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The lightning strike hit Buck and Eddie's world shattered. He climbed up the ladder and pulled Buck down. His heart wasn't beating and he wasn't breathing. Eddie did CPR. And Buck came back. But he didn't wake up. It was unrealistic of Eddie to expect it to go otherwise but he still hoped. They took Buck to the hospital. The doctors took Buck away and Eddie was left to wallow in his thoughts. The idea of Buck not ever waking up again... It haunted Eddie. It shook him to the core. To live in a world without Buck... He didn't want to think about it but it kept chewing on the back of his brain. Then the doctor told them Buck was in a coma. It was expected. Eddie knew that. Medically it was the next step towards whatever the future held. So Eddie sat next to Buck's bed. He felt so alone. He felt so scared. For Buck. For himself. For Chris. For everyone that loved Buck. So he held Buck's hand, not only to grown himself but to remind himself that Buck is alive and breathing and warm. He let himself wander in his thoughts. He thought of everytime loneliness radiated from Buck. He thought that his life would be horrible without Buck in it. He thought that Chris would be miserable without Buck. That train of thoughts crushed his heart and made him tear up. So he lowered his head and touched Buck's hand with his forehead. He cried silently and prayed that Buck would wake up soon. Bobby and Maddie watched from behind the glass window but they never spoke of it.
A week later Buck woke up. He was exhausted. He was happy to be awake. He was happy that he get to see and be with everyone. Eddie cried in the bathroom. Happy tears. Buck stayed in the hospital for a few weeks. Eddie brought Chris to see Buck at every chance. He stood back and watched them talk about things he didn't have the heart to listen to in any normal setting. Buck sounded a bit off. Like he wasn't wholeheartedly into the conversations. If Chris noticed he didn't complain. Then Buck went back home. Things seemed to be going back to normal but Buck continued to be a bit off. He talked normally, he ate normally, he joked normally. He did the job as amazing as always. But Eddie saw through it. Something was on Buck's mind and he wasn't talking about it. So Eddie tried to talk to him a few times. Buck refused to talk a couple of times but he opened up the third time. He said that there's something wrong he doesn't know what. Eddie tried to relate as best as he could. He talked about his near death experiences. Buck seemed to feel a bit better after hearing Eddie's thoughts about it. But it didn't stick for long. He continued to be off.
One day they were standing over a grave and Buck out of nowhere says that a random girl he just met "sees him". It felt like a punch to the guts and a slap in the face. Eddie stopped to think about why it felt like that. His first thought was "and? I've been watching you since day one". Eddie did a double take at that thought. Why was he bitter? So Buck has someone in his life. Good for him. But why was eddie hurt ? Why would the idea of Buck finding love and happiness sting like that ? Also who was this random woman ?. Eddie asked questions and Buck answered with a shade of his old self back in him. Eddie was both happy and distraught. Like Buck was slowly getting back to his old self... But... With someone else. Then it dawned on him. Oh. Oh. He was in love with Buck. And the idea of Buck being with someone else was just unbearable.
Eddie refused to go into a midlife crisis. Like so what if he was suddenly into men. Not just any men, but his best friend. He wasn't homophobic in the slightest. Love is love and all that jazz. The problem here was it was Buck. The best person he's ever known. His most precious human relationship aside from his son. He could ask Hen for advice but he didn't want to risk this getting to Chim who'd tell Maddie who'd eventually tell Buck. So he opted on talking to Josh.
Talking to Josh, while was like pressure relief, was a whole clusterfuck of despair. Josh told him stories about his miserable failed romances. It broke Eddie's spirit. According to Josh, it could go south in many ways. He could confess to Buck and buck would act all homophobic and sever himself out of Eddie's life, He could ask Buck out and Buck would turn him down and it would make their friendship awkward, a miracle could happen and Buck would go out with Eddie but they don't click right and they'd break up and that would ruin their friendship, and other hypothetical scenarios Eddie was too horrified to listen to. So Eddie decided to not do anything.
A week later Buck was mooning about how he and this Natalia are a good match. Eddie stood in the back just forcing the coffee down his throat. Apparently they were both into death and some goth ass shit Eddie didn't hear because he was internally screaming. Buck said something that made everyone look at Eddie, anticipating an opinion. Eddie just shrugged because he didn't even bother faking caring about the topic. Both Buck and Hen gave him a weird look. So he walked to the bunk room to escape their questioning gaze. It became a recurring theme in the following week. Buck would start blabbing about Nat and Eddie would leave the room. Hen tried to pull some words from Eddie about his weird attitude but he just dismissed her everytime, claiming he has no idea what she's talking about. And soon enough, all Buck ever talked about was Nat. Nat this, Nat that, Nat Nat Nat. Soon enough Eddie stopped sitting with everyone completely. He just spent all his free time in the bunk room in his bed with his face to the wall. Bobby asked Eddie what was going on but Eddie made up a lie about not getting enough sleep at home. Eddie slowly started to decline outings with Buck. He couldn't bring himself to hear about what Nat thinks about the ice cream flavor he'd get or what Nat thought about his favorite park to walk through. Nat had an opinion on anything and Buck, being his oversharing self would absolutely overshare her opinions. Buck always looked sad when Eddie declined but he'd pick himself up by setting a date with Nat instead. Which was adding salt to injury to Eddie. Eventually Buck stopped asking all together. Eddie was both relieved and heartbroken about it.
Josh convinced Eddie that he has to move on. He took him to a gay bar and tried to wingman him a couple of times. Eddie could not bring himself to flirt with anyone. He was all sad and mopey. Then a guy sat next to him. He sighed sadly. Eddie silently bought him a drink.
"What's this for?" The guy asked. He was a bit taller than Eddie. Blond and rocked a nice stubble. Piercing blue and sad eyes.
"I recognized the heartbroken sigh" Eddie replied.
" Thanks" the guy said as he drank. " I'm Val. Short for Valentino"
" Eddie". Eddie said as he ordered another round. "Wanna talk about it?"
"My girlfriend dumped me for another guy" Val said sadly.
Eddie had to hold back a snort. " And now you're in a gay bar... "
"I'm bi". Val clarified.
" Ah"
" And it's horrible because i saw the guy she dumped me for. He's sex on legs" Val whined.
" That's rough, buddy" Eddie quoted Zuko from Chris' favorite cartoon.
Two hours later they were both drunk. Val somehow convinced Eddie to go back home with him. They slept together. Eddie felt awful because he kept thinking about Buck during the act. The morning after Eddie was surprised with a breakfast in bed. Val was such a sweet guy. He even washed Eddie's clothes while Eddie slept. Eddie smiled at him and kissed him. It was soft and sweet. Val looked so happy and Eddie felt warm that he brought that smile to his lips . He was so sad the night before. They exchanged numbers and hooked up every other week
. One day Eddie was texting Val during a shift when Chim walked by him and sneaked a peek into his phone. "Who's Val?"
Eddie who wasn't paying attention and had his walls down for the moment replied honestly. "My situationship"
Behind Eddie, Buck spat the green juice he was drinking. "Your what?"
"I believe he used the term 'situationship' " Hen said.
" I'm surprised you know of that term, let alone be in one" Chim taunted.
Eddie sighed and walked away in the direction of the bunks. The other three followed after him.
"This is juicy info, Eddie. Spill" Hen demanded.
" You can't just drop a bomb like that and walk away Eddie" said Chim.
Buck stayed silent but he was just as invested as the other two.
Eddie took a deep breath. "Alright. What do you wanna know?"
"What's the story behind this 'situationship' ?" Chim asked
" We met at a bar. Val just got dumped. We got drunk and hooked up. The morning after we exchanged numbers and we've been hooking up every once in a while" Eddie explained as vaguely as possible.
"And it's just sex?" Hen asked.
"We hang out" Eddie said.
" But you're not dating? " Chim asked.
"No. Hence the name 'situationship' ". Eddie answered.
Buck spoke for the first time." You didn't introduce this Val to Chris did you? ".
" Not unless i figure out what this thing is". Eddie said calmly.
Buck had that relieved expression on his face. Eddie decided not to read into it. Eddie noticed Hen was eyeing Buck carefully too. She didn't say anything though. For some reason the three of them telepathically agreed to leave Eddie alone now and exited the bunk room. Eddie was thankful and didn't question it.
Two days later Val showed up at lunchtime with a cake in his hands. They were all eating when someone downstairs called for Eddie saying he had a visitor. Eddie went downstairs and was like a deer in the headlights when Val walked up to him and kissed him on the lips. He returned the kiss by muscle memory then looked up and everyone upstairs was gawking at him. Buck looked so pale like he could pass out any second. Eddie pulled his eyes away from Buck and back to Val.
"What are you doing here?" Eddie asked as casually as he could.
" I made this extra cake at the bakery and i didn't know what to do with it so i decided to give it to my favorite firefighter and his crew" Val winked with a grin.
" Thank you. You shouldn't have" Eddie smiled as he took the cake." Wanna meet my team? "
"Another time. I got an appointment to get my eyes checked. Later Eds" Val said as he walked away.
Eddie walked upstairs and he heard hushed ramblings. Then someone shushed everyone as eddie came close.
"So?" Hen started.
"What?" Eddie asked.
" You failed to tell us that Val is a guy. We thought it was short for Valerie" Chim said nonchalantly.
" Does that change anything? " Eddie asked defensively.
" No! "
" Not at all"
" we love you no matter what"
" come on Eddie" all the voices overlapped.
" Hmm. Well Valentino had a spare cake and thought we'd appreciate it. He's a good baker" Eddie said as he placed the cake on the table.
"How thoughtful" Hen said as she grabbed a piece.
" It's good! " Chim said.
"Very good" Bobby complimented.
Buck ate silently.
Hen cleared her throat. "As a lesbian i demand to know what is it that you saw in this guy?"
" He had those sad blue puppy dog eyes". Eddie said thoughtfully.
" That's it? " Chim asked.
"He seemed so familiar" Eddie scratched his neck . He was lost in thought.
" Yeah too familiar" Chim quipped.
There was a thud sound then Chim moaned in pain.
Eddie looked up. Buck's face was red and everyone was glaring at Chim. Eddie decided he's done with the interrogation so he picked two pieces of Val's cake and got up. As he walked away he heard buck saying "what the hell Chim!" And Bobby's "not cool".
Two weeks later Eddie had decided that enough was enough. Everytime he walk out of the bunk room Buck, Hen and Chim were talking quietly and they would shush each other when he's close enough to hear what they're saying. His conspiracy theorist voice in his head told him that they're discussing his situationship so he decided to bite the bullet.
"Buck. You got a minute?"
Buck awkwardly walked closer. "What's up?" He asked nervously.
"You free tomorrow?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah?" Buck replied hopefully.
"Could you babysit chris? I'm officially asking Val out" Eddie said.
The color drained from Buck's face. " S- sure i can babysit. But are you sure you want to ask this guy out? ".
" He's nice. He's a good person. He doesn't cause me heartache everytime he speaks. What more could i ask for? " Eddie said with a little more venom than he was expecting to come out.
"Heartache? You're with this guy out of heartbreak?" Buck asked with sadness in his voice.
" I'm trying to move on. Val is good for me" Eddie reasoned.
" Move on from what? "
"The person i wanna be with is with someone else. And i don't want to waste my time mourning something that never was"
"so you wanna date a bearded replacement of the person you wanna be with? "
" What do you mean?"
" Eddie , literally everyone is bugging me about how this Val guy is me but with facial hair"
" That is a bit presumptuous. Not all blue eyed blond guys look like you"
" But this guy does. Come on Eddie. Do you really wanna date this guy? Or do you wanna date me? " Buck said with pleading eyes.
Eddie narrowed his eyes. He Contemplated lying just to spite Buck's presumptuous ass. But then it would be unfair to Val. He doesn't deserve this again. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Suppose i wanna date you. You're with Natalia. Can't i find happiness somewhere else? Am i not allowed to be happy?"
Buck slowly walked up to Eddie. " Nat and i broke up weeks ago. You'd have known if you didn't spend all your time cooped up in the bunk room"
Eddie was speechless for a second. Then he spoke up. " You're saying you wanna date me?"
Buck gently put his hand on Eddie's cheek. "Oh my god, YES!" He breathed. "I've literally been in love with you since you told me i can have your back any day"
Eddie closed his eyes and took a shaky breath." You're not pulling my leg are you? "
Buck kissed him then and there. Eddie was stunned for a bit then kissed back. Buck wrapped his hands around Eddie's waist and Eddie had his fingers in Buck's hair. There was a 'whoop whoop' sound and a wolf whistle from behind them. They looked and it was Hen and Chim making the ruckus while Bobby stood behind them shaking his head at them. Eddie laughed while Buck looked embarrassed.
"Finally" Hen said victoriously.
"Took you long enough" Chim said tiredly.
" See me later to fill the papers" Bobby remarked as he walked back to his office.
Buck made a strangled sound and Hen and Chim laughed and walked away.
"Hey". Eddie said to grab Buck's attention.
Buck looked at him.
Eddie kissed him for a bit then pulled back. "For the record, i love you too" Eddie said with a smile.
Buck's face went red and his knees gave but Eddie grabbed him before he fell. Eddie laughed. "So that happened"
"Shut up. Literally this is the first time i ever hear those words from someone that isn't my sister" Buck said with his voice high with embarrassment.
"I'll say them till you get sick of them" Eddie said softly.
"Oh Come on! My legs already gave once today" Buck whined.
Eddie laughed again