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It wasn’t often that Buck wanted to smack Eddie, but today was one of those days.
All throughout their twenty four hour shift, it was clear as day that Eddie’s shoulder was bothering him. It made sense, especially since Eddie was only a week into returning to work, after being off for nearly four months. Yes, the wounds had healed, but he clearly was still in pain.
It wasn’t the first time he’d noticed Eddie having bad days. Many times, he’d seem to be hiding pain from any of his old injuries, playing it off as a cramp or a pulled muscle. At first, Buck let him get away with it, especially during that first year of knowing each other.
But after the ladder truck explosion, Buck learned to notice it more. Mostly because he made the same faces.
Only Bobby and Eddie were truly aware that his leg would still bother him after long shifts of heavy lifting or dangerous rescues. There were still days he’d wake up every once in a while clenching the limb, feeling like a hot poker was being repeatedly stabbed through his leg. His gym regiment, already heavily regulated by his personal trainer, was adapted for days where his leg felt more like limp spaghetti.
Hell, Buck hid the fact that his leg always ached, a deep throbbing that he spent every day ignoring so that he could still do his job. It didn’t always work, hence Bobby and Eddie knowing, but he tried his best to keep moving.
Today’s shift ended up being a test for both of them. They’d had two different heavy rescues, with both of them repelling down a cliff to rescue two young children trapped after a fall. After they carefully brought the two kids back up (both pretty much uninjured, just scared out of their minds, thank god), they got to witness Bobby absolutely ream out the families of the children for not keeping an eye on them.
After that, they’d ended up at an apartment building, where Buck had to do another rope rescue to get a teenager out of her trapped bedroom, with the whole building on fire. It wasn’t the way they wanted to do the rescue, but they couldn’t bring the latter truck around and there were two beams
blocking their entrance from the inside. Eddie had ended up holding Buck’s line in the end, and clearly had yanked his shoulder in a way it didn’t like.
Once they finally got back to the 118 and showered off, Buck took one look at Eddie’s shoulder and set off to give Bobby a look. The same one Eddie would give their captain when his leg was clearly bothering him. Luckily they only had about thirty minutes before the end of their shift, but knowing that Bobby was in the know, he’d do what he needed to keep them from going on any major rescues.
The people of Los Angeles were kind to them though and held off on any emergencies, in of itself was surprising. But Buck wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth at this point. He had a plan.
It only took a few minutes for him to change back into street clothes. While he waited for Eddie, he made it a point to relieve the other man of his truck keys. There was no way he was letting him drive home when he was in enough pain to actually show it. Once he had them in hand, he camped out next to the truck’s driver side door.
Eddie came out a few minutes later, looking mildly annoyed. “Hand over my keys, Buckley.”
“Nope, I’m driving, get in.” He unlocked the truck and threw his bag in the back seat before giving Eddie a look.
“You’re an ass,” Eddie muttered before doing as ordered.
The drive back to the Diaz house was quiet, with Eddie looking more and more uncomfortable with every passing moment. Buck stayed silent to it, waiting to say his piece until they were home. By the time they pulled into Eddie’s parking spot, it was clear that Eddie wasn’t able to hide his pain. As soon as the truck was parked, Eddie jumped out, letting out a string of swears in both English and Spanish.
Buck took his time getting out and getting both of their bags before helping the man inside.
Eddie practically collapsed onto the couch while Buck busied him unpacking both of their duffels. Once he’d repacked them (and wow, when did he have enough clothes at his best friend’s house), he went into the kitchen and grabbed an ice pack and bottle of water for Eddie, only stopping on the way back to get Eddie’s often forgotten pain pills that he liked to pretend didn’t exist.
The other man looked up when Buck set everything on the coffee table, before sitting on the table itself and just looking at Eddie.
“I can see how much your shoulder is hurting.”
Eddie glared. “It’s fine.”
“You don’t have to lie to me, Eds. I knew it’s aching.” Buck leaned forward and handed over the ice pack, which Eddie begrudgingly set against his shoulder. The moment the coolness settled into his skin, relief was immediately clear across his face.
He waited a minute before handing over the water bottle and pill bottle. “You know, you never have to hide your shoulder hurting, not from me. My leg never stops hurting. Every day I wake up and wonder if this is a day that I’m going to be able to walk, or if it’s a day that I have to call out and spend th-that time on the couch trying to just get through the hours without screaming.”
Eddie caught his eye. “You’ve never told me that.”
Buck nodded. “Only on the bad days. Bobby knows, I made sure he knew. That’s why he holds me back sometimes, because I don’t really want everyone to know.”
The other man leaned back and sighed. “Why now?”
“Because you’re hurting. And I’m trying to help you. But you need to ask for it sometimes.”
Buck watched a slew of emotions pass across Eddie’s face. And then, he finally said it. “Help?”
“That I can do.”