Work Text:
Big Bear was absolutely freezing on the weekend that Bobby had arranged this team-building weekend. The display on Eddie’s jeep said that it was 35 degrees, and with the wind blowing it felt even colder than that. Pulling up to the row of cabins that had been booked for the weekend, Eddie looked around before leaning across to the passenger side.
“Buck, baby, we’re here, time to wake up now.” He called softly, planting a soft kiss on his boyfriend’s head. Letting out a small moan and a yawn, Buck stretched out as much as he could, considering the limited space in the footwell and his long legs.
“I’m awake, I’m awake.” He groaned as Eddie rested his head on his shoulder for a second. “Are we the first ones here?”
“Just us, Athena and Bobby so far. Come on, let’s get our stuff and find our cabin.” He whispered, taking the opportunity to kiss him on the cheek before anyone else arrived. He wasn’t sure why they hadn’t told the others that they were dating, it had been six months since they’d gotten together.
It had been a normal night at his house, they’d had dinner and had a Playstation tournament (which Eddie had won, and had then been accused of cheating, to which he replied that it wasn’t his fault that he’d been able to practice while being signed off work with broken ribs). When Christopher had gone to bed, Eddie had brought out a couple of beers, and the two of them had another match. When Eddie won again, Buck announced that he was definitely cheating and had thrown the controller down in a temper. Eddie had taken the opportunity to tease him about it, which made him even more pissed. To which Eddie had said “I’m sorry, you know I love you.” The words had come out of his mouth before he could even process them, and they stood there, mouths and eyes wide, a deafening silence hanging between them.
“I mean, I, um...OK, no, that’s exactly what I meant. I love you.” The whisper was loud enough for both of them to hear, and Buck stepped forward, his hand on Eddie’s cheek, then leaned in and kissed him softly. When they pulled away, they stood there for a while before Buck murmured. “Thank God, because I love you too.”
Two days later, Buck crept into Bobby’s office and asked, hypothetically, what would happen if two people from the same shift were to start a relationship with each other.
“Hypothetically, the captain would decide how to approach it, but it wouldn’t automatically mean that they would be split up. If they stayed professional and it didn’t affect their work, then a captain would probably have no trouble keeping them together.” He replied, a knowing twinkle in his eye. “But, they’d have to fill in forms for HR, and the captain would have to warn them that any inappropriate behavior would result in a warning and then they’d possibly be split up.” Buck had nodded, and Bobby pulled him into a tight hug, telling him that he was happy for them both, mainly because he was fed up of having to tell people that they were just friends. The sexual tension between them had been going on far too long.
Eddie figured that it was partly the excitement of being in a secret relationship that they hadn’t told anyone. They’d almost gotten caught a couple of times at work, once on the roof by Bobby, and once in the ambulance by Hen. And Maddie had caught them at her place, but she was sworn to secrecy. But they’d spoken about it and had decided they were going to come clean soon.
Thankfully, everyone arrived within ten minutes. Eddie hated the cold. It was making him homesick for Texas, if he was honest. He muttered to Buck “why did we choose to come here again? We could have flown back to El Paso for the weekend...”
“Because this is work, and it’s going to be fun! A log cabin, fireplace, hiking trails, a campfire...” Eddie just shook his head and pulled his jacket tighter around him, making Buck laugh. “Come on cowboy, into our cabin then, I’ll start the fire to heat your freezing hands up.” He teased.
“It’s not my hands I’m worried about.” Eddie muttered back.
Buck leaned in towards him, close enough that no one else could hear and murmured “OK, I’ll heat your ass up too.”
-----
Bobby had just settled in his own cabin, in front of the roaring fireplace, reading his book, when his phone pinged. He ignored it, but it did it again, so he picked it up and found he’d been added to a group chat with most of his crew in the nearby cabins. Hen, Chimney, Ravi, Athena and the new guy, Ben, who had just joined a few weeks before, but had thankfully fitted in well in the madness that was the 118. The only ones who weren’t included were Buck and Eddie. Bobby started to ask for them to be added but deleted his message when he saw what Hen had written.
118 Cabin Chat
Hen: Bobby, you know that they’re only going to use one of those beds…
Bobby: I know nothing, Hen.
Chimney: I bet ten bucks we find out this weekend, they’ll either slip up or they’ll tell us. I say around the campfire tomorrow night.
Ravi: Nah, on our hike. They’ll walk hand in hand at some point and try to play it cool.
Chimney: Buck can never play it cool. Eddie, yes, Buck, no.
Ben: Wait, so they’re not officially together? I thought they were married already!
Hen: They act like an old married couple, but they’re not. It’s taken them forever to get their heads out of their asses and admit what everyone else knew from the start.
Chimney: And officially, we don’t know that they did.
Ravi: But Chim caught them kissing in the shower room last week.
Bobby: What? I told them no kissing at work!
Chimney: Well, they’ve obviously ignored that...Wait, how long have you known?
Bobby: I’m still saying nothing. It’s not my place.
Hen changed the name of the chat to Buddie Betting
Hen: @Athena, how long have those two been together?
Athena: Which two?
Athena: Oh, it’s their six-month anniversary this weekend.
Bobby: Athena! I said I wasn’t going to tell them.
Chimney: And you dragged them all the way out here? With the rest of us?
Bobby: What? It’s romantic!
Hen: No, romantic would be on their own, not with all of us. Wait, does Maddie know about this?
Chimney: I don’t think so, she would have told me if she did.
Hen added Maddie to the chat
Maddie: What? I’m at work.
Chimney: Did you know?
Maddie: About what?
Chimney: Your brother and Diaz.
Maddie: What about them?
Chimney: You know! You traitor! I can’t believe you’d keep this from me! All of you!
Bobby: Don’t drag me back into this.
Maddie: OK, OK, I knew. Buck swore me to secrecy.
Chimney: How long have you known?
Maddie: I caught them making out in the spare room on your birthday.
Chimney: That was in May!
Hen: Anyway, how much are we betting and who wants when?
Maddie: When what?
Hen: When they tell us. Chim says around the campfire, Ravi says on the hike, I say at dinner tonight.
Ben: I don’t think they will this weekend.
Maddie: Over breakfast tomorrow.
Hen: Bobby?
Bobby: As Captain, I’m refusing to take part, and I’m not condoning this behavior either.
Athena: Just before we leave. They’ll wait until the last minute and then get in the car and leave before we can say anything.
Bobby: Athena!
Hen: Ignore him. Ten bucks each?
Maddie: Make it twenty.
Bobby: I really should put a stop to this...
Hen: You should, but you won’t. Athena will kick your ass if you do.
Bobby: No she won’t.
Athena: Oh, yes I will, baby.
Bobby laid down his phone, knowing he was outnumbered, and then changed the ringtone to silent. It wasn’t as if his crew were far away, they were literally in the same block. If they needed him, they could come and get him.
------
True to his word, Buck got the fire going just as soon as they had thrown their bags into the biggest bedroom (with the biggest bed, obviously), while Eddie opened the fridge to chill the bottles of beer he’d brought with him, although, he thought, they’d be just as well leaving them outside. He didn’t say that, though, Buck would just annoy him again and he just wanted to sit and relax by the fire.
“Hey, Buck?” He called, peering into the fridge, he pulled out a bottle of wine and examined it. “Did you put this in here?”
“No, but it might have something to do with this...” He replied, waving an envelope above his head. “It was in the fireplace.” Opening it, he read it out loud. “Happy six-month anniversary, guys. Wine is in the fridge, enjoy. Bobby and Athena. PS - Remember the cabins are close together, so keep it down. A x.”
“No wild parties, then?” Eddie teased, knowing that wasn’t what she meant at all.
“No wild sex, although quiet would be alright…” Buck grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “How about we go and test the bed out?”
“Later, mi amor, later. Don’t want any of that lot walking in on us.” Because, even though the list of things he wanted to do to Buck was running though his head, this was still, technically, work. And if kissing was forbidden on the clock, he was sure that getting caught doing any of the things he was eager to do would be a sackable offence.
-----
Everyone gathered for dinner in Bobby and Athena’s cabin, since they had the biggest one, and it had just enough room for seven grown firefighters and Athena. It had been…strange, Eddie reflected when everyone headed back to their own cabins. More than once he’d turned to see Chim or Ravi watching him, and as soon as he did, they looked away, or started to say something to one of the others. Hen had been giving him weird looks all through dinner too, and then had pulled Buck outside to “ask him something”. When they came back they both looked happy, but neither would spill about what had been said. Buck had, however, grabbed Eddie's hand under the table and tangled their fingers together. Their secret “I love you”.
Settling on the floor, on a rug by the fire, Eddie opened his legs wide, and Buck sat in front of him, then shuffled back until his head was laid on the chest behind him. Pressing a few buttons on his phone, he connected it to the Bluetooth speaker that he’d set up earlier, and started to play some soft, relaxing music. Two empty wine glasses sat on the table, along with an almost empty bottle. The two of them sat comfortably, neither of them saying a word, just listening to the music, Eddie’s arms wrapped around Buck, his hands resting on his lap.
“I was thinking…” Buck finally broke the silence, he waited for a sound of acknowledgement, and eventually Eddie answered “hmmm?”
“We should get married here. It’s beautiful”. Eddie felt his brain stop for a minute as soon as he processed the words that had come out of his boyfriend’s mouth. He might have even stopped breathing. Because he could have sworn he just said…
“What?” He finally managed to spit out, but Buck didn’t seem to realize what he had just done. And that was an entirely Buck thing to do. Sometimes he’d say something, like he had been in the middle of a conversation in his own head and had suddenly switched to involving everyone. Most of the time he didn’t even know he was doing it until someone pointed out that they didn’t know what he was on about.
“We should get married here.” He repeated, seemingly thinking that Eddie hadn’t heard him, instead of thinking “I just mentioned this out of the blue and Eddie is obviously freaking out” . “In the middle of summer, when it’s nice and warm, I bet it looks beautiful…”
He was right, though. It was beautiful now; in the summer it would probably look even better. The sun reflecting off the lake, a green backdrop when the trees were filled with leaves, not bare as they were in winter…they could probably even set up an arch or something in front of the lake. The whole scene would make some great wedding photos.
“We could do that. It’d be nice.” Eddie smiled, his arms pulling Buck in tighter, brushing his lips against the top of his head, curls tickling his nose. “Maybe next summer?”
“Think we could pull it off? I mean it’s like eight months away…wait, you said yes, right?” He asked, tilting his head back as much as he could to look into those brown eyes that he knew he wanted to stare into for the rest of his life.
“Evan Buckley, I would like nothing better than to come here next year and take you as my husband. Even though you didn’t technically propose. But I guess nothing in our relationship could ever be described as traditional. We started co-parenting before we even had our first date.” Eddie pointed out. By all accounts, they should have been celebrating five years together, not six months, because they’d fallen for each other from the very beginning. It had just taken them way too long to admit it to each other, and, in Eddie’s case, to himself.
“That’s true. We should have done this years ago…You want another drink?” He started to stand up, but was pulled back down almost instantly. Turning around, he knelt in front of Eddie and placed a hand on his cheek. “You just want to stay here?”
“Right here.” Eddie affirmed. “With you, making love by the fire.”
“Well, that could be arranged.” Buck whispered back, pressing his lips to the pair in front of him. “Tonight, I’ll do whatever you wish.”
-----
Waking up the next morning, wrapped around his boyfriend like an octopus, Buck groaned and tried to roll over, but he was stuck. Eddie’s arm was clamped around his, and it didn’t seem like he was going to let go any time soon.
“Eds, come on, I need to pee.” He moaned, and reluctantly, Eddie let his arm go. Buck rolled over, and Eddie groaned at the loss of the heat on his back. When he got back from the bathroom, Eddie had rolled onto his front and was snoring lightly, buried so far into the comforter that only his head was visible. Buck chuckled at the sight, muttering “you really don’t like the cold, do you, cowboy? I promise, next year we’ll go somewhere hotter.”
“I’m holding you to that.” A sleepy mumble came from the pillow. Picking up his phone, knowing that Eddie would sleep in for another hour, he noticed that his sister had sent him a message not long before.
Maddie: Hate to tell you, but everyone’s figured out your secret already. There was a group chat.
Maddie: They’re betting on when you’ll tell them. I said over breakfast, do it and I’ll split it with you.
He started to type that it was a deal, but then thought of something else, something much more fun that they could do.
Buck: I’ve a better idea. If Chim asks, pretend you know nothing.
Maddie: I’ve already told him I know.
Buck: Deny everything! We’re going to mess with him a little. Call it payback for locking me in the ambulance last month.
Maddie: OK, fine. Don’t be too mean.
Buck: Oh, I will be...
“S’happening?” The sleepy voice mumbled again, woken by the sound of Buck trying, and failing not to laugh.
“I’ll tell you when you’ve woken up properly.” He answered before starting another group chat.
Buck named the chat Buddie Gang
Buck added Bobby, Eddie, Athena, Hen, Ben and Ravi to the chat
Hen: …
Ravi: What’s going on?
Buck: We know that you know, and I hope you’re all happy for us. But don’t tell Chim, we’re going to play a prank on him.
Bobby: Oh God.
Hen: Bobby, shush. What kind of prank?
Buck: You’ll see, just play along. Pretend you don’t know we’re together and anything we do, pretend you didn’t see it.
Bobby: This is going to end badly, I know it.
Ravi: We know nothing and see nothing, got it.
Ben: Agreed. See you all at breakfast.
-----
They were the last ones to walk into Bobby and Athena’s cabin, and only because Buck had been watching the door to make sure everyone was there before they made their entrance. Strutting in, hand in hand, Buck glanced at Hen, who gave him a quick knowing smile before turning back to her conversation with Ravi.
“Hey, Bobby, you need us to do anything?” he asked, his fingers still intertwined with his now fiancé's, aware of everyone watching them from the table. Bobby nodded and set them to work, Buck on pancakes, Eddie beside him on bacon, while he made the coffee. Letting go of Eddie’s hand, he turned around to ask who wanted pancakes, trying not to laugh at the gobsmacked expression that Chimney now had on his face.
Turning back to the stove, he leaned in towards Eddie and murmured “time to kick it up a gear” in his ear, to which, the other man gave an almost imperceivable nod.
“Eddie, honey?” Buck called, loud enough for the whole table to hear.
“Hmm? Oh yeah, it’s right here.” He replied, passing the jar on his right over to Buck. A snicker came from somewhere nearby, and he turned his head slightly to see Athena hiding behind the corner, watching everything that was going on. Pursing his lips, he pretended to drop something, just to sneak a glance at their audience. Everyone seemed to be acting normally, with the exception of one person, who was still staring, his mouth slightly open, eyes wide.
“Buck, can you give me a hand here?” The other man nodded, and shuffled over until their arms were touching and their hands brushed against each other’s while they mimed doing something on the stove.
“Is he still watching?” Buck muttered; his head so close to Eddie’s that their hair blended together.
“Mmm hmmm.”
“Good.” He whispered, and then raised his voice as he started to say “You know, Eds, I love...” A pause for dramatic effect, he could almost picture Chim’s face, even without turning around. “...the way you arranged those pancakes. I swear if you could cook, you should have been a chef.”
“I can cook, thanks. I made you dinner last week, didn’t I?”
“No, you reheated dinner that Abuela sent over. That’s not the same.” Buck argued, earning him a nudge in the ribs.
“Everything OK over there?” Bobby called from the other side of the small kitchen, where he was still making coffee. Buck glanced over to see an amused look on his face, which he was trying to hide by pretending to read the small print on the coffee jar.
“Yeah, everything’s fine, Cap.” Buck grinned before grabbing two plates and turning towards the table where the others were sat. “Anyone for pancakes and bacon?”
Chimney’s face looked even better than he’d imagined it would. If it weren’t physically possible, he could swear that his head was about to explode. But Buck just gave him one of his shit eating grins, placed the first two plates on the table, and turned back around. Now for part two . He thought. Wrapping his arms around Eddie’s waist, he planted a soft kiss on his cheek, and then rested his head on his shoulder.
“You want coffee? I think he’s about have an aneurism, by the way. I’m gonna mess with him some more.” He whispered as he picked up the next two plates and placed them in front of Hen and Chimney. “You OK there, Chim?”
“OK, OK, we get it, you’re finally together! You could have at least told us!” He exploded, and behind them, Eddie bit his lip so hard that he thought he might draw blood. Buck, who apparently had never taken acting lessons in his life, acted like his life depended on it at that moment.
“What are you talking about? We’re not...are we, Eds?” He asked out loud.
“No, we’re not. Why would you think that Chim? Jesus, you’re close to someone and suddenly, everyone thinks you’re dating.” Eddie did not know how he managed to keep a straight face through all that, especially when Bobby was in his eyeline, his shoulders visibly shaking.
“But...but...you...” Chimney stammered, pointing between them. “You were...holding hands...and you kissed him...and...”
“No, we weren’t. And he didn’t kiss me, why would he do that? That’s ridiculous, man. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head last night when you fell?” Because Chim had tripped up last night after dinner, Eddie thought he should use that to his advantage. He hadn’t hit anywhere near his head, just his butt, but maybe they could convince him...
“But…but you…you all saw it, right? Hen? Ravi?” He asked
“Saw what? They were just making breakfast beside each other like always.” Hen replied, almost boredly.
“Yeah, they weren’t that close together, are you sure you’re OK?” Ravi gave Chimney his best concerned look, which made the man look even more confused.
“But…they are! I saw them in the firehouse last week! We had a whole group chat about it yesterday! We bet when they were going to tell us!” He exclaimed, looking around at everyone in the room. Buck made a mental note never to play any of them at poker, because their faces were on point.
“Are you sure you’re OK? Maybe I should check you for a head injury…” Hen asked, scraping her chair back as if to stand up and go over to him.
“No! Look!” Had they all lost their minds? He knew what he saw, he remembered the conversation…were they all playing a trick on him? Had he dreamt the whole thing? Was he still dreaming? Taking out his phone, he opened his messaging service and scrolled down it, desperately searching for the group chat, but there was no trace of it. “It was right there! Everyone was on it, apart from you two.” He yelled, pointing at Eddie and Buck, who had now slid into their chairs beside each other. They weren’t sure how exactly Hen had managed to delete a whole chat on Chim’s phone, but she obviously had.
“Chim, are you sure you’re OK? Does your head hurt at all? Do you have a lump?” Hen asked before standing behind him and making a big show of examining his head. “Doesn’t seem to be anything there." She announced.
"Maybe you should go for a lie down after breakfast and you can join us on the hike this afternoon.” Bobby offered. Chimney moved his head so quickly to look at his Captain that he was surprised he hadn’t gotten whiplash. Maybe he was imagining things. He had been willing to write it off as a prank, but Bobby would never join in with something like this. He’d tell them they were being cruel and to stop before it got too far. Which, if it was a prank, it had definitely gotten.
“OK, maybe I will.” He eventually relented but kept an eye on the two men across from him. Nothing else happened, though, they just acted like they usually did. Close, but nothing to even indicate anything more than friendship. What the Hell was going on?
----
“OK, so we’re going to do the Castle Rock trail, should take us around a couple of hours to get there and back, I’ll lead the way, you guys follow.” Bobby called to the rest of the 118 gang as he started to walk away. As arranged with the others when Chimney had gone back to his cabin, Ravi and Ben would be behind Bobby, with Buck and Eddie in the middle, and Chim and Hen picking up the rear. The group arranged themselves into that formation, and after around ten minutes, Eddie reached for Buck’s hand. The two of them walked like that for a while, making it completely obvious what they were doing, waiting for the signal that Chim had a) seen them, and b) had mentioned it. It didn’t take long for them to hear a loud “Ouch!” from Hen, and, at that, they dropped their hands and took a couple of steps away from each other, then slowed down ever so slightly so that they could hear the conversation going on behind them.
“Are you OK?” Chimney asked, and Hen reassured him that she was fine, she’d just tripped over a stone. “OK, you see it, though, right?”
“What?”
“They were holding hands again, and now they’re not! You didn’t see them?” He stage-whispered urgently.
“Sorry, no, I didn’t. Seriously, are you still convinced there’s something going on? I don’t think they’ve been acting any differently than they usually do. I haven’t seen anything unusual going on.” Thank you, Hen! Buck thought, resisting the urge to turn around and look.
As soon as they stopped for a rest break, Buck sat on a rock, and Eddie leaned down into their shared backpack. “We really should tell him, before he goes completely insane.” He murmured.
“I know, we will, as soon as we get back.”
----
A couple of hours later, everyone was back in the big cabin, their eyes wide at the sight of the mugs of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and marshmallows (and a tea for Eddie, who hated chocolate). Arranging themselves around the room, Buck sat down by the fire, opening his legs to let Eddie sit between them and rest his back on his chest, just as they had the previous night, except the roles were reversed. Chimney was the last to grab his mug, and he walked over to find a place to sit, then froze as he saw the two men sat together.
“Now do you all see? I’m not going crazy here!” He almost yelled. “They’re sitting there like a couple!”
“OK, OK.” Eddie sighed looking up at him. “Guys, we have an announcement and an apology to make. So, as you now all know, we’re together, we have been for six months now, and we should have told you all sooner, and we’re sorry for that. And we’re also sorry that we’ve almost driven you mad today, Chim. Maddie told us you all knew, and everyone was in on it.” He confessed. Buck squeezed his hand, and he looked up into his eyes.
“You assholes! You were all in on it?” Chimney exploded, and Athena laughed, telling him to think of it as a “team-building exercise.”
“Also, it’s revenge for locking me in the ambulance last week. I told you I’d get you back!” Buck shot back.
“Oh, it is on, Buckley! You better watch your back!” Bobby just shook his head and sighed. This was going to give him more gray hair, he knew it. And he could say the words “no prank wars” all he liked, it would just be ignored until someone took it too far. Mentally trying to calculate how much paid leave he had left this year, and whether he could take it right away, he didn’t hear the rest of the conversation until a cheer went up from everyone, and looking up, he saw everyone crowding around the figures on the floor. Catching the words “best man” and “maid of honor”, he caught the eye of his all-but-adopted son and smiled but stood back. They could talk later, because now, in the glow of the fireplace, he looked happier than he’d seen him in a long time. Maybe this team-building exercise was a good idea after all...they should do this every year.