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“Truth or dare?” Buck’s voice cuts through the silence that has settled in the cramped space.
“Really?” Eddie rolls his head to the side, sending Buck a pointed stare. The yellow emergency lighting paints his skin in a warm glow and Eddie swallows against the rush of want that surges through him.
“What? Would you rather play I spy?” Buck asks, rolling his eyes. “I spy something brown...surprise! It’s the shitty panelling in the elevator we’ve been trapped in for an hour.”
"It hasn't been that long," Eddie replies, although Buck can’t be far off with his estimate. They'd been on their way up to Buck’s apartment when the elevator had shuddered to a halt and the lighting had cut before the emergency lights slowly flickered on.
The team is on their way, but they’ve had other, more urgent calls to deal with first. Two healthy people stuck in a relatively safe, if non-functional, elevator is just not a priority during a city-wide blackout, even if both of them are firefighters.
“It absolutely has,” Buck counters, nudging Eddie with a foot. “So, truth or dare?”
"Fine,” Eddie says, giving in easily, like he could ever say no to Buck. And yeah, after an hour trapped in here he’s bored too. “Truth."
"What happened with you and Ana?" Buck asks, and really, Eddie should have been expecting a question like that. If anything, it’s surprising that it took Buck this long to ask.
Still, it doesn’t make it any more pleasant.
“Buck.”
“What? You said truth,” Buck shrugs defensively. “If it makes it any better, I was gonna ask you tonight, anyway.”
Eddie sighs. “Why do you want to know?”
“It’s just that, you haven’t mentioned her in ages,” Buck says, frowning. “What happened? I thought you really liked her."
Eddie’s throat goes dry. He and Ana had ended things weeks before. The relationship was already grinding to an ugly halt after the shooting, but the end came sharp and abrupt when Ana aired her grievances. One in particular being how tired she was of being the “third wheel in the relationship”.
The fact that Eddie knew precisely what she meant, and who she was referring to was damning enough to shame him, and as with all true defeats, their romance did not end with a boom, but a pitiful whimper.
But, he couldn’t exactly explain any of that to Buck. Buck, who was his best friend, and absolutely did not feel the same way.
"We broke up," he says, finally, with what he hopes is a nonchalant shrug.
"Oh, shit," Buck's face clouds over with a guilty wince. "Sorry, dude. Why didn't you say anything?"
We broke up because I love you and she was jealous, and I don’t know how to tell you that, Eddie thinks.
"It just wasn't working out," is what Eddie ends up saying. "Hey, what about you and Taylor? Wasn't there—?"
"That's not how the game works," Buck argues, cutting Eddie off. "But, actually, there was never really a me and Taylor. We just- we decided we were better off as friends."
This is all news to Eddie. The last time he’d seen Taylor had been at his welcome-home party from the hospital, where she’d been looking far too comfortable with Buck.
They sink back into silence as Eddie tries not to dwell on this new piece of information. He’d be a liar if he said he isn’t relieved. Taylor always had been a poor match for Buck, in his opinion at least.
"You gotta ask the question, Eds." Buck says, after a while.
Eddie blinks. "Hm?"
"Truth or dare. That's how the game works. It's your turn now."
"Oh." Eddie can think of a few things. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
“I dare you to-” kiss me, kiss me, I dare you to kiss me - resolutely ignoring that voice in his head, Eddie manages, “uh - show me your best dance moves.”
Buck laughs. "You've already seen my best dance moves." He stands up, shaking out his legs. "Okay, are you ready for this?"
He does something— Eddie’s not sure what it is— with his hips, swinging them back and forth.
Eddie snorts, watching the short spasmodic movements with unrestrained amusement.
"What are you doing?"
"Hey, you wanted my best moves." Buck towers over Eddie, still doing… whatever that is. "This one gets all the ladies."
"You look like you're having a stroke."
Buck scoffs. "Like you could do any better."
"Oh really?" Eddie stands, facing Buck. "How about this?"
He steps from side to side, clicking his fingers.
"You dance like a dad," Buck tells him, laughing and they're both grinning like idiots, trying to outdo each other in the cramped elevator. There's not a lot of room to move and they end up crowding each other.
Their eyes meet and Buck flushes, quickly glancing away.
“It's, uh, your turn again,” Buck says, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush.
“Truth or dare?”
"Truth." Eddie replies.
"You can't keep picking truth," Buck argues good-naturedly.
"Why not?"
"Because it's called truth or dare, Eddie. Not truth or truth.”
Eddie rolls his eyes, exasperated but fond. “Fine then. Dare.”
“Show me the most embarrassing photo of you on your phone.”
“I think you’ll be disappointed,” Eddie says, but he starts scrolling through his camera roll anyway. Buck moves over to Eddie, pressing in close as he looks over his shoulder. Eddie just tries to ignore how right it feels to have Buck pressed so close to him.
Get it together, Diaz, he thinks, turning his attention back to his phone.
Eddie truly doesn’t have that many pictures of himself on his phone. Instead, most of his camera reel consists of images of Chris, and more recently Chris and Buck. If Buck really wants embarrassing photos, he’ll need to talk to Adriana or Sophia, but Eddie’s not about to hand that information over.
He finds a picture from Halloween a few years ago. Chris had been going through a superhero phase and demanded they both dress up.
"Here." Eddie turns the screen around so Buck can see it.
"Oh." Buck takes the phone. "Really? That's it?" He studies the picture carefully. "It's kinda cute," he says, handing back the phone. "Well, Chris is at least."
“Told you.” Eddie tucks the phone back into his pocket. “What’s your worst one?”
“You really don’t get this game, do you Eds?” Buck replies, his tone teasing. “If you want to know, you’ll have to ask.”
“Alright then,” Eddie sighs. "Truth or dare?"
Buck sits back down, leaning against the wall opposite Eddie and stretching out his legs.
"Truth." Buck says, smirking up at Eddie.
Well, if that’s how Buck wants to play it, Eddie can certainly play along. He sits, stretching his legs out beside Buck’s.
“What is something you haven’t told anyone?” Eddie asks.
Buck looks up in surprise before his face goes carefully blank and he looks away. He stares down at his hands, clasped loosely in his lap.
“I, uh, I think I might be bi,” Buck says quietly, and any coherent thought Eddie might have had grinds to a halt.
His head jerks up and he glances across at Buck, but the movement goes unnoticed. He'd never even considered the possibility that Buck might be bi - all his stories about past relationships had involved women.
There’s a thousand follow up questions Eddie could ask, but he settles on, “How long have you—?"
“It’s a recent thing,” Buck still won't meet his eye. “Like, only the last three years.”
You’ve known Buck for three years, Eddie’s unhelpful brain supplies, as he tries to articulate his next question. “Was there someone…or—?” He can’t quite bring himself to finish asking, letting the words hang in the air between them.
“Yeah, there was,” Buck admits, and Eddie could swear that Buck’s eyes flick to his lips before the other man lets out a long breath. “Alright, truth or dare?”
Eddie stares at the opposite wall for a long moment, still trying to process this new information. He can see Buck watching him carefully, gauging Eddie’s reaction, so he quickly pulls himself together.
“Dare.”
“Tell me a secret.” Buck says.
Eddie could take the easy way out. He could talk about his nightmares, or his fears or any number of things. He could tell Buck something completely innocuous like the time he broke his abuela's favourite vase. But that doesn't seem fair, not when Buck has been so honest with him.
His heart pounds wildly, the words stalling on his lips.
It could go horribly wrong, and completely ruin what they’ve built together over the last few years. After all, what they have now is safe, and familiar, even if it leaves Eddie wanting more.
But after Buck’s confession, and the look he had shot Eddie’s way, maybe… maybe there was something there. Why else would Buck have told him?
The air in the elevator is so dry. It sticks in Eddie’s throat, gluing his tongue to the roof of his mouth.
After a moment, Eddie manages to find his voice. “I want to kiss you.”
Silence stretches out between them and Eddie feels the panic rising in his chest. Any confidence he had felt before speaking evaporates at the shocked look on Buck’s face. It was a stupid, foolish thing to say and now Buck isn’t saying anything and—
"Dare."
Eddie’s head jerks up. "What? Buck, I haven't—"
"Dare me to kiss you." Buck says, leaning forward, his expression earnest.
“I uh—” Why is it so hot all of a sudden? Face flushing, Eddie tries again. “I dare you to kiss—”
Before Eddie can even finish the sentence Buck is on him, his hands reaching to cup his face. The kiss is gentle and careful, yet also intense, something akin to an act of worship. It’s overwhelming, in the best possible way.
If Buck always kisses like this, Eddie simply cannot understand how anyone could leave him.
Just as Buck goes to pull away Eddie pulls him right back in again, unsatisfied from a single kiss. Buck eagerly reciprocates, deepening the kiss and turning it into something more desperate, like he’s drowning and Eddie is his only source of air.
Minutes pass before they break away from each other, but Buck keeps his fingers fisted in Eddie’s shirt.
“Um, so that happened,” Buck says, his face flushing in the dimly lit space. “But, uh—” he hesitates over the words, “is this like, a friends with benefits thing, or a something more thing? Because I don’t think I can do this if it’s just a sex thing.”
“Definitely a something more thing,” Eddie is quick to reassure him. He knows how Buck’s mind spirals, and he wants to make it absolutely clear that he wants everything with him. “Buck, I’ve been in love with you for years. Probably since you locked yourself in an ambulance with me and helped me pull a grenade from some guy's leg.”
Buck stares at him, leaning back in on his heels. "You love me? But— you never said anything."
“Neither did you.”
“Fair.” Buck shrugs, grinning. “So… you like me, huh?”
Eddie huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, I think I made that clear when I told you I love you.”
Buck is sitting so close, practically sitting in Eddie’s lap. It would be so easy for Eddie to just shift, spread his legs a little and let Buck settle against his hips. So he does, his hands splayed across Buck’s lower back, pulling him in closer.
He presses his lips to the fluttering pulse point beneath Buck’s jaw, reveling in the way it makes Buck arch against him. The friction as Buck grinds down is simultaneously too much and not enough.
Somewhere, not too far away, Buck’s phone pings with a text notification, but both of them are far too occupied to pay it any attention.
Buck’s hands trail down, fingers playing with the hem of Eddie’s shirt before hooking into the waistband of his jeans.
He glances up, face flushed. "Do you want—"
"Yes, God," Eddie groans, desperate to feel Buck’s hands on him. "Please don’t stop."
Buck smiles, bending to kiss him while his deft hands begin undoing Eddie’s belt.
There’s another distant ping, but neither of them hear it, too caught up in the moment. It’s heady; Eddie has no thoughts in his head except Buck and keeping him as close as possible. It’s been a long time since he’s been this keyed up and Eddie can’t remember the last time he’s wanted someone this badly. His hands find their way beneath Buck’s shirt, roaming freely against the heated skin.
The high-pitched trill of the elevator phone startles them both, and they freeze before quickly pulling apart, scrambling to stand and adjust their clothing.
Buck reaches for the phone, pressing the button while Eddie refastens his belt.
“How’re you doing in there, boys?” Bobby asks, his voice tinny through the tiny speaker.
“We’re fine.” Buck answers, sounding completely wrecked but trying his best to hide it. “Absolutely, one hundred percent fine.”
“Good to hear it.” Bobby doesn’t seem to have noticed. “We’ve pinpointed the floor you’re on, so we’ll have you out in a few minutes. Hang tight.”
“Copy that, Cap.” Buck swallows as the call cuts out. He glances over at Eddie. “So, we should probably talk about this,” he says, running his hands through his hair to smooth back the unruly curls that have sprung loose.
“We should,” Eddie agrees, closing the distance between them. “And I don’t know about you, but I definitely want to finish what we started.” He can feel Buck’s smile against his lips as he steals one last kiss.
They both settle back to wait, adopting twin expressions of nonchalance as the elevator doors grind open, revealing Chim and Hen’s shit-eating grins and Bobby’s parental amusement.
“Yeah, yeah,” Buck groans, waving away their offers of assistance as he boosts himself up and onto the landing. “We got stuck in an elevator, laugh it up.”
If anything, his words make it worse. Hen and Chim look at each other and burst into laughter, not even bothering to offer Eddie a hand out of the elevator.
“What?” Buck demands. “It’s not even that funny. How were we supposed to know there was going to be a blackout?”
Hen leans on Chimney for support and wipes a tear from her eye.
“Oh, you think that’s what this is about?” she asks, nudging Chim with an elbow. “Can I tell them? I want to tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Eddie asks, with encroaching dread.
"You know the security feed was still operational, right?" Bobby explains, evidently taking pity on them. Their captain isn’t laughing, but his eyes are dancing with amusement as he breaks the news.
Eddie feels all the blood drain from his face. “But— we were in a blackout,” he says lamely, turning to Buck for help.
“It came back on when we re-routed power,” Chimney tells them.
“Long enough to catch you two getting all hot and heavy,” Hen cackles.
“I told you we should have just locked them in the supply closet,” Chimney says, turning to Hen. “Think of how much time we could have saved.”
“You’re just mad you lost the bet,” Hen smirks. “And now you owe me.”
“Are you really going to let this go on?” Buck asks Bobby. “Surely this is, I dunno, harassment or something?”
That sets Chimney and Hen off again.
“Settle down, both of you,” Bobby says. “We need to get moving anyway.” He motions for Chim and Hen to gather their things and follow him towards the stairs. “We’ll leave you two love birds to it.”
Eddie stifles a groan, reaching out to Buck as their team disappears down the stairs. “We are never going to hear the end of this.”
“Probably not,” Buck agrees, linking their fingers together to pull Eddie back towards his apartment. “Anyway, you said something earlier about ‘finishing what we started?’”