Work Text:
With Chris at his grandparents house in Texas for the summer, Eddie has a lot of free time. He’s taken on a lot of extra shifts— even if that means having to work more with Gerrard. Bobby is still in the process of getting his position as Captain back but so far, Gerrard is still the 118 Captain.
This summer has been shaping up to be his worst one yet. No Chris. Racist, homophobic, fuckass captain.
On the bright side, Eddie has been working out a lot and he’s more buff than he’s ever been. He’s always been fit but he was always on the slimmer side. Now he’s got his sick pack back and he’s got bigger arms. He’s pretty sure they’re as big as Buck’s now— well, almost.
That too. Buck has been spending a lot of time with him since Chris left and with him being single now too, Eddie’s been allowing his feelings for Buck to surface and not hide them so often.
There isn’t a change in how they act towards each other— they’re always touchy and close— but now he’s letting himself explore these feelings he’s realized have been there for years. He’s just not sure how Buck feels.
Buck’s confession to Eddie hit like a ton of bricks. He wasn’t shocked per say but he was disappointed to learn that Buck realizing his sexuality and attraction to men was being directed towards someone else.
He supports his best friend and wants him to be happy but he can’t say he wasn’t jealous of Tommy for being with the most amazing person Eddie has ever known.
Buck didn’t tell him why he and Tommy broke up— all he said was that it just wasn’t working out. Eddie’s happy that Buck got out of that if it wasn’t right for him.
Buck is also a people pleaser so he’s glad that he’s realizing his worth and not settling for people who don’t deserve him. He just hopes that one day he will be good enough for Buck.
With Buck single and Chris gone, whatever free time Eddie has is spent at work, the gym, or just hanging out with Buck, and even then Buck is at work with him and sometimes goes to the gym with him. Buck has even spent many nights crashing on his couch because he was too tired to drive home but Eddie’s sure it’s because Buck doesn’t want him to be alone, knowing how much he misses his son.
He’s grateful for it though. Knowing he has Buck there for him whenever he needs someone— it helps Eddie not to spiral too much or completely break down again.
Plus waking up and seeing Buck in his kitchen cooking them breakfast and making them coffee— he can pretend for a few minutes that he confessed his love to him and Buck feels the same way.
Eddie gets himself ready for work. When he gets to the kitchen and sees the calendar, he flips it over to August since it’s now a couple days past.
He sees that he wrote camping for two weekends from now.
Eddie usually takes Christopher camping every summer before school starts up again. They only go for one night so they usually leave early on a Saturday, that way they can get to the campground and set everything up before spending the afternoon at the nearest lake.
They roast marshmallows and talk about Shannon— some favorite past memories since s’mores always make them think of her. They sleep in their tent and in the morning, they go eat at a nearby diner to have breakfast before heading home.
Seeing it circled on his calendar but not having Christopher here to be able to do that makes him sad.
He shakes it off so he can continue getting ready to head out in the next fifteen minutes.
The moment their shifts start, it’s non stop calls. It feels like they haven’t left the truck.
It’s the core five of them riding together— Bobby in front, Hen and Chimney in front of him and Buck.
Buck’s closest to the window across from Hen. He’s yapping away about the different kinds of Penguins. Eddie’s half listening since he’s still thinking about camping and not having Chris here.
Usually he’s tapped in when Buck is talking about— well, anything. He knows Hen and Chim are listening because they’ve been speaking back but Eddie’s been quiet.
They get back to the station and Bobby calls out orders. He pairs Buck and Eddie up to clean the trucks.
“Hey, uh—“ Buck says after ten minutes of silent washing.
Eddie looks over at him, stopping for a moment.
“You okay? You’ve been pretty qu— silent today,” Buck catches himself.
Eddie rolls his eyes at Buck’s superstition about the word quiet.
“I’m fine,” he brushes off as he usually does but Buck gives him a look and—
He groans, “It’s just— I noticed the camping trip on the calendar. I ta— took Chris every year in August for a night before school starts. I guess I won’t be doing that this year.”
“Oh, Eddie—“ Buck says with a sad look on his face.
“It’s fine,” Eddie brushes off again. He has a thought and starts vocalizing it before he can help it, “Hey, what if we go?”
“Go— camping?” Buck asks, trying to keep up.
“Yeah, it’s great, and it’s just one night,” Eddie tells him. “Only if you want,” he adds, feeling like an idiot now for asking him to do this.
“What if there’s bears? Or like some weirdo?” Buck asks.
“Weirdo?” He asks, confused.
“Have you not heard about this Tik— never mind you definitely haven’t,” Buck teases, Eddie rolls his eyes at him making Buck giggle. “There’s this debate on Tik Tok where women are saying they’d feel safer in the woods alone with a bear over a random man.”
“Facts,” Hen says, joining them by the truck. He didn’t even notice her walking by.
“I— what does this have to do with going camping?” Eddie asks, never truly understanding anything when it comes to Tik Tok.
“What if there’s a bear?” Buck asks, a small smile on his face.
“It’s a campground— there’s no bears around,” Eddie tells him. “I wouldn’t bring my son somewhere where there could be bears.”
“Right— yeah, of course,” Buck says.
“What’s going on?” Hen asks, still there— watching them.
“We are going camping,” Buck tells her, a big smile on his face.
Hen giggles and mutters something under her breath that Eddie doesn’t catch. “That’ll be interesting,” she says louder for them to hear.
Eddie watches as she leaves, he cocks an eyebrow at Buck who just shrugs. They continue cleaning while Buck asks a bunch of questions about camping.
*
Two weeks later, Buck is driving them to the campsite.
He put on a specific playlist for the drive and told Eddie when he picked him up that he had a surprise for him later.
Eddie is both intrigued and terrified.
They get to their destination— parking in the lot, they get out and Eddie starts to make his way to the office.
He hears Buck follow him as he heads in.
Eddie gets their lot number and pays for the night. Buck just watches him the whole time but looks away every time Eddie looks at him.
Eddie smiles fondly at that.
The employee of the campground comes back with logs that Eddie ordered for the fire later. He takes them and says, “C'mon,” as he starts to make his way out and back to the car.
“What now?” Buck asks, looking slightly confused as he joins him outside.
“We need to drive to our spot— everyone gets a number assigned to them,” Eddie informs him as he puts the logs on the floor of the car in the back before getting into the passenger seat.
He watches Buck hurry over to the driver's side and hops in. “Alright, let’s go,” he says, breezy as always. “Direct me,” he adds as he puts the car in drive.
Eddie tells him which way to go until he says, “Right in here,” pointing to the lot ahead of them on the right.
Buck pulls into the spot and turns the car off.
“Okay, this is cool,” Buck says, before jumping out of the car. He leaves the door open as he walks to the front of his car, looking around.
Eddie smiles, watching Buck. He gets out of the car as well and walks over to him.
In front of them is a sectioned off campground. Every lot has its own and they’re all right next to each other. Each is private— they can’t see into each other’s lot unless they go over to the next one. There’s also a small fire pit and room for them to put their tent.
Beyond that— from where they stand, they can see past the campsite and the mountains in the background. That’s where the lake is.
Eddie smiles as he watches Buck absorb it all. “C'mon—“ Eddie says again, heading back around the car. “We should set everything up so we can head to the lake.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Buck teases him with a salute.
Eddie rolls his eyes as Buck grabs what he needs from the front seat before closing the door. He joins Eddie, helping him take everything they need out of the trunk.
In no time, they’re able to set up the tent and put two chairs near the fire pit. They’re already in their swim trunks— Eddie warning Buck to put them on since they’d head straight to the lake after setting up.
Buck takes the small cooler as Eddie carries their towels in a bag with sunscreen on their way to the lake.
It’s a quick walk and when they get there it’s pretty packed but they manage to find a spot to set up that’s in the sun but shade near them in case Buck needs to hide from the sun— he will burn if he’s in the sun too long.
Buck tosses his hat onto the towel Eddie laid out in the sand for him and then proceeds to remove his t-shirt. He’s now just in his swim trunks and Eddie has to remind himself to look away.
He does the same— tossing his hat so he can take his shirt off too. He puts a bit of sunscreen on his face and on the parts of him he can reach before turning to Buck. “Could you get my back?” He asks him, handing him the sunscreen.
“Yeah,” Buck says, taking it from him, their fingers brushing. Eddie turns around and he can hear Buck open the lotion and squeeze some onto his hand.
“Didn’t think you’d need any,” Buck says as his big hands land on his upper back.
“Everyone should use SPF,” Eddie tells him. “The sun isn’t good for you— can give you sun damage, skin cancer—“
“Yeah, yeah,” Buck dismisses with a chuckle.
Buck’s rubbing the sunscreen into his back— he’s trying very hard to focus on anything else.
It feels too good.
He squeezes his shoulders as he says, “All done.” Eddie clears his throat and turns around. Buck hands him the sunscreen and asks, “Do me next?”
Eddie almost chokes on his own saliva.
“Uh—,” he clears his throat. “Yeah— yeah.” He takes the sunscreen and pours some into his hand.
Buck turns around with a small smirk on his face turning into a big smile. Eddie rubs the sunscreen into his back, feeling his strong muscles— God.
Eddie finishes quickly and tells him quickly that he’s done and handing the bottle back to him so he can do the rest of his body.
Eddie looks away and moves over to his towel to sit down. He distracts himself from Buck lathering himself up— looking downright pornographic as he rubs it into his big pecs, down his soft but strong torso.
Eddie shakes his head, looking back down at the cooler beside him. He opens it and takes two beer cans out and puts them down on the towel next to him.
Once Buck is done, he sits on his own towel next to Eddie and takes the offered beer.
They sit facing the lake and mountains, sipping their beers, and feeling the sun on their skin.
Eddie takes his sunglasses out of his pocket and puts them on as Buck puts his cap back on.
“Did you know that there are 117 million lakes on Earth?” Buck asks, breaking the silence.
Eddie smiles softly— he loves how Buck knows all these random facts.
“I did not,” Eddie tells him, a smile on his face as he waits for Buck to start yapping away.
After two beers, Buck claims he’s ready for the water so he stands and tosses his hat on the towel.
He starts walking towards the lake before he turns back and sees Eddie’s still sitting. “You coming?” He asks.
“Gonna finish this first,” he tells him, holding up his beer. There’s only a sip left but he doesn’t think he can go in the water and swim near him right now.
Buck continues and Eddie watches as he walks into the water and when he’s deep enough dives right into it.
He’s so beautiful.
Buck pops back out of the water a bit further into the lake and he looks like a merman or something— angelic almost.
Eddie takes that last sip of his beer before tossing it into the empty plastic bag he brought with them to use as garbage.
After a minute of just watching Buck enjoy the water, he takes his sunglasses off and gets up.
Walking to the water, he can see Buck watching him. He goes in similarly to Buck— diving into the water. It feels so good on his hot skin.
He pops his head out of the water and sees Buck nearby. They swim around for a bit— Buck talking to him about seaweed but Eddie’s really just focused on how good Buck looks.
Not only is he beautiful in the sunshine— he looks happy and carefree. Safe.
Eddie needs to see Buck on ‘vacation’ more.
Buck says he’s starting to get pruny fingers so he makes his way back to their stuff. Eddie swims a bit longer before getting out.
They stay for another two beers before they make their way back to the campground. They throw away the garbage and leave the cooler near the chairs they set out earlier. They grab their toiletries and a change of clothes and head to the washrooms.
Eddie picked the best campsite he could find that would be accessible for Chris. Somewhere that would have fully functioning washrooms with showers. After a dip in the lake, a shower feels great.
The accommodations aren’t the best but for a campsite, they’re good enough. They quickly shower before changing into shorts and a t-shirt— Eddie is in dark grey shorts and a black tank top and Buck is in black shorts and a forest green t-shirt.
They take their things back to the campsite— leaving their wet swim trunks to dry on the front of the car, putting the rest of their things back inside the car.
They’ve got about an hour of sunlight left so Eddie takes out his little travel size grill out of the trunk and Buck helps him by grabbing the meat from the cooler. Eddie prepared some hamburger patties at home— Buck hands him the container so that he can start cooking them.
Eddie isn’t really a good cook— if you ask his son or his best friend— but he can grill a good hamburger.
Once they’re done, Buck puts two on each plate as Eddie toasts the buns quickly. He turns it off and they dress their burgers the way they like— he brought ketchup and mustard with chopped onions, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and cheese slices.
They sit near the fire pit that isn’t on just yet and eat their meals with more beer. Eddie was feeling a little tipsy earlier so the food is definitely helping. Buck tells him how good they are and he can feel himself blush.
After eating and cleaning up, they make the fire. It doesn’t take long since Eddie bought the logs at the office in front and soon they have a nice fire burning.
“So what’s this surprise you have for me?” Eddie asks, finally— not able to wait any longer.
Buck grins and it kind of scares Eddie— what could it be?
“Hold that thought,” Buck tells him before running over to the car.
He rummages around before closing the car door and making his way back over to him. He sits down in his chair, pulling it a bit closer to Eddie.
He’s holding a long tube in one hand and something else in the other. He pops the tube open and pours whatever is inside onto his open palm.
Buck shows him a joint.
“You brought a joint? Really?” Eddie asks. He’s not surprised honestly but he also wasn’t really expecting this.
Buck smirks, “It’s the perfect setting for it, don’t you think?”
He is right. The fire burning in front of them, the sounds of crickets nearby and music from their neighbors, all the beautiful stars in the sky. It all makes for a romantic evening actually.
Eddie shakes his thoughts away and chuckles awkwardly, “Yeah, guess so.”
“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Buck tells him reassuringly.
Eddie smiles softly. “Spark it up,” he nods, making Buck smirk at him again.
He lights the joint, inhaling the smoke.
Eddie watches him intently. They’ve never intentionally got high together so this should be interesting.
Buck passes him the joint, their fingers brushing again as he does so. He’s smoked weed before but it’s been years. He ends up coughing a bit, making Buck smile over at him.
It’s his turn again when he sees someone walk by Buck’s car and over to them.
What the fuck.
Buck notices and turns in that direction, flinching slightly— the man definitely startled him.
“Hi, sorry to startle you,” the man says, having noticed Buck’s reaction too.
“Can we help you?” Eddie asks, his voice harsher than he intended.
Buck gives him a look but Eddie can’t decipher what it means— the weed must be working.
“Uh—” the guy stutters. “I’m Sam, I’m staying in the lot right next to yours,” he says, pointing to the one on their right. “I smelled— well, that,” he points to the joint in Eddie’s hand that’s no longer lit. “And thought I’d come see what the vibe was.”
This guy has some nerve— and he has not taken his eyes off of Buck, eyeing him up and down, biting his fucking lip.
“What the fuck,” Eddie mutters to himself but he’s pretty sure Buck hears him because he snickers beside him.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sam, but my husband and I are just trying to enjoy some alone time,” Buck tells the guy as he puts his hand directly on Eddie’s bare knee, squeezing it.
Eddie tries not to choke. Husband.
“Oh— I’m sorry, did not mean to intrude!” Sam tells them. He seems nice but Eddie can’t help but automatically hate him the way he keeps looking at Buck and has yet to look at him once.
Not that he wants this guy to look at him. He isn’t ugly but that’s not the point. He doesn’t like the fact that he keeps looking at Buck like he wants to get on his knees right there in front of him.
Well— so does Eddie but again not the point.
“That’s alright, have yourself a good night,” Buck tells Sam who for some reason is still standing there.
Sam waves at them and starts to leave before turning back around, “If you change your mind, you know where to find me,” he tells Buck.
“We’re good,” Eddie snaps. He did not mean to say that out loud.
Sam nods and finally leaves.
“Should have chosen the bear,” Eddie mutters and Buck laughs having heard that.
“What?” he asks when Buck is still laughing.
Buck takes the joint from Eddie and puts it back into the tube. Good because Eddie definitely is feeling the effects of it.
“You jealous or something?” Buck asks him. He moves his hand slightly up from Eddie’s knee and he tries very hard not to moan at the touch.
“Jealous?” He manages to croak out lamely.
Buck hums, “Mhmm…”
“No,” he says too quickly. “You know you could have gotten his number if you wanted— he was clearly hitting on you.”
“Oh I know,” Buck tells him. His hand reaches the hem of his shorts and he plays with it for a moment. “Didn’t want to though,” he adds.
“Why not?” Eddie asks, his eyes moving away from looking at Buck’s hand to see his blue eyes watching him. He swallows around a lump in his throat.
“He’s not who I want,” Buck tells him, his eyes glancing down to his lips.
“Oh yeah?” Eddie tries flirting back. He puts his hand on top of Buck’s and brings it up higher. Eddie guides Buck’s hand up his thigh and then makes him cup him through his shorts.
He’s hard as fuck and he can hear the small gasp from Buck, who is now leaning even closer to him in his chair.
Eddie leans closer as well and they immediately grab onto each other. Buck kisses him hard, his lips almost bruising with how intensely he takes hold of him. It feels so good.
Eddie moans into the kiss, allowing Buck’s tongue inside of him— tasting him, teasing him.
“Fuck,” Buck moans, pulling back slightly, resting his forehead against his. “Since when did you—”
“A while,” Eddie breathes out. “Since you came out to me.”
Buck pulls back to look at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he asks softly.
“You were with Tommy,” Eddie shrugs slightly. “Thought that’s what you wanted.”
“Thought so too but when he ended it— he made me realize that he was never who I actually wanted,” Buck says. Finally tells him why they broke up. “It was you, Eddie, it’s always been you.”
Eddie pulls Buck back to him and kisses him softly. “I love you so much,” he says against his lips.
Buck smiles, he can feel it. “I love you too,” he says back.
Kissing Buck feels natural— like he was always supposed to be doing this.
Buck pulls back slightly and says, “Eddie, I love you and you look really fucking hot with the mustache, I can’t lie, but it’s already started to burn my top lip so—”
Eddie laughs, blushing at being called fucking hot from Buck of all people. “It’s coming off tomorrow,” he tells him. “It was— I don’t really know. A mask of some sort? I think I was trying to hide who I am and didn’t really know how else to do that so this kind of just happened.”
Buck gives him a sad smile, he pulls at his hand and says, “Come here.”
Eddie gets up and is immediately pulled into Buck’s lap. “You never have to hide who you are— not with me. You’re perfect the way you are,” he tells him, looking deep into his eyes.
All Eddie can do is nod, not finding the words right now without getting emotional about it. Instead, he wraps his arms around Buck’s neck and hugs him tight. Buck’s arms wrap around him, holding him close.
Buck kisses the side of his neck and it ignites something inside of him. “Maybe we should go into the tent?” he asks before pulling back to look at him.
“Yes, please,” Buck says, eagerly, making Eddie smile.
He gets off his lap and holds his hand out to him. Buck takes it but pulls Eddie to him so he’s right in front of him.
Like this— Buck feels like he’s ten feet tall towering over him instead of the mere two inches that he has on him.
He uses his finger to tilt his chin up so that Eddie is looking up at him. Buck smiles before leaning down slightly to kiss him softly on the lips.
This really was the perfect evening.