Chapter Text
Two weeks into knowing Eddie Diaz, Buck finds out he hates bugs. He hates them, he's terrified.
They arrive on a call about an eating contest, to win a monitor lizard
I want a monitor lizard, thinks Buck. They're Buck's favorite reptile, he likes that they secrete poisonous toxins in their saliva, sure they probably wouldn't be great pets, but Buck still wanted one.
It isn't until a woman throws up cockroaches that Eddie takes two, far, paces back. Buck watches Bobby raise an eyebrow.
“Not too keen on cockroaches Diaz?”
Eddie's mouth moves to speak but no words come out. He just walks back to the engine, head down.
Other than that, The call goes smoothly. Two more people throw up bugs, crickets and more cockroaches. Buck pulls his bug facts, trying to lighten the mood. Endless sentences starting with “Did you know,” and ending in “cockroaches can live without their heads”, and “a group of crickets is called an orchestra, hey you just threw up an orchestra,”.
Buck thinks about Eddie the whole time. Sure a lot of people didn't like bugs, hell, Chim wasn't going to go anywhere near them. Eddie though, Eddie had walked away.
“Cockroaches? You're scared of cockroaches?” Buck almost lets a laugh slip, he contains it, Eddie shakes his head.
“I’m not a fan of bugs, at all.” He shivers, Buck watches the hair stick up on his arms, Eddie rubs them.
“But bugs are cool, I love bugs, and insects, did you know that all bugs are insects but not all insects are bugs, see bugs have piercing mouthparts, cicadas are bugs, but spiders aren't, but then spiders aren't insects either they’re arachnids, like scorpions.” Buck rambles, Eddie listens. “There's a lot of animals that are grouped into bugs but aren't, like millipedes, they’re arthropods, I love millipedes, did you know they can secrete cyanide?”
Before he can start speaking words his brain hasn't even thought of yet he's interrupted by Hen.
“Why do you know so much about bugs?” Buck smiles.
“I took an online entomology course when I was job-hopping and I got bored during classes and ended up looking up different bugs and now I just love them. The course was mostly the biology of bugs, some ecology. I learnt how to catch bugs and pin and label them for research.” Buck is beaming, he's never gotten to talk about bugs like this, he’s always been dismissed or ignored, but here he is, surrounded by people he cares about, and they care about him.
The facts carry on back to the station, butterflies taste with their feet, larger spiders keep small frogs as pets to catch insects the spider doesn't eat, a praying mantis only has one ear, on its stomach above its legs. Buck loved all animal facts, though bugs were his favorites.