brain bleed. We’re monitoring him closely for changes. You can go see him if you’d like.”
“Uh, maybe later...” he turns on his heels and walks out of the hospital.
He gets into his truck and starts to drive. He isn’t sure where he is going. His son, Christopher, is currently at his house with Carla. He doesn’t want to go there because he doesn’t want to worry Chris with any uncertainty. He thinks about going to the firehouse to work out. They did get a new punching bag. Everyone would be asking questions about Buck, so that’s out of the question as well. He stops at a red light and thinks of where to go. He glances down on his keyring and looks at the tie-die key dangling.
“Dad, I think you should get matching tie-die keys.” Christopher says, laughing at the rows and rows of keys at the hardware store
“Christopher, those are twice as expensive as the normal keys!”
“But dad, those are BORING.”
“Ya c’mon, dad, those are boring,” Buck laughs as he picks up a tie-dye print key. “You’re right, Chris, these are fun. I think we should get them.”
Eddie groans, “Fine, we can get the fun keys.”
Before he knows it, Eddie is on autopilot mode. He’s on his way to Buck’s apartment. He’s not sure why. Buck won’t be there, but something inside him tells him he has to go.
He pulls into the parking lot as he has done many times before. He gets out of his car and walks into the building. He’s been here many times before, even when Buck isn’t here. However, this time feels different.
He slides the tie-die key into the lock and gives it a slight turn. As the door opens, the apartment feels different. Normally, it feels warm and full of life, even if it’s just Buck alone in the apartment. Normally, it feels like home. Today it feels cold. Eddie feels out of place. He walks in the door and slips his shoes off. Buck always tells him it’s unnecessary, but it’s just how he was raised. He wanders into the apartment, trying to figure out why exactly he’s here. He hasn’t been here for a while. When COVID hit, they really only spent time at the Diaz household. Even though it was further away from the firehouse, it was bigger, and there was a backyard.
He walks over to the sofa and sits down. Even if it’s just a piece of furniture, it holds so many memories for him. He and Buck have spent countless hours sitting on the couch playing video games with Christopher. He looks down and laughs. The pizza stain that Buck swore he would clean up is still there. He might as well clean it since he’s here. He gets up off the couch and walks into the kitchen. He grabs a washcloth and wets it under warm water, and adds some dawn to it. He goes back to the couch and starts dabbing the stain away. After a few minutes, the stain is fully gone. As he walks back to the kitchen, he thought he might as well clean up since he’s here.
Before he knows it, three hours have gone by, and Eddies cleaned the entirety of Buck’s apartment. Cleaned and put away his dishes, thrown out the food that was getting bad from the refrigerator, washed the floors, and cleaned the bathroom. He walks into Buck’s bedroom and sits down on his bed.
“After Buck gets released, he’ll want comfortable clothes to change into. The clothes they give you at the hospital are not nice at all” he thinks to himself.
He gets up and walks towards Buck’s dresser. Sitting on top of his dresser, Buck has various pictures framed. One is of the 118 from when Buck was a probie. One is of Maddie and Buck as children, and one is of Buck and his niece. Eddie smiles at the memories he has framed but is slightly hurt he’s not in any of the pictures. He brushes this off as it’s been a very emotional day.
He pulls open the top drawer and rummages through all the t-shirts. He pulls out one of Buck’s well-loved henleys and throws it on the bed. He then opens the next drawer and pulls out a pair of sweatpants. Finally, he pulls open the last drawer and grabs a pair of boxers out. He sits down next to the pile of clothes and looks at the outfit next to him.
“That shirt looks familiar,” he thinks to himself. A lightbulb goes off in his head. It looks familiar because it’s his shirt. He picks up the light blue shirt and thumbs over the fabric in his hands.
An overwhelming sense of sadness engulfs him. He clutches the shirt close to his chest as the tears begin to fall. Before he knows it, his body has thrown him into a panic attack. All that he can think of is the possibility that his best friend might never wake up. He is so angry at him for his actions. Buck committed such a reckless act because he felt like nobody cared about him. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. He sits there and thinks back to everything he’s ever said to him that day. Wondering where he could’ve been a better friend. This spiral continues for half an hour before Eddie’s body finally gives out from exhaustion, and he falls asleep on the bed.
He is awoken two hours later by the sound of his phone ringing. He reaches over to the bedside table where he had left his phone. In the process of reaching for his phone, he knocks over a picture frame he didn’t even know was there. He grabs the frame and puts it upright and smiles. It was a picture of him, Christopher, and Buck taken at the 118’s Christmas party last year. He is distracted from the unpleasant reality for just a few seconds before he remembers that his phone is ringing. He picks up his phone and looks at the caller ID. It’s Bobby.
He answers the phone but before he gets a chance to get out a full sentence Bobby interrupts him.
“You should get down to the hospital.”