Work Text:
2020
Buck dashed about the kitchen of his loft, nerves preventing him from staying in any one place for more than a moment at a time. There was nothing for him to do but wait, and waiting had never been his strongest skill. He’d gone through his place twice already, dusting and sweeping and vacuuming, but his fingers twitched with the need to do it again, just to make sure. His dining table was already set, with battery operated candles in the center and his best dishes laid out. There were even cloth napkins, bought specifically for this night.
The food was waiting in the oven, keeping warm. It wasn’t too fancy of a meal, filet mignon with garlic butter and some garlic bread, with a tub of chocolate-dipped strawberries in the fridge. They were recipes he’d found online, because he was still so hesitant to even hint at Bobby that there was something romantic going on. The captain wasn’t stupid, if he asked for tips on making a romantic meal for two, he’d figure out something was up. And then he’d start poking around, and Buck would end up either lying or telling the truth, neither of which were permissible outcomes at this time.
Buck himself was dressed… Not fancy, but nice. He hoped he looked nice. A dull orange button up, because Eddie may or may not have once mentioned liking the color on him. But now he was doubting himself. Should he have gone with the blue button up, instead? Was the button up too fancy? There was a burnt orange sweater in his closet, he could change real quick.
But what if he was underdressed? Shit, he could never look Eddie in the eye again if the man showed up in a suit and here he was, in just a damn button up. There was still the suit he got for his date with Abby, there was still time to-
The sound of his door opening interrupted him from his spiraling thoughts. Eddie was dressed much like him - thank god - with jeans and a black button up, one arm bent and hiding something behind his back. Buck felt himself melt at the sight.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Eddie said, smiling. He walked up to him and pecked him on the lips. “Abuela sends her love, by the way.”
Buck was almost certain that she had meant it as a threat, somehow. A week ago, she and Pepa had come over on one of the rare days he hadn’t spent at Eddie’s, and then proceeded to give him the most harrowing shovel talk of his life. The two of them seemed so sweet, until their Eddito’s heart was on the line, and then they were very, very scary. Shannon had clearly been braver than him, to break Eddie’s heart and still be willing to get within grappling range of the two women.
(Or maybe it was Shannon’s actions that drove them to make such threats towards him, it was hard to tell.)
“Well, I appreciate it,” he answered. “What, uh, what have you got behind your back?”
“Just these,” Eddie said, pulling his arm out and revealing a large bouquet of red roses. He handed them to Buck, who took them gently and cradled them to his chest.
“For me?”
“No, for Bobby,” the words accompanied by an eyeroll.
“No one’s ever given me flowers before,” Buck admitted, and Eddie’s eyes melted into something indescribably soft.
“That’s stupid,” he said. “You deserve all the flowers.”
Buck would not cry on Valentine’s Day, he would not, he refused. To keep from crying, he busied himself digging out a vase he had stashed in the far back of a cabinet, filling it with water and sticking in the roses after clipping the ends of them. Once that was done, he turned off the oven and then went back to Eddie, shoving him into one of the dining chairs and climbing into his lap.
“You got me flowers.”
“I did,” Eddie said. “What did you cook? It smells-”
“The food can wait,” Buck told him, kissing him into silence before slipping off his lap and onto the floor. He didn’t say much of anything else after that, because it was rude to talk with his mouth full.
2021
This year, February 14th was spent at Eddie’s. Albert’s presence at the loft was not very conducive to the romantic atmosphere, and he had a question to ask Buck that he didn’t really want the younger man to be there for. It had taken a bit of conniving and guilt tripping to have the house childfree for them, but all he had to do was mention to Hen how much Buck was still feeling down following his parents’ visit, even if he wasn’t showing it, and she had immediately offered to take Chris off their hands.
(That he also had to promise to take Denny and Nia off hers later in the week wasn’t really a problem. Buck loved being with the kids, the more the merrier.)
Eddie had cooked dinner for the night, with a fire extinguisher at his feet and Bobby on the phone the entire time. He had purposefully gone with simple meals, with few steps. Some spaghetti with homemade sauce from the captain; Marry Me Chicken, which had been nerve wracking to cook but he thought came out okay; and grilled cheese sandwiches, because if nothing else, he knew Buck would love those.
He had just gotten everything served on plates with bottles of Buck’s favorite beer when his boyfriend walked through the door. He was carrying a bouquet of red and yellow tulips, which he handed to Eddie with a kiss.
“You cooked,” he said, sounding almost fearful.
“Yeah, I can do that,” Eddie said. He caught Buck’s eyes darting down to the fire extinguisher and not-so-subtly nudged it out of sight with his foot. “Not a word.”
“I would never,” Buck said, laughter coating his words, eyes crinkling at the corners. “It smells wonderful, and it looks good.”
“Well, sit down and let’s eat.” The flowers were laid on the counter with care, because he didn’t have a vase at the ready.
“And get food poisoning? Hm, I don’t know…”
“Dios mios, shut up,” Eddie said, throwing his napkin at him. Why did he love this man so much? “I worked really hard on this.”
“I’m sorry, babe,” Buck said, not looking very apologetic with the grin splitting his face. Eddie couldn’t deny the nervousness he felt in the moment, as he watched him cut into the chicken and take a bite. Blue eyes went wide as he chewed and swallowed, the actions agonizingly slow. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
“This is… This is…”
“What!?”
“Actually pretty good.”
The urge to throw his fork at him was strong, but Eddie resisted.
“I’m actually capable of cooking, y’know.”
“Bobby helped, didn’t he?”
“Maybe,” Eddie admitted. “Shut up.”
“I love you, too,” Buck said, reaching over to take his hand. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Anything for you, mi sol,” he said. “There was, uh, something I wanted to ask.”
“Well, ask away,” Buck said, withdrawing his hand to continue eating. Eddie missed the warmth of it immediately.
“So, I know the lease for the loft ends in May,” Eddie said. “I was thinking, you’re over here almost every night anyways, and half your clothes are in my closet or in the dresser. And Christopher pouts when you’re not here to make pancakes in the morning.”
“Just him?”
“Shut up, I’m trying to-”
“Yes,” Buck said.
“I didn’t even finish asking.”
“You were taking too long, old man,” he said. “Now shut up and eat, if I get food poisoning, I want you to suffer with me.”
This time, Eddie did throw his fork.
2022
Valentine’s Day landed on a full twenty-four hour shift, from eight am to eight am, and so any romantic evenings for any of them were going to wait until later on in the week. It wasn’t really much of a problem for Buck, because every night he spent with Eddie was date night. Not that romance didn’t happen, because his husband loved him very much, and refused to allow any one to doubt that.
“These are for you,” Eddie said, handing him a bundle of daisies and daffodils. He had stepped out with the excuse of making a store run for Bobby, but it escaped no one’s notice that he arrived back with only the flowers.
“I love you,” Buck said, pulling him in for a quick kiss, Albert wolf-whistling from upstairs. “You romantic sap.”
“Only for you, mi sol,” Eddie said.
“So, Hen is busy, and Bobby is busy,” Buck started, only to be interrupted.
“We’re not having sex in the station.”
“No, no, I learned my lesson,” he said, shaking his head. “But Ravi and Albert are both upstairs, and I have a whole speech prepared.”
“So, let’s sit them down. You threaten, I’ll menace,” Eddie said, stealing another kiss, before detouring to the fire trucks.
“Where are you going?”
“To get something to help be menacing.”
It was relatively easy to herd Ravi and Albert to the couches, after finding a vase for the flowers. They had clearly been expecting something, based on their nervousness and the utter lack of struggle against their fate. The fact that Eddie appeared at his side to glare at them, fire ax in hand, probably had nothing to do with it.
“So I want to preface this by saying that you are both important to me,” Buck said, standing in front of the couch. The two younger men were on either end, sitting ramrod straight. Eddie had the ax casually set against his shoulder. “You’re like younger brothers to me. Annoying ones, that I never actually wanted and maybe still don’t want? But I love you both anyways.”
“Aw,” Albert said, starting to relax. Ravi, clearly remembering the chainsaw, was not relaxing. “Thank you, man.”
“However!” Buck snapped, pointing at them both in turn. “Don’t think that it excuses you from being dicks. If I hear that one of you hurt the other, I am coming for you. And whatever I do to you, I’ll probably get away with, because ma loves me and-”
“What is going on here?”
All four of them snapped their heads around at the sound of Bobby’s voice. The man was standing at the top of the loft stairs, a bundle of paper work under one arm.
“Nothing, pops,” Buck said, blinding smile in place. It probably would have been more convincing if Eddie wasn’t trying - and failing - to stealthily hide the ax behind a chair. “We were just having a chat about consequences.”
Bobby stood there for a moment, clearly debating if this was something he wanted to get involved in. Then he shook his head, looked skyward for guidance and strength, and went back downstairs. They watched him go, Ravi and Albert sending looks of betrayal at his back.
“As I was saying,” Buck started back. Eddie lifted the ax to his shoulder again. “If one of you hurts the other, they will never find your body…”