Archive of Our Own

Buck’s ADHD diagnosis hadn’t come as a shock to anybody. No, the shocking part was that he’d been twenty eight when he got it. It was Bobby who’d clocked it and “highly recommended” he saw a psychiatrist about it, and so off he went. 

So it was no surprise the diagnosis had come back as positive, his scores through the roof, and it was at that moment that everything clicked into place. 

Buck, historically, wasn’t great at sitting still and/or with his feet on the ground, leaning more towards pretzeling if he had his shoes off, toes wiggling at a bare minimum. 

How bad he was was affected by his energy levels; the more tired he was the harder it was to control his hyper activity, finding it harder to regulate himself. So of course sixteen hours into a twenty-four hour shift and an even longer day he was getting restless. Buck hadn’t been able to get any sleep, he’d tried but his brain was too wired so even though he was exhausted he was also wide awake. 

Eventually he’d gotten fed up of trying to sleep and didn’t want to disturb anyone with his constant shuffling, so he quietly crept out so as not to wake up the rest of the team.  

In the end he made himself at home at the large table in the loft, a book and cup of green tea in front of him. The book was a mess; spine heavily cracked, crumpled and creased pages beginning to fall out. He’d read the book hundreds of times, he loved it and some days he wasn’t up for taking in new information, so the familiar words kept him occupied and happy whilst not being overwhelming. 

He held the book in one hand, the book curled around itself so he only had one page to worry about at a time, whilst with the other hand he drummed his fingers on the table, occasionally grabbing the handle of the mug and moving it around, one foot tapping away as the other was hooked around the chair leg. 

Buck read slowly, even though he practically knew the book off by heart his ability to process written words was a bit slowed. So although his body was fast and fidgety, his brain was slow as he read. Usually his thoughts were racing, his mind going far too fast for any normal person to keep up with, but as he focused on the words everything slowed to what could be deemed a normal pace. 

“You’re up late.” Buck’s head snapped up upon hearing Bobby’s voice, he’d assumed his Captain would either be in his office or trying to get some sleep before the bell inevitably went off. 

“Couldn’t sleep.” Buck sent Bobby a tired smile. 

“So you thought you’d do some reading.” Bobby sat in the chair closest to the other man.

“I was getting restless just lying there, even if lying with your eyes closed is more restful than this.” He held his book up and gave it a shake. 

“Is it now?” Bobby’s eyes crinkled in amusement, always enjoying Buck’s random facts. 

“It was on an episode of MythBusters.” 

“Ah, of course.” 

Buck unravelled his leg, unhooking it from the chair leg and bringing it up so his sock clad foot was on the seat, thigh pressed up against his chest. He closed his book and tapped the spine on the wooden table a few times before putting it down and wrapping his arms around his raised leg. 

“You look exhausted, you’d better not fall asleep in the engine later.” It was exactly the kind of comment a Dad would make, but then again Bobby was a Dad through and through. 

“With those sirens there’s no chance. Maybe on the drive back though.” Buck joked. 

“In that case I’m not carrying you back in, you’re old enough to get yourself out of the engine.” Buck glared at him but there was no anger behind it, just fondness. “Well, if you’re not gonna sleep, how about something to eat?” 

It took a few years for Buck to finally find the combination of medications that worked for him, unfortunately it wasn’t an exact science so there’d been a lot of trial and error. But thankfully he finally found the perfect combo and it worked like a treat; clonidine, lamotrigine and duloxetine. 

Whilst the clonidine and lamotrigine had been fine, the duloxetine stabilisation had been a bitch, the second day he was on it he was the worst, and, to make matters even worse, he was working a 24. 

Day one hadn’t come with any side effects so he thought he’d be fine, how wrong he had been. 

The beginning of his shift had been fine, they’d only had two relatively easy calls, nothing to write home about, so by dinner time he decided he’d take his meds and try get some sleep whilst everything was quiet. So by ten he’d changed into sweats and was trying to get some sleep before the universe inevitably threw a disastrous call at them. 

He was rudely awoken from his sleep at one by an intense feeling of nausea. He didn’t feel like he was going to be sick, his stomach just felt unsettled so he thought it best to go and grab some water, so he rolled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen on shaky legs. 

He managed to get there and pour himself a glass of water even with the violent shakes rattling his hands, causing water to slosh against the side of the glass, dangerously close to spilling over. 

As he placed the glass in the dishwasher the bell went, a spike of adrenaline briefly squashing the nausea as firefighters appeared from all over the place. Buck made it to the pole without incident and slid down, getting ready to head out into the rain. 

The shaking returned as soon as he sat down, but thankfully the joseling of the engine hid it. Unfortunately it didn’t hide the fact that he looked pale and spacey, but for now everyone just chalked it up to the violent awakening that the bell always caused. 

They’d been called to a car crash, and as far as car crashes went this one wasn’t the worst; there were no fatalities but one of the drivers was trapped in their car and looking rather worse for wear. 

“Eddie, Buck, saws and jaws.” Bobby commanded. By this point Buck knew that the shakiness and nausea were medication side effects, they couldn’t be anything else. He also knew he wasn’t supposed to operate heavy machinery whilst like this, and he was pretty sure the jaws of life came under the bracket of ‘heavy machinery’. 

“Buck?” Eddie called out, having begun to move towards the truck, only to find the other man hadn’t followed, “Saws and jaws.” 

Now Buck had a decision to make; tell Bobby he couldn’t do it or fake it and hope for the best. He didn’t really want to do the former as he didn’t want to seem weak, but the latter probably wasn’t even possible, given how he was feeling he knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to carry the jaws (because he always operated the jaws in this little routine he and Eddie had built over the years). 

He knew what he had to do, he knew for once he had to make the smart decision, “Hang on.” He called back before he turned to where Bobby was and jogged over. “Cap, I’m sorry but I’m not gonna be able to operate the jaws on this one.” 

“Is everything alright?” Bobby knew what that tone meant, and he knew if Buck was saying he couldn’t do something then there was something really wrong. 

“Uh, well, I’m on new medication,” He held out a hand, showing Bobby how violently it was still shaking. He swallowed hard as he tried to wade out of the brain fog, “side effects have kicked in tonight. Uh, I’m still stabilising. I th- thought I’d be fine as I didn’t have any last night but I, I guess I was wrong?”

“Alright.” Bobby nodded, “Thank you for telling me. I’ll help Eddie, you hang on in there and we’ll sort this once we’ve popped that door.” With that Bobby sped over to Eddie and grabbed the jaws, the pair making quick work of the car door. 

Once the door was open Chim and Hen rushed over, the four of them now working to get the driver out, Buck was so distracted by it all that he didn’t notice Athena until she was right next to him. 

“Hey Buckaroo.” She greeted, causing Buck to practically jump out of his skin, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you.” She apologised before getting a good look at him, as she saw how terrible he looked she turned so her whole body was facing him. She then reached her hands out and gently encouraged Buck to turn and face her as well. She placed a gentle hand on the side of his face.

“Hey Athena.” He replied, voice weak and just as shaky as his body. 

“What’s up baby? You don’t look too good.” 

He gave her a weak smile, his soaking wet hair and face doing nothing to help his case, “I’m stabilising on new medication.” He explained, “It’s nasty stuff.” 

“Okay, does Bobby know?” Buck nodded, causing Athena to tense up, “And he let you come out on call like this?” 

“No, I didn’t realise I was feeling this bad until just before the bell, I told him when he wanted me to grab the jaws, I’m not allowed to operate heavy machinery until I get better.” 

That allowed Athena to relax, happy now that she knew her husband hadn’t taken their son out into the rain to work on a car crash whilst he was barely keeping himself up right. 

Suddenly the wave of nausea changed, in that moment he knew he was going to vomit so he turned to the side, emptying the contents of his stomach into the ditch at the side of the highway. 

Athena moved with him and placed a comforting hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly as he brought up everything that he’d eaten at dinner, softly telling him to “get it all out”. 

Once he thought he was done he took in a few deep breaths only to wretch again before vomiting one last time, “There we go baby.” 

He stood, wiping excess vomit and spittle off of his mouth and chin, taking a few more deep breaths. 

Buck didn’t know where she’d gotten it from, as he was pretty sure it hadn’t been on her person before, but Athena handed him a bottle of water, he gratefully accepted it, glad to see that she’d already opened it, his hands still shaking far too much. Some water sloshed over the top of the bottle as he lifted it to his mouth but considering it was pelting it down with rain there was no point worrying about a little spilt water. 

“Better?” Athena asked, taking the bottle from him and handing it off to someone out of his line of sight. 

“Better.” He confirmed as she pulled him into a hug, he cringed a bit, aware of how gross he was right now but all of that melted away as Athena squeezed him tightly. 

“My shift finishes in an hour, you head back to the station with everyone and get yourself dried off and then I’ll come pick you up once I’m done, alright?” 

Buck gave her a small nod, head still buried in the crook of her neck, a position that wasn’t overly comfortable for him given the height difference but the feeling of safety she brought him cancelled all that out. 

After a moment Buck pulled back so Athena guided him over to the truck, helping him sit on one of the many ledges and then sitting down with him, a comforting hand on his knee. The two of them watched as Hen, Chim, Eddie and Bobby worked, gently extracting the driver and then loading him into the ambulance. 

Once Chimney had closed the doors to the ambulance Bobby came and joined his wife and Buck, “Alright, talk to me, what’s going on?” He asked as he squat down in front of the other two, rain dripping from his helmet.   

“Uh, I s-started on new medication yesterday, uh, no side effects so I thought I’d be fine but I woke up just before the bell went feeling like absolute shit.” He had to take another active, large swallow as it felt like he was going to vomit again, “The bell went before I could say anything and I didn’t want to hold us up.” Buck explained, taking it slow as he was feeling a bit groggy. 

“Okay, and what are the symptoms?” 

“Uh- really shaky, sleepy,” He took a deep breath as he tried to think, his brain lagging, “I think it’s called som- somnolence? Uh, I’m getting a bit dizzy…” 

As he trailed off Athena jumped in to help, “And he’s been vomiting.” 

“And are these normal side effects?” Buck shrugged, he had read the pamphlet that came with the duloxetine but his brain was too foggy to remember, thankfully Athena came to his rescue again, looking up the medication (after she’d gotten the name of it from Buck) and confirming that they were, in fact, normal side effects. “And they’ll go away? Once you’ve stabilised.” Yet again Athena confirmed that that should be the case, “Alright, I think it’s best if you go home, but I’m not keen on you being by yourself right now.”

“I finish in an hour, do you think you could take him back to the 118 and then I’ll come and get him once I’m done?” 

“Of course, I like the sound of that.” 

Since his last attempted roller coaster rescue Buck had begun doing research into the physics of coasters. Three books now sat on his shelf with well worn spins going over the mechanics, science and safety measures that went into the design of these things, meaning he had a much clearer understanding of them past ‘coaster go fast’. 

So when the 118 were called to another theme park incident Buck was calmer than he thought he’d be. He was worried that everything from last time would come flooding back, but on the ride over that didn’t seem to be the case. 

“Did you know you’re more likely to come out of your seat at the bottom of a loop than at the top.” He told the team, everyone giving him a confused look in return, “Centrifugal force.” 

“Right, centrifugal force.” Chim parroted. 

But clearly Buck wasn’t finished, “So at the top of the loop centrifugal force kicks in and keeps you in your seat, but when you get to the bottom your body is still in motion, pushing you up and out of your seat,” They all knew how centrifugal force worked, but Buck being Buck he was including it in his infodump anyway, “so the over the head restraints are there so you don’t fly out of your seat rather than fall like everyone thinks. It also means that the ride shouldn’t stop upside down on a loop, of course there are exceptions, which we’ve seen, but ninety nine percent of the time a coaster shouldn’t stop at the top of a loop.” Buck gesticulated wildly as he spoke, passion oozing out of him.   

“Let me guess, you had a rollercoaster hyperfixation.” Eddie chuckled. 

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.” Buck held one index finger to his nose, the other pointing at Eddie. “It’s actually fascinating, the different forms of harnesses, you’ve got lap-bars, over the shoulder, different types of locks, mechanical, hydraulic, and- and the majority of seatbelts on the over the head ones aren’t actually needed, they don’t actually do anything. And the first over the head restraints were designed by Arrow Dynamics in the nineteen seventies for a ride called the Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm that opened in nineteen seventy five, how cool is that?”

“Well, that’s a lot of information in one go.” Hen said, “Care to focus on one thing rather than, like, ten?” 

“Look, all I’m saying is that they really think out this whole safety thing, it’s great.”

“Hate to break it to you Buck,” Bobby jumped in, “But legally they have to, they’re deadly without.” 

“Hence why so many crashes are caused by park negligence, if they don’t do repairs properly, or train their staff right, cut corners, you know. The problem is usually the park, not the manufacturer. There was actually this one crash in England where they sent out an empty test car that stalled, the block system shut down the ride but an engineer overrode it as they didn’t know the empty train was there. So they sent out a train full of people that crashed into the empty one at full speed. I mean, how did they not know they’d added an additional car? It was right there on the CCTV but they did it anyway.” 

“Well, I’m never going on a rollercoaster again.” Chimney huffed.

“Ditto, man.” Eddie adjusted the mic on his headset as he spoke.

“Aren’t you and Christopher going to Disney this weekend?” Hen asked. 

“We’re supposed to, I’m starting to reconsider, especially considering Mr. Rollercoaster Expert over here is coming with us.” 

“Nah, Disney’s fine, it’s Six Flags you want to worry about.” Buck scoffed, as if he hadn’t just ruined Eddie’s weekend. “Besides, the hotel is non-refundable, don’t want to waste all that money.” 

“We took Denny to Disney World last year and it cost an arm and a leg to put it mildly.” 

“If I were Chris, I’d probably murder you for cancelling a trip to Disney.” Chim shrugged.

“Which means Christopher is mine so I can take him to Disney anyway.” 

Before anyone could answer, Chim butted in, “Does Small World give anyone else nightmares?” 

There was a unanimous sound of agreement from everyone in the engine, Buck included. 

Buck was woken by the sound of his door opening, followed by Eddie calling his name. 

“Upstairs.” He groaned, voice heavy with sleep. 

The thud of heavy, boot clad feet pulled him further from sleep, his mind still foggy from the abrupt wake up call. He sat up, blinking blearily, to find Eddie at the end of his bed, fully dressed in his uniform, which explained the boots. “Hey man, what you doing here?” 

“Do you know what day it is?” Eddie asked, arms crossed. 

Buck thought about it for a second, “Tuesday?” 

Eddie huffed out a fond sigh, “It’s Wednesday.” He reminded him.

“The fuck?” Buck was suddenly extremely alert, “It’s Wednesday?” 

“For the last ten hours, yeah.” 

“I’m supposed to be at work!” In his rush to get out of bed he got tangled in his sheets, falling flat on his face, “Shit.” 

Eddie helped him to his feet, “That’s why I came to get you, we assumed you’d got your days mixed up.” 

“Fuck, Bobby’s gonna be pissed.” He managed to untangle himself and began to get dressed, chucking on whatever was closest to him. 

“Bobby was the one who sent me, he’s fine, don’t worry.” 

“I’m two hours late Eddie, what if there'd been an emergency, you’d be one man down.” 

“There wasn’t, it’s fine. Just get dressed and I’ll drive us there.” 

Within a matter of minutes they were out of the door and driving to the firehouse, “I cannot believe I got the day wrong, I’m not going to hear the end of this, am I?” 

“Probably not.” Eddie chuckled, knowing what the rest of the 118 were like, “Chim in particular is going to be a nightmare.” 

Buck groaned, “Which means Maddie will know.” 

“I’d recommend asking him to keep it a secret but…” 

“It’s Chim.” They both finished in unison, unsurprisingly perfectly in sync, just like always. 

Eventually they arrived and Eddie parked up before the both of them hopped out and walked into the station together. 

“Look who finally decided to show his face.” Chimney mocked, hanging over the edge of the loft’s railing.  

“Finally worth your time are we?” Hen added, stood next to her best friend, one hand leaning on the railings, the other on her hip. 

“Sorry, sorry.” Buck apologised, taking the steps two at a time, “I got my days confused.” 

Hen held out a hand whilst Chim reached into his pocket, pulling out $10 and handing it over, “I had money on you being in the ER.” Chim told him, shrugging. 

“I’m not that bad!” Buck protested. 

“Tell that to the pre-filled out incident forms I keep in my desk.” Bobby scoffed, almost appearing out of nowhere. 

“You do not.” Buck said, trying to call the other man’s bluff. 

“I do, got all your personal details filled in, all they’re missing is the date and type of trouble you’ve landed yourself in.” 

“Buck has his own folder as well, doesn’t he?” Eddie asked, it was a joke but there was some truth to it, a clear divide existing between Buck’s forms and everyone else's, both sections being about the same size. 

“You’re all exaggerating.” Buck accused, trying to get out of the ribbing.

“I’ve got the proof if you want to see it.” Bobby gestured in the general direction of his office.

“Yes please, I have to see this!” 

“Fuck off Chim!” 

“Buck, language.” Bobby scolded, hiding a laugh behind the faux glare. 

“Ah come on Bobby, he’s bullying me!” 

Bobby rolled his eyes, “Just go get changed.” He chuckled. 

Buck gave him a mock salute before heading back down the stairs and getting ready for his shift. 

Team meals were the best part of any shift, Bobby’s cooking always the perfect remedy to the struggles of any day alongside the best possible company. 

They were having spaghetti; bolognese sauce and meatballs coating the noodles, warm garlic bread steaming in the centre of the table. 

The table were discussing a movie that had come out recently. What film? Buck didn’t know as he’d zoned out, glassy eyes staring at the wall behind Bobby as he tried to twirl noodles onto his fork, no thoughts in his head for once. 

Suddenly he was pulled out of his musings. “Earth to Buck, anyone home?” Chimney waved his hand in front of Buck’s face, startling the other man. 

“Jesus Chim, give a man some warning!” 

“I did, I’ve been trying to talk to you.” He scoffed. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah, just zoned out for a second.” Buck gave him a weak smile. 

Eddie placed a soft hand on his mate’s shoulder as the whole table (minus Buck) shared concerned looks. 

“Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine Eddie, really.” It wasn’t a lie, he was fine, his brain just shut off occasionally, and it had done just that. But of course no one believed him, which was understandable given his track record. If there was something wrong with anyone, it’d be Buck. “I’m fine, I’m just tired. I couldn’t sleep last night.” 

“Yeah? Anything keeping you up?” That’d clearly triggered Bobby’s Dad Mode, not that that was a hard thing for Buck to do. 

“There’s really nothing to worry about, I was just restless. Seriously.” Buck had used this excuse far too many times that now that he was being genuine nobody seemed to believe him, “There’s construction outside my apartment, it was keeping me up.” 

That was enough to placate everyone for the time being, even if it was a lie. 

It didn’t last long though as as soon as dinner was cleared away Bobby called Buck into his office, “Have a seat.” Buck begrudgingly flopped down, already knowing where this was going. 

Bobby rested his forearms on the desk, hands clasped, leaning forward, all of his attention on the man in front of him, “So tell me, what’s going on?” 

“Nothing Bobby, I swear. You know what I’m like, sometimes my brain short circuits, that’s all it did.” 

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” 

“I know, I know, and I’m genuinely fine.” Bobby inspected him for a moment, until he was finally satisfied that Buck really was okay. 

“Alright, but it might be best to go and get some rest, alright?” 

“You got it Cap.” Buck stood and headed out, but before he left he stopped in the doorway and turned back, “Thanks Bobby, I appreciate the concern.” 

“Has anyone seen my sunglasses?” Buck asked, rummaging through the kitchen draws. Hen and Chimney looked over at him from the sofa they were sitting on before sharing a look. 

“Why would they be in there?” Chim asked, wicked grin on his face. 

“I’ve looked everywhere else, it’s the only other place they could possibly be.” The cutlery rattled as Buck slid the drawer shut a little too hard, “They’re not in my locker, my truck, my turnouts, I’ve checked under the couch, under the cushions, bunk room, they’re literally nowhere.” 

“Maybe you left them at home.” Hen suggested, trying not to laugh. 

Buck threw open a cupboard under the counter and practically disappeared into it, his voice muffled by the wood, “Nope, I clearly remember wearing them on my drive in.” 

“And you’re sure? There’s no way you’re getting your days confused?” 

“Again.” Chim added.

He reappeared from the cupboard, head peeking over the counter, looking a little frazzled, “Nope, because I crashed on Eddie’s couch last night, I distinctly remember leaving his place with them on.” 

“Was it you or Eddie who took Christopher to school this morning?” 

“Hen, you genius! I must’ve dropped them at the school!” 

“What’s going on?” Bobby asked as he walked into the kitchen space, Buck’s lack of volume control summoning him.

“I’ve lost my sunglasses, I think I lost them whilst dropping Chris off this morning.” Bobby looked confused so Buck gave context, “I ended up crashing on Eddie’s couch and as it’s his day off I took Christopher to school, let him sleep in.” 

“Yeah, I assumed.” Chim and Hen knew exactly what Bobby was about to say, they began to frantically wave at Bobby trying to get him to shut up, he simply ignored them, “But what about the glasses on your head?” 

Buck’s hands shot up to his hair, finding the sunglasses he’d spent the last half an hour searching for, “Why didn’t you say anything?!” He squawked, turning to Hen and Chim as he pulled the accessories from his head, short curls trying to cling onto them, a sure sign that he was in desperate need of a haircut. 

“Oh, sorry Buck, we didn’t notice them.” Chimney said, feigning innocence. 

Hen nodded solemnly, “We were too worried about you to see them.”

“I hate both of you.” Buck huffed, “This is why Bobby’s my favourite.” 

The team (minus Bobby who was out on a date with Athena) sat around watching Blue Planet III together at Hen’s place. They’d set themselves up in the backyard, a bed sheet being used as a screen so they could project the show onto it. 

The Blue Planet shows were always best watched high so there was at least one joint on the go at any given time, shared between their small group. 

As a dolphin swam by on screen Buck opened his mouth to let one of his many fun facts tumble out, “Did you know there was a scientist who taught a dolphin to play fetch.” 

“I’m pretty sure that’s the first thing captive dolphins are trained to do.” Hen pointed out, eyes not leaving the screen. 

“I know, yeah, but this is different, this dolphin, his name was Elvin, and instead of catching it and bringing it back with its face-”

“Mouth.” Chimney corrected. 

“Nose.” Eddie said instead. 

“Head?” Was Hen’s addition. 

“Shush, that bit’s unimportant. No, he taught him to do it-” Buck chuckled before lowering his voice to a whisper, but a loud whisper because he had zero volume control regardless of how high or how sober he was, “with his penis, erect.”

Chim choked on the lung full of smoke he’d just inhaled, “What the fuck Buck!” 

“I did not need to know that.” Eddie cringed, “Please tell me you didn’t learn this when you took Chris to the aquarium.”

“Don’t worry, I learned it in a book. I also learnt that the same guy who taught Elvin also tried to teach dolphins English.” He mimed an explosion ‘mind blown’.

“Did he succeed?” Hen asked.

“Eh.” Buck wobbled his hand side to side before reaching over and taking the joint, inhaling deeply, “One of the people who worked on the project refused to respond to this dolphin called Peter unless he spoke in English. But then he started getting rowdy so he’d get erections during lessons and his teacher would have to jerk him off so they could get back to work. And NASA fucking funded this!” 

“NASA? Dolphins?” Eddie was trying to wrap his weed addled mind around it.

“The ocean is the opposite of space.” 

“Ah, but Chim, dolphins might be aliens.” Buck nodded, looking all sage and wise even if he was just spouting a theory about the origins of dolphins.

“Yeah, I think you’ve had enough of that.” Hen reached over and took the joint from him.

“Hey! I’m the one who paid for that!” Blue Planet nights were fairly common for the four of them, and everyone took it in turns to buy the weed from the approved list of strains they’d built (Buck had gotten a little too paranoid one night so they had to ban that strain which is what led to aforementioned list) and tonight had been Buck’s turn. Hen was next on weed rotation which was a good thing as they were watching Blackfish rather than Blue Planet so her sensible choices would stop Buck and Eddie from freaking out about a murderous Orca. 

“I don’t care.” Hen took a deep drag before chucking the butt into the novelty ashtray.

They were all standing around the massive greenhouse, they’d already freed the victim, unfortunately they’d been dead by the time they’d managed to get to them. 

All of them were inspecting the scene, Athena and Bobby from a professional standpoint, the others just being nosey. 

“-there’s no cameras.” Athena was saying, “No witnesses. Nothing.”

“Yes, there are.” Buck said.

Everyone turned to look at him, “Care to share?” Athena asked, a sceptical look gracing her face.

“The plants.” Buck waved his hand about, indicating the greenery surrounding them that the building was designed to house and nurture. 

Athena crossed her arms, inspecting Buck for any signs of bullshit “Are you mocking me Buckley?” 

“What? No, God, no!” In hindsight he understood how it sounded, but he didn’t always think before he spoke, “No, in the sixties research was done into plant sentience. They sent six students into a room with two plants, one of them had to kill one of the plants, and then when they attached the other plant to a lie detector it reacted to the guilty person. If you can find a suspect you could ask the plants.” Athena relaxed a bit at that, satisfied that the man who’d essentially become her Stepson wasn’t trying to make her look stupid. A fondness joining the scepticism that was still written plainly across her face, only Buck would bring something like this up, she found it endearing. 

“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, Buckaroo.” Chimney warned him, “It’s full of lies.”

“I didn’t read it on the internet.” Buck protested, “I read it in a book.” 

“And was the book a reliable source?” Hen asked.

“Yeah, the guy’s a professional smart person.” 

“I think you mean he’s an academic.” Bobby said. 

“Well, no matter the man's credentials, I don’t think a judge would buy it.” Athena had a point, although it wasn’t pseudoscience it most certainly wasn’t a widespread theory and there was no way it would stand up in court.  

Buck couldn’t get himself to move. 

He was supposed to have left his apartment an hour ago but instead he was still sat on his bed, in his pyjamas, staring at the wall. 

It felt like he couldn’t figure out how to move, no matter how many times he told his body to stand he couldn’t seem to do it. 

Buck was supposed to be meeting Maddie and Jee-Yun so they could go to the park, and he did really want to see them but he couldn’t kick himself into gear. 

He knew Maddie would’ve called him by now but his phone was on silent and lost somewhere amongst his bed sheets so if she had (which, again, she almost certainly had) he couldn’t hear it and would have probably spent so long hunting for it that it would’ve rung out. 

There was a knock on his door, but he was still stuck, it felt like he was made of lead. 

There was another knock. 

And another.

Followed by Maddie calling out his name. 

Instead of standing he managed to fall back, lying flat on his back in bed. 

He wanted to lift his arms so he could cover his face, hide away in his elbows, but it was too much work and he was too heavy. 

There was another knock at the door and then silence. 

He knew Maddie wouldn’t give up, so she was planning on doing something. What that something was he didn’t know but he could sense it coming. 

Buck found out what she had planned fifteen minutes later when he heard a key in the lock, meaning it could only be one person (Because even Maddie didn’t have a key to his place).

“Buck?” Eddie called out. 

He attempted to call out “Upstairs.” But it came out all muffled and jumbled. 

A series of footsteps entered the apartment but only one pair came upstairs, the soft thud of sneakers in a familiar rhythm alerted him to Eddie’s imminent arrival. 

The bed bounced a bit as Eddie flopped down next to Buck, the both of them lying on their backs staring up at the ceiling, “Maddie was worried about you, worried you’d done something stupid and gotten hurt. She was a mess when she called me.” Eddie began to explain, “So, wanna tell me what’s wrong with you?” 

Buck was able to roll his head to the side, looking at Eddie, letting out an exhausted hum. 

Eddie turned his head so he was also looking at Buck, “Whatever it is you can tell me, it’s fine.” He did his best to gently encourage him. He wasn’t used to seeing Buck like this but he knew him so well that he intuitively knew how to deal with it anyway. 

“Just executive dysfunction.” He managed to say, “I can’t figure out how to move, I just feel… heavy.” 

Eddie nodded, “Did anything cause it?”

“No, just happened. I think I’m just tired, can’t find the energy to function.” 

Before Eddie could respond the sound of tiny feet slapping up the stairs interrupted them. 

Suddenly the bed dipped and then there was a heavy weight on Buck’s chest, “Uncle Buck!” the weight (aka Jee-Yun) shrieked before proceeding to place big, wet toddler kisses on his cheek. 

He thankfully managed to find the energy to wrap his arms around his niece, “Hi Jee.” 

The voice of his sister then joined the mix, “Sorry, sorry, I’ll take her back downstairs.” She apologised. 

“No, come join us.” Buck jerked his head to the space on his other side, the fact that they were all lying along the long edge meaning there was plenty of space for all of them. 

Buck didn’t need to say anything else, Maddie happily joined the group. 

“Uncle Buck sad?” Jee-Yun asked.

“No baby, not sad, just low.” He told her, squeezing her.

Jee messily slapped his cheek multiple times, a toddler's attempt at comfort, before placing a few more kisses on his cheek, “All better.” 

“Yeah, all better, thank you Jee.” 

The four of them spent half an hour like that before Jee began to get restless so Maddie took her downstairs leaving Buck and Eddie lying down. 

“Want to do this slowly or fast?” He asked.

Buck groaned, all melodramatic, “Fast, I guess.” 

Eddie got up and then moved to stand in front of Buck where he proceeded to lift him off of the bed and fireman carry him down the stairs, dumping him in on his feet in the middle of the living space. 

Buck jumped up and down a few times, shaking himself out to get energy back into his cells and all the fibres of his body, having broken free of the executive dysfunction for now. 

It wasn’t long after that that Eddie headed home, leaving Buck, Maddie and Jee-Yun to their little family day out. 

Halloween was always a weird time of year for first responders, nothing but hectic and bizarre calls. So when the 118 got called to an incident where a man had been bitten on the throat no one was overly surprised. 

“He was a real vampire, I swear!” The guy was saying as Hen and Chim tried to patch him up, Athena watching on. 

“Sure he was. Do you remember what this ‘vampire’ looked like?” Clearly Athena was taking no shit tonight. 

“He looked like a vampire!” 

“Dracula, Nosferatu or David?” Chim asked, looking up at the guy.

“David?” Athena looked over to Chimney, unsure of what the hell he was talking about.

“Lost Boys.” Was all she got in response, thankfully she was familiar with the film.

“That’s Keither Sutherland, right?” The guy asked.

“Best vampire of all time.” Chim said in place of a confirmation. 

“I’m team Dracula.” Hen didn’t look up from the guy's neck as she spoke.

“Nah, it’s Spike.” The man went to shrug only for Hen to stop him with a hand on the shoulder. 

“I’m team Edward.” A friend of the guy said, stumbling over, clearly extremely drunk, before promptly throwing up, barely missing Athena’s shoes. 

“Okay, let’s get you some water.” Chimney stood and guided the woman over to the ambulance. 

Once she was gone Athena turned back to the man, “So, tell me more about this vampire.” 

“You know What We Do In The Shadows?” Hen and Athena shared a look, they both knew the name but hadn’t actually seen it. 

“Oh, I love that film.” Buck said, having appeared out of nowhere. 

“He looked like Viago.” The guy pointed at Buck, waggling his finger about, glad someone understood him. 

“He’s a fancy dandy.” Buck explained for the other two, before turning back to the vampire’s victim, “On a scale of potato salad to fruit salad, how fruity did he seem?” 

“Buck.” Athena hissed.

“What? I’m bi,” He protested, “I can say shit like that without it being a hate crime.” He turned back to the man, “So, how fruity?”

“Fruity as a fruit salad with tomatoes.” Buck and Hen both nodded in understanding.

“So you’re looking for a camp, dandy vampire.” Buck told Athena, who made a quick note of it. 

“You gotta find him quick,” The guy begged, “If this follows Lost Boy's logic you need to kill him, I can’t be a vampire, I’m vegan!” 

“Oh yeah, you don’t want that. No such thing as a vegan vampire.” Buck said, taking the guy completely seriously. 

“You both believe in vampires?” Hen asked, looking a bit taken aback. 

“Yeah.” The man replied, whilst Buck subtly shook his head, he didn’t believe but he was going along with the other guy in the hopes of making sure he stayed open about the situation. 

“There was an astronomer called Frank Drake and he vampire proofed his workplace as an employee was convinced he’d seen a man in a black cloak walking around the satellite dish. He had a shit ton of garlic added to every meal catered by the observatory.” Buck explained, Drake hadn’t actually believed in Vampires but he’d gone along with it to help mitigate a mass panic, which is exactly what Buck was doing now. 

“See, I’m not crazy.” The man said, gesturing towards Athena who still didn’t look convinced. 

She huffed out a frustrated sigh, “So you were bitten by a fancy looking vampire and you’re worried you might be turning into one?” The man nodded, “And which way did he go?” 

The man pointed down the road, Athena nodded and headed off to speak to some more officers who were in that general direction. 

"You on drugs?” Buck asked the man, forgetting the preamble.

He’d been restless the whole drive there, wanting to get up and do something, unable to focus on the chatter that was surrounding him, eyes fixed on the world whizzing past. 

He felt like he wanted to crawl out of his skin, his whole being buzzing with energy with nowhere to send it. Part of him wished he was driving as it’d give him something to do, but that being said, there’s a chance he wouldn’t be able to focus on the road if he did. 

“Hey, back me up, Buck.” He heard Eddie say through his headset. 

He managed to get out a gormless “Huh?” as he turned away from the window, looking at the group who were all looking at him expectantly. 

“You’ve not been paying attention, have you?” Hen asked, the question clearly rhetorical. 

“We’re trying to decide on a movie for tonight.” Chimney told him, “Hen and me think we should watch Alien-”

“But I think we should do Star Trek The Voyage Home.”

“And, as Captain, I’m abstaining from voting.”

“What about Sharknado?” Buck suggested with a shrug.

“That wasn’t an option.” Chim scoffed.

“Well maybe it should be.” Buck protested. 

“It’s Sharknado! Alien is the height of cinema and Sharknado is… well, it’s Sharknado.” Chim argued.

“It’s a great movie, come on, give it a chance!”

Eddie was clearly thinking for a second before he nodded his head, “Yeah, I could go for that.”   

“I’m not against trying it out.” Hen added. 

“But what about Alien?” Chim protested, he’s been fighting for them to watch it as a group for ages, but it looked like he wasn’t winning anytime soon.

At that moment they pulled into the parking lot of an outlet mall, smoke billowing out of the building's doors. They all kicked into business mode immediately, all movie discussions forgotten. 

The fire was raging, fighting back against everything the crews already present were throwing at it. And to top it all off it was the middle of the day on a Saturday so the building had been heaving, absolutely packed with shoppers and staff. There was a huge amount of people that’d already evacuated but there were still more inside. 

Look, Buck wasn’t impulsive on purpose, sure he had no regard for his own wellbeing, his sense of self preservation obliterated by his childhood, but that didn’t mean he actively chose to act first, think later. 

And, unfortunately for everyone, his impulses were triggered by a mix of his hyperactivity, the buzz of energy still thrumming under his skin, and a woman wailing, unable to find her daughter who she was certain was still in the building. 

“Where did you last see her?” Buck asked, jogging over to the woman.

“We were in the food court, her name is Gabby, she’s only five, please, you have to find her!” 

“Of course, I’ll do my best to bring her back safe.” And with that he sprinted to the building, pulling his mask on, placing his helmet over the top. 

As he crossed the threshold Bobby’s voice erupted from his radio, “Buck, you’d better tell me that wasn’t you I just saw run in.” 

As he powered on he grabbed his radio, “Sorry Bobby, won’t be long.” 

“Buck, you’d better get out of there, it’s not safe.” You didn’t need to know Bobby well to know that he was pissed. 

“There’s a kid in here, I need to find her.” 

“She’s not the only person in there that needs rescuing, running in without a plan’s only doing more harm than good, you know this.” 

“All due respect Bobby, I’m not worried about that right now, I’m worried about the five year old who’s currently alone in a burning building.” He kept pushing on, allowing him to focus solely on the task at hand. 

He’d been to this mall before, he’d actually taken Christopher shopping there after school the previous day, it hadn’t even been 24 hours since he left. 

He did his best to retrace his steps from yesterday, trying to not get disorientated by the smoke and flames. 

“Gabby!” He yelled, just in case she’d left the food court and tried to find her mum, “Gabby, can you hear me?” 

He finally made it to the escalators and ran down them, making it to the bottom floor as quickly as possible. It was a mess down there, flames licking at potted plants, smoke obscuring the natural light coming in from the glass ceiling three floors above him, tables overturned, drinks and food littering the floor. 

“Gabby! Gabby? I’m with LAFD!” He scouted out the entire court, “Gabby!” But there was no sign of the girl. 

He kept going, yelling her name as loudly as he could. 

He could’ve been there for five minutes or five hours, he didn’t know, all he knew was that he hadn’t found the little girl. He’d even checked behind the counters, but she was nowhere. 

“Buck, what the hell are you thinking?” As Buck went to grab his radio to respond he turned around to find Bobby behind him, turns out he hadn’t spoken to him through the radio this time but in person. 

“I have to find her!” He was beginning to get desperate. 

“You’ve been gone for twenty minutes, she’s not here.” 

“Her mum said she was here!” 

“She’s not here, Buck, she’s not here.” Bobby reached for the other man, grabbing his shoulder so he could drag him away. 

“Then where is she?” He demanded, shrugging his Captain off. 

“She could’ve gotten herself out, gotten help from a stranger, she could’ve been found by a firefighter already. But she’s not here.”  

“I’m not leaving until I know where she is.” 

Bobby glared at him for a second before finally coming to a decision, “We’re leaving, now. But we can check out the shops on our way out, alright?” Buck seemed satisfied by the compromise so nodded, his head jerking stiffly. 

The pair turned to leave, Bobby powering on as Buck walked a little less enthusiastically, the both of them shouting out for Gabby. 

It took them a further fifteen minutes to get out, Buck insisting on checking everywhere possible for the kid, but they couldn’t find her. 

As he broke out into the sunlight and fresh air Buck took his helmet off and pulled his mask from his face, deeply inhaling, trying to stave off tears as he searched for Gabby’s mum. He found her all too easily, and as soon as they made eye contact the woman broke down, knowing that Buck hadn’t found her daughter. 

He dropped his helmet and unclipped his bottled oxygen, letting both clang to the ground loudly, undoing his jacket.

He walked over to the woman and pulled her into his arms, “I am so, so sorry.” He said, trying to hold it together for the mothers sake. 

“You said you’d find her.” She wailed into his chest.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I did my best, I’m sorry.” He clung onto the woman. She was only 5 foot meaning she was over a foot shorter than Buck so his whole body encased her, seemingly shielding her from the world as she broke down with grief. As she kept sobbing Buck couldn’t keep it together much longer, his own tears breaking through and leaking down his face. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He kept mumbling, unable to think of anything else. 

Eventually, at what point Buck didn’t know, someone separated them. All he knew was that Bobby had his arms around him and was guiding him back to the engine. 

All of the energy from earlier had left his body, burned up by the fire, so the whole way back he stayed slumped in his seat, head resting on Hen’s shoulder, her arm wrapped around him. 

He was the last out of the engine and last in the shower, washing the soot and grime from his body, hoping to take the grief with it. He was also the last out of the shower, taking far longer than he usually would, having lost all energy to move or function, leaving him stuck under the steaming stream of hot water until something in his brain finally kicked into gear and forced him out on autopilot. 

As soon as he was dried and changed he bumped into Bobby, well saying that, Bobby had probably placed himself strategically so he could easily get to Buck as soon as he was done. 

“Buck.” He jerked his head towards his office, prompting the other man to follow him. 

As soon as the office door shut Bobby started talking, “What the hell did you think you were doing?” Bobby asked, only a slight bite behind his words. Buck avoided eye contact, unable to face the man, “You shouldn’t have run into the building and you know that. So why did you do it?” He still got nothing, “Buck, I need you to talk to me. Why did you do it?” 

“Her kid was missing.” Buck snapped, still avoiding eye contact. 

“As were so many others, why her?” 

“I don’t know, Bobby, okay? I don’t know why, but I latched onto her, that’s all.” He shrugged, crossing his arms.

“Buck, look at me.” He didn’t, “Buck, come on.” He was met with more silence, “Look, kid, don’t shut me out right now, this is important.” 

“Look, I know you’re pissed, okay?” He finally looked up and made eye contact with Bobby, his eyes looking red and wet, like he was one wrong step away from crying again, “So just give me a lecture and let's move on.” 

“You’re right, I am pissed, but I’m also worried, I’m worried about you. It just feels like you’ve been getting more and more reckless these last few years. You know the rules and you still disregard them, you know exactly how I’m going to react and you still put yourself in danger anyway. You know you can’t do that.” There was an edge to Bobby’s voice, he wasn’t messing around.

“I’m trying to save people, that’s my job.” Buck snapped as he began  to pace, “I can’t just wait around for someone else to do it.”

“That’s not what you’re doing, we don’t stand around doing nothing, we were getting control of the fire so we could begin rescue operations, again; you know this, you know all of this, and yet you do it anyway.” Buck didn’t respond so Bobby just inspected the other man’s face, reading him like an open book, “I’m worried about you Buck.” He stood and walked over to where Buck was, placing both hands on the other man’s biceps, “You scare me. When you run off and do things like that you scare me, you understand?” Buck nodded. Bobby pulled him into a hug, tears soaking through his uniform at an alarming rate. “So why did you rush in?” 

“I didn’t want her to get hurt, I didn’t want her mum to lose her, I wanted their family to be okay. But I couldn’t do it, I failed them.” 

“You alright there?” Hen asked, looking at Buck over the table, the man in question sat with three small plates of leftovers in front of him.

“Shush.” Buck waved a hand at her as he stared intently at one of the plates, “I’m doing science.” 

“Science?” Chimney questioned, appearing over Hen’s right shoulder. 

“Are you doing this again?” Eddie groaned, appearing on Hen’s other side. 

“What’s ‘this’?” Bobby asked, the final person to arrive. 

“He’s testing a theory Novak Djokovic has, he was doing it at breakfast too.” Eddie explained, “It’s weird, and he’s got Chris doing it as well, felt like something out of a horror movie as they sat there just staring, it was creepy as fuck.” 

“Are you all going to shut up or are you going to keep disturbing my experiment?” Buck huffed, finally looking up from the food. As everyone stared at him expectantly he groaned before beginning to explain, “So I read in this book that Novak Djokovic believes that if you imbue food with positive energy it tastes better and has better nutritional value, so this one” He pointed at the first plate “is my control plate, no energy at all. This one,” He pointed at the plate in front of him, “Is positive energy. And this one” He pointed at the final plate, “Will have negative energy. I’m then going to try them all and see if they taste any different.” 

“And do they?” Chim asked.

“Well I don’t know.” Buck shot back, “You’ve all thrown me off and contaminated the energy.” 

Buck began to scrape the food from the control plate and the negative plate onto the positive plate so he now had a full portion to eat. 

“I thought you tried it this morning as well?” Bobby asked, “What were the results then?” 

“No, he only did a bowl of positive cereal.” Eddie informed the group, “Looks like he’s moved onto the big leagues.” 

Buck banged on Athena and Bobby’s front door, bouncing up and down a little bit, energy radiating from every pore. 

When there was no answer he headed around the side of the house and climbed the garden gate, gracefully dropping into their backyard, utilising the skills he’d developed during the parkour phase he’d had as a teenager. 

Athena and Bobby weren’t in the yard but the lights were on making it easy for him to spot them. He walked over to the wall length windows that looked into the kitchen and dining space, giving him a clear view of the couple slow dancing in the kitchen, loud music filtering through the glass. In the moment he didn’t recognise the song but when he asks Bobby about it later he learns that it’s Moon Glow by Cab Calloway, Bobby had found an old record player whilst he was clearing out the attic and some records so he’d bought them down leading to him and Athena dancing to Cab Calloway’s greatest hits. 

Not really thinking, Buck knocked on the window, causing the couple to jump, Athena’s hand instinctively going to her hip even though her gun was locked away in the safe. He waved at them apologetically, and as soon as the pair realised who it was they relaxed, Bobby walking over to let him in, “Hey Pops.” He greeted, slipping into the house.

“Uh, hey, Buck. Everything alright?” Bobby asked. 

“Oh, uh, yeah?” 

“It’s one in the morning and you were in our backyard, what’s going on?” Athena glared at him. Well it wasn’t really a glare, more like she was inspecting him in the way only a mother could, analysing him for any sign of distress or injury.

“I may have gotten myself into a situation?” He cringed a bit at that, whilst the other two immediately went full parent mode. 

Athena immediately came over and began fussing over him, “What happened baby, are you okay?” 

“I’m fine, I just might have gotten a little bit mugged whilst leaving a bar?” Athena immediately guided him over to the table and made him sit down. 

“What did they take?” Was her first question, her police training kicking in as she squatted down in front of him. 

“Wallet, phone, keys.” He listed off. 

“Did they hurt you?” Bobby asked, squatting down beside Athena. 

“No, no, I’m fine. For once I wasn’t stupid and I didn’t fight back. I wanted to, but all I could think about was how pissed you’d be if I got stabbed or died. Again.” He tried to brush it off with a chuckle, but it was uneasy.

Bobby and Athena both looked uncomfortable, sharing a concerned look with each other, “I’m proud of you for doing the smart thing Buckaroo, but how about we don’t joke about that.” Athena said, voice gentle. Everyone knew one of Buck’s main coping mechanisms was humour so there’d been a unanimous decision (a decision Buck hadn’t been involved in) to try get him away from covering it all up and brushing it off when he got into situations he didn’t want to address. 

“What do you need from us?” Bobby asked, voice gentle, moving from the floor to come and sit next to Buck. 

“Can I borrow a computer to cancel my cards and wipe my phone please?” 

“Of course.” Athena was already up and walking to hers and Bobby’s bedroom so she could grab her laptop. 

“I think we should also call a locksmith in the morning so we can get your locks changed but for tonight you’re gonna stay here with us, alright?” Buck nodded, Bobby’s certainty left no space for argument. And if he was being honest the idea of staying with his pseudo-parents after the night he’d just had made him feel safe. 

At that moment Athena returned and placed the laptop on the table in front of Buck, “Hows about I go and set up the guest room whilst you and Athena sort everything out?” Buck nodded so Bobby stood and headed off to the guest bedroom, formerly May’s room. 

Athena sat in the seat Bobby had just vacated and logged into the computer. They sat together, chatting quietly as they went through and cancelled all of Buck’s credit cards and then wiped his phone so the thief wouldn’t have access to any of his stuff. He then contacted his insurance company and filled out the necessary documentation to get a new driver's licence. 

Suddenly a thought his him, “Fuck.” 

“Are you okay?” Athena asked, suddenly worried again.

“I’ve got a key to Eddie’s place, he’ll need to change his locks too.” 

Without hesitation Athena unlocked her phone and handed it over to him, “So you can text him.” She said in way of explanation. 

Buck gratefully accepted the phone and located the thread she had with Eddie.

Eddie its Buck! My phone, keys and wallet got stolen so I’m at the Grant-Nash house. Getting my locks changed tomorrow so will give you a new key but you should probs change yours too!!

And then he hit send, handing the phone back to its rightful owner. 

“Room’s ready.” Bobby said, returning to the dining area, “I’ve also left some sweats and a t-shirt in there, the pants will probably be a bit short on you but it’s all I’ve got unfortunately. Your toothbrush is still in the guest bathroom and there are fresh towels so you can have a shower.” 

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.” 

After that it didn’t take long for them to split off, heading to bed. 

From the sound of Bobby’s snores (because of fucking course the man snored) he and Athena had managed to fall asleep quickly. Buck, on the other hand, was struggling; he didn’t have any of his medication with him and the stuff he took at night helped with the insomnia, without it he was screwed. 

He lay there in bed, staring at the ceiling, hoping that the adrenaline crash would be enough to get him to sleep. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t. 

He began to get restless, rolling about, trying any position he could in the hopes that it would be enough to send him to sleep. Yet again it did nothing to help. 

Eventually he got fed up and got out of bed, heading through to the kitchen. 

He’d stayed at the Grant-Nash house so many times that he knew the place like the back of his hand, his many cooking lessons with Bobby having taught him where every single thing lived in the kitchen. It also meant he was comfortable to just help himself to stuff, as was evident by the fact that he began pulling out all the things he’d need for a hot chocolate. 

He let the methodical simplicity sooth him, running on autopilot as he set the microwave. 

Once he was done he grabbed his cup and headed out into the yard, settling down on one of the lawnchairs under the string lights that gave off a comforting glow. There were only a few stars visible but the moon was clear as anything so he just sat there and watched. 

He didn’t get any sleep that night, so when it hit seven he went back inside and started making breakfast as he knew Athena would be up soon for work. 

“We should all be prepared for an earthquake.” Buck stated as soon as he reached the top of the stairs leading to the loft. 

Everyone looked over at him from where they’d gathered around the kitchen island, “Good morning to you too.” Chimney said, sounding somewhat sarcastic. 

“Sorry, good morning.” Buck quickly replied before going back to his initial point, “We should prepare for an earthquake.” 

“Alright Nostradamus, why’s that?” Hen laughed. 

“Increase in missing cat posters.” Was all they got in response. Buck ignored the confused stares he was getting as he bustled around the kitchen sorting himself a cup of coffee. 

When it was clear no explanation was coming Bobby decided to take things into his own hands, “Meaning…” 

Buck’s brow furrowed, now his turn to be confused, “Meaning?” 

“What do missing cats have to do with earthquakes?” Bobby expanded. 

“Well, cats supposedly run away when a quake is imminent, they can sense it. So if there’s an increase of missing cat posters then there’s more cats running away, so they must know something’s coming.”

“Or more cats are just running away.” Eddie said, ever the sceptic. 

“Correlation doesn’t equal causation.” Hen shrugged, backing him up.

“They say it increases by 400% and I’ve seen a lot of posters appear recently. And I’m not saying there’s 100% going to be a quake, just that we should be wary, so it doesn’t catch us by surprise.” 

“Hey Buck,” Chim said, cocking his head to the side and fixing the man in question with a quizzical look, “Where do you get your facts from?” 

“Books.” Buck shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. 

“And these are reliable books, right?” 

“Yes, Chim, they’re reliable books, written by trustworthy sources with bibliographies that are just as long as the actual book.” 

“And this cat fact is one of those?” 

Buck groaned, throwing his head back before glaring at Chimney, “Yes, the writer was a researcher on a British quiz panel show and he’s a documentary maker and a podcaster, he knows his shit.”

“How do you even find these books? Your facts are so weird I swear you’ve got to be reading the most obscure things.” Hen asked. 

“Eh, I’ve found a few weird bookshops, and my book friends give me recommendations.” 

“Book friends?” Bobby tried to hide a chuckle behind a confused face.

“Yeah, from my book club.” Clearly everyone other than Eddie didn’t know about Buck’s book club, “What? I’ve been going for years. It’s me, a bunch of women in their forties and up, and we drink loads of wine and chat about books. And sometimes Dottie recommends weird books that she’s reading.” 

“And Dottie is…” Hen prompted. 

“She’s this retired old woman with way too much time on her hands, she’s great.”  

Everything after that returned to normal, no more talk of cat posters. 

At least it did, only for it to be shattered by a moderate quake three days later. As they drove to one of the affected areas Buck simply shrugged and said “Cats, right?” 

How the guy got his hand trapped in the toilet was anyone's guess, and he wasn’t being particularly forthcoming with information, although given how drunk he was and how likely it was that he was high (if Buck had to guess he’d say coke) there was no doubt that that was a factor. 

Hen and Chimney were crammed in the cubicle with the guy whilst Buck stood back, leaning against the door frame, watching as they worked. 

Even though it was a relatively easy job the guy was freaking out a lot. So Buck had been assigned the job of distracting him, meaning he was fully utilising his ADHD. 

“Did you know Buzz Aldrin was the first person to piss on the moon.” The look of bafflement on everyone's face was hilarious; the man was sat there with his hand stuck in the toilet whilst Hen and Chim were squating on either side of him, the three of them having turned their heads to stare at him, mouths open, “Being the first person to set foot on the moon wasn’t actually Neil Armstrong's favourite steps, his favourite was standing on a stone that Jesus was supposed to have stood on too.” Hen and Chim went back to working whilst the guy kept staring at Buck as he rattled off facts he’d learnt. “Ringo Star plays the drums backwards, he’s left handed and plays on a right handed kit as his nan, the Voodoo Queen Of Liverpool, wanted to make him right handed, she actually performed exorcisms on him. So he learnt to play the drums with his right hand but when he went back to using his left he never changed his kit, it’s why he’s got such a unique sound.” 

“You’re so weird.” Was all the man could say in response. 

Buck’s face fell, thankfully Chim jumped to his defence, “You know his facts are actually really useful, he managed to prepare us for last month's earthquake with one.” 

“Yep, gave us a few extra days to ready ourselves.” Hen added. 

“Also helped us with a roller coaster rescue.” 

Sudden realisation dawned on the guy's face, “Oh, I knew I recognised you, you tried to save that guy a few years ago, the one hanging from the roller coaster.”

“This was a different coaster incident.” Chim said, quickly shutting that down so they didn’t get into what was still a touchy subject for Buck, and he was still looking downcast so the last thing they needed was toilet man to add fuel to the fire, “This one was smooth thanks to this guy.” Chim threw his thumb back, indicating Buck. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, don’t want to get in your way.” Buck shuffled off, heading back outside to join the others who were mooching about. 

“How’s toilet guy?” Bobby asked. Buck stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged, “I’m assuming if you’re out here Hen and Chim are almost done.”

“Nah, he’d just calmed down enough that I wasn’t needed anymore.” He mumbled. 

Bobby and Eddie shared a look, knowing Buck well enough to know that something had happened in the bathroom to trigger his rejection sensitive dysphoria. 

“How’d you distract him?” Eddie hoped that getting Buck to talk about something he was passionate about would perk him up. 

“Just facts, nothing major.” He tried to play it off, pretending that he hadn’t fallen into the hole that had opened up in the pit of his stomach thanks to the RSD. 

“Oh come on, your facts are never ‘just facts’, they’re a whole experience.” Eddie said, giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder. 

“Yeah, well, he didn’t seem to like them very much.” 

“Well which ones did you tell him?” Bobby asked, hoping to get Buck to cheer up by giving him space to infodump. 

“Uh, Ringo Star, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong.” He listed, not giving any more detail than that, besides they were facts Bobby and Eddie had heard before, in his current mood Buck didn’t feel like putting them through it all again. 

“Not the one about crabs?” Eddie hoped that poking at one of Buck’s more risque facts might cause him to perk up. 

“I didn’t think it was appropriate, I’m working.” 

“Well, considering he was being seen to by paramedics, I’d say informing him of the decline of pubic lice would constitute doing your job.” Bobby offered, knowing what Eddie was trying to do. 

“A drunk man in a bar being given information about sexual health is a public service.” Eddie added. 

“Okay, that’s true.” Buck chuckled, it wasn’t his usual exuberant laugh that managed to light up his whole face, but it was a start.