Chapter Text
It’s three A.M., and Buck can’t sleep. His best friend is knocked out beside him, so Buck knows it’s not because he’s too hot. Eddie, after all, can only sleep in the cold.
It’s too early to make breakfast or wake Chris up for school, so instead Buck lays there and stares at the white popcorn ceiling. Eddie’s breathing is even beside him, a constant reminder that he was alive and well. Buck doesn’t even know how he woke up. Because he was definitely asleep. He remembers falling asleep because he was exhausted after he read Chris his bedtime story.
Instead, Buck contemplates going for an early morning run, but he’s too scared of waking Eddie up to move. Because if Eddie knows that Buck is awake, then he will stay awake with him too.
He sighs, worrying for a second that even that exhale is too loud, before settling himself down. It’s fine. He’ll fall asleep in a few minutes, surely. He has a shift tomorrow, and Buck needs to be well rested.
But it's been five minutes, and Buck’s not asleep, so instead he thinks about the PTA meeting he has on Tuesday and the brownies that he’s baking for the upcoming bake sale. Leroy and Thomas’s mom, Trisha, is no doubt going to make sure that he is involved with Teacher Appreciation Week, so Buck needs to start brainstorming some ideas for that too.
Buck turns on his side and stares at Eddie. Eddie looks like he’s sleeping great. It’s so not fair. Buck wants to sleep too.
Thankfully, it’s creeping up on four o’clock, so it is one hour closer to having a reason to stop staring at the ceiling in silence. Unless he falls back asleep. Then the time can take as long as it needs to become six A.M., when Buck will start on breakfast and wake Chris up around 6:30.
Eddie’s breath catches in his throat for a second, and then he is turning onto his side, arm thrown over Buck. Buck looks over his shoulder and sees that Eddie is still asleep. A small part of him feels disappointed. And then he immediately feels guilty because they have work in the morning, and Eddie deserves rest.
Buck sighs again and snuggles into the covers and the warmth of his best friend. He needs to at least try to get some sleep.
Buck never falls asleep. He thinks that, for a little while, he drifts in between the two states of consciousness, but it’s not restful. Finally, at 5:45, he sneaks out of bed and into the kitchen. He’s quiet about taking out bowls and pans. It’s early, and he doesn’t want to wake up the whole household before they have to.
Instead, he sets about making the coffee and whisking together the batter for pancakes. Buck washes strawberries and blueberries, cutting the strawberries in half. He makes half of the pancakes with chocolate chips and half of them without.
At 6:00, Buck can faintly hear Eddie’s alarm go off. He knows by heart that Eddie is in the bathroom, so he makes him a cup of coffee and sits it on the counter.
When the silence Buck has been existing in since three A.M. is finally interrupted, it’s to the sound of Eddie’s voice, gruff from sleep.
”You got up early.”
”Yeah,” Buck admits, “I couldn’t really sleep last night.”
“Yeah?” Eddie entertains, passing a hand across Buck’s lower back on his way to the fridge in way of saying thanks for the coffee. “Why do you think that is?”
”I have no clue. I just woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.”
“Hm. Maybe you’ll be able to rest at the station.”
“Yeah, maybe. Hey, what are you even looking for?”
”Getting the orange juice out for Chris. He asked to be woken up a little early, remember?”
“Shit, you’re right. Maybe it’s a good thing that I didn’t sleep last night. Breakfast might have been late.”
Eddie glares at him from where he was pouring the juice into a cup. “I think we could have waited for pancakes.”
“I dunno,” Buck teases, “The Diazes are kinda grumpy in the morning.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie grumbles, stalking off down the hall to wake Chris up.
“Hey, buddy!” Buck greets when he hears the telltale sound of crutches in the kitchen. “How did you sleep?”
”Slept good, Bucky,” Chris answers around a yawn, tired but smiling nonetheless.
”What’s got you in a good mood?” Eddie asks, making Chris a plate.
”We’re finishing our book in reading class today. I can’t wait to see how it ends.”
“Oh yeah? That sounds exciting, bud,” Buck responds, turning off the stove and moving the pan off of the heat.
“Thanks for breakfast, Buck,” Chris beams when his pancakes and fruit are set down in front of him.
“‘Course.”
By the time they drop off Christopher at school, Buck starts to develop a headache, something Eddie takes immediate notice to. He makes Buck switch seats with him, opting to drive them to the firehouse.
When they arrive, Eddie ushers Buck upstairs, the two having changed at home, and goes to put their bags away in the locker room. Quickly, he takes note of the half full coffee pot. Eddie makes a cup for Buck and takes out four ibuprofen from the medicine cabinet.
Hen clocks him on the way to the couch, where Buck is, and asks what’s wrong. “Buck’s got a headache. He didn't sleep well last night.”
Eddie doesn’t stick around to chat. He advances on his best friend, sticking out his hand with the pills.
“Here, take these.”
”Thanks, Eds,” Buck whispers, eyes squinting.
“No problem.” Eddie hands him his coffee, watches him take the ibuprofen with satisfaction, and then goes to make his own cup of coffee.
“How did you know Buck had a headache before you even talked to him?” Hen asks, medical book and her own coffee set out in front of her from where she sat at the kitchen barstool.
“He told me he had one in the car.”
”Y’all drove together?”
”Well, yeah, Hen, it doesn’t make sense to take two cars.”
”And y’all were at the same house because…?”
”Because we live together, Hen. Did you seriously not know that?”
”What?” Hen screeches, slamming her hand down on her book, “Uh, since when?”
”I don’t know- like last month,” Eddie replies, head titled in thought.
”Oh my god, and you guys didn’t think to mention this?”
“I honestly thought we did.”
Just then, Chim walks up the stairs.
“Chim!” Hen grasps his attention. “Did you know that Eddie and Buck were living together?”
”No, but nothing those two do surprises me anymore.”
“Next thing I’m gonna find out is that y’all are married.”
”Hen, we aren’t even dating.”
“Well, I don’t know that, now do I?”
”Alright, calm down, drama queen,” Eddie says in exasperation.
“Don’t tell me to calm down.”
”Noted.”
”Last time I told Hen to calm down, my shampoo turned me purple,” Chim adds in, walking over with a red mug.
”Double noted.”
“You doing okay over here?” Eddie asks, plopping down on the couch next to Buck.
In response, Buck lays down on his lap and shuts his eyes.
Well, alright then.
Eddie can be a pillow for Buck; he’s done so before. He flicks on the TV, wondering what the hell Buck thought about staring into nothing for the past twenty minutes, and finds a telenovela.
Eddie glances down five minutes later, and Buck’s eyes are shut, mouth slightly parted. He’s asleep. Thank God. Now he just has to pray that the alarm doesn’t go off. No one has said the Q word today, so hopefully it won’t.
The shift so far has been peaceful, though that doesn’t say much considering it’s only been an hour. Bobby is in the kitchen now, having emerged from his office, making something, but Eddie can’t figure out what it is. He thinks it’s some type of dessert.
Eddie’s lost interest in the TV show, so he whips out his phone and scrolls through Instagram reels. He keeps the volume low, mindful of his sleeping best friend, and mindlessly watches stupid people doing stupid things. But he sees stupid people do stupid things for a living, so he eventually just puts his phone down and watches Bobby from a distance.
He would get up, maybe workout or talk to Bobby about what he’s cooking, but he refuses to accidentally wake Buck up.
About thirty minutes later, Buck groans and sits up. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and glances wearily at Eddie.
“Hey, man,” he whispers.
“Hey, Buck. You feeling better?”
“Yeah… yeah I think so.”
“Good.”
The call they’re on isn’t a serious one. Or well not that it’s not serious, but it doesn’t require all of the team.
Hen and Chim are taking care of the old man who fell over from heat exhaustion. Buck leans against the truck with Eddie, shoulders touching. They talk about Chris, and how they need a new dryer, and the fact that the flowers out by the porch need pruning.
By time the call is over, Buck is falling asleep on Eddie’s shoulder in the truck.