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Being a firefighter means there is a high possibility of being injured on the job.
Buck knew this when he signed up and it never scared him or made him not want to do this.
He just didn’t realize he was so prone to being the one who got injured on the job the most out of his team.
Here he is yet again in a hospital bed, injured because of his job.
Buck’s fine—well, he did dislocate his hip on a call.
Well, that’s what they are telling him but the drugs are really working their magic right now.
Eddie’s here. He’s been here the whole time. He came with Buck in the ambulance on the way to the hospital from the call and hasn’t left his side.
He loves having Eddie around, through it all. He’s always there in good times and bad times. Buck truly has no idea what he would do without Eddie.
*
Seeing Buck in a hospital bed—again—doesn’t sit right with Eddie. He knows he’s going to be okay and Buck has been through much worse—like being dead for three minutes and seventeen seconds—but it doesn’t freak Eddie out any less knowing that.
Seeing any of his team injured in the hospital makes Eddie nervous but Buck… he cannot lose Buck. Eddie doesn’t know what he would do without Buck.
He’s really helped him—once that troll Tommy was out of the picture—with everything with Chris. He helped get Chris to come home finally and work things out with Eddie, which Eddie could not be more grateful for.
The three of them had a video call and Buck told Chris that Eddie’s really been working on himself and he can see a change in him and he just needs his son back and to talk things out. Chris always responded well to Buck and it worked again this time. He could not be more grateful for Buck always being there for him and his son. He leans on Buck a lot and he knows it’s okay to do so because Buck has told him many times that he sees Chris as his own son too. That’s how Eddie sees it. He never would have made Buck Christopher’s legal guardian in his will if he didn’t think of Buck as another parent to his kid.
So seeing Buck injured yet again does not make Eddie feel good. He has had knots in his stomach since it happened on the call and has only started to lessen in the past five minutes when he saw Buck’s goofy—high—smile when the morphine kicked in.
“Feelin’ better?” He teases him.
Buck hums and the sound sends shivers down Eddie’s body. “Much…” he says softly.
Eddie chuckles, watching Buck sink a bit into the bed. He doesn’t have a gown on for some reason but he isn’t complaining. Buck’s big, strong chest is out and Eddie’s got a good view of his pecs and the small tattoos he has on his body.
“Well you look great,” Eddie teases once again.
Buck turns his head to look at him from where Eddie’s sat in a chair pulled up close to Buck’s bed. “Right? I’m so hot,” he says back with a smirk.
Eddie chuckles, he can’t help it when Buck’s being so cute and silly. “I know you’re deflecting about what happened today by making jokes about how hot you are,” Eddie says.
“It’s not a joke! I’m a legit snack!” Buck tells him, eyes watching him then slightly moving down to Eddie’s lips then back to his eyes. “So are you, you know?”
Eddie’s heart starts beating faster and he could not be happier that he’s not hooked up to the machine that’s keeping track of Buck’s heartbeat. “Mhmm, yeah, a total snack,” Eddie teases, brushing off his comment, trying not to read too much into it as Buck is extremely high right now.
“More like a full course meal, baby,” Buck flirts, winking at him but it comes off wonky as he’s absolutely zonked right now.
Still—being called baby by his best friend slash the man he realized he’s so deeply in love with is doing something to Eddie.
“You’re so high,” he teases, shaking his head and the feelings and thoughts he’s having about Buck. He can’t be having these inappropriate thoughts about his best friend who is currently injured in the hospital, especially not when he doesn’t feel the same way about him.
Buck chuckles which turns into a bigger laugh making Eddie smile at him. “Yeah,” he hums when his laughter subsides. “Very high…” he hums again and fuck if that sound isn’t doing something to Eddie. “...but—” Buck starts up again, “you’re still hot as fuck, Eds.”
Eddie cannot control how hard his heart is beating, if he were a cartoon it would be beating out of his chest. “Alright, whatever you say, Buck,” he brushes it off to protect himself.
“Noooo,” Buck groans trying to shift in bed.
“Don’t move, you’re going to make it worse,” Eddie tries to stop him.
“I’m fine—it’s fine, you’re just not listening to me,” Buck tells him, looking into his eyes. He can’t look away from those perfect blue eyes—dialated as fuck but still beautiful—but he feels Buck grab his hand where they’re resting on the bed next to his injured hip. “You’re beautiful, Eddie. You’re so—God—I should shut up before I say something to make it awkward between us, but you know you’re everything to me right?”
Eddie feels himself getting emotional. Hearing that from Buck means a lot and he really hopes he means all of that and it’s not just the drugs.
“Do you really mean all of that?” Eddie chances asking, it comes out barely above a whisper.
“Of course, I do,” Buck tells him. He brings their clasped hands up to his face and kisses Eddie’s hand before laying them on his chest. He closes his eyes and hums softly.
With that, Buck falls asleep. Eddie moves a bit closer since his hand is now stuck between Buck’s on his chest. He doesn’t try to remove his hand though, he just makes himself comfortable to be uncomfortable for a while. As long as Buck is comfortable, Eddie will be okay.
*
Buck feels himself wake up and instantly feels some pain in his hip. He groans before he opens his eyes, but when he does he sees Eddie slumped over in the chair, leaning his upper body on the bed with him and his hand clasped between Buck’s on his chest.
Oh my God.
Everything Buck said earlier comes back to him like a tidal wave. He instantly feels embarrassed until an image of Eddie’s face pops into his head when he had asked if Buck really meant what he was saying.
Eddie wakes up when Buck lets his hand go even though it felt so good and so right and so warm in his.
“Sorry, was I hurting you?” Eddie asks in his cute little sleepy voice as he rubs at his eye, moving to sit upright in the chair.
Buck wants to ki—no, no.
“No, you weren’t, but I am in a bit of pain right now,” Buck tells him.
“Want me to get the nurse? Or—or the doctor? I think he’s supposed to come soon to tell us about your recovery and all that,” Eddie starts to ramble.
Buck smiles at him softly. Us. It really is always us when it comes to them, huh?
“I’m okay for now, as long as you’re here,” Buck tells him, a shy smile on his face.
Eddie matches his shy smile with his own and God, he’s so perfect.
Eddie shakes his head, “Not going anywhere, promise.”
“Good,” Buck smiles, trying to get a bit more comfortable before taking Eddie’s hand that’s still resting on the bed next to his injured hip. “That’s good,” he says, squeezing Eddie’s hand. “I meant what I said before—you mean everything to me, Eddie.”
“So you remember everything,” Eddie says.
“Mhmm,” Buck hums, rubbing his thumb across Eddie’s hand.
“About how hot you think you are,” Eddie teases, smirking.
Buck laughs, “And how hot I think you are,” he flirts.
Eddie blushes and Buck really wants to kiss him now. He starts to lean forward and he sees Eddie’s eyes look down at his lips before he starts to move forward too.
Then—
“Mr. Buckley,” someone says as they enter the room.
They both turn to the sound and see a doctor enter the room and come to the foot of Buck’s bed. “Hi,” he says, focusing on the doctor and not how he almost kissed Eddie just now.
“Everything looks good and should heal properly but you will be recovering for the next two months or so,” he tells him. “Meaning, no work, no physical or sexual activity for the next six to eight weeks. Understood?”
Buck looks at Eddie and can’t help but pout making Eddie chuckle. Eddie takes his hand and squeezes it. He looks at the doctor and says, “I’ll make sure he follows orders.”
“We need to keep you one more night but you can head home tomorrow. Try to avoid stairs for a while too,” he tells them before leaving the room.
“You’re going to make sure I follow orders huh?” Buck teases.
Eddie laughs, “Shut up,” before leaning in and kissing Buck on the lips.
Buck gasps into the kiss before moaning, bringing his hand up to hold Eddie’s face there so he can’t move. He kisses him slowly, sensually, letting his tongue roam in his mouth and taste him.
Eddie pulls back slightly, resting his forehead against Buck’s, they’re both breathing heavily.
Buck chuckles softly, making Eddie laugh. They look at each other, smiling, happy, like their worlds didn’t just shift dramatically from that kiss.
Buck leans forward and kisses Eddie again because he can now apparently. Eddie kisses him softly, holding his face and Buck has never felt more safe and protected in his life—even being in a hospital bed.
Eddie pulls back and says, “So, um, you heard the doctor, no stairs, so you’re going to come stay with me while you recover.”
Buck suppresses a grin, smiling shyly. “Making me follow orders, sir yes sir,” he teases, making Eddie blush.
God, he loves to make Eddie blush. His cheeks get bright red. Makes Buck feel so good that he was able to elicit that reaction from him.
“Yes, I will be making you follow orders, no matter how hard some of them are to follow,” Eddie teases right back.
Buck groans, “No fair. I finally get to be with you and we can’t do anything for weeks.”
Eddie chuckles, “You’re cute when you’re desperate.”
“Gee, thanks,” Buck laughs.
“We can kiss though…” Eddie trails off, biting his bottom lip softly.
“God, yes, lots and lots of kissing, please.”
“Fuck,” Eddie groans softly. “You sound too good when you beg.”
Buck smirks before pulling Eddie’s face back to his. He shoves his tongue in his mouth and just takes as much as he wants because he knows Eddie wants this too.
This is going to be a hard next few weeks.