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Everyone knew that once the time came where the boys finally figured everything out, that they would be insufferable. And so far, that has rung true. It had only been three months into them finally figuring out that no, in fact, best friends do not raise a child together and spend every waking moment outside of work with each other.
Outside of work, the two were even more attached at the hip than they had been before. They were constantly touching in one way or another, often a hand resting on a leg or shoulder just so that the other was physically aware of their presence. This was definitely to the dismay of their friends and coworkers, making them the butt of every joke and teasing them to no end.
However, at work, it was a different story. The two still sat as close on the couch in the loft, and one was rarely seen without the other, but not much had changed from the months before they were official. Whether it be due to Bobby's chat with the two of them or not, the rest of the team would never know. However, the new signs in the bunk room warning that 'each bed was for one firefighter only' was enough to hint that something must have happened, and boy did the team not let the pair forget it.
That being said, if you were an outsider, nothing would seem different about their relationship.
This morning was sluggish, they were about 20 hours into a 24-hour shift, and everyone was exhausted. Sometimes having overnight shifts on weekdays would be nice, often the city slowing down a little, leaving the 118 to have a nice family dinner and some real rest in the bunk room. However, last night was not such a night. They were barely able to sit and get a bite of the food that Bobby had made. The team had three fire calls and several more date-nights-gone-wrong that ended with Hen and Chimney patching up multiple people in less than ideal situations.
The crew was now sitting in various positions across the loft. Hen and Chimney were both nursing on cups of coffee, occasionally chatting but mostly just sitting in silence as they read their respective books at the dining table. Bobby was seated on one of the far couches, on a call with what sounded like Athena, the two of them debriefing on their eventful nights. Probie was downstairs getting some rest in the bunkroom, still requiring more sleep than the rest of the team to be functional. Buck was standing in the kitchen, bent over with his elbows resting on the counter, tending to a cup of coffee as he scrolled on his phone.
Hen was just about to comment on the fact that Eddie was nowhere to be seen, but just as the thought entered her mind, the man himself could be seen making his way up the stairs. It was unsurprising to her that he immediately beelined to Buck. However, what caught her by surprise was how he walked up to Buck with no greeting and laid across his back as if it was something he did every day.
Hen averted her eyes, trying to give the boys a minute of privacy, or as much as you could manage to muster in a loft full of coworkers turned found-family, but as she moved to glance back at her book, she saw Chimney staring directly at the pair. She kicked him lightly underneath the table in an attempt to avert his gaze. He turned to her confused; Hen responded with a blank stare and a quick head nod over in the boys' direction. Chimney glanced then turned to Hen, whispering, "Oh, come on Hen, look at them. They are insufferable." She just continued to stare at him until his attention was captured once again by the book in his hand.
Despite the hypocritical nature of the action, she did look back over at the pair. Eddie had made himself comfortable on the back of his boyfriend. His arms laid crossed on the top of Buck's shoulder, resting his head with his ear to Buck's back. His eyes were closed, clearly tired from the night of rescuing Los Angeles from the perils of its own doing. Hen could see that Buck was still drinking his coffee, but in the moments between him drinking, he was doing what Buck did best, talking aimlessly. Buck was probably looking at the news about some new natural disaster across the globe or researching whatever animal from the LA Zoo that Chris was obsessed with this week. Eddie was not responding, looking more asleep than awake, but that wouldn't stop Buck from ranting to Eddie.
Hen had a slight smile on her face as she turned back to her physiology textbook, happy for the two finally getting their heads out of their asses and allowing themselves to be the family unit that they both craved for so long.