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1.
Eddie truly wasn’t an early riser. He was grumpy, slow and tired in the morning and it only got worse since Chris was a teen and therefore also grumpy, slow and tired in the morning.
But that changed when he and Buck started dating. Not only was Buck a fucking ray of sunshine, even before the sun itself was even really up, but also getting to kiss him the minute he wakes up is a greater motivation than any alarm or hungry child that demands breakfast. So whenever Eddie wakes up, his first instinct is to reach for the part of the bed where Buck sleeps, cuddling up to him and giving him a quick good morning kiss. Most of the time, the side of the bed is empty, Buck already being up for a morning jog or making breakfast. He usually always stayed in bed until the last possible minute but with Buck out in his kitchen, his hair being all curly and fuzzy, Eddie practically always jumped out of bed the moment he realized that Buck was not in bed anymore.
This new early rising habit also included being the first to show up at work on the days where they both slept at their respective homes. Because kissing Buck in the changing room, the room where they have been longing at each other for years , was so much better than the extra minutes in bed he could have had.
“I missed you.” Eddie said in between kisses, his hand lingering on Buck’s naked chest.
“Did you, baby?”
Both of them were currently shirtless, only managing to put on their work pants when it overcame Eddie and he basically threw himself onto Buck.
This had Buck smirking. He knew a lot about Eddie, but since they started dating, it was like he got to know him again, in a completely different but also same way. It was still Eddie. But this Eddie was clingy, and sweet and adorably jealous and Buck couldn't wait to get to know him a tiny bit more, every. single. day.
Usually, they were able to contain themselves, especially on the job. They decided to not tell the team about them just yet. It’s not like they didn’t trust them, but they still needed time to figure all of this out on their own, without some remarks from Chimney or a round of signing HR documents with Bobby. Hell, Eddie wasn’t even out as gay and still needed time to accept this, after years of repressing and guilt.
They were dating for around 3 months now, starting the minute when Buck finally broke up with Tommy (which was immediately after Eddie gathered his courage and told him about his feelings).
They were quick to notice that working with each other wasn't really that different to how it was before anyway. Only the kissing. That was new. Normally, they saved their kisses for one last peck in the car when they drove to the firehouse together, or in the parking lot, when they were the first, or last, to arrive at work. Both of them wanted to make it was uncomplicated as possible at work, so one of their rules for making this secret relationship work was no kissing the minute they entered the station. Which usually worked really well, but this morning, Eddie missed Buck extra much and it really wasn’t his fault that he was dating the most attractive man in this world so, could anyone actually blame him for not being able to keep it together when he was basically naked in front of him?
“The others will arrive soon”, Buck mumbled against Eddie’s lips, his hand in Eddie’s neck.
“Stop talking and kiss me again, then”, Eddie grinned, when they heard the loud chatter of Hen and Chim echoing through the station. “Or maybe not.”, Eddie said, quickly grabbing his shirt, while Buck worked on putting on some deodorant, both of them hoping to seem as normal as possible.
“What is it with you guys and being up so early these days?”, raising one eyebrow, Chim entered the dressing room and let his bag fall onto the bench, eyes still locked on them.
“And what is it with you and keeping track of other people’s sleeping habits?” Eddie tried to sound unbothered but the truth is, his heart was beating because out of all the people Chimney was nearly the first one to get to know of their relationship, apart from Chris. Which wouldn't be that much of a problem if they weren't sure that Chim would immediately tell Hen and Maddie and probably everyone else as well.
“Grumpy as always, maybe you should sleep a little longer these mornings, Eddie. Nice shirt by the way.” Chim grinned, to which Eddie only rolled his eyes.
“It’s our work shirt. We wear this every single day.”
Eddie left the locker room, pretending to go and make coffee but secretly waiting for Buck to get dressed so he could make the coffee instead because Buck’s just tastes so much better.
What he didn’t know was that the back of his shirt had written BUCKLEY all over it. Eddie had only noticed when Buck complained about his own shirt being shrunk in the washing machine and Eddie mentioning that his shirt felt kinda big on him that they realized that they might just accidentally swapped their shirts after their make out session.
But Chimney definitely just thought that they accidentally grabbed the wrong shirts in the foggy brain morning haze. Right?
2.
“What do you need parsley for? I‘ve never used parsley in my life before“ Buck was holding the cup with the fresh parsley in his hands, looking at it like the plant itself might tell him what it’s useful for.
„I actually use parsley in a lot of the meals I cook for the station.“, Bobby said while grabbing the cup from Buck and putting it in the shopping cart.
Buck voluntarily offered to go with Bobby to the weekly firehouse grocery shopping trip because at the end of the day he knew how to cook three different meals and that’s it. and that was completely fine with him until he started eating with Eddie and Chris nearly every single day and started noticing that Eddie couldn’t cook at all, Chris only demanded frozen pizza and Buck truly wasn’t in the mood to eat the lasagna Bobby taught him to make every third day. So he decided to ask Bobby to teach him more recipes which would hopefully impress Eddie and make all three of them eat at least one new meal a week.
Of course he didn’t tell Bobby why he suddenly wanted to expand his cooking skills, he was hoping that Bobby was just happy to show off his skills and spend some time with him without questioning his motives.
„Go get some pistachios, they add the crunch to the salad.“, Bobby told Buck after their discussion about the use of parsley finally ended and Buck happily saluted, walking over to the nut section. He was trying to decide on which brand to buy when a woman appeared behind him, happily greeting him
„Buck, Hi!“ he turned around and was met with the face of Cassie Langdon, the mom of Christopher's friend Drew.
„Oh, hey Cassie." Buck turned her into a quick hug.
He knew all of Chris' friends ' parents on a first name basis, because, while Eddie despised PTA meetings or even leaving the car during pick up, Buck was a bit too invested in what the other parents had to tell. And also, it felt good knowing that whenever Chris was at other people’s houses that they were actually competent people and not like…well not like his parents.
Just in that moment Bobby came walking down the aisle, raising an eyebrow at Buck. „So that’s what’s taking you so long.“
„Oh, well, Bobby this is Cassie, the mom of a friend of Chris. Cassie, this is my Captain Bobby Nash.“
They quickly shook hands, Bobby still giving Buck a questioning look.
„Buck, you and Eddie have to come to dinner with me and Steve next weekend. We have a reservation at this new place downtown and we’ve wanted to go to dinner with you guys for ages.“
Buck nervously started scratching his neck. Cassie knew about him and Eddie because they would never demand from Chris to keep their relationship a secret from anyone, even though they wanted to keep it to themselves for a bit longer.
Cassie knowing about them wasn’t a big deal but he wondered what Bobby might think of this. After all, having a double date with your best friend wasn’t too common.
“Yeah, we will let you know. Tell Drew I said Hi.” Buck waved her goodbye and watched Cassie walk into the frozen veggies aisle, Bobby still looking at him.
“What?” Buck asked, now raising one eyebrow as well.
“I know you said you weren’t seeing anyone right now but…..parents know when their child is a different kind of happy. A Oh look I’m in love kind of happy.”
Buck swallowed. Of course Bobby knew.
After all, he got to watch him and Eddie interact all day every day. And now with Cassie’s comment about the double date…
”Listen Bobby, I wanted to tell you.”
“But who is Steve? Buck, are you dating a married woman?”
That left him more stunned than the thought of dropping to your surrogate father in the middle of the whole foods nut aisle that you are dating your best friend and coworker.
Of course he desperately wanted to tell Bobby, and he will definitely be the first person he will talk to once they are ready, but this was not how it was supposed to go.
“I’m…I'm not dating Cassie?” It came out more like a question which didn’t make him sound very believable.
“ Oh .” Bobby looked fondly at him. “Okay. Tell me about it when you’re ready. Whatever it might be. Or when her divorce is finalized.” Bobby smirked, took the shopping cart and walked over to he cheese, leaving Buck, too stunned to follow, staring at the overpriced pistachios.
3.
Buck was woken up by a cough. Slowly, blinking away his morning daze, his eyes adjusted to the bright room, the sunlight shining through the blinds already. His eyes were greeted with the sight of a way too pale Eddie, who was curled up on his side and not spread across the bed -and Buck- like he usually would be.
“Morning babe.”, Buck said softly, only waking Eddie to check if his suspicions were correct.
Eddie groaned softly, his eyes fluttering open, and he gave Buck a weak smile.
"Hey," Eddie mumbled, his voice hoarse. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't." Buck assured him, but his worry only deepened. He pressed the back of his hand to Eddie's forehead, feeling the fever radiating off him. "You're burning up, babe."
“I’m freezing.”, Eddie muttered and Buck’s expression softened, his hand wandering to Eddie’s cheek, holding it softly. “How long have you been feeling sick?”, he asked, knowing Eddie was the last person to admit that he was sick and needed help.
Eddie closed his eyes and leaned into Buck's touch, his body relaxing a little. "I don't know. Woke up in the middle of the night feeling off, but I didn’t want to wake you up.”
Buck sighed and pushed some loose strands of hair off of Eddie's clammy forehead.
“Uh, I have like no food for sick people here at all. Hell, all I have is some garlic bread. All the good stuff is at your house.” Buck rambled, while already getting out of bed which led to Eddie pouting and dramatically hitting his arm on the empty side of the bed. “I don’t need food. Need you.”
Buck couldn't help but smile at that. “You can get me for the entire day, but you also need some fluids and vitamins so you can get better, okay?” Buck pressed a quick peck on Eddie’s forehead, before continuing to put on some clothes. “Just, let me take care of you. I’m gonna be away for 30 minutes max. And I’m coming back with soup.”
Eddie just turned around in self pity, pulling the covers closer to his body, visibly shivering.
“You need a hoodie?” Buck asked casually, which caught Eddie’s attention. “I don’t have one with me.”
“Which is why I’m giving you one of mine.” Buck took an olive hoodie from his closet and walked over to the bed. “Up.”, he commanded and reluctantly he sat up in bed, raising his arms so Buck could put the hoodie over his freezing form. Eddie sighed contentedly as he pulled it closer, burying his face in the soft fabric. “It smells like you.” Eddie whispered, already half asleep again, due to the comforting piece of clothing that was encasing him.
“Okay babe, I’m leaving now. ”, Buck leaned down and gave Eddie a quick kiss on the head, Eddie looking at him with pleading eyes. “Come back fast.” He was grinning a bit by now and Buck returned an amused smile. “Never thought you’d get this clingy when you’re sick.”
Eddie was wrapping himself in the slightly too big hoodie, eyes closing, when the doorbell rang. Slowly, and slightly swaying, he walked down to the door, thinking it was Buck who forgot his keys, but instead, he was met with another Buckley’s face.
“Eddie?” Maddie raised her eyebrows but still walked past him into the loft. “What are you doing here? And are you wearing Bucks clothes?”
Eddie was still standing at the door, his eyes wandering between Maddie, who was already inspecting the fridge, and the still open door. He knew unannounced visits were a common thing between him and Maddie, them just using their free time to catch up and have a coffee, but that was something they failed to consider when entering their “secret” relationship.
“I’m sick.” was the only thing he managed to say.
“And then you go to Buck’s place? To the one person who still needs to learn how to take care of himself?”
Eddie wanted to tell her what great care Buck has been taking of him and that there was no place in this world where he would rather be and that his fever was only the second worst thing he was experiencing right now. The worst thing was missing Buck (who was probably only 15 minutes away from them right now but he wanted him back as soon as possible. Fuck the soup). But he knew he couldn’t. Opening up about their relationship, that was a decision they had to make together. And he especially didn't want to take the opportunity from Buck to tell his own sister about them. So he, with his foggy sick brain, had to get creative.
“Yeah uhm, I don’t want Christopher to get sick as well. Abuela is with him now. That’s why I am here.” Technically that wasn’t even a lie. Chris was with Abuela, but at her place. They had their day off and wanted to spend it at Buck’s place for once, but really only so they could grab some more of his stuff and take it to Eddie’s house where they spend most of the time anyway.
“Why isn’t Chris at her place then and you in your own home?” Maddie asked and Eddie silently damned the Buckleys and how they kept questioning everything.
“She doesn’t have Wifi. I can’t really get Chris to get to her place anymore since he became addicted to Fortnite.” That, sadly, wasn’t a lie as well.
“Dear god, and now you have to recover here, on the tiny couch and a fridge that is filled with garlic bread.” Maddie sighed. “You know what Eddie, I wanted to wait for Buck but I’m going home, making soup for you. Soup is the best thing when you are sick, trust me.”
“What is with you Buckleys and soup?” Eddie mumbled, burying his face into his hands. He felt terrible and as nice as it was to have Maddie over, he wanted Buck. Truth is, everyone who wasn’t Buck making a fuss about him made him feel even more terrible. He wasn’t used to being the one who got cared for, only from Buck. Buck was the one person where he could truly let go, where he knew it was okay to show his weak side and let someone else do the caring.
“Buck is grocery shopping. Stuff for soup.”, he explained after Maddie just gave him a questioning look.
“Okay. I see. Eddie, then tell him to just text me when he is free the next time and I come over again. Get better yeah? And don’t get food poisoning. I didn’t know Buck knew how to make soup. At least I never saw him make one for anyone. Well, not for anyone who isn’t you apparently.” Maddie smirked, grabbed her bag, and then she was just gone as fast as she entered the apartment.
Eddie didn’t have the power to think about what just happened and just let his head sink down on the kitchen island counter, waiting for Buck to return.
4.
“I don’t get how you still have that much energy during a 24 hour shift.”, Ravi mumbled, looking at Buck who was happily filling some freshly brewed coffee into different mugs, being the only one, apart from Bobby, who looked like he still had some energy left in his body. Eddie was nearly falling asleep in his chair, Chim hadn't said a word in an hour (which is, if you ask Ravi, the biggest sign that the man is tired) and Hen wasn’t even around, probably using the quick time they had before the next call came in to take a nap. Bobby was in his office, doing Captain things, ever the energetic one. Just like Buck, who took it as his duty to get caffeine into the other crew members. After all, they still had 5 more hours to go and the shift truly wasn’t a quiet one. Ravi was worn out and exhausted.
“You want one with cinnamon or vanilla?”Buck asked him, grabbing two of the three different kinds of coffees he made and held them in front of Ravi’s face. Buck loved being a hobby barista at the station, creating all the different kinds of coffee flavors and the crew happily agreed to be the taste testers.
“Didn’t you just also make one with caramel? Can I have that?” Ravi asked, referring to the third mug, still on the counter.
“He made that one for me.” Eddie mumbled, eyes closed but exactly knowing what was going on around him. “Yeah, sorry Ravi. He loves caramel.”, Buck grinned and simply put one of the coffees down in front of Ravi, giving the other one to Chim before finally handing Eddie his special caramel coffee. “Thanks babe.”, Eddie said, finally opening his eyes and smiling softly at Buck.
Ravi nearly spit out his coffee.
Buck started chuckling nervously, rubbing the back of his hand. “God Eddie, you say such strange stuff when you’re tired.”
Eddie just slowly blinked at him, as if he was trying to comprehend what he just said. “Yeah. Yeah I’m super tired. Wanted to say Buck not…babe…I mean obviously. Why would I call you babe?” Eddie joined Buck’s nervous chuckle and Ravi was seriously questioning if he was even awake or if he was dreaming because that would be the only plausible explanation for this strange behavior. But after all, these were Buck and Eddie . It was probably not even the strangest thing that happened between them this month.
Still, something about this was off. Maybe Eddie had a crush on Buck? But Eddie was straight, Ravi was sure of that. After all, that man was married once. But Buck didn’t have his bisexual awakening earlier than last year, so maybe the same goes for Eddie? Ravi tried to think about if any of them had talked about going on any dates, men or women they hooked up with recently, but since Buck broke up with Tommy, Ravi couldn’t think of any stories that included their love lives. Ravi figured that Buck was still getting over the break up and Eddie was busy spending time with Chris, after he returned from Texas but maybe that wasn’t the case? He wanted to dive deeper into the thought of Buck and Eddie being more than friends, but of course the alarm went off, making Eddie nearly drop his coffee and Chim falling from his chair in his nearly catatonic state.
So Ravi would have to explore what was going on between them after the call. And after sleeping for the rest of the day once the shift had ended. But for now he was convinced that something was going on between these two, even if they hadn't even figured it out themselves.
5.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, we know we are late.” Buck and Eddie hurried into the station, the rest of the team already in their uniforms, giving them a questioning look.
“Traffic.” Eddie huffed, him and Buck both catching their breaths from running.
“Are you so co-dependent that you are even stuck in the same traffic?” Chim asked and both of them rolled their eyes at him.
“We obviously arrived in the same car.” Eddie explained. “Because I slept over at Eddie’s house.” Buck hurriedly added.
“Chris wanted to spend time with Buck. It got late, so he decided to stay over. On the couch, obviously. He also snores a lot so I wouldn’t even want him to sleep in my bed and why would he sleep in my bed right?” Eddie rambled, Buck only muttering that he does not snore while the rest of the team looked at them halfway amused, halfway disturbed.
“You’ve arrived together a thousand times before. I always assumed that Buck passes your house to get to the station anyway.” Chim was the only one who was able to say something to that disaster that was unfolding in front of them.
“Which is true! It’s called carpooling and-”, thankfully Bobby cut Buck’s rambling off by telling them to go get changed, they could get called to a scene in any minute now.
Thankfully, the rest of the shift went by quickly and without any crazy emergencies. Hen was halfway home when she realized that she left her phone at the station and did a quick turn back to the station. She was about to roll onto the parking lot when she spotted Eddie’s obnoxious truck, still in the parking lot, and she slowly hit the brakes.
Eddie was leaning against the driver's side, with Buck's hands on his hips, pushing the smaller man slightly against the car. Eddie’s hands were pressed on Buck’s cheeks and they were kissing .
Hen was shocked. Shocked how dumb these two were to kiss in the parking lot of the place where they worked when they clearly didn’t want anyone to figure this out yet. They should’ve worried less if anyone would question why they’d arrive at work together, which is a totally normal thing for colleagues to do, and rather be a little more cautious about kissing in such an open space. She sighed but smiled at the same time.
Fucking finally.
This really wasn’t that much of a surprise. Anyone with common sense could see that there was more between these two than simple friendship, she was just fearing that they would never get it together. After all, from what it looks like, it took them years to see what she and the rest of the crew could see after just a few months. But they all knew it was not their place and not their job to push them, and Hen especially knew that everyone had to figure out their sexuality at their one pace. And good things take time.
She was also happy because Chim owed her 50 dollars. His bet was that they wouldn’t get it until Chris was in college. A win for her, who said that they will be sitting hand in hand at his high school graduation.
Hen quietly shook her head and decided to drive around the block one more time, to give the two lovebirds the time to finish kissing and drive home before getting her phone. She would have loved to make them realize how stupid they’ve been acting the last few weeks only for them to get exposed like this but even more she wanted them to be able to take their time - which won't be too long if they continue nearly exposing themselves by simply being a bit stupid- and come out as a couple on their own terms. It took way too long for them to get it together anyway, so Hen thought, that they should be able to soak it in and enjoy their honeymoon phase for as long as they could without Chim telling them everyday that he doesn’t want to see their PDA at work and that it’s unfair that his wife does not work with him or Ravi pulling up his notes app and telling them all things they did which made him realize they are dating. Especially because, Hen fears, half of the moments Ravi listed were during times where they weren’t even dating yet.
+1
The world around him was crumbling and burning and Buck didn’t know where Eddie was.
The call was disastrous. A burning factory, hundreds of workers trapped, the fire spreading in record time and thick and black smoke rising out of the windows.
Of course they had to get in, try to get all the remaining workers out of there.
They’d faced a lot over the years, but since they got together, stuff like running straight into danger, well knowing maybe only one of them might get out, the fear of losing each other became even more intense.
“Be careful,” Eddie murmured just before they entered the burning building.
“You too,” Buck replied, his voice softer than he intended. They couldn’t let their emotions show, not on a call, but they allowed themselves these small moments not knowing what awaits them once they enter the building .
Through the thick, suffocating smoke, Buck pulled several people out, always trying to get a glance at Eddie, who followed him closely.
It wasn’t until Buck left the building for the third time, that when he looked around, Eddie wasn’t there.
Okay. No reason to panic yet. Maybe someone is injured or scared and it just takes them a bit longer to get out. Buck did start to worry when more firefighters from the other stations came out but none of them were Eddie.
Okay. Time to panic.
“Eddie?” he spoke into his radio, hopeful to be met with the voice of the love of his life but instead it was just some crackling, the signal weak. Fucking great. He hit the button again, praying to whatever god that this thing would just do its job and work .
“Eddie, come on,” Buck whispered under his breath, hoping the radio would crackle to life with Eddie’s voice.
But it didn’t.
“Eddie!”, this time he screamed, hoping that he would hear him against the noise of the crackling fire.
“Buck, what is going on?” Bobby jogged over to him, his face creased with worry.
“Eddie, he’s he, he was right behind me and now-” Buck was interrupted by the building starting to crumble. “Fuck.”, he muttered under his breath, his body going against all his survival instincts and running into the direction of the building. Or at least trying to. He didn’t manage to get far, because Bobby was grabbing him, forcing him to stay in place.
“Bobby, no let me go, please , let me go.” Buck was sobbing, struggling against Bobby’s force, trying to free himself from his Captains grip to get to Eddie. “You need to let me get him, I need Eddie, please.” he cried, watching the building collapse, slowly but steadily.
“Buck!”
It was not Bobby’s voice calling out his name.
“Eddie.” he breathed out. For the first time in what felt like hours, he breathed out.
Bobby let go of him and Buck ran faster than he ever did, crushing into the other man and pulling Eddie tightly into his arms.
“I thought I lost you. When you weren’t behind me. I thought you were gone.”
“I thought I lost you ! There was too much smoke, I didn’t see you anymore, and…and the radio wasn’t working and I-I couldn’t leave without you.”
“God Eddie. The next time you leave immediately . You hear me?”
“Don’t expect things from me you wouldn’t do either. I know you were about to run into that building. And I did leave when my radio worked again and I heard Hen say there you are all safe outside.”
Buck decided to end the argument by pulling Eddie into a deep kiss. He didn’t care the their entire station and several others were watching, because he was just so relieved that they were alive and that they get to do this. Who cares who’s watching.
“We’re okay,” Eddie said softly, after pulling away from the kiss, his forehead pressed against Buck’s. “We’re okay.”
Buck nodded, swallowing hard as he held onto Eddie for just a moment longer. Despite the chaos around them, nothing mattered more than this.
Later, when they all got back to the firehouse, changed their clothes and sat down at the dinner table to eat the lasagna Bobby had already prepared for them, Buck and Eddie decided to walk up to the dinner area hand in hand for the first time.
Buck cleared his throat once they arrived at the table, 4 pairs of eyes now looking at their direction. He and Eddie still felt like they should at least explain what was going on between them to the team. After all, they were their family.
“We know you all probably saw us…kissing earlier and you probably wonder what's going on.” Buck started his speech, wanting to continue, when he was interrupted by Chimney. “Not really.” Already grabbing some of the lasagna, Chimney didn’t look impressed, or shocked or anything. He just looked hungry.
“Sorry what?” Buck was confused, looking at Eddie who just shrugged.
“You guys are boyfriends. We’ve been known. Maddie knows as well. And now you guys kissed at a call which is so super unprofessional but since it was a life or death situation, I forgive you both this one time.” Chim said in between bites.
“Aren’t you a little bit surprised? I never even told any of you that I’m gay.” Eddie was confused as well now, the rest of the team still unbothered.
“I’ve had my suspicions for quite some time now.” Ravi mumbled, mouthing “Babe” at them.
“I literally saw you guys kissing last week. Just a tip, next time you want to keep your relationship a secret, you better not make out in a parking lot.” Hen said and both of them blushed a tiny bit. “But I’m happy for you guys. I really am.”
“Bobby, what about you? Did you also know?”
Bobby just grinned. “Like I said Buck. A parent knows this kind of stuff.”
“Well this was…easier than we thought this would be.” Buck grinned and Eddie nodded. “But babe, we probably shouldn’t do this secret relationship kind of thing again. We are shit at that.”
“We totally are.”
They grinned at each other and both of them just knew, that they officially, but not as successfully as originally planned, survived the next step in their relationship.