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Ravi’s experience with the 118 has been – to put it mildly – eventful. And look – they’re good people. Really good people. Ravi likes them – likes them enough, at least.
Truth be told, Ravi was a little concerned about their well-being at first, physically yes but also emotionally speaking. After all it wasn’t news to anyone that all the crazy stories about the 118 seemed to – in most cases – concern the A-shift.
Whether it is getting impaled through the brain with a piece of rebar, having your leg crushed by a fire-truck or even being buried underground under thirty feet of wet earth, Ravi’s heard them all and – he’s not gonna lie – during his first few weeks with the a-shift, the urge to ask for a transfer or beg his captain to go back to his usual shift was all he could think about. If working with these weird ass people means I have to dice with death, get shot by a sniper, survive a goddamn tsunami or being chased around the station with a freaking chainsaw then help me god take my helmet, take my turnout I don’t want it.
And – to make matters worse, besides everyone in the A-shit having a near-death experience membership card and using humor as a defense mechanism, turns out they also are all – and Ravi doesn’t say it lightly – incredibly weird and amazingly co-dependent. Which is – you know – fine, Ravi just didn’t know that by signing up with the 118 he was also gaining a new bizarre family.
Just now, Buck is slumped on the couch, his legs on Eddie’s laps, and that’s just something else Ravi doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know if their relationship – no matter how strange and weirdly intimate it is – is just something wildly accepted among the 118 or if it’s just a sick joke he’s simply not in on just yet but if he has to sit there and watch these two dance around each other for one more minute, he’s pretty sure he’s gonna end up crying, or screaming. Or both.
But still, he stays silent. Even when Eddie places his hand on Buck’s ankle, even when Buck looks up at his best-friend with a soft smile and eventually goes on reading as if nothing happened.
“Seriously what the hell?” He blurts out after Eddie starts rubbing the exposed skin of Buck’s calf, and really who can blame him? He’s only human after all and there’s only so much he can take. But now everyone’s eyes are up and focused on him and Ravi simply sighs and joins Bobby in the kitchen.
“You good Ravi?” He asks, cutting carrots in small dices.
“I’m okay.” He answers as he lets himself fall on the chair next to him. “Just- What’s up with Buck and Eddie?”
“What’s up with them?”
“I don’t know, they’re just really close y'know. Are they like… dating?”
“Nah. They’re just being Buck and Eddie.” His captain answers quietly but Ravi can already notice a small smile breaking in on his face.
“Just being Buck and Eddie? What's that even supposed to mean?”
“That they’re both completely oblivious to their feelings for each other and that we should let them figure it out on their own.”
“Fair enough.” Ravi answers. “It’s infuriating though.”
“Oh, I know. We’ve been there to witness it since day one. You’ve only been there for a few months. Count yourself lucky.”
---
Turns out Ravi becomes the triggering factor for both Buck’s feelings realization and Eddie’s sexuality crisis, which – in his defense – is absolutely not something he planned beforehand.
It just sort of – happened. During a quiet (not that he’s going to say it out loud ever again, the first time was enough, he learned his lesson) day inside the fire station. Ravi is quietly washing the fire truck, Buck by his side, although this one spends more time watching his phone than actually helping him.
And it’s fine – Ravi’s not going to comment on that. He’d happily wash the entire firehouse if Bobby asked him to, and this has nothing to do with the fact that he’s
a little
– a whole lot – scared of Buck. He continues scrubbing with a sponge, wiping off the last stains of mud still present on the truck.
“Ravi, what’s a DILF?” Buck suddenly asks out of the blue, and Ravi stops scrubbing, looking up at his friend. Friend? Coworker – Ravi corrects himself. They’re not quite there yet, after all. “Someone commented the picture I posted of me and Christopher on Instagram. They called me a DILF. What’s that supposed to mean?”
And in that moment, Ravi couldn’t tell you what pushes him to lie. Maybe the considerate part of him doesn’t wish to ruin the sweet memory Buck likely has of that picture, maybe he’s just mindful of what Eddie would want people to comment under a picture of his own son, or maybe his intentions are much more malicious and he just wants to take his revenge on Buck chasing him with a chainsaw.
In any case, he lies.
“That just means – uh – Devoted, Involved… and Loving Father.” He answers, making it up as he goes. And for a second, Ravi thinks that maybe Buck is seeing right through him but then his lips turns up at the edges and a sweet smile breaks in on his face.
“That’s so sweet!” He exclaims and Ravi – well Ravi wonders in what kind of mess he actually got himself into this time.
And if he scrolls through Instagram later in the evening before heading to bed and nearly chokes on his soup when he sees the comments under Buck’s posts, well nobody needs to know about it.
“idontgiveabuck @cam157 thank you so much! He’s really not that hard to love 😊”
“@hen should we tell him?”
“@karen.wilson no.”
“@idontgiveabuck tell me what??”
---
Luckily for Ravi, no one mentions the Instagram post incident in the following days, and just when he thinks that maybe he’s seen the end of it and that maybe this time no weird and awkward repercussions wait for him around the corner, Eddie comes to him in Athena and Bobby’s living room with a perplexed expression on his face.
“Ravi? You’re… You’re young right?” He asks.
“Younger than you.” Ravi answers with a smile. He can hear Hen snort nearby but Eddie simply rolls his eyes and sits down next to him. Ravi glances at him and gives him a smile. “What’s up, man?”
“Do you know what a DILF is?” He asks, concerned.
This time, Ravi really does choke on his soup. And it’s only after Hen taps him on the back a few times and after he regains his breathing completely that he dares looking up at Eddie.
“Why do you ask?” He asks, carefully.
“Buck called me that the other day.” Eddie answers and truth be told, Ravi’s glad not to have anything else in his mouth or he would probably have spitted everything out on his plate. Because of course someone as sweet and caring as Buck would immediately think of calling his best-friend by that acronym and Ravi only really wants to disappear off the face of the earth so he doesn’t have to face this conversation a second time.
Only, he realizes that the opportunity is just too big and at this point he honestly thinks he owes it to himself and to everyone inside that fire station, to be frank.
“It means Dad I’d Like to Fuck.” He says, matter-of-factly, and ignores the way everyone in the room holds their breath. Eddie’s entire face turns red and Ravi suddenly thinks actually to hell with the consequences, this is the best decision I’ve ever made.
“I’m gonna kill him.” Eddie suddenly says, stepping out of the house to join the courtyard.
“Seriously, what does Buck think DILF mean?” Chimney exclaims, a huge smile on his face, clearly enjoying the situation far too much than necessary.
“Yeah, about that.” Ravi starts, and for the second time in the week, all eyes turn on him. “I- I might have told Buck DILF means Devoted, Involved and Loving Father.” He adds, and a dead silence immediately settles in the room. And for a few seconds, Ravi thinks that maybe he went too far, he thinks that maybe he just crossed a line that wasn’t his to pass, but then Hen bursts out laughing, and everyone follows.
“Ravi, you’re a hero.” Chimney says. “Just for this. You’re a hero.”
And Ravi – well Ravi wants to laugh but then they can hear Eddie’s loud voice all the way from the patio and Ravi suddenly regrets all his life choices.
“Dad I’d Like to Fuck? Really, Buck?” Eddie exclaims and Buck – Sweet, Innocent Buck, completely unaware of the entire situation – just looks at his best-friend in shock, his mouth agape.
“What- what do you mean?”
“Well that’s what you called me, right? A DILF?” Eddie says loudly but Ravi can help but notice the smirk growing on his face.
“Wh-what? No! Wait… Eddie!” He exclaims, following his friend inside the house looking like someone just kicked his puppy. “That’s not what it means! It means Devoted, Involved and Lov-”
“Yeah, right. That’s not what Ravi said and no offense but I’m more inclined to trust him when it comes to internet slang.”
“Well, Ravi’s full of shi - wait.” Buck suddenly looks up at him, understanding slowly spreading in his eyes.
"Oops?” Ravi says, his expression apologetic.
“PROBIE!”
“And that’s my cue.” Ravi says to himself, rushing out of the living-room to find refuge in the bathroom.
So yes. Ravi might indeed be the triggering factor leading to Buck and Eddie finally taking the next step in their relationship, but when he sees them entering the fire station two weeks later, holding hands, dopey eyes and silly smiles, well he doesn’t find it in himself to care.