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It started small- Buck brushing his fingers over Eddie’s bicep, letting the touch linger as he passes. Buck pressing his shoulder into Eddie’s long enough for Eddie to feel the searing heat on his skin, only to pull away a moment later. Buck throwing his head back against the seat after a call, breathing slowly and smirking when Eddie’s eyes fixate on his throat.
He got bolder as the day went on. Fingers, squeezing Eddie’s arm. A hand, pressing into Eddie’s thigh, dangerously high. Lips, brushing the back of Eddie’s neck as Buck leans around behind him. Whispers ghosting along the shell of Eddie’s ear as Buck leans in to tell him something, his lips just barely touching skin as a shiver races down Eddie’s spine.
It- well. It’s driving him sort of crazy. Eddie’s trying his best to ignore it but God , when Buck looks at him like that… pretty pink lips just barely turned up in a smirk, sparkling blue eyes glinting. Buck knows exactly what he’s doing and Eddie is absolutely not going to give him the satisfaction.
He doesn’t think the rest of the team has noticed anything abnormal. Then again- this isn’t exactly abnormal for them. Eddie doesn’t think any of them have figured out Buck and his… arrangement, yet. Which. Is a good thing. Definitely a good thing, because their arrangement is most probably the worst idea that Eddie has ever had.
Basically- they’ve been sleeping together. For about a month. No strings attached. They just- okay, how it started made sense . Really, it did. See- Buck almost, well, Buck almost died. And Eddie sorta freaked out. And the next day, after Buck managed to get an early release from the hospital and very stubbornly showed up at his shift, and Eddie had him shoved up against the firetruck, suddenly he had two options: punch him, or kiss him.
It only took one flicker of Buck’s eyes towards Eddie’s lips for Eddie to give in. They ended up late to their shift.
So for the past month, when it all gets to be too much, they have a new outlet. When the tension reaches a breaking point, their solution is to- well, to break each other sometimes. Not always. Sometimes- sometimes they just need to be together, it doesn’t especially matter how. Those are the harder days for Eddie. The ones full of post-coital cuddling and soft, gentle kisses. The ones that make every fibre of Eddie’s being yearn for more.
Then there’s days like today. Days where Buck is a ball of pent up energy, just begging for Eddie to take him apart and piece him back together, to force his brain to shut down because Buck can’t do it himself. Days when, simply but, Buck is a goddamn brat .
The longer Eddie ignores him, the more fun it usually is later. Buck hates not having Eddie’s attention, particularly when he vies so hard for it. It drives him insane, so he grows more extreme in his behaviors as his desperation for a reaction increases.
So when he walks into the loft shirtless and still glistening wet from his shower, it takes absolutely everything in Eddie to not react. His grip on his book turns white-knuckled and he stares at the page, reading absolutely nothing and fighting every nerve in his body that screams at him to stare at Buck. Eddie respects Buck more than almost anyone else he’s ever known. He knows how intelligent and capable Buck is. He is also very much not above objectifying Buck when he looks that good, okay?
“Hey,” Buck starts. Eddie just nods. “Have you seen my shirt?”
“Have you checked our locker?” Eddie bites out, his teeth clenched. Hen, sitting at the other end of the couch, quirks an eyebrow but says nothing.
“ Yes , of course I checked our locker.”
“Probie!” Eddie calls out. Ravi, chopping veggies at the counter, sets down his knife with a clink and sighs.
“My probationary period ended three months ago.”
“You got an extra shirt?” Eddie asks, still without looking up.
“Seriously, when are you guys gonna stop calling me that?”
“ Seriously ,” Eddie echoes, “Buck is shirtless.”
“Oh, and you’re complaining?”
“Probie,” Eddie sighs as Buck snickers, grinning. “You got a shirt or not?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ravi grumbles, rolling his eyes and going to get Buck a shirt. Buck just keeps watching Eddie with a shit-eating grin, eyes glinting mischievously. And finally, Eddie can’t take it anymore. He stands up, walking over to Buck.
Leaning in so his words brush across Buck’s skin and send shivers down his spine, Eddie murmurs, “You keep looking at me like that, we won’t make it to a bed, Buck.”
And then Eddie pushes past, jostling Buck’s shoulder and ignoring the sparks that skitter across his skin at the contact. He walks to the counter, grabbing the knife and taking over Ravi’s chopping. He can’t help the small grin as a pink blush spreads down Buck’s torso, starting at the tips of his ears and blooming down to his shoulder blades. Hen just shakes her head.
***
They do, in fact, make it to a bed. Eddie’s to be precise. Hours later, after Eddie’s taken Buck apart piece by piece and then carefully put him back together, they’re lying under Eddie’s comforter, Buck’s cheek pressed into Eddie’s chest and Eddie’s fingers absentmindedly playing with Buck’s curls. Buck’s hand is splayed across Eddie’s torso, his fingertips drawing small, circular patterns.
“I love you,” Eddie whispers, the words bubbling up through his chest and bursting out of his mouth before he can stop them.
“I love you, too,” Buck replies instantly. Eddie’s breath catches in his throat. It’s simple, easy. Not even a question for Buck. He loves Eddie. It’s a kind of love that Eddie’s never quite felt before- unconditional. It’s the kind of love that makes Eddie’s heart ache, like he can feel it down to his very bones.
“Do you ever-” Eddie swallows hard, staring at the ceiling. “Do you ever… wish we had more than this?”
Buck freezes, his fingers halting and his very being seeming to still completely. “What- what do you mean?”
“Nothing,” Eddie says quickly, furiously backtracking. “Nothing, I- just- just forget I said it.”
Buck shifts, propping himself up with a forearm across Eddie’s chest so he can look Eddie in the eye. His other hand comes up, carefully, gently cupping Eddie’s cheek.
“Every day,” he whispers. Eddie can’t breathe. “I wish every day we could have more than this. But I take every piece you give me, Eddie, and I always will. I don’t- I don’t care how. I just- as long as I have you.”
Eddie can’t help himself- he leans in to kiss Buck, soft and slow. Buck melts into the kiss, his fingers curling around Eddie’s jaw, his mouth pliant and warm for Eddie to get lost in.
“How about,” Eddie says softly when they break apart, “next time, I take you on a real date?”
“As long as we can do this again at the end of it. I want all of it, Eddie. With you,” Buck whispers, leaning in to kiss him again, grinning when his lips meet Eddie’s. Yeah, Eddie thinks, yeah, I want all of it too.