Chapter Text
Buck walked up to the house skeptical. When he had contacted Conrad about maybe moving in with the guys again he had been bummed that they had all moved on to different and better things. None of them were still stuck in the frat boy stage anymore (not that Buck was super excited to be back there). However, between the LAFD taking away his disability pay since he passed his recertifications, his lawyer fees for trying to get his job back after he had been to HR and his union, and the raise in his rent Buck could just not afford to live without roommates. Still, this house looked much nicer than he could afford even with roommates and in a much nicer area. He knocked on the door to see a young female answer the door.
“Hi, I’m Buck, Conrad told me that you would be expecting me to interview as a roommate?”
The girl looked taken aback before putting on a small gentle smile, “Hi, I’m Amy. Come right this way the others are in the living room.”
Buck followed her subtly trying to check out the house when she took him to the living room with two other females. There is no way Conrad brought me to a house to be a housemate to 3 women, he thought. Sure enough though Amy introduced the others, “Buck this is Emma and Shonda” she motioned to each of the other women in turn as she introduced them.
“Hi nice to meet you,” he said smiling in a hopefully non threatening way.
“Normally we wouldn’t even entertain the idea of interviewing a male for a roommate but Conrad said you were the best person he knew. And we trust Conrad, otherwise we wouldn’t be letting our last roommate marry him,” Shonda said obviously teasing him a little bit.
“He didn’t tell me that I would be interviewing to be a housemate with women either, nor that the house would be this big…” Buck trailed off looking around.
”It was my grandparents’ house. They no longer live here and it’s paid off, but I pay rent to help fund their retirement village in Florida. They actually hate that I do that much, but it’s still way cheaper and nicer than anything else we could have found.” Amy continued, “so tell us about yourself. What do you do for work?”
“I was a firefighter and am working on getting back on active duty, but for now am working as an instructor at the fire academy.”
“Oh wow, so what would it take to get back into active duty? Will your hours change at that point?”
“A lawsuit apparently,” Buck answered half under his voice, “I got injured on the job and even though I have fulfilled all the requirements set forth to go back to active duty I am being held back for unfounded reasons. If I eventually am allowed to return then my hours will be 24 pm followed by 48 off.” The girls all nodded at the information (Buck could see they wanted to question more about why he was being stalled from working but were being courteous enough to refrain) and asked him more about other things that may affect living situations:
-any significant other that may cause issues? (Nope couldn’t deal with the firefighter life)
-does he like to party? (Not anymore)
-is he willing to be put on a cleaning schedule? (Of course- Buck prefers a clean house)
The questions went on and they willing returned with their own answers. Shonda was the only one in a relationship right now, but he was a very quiet soul, they did trivia once a week and that was the extent of their partying (and when they invited Buck to join he had to admit he felt a little jolt of excitement), they all chipped in on chores and food (it was easier than marking everything, but if there was something he was keeping special he was more than welcome to put a sign on it). The more they talked the more Buck felt like maybe, just maybe having to move in with roommates would be beneficial. He had been basically alone since the tsunami.
Eddie had stated that he didn’t blame Buck for losing Chris in the tsunami but after that first week once Carla came back he was never asked to watch Christopher again. He had sent multiple texts to Eddie asking to hang out but had been given excuses each time as to why he couldn’t. It had gotten to the point that Eddie had stopped responding all together not even bothering to come up with some bogus excuse. He had resorted to calling Carla to be able to even talk to Chris.
Hen was a different story, she sent a cursory- how are you, we miss you- text every week. That was the extent of communication though. Buck had asked if she would like to hang out, but she had declined. Buck had thought of her like a sister, but knew that she had her own life and family- much like his sister Maddie.
Maddie and he still talked. It was a struggle sometimes because she wanted to boss him around like she had when they were kids, and had a hard time accepting it when he put his foot down. Maddie and his distance was partially his fault as he had set boundaries and would put a halt in their communication when she crossed them. Still, they talked and got coffee once a week. Which was basically the only interaction he had had with another human being for weeks. He sometimes saw Chim during this time, but rarely. Chin and he were never super close, and he knew the second he started seeing Maddie that any friendship would be prejudice from then on. Chim would always take a girlfriend’s side and would put everything into a relationship.
Bobby-Bobby might have been the one who hurt the most-maybe even more than Eddie. He had thought of Bobby as a father, more so than his own sorry father. The fact that he had made minimal effort to keep in touch, especially after the embolism, had hurt. The fact that he had lied had hurt. The fact that he had allowed his name to be taped over might have hurt the most. When he had seen that in the locker room he had honestly almost broken down right then. He had been patient until that time but could no longer hold back. He went to see the union leader, who despite all of his paperwork with doctor and psychiatrist approval, told him that Captain Nash had denied his reinstatement and there was nothing to be done. It was then that he had learnt the truth-Bobby was the one who no longer wanted him. That was when he contacted his lawyer. His first thought had been the ambulance chaser, but knew that would be a bad road to travel. Luckily, he had made lots of friends during his Buck 1.0 stint and knew people who knew people.