Chapter Text
The week after their Christmas wedding was spent in bliss. Buck and Eddie didn’t have a shift until Tuesday, and so Abuela volunteered (or rather, insisted) to watch Chris until Wednesday, to give the newlyweds time to themselves. Neither man protested much, and took much advantage of their childfree home. When they entered the station Tuesday morning, they both had slight limps and Buck’s neck looked as if he’d been mauled by some sort of wild beast.
“Did you marry a vampire?” Ravi blurted out when they crested the top of the stairs to the loft. Albert snickered from where he was standing next to him.
“He has the teeth for it,” Buck answered. Eddie oozed smugness on his way past them to the coffee maker.
“I have learned far too much about the both of you today,” Hen told them from where she was sitting at the table, breakfast in front of her. She caught how they were both walking and grimaced. “Far too much. And it’s only eight.”
“You couldn’t keep it below the collar?” Bobby asked, already exasperated by the both of them. He was carrying a box, which he handed to the blond. It was fairly large, and had a green ribbon stuck to the lid. “Late wedding-slash-Christmas present.”
“Is it what I think it is?” Buck asked, hurriedly ripping it open and letting out a whoop of joy at what he found. It was, indeed, exactly what he thought. Inside was a new turnout coat, the one he’d put in an order for weeks ago. He pulled it out, letting the empty box fall to the floor, and slipped it on.
“How do I look?” he asked, turning to show the rest of them. Across his lower back, “B. DIAZ” was written in big block letters.
“Exactly the same,” Albert said.
“Shut up, Baby Han,” Buck told him, pushing him lightly.
“It looks good, kid.” Bobby was smiling proudly.
“Too good, maybe,” Hen commented, eying Eddie. The man was frozen where he stood, mug of coffee halfway to his mouth, his eyes fixed on his - their - name across Buck’s back. “You okay there, Eddie?”
“I’m okay,” the man responded, voice tight. Buck glanced over his shoulder and grinned at him.
“Won’t this be confusing?” Ravi asked, gesturing at the name. “Over the radio or on scenes, I mean.”
“It’ll be fine,” Bobby assured him, before pointing a finger at Buck. “You’re still not allowed to take department gear home.”
“Your hypocrisy is noted, pops,” he said, slipping the coat off and draping it across the back of one of the dining chairs.
“I don’t know why, but I figured you’d go with a hyphen,” Albert said. “Probably because of how often Cap said your names together.”
“I thought about it, because it does roll off the tongue. But then Chris would have wanted to change his name too, and this way he doesn’t have to,” Buck explained. “Plus, well… You’ve met my parents.”
Albert nodded in understanding, because he had.
“Are they that bad?” Ravi asked.
“Yes,” was the immediate, synchronized answer from Bobby and Eddie. Buck glanced between them and grinned.
“Pops, you never even spoke to them,” he pointed out. His captain shrugged in response.
“I noticed they didn’t get an invite to the wedding,” Hen threw in, getting up and placing her plate in the sink. “Do they even know?”
“Well I didn’t tell them,” Buck answered, before the bell rang and dispatch sent them all running for the trucks. He made sure to grab his new turnout coat as he went.
Hours later, after they’d returned and were called out and returned again, after they’d had lunch and done their station chores, Eddie and Buck curled up on the couch together. The former had his back to the latter’s chest, the blond’s arms wrapped around him. Bobby was in his office, supposedly doing paperwork, Hen was downstairs in the bay tormenting Albert in the name of paramedic training, and Ravi-
“How did you both know?”
Ravi was apparently interrupting their peace with non sequitur questions. He had sat down in the chair across from them, hands clutching nervously at his pants.
“Know what?” Buck asked, letting Eddie go so they could both sit up properly.
“That you, uh, y’know.” He gestured at the two of them. “Liked guys.”
“Oh, uh,” Buck said dumbly. “Okay, this is gonna sound stupid and cliche, but like… I always knew?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just exactly that. My first real crush was a girl named Shelby, when I was ten, but after her was a boy named Joseph. But I’d always thought boys were just as cute as girls, y’know?” Buck shrugged. “It wasn’t until Maddie sat me down that I realized my experience was not the universal one.”
“Oh,” Ravi said, sounding disappointed.
“Yeah, my sexuality crisis consisted of me going ‘oh yeah no that makes sense’ and then going on with life.”
“What about you?” he asked Eddie.
“Buck,” he answered. “He came into my life and became my sun, without me even realizing it.”
Buck cooed and draped himself over his husband.
“That is seriously romantic, but also very unhelpful,” the probie complained.
“Sorry, I don’t…” he glanced at the blond, who placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and nodded back encouragingly. “When I was growing up, I didn’t really… I knew people were attractive, in the same way I knew that the sunset was pretty. Then I met Shannon, Chris’ mom. She became my best friend, and eventually I realized that I wanted to kiss her. And then I met Buck, and it was the same thing.”
“That was a bit more helpful,” Ravi said, dragging his hand down his face. “So you wanted to kiss him and that’s how you knew?”
“Well, yes. I guess.”
“He ambushed me with my own mistletoe behind the trucks one Christmas,” Buck said. “Listen man, whoever it is that has you questioning, you think he’s cute?”
“Yeah,” he answered, blushing.
“You want to kiss him?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you already know you like at least one guy,” he told him. “The real question is whether it’s just him or not, and if it even matters.”
“Just him? That’s… That’s a thing?”
Eddie nodded.
“It was just Shannon for me,” he explained. “And now it’s just Buck. Only Buck.”
“If you don’t stop casually saying the most romantic shit, I will not be held responsible for my actions,” Buck warned, pulling him in close.
“I’m sure there’s a term for it, but it never really mattered to me,” Eddie continued, rolling his eyes at his husband’s words. “It’s not like I’m ever going to want anyone else.”
“Probie, avert your eyes.”
“Did we help at all?” Eddie asked, shoving Buck’s face away with his hand.
“I think so?” Ravi said, getting up. “Yeah. Yeah, I think you did. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, watching as he walked away. “So that was about him and Albert, right?”
“Oh definitely,” Buck replied. “Now, c’mon, if we’re quick we can go make out in the jeep before-”
The ringing of the alarm cut him off, and Eddie laughed at his disappointed groan.
Maddie’s flight back to Boston was scheduled for Thursday, so Buck invited her for dinner on Wednesday. Ruth came with her, but she spent much of the time talking shop with Carla, who had also been invited for pretty much that exact reason.
“Married life looks good on you, baby brother,” Maddie commented, watching Buck and Eddie wash dishes together. Christopher was in the living room, playing host to the two healthcare workers.
“Married life isn’t much different from engaged life, which wasn’t much different from dating life,” Buck said, smiling at her.
“That’s true, you two have been married in all but legal terms for years now.”
“You’re looking good, Maddie,” Eddie said, handing Buck the last plate to dry and turning to lean back against the sink. “Lighter. I like your hair, I don’t know if I said that on Saturday.”
“Thank you.” She smiled brightly at them.
“Have you talked to…?” Buck trailed off, closing the cabinet door and setting down the towel he’d been using.
“I spoke to him briefly, Christmas evening,” she said. “He’s waiting in Boston, so we can talk in person when I get back to the clinic.”
“Talking is good,” Buck said. “Any reason you aren’t talking to him before then?”
“Because I want to put off asking why he hit my baby brother,” she told him.
“Maddie, who-?” he glanced at Eddie, who raised his hands to ward off the accusation.
“Wasn’t me, mi sol. I’ve been with you every second of the day since she’s been back.”
“Athena told me,” Maddie answered. “She also showed me the pictures she took.”
“She- She shouldn’t have-”
“I needed to know, I deserved to know.”
“He was just worried, Mads, I-”
“Nope, stopping you right there,” she interrupted. “That is not a good enough reason for him to punch you, Evan. The only acceptable reason is if he was protecting himself or someone else, but that wasn’t what happened, was it?”
“Mads-”
“Was it?”
“No.”
“He was angry, wasn’t he?” she asked. “That’s why he hit you.”
“Yes.”
Maddie closed her eyes and breathed silently for several moments.
“Nothing he’ll say will be good enough,” she finally said.
“I walked in with Chris just as it happened,” Eddie told her.
“Fuck.”
“That about sums it up.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Buck asked her. She smiled and stood, wrapping her arms around him.
“We’ll both be okay, baby brother. You and me.”
“I really missed you, Mads,” he said, hiding his face in her hair.
“I missed you, too,” she told him. “I won’t be gone from home for much longer, I promise.”
“Take the time you need, Maddie,” Eddie told her, placing a comforting hand on her arm. “I’ll take care of him here.”
She glanced at him for a moment and then raised her hand, pinky out. The sight of it had him rolling his eyes in fondness, but he wrapped his own pinky around hers all the same.
Maddie and Ruth flew back to Boston the next day. Four days after that, on Monday, Maddie texted Buck:
We talked
He’s heading home w Jee
Love you