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“Well, that was a shitshow,” Buck says as he jumps out of the firetruck.
“Are you surprised at this point?” Hen asks, raising her eyebrows at Buck. “It’s always a shitshow.”
Buck chuckles, and blushes when Eddie passes him, gently squeezing his arm. He looks down when his phone rings and his eyes widen when he sees Owen Strand on the caller ID. There could only be one reason why Owen Strand is calling him, and Buck isn’t excited about it.
Buck finally answers the phone. “Dad?”
“Hey kiddo,” Owen greets, but he sounds upset. “You’re not busy, are you?”
“I’m on shift, but I’ve got a few minutes. Dad, is everything okay?” Buck asks. He glances over and sees Eddie standing on the steps, watching him worriedly. “Is TK alright?”
Owen lets out a sigh. “Buck, I don’t know how else to tell you this. But, TK’s been shot,” he says.
“What do you mean he’s been shot?” Buck asks, panic rising through him. “Don’t-”
“He’s alive. He’s in the hospital right now. I just wanted to call and tell you what was going on. I know you only wanted us to call you if there was an emergency. I think this classifies as an emergency.”
“I- fuck. I have to see him,” Buck says.
“If you don’t want to come down, I can keep you posted on his recovery. But whatever you want to do, I’ll support you. I wouldn’t complain if you decided to come down. I’m sure TK would appreciate it.”
“I’m gonna talk to my Captain. I- I think I should have some vacation days saved up, I’ll see you soon,’
“Alright. Be safe. Call me with some updates,” Owen says.
“I will. Love you dad,” Buck whispers.
“Love you too, kiddo,” Owen says before hanging up the phone.
Buck startles when he feels a hand being placed on his shoulder. He turns and looks up with wide eyes, only to see Eddie standing behind him. “Eds-”
“Is everything okay?” Eddie asks worriedly. “You sounded upset.”
“I-” Buck begins, before shaking his head. “Bob- Bobby. I need to talk to Bobby. Where is-?”
“He’s upstairs in his office. Come find me when you’re done, okay?” Eddie says.
Buck nods, before quickly hurrying up the stairs, needing to find Bobby as soon as possible, because his little brother has been shot and Buck needs to go see him as soon as he can.
Buck knocks on the door as soon as he reaches Bobby’s office, and sighs in relief when Bobby calls for him to come in. He pushes the door open and walks into the office.
“Buck. This is a surprise. How was the call?” Bobby asks.
“It was… fine-” It was a terrible call that involved people not wanting to listen to orders and Buck would rather talk about that but instead he has to talk about his little brother getting shot. “Look, I’m sorry to bother you because I know you’re super busy, but I really need to talk to you, Bobby,” Buck says. “I need to request some time off.”
“What?” Bobby asks, finally looking up at Buck. “Why do you-?”
“My dad called me. Not- Not the one you know. My other dad, Owen Strand,” Buck begins to explain. “Uh, he- he told me that my brother has been shot. I need to go to Austin as soon as possible.”
“Oh Buck. I’m so sorry to hear that. Of course you can go. How much time do you think you’ll need off?”
Buck hesitates. “Uhm, how many vacation days do I have saved up?”
Bobby checks, and Buck has nearly two weeks worth of vacation days signed up. He was saving them for a vacation to Disney World for Christopher, but he needs to go to Texas to see his brother. He hopes that Christopher and Eddie will understand. He’s going to get Christopher to Disney World one way or another.
Buck goes to find his boyfriend after finishing talking to Bobby.
“Eds? Can I talk to you?” Buck asks when he finds Eddie up in the lounge area, phone in his hand.
“Yeah, babe, of course. Is everything okay? Did you find Bobby?” Eddie asks, and moves over so that Buck can sit next to him on the couch. “You sounded really upset early on the phone.”
Buck lets out a sigh. “I don’t know how to say this. I guess… I haven’t been completely honest with you, Eddie. I mean, about who I am. I’ve been keeping a part of me a secret. Not for any reason. It just… never really came up. So, you know my sister. Maddie. You’ve met my real parents.”
“Yeah, of course?” Eddie replies, blinking with confusion. “Your parents are awful.”
“Right,” Buck agrees without hesitation, nodding. “Well, I ran away when I was a teenager. I was all over the place, and I somehow ended up in New York City when I met Owen Strand and his son, TK. And uh, they took me in, and Owen adopted me. Owen’s my real dad.”
Eddie frowns. “How come you never told me? I’m not upset that you never told me, I’m just curious?”
“Privacy. I moved down here when I turned twenty one. I told my dad not to call me unless it was for emergencies. Not because I didn’t want to hear from him, but because I was twenty one at the time, and- and I wanted to do things on my own. I talk to TK regularly and he keeps me updated on my dad.”
“Wow,” Eddie says. “They know about our relationship?”
Buck blushes, and shakes his head. “N- No. I haven’t even told them that I’m… I’m gay,”
“Okay,” Eddie says. “You don’t have to tell them. Tell them when you’re ready.”
“I mean, I should tell them though, right? I’m twenty-eight years old for crying out loud, and I’m still keeping secrets from my family. I- I want to tell them. I want to tell them that I have an amazing boyfriend who has an incredible kid. God, TK would love Christopher.”
“So, tell them, Buck. You know I’ll back you one hundred percent if you want to tell them. Although, I’d like to meet them eventually if you’re going to tell them about our relationship,” Eddie says.
“Of course,” Buck says, reaching over to grab Eddie’s hand. “I promise you will. Speaking of, I talked to Bobby, and he’s letting me go home the rest of the night. You were right about being upset earlier. My dad called me and he told me that TK had been shot. I asked Bobby for time off so I can go see him.”
“Shit Buck,” Eddie breathes out, gently squeezing Buck’s hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’s alive. That’s all I know. My dad is going to keep me updated until I get down there,” Buck says.
“When- uh, when are you leaving?” Eddie asks.
“Hopefully tomorrow if I can book a flight at such last night,” Buck says. He looks up at Eddie. “Is that gonna be okay for you and Christopher? I’m- I’m probably gonna be gone for a week and a half.”
Eddie chews on his lip. “What if I went with you?”
“What?” Buck asks, blinking. “You want to go with me?”
“Babe, your brother has been shot. You’re gonna need some moral support, and if Bobby will let me… then yeah. I wanna go with you and support you.”
“What about Christopher?” Buck asks, frowning. “I don’t know if we’d be able to take him with us.”
Eddie lets out a sigh. “Let me talk to Bobby first, and then we’ll discuss Christopher, okay?”
“Okay,” Buck says. “Until then, Bobby has cleared me to go home for the rest of the day.”
“Good. I would hope so. Go home and get some rest. You’re gonna need it,” Eddie says. He leans over and gently kisses Buck. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Buck whispers, staring at Eddie.
“Ew, get a room,”
Buck rolls his eyes as he looks over, seeing Hen and Chimney walking over.
“We were here first,” Buck argues playfully, sticking his tongue out at the two of them. “Besides-” He stands up from the couch. “I’m out for the night so you won’t have to put up with our gross PDA anymore.”
“You’re leaving early? Is everything okay?” Hen asks worriedly.
“Family emergencies,” Buck says, and quickly looks over at Chimney. “Maddie’s fine. It’s not her. In fact, you won’t see me for a bit. It’s personal. Maybe I’ll tell you when I get back.”
“Buck, it’s fine. You do what you gotta do for your family. Just keep us updated, okay?” Hen says.
Buck nods. “I have to get going. I have some calls to make,” he says, and he leans down to kiss Eddie once more before grabbing his stuff, and heading out of the lounge area.
Chimney raises his eyebrows and looks over at Eddie. “You know, don’t you?”
Eddie chuckles. “Of course I do. Don’t worry, everything’s fine. Buck’s fine. It is a family emergency and he’s gotta leave town for a little bit. I might be going with him,” he says. “I gotta talk to Bobby first.”
“Wherever Buck goes, you follow. I wouldn’t be surprised,” Hen says.
Eddie grins, and stands up. “I’m in love. What can I say?”
“Gross,” Chimney mutters as Eddie walks out of the lounge area as well.
It’s hard to convince Bobby to let Eddie go with Buck, but he does. Eddie is relieved that he’ll be able to be there for his boyfriend while he’s going through something like this. Luckily Hen and Karen offer to watch Christopher whenever Carla isn’t available. Eddie would love nothing more than to take Christopher with them on this little trip, but it wouldn’t be a fun trip with Buck constantly worrying about his brother. They’d probably spend a lot of their time in the hospital anyways.
Buck is a nervous wreck when they finally make it down to Texas. They head straight to the hospital, where Buck has been informed that TK is still at.
As soon as Buck sees his dad, he breaks down in his arms crying. Owen comforts Buck right away.
“He’s okay Buck,” Owen tries to assure his son as he holds onto him. “He’s okay, I promise.”
“I know,” Buck sniffs as he pulls away. He looks up at Owen. “I just missed you is all. I know I said before that I wanted to be on my own and I know I’ve gotten updates from TK, but… it’s not the same. Can we just forget I ever said that? You- You can call me whenever you want. I don’t care.”
Owen chuckles. “Buck, of course. Besides, you can always whenever you want to talk to me or-” He glances over and stops when he sees Eddie waiting patiently behind Buck. “You brought a friend?”
Buck glances back at Eddie before looking back at Owen. “Actually… he’s my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” Owen asks, raising his eyebrows. “You never told me about a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m- I’m sorry. I don’t know why I never told you. Obviously you support TK. I guess… well, it just never came up. But yeah. This is Eddie. He came with me for support. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay, Buck. We’ve all needed support the past few days,” Owen says. He looks over at Eddie. “Nice to meet you. I’m Owen, Buck’s dad.”
“Eddie, nice to meet you too Owen. I’m really glad to know that Buck has had a better support system than his actual parents,” Eddie says, shaking Owen’s hand.
“Yeah,” Owen scoffs. “Me too.”
Buck rolls his eyes and looks over at Eddie. “Dad and TK aren’t big fans. We don’t talk about them a lot.”
“For good reason,” Owen argues, huffing. “Anyways. TK’s asleep right now, but if you’d like to see him, you can. They’re only allowing one person at a time.”
Buck hesitates before looking over at Eddie. “Would you be okay out for a bit?”
“Yeah, babe. I’ll be fine. Just let me know if you need anything,” Eddie says.
Buck sighs in relief, before nodding. He looks back at his dad. “Show me the way?”
Buck lets out a sigh of relief as soon as he steps in TK’s hospital room. It’s definitely not a relief to see his younger brother in a hospital bed, but it’s a relief to see him alive. Buck knows he’s going to be fine. They’re just waiting for him to wake up after having surgery.
“There will probably be people coming to visit him throughout the day,” Owen informs Buck. “They’ve all been waiting to see him from the firehouse. His boyfriend will stop by after his shift.”
“Boyfriend?” Buck asks, turning to look at Owen.
“Well, he hasn’t officially announced it, but I’m not stupid. He’s been dating a police officer named Carlos for a few months now. Guess you’re not the only one with a secret boyfriend,” Owen says.
Buck blushes, before moving to sit beside TK’s bed. He sighs as he stares at his younger brother. “God TK. What am I gonna do with you?” He takes a deep breath.
When Owen walks back out to the waiting room, he finds Eddie just getting off the phone.
“Everything alright?”
Eddie snaps his head up, and he sighs in relief when he sees that it’s just Owen. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. I was just checking on everything back home. We left my son behind in L.A.”
“You have a son?” Owe asks, perking up with interest.
Eddie nods. “Christopher, he’s my world,” he says, showing Owen his lock screen that’s a picture of Christopher and Buck. “He wasn’t too happy when we told him we were going to Texas without him.”
“Let me guess. You had to promise him ice-cream when you get back?” Owen asks, chuckling.
“Christopher does love his ice-cream,” Eddie says, nodding. “I told him it wasn’t going to be a fun trip, nothing like Disney World. He’s still kind of upset that we left without him.”
“Well, I’m sure once he gets that ice-cream all will be forgiven,” Owen says, earning a small smile from Eddie. “So, tell me. How did you meet my boy?”
“Oh,” Eddie chuckles. “We work together at the 118. He actually hated me at first, believe it or not.”
“It’s hard to believe Buck hating on anyone. He doesn’t have a hateful bone in his body,” Owen says.
“We resolved everything after the second day. Turns out he was just jealous. Ever since then, we’ve been attached to the hip. We started dating pretty quickly after we became friends,” Eddie explains.
“Well, I’m glad he’s had someone by his side. I’m always worried about him,” Owen says.
Eddie chuckles, and nods. “Yeah, me too. He’s a reckless idiot, but I love him.”
Owen is right about the 126 dropping by throughout the day to say hi to TK. Buck meets the whole team.
“So, you’re the famous Buck we’ve been hearing about,”
Buck looks over and sees Marjan and Paul standing by the door. He sits up slightly. “Hi?”
“I’m Marjan, that’s Paul,” Marjan introduces the two of them. “We work with TK.”
“Oh, I know. There’s just so many of you it’s hard to keep track of who’s who,” Buck admits. He stands up, and walks over to shake their hands. “I’m Buck. TK’s brother.”
“We already know who you are, but it’s nice to finally meet you,” Marjan says, nodding. “We’ve heard some pretty amazing stories about you from TK, you know?”
“Please, nothing compares to you. Firefox ,” Buck says with a grin. He clears his throat. “Anyways. I’ll let you guys have some time with TK. He hasn’t shown any signs of waking yet.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to leave,” Paul says.
Buck shakes his head. “I’ve been here all morning. Besides, I have to make sure my boyfriend isn’t bored to death in the waiting room,”
“Oh. That cute with Owen? He’s your boyfriend?” Marjan asks. “You’re a lucky man.”
Buck grins. “You bet I am,” he says. “I’ll catch you in a bit.” He smiles at the two before making his way towards the waiting room, and smiles when he sees Eddie with Owen, talking to some other members of the 126. He’s glad to see his boyfriend is getting along well with his dad. He hopes he’ll get along with TK.
Eddie glances over, and smiles when he sees Buck standing there. Buck walks over to him.
“Making friends I see,” Buck says.
Eddie grins. “Everybody loves me. What can I say?”
Buck chuckles. “That’s true. Marjan thinks you’re cute. She better keep her distance,” he warns playfully.
Eddie stands up from his chair. “You definitely have nothing to worry about when it comes to other woman,” he says, and gently pecks Buck on the lips. “How’s TK?”
“Not awake yet. Marjan and Paul are with him now. I just wanted to make sure things were okay out here,” Buck says. “But it seems as though you’re doing just fine.” He looks over at his dad and grins.
“Your dad is great, Buck. I can’t believe you kept this family a secret from me, and everyone at 126 is super nice as well. Marjan and Paul said hi before they went to see TK,” Eddie says.
Buck smiles. “Good. I’m glad you like everybody, because I don’t think this will be the last time you see my family,” he says. “I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t get along with them.”
“Well, good thing you don’t have to worry about that,” Eddie whispers.
Buck looks over when Paul rushes into the waiting room. “TK’s waking up!”
Buck’s eyes widen and he looks over at his dad, who stands immediately. He looks at Eddie.
“Go. I’ll be fine,” Eddie says, and urges Buck to follow his dad.
“I love you,” Buck says before rushing back to TK’s hospital room, sighing in relief when he gets to the door and sees TK waking up. He’s obviously confused, but Buck knows Owen will catch him up.
Buck doesn’t say anything until after the nurses have checked on TK, making sure everything is fine now that he’s woken up. Once they’re gone, Buck finally steps into the room.
TK’s eyes widen when he looks over and sees his big brother standing there. “Buck?”
“Hey,” Buck greets calmly, grinning, before walking over and hugging TK. “God, I’ve missed you.”
“Wh- What are you doing here?” TK asks when Buck pulls away. “Not that I’m not happy to see you.”
“You really think I wasn’t going to come down here when dad called me and told me that you were shot?” Buck asks, raising his eyebrows. “I’m here for about a week. I wanted to be here for you.”
TK lets out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve missed you too,”
“How the hell did you get shot?” Buck asks.
“I wish I knew,” TK says, and he looks over at his dad. “Dad, who shot me? I- I don’t remember anything.”
Owen sighs as he stares at TK, and Buck knows it can’t be anything good.
“We were at a call. A family was trapped in a room. We forced our way in, and there was a little boy who thought we were intruders. He shot you to protect his family,” Owen says.
Buck looks over and frowns when he sees the heartbroken look on TK’s face.
“God,” TK groans, leaning his head back. He looks at his dad with wide eyes. “Has- Has anyone checked on the little boy? Does anyone know who he’s doing?”
“That’s so like you,” Buck says.
TK looks over at Buck. “What do you mean?” He asks, frowning.
“Only you could have a literal hole in your chest and you’re still thinking about someone else,” Buck says, shaking his head.
“He’s got a point,” Owen agrees, pointing at Buck.
“Yeah, I got shot, whatever. But that little boy… is he going to remember that?” TK asks. “That’s-”
“I’ve heard he’s doing fine. They’ve got him in therapy,” Owen is quick to reassure TK.
TK sighs in relief, and relaxes, before looking over at Buck. “So, how’s life for you?”
Buck huffs out a laugh. “Not as exciting as things have been down here apparently,” he says.
“Don’t lie to him,” Owen says. “Buck’s brought a little friend with him. A certain someone named Eddie. Turns out you’re not the only one who’s been keeping secrets from me.”
TK perks up. “Buck, you’ve got a boyfriend?”
Buck glares at his dad. “Thanks a lot dad,” he says, before groaning. But he’s glad he finally gets to talk to his family about Eddie, and introduce him to his other family. He knows TK is going to love Eddie.