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There’s several ways Buck imagines spending his Friday evenings.
He could watch bad reality tv with Albert and the Thai takeout that he really liked.
He’d go over to Eddie’s house for a movie night with them.
He might even head over to a bar to get a drink, maybe chat and play pool with some of the regulars there.
Being handed a baby and a bag of supplies by his sister with nothing more than a “Sorry, Josh had to call in sick and they asked if I could come in and the Lees are out of town, is it ok if Jee stays with you? Great, thanks, here’s her stuff!!!” was not in any of those scenarios.
Not that he doesn’t love his niece, he’d go to the ends of the world for her and he loves spending time with her… As long as it’s with capable adults who know all about handling babies. Like anyone else in the family, except for him and Albert because Albert most definitely cannot be lumped into the category of “capable adult”, hell, Buck can’t classify himself into that category either.
Adult? Sure.
Capable? With everything except teeny-tiny little human beings that he could accidentally kill.
So there he stands, with a very tiny baby who he would kill for in one arm, warm and cosy in her baby carrier and a bag of what he assumes is baby stuff in the other.
Albert walks in, mid-way through slurping his cup of Ramen when he catches sight of Buck and Jee-Yun.
He slurps up the rest of the noodles as Buck very gingerly places the baby carrier onto the kitchen counter.
“Is everything ok?” He asks as he moves to tickle Jee-Yun who lets out the most adorable giggle ever, making the pair of men smile.
Buck sets down the supplies on to the floor with a thump, “Uh yeah, Maddie got called in with an emergency and the Lees were out of town and Chimney has a shift so Jee-Yun’s spending the night with us it seems,”
He unbuckles Jee out of the carrier before picking her up, almost immediately her hand latches onto his t-shirt, clutching at it like she’s never gonna let go, which if they’re going by Chimney’s recent tales of how she’s started to reach out for stuff, she probably won’t.
She looks a lot like Maddie if Buck’s being honest, she’s got Chim’s hair and nose but the eyes and smile are most definitely Maddie’s.
“She’s getting her quality time with her uncles.” He gently tickles her, laughing as she squeals in delight.
Albert picks up the bag Maddie had left with them and plops it down onto the counter, “I doubt babies are interested in Hell’s Kitchen and Love Island so I guess we should… like put her toys out?” He pulls out a bunch of tiny stuffed animals and rattles.
He motions for Albert to take Jee from him, “Ok, you do that,” He pulls the bag towards him, “I gotta put the milk bottles and shi-stuff in the fridge so it doesn’t go bad.”
The younger man rolls his eyes, “Ok, you do realize she’s not gonna rat you out if you swear around her right? She’s like 6 months old.” He turns around without waiting to see Buck stick his tongue out at him.
Once, he’s done placing the bottles of milk and baby food inside the fridge, which now has more puréed stuff than solid food., he heads over to the living room, yes they had an actual apartment because apparently, Albert becoming a firefighter was enough reason for the entire firehouse to stage an intervention to tell the two men that alternating turns on the bed and sofa every night was not a good idea and neither was living in a loft with one bed.
So, 2 months after the intervention, they found an apartment suitable for 2 semi-capable adults with horrible shift timings that had 2 actual bedrooms with separate bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. So now, Albert was 10 minutes closer to his favorite cafe that always sold freshly baked bagels, Buck literally only had to walk 3 blocks to the Diaz household, which meant Eddie found himself staying up later and later as his son insisted on spending more time with his Buck.
And the firehouse was exactly 9 minutes away, which meant neither of them were late ever again. Bobby was over the moon.
Buck had only left them for what he thinks was 10 minutes but now there’s multiple blankets Buck wasn’t even aware they had scattered all across the room, toys covering the table and Jee seated right in the center of the sofa, surrounded by what seems to be all the pillows in the house as she surveys her kingdom of stuffed animals, rattles and Albert with disinterest.
“I said put her toys out, not redecorate our entire living room,” He takes a stuffed cow from the table and holds it out to his niece who immediately reaches out for the moo-moo, cooing as she promptly stuffs it into her mouth.
Albert scowls at him, “She deserves more than the drab gray walls of our living room.”
“Well then paint the walls if it bothers you that much,” Buck retorts, quickly snapping a picture of Jee-Yun trying to eat her toy and sending it to Maddie and Chimney, immediately receiving identical responses with heart emojis with a couple of heart eyes and crying faces thrown in. They were definitely gonna be the best parents ever.
The next two hours fly by as Albert and Buck go through each and every single one of Jee’s toys to see which ones were her favorites. She’d also started to crawl a bit and soon they’re holding “races” to see if she’s faster than mister bunny, and since history has a habit of repeating itself, Mr.Bunny falls asleep right before the finishing line, confident that he’ll win but fate has other plans and Jee-Yun Buckley Han clinches the victory spot. They cheer for a very long time after that, Jee squealing and screaming in excitement.
But of course, because the universe loves to mock him, disaster strikes.
It’s 8pm, two hours since Maddie dropped Jee off and they’re on their fourth episode of Peppa Pig when they hear it.
A whimper .
Fuck .
Albert seems to have jumped onto the same train of thought as Buck is on right now. If they don’t get it under control, they’d soon have a screaming infant on their hands and no adult to take over and calm her down.
He shares a look with Albert before the man swings Jee into his arms, bouncing her up and down as Buck bolts to the kitchen to warm up some milk.
He gets some purée out for good measure.
“Did you check her?” He asks as Albert follows him.
Buck turns to see Albert looking at him in confusion, “To see if she needs to be changed,”
Albert eyes the baby in his arms with poorly disguised suspicion before he checks, “No she’s good, thank fuc-” He cuts himself off as Buck levels him with a scathing glare.
Soon enough, the milk warms and Buck hands it over to Albert to try and feed Jee only for her to scream like an angry Oompa Loompa and twist her head away from the bottle.
Then comes the purée, they manage to buckle her into her carrier as a makeshift high chair before trying every single method they’ve seen Chim pull out to get her to try and eat.
Jee is not amused with their antics, screaming with more volume than Buck thought was possible for a 6-month-old everytime the spoon came close to her.
They try to put her to sleep but to no avail, the pacifier is flung across the room and if Buck wasn’t occupied with trying to get her to stop crying, he’d be impressed at the distance it covered, but right now, he’s got a wailing infant in his arms with no idea as to how to get her to calm down.
Rocking her is not working, neither did burping or feeding, toys are being thrown away, she doesn’t need a change, nothing seems to work and it hurts Buck to see Jee cry so much.
Albert’s rocking her around when the doorbell rings and Buck opens it to reveal Eddie, holding a pack of beer.
Right.
It was supposed to be boys' night.
Eddie had dropped Chris at Abuela’s so that he, Buck, and Albert could hang out as the firehouse’s remaining bachelors.
He squints in confusion, taking in Buck’s haggard appearance, “You good Buck?”
Jee chooses that moment to let out a heart-breaking yowl causing Eddie to look even more confused and Buck sighs, “Maddie got called in on an emergency and had to drop Jee here. Everything was fine for the first 2 hours and now she’s just screaming her head off and nothing’s working.”
He heads back to the kitchen and Eddie follows him, shutting the front door.
Jee’s still whimpering in distress, tear tracks running down red cheeks and Buck wants to do nothing but stop it, except he has no idea what it is that’s causing her to cry, he could seriously use some capable adult skills right now.
What he gets instead is an internal bi-panic/freakout as Eddie frowns and takes Jee from a very tired Albert and starts to rock her in his arms, swaying around, humming in the tune of what Buck thinks is Blackbird by The Beatles.
He’d heard Maddie talk about how guys automatically become hotter with a baby but had never really believed her. But then Eddie fucking Diaz just had to go and obilerate his doubt by looking downright sinful with that stupid jawline and unbelievable biceps and that stupid soft adorable smile and holy crap Buck really needs to get off this train or the whole situation was gonna turn real uncomfortable real quick.
Buck’s known he was bisexual for a very long time, life was too short to limit oneself, so this wasn’t a sexuality crisis but more of a holy-fuck-how-is-my-best-friend-so-fucking-hot-and-how-have-I-never-realized-this-before-? Kinda crisis which quickly morphs into a holy-shit-do-I-have-feelings-for-my-best-friend-? Kinda crisis because as thick-headed as he can be at times, even he can admit that the thought is not a very platonic one.
Eddie, completely oblivious to Buck’s inner turmoil, turns to him, still rocking Jee-Yun in his arms, “Are there any chew toys in the baby bag?”
Seeing as Buck’s in no state to form coherent words because apparently he’s short circuiting for reasons unbeknownst to Albert, the man snatches the bag up, fishing out a couple of toys from the bottom of the bag, “Do you mean this?”
Eddie nods gratefully, quickly grabbing one of them before promptly handing it over to Jee-Yun who bites down on it, calming down almost at once.
Jee-Yun finally calming down seems to snap Buck out of his stupor and he stares at them in shock, “How did you get her to calm down so quickly??!!? Albert and I have been trying for half an hour!!!!”
“She’s 6 months right?”
Buck nods.
“Yeah, she’s probably started teething and it’s probably causing her some discomfort,” He grabs another one of the toys and opens the fridge door, “It’ll feel a lot better if it’s cold too, remind me to take that out in 20 minutes.”
He shuts the fridge door before marching to the living room, Jee still in his arms, much calmer than before as she gnaws at the toy.
Albert shoots a look at Buck, “You good dude?”
Buck shakes himself, “Uh yeah, I’m just surprised Eddie got her to calm down so quickly…”
That’s a lie, he’s not surprised, Eddie’s got experience with kids. What he’s actually freaking out over is that now that he’s been head over heels in love with Eddie for the last 3 years.
Realizing he’s in love with his best friend is not the big bang of an epiphany Buck thought it would, it just feels like reading a fact. Eddie can’t cook. The sun is a star. There are five oceans in the world. Evan Buckley is hopelessly in love with Eddie Diaz.
Everything makes so much more sense.
Like he’s looking at the world through dirt-stained glasses and someone just took a rag to it and wiped it clean and now everything is more beautiful than ever.
Albert shoots him a look that says he doesn’t quite believe him but doesn’t push further, instead heading for the living room where Eddie’s sitting down on the sofa, Jee-Yun on his lap, chewing on the teething toy like there was no tomorrow. All traces of a screaming fit gone.
Buck flops down on the other end of the sofa, Albert sinks into the beanbag, both of them worn to the bone, who knew calming a baby down would be so tiring?
Eddie eyes them, looking way too smug for Buck’s liking, “Tired?”
Albert glares at him, “Well, you try calming down a screaming 6-month-old with no previous experiences of calming down babies, and then you can make fun of us,”
Buck sinks into the sofa, letting their mindless bickering wash over him until Eddie kicks Albert to the kitchen to order takeout and grab the teething toy from the fridge.
“You good Buck?”
He tears his gaze away from the TV and turns to Eddie, who still looks hot as fuck thank you very much, and smiles, “Yeah man, I’m good.”
Eddie narrows his eyes, “You sure? You kinda spaced out back in the kitchen…”
It’s too soon to say, “Yeah I’m completely fine, I just realized that I’ve been hopelessly in love with you for the past 3 years and the only reason I realized that is because I thought you looked hot as fuck and realized ‘Hey! That’s not a very platonic thing to think about your best friend now is it?’ because it very much isn’t and now I’m kinda freaking out.”
So instead he says, “Nah I’m good,”
Eddie still doesn’t look convinced but then Albert’s coming back, asking them whether they wanted a pepperoni pizza or a barbeque chicken and there’s no more talk about Buck’s short-circuiting.
Maddie comes by an hour later, profusely thanking the trio as she picks up a sleeping Jee-Yun in her baby carrier and they wave her off before they immediately flop back onto the kitchen, jibing at each other and stuffing their faces with pizza and beer.
Eddie leaves around 12 and the second he’s gone, Albert turns around,A “don’t-bullshit-me-or-I-swear-on-all-things-holy-I-will-make-you-regret-it” expression on his face as he pushes Buck back into the living room.
“You spacing out was most definitely not just because Eddie got Jee to calm down so quickly, now spill or I will resort to violence.”
Buck ignores the way his cheeks heat up and grabs another beer from the pack Eddie left behind, “If I’m doing this, I’m not doing it sober, the same goes for you, now drink.”
Albert obliges and the pair work through the pack until they’re both buzzed enough to have an acceptable level of a hangover the next day.
Albert slams his bottle down onto the table, “Ok, now spill, no bullshitting or I’ll tell on you.”
Buck snorts, “To who?” But he continues, the booze loosening his lips as spills the beans.
Albert listens without interrupting Buck once.
He’s silent for a few seconds as Buck finishes.
Buck’s starting to regret telling the other man anything when he speaks up, “ Finally!!!”
His head shoots up, “Excuse me?”
“Dude, I’d spent all of 2 days with you when I figured out you were in love with Eddie. How did it take you three years to figure it out?”
“Hey, the only meaningful relationship I ever had left me high and dry after she left for Europe and came back with a fiancé, give me a break,”
Albert waves his hand, “Okay fine, I’ll give you that but still-wait; how did you figure out you were in love with Eddie?”
Buck feels his cheeks heat up and he’s pretty sure he’s as red as a tomato, “Well…” Albert looks at him eagerly, “I thought he looked hot as fuck with a baby and figured that it wasn’t a very platonic thought to have about one’s best friend.”
Albert nods, “It isn’t and are you saying our niece is to thank for helping you realize you’re in love with your best friend?”
He bursts out laughing at Buck’s nod of confirmation.
“Oh that’s fucking hilarious,” he wipes at his eyes and Buck glares at him, “Oh yeah laugh at my misery as I realize I’m hopelessly in love with my straight best friend.” He slumps down, “Can’t anything ever go my way?” he groans.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
“What?”
Albert shoots him an incredulous look and shoots up, swaying a little thanks to his buzzed nature, “Eddie? Straight? That’s a fucking laugh, I have seen that man checking out your ass way too many times for way too long to classify him as heterosexual. The same goes for your abs. He’s about as straight as I am.”
He slaps a hand over his mouth as the last part of his statement sinks in, “Fuck.”
Buck raises his eyebrows in question, “You’re not straight?”
It’s too late for Albert to take it back and he huffs, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m bisexual.”
“Great, so am I. We can be bi buddies together now can we get back to my crisis?”
Albert nods, “Yeah, cool, alright, we can be bi buddies later, right now, we’re talking about Eddie and his habit of staring at your ass in a-definitely-not-heterosexual-way.”
Buck frowns, “Even if he isn’t straight, I don’t think he likes me back the same way.”
Albert mutters something in Korean that Buck’s heard Chim mutter before when he comes across reckless idiots on their calls.
“I’m going to blame your thick-headedness on the alcohol. Eddie is clearly in love with you.”
“But-”
“It took you guys all of half a shift to get over yourselves and become best buddies.”
“Yeah well-”
“You have a key to his house,”
“Yeah that’s because-”
“He was there at the hospital everyday after the bombing and embolism.”
“He was-”
“Christopher calls you “his” Buck and I’m pretty sure you have more pictures of the Diaz boys and you than anything else in your photo gallery.”
Buck’s given up on trying to speak but Albert barrels on.
“He made you Christopher’s legal guardian in case something happened to him. Christopher. He loves that boy more than anything in this whole world and him giving you custody is practically the biggest declaration of love there is. He’s handing you his heart so to speak.”
The pieces are starting to click in, like a jigsaw finally starting to come together but Albert’s not done, “Also, he was the one to get you out of your slump before the tsunami. You’re his emergency contact. His Abuela loves you as does his aunt. He invites you over to his house at every chance he gets and you stay over almost every night till it's gotten to the point where half your wardrobe is in his closet.”
The man cracks open another bottle and continues, “Not to mention, he’s always sending heart eyes and pining looks every time he thinks no one’s looking. It's quite disgusting. Also the wordless communication, it’s like you guys can read each other’s minds and it’s weirdly unsettling to watch sometimes. You should also see him when you’re not on shift with him, he looks like a kicked puppy, it's kinda sad.”
He takes another swig of his drink, “In the wise words of Lily Aldrin: That’s love bitch.”
Buck hums, “You sure he likes me back?”
Albert shakes his head, “He doesn’t like you Buck. He loves you. He’s in love with you. And you’re in love with him. Have been for the last three years. It's about time the two of you got your shit together. So for the love of god, start dating and spare us all the tension.”
Buck laughs before he smirks slyly at Albert, “So you’re bi?”
“Mm-hm”
“Is that why you froze last week when that hot guy at the bar started flirting with you while we were on a call?”
Now it’s Albert’s turn to blush, “I can’t believe you remember that,” he mutters and Buck snickers, “Dude, you were so fucking flustered, I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. You went all red and started stuttering the second you opened your mouth, it was fucking hilarious.”
The younger man buries his face into the cushion, “Shut up.”
Buck’s smirk grows wider, “I don’t know how I didn’t figure it out earlier.”
“You didn’t realize you were in love with Eddie for 3 years.”
“Touché”
Albert drops down onto the sofa, “So what’re you gonna do about the whole Eddie thing?”
Buck shrugs, “Well I’m gonna go talk to him tomorrow and if everything goes great, then I’ll be over the moon and if it doesn’t, I’ll drink whiskey and drown in my misery and Ben and Jerry’s.”
Albert leans over and claps Buck on the shoulder but he misses and it ends with him smacking Buck on the back of his head, “Sorry but I know it’ll go well. You can’t prevent it.”
“That’s ominous but I appreciate the gesture.”
“Anytime.”
They sit in comfortable silence, finishing off their drink and then Albert speaks up again, “Hey, that dude from the bar?”
“Yeah?”
“I got his number.”
“Nice.”
*********************
The next morning starts with a hangover and ends with Buck at the kitchen making a grilled cheese sandwich for Albert who’s draped over the kitchen island, still dead to the world despite having dragged himself to the kitchen.
The scent of coffee however seems to perk him up as he grabs the cup Buck offers him with a grunt of thanks.
“So you’re going to Eddie’s later?”
Buck nods, “Well Chris is only coming back in the late afternoon so I’ll go in like an hour.”
Albert nods, taking a bite of his sandwich, humming happily.
An hour later, Buck finds himself driving over to the Diaz household, hands gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles turn white. His phone pings with a “YOU GOT THIS!!” from Albert and he smiles, the grip on the steering wheel loosening slightly.
He stands outside Eddie’s front door for a few minutes, trying to gather his wits about him before he rings the bell.
Eddie opens the door a few seconds later, his sleepy gaze turning into confusion when he realizes it’s Buck. “Buck, what’re you doing here? Wait, why’d you ring the doorbell, you have a key that you could use.”
He’s fucking beautiful like this, voice all deep and rough, hair fluffy and sleep mussed, kinda how it looks when he takes of his helmet and Buck itches to reach out and run his hand through it.
Said beauty is the reason he forgot the whole plan he had mapped out in his head and just jumped feet first.
“I’m in love with you.” He blurts out before he can bite his tongue.
Eddie’s look of confusion turns to one of surprise but Buck barrels on, “Fuck that was not how I wanted to break it you. I had like a whole plan to like slowly ease into it but I guess this better than nothing so yeah, Eddie I’m head over heels for yo-”
He’s yanked into the house before he can say anything and he cuts himself off with a yelp as the door shuts behind him.
Eddie’s hand’s wrapped around his wrist, his brown eyes boring into Buck’s blue ones, his expression unreadable.
“Uh Eddie?”
“Say it again.”
“Eddie-”
“Please.”
He looks at the man in question, his expression is almost...hopeful and it spurs Buck on, “I’m in love with you.” He says.
Eddie moves closer, a hand coming to rest on his neck, thumb grazing his pulse point, the one on Buck’s wrist moving to his waist. He leans in slowly and Buck, never having been one for patience, grabs him by the collar of his shirt and pulls him in, their lips slotting together.
Eddie backs Buck into the door but then Buck turns at the last minute, pressing Eddie against the door as the man pulls him closer, one hand tightening the grip on his waist, the other coming to tangle its fingers in Buck’s curls.
A few seconds later, Hildy’s voice rings out, telling Eddie his coffee is done brewing and the two of them spring apart like they’ve been electrocuted.
Eddie glares over Buck’s shoulder, “I told you getting that coffeemaker was a horrible idea,” he mutters and Buck laughs before sobering up immediately, “Uhhhh, not that I didn’t like what we just did right now but I feel like we should also talk things out?”
Eddie nods in agreement, “Yeah yeah that’s a good idea, coffee?”
“Yeah sure.”
Soon they’re sitting on the couch, cups of coffee in their hand.
“So you’re in love with me.”
Buck blushes at the sound of it being said so straightforwardly, “Uh yeah, I-I am.”
Eddie grins, “Good because I’m pretty fucking gone for you too.”
Buck’s head snaps up, “Wait seriously?”
Eddie snorts, “Buck I don’t just let anyone press me up against a door and kiss me like there’s no tomorrow.”
Buck grins, “So you love me?”
“Did I not make that clear enough?”
“Hmmm no, I think you need to convince me a bit more.”
“Gladly,” and then Eddie’s moving their cups out of the way and pressing Buck against the arm of the sofa, kissing him within an inch of his life.
They’re laying down on the sofa after making out like a pair of teenagers when Buck’s phone buzzes with a text from Albert.
He shifts a little, making sure Eddie’s comfortable leaning against him before resting his head on the other man’s head.
From Han #2: I’m taking the fact that you haven’t come back as a good sign.
From Han #2: Please tell me it’s a good sign, I can’t deal with your sorry ass if it isn’t.
Buck snickers and Eddie lets out a questioning grunt and he moves the phone so it’s resting on Eddie’s chest for the man to read.
“Should we send a picture?”
Buck complies and Eddie sticks a middle finger in there just because and they get an eggplant emoji followed by a “ nice hickey buck” as a response. Yeah they got a little carried away with the “making out” part of it.
Eddie laughs, turning around to bury his face into the nook of Buck’s neck, “The firehouse is gonna be blowing up our phones when Albert tells them.”
Buck immediately switches his phone to silent, “Sucks to be them,” he reaches over to Eddie’s phone on the coffee table and does the same, “Because I’m gonna enjoy some quiet time with my boyfriend.”
He feels Eddie smile, “Yeah, I like the sound of that.”
*********************
When Buck finally gets to switching his phone back on, there’s 315 messages on the firehouse chat, 17 missed calls from Bobby and Athena together, a whopping 19 calls from Maddie alone and a bunch of pictures from Albert of the firehouse’s reaction to seeing Buck and Eddie’s picture and more memes made with their faces.
Eddie’s isn’t much different.
They were so in for it when they got back to work the next day.
Fin.