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The bar was loud and crowded and exactly what they needed after the shift from hell. It hadn't been physically taxing, like some shifts that made them want to fall onto the nearest flat surface and not move for twelve hours. But they'd lost two people on two different calls, one to a medical accident where they'd been too late to do anything and one to a partial building collapse after a gas explosion. The second person had still been alive after they'd arrived on scene, knocking on exposed pipes to signal their position. Halfway through shoring up the building and figuring out how to get to them without making the rest of the building come down, their signals had stopped. They'd redoubled their efforts but still only recovered a body.
Hen and Athena slipped back into their seats after a quick stop at the restrooms.
Hen nudged Eddie's side. "Where's Buck?"
Eddie nodded towards the bar at the other end of the room. "Getting one of those fancy drinks. He wanted a pink one with an umbrella."
Hen made a face. "I think I'll stick to Manhattans." She frowned. "You'll make sure he gets home okay?"
Eddie nodded. "He's coming home with me." He held up his beer. "My first and only, so I'm good to drive. I can give you a ride, too."
Hen shook her head. "Way too far out of your way. I'll hitch a ride with Bobby and Athena."
Eddie nodded again. He'd already decided that he was taking Buck home as soon as Chim threw out the plan of winding down at their favorite bar. He'd been nursing his beer all evening, supplementing with soda and water while letting Buck get pleasantly buzzed. While alcohol wasn't a great coping mechanism - which lots of people could attest to - it was fine to help them all relax for the evening. Buck had taken their second loss personally, immediately trying to find fault with himself. If only he'd been faster, better, stronger... Eddie had tried to nip that in the bud, but had only been moderately successful. Still, Buck had called his therapist for an additional session and until then he could use a night of drinking and partying to forget about the shit day they'd had.
Eddie finally drained the last of his beer, making a face at how warm and flat it was. Buck had been gone a while - a lot longer than it took to get another drink. "I'm gonna get another drink. And see where Buck has wandered off to."
He wasn't overly worried. Buck wasn't the type to get into bar brawls - or at least he wasn't the type to instigate them. He was the type to step in and try to calm things down before they escalated, but there was no commotion in any part of the bar, so he'd probably just found someone interesting to talk to.
Eddie scanned the bar and saw Buck exactly where he'd expected him: sitting at the far end of the bar, talking to a woman with a bunch of tattoos and piercings who was sitting on the bar stool next to him. Buck's face wasn’t his 'looking to get laid' face but his 'fact-spewing-and-finding' face, so Eddie decided to join them and get them the drinks they've been wanting. Maybe invite the woman back to the table to finish their conversation.
He headed down the bar, but just before he got there a guy coming from the other direction pushed between Buck and the woman, turning to Buck and saying something that Eddie couldn't hear. It didn't seem like the guy was very friendly, though, so Eddie hurried over.
"--even invited you here? Certainly not me!" Eddie could hear the woman say as he got closer. She had a hand on the guy's shoulder, trying to pull him back. She'd stood up from her bar stool, probably to get some distance from Angry Guy.
Buck was still in his seat, hands out in a calming gesture.
Angry Guy balled his fist, but Eddie reached them before he could swing it. He grabbed the guy's wrist and got between him and Buck. It was a tight fit since Buck was still sitting on his bar stool and Angry Guy stood in the space between it and the bar stool the woman had been sitting on. But Buck immediately spread his legs to let Eddie step into his space as far as he could get. Eddie felt Buck’s hands on his hips, steadying but not holding him back.
He let go of Angry Guy's wrist, giving him a little push at the same time. “Wanna tell me what your problem is, man?”
“My problem is this dude making a move on my girl!” he spat.
Eddie raised an eyebrow as the woman made an affronted noise and started protesting. "First of all, Buck was not making a movie and second of all, it wouldn't be any of your business if he was because I am NOT in any way 'your' girl." She crossed her arms and glared at the guy. "We went out twice, Jeremy, and that’s it. You didn’t call again after the second date three weeks ago and I wasn’t too broken up about it, you douchebag.”
Buck slid his arms around Eddie’s middle and stood up, pressing close to Eddie. Luckily Buck was tall enough to straddle his bar stool standing up and didn't push them towards Angry Guy - Jeremy - with this move. Buck hooked his chin over Eddie's shoulder. “I wasn’t even a little bit flirty,” Buck said into Eddie's ear, a little whiny like he got when he was upset while drunk.
“I know, Buck,” Eddie said, patting Buck's hands to try and calm him down. “You were just talking about something – I’m guessing tats since you’ve been on a research kick for designs lately.”
Buck nodded, the movement jarring Eddie a little. “Miranda has a really cool watercolor tat. I was thinking I could get flowers on my--”
“Why didn’t you just say you were gay?” Jeremy said with a sneer.
Eddie sneered right back. “How about you fuck off? Seems like none of us want you here.” He made a gesture that included Miranda.
Thankfully, Jeremy was smart enough to finally catch a clue and did, indeed, fuck off. Miranda let out a sigh. “Thanks - he was kind of boring on our dates and I only agreed to the second because my friends were hounding me to get out more, so I was pretty glad he didn’t call me back for a third date.” She glanced in the direction Jeremy had taken off to. "No idea he was this kind of crazy."
"No problem. If anyone ever bothers you in this bar, tell the staff. A lot of cops and firefighters come here to wind down after a shift and the owner is a former cop. I know she doesn't tolerate this kind of bullshit."
"Good to know."
"All right; you guys wanna finish your tattoo conversation?"
Miranda waved him off. "Nah, we were pretty much done with that." She looked behind him. "And I think your boyfriend is kinda done, too."
Eddie glanced over his shoulder. Buck was leaning on him heavily, chin still hooked over his shoulder. His eyes were a hair’s breadth from closing. “Hmm, I guess he is.” He moved his shoulder a little to shake Buck awake. “Hey, Buck. Let’s say goodbye to the others and go home, okay?”
“Hmmkay,” Buck mumbled.
"Are you okay to get home, Miranda?"
"I'll be fine. My brother is coming to pick me up. I'll just wait at the bar."
They said their goodbyes - Buck gave Miranda a very uncoordinated wave - and then Eddie dragged him over to the table where Hen had switched places so she could sit next to Chim. The two were sitting slumped over with their arms around each other. Ravi was swaying to the music in his seat, seemingly entranced by the disco ball in the corner. Bobby was sipping his ginger ale and watching them all with an indulgent smile. Athena, of course, had her sharp eyes turned to their approach.
“You two off?” she asked.
Eddie nodded. “Yeah, Buck’s falling asleep standing up, so we're heading out.”
“We'll make sure Hen gets home, and Chim is gonna crash on her couch," Bobby said. "We've already texted Maddie not to expect him home tonight. And Ravi already called someone for a ride.”
Ravi startled at hearing his name and looked around. “Oh, I thought my roommate was here to pick me up.”
Bobby put a hand on his shoulder to keep him in his seat. “Not yet, Ravi. We'll wait with you until they get here.”
“Oh. Okay.”
After a round of goodbyes, Eddie got Buck out of the bar and into his truck. Since he'd already planning on taking Buck home with him at the end of the night, they'd left the Jeep at the station. They could either pick it up during their two days off, or Buck would simply crash at Casa Diaz and ride into work with him for their next shift.
When Eddie pulled into his driveway, Buck was well on his way to being asleep. His eyes were closed, but he was tapping his fingers in time with the music, frowning when the music cut off them Eddie killed the engine. Eddie helped Buck out of the car and grinned when Buck draped himself all over Eddie again for the walk to the front door. He nearly tripped them up several times, but Eddie couldn't be mad about it when it made Buck giggle like that.
"All right, buddy, let's get you sitting down and I'll get you some water." He walked Buck over to the couch to sit him down. Before he could lower him onto it, though, Buck nuzzled his neck and tightened his arms around Eddie in a hug. He mumbled something.
“What was that?”
“I said it was nice.” Buck slurred his words a little, but not enough to be at blackout drunk levels. With enough water and a pain pill or two in the morning, he might not even have a hangover.
“What was?”
“Being your boyfriend,” Buck said. He rubbed his nose against Eddie’s collarbone. “You're so boyfriend-shaped. ‘S nice, is all.”
Eddie chuckled, feeling his stomach swoop a little - with nerves, excitement, and maybe a little disappointment. They had, kind of, talked about this over the years, but the timing had never worked out for them. One of them was in a bad place mentally, or in a relationship, or drowning in things that had to take priority… lots of reasons not to mess with the status quo of a strong friendship. Eddie had always figured they’d get there eventually. And maybe that day was coming up sooner than later – but not while Buck was drunk.
“Okay, Buck. Let’s get you on the couch and I’ll bring you some water.”
“Hmm, no, wanna keep cuddling.”
Eddie sighed. “Okay. Bedroom then. Can you get there on your own or do you need help?”
“I don’t wanna let go.”
Eddie sighed again, but he was smiling. Honestly, if Buck never wanted to let him go again, Eddie was all for that. Eddie carefully shuffled to the kitchen with Buck attached to him like a limpet. Buck drank his water without complaint standing at the kitchen sink with Eddie. Eddie filled the glass up again to take into the bedroom for the next morning. He already had advil in his nightstand, so they were all good on that front.
In the bedroom, Buck whined a little about having to let Eddie go to get changed. “So you want to sleep in your jeans? Sounds uncomfortable.”
Buck gave him an exaggerated pout but finally let go of him. Eddie took the chance to use the bathroom and change into sweats and a t-shirt. When he came back into the bedroom, Buck had just dumped his shirt and jeans on the floor and crawled into bed in nothing but his boxer briefs.
Eddie rolled his eyes a little, but he felt too fond to be truly annoyed. The moment he got under the covers, Buck rolled into his side and cuddled close. Within moments, Buck started to snore softly.
Eddie wasn't tired enough to go to sleep just yet, so he wrapped an arm around Buck and grabbed his phone with the other, checking in with Bobby and looking at the pictures Pepa had sent him earlier of Christopher's sleepover.
When Eddie woke up the next morning, it was to his phone digging into his neck on one side and Buck nuzzling into it on the other.
"Morning," he said, his voice still rough with sleep. It took him three tries to push his phone away from his neck - he must have fallen asleep holding it and his limbs were too uncoordinated so early in the day - and get it plugged into the charging chord on the bedside table. The glass of water was empty and the bottle of advil was pushed further back, so Buck must have been awake for a little bit already.
"Morning," Buck said, lips brushing Eddie's neck. "I was right."
"'bout what?"
"You are incredibly boyfriend-shaped."
Eddie smiled and turned his head to look at Buck. "Yeah?"
Buck was clear-eyed and smiling softly. "Yes."
"That is an incredibly coincidence," Eddie said, sliding a little lower on the bed so he wasn't looking down at Buck. "Because I was just thinking that same thought about you."
"You were?"
"I was."
"So," Buck said, reaching up and cupped Eddie's face. "If we're both in agreement, then I can do... this?" He leaned in and kissed Eddie's cheek. "Or this?" Another kiss was pressed to his temple. "Or this?" The next kiss landed on his jaw.
Eddie nodded. "Or this," he said, leaning in to finally brush their lips together.