Work Text:
Hen’s been keeping an eye on Buck for as long as she’s been at the 118. He’s gone from bold, brash, slightly annoying, cocky playboy to… to someone she adores. He’s been through so much and yet he seems to be happy every single day, even if it’s a front he’s putting on. He’s enthusiastic, a human golden retriever is how Chim describes him fondly, he’s sweet and will do anything for anyone, he’s a hero, he’s the life of their team. He’s Buck.
And she’s seen how his relationships with the rest of them have changed, for the best, over the years. How he’s now got a father and mother figure in Bobby and Athena, how they’ll do anything at all for him. How Maddie adores him. How Chim always makes sure he’s there for him to laugh with, to talk to, no matter what. And Eddie.
Eddie and Christopher, if she’s being honest.
Since the day Eddie came into their lives and Buck got over the hours of being a pain, the pair of them have been as thick as thieves. Buck adores Christopher too and the three of them have been through so much together and are still the best of friends.
Until the day she sees something different between them. They’ve always had that slightly blurred line between best friends and more, they’ve always been slightly too touchy feely and in touch with each other, but there’s something different. About the way that Eddie touches Buck’s shoulder when he’s sitting on the couch and he’s going to grab water. Or the way Buck makes sure that he gets the food Eddie likes most and slides it onto a plate to keep it warm when he cooking. The way that Eddie scowls at girls who are trying to give Buck their phone number on jobs. The way that Buck leans closer to Eddie when they’re ringing Christopher. The lingering touches and eye stares. She’s sure that the idiots are in love with each other but are too scared to tell the other one. So she decides to stage an intervention.
She invites Buck to help her collect coffee during one long 24 hour shift, just at the time when they need it the most because they’re all a little tiredly crazy. She figures Buck will have less resistance to questions then and she can persuade him to sit and have a drink whilst they talk before getting coffee for the rest of the crew. She’s right, it doesn’t take much to persuade Buck to grab a drink whilst they choose the others drinks, and it warms her heart to see how long he ponders on the perfect drink for Eddie. “He says he only likes simple black coffee, but I’m working on it. What do you think about this?” and he points at the most sugar laden monstrosity on the menu that Hen is sure Eddie will just shudder at, not that she’s going to tell Buck that.
She waits until he’s sitting down with a coffee and he’s just taken a sip before she starts. “So, Buck,” she says, keeping it friendly and light. “I can’t believe I’ve put up with you for all these years and you’re keeping secrets from me.”
Buck splutters out his mouthful of coffee to avoid choking on it, his blue eyes wide and innocent. “What? What are you talking about?”
“You’re in love with Eddie,” she says.
Buck stirs his coffee. “Well, yeah,” he says with a shrug and now it’s Hen’s turn to choke because she wasn’t expecting this easy agreement. “I mean, we’ve been trying to keep things professional at work, but I have been worried about whether it’s working because Hen, he is so hot, I don’t know how I keep my hands off him. Do you know he makes this most delicious noise when I…”
“Buckley!” she manages to gasp out at that point, cutting him off mid flow. He’s got the most sickeningly sweet look on his face as he thinks about Eddie and at her voice he stops and blinks at her, confusion colouring his features. “I don’t want to hear about your sex life, please,” she begs and he smiles, suddenly shy.
“It’s real, Hen,” he says, in a low voice. “He wants me, he and Christopher want me and love me and I’m so happy that I can’t stop touching him and I know I should and I need to behave but I can’t because I love him so, so much.”
Anybody else, Hen would have been pretending to throw up at the level of sweetness, but this is Buck and her heart is overflowing. “I’m happy for you,” she says and she’s never meant anything more in her life. Even if she knows Karen is just going to laugh so hard at the fact that the intervention was actually not needed at all.
And then she sees the way that Buck gives Eddie his coffee when they get back, the awful sugary concoction that she’s sure he’ll hate. The look on his face as he gazes at Buck, takes the coffee and squeezes his fingers leaves her breathless.
She adores Buck, everyone at the station adores Buck. But the Diaz boys, Eddie and Christopher, they’re Buck’s family and she could not be happier for them
It doesn’t mean she’s not going to tell Karen and Bobby and Athena though. The next Grant-Nash barbecue lunch is going to be very interesting.