Chapter Text
“Hey, look who's here!” Chimney yells when he sees Buck and May coming up from the stairs. “Perfect timing, guys. Five more minutes, Ravi will finish all the dishes,”
Athena texted her kids half an hour ago that she was having dinner with her husband and his crew at the fire station. Buck and May followed their mom like ducklings to find food after closing the coffee shop for the day.
“You can sit here, May,” Tamika offers her seat. She goes to clean some empty dishes at the sink.
With no other available seats, Buck unceremoniously drops himself on Eddie's lap. It spoke a lot about their friendship when nobody batted an eye at the display.
“You're gonna break the chair,” Hen warns Buck.
“Good. Maybe the department will purchase a brand-new set for the station,” Buck eats a spoonful of chili from Eddie's bowl. “Gosh, I'm starving!” He groans as he chews.
“Busy day at work?” asks Eddie.
“Ha!” May interrupts Buck from answering. “It's more like busy daydreaming for Buck,”
“Oooooh, do tell,” Chimney puts his elbow on the table and props his chin on his hand. “I wanna share the goss with Maddie,”
Tamika comes back to the table and insists Julie share her chair. Now, they're sitting with half-ass on the air.
“So, there's this one guy,” May begins.
“Is he hot?” Julie cuts in.
Buck moans, “Hotter than the sun. He is such a hunky man. His shoulders are wider than yours, Eds,” Buck pats Eddie on his shoulder. “I don't think it's even possible,”
“Pics or hoax,” Julie opens her palm, asking for Buck's phone.
“What! I don't have it. I'm not a creep, you know! Taking pictures of the poor hot guy,” Buck disapproves of Julie's idea that he went around with his camera, taking pictures of gorgeous men surreptitiously.
Julie and Tamika share a disappointed look.
“Anyway, back to my story,” May tries to steer the conversation back to its original course. “This guy…”
“Hot guy,” Buck, Julie, and Tamika chime together.
May glares at them, “This ‘hot guy’,” She overcorrects by making air quotes. “He came to the shop for the first time,”
“Yeah, I definitely will remember if he dropped by before,” Buck makes another remark.
The constant interruptions start to annoy May. “Do you want to tell the story, Buck?”
“Happy too,” Buck smiles angelically. “This hotter than sun guy, his name is Tommy,”
“Ooooh, Tommy…” Tamika echoes like the name is a sinful word.
“He ordered a large… dirty… chai,” Buck tells the tale in a dreamy tone.
“Ooooooh,” Julie joins the echoes.
“His voice is gravelly, it is so sexy,”
“Does he have an accent?” interrupts Eddie. “They say Spanish accent is sexy, right?” He elbows Lena for her agreement.
“I think it's French,” Lena rubs her chin, faking a thoughtful look. Eddie responds by putting his hand on his chest with a crestfallen look.
“Oh!” Buck shouts as if he remembers something. “And Tommy has a cleft on his chin!”
This time, Logan, Jamal, and Ross join the Ooh-ahh choir.
“At this point, the bell is going to ring before we reach the end of the story,” deadpans Ravi.
Of course, the bell rings as if it's been listening. All on-duty firefighters jump out of their seats.
“Why, you lil shit,” Chimney slaps the back of Ravi's head as they run down the stairs. “You just have to jinx it, don't you?”
Buck also stands up since his chair is one of the said firefighters.
Eddie bumps his fist into Buck's shoulder. “Come over for beer tomorrow? I'm sure Chris would want to listen to your sonnet about this guy,” He proceeds to go down through the pole.
Ravi squeaks over the shrieking bell as Lena bodily shoves Ravi into the truck. “It's time for you to learn that actions have consequences, Probie,”
Bobby shakes his head at the crew's childish behavior. He kisses his wife chastely, “Wish me luck,” He pats Buck and May on their back before following his crew.
“Stay safe, you guys,” Buck shouts to the departing company. He returns to the table, shoveling more food into his face.
Athena sits at the head of the table that her husband just left. “So, tell me again about this Tommy guy,” Her smile shows some amusement.
May bemoans frustratingly, “Mom, don't encourage him! He's gonna be worse than Clipboard Buck,”
“I need to meet the guy who makes my son smile brighter than the sun,” Athena runs her hand through Buck's curls.
Buck sticks out his tongue, mocking May. His younger sister might scoff in disgust as a reply, but they all know it's fake. He knows they're glad to see Buck happy.