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It started with an insult, as so many things do.
“Buck, if you spend any more time watching TikToks, you’re going to turn into an eighth-grade girl.” Eddie grumped as he walked towards the firehouse couch. Buck had been laying across it for at least forty-five minutes as a constant stream of people ranting and popular music had been playing aloud from his phone in fifteen to sixty second intervals.
Eddie, tired of listening to the endless scrolling, took the opportunity of Buck’s attention to walk over and pluck the phone from his best friend’s hands.
“Hey!” Buck protested, reaching his arms up at the sudden lack of entertainment.
“I’ll give it back when you promise to stop with the videos.” Eddie said. “That stuff is going to rot your brain. Not to mention the way it’s stealing your data—”
“Oh, come on.” Buck interrupted. “As if my data is any worse off than yours. Just because I watch TikToks and you scroll through Facebook does not make you any better than me.”
“That’s not—” Eddie sputtered out. “You’re mindlessly scrolling. I use Facebook to keep in touch with people I actually know.”
“Oh really?” Buck cocked his eyebrow, then turned around on the couch to face Hen, who was sitting at the dining table. “Hey Hen?” Buck called out to her. “What was it Eddie was saying yesterday about his high school friend back in El Paso?”
“Uh, the one who might be getting divorced?” Hen frowned, looking over at Eddie. “Did you finally go through enough profiles to figure out who cheated on who?”
Instead of Eddie, Buck answered.
“Nope! Just making a point.” Buck smiled, turning back to Eddie. “Case and.”
Only when Buck held out his hand triumphantly, expecting Eddie to place his phone back in them, he was disappointed to find Eddie still clutching it close to his chest.
“That’s fair,” Eddie said. “But still not the same thing.”
“Uh, yes it is.” Buck countered.
“No, it’s not.” Eddie said. “I’m just nosey. You’re addicted to stupid videos that are lowering your attention span to that of a gnat.”
“I’m not addicted, old man.” Buck rolled his eyes. “I bet I could last way longer not using social media than you.”
“Really?” Eddie smirked. “You really want to make that bet?”
“We’re making bets?” Chimney asked, walking over from the kitchen.
“Yes.” Buck narrowed his eyes. “I’m betting I can last longer than Eddie without using any social media. In fact—I bet I could last longer than anybody here.”
“You’re not seriously doing this.” Eddie said, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, no offense Buck, but compared to all of us parents, you’re kind of like a hyperactive teenager.” Chimney added.
“All you’re doing right now is motivating me to win.” Buck said. “I’m serious. Who’s in? A hundred bucks each, whoever lasts the longest wins the pot.”
“What’s this?” Bobby cut in, walking towards them. “Lasts the longest—wait, you guys aren’t making that one bet from Seinfeld, right?” Buck noted a hint of panic in the captain’s eyes but had no idea what he was concerned about.
“Seinfeld?” Buck asked, shaking his head. “What are you even talking about? No. It’s a no social media challenge. Last one to touch their socials wins the money.”
“Oh thank god.” Bobby breathed out. “Sounds fun. And like it will keep you all out of trouble. I’m in.”
“Chimney?” Buck asked. “Hen?”
“Sure.” Hen called out from the table, followed by Chimney’s “Why not?”
“What about you, Probie?” Buck turned to Ravi, who had been silently reading in a chair nearby for the entire exchange.
“Oh, uh…” Ravi winced. “I think I’m okay. I kind of like social media.”
“Fair enough.” Buck replied, then turned back to look at the man who was still looming over the couch, staring at him. “Eds?”
“Oh, not only am I competing, but I am going to kick your sorry ass.” Eddie smiled, finally dropping Buck’s phone back into his lap. “You can have this back now. Enjoy.”
Eddie walked away, and Buck kept one eye on him as he hovered his finger. over the ‘Delete App’ button next to TikTok.
He pressed it. Eddie didn’t know what he was in for.
--
The first day without social media wasn’t all that difficult.
Bobby was overjoyed at the extra attention the team was paying to their jobs, now that there was nothing to hold their attention during downtime on calls or in the engine. And it’s not like they didn’t have other things to fill the time when there really wasn’t anything to do—chores, video games, or playing cards was enough to keep them occupied.
But then at the end of the shift, everyone went home to their families, and Buck went home to an empty loft. That was when Buck started to crave the easy scrolling of TikTok. Chimney wasn’t wrong when he said it would be easier for the rest of them. When they went home, they all had school lunches to make and bedtime stories to read. Buck didn’t have any of that, not really. He wasn’t interested in sitting in his apartment alone and rotting until the rest of them got bored. However, there was also no way in hell Buck was going to lose his own bet.
That’s when Buck made the decision to play dirty.
The next morning, Buck went into work with a plan. He knew from experience that one of the main reasons people needed social media was because it was a great distraction. That meant all Buck had to do was annoy his coworkers so much that they were dying to focus on literally anything else.
Buck figured annoying them wouldn’t be too difficult. He knew he was pretty good at being annoying—his parents had told him enough times from the time he had learned to speak full sentences.
And so, as soon as everyone was settled in, Buck started talking. He just said anything that popped into his head, focusing on trying not to run out of breath.
Buck went through every topic he could think of. Every animal at the L.A. Zoo, a documentary he saw on the pyramids of Egypt, and then what he liked and disliked about every single way to cook an egg.
They were on their way back from a call, and Buck was explaining his personal ranking of the Shrek movies, when someone finally said something.
“Oh my god!” Chimney exclaimed, throwing his head into his hands. “Are you like, off your meds today or something?”
Buck frowned, doing his best to look confused.
“I don’t take meds.” He said, slowly.
“Maybe you should.” Chimney groaned back.
“Chimney, be nice.” Hen rolled her eyes, but Buck could tell that she wasn’t any happier about his constant ranting.
“You’re telling me he isn’t annoying the crap out of you right now?” Chimney asked Hen, and she chose not to respond.
Buck suppressed a smirk. He was pretty sure he was starting to break them.
Back at the station, Buck followed Chimney and Hen around, saying approximately one thousand words a minute. After about half an hour of that, the two stated that they were going to go restock the ambulance, and Buck was not permitted to come along.
Buck frowned, until he noticed that Eddie was sitting on the couch by himself.
He would do.
Buck headed over and sat down next to Eddie, so close that their thighs were touching.
“What’s up?” Eddie asked, turning his head to look at Buck.
Buck replied by launching into a rant about silkworms. He tried to recall all the facts about them he had learned from a nature documentary he had watched earlier that week.
Only, instead of trying to get away, Eddie listened attentively. He looked Buck in the eyes, inserted filler words, and asked clarifying questions until Buck had run out of facts. And thank god, because it seemed like Eddie might have actually been interested in silkworms.
Buck then switched to talking about national landmarks and was reciting the history of Mount Rushmore when he realized that Eddie was still giving him all of his attention.
Confused, Buck stopped talking.
“What?” Eddie asked at the sudden silence.
“Is this not—” Buck narrowed his eyes. “Is this not bothering you?”
“Is what not bothering me?” Eddie asked, as if they had been having a completely normal conversation.
“This.” Buck clarified. “Me. Talking. Saying anything and everything that comes into my mind. You don’t seem annoyed.”
“I’m not annoyed.” Eddie said, almost flustered. “Buck, I like listening to you. You could—I would never…” Eddie took a breath, like he was having a hard time with getting words out. “Buck, you could never annoy me.” He finally landed on, looking Buck in the eyes, before quickly turning away.
“I—” Buck said. “Really?” He asked.
Before Eddie could come up with an answer, their attention was stolen away by Hen’s voice carrying from the floor below.
“Oh, you are so busted, Chimney Han!” Hen scoffed.
Buck and Eddie took one look at each other and raced down the staircase without exchanging a word.
“What happened?” Buck breathed out once Hen and Chimney were in view.
“I caught Chim in the supply closet.” Hen said. “On Instagram.”
Buck let out a faux gasp, and then a smirk climbed across his face.
“You didn’t even last two days!” Buck exclaimed.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Chimney argued. “Maddie was spamming my phone with links to toddler Halloween costumes. I clicked on one without thinking.”
“Halloween costumes?” Hen asked. “Halloween is still months away.”
“No, it makes sense.” Buck interjected. “Maddie loves dressing kids up. When I was a kid, she, uh, learned how to sew just so she could make my costumes for me.”
“Really?” Eddie asked. “Do you…do you have any pictures of that?”
“Uhh…” Buck looked at him, curiously. “Maddie probably does. Why, exactly?”
“Nothing. It’s just.” Eddie stammered, clearing his throat. “It sounds cute. I would, uh. I would love to see them.”
“Okay.” Buck shrugged. “I’ll ask Maddie if she has them, then.”
And then, for a moment, all four them were standing silently in a circle. Nobody seemed clear on what to say next.
Chimney sighed, a little loud, prompting Buck to continue.
“And,” Buck finally said. “I will be sure to thank my sister for taking out the weakest link.”
“Hey!” Chimney protested. “I’m not a weak link.”
“Whatever.” Buck shrugged. “I’m just happy that I’m all that much closer to proving I have more self-control than the rest of you combined.”
To that, Hen let out a laugh and Eddie rolled his eyes, dispersing from the group.
Except all their double did was fuel Buck’s competitiveness more. Those two, Buck decided weren’t going to know what hit them.
--
Okay, so Buck had to admit the ‘annoying his friends’ technique didn’t work all that well. Hen was slightly too kind to be outwardly annoyed, and Bobby’s response was just to give Buck some kind of chore that was far away from him.
And then there was Eddie, who was allegedly impossible to annoy.
Except no—that wasn’t it. Buck had witnessed Eddie annoyed hundreds of times. Eddie got annoyed at people who blocked the aisles in grocery stores, and anyone who weaved through lanes on the highway without using their turn signal. Eddie got annoyed when people underestimated his son or treated him like a saint simply for being a decent father. Eddie had gotten annoyed basically every single time he had been within 10 feet of Taylor Kelly, something that made Buck’s relationship with the woman challenging.
No, Eddie got annoyed. And he had never said that he didn’t. What Eddie had said was that Buck could never annoy him.
Buck wasn’t sure what to make of that.
Regardless, if he was going to win the bet, Buck was going to have to come up with a new strategy. And it was becoming increasingly clear that it would be nearly impossible to get anybody to slip up at work. They were all too focused on their jobs and making the City of Los Angeles a safer place, and—
Buck couldn’t believe he was actually about to complain about that.
Luckily, on the fourth day of the challenge, Bobby and Athena were hosting a barbeque in their backyard. All of the participants would be in attendance. This, Buck decided, would be the perfect chance to win. He just had to think of a plan.
Unfortunately, an hour into the barbeque, Buck still didn’t have one. It wasn’t like he could shove social media in their faces without looking at it himself, and he didn’t think anyone attending was going to willingly help him out.
He had even tried reminding Athena of a video she had sent him on Facebook the week prior, innocently suggesting she show it to Bobby.
“Nice try, Buckaroo.” Athena laughed, and Buck just grabbed a beer and admitted defeat. He dragged a lawn chair over to the corner of the lawn the sun was shining on, and sat back to absorb some vitamin D while sipping on his beer.
Buck wasn’t able to relax for long, because he was very quickly ambushed by an eleven-year-old boy.
“Buck!” Christopher shouted, much too loud, in Buck’s ear.
“Christopher!” Buck beamed at the boy. “What’s up?”
“Will you help me and Denny with something?” Chris asked, and Buck was sitting up before he even finished his question.
“Of course. What do you need, boys?”
Denny responded by pulling a tablet out from behind his back.
“We want to make a TikTok like this one,” Denny explained, shoving the tablet into Buck’s face. “But we need someone to film it for us.”
Buck immediately averted his eyes so he didn’t look at the screen, just in case anyone looked over and thought he was using the video app on purpose. Not only was Buck not supposed to be looking at TikToks, but he was pretty sure Denny wasn’t either.
And then Buck realized he could kill two birds with one stone.
“Wow, Denny.” Buck said, still not looking at the screen. “That’s pretty cool. You should go show your mom. She’s better at filming things than I am.”
“Okay.” Denny shrugged, running off towards the other adults.
Not seven seconds later, Buck smirked at a chorus shouts. He head “Denny, you’re not supposed to be on TikTok!” from Hen along with “Now who’s busted, Wilson?” from Chimney.
Two down. Two to go.
Buck’s internal victory was interrupted by Christopher, who was still standing next to him.
“Buck,” Christopher whined. “You didn’t even watch the video. Here, you can look at it on mine.” Chris shoved his own tablet into Buck’s lap, but wasn’t able to even open the app before Buck interrupted.
“Excuse me?” Buck asked, baffled. “Chris, since when did you get TikTok on this thing?”
“Just now.” Christopher explained. “Denny showed me how.”
“To override the parental controls?” Buck asked, or maybe accused. “Christopher, we both know you are not supposed to have apps like this on your devices.”
“But—” Chris started.
“No. No buts. I want you to delete that app right this second.” Buck held the tablet out to Christopher, waiting for him to follow through with the request.
“No!” Christopher said, crossing the border from bargaining to anger. “You can’t make me do anything, Buck.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Buck said, without sounding sorry at all. “Would you rather have this conversation with your father? Because believe me, that can be arranged.”
Christopher, weighing his options, narrowed his eyes and pressed “Delete App”.
“Good choice.” Buck smiled, but there was no joy behind it.
Christopher scowled, attempting to pick the tablet back up and walk away, except Buck kept his own grasp on the device.
“What now?” Christopher groaned.
“We’ll discuss with your dad when you can have this back.” Buck said, with no room in his voice for negotiation.
Christopher let go of the tablet, stomping away with one last comment.
“You suck, Buck.” Christopher grumbled—and, yeah. That kind of stung. Buck just tried to shake it off and go back to his beer, taking a long swig.
Not even two minutes later, Eddie appeared by Buck’s side, standing right where Christopher had been before.
“Hey,” Eddie ran a hand through his hair. “Have you seen Chris? According to Denny, they both downloaded TikTok, so I need to—”
“Already dealt with.” Buck cut him off, holding up the tablet, which Eddie took from him.
“Oh.” Eddie said quietly. “So, you…”
“I made him delete the app. Told him we would talk later about when he can have that back.” Buck explained.
“And he…” Eddie said. “He listened to you?”
“Well, kind of.” Buck let out an awkward laugh. “Not without telling me I sucked.”
Eddie stayed silent, causing Buck to launch from awkward laugh to even more awkward apology.
“Hey,” Buck cleared his throat. “I’m sorry if I overstepped—”
“No.” Eddie said, eyes wide. “Don’t apologize. I just—” Eddie looked at Buck with something Buck didn’t know how to place. “Thank you. So much. I don’t know, I really don’t—what I’d do without you. The way you’re, you’re like all in. And it’s like. You’re perfect, I don’t know. Thank you.”
Eddie was stammering, and slightly red, and Buck couldn’t help but wonder how much the man had had to drink.
“It’s nothing.” Buck assured. “I just reacted naturally to seeing him sneaking around on TikTok.”
“I thought you liked TikTok?” Eddie smirked.
“I do.” Buck said. “For me. He’s eleven, though.”
“Yeah.” Eddie agreed. “He is.”
“And kind of mean.” Buck stressed. “He getting that from you?”
Eddie burst out into a giggly laughter, even though it wasn’t all that funny.
Yeah, Buck thought. Definitely drunk.
--
Bobby lost the challenge on the fifth day, in the most anticlimactic way possible.
They’re all at the firehouse, sitting around the table eating dinner. Bobby’s phone made a noise, and the captain picked it up, looked at something, and smiled.
Bobby then threw up a thumbs up, snapped a picture of himself, and was again absorbed in his phone.
“Uh,” Hen asked. “Cap? Did you just take a selfie?”
“Yes.” Bobby said, smug. “It’s for May. We’re snap-chatting.”
“You’re snapchatting?” Hen asked. “Like, on the app, Snapchat?”
“Yeah.” Bobby smiled. “I like it, she sends me pictures of herself at college.”
“Okay, so,” Buck said. “You’re out of the challenge, then?” He wasn’t sure how Bobby was being so nonchalant about it.
“What do you mean?” Bobby asked.
“Um, Snapchat is social media.” Buck explained. “You know that, right?”
“Oh. Is it?” Bobby asked. “But all I’m doing is talking to May!”
“It’s still social media.” Eddie said. “I deleted Snapchat along with everything else this week, and I only use it to look at the pictures Buck sends me.”
“Wait a second,” Buck interjected, looking at Eddie. “Did you just say you only use Snapchat to look at my pictures?”
“Um—” Eddie said, eyes wide. “I don’t know. Nobody else I know…uses it?”
“Eddie, please tell me you didn’t download an entire extra app just to talk to Buck.” Chimney teased.
“I—” Eddie started, but stopped just as fast. “Maybe.”
“I’m kind of flattered.” Buck smiled at Eddie. “But I gotta tell you, if you wanted to look at pictures of me so bad, I could just text them to you.”
“Buck, no flirting with Eddie during dinner. We’re trying to eat.” Chimney cut in, and Eddie’s ears turned pink.
“We’re not—” Eddie stammered.
“Eddie, I was kidding.” Chimney rolled his eyes. “Maybe you do need social media, though. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so worked up over nothing.”
Buck couldn’t help but agree.
--
The next evening, Buck was lying awake in bed, racking his brain for ways to get Eddie to use social media so they could end this stupid challenge.
So far the only solid idea he could think of was utilizing Christopher, but he wasn’t sure Chris would be wanting to co-operate with him after their spat the other day. Well, maybe if he bribed him or something—
Buck’s thoughts were interrupted by the text tone on his phone going off.
The text was from Eddie, reading ‘I thought you were going to send me pictures. :(’
Buck let out a small laugh, he hadn’t thought Eddie seriously wanted to be sent selfies over text when Buck offered. Still, Buck snapped a quick picture of his face and sent it off to Eddie.
The response was incredibly prompt reading ‘Much better :)’.
Buck rolled his eyes at the response. It was ironic how embarrassed Eddie had gotten at Chimney’s flirting comment considering he was now texting Buck like a teenager with a crush, and—
Holy shit.
Buck’s mind was suddenly flooded with every comment Eddie had made throughout the week that had felt slightly abnormal.
“Buck, you could never annoy me.”
“I would love to see them.”
“You’re perfect.”
“I only use that to look at the pictures Buck sends me.”
“I thought you were going to send me pictures. :( ”
Buck shot up in his bed, his mind racing. His heart was going almost as fast.
Eddie had feelings for him, right? He had to. There was no other explanation for all of that. Buck felt the urge to jump out of his bed, get in his car, and race to Eddie’s house.
Except it was pretty late at night.
And confronting—propositioning? Eddie without any kind of warning might not be the smartest idea. Buck had a habit of acting without thinking, and he was going to have to work through his emotions first if he didn’t want to screw anything up.
So, Buck stayed in bed, coming up with a plan.
He was pretty sure he knew how to win the bet.
--
The first thing Buck did when he got to work was make a beeline for Ravi.
“Probie, come here.” Buck said, standing to the side of the fire engine so nobody would be able to see them. “I’ve got a job for you.”
Ravi, very begrudgingly, walked over to where Buck was standing.
“Yes?” Ravi asked, blinking slowly at him.
“You use TikTok, right?”
“Um,” Ravi stood up straighter. “Yes. Why?”
“Perfect.” Buck grinned. “I need a favour. I’m texting you my TikTok username right now. I want you to watch the videos and then tell Eddie about them.”
“You—what?” Ravi questioned. “If this is about the bet, I’m not going to try and show Eddie videos on purpose.”
“No,” Buck said. “You don’t have to show him. Just ask him if he’s seen my TikTok page, and when he says no, describe the kinds of videos on it. He’ll watch them on his own.”
“Why?” Ravi asked, scrunching up his face. He pulled out his phone and copied it into the TikTok search bar. “Do you really think that will—oh.” Ravi’s jaw dropped as he clicked on the first video on Buck’s profile. “Do you even own a shirt?”
“I was, uh, I was trying something a few months ago.” Buck felt slightly embarrassed about all the shirtless dancing. It was enough to never mention it to any of his friends or family, but not enough to actually delete the videos (and all the very nice comments he had gotten from middle aged women).
“Okay.” Ravi said, frowning. “So you just want me to casually mention to Eddie that you have a bunch of videos of you dancing shirtless on the internet?”
“Just make it seem like you came across my profile and were so confused you couldn’t help but share.” Buck said. “I don’t know, make fun of me or something. I don’t care. Just make sure he knows those videos exist.”
“Still sounds kind of awkward.” Ravi grumbled.
“C’mon, please, Probie?” Buck pouted.
Ravi just stared back at him.
“If you do it, I won’t call you Probie for the rest of the day.” Buck offered up. Ravi’s eyebrows raised in consideration.
“Deal.” Ravi said.
“Thank you.” Buck breathed out, ready to turn away, but Ravi was still staring at him expectedly. “Sorry. Thank you, Ravi.”
“That’s better.” Ravi grinned. “By the way, I still don’t think this is going to work.”
“Trust me.” Buck smiled. “It’ll work.”
--
It only took about ten minutes for Ravi to find Eddie and manage to get him alone. Eddie had been in the gym by himself, so Ravi came in and asked for pointers with the punching bag. Eddie was happy to give them, and Buck tried to watch from the other side of the glass without being too obvious.
After about five minutes of watching Ravi practice a right hook, he stopped and distracted Eddie with a conversation. Eddie immediately became much less interested in the punching bag, giving what Ravi was saying his full attention. Buck took this opportunity to casually walk past the gym, hearing a brief sliver of the conversation through the slightly ajar door.
“Yeah, man it was weird.” Ravi said. “Like every video was of him dancing shirtless.”
“Huh.” Eddie responded. “What, uh…what kind of dancing?”
As Buck walked up the stairs, he knew he had it in the bag.
The rest of the day, Buck kept a close eye on Eddie, waiting for him to slip off alone. Ever since his conversation with Ravi, Eddie had seemed distracted, meaning Buck was confident that his videos were constantly in the back of Eddie’s mind.
After a particularly dirty call involving a flooded basement and a pregnant dog, the team came back to the firehouse and hit the showers. Buck noticed that Eddie got in and out of the shower faster than he ever had before, almost as if he was trying to get away from everyone else.
And so, Buck may have skipped washing behind his ears.
Buck wandered aimlessly around the firehouse looking for Eddie, only finding silence wherever he went. Until, right outside the bunk room—which would normally be empty in the middle of the day—Buck heard the faint sound of a familiar Doja Cat song through the door. It played for about thirty seconds, before starting over at the beginning of the chorus.
Buck smiled as he slipped into the room.
“Hey Eds,” Buck said, causing Eddie to jump up from the bed he had been sitting on the edge of on the other side of the room. “What are you doing sitting in here in the dark?”
“I—” Eddie scratched the back of his neck. “I, um—”
Meanwhile, the Doja Cat chorus was still playing over and over from Eddie’s phone. He had no defense.
“Did you like my videos?” Buck asked, blinking slowly at Eddie.
“I wasn’t…” Eddie trailed off. “How did you know I was watching your videos? I could be watching anything, really.” His heart wasn’t really in the argument, probably because he knew it sounded like such a blatant lie.
“Well, you see,” Buck said. “I had this pretty amazing plan that involved getting the prob—Ravi, to let you know about my TikToks. And I’m pretty sure that I made a video to that exact song, so…”
“Well,” Eddie moved to turn off his phone so the song would stop playing in the background. He then stood up straighter, and let out a deep breath. “When someone tells you that your friend is embarrassing themselves on the internet, it’s pretty hard to resist checking it out.”
“Oh.” Buck said, confidently taking a step towards Eddie. “I guess if you think it’s embarrassing, there goes the second half of my plan.”
“The second half of—Buck, you’ve already won the bet.”
“So do you not want to hear about the second half of my plan?” Buck cocked his head, and took another half step towards Eddie.
“What was the second half of your plan?” Eddie asked. It sounded small, like he was afraid to let out too much air.
“Well,” Buck said. “Very recently, I have come into a fairly large sum of money. About four hundred dollars, I think.” Buck took another step towards Eddie, making them in arms length of each other. “And I was thinking about how to spend that money. I thought that maybe I could spend it on you. We could go out for a nice dinner and drinks, and then maybe go back to my apartment…” Buck paused, letting out a breath. “But, you know, if you think my videos are embarrassing, maybe we can just forget about all that.”
“No. No forgetting.” Eddie said, reaching out and taking Buck’s hand. “I would, uh. I would like that very much.”
“Good.” Buck smiled. “So would I. Friday?”
“Yeah.” Eddie said. “Okay. You could have just asked me out like a normal person, though. Not done…whatever this was.”
“Look, do you want to go on my four-hundred dollar date or not?” Buck asked, rolling his eyes.
“Technically, one hundred of those dollars are coming from me.” Eddie countered, as if it made much of a difference.
“That reminds me.” Buck said. “It’s time to go collect my prize money and prove once and for all that I have more self-control than the rest of you.”
“I have self-control.” Eddie said. “Just…not when it comes to you.”
“Oh my god.” Buck replied, feeling shivers go down his spine. “You can’t talk to me like that. I think I like it too much.”
“Yeah?” Eddie grinned, his voice low. “For someone with so much self-control, I think I know how to make you lose yours.”
“Stop.” Buck hissed. “I’ve already gotten fired for having sex at work once. I’m not doing it again.” He let go of Eddie and walked back towards the door. “This is me leaving to get my payout before either of us do anything frowned upon by the LAFD department of Human Resources.”
“Wait,” Eddie said before Buck made it out the door. “You’re not going to tell everyone how I lost the bet, are you?”
“Sorry.” Buck smirked. “I don’t think I have that much self-control.”
As soon as Buck was halfway out the door, Eddie winced at the shout that came out of his mouth.
“Hey guys! I won the bet because Eddie downloaded TikTok to look at me shirtless!”
The sentence echoed through the whole building.