Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun shining through the blinds woke Eddie slowly, and he rolled over with a groan to shove his head under his pillow. It was going to be a long day. He had started his new job at the 118 two weeks ago, and after his initial period of being eased into the work he was having his first 24 hour shift. As much as Eddie was genuinely enjoying his new job and his coworkers, he was apprehensive about being away from Christopher for that long.

He was even more apprehensive at the knowledge that he needed to find proper long term care for his son that didn’t involve putting his family out several times a week.

As if sensing his thoughts, he heard a call of “Dad!” from down the hallway, followed by the sound of Chris’ crutches clacking along the floor.

Eddie breathed deeply, enjoying his last moments of laying in his comfortable bed before rolling out quickly, like pulling off a bandaid. “Coming, Chris!” He called out, quickly pulling on socks to avoid the cold floors and sliding out of his door. Finding his son standing outside his room, Eddie grabbed him under the armpits and swung him up into his arms.

“Good morning, Chris! You’re up early! Ready for the day?” Eddie asked, feeling his heart warm at the sight of the grin on his son’s face.

“Yeah! I think Jimmy is bringing his frog into show and tell today. DId you know that frogs aren’t born frogs? They look like fish when they’re babies! And then they grow legs! ” Chris gushed, gesturing wildly and forcing Eddie to grip him a bit tighter before the kid wiggled out of his arms.

Eddie laughed, plopping Chris down on his stool in the bathroom. “Wow, where did you learn that, bud? I thought you guys were getting into biology next year?” Chris blinked at him blankly, shaking his head. “We're learning life cycles in science right now. What’s biology?” Chris pronounced the word slowly, the way he did when he was sounding out a new word. Eddie shook his head at himself. “Biology is a type of science, bud. Sorry, I think that gets divided up for you later. Life cycles, huh? Sounds like you guys are getting ahead in school.”

Chris grinned brightly up at him as Eddie deposited toothpaste onto his toothbrush for him. “Ms. Harris says we have bright futures! She says we are the smartest class she has ever had! I think me and Jess are the best, though. We always get the biggest checkmarks on our homework.” He said very seriously, looking proud of himself. Eddie handed Chris his toothbrush, ruffling his hair once he had taken it. “I’m sure you are. You are so brilliant, Chris.”

“Right! I’m brilliant.” Chris said around the toothbrush in his mouth, chest puffed up as he kept one arm on the sink to steady himself.

How did I get so lucky, Eddie thought to himself, quickly brushing his own teeth before moving into the kitchen.

As he placed some Eggos into the toaster, Eddie listened to Chris making his way into the kitchen, humming off-key to himself. “You thinking about joining chorus next year?” Eddie asked, watching Christopher fondly as he got into a dining chair.

“I think so.” Chris said, leaning onto the table and watching Eddie putter around the kitchen putting away dishes. “Mandy and Jimmy both said their parents are making them join, and I want to go with them! Can I, Dad?” 

Eddie placed a plate of Eggos drowned in syrup in front of Chris, cringing a bit to himself at the amount of sugar he was giving his kid. “I think so, bud. I’ll work it out with Tía Pepa to make sure there’s someone to pick you up a bit later when I’m at work.”

Chris nodded, pleased, and continued digging into his waffles. Eddie looked at the clock on the oven nervously, glancing between it and the hallway leading to the front door. Pepa was supposed to be there any minute to take Chris to school, because Eddie needed to get to work soon. Eddie couldn’t help but feel like he was taking advantage of Abuela and Pepa, getting them to watch Christopher so often. He knew they didn’t see it as a burden; they were always happy to spend time with the ball of sunshine sat at his dining table. Unfortunately, Eddie also knew that Abuela especially was getting older, and looking after an energetic 8 year old could be a bit much for her without Pepa around to help.

Shaking his head, Eddie wiped Chris’ mouth of syrup, grabbing his now-empty plate and rinsing it off in the sink as he heard the front door open. Before he could try to do any more, Pepa was striding into the room and shooing him towards the door, insisting he go off to work and let her take care of the last of the clean up.

“Have a great day, Chris. Thank you so much, Pepa. Love you both.” Eddie left with a peck to both of their cheeks, locking the door behind him and speed walking towards his truck.

“So, Eddie, what do you think?” Eddie looked up from where he had been staring at his phone, blinking when he saw Chim watching him expectantly.

“Sorry, what?” He asked, tucking his phone back into his pocket.

Chim sighed deeply, shaking his head at Hen beside him. “See? I told you he wasn’t listening. What’s got you so distracted today, Eddie?” Eddie glanced between the two of them, sighing. He was supposed to have gotten a message from Pepa when she picked Chris up from school. It was only 10 minutes later than usual, but he was maybe a bit overprotective when it came to his son, and 10 minutes was enough to worry him.

He hadn’t actually told his team about Chris yet. Not for any particular reason, he just– hadn’t gotten around to it. He would tell them soon, he just wanted to feel a bit more settled on the team first. They were all perfectly welcoming, but sometimes Eddie could swear there was an air of sadness over them when they looked around, and he wasn’t sure how comfortable he was going to feel when he still didn’t know what that was about.

“It’s nothing Chim, don’t worry about it. What were you two talking about?” As he spoke, Eddie felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. As Chim launched into an explanation about the best brand of bubble gum from the local corner store– which, seriously? That is what he wanted Eddie’s input on? –Eddie surreptitiously checked his phone, letting out a small sigh of relief at the sight of a message from Pepa, saying the line was long but she had gotten Christopher.

Before Chimney could delve too deep on the intricacies of flavor and texture differences, the alarm went off. “Oh, thank God.” Hen muttered, jumping out of her seat. “I was starting to think I would have to listen to Chimney talk about gum for the rest of the shift.”

“Hey! You know, Buck would have appreciated that.” Chimney shot back, trotting after Hen. Eddie furrowed his brows, noticing a strange stutter in Chim’s step as he spoke, as if he had startled himself with his words. Shaking his head, Eddie followed the paramedics down the stairs, resolving to work that mystery out another time.

It had been a long shift. An easy one, but still a long one. Eddie was starting to think the easy shifts felt like they dragged on more than busy ones, although maybe he just hated feeling like he had nothing to do. So much downtime led to a lot of sitting around and watching the clock, eager for the moment that he was finally free to go and pick his son up from his Abuela’s house. Thankfully they only had four more hours of the shift. Eddie settled onto the couch in the loft, having laid awake in the bunkroom for just a bit too long listening to Chimney’s snores.

He was still sitting there 20 minutes later when Bobby came over and dropped himself onto a cushion next to Eddie.

Eddie breathed deeply, taking in the comfort of the quiet firehouse while he waited for Bobby to speak. “So, Eddie,” Bobby began, leaning back into the cushions. “We don’t really know much about you, here.” Eddie watched the older man cautiously, nodding in agreement. “That’s true. What would you want to know?”

Bobby seemed to weigh his options before speaking, “What did you move to LA for? I know Hen asked last week. You said ‘new opportunities,’ but there must be something more to it than that.”

“I have family here. It’s good for us, better than El Paso was.”

“Us?” 

Eddie cursed himself internally at his slip up, glancing around the firehouse while he thought. There was really no reason to be keeping Christopher from his coworkers, but–

“I don’t know much about you guys, either. I feel like there’s something major I’m missing. Sometimes Hen and Chimney look around like there’s something wrong even when we’re just sitting up here.” Eddie shot back, facing Bobby.

The other man’s face tightened. “We– we lost someone. Well, not lost, really, but–”

Bobby was cut off by the sound of Eddie’s phone ringing, and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket at the sound of Pepa’s ringtone.

“Tía? What’s wrong?” He asked in a rush, knowing she wouldn’t call him in the middle of his shift at this hour for nothing.

“Eddie, listen, Isabel was watching Chris, and– well, you know how she likes to get up at dawn to garden. She fell off her back porch, Eddito. Broke her hip. You need to come to the hospital and pick Chris up, or find someone who can. I have to go to work soon.”

Eddie froze, feeling like his world was crashing around him. He startled at the feeling of Bobby’s hand on his shoulder, the other man standing and gesturing for Eddie to follow him. Eddie followed blankly, realising that his phone volume was almost certainly loud enough for Bobby to have heard the entire conversation.

Bobby pulled a keyring off a hook by his office door, placing it in Eddie’s palm. “Bring him here. Take the battalion truck. Don’t crash or we might have problems.”

Eddie nodded rapidly, mouthing thank you at Bobby before sprinting down the stairs.

“Which hospital, Pepa? I’ll be there in 15.”

Chris loved the firehouse. Eddie knew he would, really, but he had been worried the whole drive back to the station just in case. Chimney and Hen had been fawning over him for the last hour, and Bobby was watching them from the kitchen with a fond look in his eyes. Confident in the knowledge that his son was in safe hands with his coworkers, Eddie stepped into the other room to talk to Bobby.

“Listen, Cap, I can’t thank you enough. I know this is… a bit of a shock, to say the least. Thank you for letting him stay here.” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, feeling a bit silly now for not having told the team about Chris earlier.

Bobby smiled softly at him. “That’s alright, Eddie. I know you’ve been settling in, there’s no problem with going at your own pace. And you were right, earlier. When you said that sometimes it’s a bit weird here. You’re actually sort of, well– replacing someone. We were all really attached to him, and obviously we like you as well, but I think sometimes you being here sort of– reminds everyone. That he’s not.” Eddie was taken aback by the pain on Bobby’s face, trying to school his expression into something more solemn than the shock he could feel in his eyes. He hadn’t heard of a firefighter dying at the 118, he wasn’t sure how he could have missed something like that.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Bobby. Really. If there’s anything I can do–”

“No, we’re all ok, honestly. We’re just adjusting to him not being here anymore. Besides, I visit him twice a week, it’s not like he’s completely out of our lives.”

Eddie privately thought it was a bit strange for a fire captain to visit the grave of a dead crew member that often, but at the same time he knew how connected everyone at the station was. If this guy was really important enough that they functioned differently now, maybe it did make sense.

Unsure of what to say, Eddie just nodded in response and watched as Chim hefted Chris up onto his shoulders to try and grab the beam by the stairs.

“Well, thank you for sharing, Captain. I hope it gets easier for all of you.” Eddie said, finally, cringing a bit at his wording. I hope it gets easier? Seriously?

Bobby nodded in acknowledgement, watching as Chris finally snagged the beam and let out a crow of victory. “You know,” Bobby said, looking thoughtful, “I might have a solution for you. There’s a childcare center near here called Save the Day . It was started by some dispatch crew’s family members when they realized how many shift workers in LA struggled with childcare if they didn’t have a partner outside of the industry. They aren’t open overnight, of course, but they are open until 9 with the option to stay a bit late if a shift runs long.”

Eddie stared at Bobby in wonder. “Holy shit. I should have told you about Chris during my interview for the station, that’s perfect! Wait– How much does it cost? I know childcare isn’t exactly cheap, and LA is already kind of expensive–”

“Everyone at the 118 gets a discount. Perks of having an in at the daycare.” Eddie hummed in acknowledgement, thinking of Chimney’s girlfriend Maddie, who worked at dispatch. She must know the owners.

“I’ll look into it, Bobby. Thanks.” Eddie sighed in relief at the just the thought of a solution to his childcare problems. It didn’t quite help with the ongoing concerns about overnight shifts, but most of his shifts were going to be 12 hours anyway, as he had discussed with Bobby during his entrance interview. “Just let them know you’re at the 118, they’ll get you set up. And Eddie?” Eddie glanced over, looking away from where his son was now playing foosball with Hen against Chimney. “Thank you. For trusting us with your son. I know you had to bring him here, but you didn’t have to leave him with Hen and Chimney.”

“It was easier than I thought. I know I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I trust you all.” Eddie responded, matching Bobby’s smile with his own before heading across the loft to join his son.

Bobby had been right, the members of the 118 did get a discount. He didn’t mention that the discount made the service dirt cheap, but Eddie was more than willing to take it. Chris was going in for his first day at the daycare that day, as Eddie had an 8 hour shift and it was a weekend, so there was no school. He had debated asking Pepa to take him instead, but Eddie didn’t want her to spend all of her days off watching his son, and he thought it might be good for Chris to meet more kids his age, and hopefully other children of first responders. 

Chris was one hell of a social butterfly, and had befriended seemingly the entire student body at his school. He was going to love meeting some more new kids to add to his social circle. Eddie had grown up largely alone outside of his family and a few close friends throughout the years, and he wanted better for his son.

So that led them here, sitting in the parking lot of Save the Day. Eddie couldn’t help but laugh to himself at how apt it was, with how the place had potentially saved his life when it came to childcare.

“Dad? Can we go in now, please?” Chris asked from the backseat, swinging his legs so hard in his excitement that he was rocking the truck. “Yeah, bud, sorry.” Eddie responded, hopping out of the driver’s seat and going around to help Chris down. The kid didn’t really need a ton of help anymore, but Eddie liked to do it anyway. It gave him an extra excuse to help his son.

Eddie placed his hand on Christopher’s back, guiding him towards the front door. He was pleased to see a handicap button beside the door, and he pressed it to let them inside. He had grilled the front desk staff a bit when he called to make sure their facility was capable of letting Chris experience the same things as the other kids without feeling left behind, and he was pleased to see that while the kid’s area was a bit lower, it was accessed via a ramp with no stairs in sight. The woman who answered his call had assured him that they were ‘uniquely qualified’ to take care of a child with a mobility aid and various mobility issues, and Eddie was hopeful that this would remain true.

As if hearing Eddie’s thoughts, a man came around a corner and approached the front desk. The man was– well, beautiful, really, although that perhaps wasn’t the first thought Eddie should be having about someone who he was paying to take care of his son. He had dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a smudge of pink above an eyebrow that Eddie was assuming was a birthmark. Eddie’s eyes travelled down, skipping past his broad shoulders to a nametag pinned to his chest, where ‘Mr. Buck’ was written in large, clear letters. Huh, Eddie thought to himself, wondering why that name seemed familiar to him.

“Hello there! You guys are new here, right? My name is Mr. Buck. What’s your name, man?” The man– Mr. Buck– stepped the rest of the way to the desk, grinning broadly at Christopher. It was as Mr. Buck– Buck?– finally reached the desk that Eddie noticed he walked with a limp, leaning heavily on a cane. Eddie’s eyes traveled back up, catching on the man’s shoulders and jaw and–

“I’m Christopher! This is my dad. My Tía Pepa says he’s a little slow in the mornings, so sometimes we have to give him a minute.” Chris told the man, and Eddie wiped a hand over his face, making a note to himself to discuss that with Pepa later. “Thanks, Chris,” Eddie got out, placing his hand back onto its spot on Christopher’s shoulder. “I’m Eddie Diaz, it’s good to meet you. The woman on the phone said to come in a bit early to do paperwork?”

Buck smiled at him, his eyes twinkling as he pulled a stack of papers out of a drawer. “Yep, I always say it’s the only bad part of leaving your kid with us. There’s a mountain of paperwork to fill out, but it’s all important, I promise. Allergies, vaccine information, social level, stuff like that. Helps us to take better care of him.” 

“That makes sense. Is he allowed in while I do this? He’s been chomping at the bit since I let slip that y’all have an indoor jungle gym yesterday, not sure how much longer I can restrain him.” 

Buck laughed, gesturing for Chris to step up to the gate that separated the lobby from the area that the kids were in. Eddie was surprised to see so many kids– five, maybe? –in there at 7 in the morning, but if Bobby was right and they catered to shift workers he supposed it made sense. He noted the dark haired woman in the play area with them, watching the children move around with an eagle eye, although she looked over and smiled at Buck as he approached with Christopher.

Eddie watched carefully as Buck lifted some hidden latch on the gate and let Chris into the play area. Christopher immediately beelined towards a boy who looked his age, chattering at him excitedly, pausing only briefly to wave goodbye at Eddie.

Shaking his head, Eddie sat down in a chair in the lobby, preparing to get to work on the stack of papers in front of him. Just as he picked up the pen Buck had handed over on top of the stack, he heard the other man get a bit closer.

“Do you have any questions about the facilities? I know it can be scary leaving your kid behind somewhere new for the first time.”

Eddie glanced up, looking Buck over. “Bobby– uh, my Captain at the 118, he seemed pretty confident in the place. I trust him. You have kids?” Buck looked at him strangely for a moment, before shaking his head, settling in the chair next to Eddie. “No, I don’t. I love kids though, and I get a little attached to the ones that are in here the most. One of the parents moved states, and we had struck up a bit of a friendship so I made her promise to vet the next daycare really well, and– well. That doesn’t sound very professional. I swear Bobby was right, we are a good place. Chris will be not just safe but happy here, I can tell.”

Eddie blinked at Buck, trying to process everything the man had just said. “Uh, sure, yeah. It seems like a nice place. The woman on the phone– she assured me Chris wouldn’t have any issues getting around and participating with his crutches. I assume that’s true?” Eddie hesitated a bit to ask the question, worried Buck might take offense to it, what with the way the man had been using his cane without ever once looking at it, almost like he didn’t want to. Or maybe Eddie was just looking too far into things, and he wasn’t looking at it because he was used to it and didn’t need to. You hardly know the man, Eddie.

“Yeah, absolutely. We have a couple other disabled kids who are here sometimes, and one of our frequent kids is in a wheelchair,” Buck reassured him, “When Mary– the owner– built the place, she built it to make sure everyone would be able to do the same stuff. She has a son that’s grown now that’s an ambulatory wheelchair user, so she was pretty well versed in what they would need.” 

“Okay, yeah, that’s– I feel much better. Thank you, Buck.” Eddie responded, smiling at him.

Buck grinned again in return, carefully standing up. Eddie noted the sheer amount of weight Buck was having to put into his cane to stand, and guessed it was less for stability and more to do with one of his legs being weak for whatever reason. Not that they looked weak, they actually looked– Eddie scolded himself internally for even thinking about why the man would need a cane, but it was difficult sometimes to turn off the medic part of his brain.

“Well, thank you. I think I’ve finished all the paperwork, is there anything else I need to do? I should be heading out for my shift pretty soon if I don’t want my Captain to scold me when I get in.”

Buck laughed, grabbing the papers away from Eddie. “No, you’re good. I can’t imagine your Captain is that terrible.” Eddie chose to ignore the way Buck’s eyes were crinkled with amusement, feeling oddly left out of whatever joke was taking place.

They were 6 hours into their shift, and Eddie was struggling to suppress his anxiety about Christopher being in a strange place for that long. The place seemed great, sure, and Buck seemed like he was good at his job, and the woman in the play area seemed very focused on the kids, but… Ok, Eddie was definitely a helicopter parent.

He made sure that his own anxieties about Christopher’s safety didn’t stop him from doing things he wanted to do, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Eddie had never left Chris with a stranger for this length of time. He had never left Chris with a stranger at all! Sure, it was a childcare facility so the strangers were qualified and literally employed to look after his kid, but–

Eddie was anxious. He knew everyone could tell, Chim had been telling horrible jokes for the last hour to try and make him laugh. Hen and Bobby, on the other hand, were constantly glancing between him and each other, clearly formulating some sort of plan.

“Okay, enough, what’s on your mind?” Eddie directed at Hen, cutting off Chimney’s latest tale of the ‘hilarious’ way he had gotten a pig down from a tree.

Chimney huffed in annoyance, sliding further down in his chair and crossing his arms like a toddler. Hen patted his shoulder consolingly, smiling at Eddie. “I’m just thinking– if you’re so nervous, you might as well call the place. Julie at the front desk is very sweet.” Hen said, nudging his phone on the table closer to him.

The thing is, Eddie knows Hen is right. He should just call, but he’s a little embarrassed about it, honestly. What if the place thinks he’s implying that they aren’t capable of taking care of the kids under their watch? No, that’s stupid. They probably get calls like this all the time.

Mind made up, Eddie nodded at Hen and walked off to the gym for some privacy, pulling up the daycare’s contact on his phone. It rings a few times before picking up, and Eddie can hear an odd scuffling sound on the other end of the line. Eyebrows furrowed, he pulled his phone back enough to check the Caller ID, and– yeah, definitely Save the Day. Shaking his head, he put the phone back to his ear, seemingly just in time.

“Hello! Thank you for calling Save the Day, this is Buck, how can I help you?” Eddie only feels more confused when he hears how out of breath Buck sounds, but moves on quickly. “Hi, yeah, this is Eddie. Diaz? I dropped off my son Christopher earlier, and I was just calling to– check in, I guess. I wanted to see how he was doing.”

“Oh! Of course. Chris is doing great, Mr. Diaz. A little too great, actually.” Buck responded, laughing softly. “He’s befriended every other kid here, I’m a little worried they’ll unite under him to riot for more toys.”

Eddie barked out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. “Yeah, that sounds like him, alright. If his reign gets too strong he’s easily distracted by candy. You can call me Eddie, by the way. Mr. Diaz sounds weird.”

“Thank you for the tip, Eddie. Was there anything else you needed? I can text a picture to this number if you want. I would have to do it from my phone though; we only have a landline here.”

Eddie paused, considering. It would be nice to see Chris, but he would be picking the kid up in two hours, and he didn’t want to inconvenience Buck…

“It’s no trouble, really.” Buck assured, as if he could hear Eddie’s thoughts.”

“I… yeah, that would be great. Thank you.” Eddie said finally. “No problem! I’ll send that over in just a moment. I do have to go, though– unless there was anything else you needed? It’s time for one of the staff to take a break, so I need to be back on the floor.”

“No, that’s all. Thank you again, really. Have a good one.” Eddie lowered his phone, hanging up without waiting for a response. Chris was doing fine. Great, even, if Buck wasn’t exaggerating, which Eddie had a feeling he wasn’t.

Heading back up the stairs, Eddie couldn’t quite suppress a smile on his face. Now that he wasn’t nervous about Chris anymore, he could think back on the call and– Buck had a nice voice. Eddie hadn’t noticed it that morning with how focused he was on getting Chris signed up for the daycare, but. Yeah. Very nice voice. Eddie had noticed how attractive Buck was, because honestly that was sort of hard to miss, but he hadn’t listened closely enough to take in his voice.

Back in the loft, Eddie looked up from his thoughts to find three sets of eyes already on him.

“So?” Hen prompted, leaning forward in her chair. “Feeling better? I’ve left Denny there a few times, and Julie was great about it when I needed to call the first time.”

“Yeah, I uh, I talked to Buck though. Maybe Julie wasn’t there today? He signed us in this morning too, so he knew I was talking about Chris. I feel better, though, he was very reassuring.”

Hen looked at Bobby with a glint in her eye before turning back to Eddie. “Buck, huh? I didn’t realize he was working the front desk these days. He’s usually on the floor with the kids.”

Eddie felt his brows crinkling, unsure why Hen was this curious about it. “Yeah, he said he had to get back to the floor. Maybe they didn’t have someone manning the phones?”

“Or maybe they have excellent Caller ID.” Chim muttered to himself, shaking his head.

Before Eddie could try to figure out what that was about, his phone buzzed with an incoming message. He pulled it out of his pocket, smiling at the sight of Chris with a makeshift cape made of a blanket tied around his shoulders, leading a group of kids with foam swords. Below the image was a message.

I think they’re gonna get me. hope your candy plan works

Eddie laughed, quickly typing out a message in response.

It will. Hopefully.

He saved Buck’s name in his phone– for future Chris-related business, of course– before pocketing it again, looking up to see Hen and Chim watching him with eerily matching smiles.

“Ok, y’all have got to cut out that twins from The Shining stuff, we talked about this–”

“Leave Eddie alone, guys, and please let’s try to settle down for dinner before we get called out again.” Bobby cut in, heading off to the kitchen to pull something that smelled absolutely divine out of the oven.

Hen and Chimney laughed, murmuring apologies to Eddie as they made their way to the table and settled down to eat. Once they had all settled down, Eddie found Hen watching him mischievously.

“Alright, Hen,” he caved, “out with it. What’s on your mind?”

“Well, we met Chris. Does Chris have a mother we haven’t met? Or are you flying solo?” Hen asked, ignoring Bobby’s warning look. Eddie let out a surprised laugh, not expecting that from Hen. “No, he does not. Well, yes he has a mother or he wouldn’t be here, but– Shannon and I are divorced. We agreed to divorce shortly before I moved here, and she gave up her rights to Christopher.”

Hen nodded, but Chim looked confused. “Why would she do that?” he asked after a moment. “I know we only met him once, but Chris is great. He gave me baby fever, and Maddie and I are nowhere near ready for that.”

Eddie nodded, unsure how to really respond. He knew Shannon leaving wasn’t his fault, but sometimes– sometimes he wondered if she would have stayed if he hadn’t gone to war. Maybe they wouldn’t have been happy, but they would have been able to raise Chris together.

“Alright, guys. Lay off.” Bobby said, giving Hen and Chimney a look. “At least wait until he’s been here a month to start getting nosy.”

“ Fine. ” Hen huffed, smiling at Eddie apologetically. “We just– we’re being concerned friends. Need to make sure our friend isn’t putting himself out there for nothing.” Eddie furrowed his brow again, noting that Hen had directed that last part towards Bobby, not him. Had he put himself out there? He didn’t think so.

Before he could decide whether or not he could be bothered to ask Hen what she meant, the alarm went off.

“Well, there goes that bit of peace. Suit up, everyone.” Bobby called out, hopping up from the table and leading them all racing down the stairs.

The last two hours of their shift had seemed to drag on and on. They spent nearly the entire time at a pileup caused by a drunk driver. Thankfully there were no casualties, but several cars were involved and the triage alone took nearly an hour. The clean up afterwards took just as long, and by the time they were back at the station with 10 minutes left in their shift, Eddie was ready to go get his son and head home.

Thankfully, when they pulled back into the engine bay B Shift was already waiting, and after a brief conversation with the B Shift captain Bobby dismissed them to go home. Eddie rushed to change and get out to his car, breathing in the night air deeply before tossing himself into the driver’s seat.

Finally pulling into the parking lot of Save the Day, Eddie sighed in relief at the sight of the lights on cheerily and the building not completely destroyed. As much as he trusted Bobby’s word that the place was nice, and his own instincts upon seeing it that morning, he couldn’t manage to stop being nervous.

Stepping in the door, Eddie glanced around the room, feeling his body go cold when he realized he couldn’t spot Christopher anywhere amongst the couple of kids still playing.

“Eddie! Welcome back! Chris is napping in our little bunkroom, did you want to come in to wake him yourself?” Eddie jerked his head over, feeling relief wash over him at the sight of Buck’s reassuring smile. “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”

Buck nodded in response, gesturing for Eddie to follow him through the gate into the playroom and then down a short hallway. “Back here we have our nap room as well as a quiet room for when kids are sent in with homework to do, or if they just want to read in peace instead of running around.” Buck explained, opening a door to the left. He raised a finger to his lips to silence Eddie, which Eddie thought was unnecessary seeing as he wasn’t talking, and stepped into the room. 

And there Chris was– peacefully sleeping, just as Buck had said. Buck hadn’t been kidding when he called it a bunkroom, it looked very similar to the one at the firehouse with several twin beds lining the far wall, although they had partitions between them for a bit of privacy. Next to the door sat a man Eddie hadn’t seen before quietly reading, and he smiled at them politely before returning to his book.

Eddie walked up to Chris’ bed quietly, gently brushing his hair off his forehead before speaking. “Chris? Hey, bud, you ready to go home?” 

Christopher’s eyes shot open, and he smiled hugely upon seeing his father.

“Dad! This place is the best. I get to come back, right? Freddie and Gary said they’re here a lot, so I might see them again if I come back!” Eddie smiled, pleased that he had had a good time.

“Yeah, bud. I think you’ll be here when I’m at work and you’re not at school.” He replied, helping Chris as he sat up in the bed.

Chris continued to grin as he shoved his legs out of the bed, putting his still-socked feet into his shoes that were sitting beside it. “Great. Mr. Buck is the coolest, Dad, he knows everything. ” Buck laughed awkwardly from behind them, and Eddie turned to see that his face had gone a bit red. “Oh, I don’t know about that, bud–” Buck started, but Eddie waved him off.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but my kid is a bit of a genius. If he says you know everything,  I believe it.”

Buck ducked his head at that, and Eddie smiled to himself as he passed Chris his crutches, guiding him out of the room with a hand on his back. “We’ll see you next time, Buck. Have a good night!”

Buck had been working at Save the Day for nearly six months now, and he couldn’t believe how happy he was with it. There was a time right after the truck bombing where he was convinced his life was ruined forever. Sure, some things were– different, now, and some part of him would always miss the life he could have had– but he did genuinely love his new career.

One of his favorite parts of being a firefighter were the calls where they got to help kids, and now he was helping kids every day in a different way. He was there for them when their parents were busy and couldn’t watch them, and his endless research spirals that he knew occasionally irritated his family were beloved by the kids and useful for their homework problems. It wasn’t quite the same as saving them from burning buildings and tall trees, but he had also never had a loss working in the daycare like he had working in the field, so– it was a bit of give and take.

Working at the daycare was wildly different from the firehouse in several ways, but his favorite was the fact that he spent enough time with the kids to really get to know them. Jimmy loved all things superheroes but didn’t like animals, Kayla liked transformers and would pout aggressively if anyone tried to make her play princesses, and Christopher– well. As much as he tried to pretend he didn’t have favorites, he knew he did. And it was clear to all of the staff at Save the Day that his newest favorite was Christopher Diaz. The kid was so smart, and so bright, and so kind, and his dad was– well. Buck and Eddie got along like a house on fire.

Anytime Chris was staying at Save the Day, Buck kept an eagle eye on his phone. He and Bobby had developed a system where his old captain would send Buck a message whenever they were having a rough shift or Eddie seemed generally down, and Buck would send an image of Chris with a huge grin on his face participating in various activities around the facility to Eddie.

Some part of Buck felt guilty. It was clear that Eddie had somehow yet to connect Buck with the 118’s previous crew member, but he figured it could be forgiven if it was making Eddie’s day better. It was difficult for Buck, sometimes, talking to the man that had taken his place within Buck’s family. He knew they hadn’t actually replaced him in their family unit, and that they were forced to replace him on the team in order to continue serving the people of LA, but–

Eddie had the life Buck used to have. And no matter how much he also liked his life now, it would never feel quite right.

Buck’s leg twinged as he moved from the playroom to the front desk, serving as a painful reminder of the reason Buck was forced to leave his job in the first place. The truck bombing had been difficult to work past on an emotional level, and proved impossible to work past on a physical level. Buck shook the melancholy thoughts from his head, flipping through the day’s planner to see who all would be coming in that day.

He felt his heart skip a beat at the Diaz penned in for 8:00, scolding himself for the way he always got just a bit more excited when he knew the Diazes would be coming in. It was hard not to, though. He hadn’t quite been bold enough to message Eddie anything other than pictures of Chris with short messages attached, but they chatted for a few minutes every time Eddie dropped Christopher off, and Buck liked the man more and more every day.

So far their conversations didn’t often stray far from Christopher or Eddie’s work at the 118, but there were a few times Buck held close to his chest where they talked about seemingly nothing, and Eddie almost seemed to prolong the conversation unnecessarily. Regardless of the topic, Eddie was always a sight for sore eyes, and Buck had to focus rather hard on keeping his eyes from straying during their conversations.

Part of Buck was hopeful that Eddie chatted with him like that because he liked him, but realistically he was aware of the way Eddie’s eyes tracked Chris throughout the conversations, and he figured the man was probably just trying to get a few extra minutes of his son in every morning. Which– fair. Christopher was possibly the best kid Buck had ever met. If Buck had any sort of claim to him he would be doing the same thing.

Eddie was just– such a good dad. He cared so much about Christtopher, and he was kind to Buck and the other staff when he spoke to them, and Buck had maybe been grilling Bobby about him and– by all accounts, Eddie was a genuinely kind, wonderful man. Bobby seemed sure that he had some hardships, but nothing major, and Hen had been gently encouraging him to ask Eddie to hang out with him even as friends, but– Buck wasn’t sure. As much as his family tried to banish the thought from his mind, Buck was always worried about making new friends in case he burdened them. Or, even worse– they found out how much work he could be and left.

As if his thoughts had summoned them, the Diazes burst through the door, Eddie looking frantic. Buck furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the clock on the wall. 6:30. An hour and a half before they were meant to arrive.

“Hey, Eddie, Chris, everything alright?” Buck asked, coming around the desk to meet them, shaking off the last of his thoughts as quickly as possible.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Jamison and Fredericks both started vomiting at the end of their shift, their captain thinks they got food poisoning from some iffy meat they shared. Is it ok that I brought him early? I meant to call, but–”

“It’s perfectly fine, Eddie,” Buck soothed. “Good morning, Chris. Want to head into the play area?” 

“Can I go to the quiet room? We went to the library and got some new books yesterday!” Chris happily swung his backpack off his shoulder, opening it briefly to show Buck the impressive pile of books inside.

Buck led Chris towards the gate, grinning down at him. “Absolutely, bud. Miss Mary is in there right now, so remember if you have any questions about bugs…”

“Don’t ask her! I’ll come find you. I don’t wanna scare Miss Mary again, she’s really nice.”

With that, Chris headed off towards the quiet room. Buck watched him carefully, ensuring he got into the room okay before turning back to Eddie. The other man was looking at him with a crooked smile, hand still held slightly away from his body from where he had been guiding Christopher. “Do I want to know what that’s about?” Eddie asked, laughing disbelievingly.

“Mary is terrified of bugs. Your son loves bugs. It was not a great combination.” Buck explained, heading back towards the desk partially to sign Eddie in and partially to give himself something to lean against. It had been drizzling off and on for the last few days, and the dampness in the air was not agreeing with him. It didn’t help that he had forgotten his cane at home, leading to him having to ask Julie to place stools all over the building in places he frequented.

Eddie narrowed his eyes at Buck’s gait, stepping forward and reaching a hand out to grab his elbow and help him the rest of the way. Typically Buck found that sort of act irritating, but he couldn’t argue with its effectiveness in this case, and he knew that as a medic Eddie probably hadn’t thought much about it. It helped that the action allowed him to feel the warmth of Eddie’s large hand on his elbow, not that Buck would ever tell anyone that.

“Listen, I have to run to work, but– thank you, Buck. Really. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you guys, I can bring coffee when I pick Chris up later? Or, no, that’s probably too late to be drinking coffee–”

“It’s fine, Eddie, really. It’s my job, after all. And besides, don’t tell anyone else but Chris is my favorite.” Buck assured him, smiling at the man. “Have a safe shift. I’ll send some pictures of Christopher terrorizing Mary with his bug facts later.”

Eddie laughed as he turned, speed walking towards the exit. “I’ll see you later, Buck. Thanks again!”

Buck watched him get back into his truck and drive off, turning back towards the planner to finish perusing the rest of the day’s customers. Before he could get too far, he heard footsteps behind him.

“You know, you should really just ask him out. It’s getting a little sad at this point. I thought you were gonna kill me fighting for that phone the other day.” Buck sighed, turning to see his coworker Julie behind him.

“You know I can’t, that feels like some sort of breach of etiquette. Besides, if it weirds him out he might stop bringing Chris here, and I know he doesn’t have any other options, so it would make things more difficult for him, and– and I can’t, is all.” Buck responded, returning to the planner in front of him despite the fact that his eyes were too unfocused to read anything on it.

Julie came up next to him, gently leaning into him for a moment before dragging the stool from the other side of the desk closer. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Take it easy today, I’ll take care of the kids in the playroom.” Julie turned to go, gently squeezing his arm. “For what it’s worth, I really do think he would say yes.”

Buck slowly sank onto the stool, sighing deeply. He knows Julie means well– they had become fast friends when he started working at Save the Day, and he knows she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, but he felt like he couldn’t have hope in this situation.

Besides, even if Eddie did think that he liked him back, there was no way he would stay once he learned why Buck was working here instead of with the 118, and how much it affected his daily life. It was one of the reasons Buck was kind of glad Eddie hadn’t connected the dots yet. Once Eddie realized what was going on, there was a chance he would look at Buck differently and Buck wasn’t sure how to deal with that.

Buck was peacefully sorting through applications for the center on the computer at the front desk a week later, divvying up ones that might qualify to send to Mary for her to look at them more in depth later. It had been a relatively slow day, with a maximum of 6 kids in the center at the same time. These were Buck’s favorite days, even if they were a little boring. It meant that each kid got more individual time with the staff to ask questions and just– communicate with an adult. Buck understood very well how beneficial that could be for kids, so anytime he was stopped and asked a question he would drop whatever he was working on to help the child out.

This did mean that on days where Christopher Diaz was in, Buck didn’t get nearly as much done as he should. Buck was just lucky he hadn’t forgotten his cane again today, as it had been another damp morning and with how much Chris was running him around to work out different problems with him, Buck knew he would be running into major issues without the added support that infernal stick provided him.

Thankfully, Chris was napping in their bunkroom, and Buck was taking full advantage of the time to get through the list of tasks Mary had left him when she went home to spend the evening with her husband for their anniversary. Just as Buck closed out the final application, he felt his phone vibrate from across the desk.

Hey, Buck. Sorry to do this to you, but we just got called to a major fire. Can’t guarantee I’ll be late but it’s a safe bet. Sorry again.

Buck frowned at the message from Eddie, quickly checking the time. 8:15, and Eddie was meant to be picking up Christopher right as they closed at 9:00.

it’s no problem. let me know when you are on the way. stay safe

Buck put his phone away, glancing over at the deserted playroom. The next task on his list was cleaning up all the toys. Mary tried to avoid giving him that one, as she knew it could be difficult for him sometimes to do all the squatting down and stepping over things that the task required, but sometimes it couldn’t be avoided. Buck took a deep breath, getting himself back up and heading down the ramp to get to work.

It was unfortunate that it had been another damp week. Buck hadn’t forgotten his cane again, but using it while cleaning the playroom made the take take significantly longer, so he tended to leave it leaning on the wall while he worked.

After about an hour and several breaks to breathe deeply, Buck was finished cleaning the playroom. He peeked his head into the naproom where Julie was still dutifully sitting while Christopher slept, and smiled at the sight of her reading a book on the makings of skyscrapers. “Hey, Jules. Want to go ahead and go home? Everything is cleaned and shut down, we’re just waiting on Mr. Diaz.”

Julie looked up from her book, raising an eyebrow at him. “You can call him Eddie with me, you know. I’ve heard you call him Eddie.” Buck ignored the heat he could feel on his face, reaching down and grabbing the book out of Julie’s hands. “Go on home, I’ll close up.” Julie smiled at him, standing and gently rubbing his arm on her way out the door. “Thanks, Buck. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Buck nodded in acknowledgement, sitting in Julie’s deserted seat and opening the book she had been reading to the first chapter.

Unfortunately, Buck had forgotten how in the zone he got sometimes while reading, and he was startled out of the book sometime later to the sound of knocking on the front door of the building. Quickly checking the time and seeing that it was nearing 10:30, Buck levered himself out of the chair stiffly and after a glance to make sure Christopher was still sleeping, he headed back out into the main area. 

He was not surprised to see Eddie leaning heavily against the front door upon emerging into the lobby, and he couldn’t quite help the fond smile on his face. Buck knocked on the door before opening it to give Eddie enough warning to get back on his feet and then let the other man in. 

“Hey, Eddie. Rough shift?” Buck asked, leading Eddie towards the nap room straight away. As much as he enjoyed the few minutes of chatting they usually did when Eddie came to retrieve his son, Buck was sure the man just wanted to head home tonight. “It was… yeah. Pretty rough. I’m sorry, I know you were meant to be home a while ago. I tried to get someone else to pick him up, but my Abuela and Tía don’t really drive this late if they don’t have to, and I know y’all technically are able to stay open late for this reason, but–”

“Eddie. It’s fine, I promise. Not like it was really any hardship for me, I just sat in a chair and read a book about skyscrapers while Christopher slept. Speaking of…” Buck swung open the door to the nap room, gesturing towards the bunk Christopher typically slept in.

Buck couldn’t quite suppress his smile at the way Eddie’s entire body softened as the man laid eyes on his son, feeling himself fill with warmth at how good of a dad Eddie was, at how much love he held for his son. Buck watched from the doorway as Eddie gently roused Christopher, grimacing a bit as his leg twinged at him again. There was a reason he wasn’t often on naptime duty– as much as moving around too much hurt, sitting in one position for too long could be worse. Buck leaned heavily into the doorframe, trying to take a bit of weight off his cane so his wrist wouldn’t hurt too badly in the morning, and waited patiently for Eddie to finish waking Chris.

As much as he lov– enjoyed the moments where Eddie lingered, he was finding himself hoping the man would hurry up already so Buck could get back home to a nice, burning hot bath. Just as he was considering heading out to his lovely stool at the front desk to wait, Eddie stood up with Christopher in his arms. Buck felt himself go a little gooey at the pure love and contentment on Eddie’s face, and internally slapped himself for being so unprofessional. Eddie was just another single dad at the daycare, just because he was hot and sweet and got along with Buck’s family did not mean anything.

“Thanks again, Buck, I– are you alright?”

Buck refocused on Eddie at the question, finding the man watching him in concern. “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, zoned out for a minute. You guys all set to go?”

Eddie didn’t move, narrowing his eyes in concentration. “You didn’t look zoned out, you looked in pain. Is your leg feeling alright?” At that, Buck turned as quickly as he could manage and headed towards the front desk to sign them out, trying to mask his limp as much as possible. The last thing he needed was to start thinking Eddie cared about him. “Leg’s fine, just acts up sometimes when it’s damp. I thought living in LA it wouldn’t be a huge deal, but either it’s been raining more often recently or I just notice it more now.” Buck replied flippantly over his shoulder, determinedly remaining standing as he quickly signed the Diazes out.

“We’ll see you again– Tuesday, right?” Buck checked, glancing up at Eddie again before quickly looking away.

“Tuesday, yeah. I’m off tomorrow. I hope your leg feels better soon, Buck.” 

Buck watched Eddie’s back as he retreated, feeling himself relax a bit at the comforting sight of Christopher leaning his head into his dad’s shoulder, fast asleep once more. ‘ Hope your leg feels better.’ If only, he thought to himself, shaking his head aggressively as he finished closing up.

The next morning, Buck woke to his alarm and debated throwing himself out his window as he immediately felt the pain in his leg. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure he would manage to get that far. Stretching out his arm to reach his phone, Buck silenced his alarm before taking several deep breaths. His physical therapist was always telling him to breathe through the pain, but how the hell is he meant to do that when the pain doesn’t stop? There’s nothing to breathe through, unless he is meant to be taking slow, measured breaths for the rest of his life. 

Wiping a hand down his face, Buck was unsurprised to find it come away slightly damp with tears. He had a handle on this, really. The bombing was over a year ago now, he had had plenty of time to adjust. Sometimes it just– it hurt. He had probably overdone it a bit yesterday, and it didn’t help that he had decided upon getting home that he didn’t feel like taking the bath that he knew he needed. He was paying for it now in a constant, throbbing pain going up his leg with fun bouts of stabbing pain to spice it up.

Buck flailed around for his phone again, hoping that if Eddie was off today maybe Bobby would be too. With any luck, the other man might be willing to come over and help him get his leg in order before his shift in a few hours. Buck unlocked his phone, squinting his eyes against the sudden brightness. He furrowed his brows at the sight of a text notification waiting for him– as active as the groupchat with his family was, they didn’t generally message before noon as they were all busy enjoying the mornings with each other. Buck wasn’t even a little butthurt about that. Opening the message, Buck found that it was the person he would’ve least expected– Eddie.

Hey Buck. Wanted to say thank you again for last night. Your leg feeling any better? I just dropped Christopher off at school, is there anything I can do to help?

Buck snorted to himself at how dad-esque Eddie’s texting was, before pausing and rereading the message. Eddie was offering to help him. With his leg. They hardly knew each other realistically, and they hadn’t ever texted about anything other than Christopher, but–

Eddie was offering to help him.

Shaking his head at himself, Buck tabbed out of the conversation with Eddie without responding just yet, opening his chat with Bobby.

hey, Cap. any chance you are free for a bit? leg acting up, could use a hand

He stared blankly at his phone as he waited for a response, and the texting bubbles soon appeared.

Sorry, Buck. On shift. I can see if Athena can come by before she goes in?

Buck dropped his phone down onto the mattress and groaned. As much as she would certainly try, there was no way Athena would have time to help him out before she had to rush to work. Buck picked his phone back up determinedly, reopening the text thread with Eddie after sending a quick no, thank you tho to Bobby.

it might be a bit much to ask, but could you come over? I have people to help usually but they’re busy

Faster than Buck thought possible, he had a response.

Of course. Send me your address. 

Sending it off quickly, Buck began to attempt to sit up. As much as he was inviting Eddie over specifically because he was unlikely to be able to get out of bed on his own, Buck desperately wanted to clean up a bit before he arrived. His apartment wasn’t a wreck , exactly, but–

He had been forced to move out of the loft when it became clear his leg wasn’t going to heal properly, and the only place he could find on his daycare salary after spending a few months in Maddie’s spare room was– small. Bobby had called it cozy, but Buck felt that cramped was a bit more accurate. He kept the place as tidy as possible, but with how small the living area was it tended to look messy with all the books he had, and sometimes he didn’t put everything away properly because his leg was acting up, and– he just didn’t want Eddie’s first impression of Buck outside of work to be terrible.

It would already be a bit rough, what with Buck being unable to move, but it could be better. Mind made up, Buck grabbed his bad leg by the thigh, trying to drag it towards the edge of the bed. Unfortunately, his leg swiftly reminded him why he did not under any circumstances try to force it places it didn’t want to go, and Buck found himself flat on his back on the mattress once more, squeezing his eyes shut and trying hard not to audibly gasp at the pulsing heat he could feel running up and down the limb. 

So maybe it was fine, actually, if Eddie saw his apartment a bit of a mess. He was already walking into a sweaty, teary-eyed Buck. Maybe it couldn’t actually get worse. Buck felt the tears of frustration at the corners of his eyes grow, and he grabbed his spare pillow from where it sat by his knees to smother himself a bit.

Defeated, Buck grabbed his phone again and fired off a quick message to Eddie to tell him to let himself in with the spare key under the mat.

Just as he was settling in to wait, Buck heard a knock on the door followed by a key in the lock, and he uncovered his face from the second pillow, turning his head towards his bedroom door. “In here!” he called out, wiping his eyes once more.

Eddie rushed through the door, looking more panicked than Buck had expected. “Ok, what can I do? Can you– are you able to get up?”

Buck sighed deeply, unsure what to really do. He and Bobby had a routine down, and he hadn’t had to deal with someone new helping him in– a while. “I can’t, no. There’s a, uh– a heating pad in the top drawer of my dresser. Could you grab that for me? And could you– could you run a bath? Sorry, this feels so ridiculous. I shouldn’t have responded, you should be enjoying your day off.”

Eddie raised a hand, narrowing his eyes at Buck. “Come on now, I offered. I want to be here; I want to help you. How hot do you like your bath?” As he spoke, Eddie moved over to the dresser and carefully extracted Buck’s heating pad, bringing it back over and plugging it into the outlet by Buck’s bedside table.

Buck stared at him disbelievingly, shaking his head before speaking. “Hot. As hot as it can go, really. Are you sure?” Eddie glared at him for that, reaching out and gently touching Buck’s shoulder. “Yes, I’m sure. I know we haven’t properly, like, hung out or anything, but– I don’t know. I think of you as my friend. Is that weird?” Eddie looked nervous, hovering next to Buck’s bed uncertainly. “I– yeah. I think of us as friends too, Eddie. Sorry, not yeah as in it’s weird, but yeah as in… I don’t know, actually. I’m a little scatterbrained.” Eddie snorted, gently placing a hand on Buck’s ankle.

“Yeah, I can only imagine. I’ll go get the water running. You have epsom salt?” Buck nodded, gesturing towards the cabinet under the sink that was visible through the door to the bathroom, and Eddie headed over. Buck laid his head back onto his pillow, listening to the sounds of Eddie getting the water running and carefully measuring out the epsom salt. Something about it felt almost painfully domestic, which was a shame as Buck wasn’t really sure how much more pain he could take at the moment.

Buck looked over at the sound of Eddie returning to the side of the bed, and found the man looking at him sympathetically. “Is it ok if I massage your leg? Would that even help at all? I know sometimes it doesn’t, but I’m pretty good at it. Anytime Chris has a rough PT session we watch cartoons and I massage his legs.” Buck felt like he was going to melt in place, not sure how to respond to Eddie’s genuine offers of help.

“I– yeah, that would be great, actually. Just– it looks rough, ok? It’s been a while since the accident, but it didn’t heal great, and the scars are– just try not to look grossed out or I might disintegrate out of embarrassment.” Buck managed, gesturing towards his leg for Eddie to uncover it.

“I won’t be grossed out, Buck. I’ve definitely seen worse than a healed injury, regardless of how badly it healed. Thank you for trusting me with this.” With that, Eddie carefully peeled back the blankets, exposing Buck’s leg to the air. He typically slept in boxers and a t-shirt, and he was both grateful for and regretful about that fact right now. It made this whole process easier, but it also meant there was a bit more of his skin on display than Buck would like with how much the leg of his boxers had ridden up throughout the night.

Buck held his breath as he watched Eddie take in the mangled flesh before him, but the man’s face remained clinical as he carefully ran his fingers down Buck’s leg from just above his knee down to his ankle. Buck winced as he went over a particularly tender spot on his calf, and Eddie’s eyes narrowed as he took in the movement. “Ok. How tender is your leg? Are there any spots I should avoid?”

Buck shook his head, leaning further into the pillow so he didn’t have to watch Eddie during the process.”It’s, uh– pretty tender. Don’t worry about it though, it’s always rough to start but it won’t hurt for too long.” Buck could see Eddie nodding out of the corner of his eye, and tensed as he prepared for what he knew was coming.

Shockingly, the first minute or so of Eddie gently pressing into his muscles and feeling around didn’t hurt too badly, but once the other man really started to dig in–

Buck groaned, loud and long, at the feeling of Eddie’s hands pressing into the especially tender spot on his calf. It had the mix of pain and relief that he was used to from this type of massage, and Buck couldn’t quite manage to suppress the sounds that were ripped out of him. After a few minutes of that, Eddie stopped for a moment to give Buck a breather, and Buck opened his eyes to see Eddie looking oddly flushed. Maybe he was tired? Buck was aware of how exerting massages could be, though he always assumed that was because he was doing them to himself.

“That, uh– any better?” Eddie coughed around his words, rubbing a hand over his face. Buck chose to ignore whatever the hell that was about, wiggling his toes experimentally. “A bit better, actually. Holy shit, man. What are you, some kind of miracle worker?” Buck asked in amazement, realizing he could actually bend his knee without feeling like his leg was going to shatter into pieces. Still hurt, but– progress.

“Must be,” Eddie laughed, “ready for that bath? I think it’s nearly full.” Buck nodded in response, carefully swinging his legs off the edge of the bed. “I might need some help getting in there. I– I don’t know how to thank you, man.” Eddie smiled at him, reaching out to help get him to his feet. “It’s no problem, Buck. Honest. I’m glad I was able to help. Now let’s get you in that bath.”

The sound of the water rippling around him and Eddie puttering around in his bedroom nearly lulled Buck to sleep. The warmth of the bath and the soothing epsom salt had his leg finally feeling back to normal– or, the normal he had grown used to over the last year. He was just beginning to close his eyes and settle in when he heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, Buck. I don’t want to rush you, but– your phone was vibrating a bunch. Alarm says you need to head into work. If you want I can call them and let them know you’re out sick?” Buck forced his eyes open, grumbling as he sat himself upright. “No, no. It’s alright, I’ve already used up too many of my sick days. If I called out everytime I had a bad day– well. I wouldn’t make rent, that’s for sure. Give me just a minute and I’ll be out.”

Buck grabbed onto the bar Bobby had installed on the side of his shower, levering himself to his feet carefully. Somehow his leg was actually feeling the best it had in a couple weeks, and he was able to get himself out of the tub, dry, and into fresh clothes with relative ease. 

Buck emerged from the bathroom still dripping a bit of water from his hair and with his shirt sticking to his damp skin, but feeling much better. He found Eddie sitting on the edge of his bed, scrolling through his phone aimlessly. At the sound of Buck closing the bathroom door behind him, Eddie looked up. 

“Thank you, man. Really. Don’t know what I would have done, Bobby was busy and I know I could have asked Maddie to come in, but she’s been so busy lately, and…” Buck froze at the strange look Eddie was giving him, looking down at himself and then back up at Eddie. “What? Do I have something on my face?” Eddie shook his head slowly, blinking rapidly before responding. “Sorry! No, I was just– thinking. What were you saying?”

“Just– thanks. For being here. Don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t texted me this morning.” Buck said, watching Eddie consideringly. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but he could have sworn Eddie was looking him up and down.

Eddie grinned, finally getting up and taking a step into Buck’s space. “Well, I guess I’ll have to text you more often.” Buck felt like he couldn’t breathe all of a sudden, his senses filled with how close Eddie was. He smelled– great. Buck kind of wanted to bottle it up for bad days. In a totally non-creepy way.

Before he could think enough to respond, Buck’s final alarm went off, letting him know it was time to leave for work. “Shit!” he spat out, rushing around to gather his uniform from the various places it had been thrown the previous night in his haste to get to bed. “I have to go. Thank you again, Eddie. Really. And you’re right, you should text me more. For now though I have got to go, so–”

“I’ll get out of your hair. It was good seeing you, Buck.” Eddie responded. Buck looked over his shoulder at the man with a grin as he prepared to change, and paused briefly once more when he found Eddie’s eyes to be– lower than strictly necessary. Meeting his eyes, Eddie raised his hand in a dorky wave before backing out of Buck’s room and heading out the door.

Buck sighed, leaning his forehead against the wall to collect his thoughts before yanking his pants on and grabbing his cane, striding towards the door and attempting to do up his belt with one hand.

Chapter Text

It had been an eventful few weeks. Well, not really. 

Nothing much had happened at work, but– Eddie had made a new friend. Or maybe just gotten closer with one? He and Buck had been casually chatting for the last few months whenever he brought Chris to the daycare, but after Eddie went over and helped Buck with his leg they had been texting nearly every day. 

It started with Buck texting him later that day, thanking him again and offering to buy him a coffee as thanks. They hadn’t quite gotten around to it yet with how much Buck had been working recently, but that didn’t stop them from talking about anything that came to their minds throughout the day.

Their conversations had ranged from different types of irrigation to their fears, and Eddie could safely say that he had enjoyed every single conversation. Some of the late night conversations were a bit deeper than he had expected with someone he hadn’t realistically known for all that long, but it was hard not to be like that with Buck. Even if they had only been properly talking for a few short weeks it felt like they had known each other for years.

Eddie glanced down at his phone, smiling to himself as he watched it light up with a text message from Buck.

Eddie did you know they are looking into putting CORAL into PEOPLE as BONE GRAFTS

its for astronauts cause their bones like… fucking rot or something in space please hold looking into it

Suppressing a snort, Eddie placed his phone back down to wait for the rest of Buck’s rant about his newest interest. He had recently acquired a tablet, and now whenever he was put on quiet room or nap room duty at work he spent the entire time scrolling through various wikipedia pages and scientific journals. And, of course, intermittently texting Eddie with his findings.

This system worked pretty well for Eddie. He got to talk to the man he– was enjoying the company of recently, and he also got to gather random facts to pass on to his learning-obsessed son.

“What’s got you smiling so much, loverboy?” Chim asked cheekily, leaping over the back of the couch and settling next to Eddie in a move that was definitely meant to look smooth. “None of your business, Chim.” Eddie turned away from Chim, focusing back on the tv that was playing– infomercials. Okay. They would never believe he had actually been watching that. Hen and Chim had been ruthless with their teasing lately, clearly noticing an uptick in the amount of time he spent smiling at his phone.

Thankfully, when separated they weren’t quite as much of a force to be reckoned with. Eddie could fend off just Chimney, but–

As if she could hear him, Hen sidled over to the other side of the couch, leaning against the arm of it. “C’mon, Eddie,” she cooed, “we know you haven’t been watching an infomercial for– an egg boiler? Who the hell– whatever. You’ve been awful pink lately, Edmundo, maybe we’re just concerned for your health.”

“You’re concerned for the health of your gossip life.” Eddie deadpanned, looking determinedly at the stupid egg infomercial.

“Semantics. Now, if you don’t mind–” Chimney cut in, reaching forward and snatching Eddie’s phone before he could hide it away. “Chim, c’mon man, give me the damn phone–”

Chim laughed, hopping away and opening it quickly, and Eddie cursed himself silently for removing the password so that his son could access some games. “Wait, Eddie. You’ve been texting Buck? ” Chimney asked disbelievingly. The man scrolled upwards for a minute, and Eddie felt himself growing a bit uncomfortable. Sure, they had only been talking about Buck’s fun facts for awhile with Buck being at work, but if he went too far–

Eddie furrowed his brows, unsure why Chim cared so much that he was talking to Buck, anyway. “What’s the matter with Buck? You can’t possibly know the guy well enough to care that I’m talking to him. He’s a good guy, Chim.”

Before Chimney could retort with whatever was clearly building up inside of him, Bobby came up the stairs to the loft. 

“Bobby!” Hen cried out, standing and dragging Chimney over towards Bobby with her. “Weren’t you talking about having a family barbeque soon? I think we should do that, the weather has been good, and–”

“Alright, alright! Any particular reason for that?” Bobby asked, eyebrows raised nearly into his hairline at her eagerness. Hen grinned, spinning on her heel to look at Eddie. “Why don’t you tell him, Eddie?” she asked.

Eddie sighed deeply, rubbing a hand over his face roughly. Maybe he should have taken an offer from a different firehouse. “I’ve kind of been talking to someone recently. Not– in that way. We’re friends. ” he stressed, looking pointedly at Hen and Chimney.

“But you wanna be mo ooo re!” Chimney sang, rushing back to Eddie’s side to try and pinch his cheeks, which– absolutely not. Eddie jerked backwards, glaring at Chim as seriously as he could manage. “I think these two want me to invite him over so they can tease me with him there.” He aimed at Bobby, redirecting his glare from Chimney to include Hen too.

Bobby shook his head, clearly trying to hide his amusement. “Well, if it’s who has had you looking cheery lately I’d like to meet him, too.” 

Chim poked Eddie in the side, clearly trying to goad him into joining in with the joking around. Which Eddie didn’t really understand, seeing as the joking was at his own expense. “Hey, Eddie,” Chim wheedled, smiling in a way that Eddie did not appreciate, “What did you say this guy’s name was again?”

“Buck? I thought you and Hen had met him before? He works at Save the Day, you guys know that–” Eddie cut himself off when he noticed how Hen and Chimney were holding in their laughter and Bobby was– taking steadying breaths?

“Ok, guys, I don’t know what’s going on here but could we cut it out? I made a new friend, you don’t need to act like it’s some major event.” Eddie said, feeling oddly put out about it. At that, Hen’s face softened and Chimney finally stopped– wiggling? Eddie has given up trying to understand that man. 

“Oh, honey,” Hen said, stepping closer, “we’re not really making fun of you, I promise. We’re sorry, we just– I’ve– met Buck. Of course. And– he’s a really sweet guy. I think you two would be sweet together. As friends, obviously.” Hen was looking at him with a smirk on her face, but it felt less like she was laughing at him and more like she was laughing with him this time.

Eddie sighed, placing his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “Yeah, I– he’s a great friend. And maybe I, you know… have thought about more. But honestly I don’t know if I’m even ready for a relationship, or if Chris is ready for me to be in a relationship, and Buck doesn’t deserve that uncertainty. Not that it matters, because we’re just friends, and nothing would happen anyway.”

Bobby finally properly entered the loft, and walked straight to the couch to place a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “That’s very mature of you, Eddie.” he said approvingly, quickly squeezing Eddie’s shoulder before striding away towards the kitchen. “You got dad’s approval! Congrats, man!” Chimney cheered, patting Eddie on the arm before following Bobby into the kitchen.

“You guys calling Bobby dad sometimes will never make sense to me.” Eddie said, shaking his head at Hen.

“Hey now, I do not call that man dad. And neither does Chimney, for the record.” Eddie frowned at her, trying to work out how the hell that could be true when he literally just did.

Eddie finally arrived home that night at nearly 1 in the morning. This was one of the shifts that Chris spent at his Abuela’s house instead of the daycare center, as Eddie was getting out too late to pick him up. He quickly stripped out of the clothes he had changed into to leave the firehouse and plopped into his bed in a pair of boxers and his undershirt. 

Breathing deeply, Eddie pulled out his phone and thumbed it on. He couldn’t quite stop the dumb smile on his face when he saw that he had a message from Buck.

you home yet? I’m bored

Eddieeeee

fine be that way

Eddie giggled, smothering his mouth with his hand to stop the sound from escaping. He had already spent far too much time today feeling like he had a stupid high school crush, he did not need to add giggling to the mix.

Just got home, Buck. Sorry I wasn’t there to entertain you.

you use too much punctuation, makes you seem upsetti all the time

What the fuck does upsetti mean?

that’s embarrassing for you

Eddie groaned, having a hard time believing that he found himself smiling and feeling fond at this conversation with Buck. The man was just– so ridiculous. In the best possible way. Eddie liked to think he was pretty happy, but Buck was free and giving with his happiness in a way that Eddie had never really felt before.

whatever, you’re here now

wanna hear about different types of rice makers? 

we’re thinking about getting one for the break room I wasn’t just researching rice makers for no reason I swear

I wouldn’t put it past you.

Go ahead, I would love to hear about different rice makers.

It was starting to reach a point where Eddie felt like he was going to tear out his own hair if he didn’t get to see Buck again soon. Sure, he saw the man a few times a week when he was dropping off or picking Christopher up from daycare, but– it was different. Seeing Buck outside of work, even if it was only because Buck had no one else who could help, and even though the other man had been in pain the entire time– it had been nice. They just clicked in a way that Eddie hadn’t expected, but their shift schedules had been working against them any time they tried to plan to hang out. Although…

Julie really wants to just get the cheapo one, but I think we can convince Marcy to get the other one

I mean who doesn’t want a rice cooker that can cook other things too!!

Buck, what are you doing tomorrow?

uhhh

actually I don’t think anything

what’s up?

You should come over. I know we were talking about getting coffee, but I do really need to get some work done around the house.

But I would also like to see you

omg you forgot a period it must be serious!!
I suppose if you’re THAT desperate to see me again I could come over…

On second thought…

nonoono

I would love to come over, Eddie :) 

Great. Around 12 work? Chris is at school until 3.

12 works great!

Eddie grinned, flopping onto his back on his bed and dropping his phone onto his chest, staring up at his ceiling. So maybe he had just a bit of a crush on Buck. That really couldn’t be helped, honestly. The man was just– perfect, somehow.

Handsome, strong, funny, kind, intelligent, and so good with Chris and all the other kids at the daycare… Sometimes Eddie was impressed with himself for not blurting out to Buck how incredible he was.

The next morning came quicker than Eddie would have wanted it to, and he woke with a discontented grumble. The previous day’s shift had been long, and he had stayed up far too late the previous night talking to Buck to be waking up at this hour. Unfortunately for him, Abuela had an event with some of her friends from her book club, so she was bringing Chris back to Eddie’s house and he was taking him to school.

Taking care of his son was never a burden on Eddie or something he wouldn’t want to do, but sometimes a man needs his sleep. Bracing himself, Eddie got out of bed and padded carefully down the hallway after getting some socks on. He stepped into the bathroom to splash himself with water, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

He needed to shave, and definitely shower, and maybe get a haircut soon, though that bit would have to wait until after seeing Buck. Eddie sighed at himself, feeling a bit frustrated at how much he wanted to clean himself up just to see his very good friend Buck.

None of that mattered just yet though, as at that moment the front door opened.

“Eddito!” 

Eddie scrambled out of the bathroom, heading to the front door and kissing his Abuela on the cheek while ruffling Christopher’s hair. “Good morning!”

He swept Christopher into the kitchen, mouthing ‘thank you’ at his Abuela as she blew him a kiss and headed out the door, knowing he needed to rush if he wanted to get a good amount of food into Chris before sending him off to school.

Once Chris was fed and had gathered his homework, Eddie ushered him out the door and into his truck.

“You ready for school today, bud?” he asked, smiling at Christopher in the rearview mirror.

“Yes! Ms. Harris says we’re looking at how bears hibernate! Isn’t that so cool? Buck said that bears don’t actually sleep the whole winter, but they still mainly stay in their rooms. I wish I could hibernate all winter and just stay home the whole time.”

“You do not want that, Chris! You love going places, you’d go crazy!” Eddie responded, laughing at just the thought of Christopher being forced to be cooped up for that long.

Chris sighed deeply, leaning his head back against his carseat. “Well yeah, but then I wouldn’t have any homework! I could read about just the things I want to and never have to touch math ever again.” Eddie snorted, shaking his head as he pulled up to Christopher’s school. “Or until the spring, bud.”

“The spring is forever away.”

“Alright, alright, little cub. Go off to school, we can discuss having a bit of a hibernation when the winter break comes up.” Chris giggled, carefully unbuckling himself as Eddie opened his door. As soon as Chris was down he was calling a quick farewell and racing off towards the school, leaving Eddie to watch fondly after him.

Shaking himself, Eddie hopped back into the driver’s seat of his truck and drove off before the line of cars waiting to drop off their own children could begin honking at him.

There was a knock on the door just as Eddie was out of the shower and preparing to shave. Looking down at himself in a towel and dripping wet, he groaned loudly and just grabbed a second towel to drape over his shoulders.

Eddie opened the door slightly, hiding himself behind it just a bit. Buck was outside, looking off to the side at– something. “Hey, Eddie, did you know you have a pair of cardinals in–”

Buck froze, mouth still partially open when he turned back to Eddie. “Sorry, sorry,” Eddie said, opening the door a bit more and waving Buck in quickly, “I just got out of the shower but I didn’t want to leave you standing out there. Give me just a second and I’ll get dressed.”

He hurried back down the hallway, aware that Buck was for some reason stopped just inside the house but not bothering to wait around and ask why. Eddie is aware that he is attractive, but that doesn’t mean he wants to be half naked around his very platonic normal friend that he is maybe just a little bit completely gone for. Besides, Buck was wearing a shirt that complimented his eyes while also managing to highlight his biceps, and Eddie– needed a moment to prepare to see that again.

Finally dressed and having given up on the idea of shaving, Eddie comes out into the living room to find Buck– still standing by the front door. “Buck? Are you feeling alright? Is your leg acting up again?” Eddie stepped forward, checking quickly to make sure there weren’t any obstacles between the door and the couch. Obviously there wouldn’t be, as Chris frequently made that exact path, but something in him still felt the need to check.

Turning back to Buck, Eddie found the man appearing to be taking steadying breaths. “Yeah, I– sorry. I’m good, just– I don’t know. In my head a bit, I guess. Want to watch something?” Eddie ignored how squeaky Buck’s voice was, figuring if there was something he wanted to talk about he would say it.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Whatever you want, the only movies I know about these days are kids movies.” Eddie responded, gesturing towards the couch until Buck started moving and then following him quickly.

“Eddie, I work at a daycare. What the hell do you think I’m watching all day?” Buck said, laughing to himself. “Fair point. What kind of movies do you like?” Eddie asked, leaning back against the back of the couch and turning towards Buck. When he turned his body he found his knee pressed against Buck’s, but when the other man pressed back he found he didn’t mind the accidental touch.

Buck frowned, clearly thinking. “I don’t really know? I mean, I haven’t seen enough movies to know what I really like, honestly. Chi– my sister’s boyfriend is always saying I’m uncultured ‘cause I haven’t seen many movies. I’ve been watching rom-coms lately as a guilty pleasure when I’m stuck in bed, though.”

At that, Eddie grabbed the remote and tabbed over to the rom-com section on Hulu, clicking on the first movie he saw. “Have you had any bad days recently? I know you had a rough shift a few days ago, it’s not acting up is it?” Eddie asked, feeling concerned as he realized Buck may have been bed-ridden during any of their text chats and just not mentioned it.

“I mean there have been a couple, but Ca–my dad, he usually comes over and helps me out. You don’t need to worry about it, Eddie, I don't want to only hang out with you when you’re helping me with my stupid leg.” Buck said, staring resolutely at the tv screen.

Eddie blew air out of his nose, knowing now probably wasn’t the time to try to tackle Buck’s insecurity. They had been talking incessantly for the last few weeks, but Eddie wasn’t sure they were really close enough for that. As much as he wanted Buck to know he didn’t have to worry with Eddie, he also wasn’t sure how the man would react to that kind of conversation. There was something he could do, though.

“Well. I don’t mind helping you, Buck. I like knowing I’ve made something a little easier for you.” Eddie said, reaching down and gently pulling Buck’s legs into his lap. He watched as Buck ducked his head, smiling slightly without responding to Eddie. Pleased, Eddie began to gently massage Buck’s calf as they watched the screen. They remained in a comfortable silence for the remainder of the movie, and Eddie was surprised by how right it felt.

By the time the movie was over, it was nearly time for Eddie to go pick up Chris and Buck to head home to do some chores. Somehow, despite them hardly doing anything the whole time, Eddie felt that this was the most enjoyable activity he had done with a friend in a long time. Maybe that was just because it was with Buck, though.

“Hey, Buck,” Eddie said, turning his head to look at Buck beside him. For a moment he completely lost his train of thought, looking at a comfortable, sleepy Buck on his couch. His hair was glowing, backlit by the sun streaming through the window. He had a little crease in his cheek from where he had been leaning against the couch cushion. Eddie wasn’t sure he had ever looked at someone and felt such a strong pull to just be near them.

 “What’s up?” Buck prompted, when it became clear Eddie was not going to continue any time soon. “I, uh– my captain is hosting a get together at his house on our day off in a few days. Would you want to come? If you’re not working, that is.” Eddie managed, finding his eyes catching on Buck’s reclined form.

Something about Buck relaxed and happy in his home had his heart skipping a beat, and Eddie found himself staring at Buck in a way he had promised himself he wouldn’t. “Your captain, huh? Yeah, that sounds great, Eddie.” Buck replied, grinning to himself, “Do you talk to your team about me?” Eddie ducked his head at the teasing note to his voice, not sure how to respond in a way that wouldn’t seem completely pathetic.

“It’s possible that you’re the first actual friend I’ve made since moving to LA. They know that, so they want to meet you.” Okay, so that definitely sounded pathetic. Great.

Buck slowly swung his legs out of Eddie’s lap, grabbing his cane from where it was leaning against the coffee table. “Well, I have to say you’re probably the first friend I have made outside of work since moving here, and I’ve been here quite a bit longer than you, so…” Buck said, standing carefully and shaking his leg experimentally. “You’ve really got some magic hands, there, Diaz.” 

“Happy to be of service. And Buck?”

Buck looked over, a slight smile remaining on his face. “Yeah?”

“I am really glad I met you.”

Eddie had been thinking the entire time between his house and Christopher’s school. He had good reasons for not pursuing Buck. He wasn’t sure he was ready, though that changed more and more each day, but more importantly he wasn’t sure if Chris was ready for him to date. Although, there was one way to find out…

He pulled into the pickup line, slowing to a stop behind another car and craning his head around to try to spot his son. As soon as he saw him, Eddie was throwing the car into park and hopping out, waiting by the door until Chris approached, a teacher watching carefully until she recognized him. “Hey, Chris!” Eddie called, opening up the door and giving him a gentle boost into the car, “how was school? Learn a lot?”

Chris huffed, waiting until Eddie had closed his door and gotten into the front to respond. “Ms. Harris didn’t even know that bears don’t sleep all hibernation! She couldn’t even tell me why! When do I get to see Buck again, Dad?”

Eddie smiled to himself as he turned out onto the main street. Well, at least he knew they both liked Buck. Although he had hoped he would have a few more years before Chris began to outsmart his teachers. “You’ll see Buck tomorrow after school while I’m at work, bud. Abuela will drop you off with him. Hey, completely unrelated, but… there was something I was wanting to talk to you about.”

Chris leaned forward a bit in his seat, tilting his head. “What’s that, dad?” 

Cursing himself silently for not waiting until they had gotten home and he could sit in front of Chris, Eddie briefly glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “I’ve, uh… I’ve been thinking recently. About whether or not I would want to date someone again. And I’ve been thinking maybe I would, but I don’t want to do anything without talking to you first. Would you be alright with that? If I wanted to date someone?” Eddie felt his heart racing, his stomach tight as he waited nervously for Chris’ response.

He pulled up to a red light and took that opportunity to watch Christopher a bit more in the rearview mirror. The kid had his face scrunched, clearly thinking deeply. “Would I still get to see Buck? The new person wouldn’t be watching me all the time, right?”

Well. If that was Christopher’s main concern– but Eddie didn’t want to tell him who exactly he was (maybe, potentially) interested in just yet.

“Yeah, bud, you would still see Buck a ton, don’t worry. And I would never leave you with a new person without you meeting them first, unless they work somewhere like Buck where that’s their job. Okay?” Chris nodded thoughtfully, his face smoothing back out.

“Why don’t you just date Buck then? Then I could still see him all the time and you could leave me with him at home sometimes instead of having to take me to Save the Day. ”

Eddie choked on absolutely nothing, slowing the car down and thankfully spotting their house. He waited to respond until he had pulled into the driveway, carefully turning in his seat to look Christopher in the eyes. “Is that something that… you would want? Me dating Buck?”

“I like Buck, I think it would be cool if he came over to see us instead of just going to see him at work.” Chris said simply, reaching down and unbuckling himself now that Eddie had shut off the car. Maybe it was that easy. Chris liked Buck, Eddie– was starting to admit to himself that he really liked Buck. Maybe they could just–

Eddie sighed, knowing that as much as him and Chris were in agreement, there was a flaw in his plan. He had no idea if Buck would be interested in him back.

Buck was starting to feel really bad for not telling Eddie the truth. He had promised Hen and Chimney not to spill the beans yet, but–

He and Eddie were good friends. And Buck found that the more they talked, the more he liked the other man. In every sense of the word. As much as he had tried to suppress it, Buck finally had to admit that he was very much attracted to Eddie Diaz. The cincher was really the bit of scruff the man had when they had been watching a movie two days ago, to the point where Buck hardly even paid attention to the plot. The beard plus Eddie’s incredible hands touching all up and down his leg– which obviously was for medical reasons, but still– it made it difficult to focus.

Buck will not be blamed for his interest in Eddie, he is but a simple man. And Eddie had opened the door in nothing but a towel. Ok, two towels, but still! Buck wasn’t sure that image would ever be removed from his mind, although he didn’t really want it to be anyway.

Whatever. They had somehow been texting even more than before the last two days, and– well.

Buck. My son is asking what bears do during hibernation if they aren’t sleeping. He embarrassed his teacher in class a couple days ago.

sorry! I didn’t realize he would weaponize my teachings

they enter a state called torpor

they’re technically awake, but.. idk it’s weird I’m not a bear scientist

He’s been writing down questions to ask you since you weren’t at work yesterday. You better brush up on your bear knowledge quick. He’s also been asking why you can’t just come here to see him.

well

I

would you.. want that?

I like seeing you.

And that. Okay. So maybe Buck was laying in his bed giggling absurdly, but he’s not really sure how else he could be expected to act. Eddie Diaz liked seeing him. He would offer to go over right then and see them, but he didn’t want to seem overeager. Plus there was a reason he hadn’t been at work the previous day, and the reason was that his leg was acting up on him again.

It had been feeling great the entire day after he got home from spending time with Eddie, but either he had bent down too much while cleaning at home or it was just one of those random bad days, because he had woken up the morning after with shooting pains travelling up his entire leg. And sure, Eddie had said that if it ever happened again Buck should tell him so he can help, but the man had just given him a massage the day before! Besides, Buck knew for a fact he had a shift later that day because Christopher was meant to be at Save the Day.

So he was home again. His leg had settled down nearing the evening the previous day, but it had started right back up when he woke up that morning. Thankfully he was scheduled off for today and the next day, as Mary was working extra to make up for some time off she had taken recently, and she was training a new hire at the same time who would be doing some of Buck’s tasks.

Buck was frustrated. He was supposed to be going to the 118 barbeque tomorrow to spend time with his family and Eddie, and he could finally tell Eddie that he knew his team. It felt weird that he hadn’t yet, so he was glad he was finally able to come clean.

Buck?

Right. He hadn’t responded to Eddie.

I like seeing you too

:)

Want to come over?

Buck sighed, dragging his blanket up over his head. He hadn’t moved yet, knowing damn well that it would just set his leg off again. But he really did want to see Eddie…

sorry. bad leg day

but I’ll see you guys tomorrow, right?

He was so tired of his stupid leg keeping him from doing things. Continuing the job he had always loved, lifting Maddie and spinning her around when they hugged, seeing a really hot single dad. All things he could have done with– relative ease, at least– prior to the bombing. And maybe that was the real reason he was fine with not telling Eddie about the team, and why there was low-level anxiety coursing through his chest that he had been trying to ignore.

If Eddie didn’t know Buck used to be with the 118, he wouldn’t know what happened to his leg. And as helpful as he had been before, he still didn’t really know the extent of how bad it was for Buck. As soon as he found out Buck’s leg was crushed under a ladder truck, everything else would be pretty clear.

Can we come to you?

Buck froze, staring at his phone until the screen went dim again. He did want to see Eddie. He kind of always wanted to see Eddie these days, but–

This wasn’t something Eddie could help with. Buck was already set up in his bed with a heating pad and he had taken some pain meds, which was the best he could do these days. If Eddie was wanting to come over and nurse him back to health again, he would be sorely disappointed.

there’s not much to do about my leg, Eddie

I’ll be fine!

Well we would still like to see you.

It’s fine if you would rather us not come over, but Chris has been asking about you and I always like to spend time with you.

I’m gonna be a little grouchy about my leg the whole time

Not a problem. We’re on our way.

By the time Eddie and Chris had arrived, Buck had gotten himself sat upright against his headboard and had managed to change into a clean, non-sweaty shirt from the stock in his bedside drawer. It would have to do.

Eddie knocked sharply against the front door, and Buck listened as he opened it with the spare key that was still below the mat.

“You know, Buck, someone’s gonna break into your apartment one of these days with that thing.” Eddie called out as he came over to Buck’s room, knocking gently on the doorframe before he entered with Chris just behind him.

“Well then how would my favorite Diazes come visit me when I’m feeling poorly?” Buck asked, cocking his head at him.

Eddie laughed, shaking his head and nudging Chris forward when the kid hesitated. “Dad said your leg isn’t feeling well. I brought some markers ‘cause drawing always makes me feel better. Can you tell me more about bears?” Buck found himself grinning at the kid, gesturing for Eddie to scooch the bench he sat on to put his shoes on closer to the bed, grabbing the drawing supplies from Christopher and setting them up on his bedside table. 

“Sounds like we’re gonna need to draw, then. I can’t think of any more bear facts off the top of my head, but how about we watch a documentary? We can learn tons about them from that.”

Chris nodded rapidly, sitting on the bench and grabbing a piece of paper and some markers. Buck patted the bed beside him for Eddie, ducking his head to hide his blush as the other man slowly came around the bed to join him.

“I know they always say not to have a tv in your bedroom ‘cause you won’t want to get out of bed, but, well… I’ve found it useful.” Buck said, reaching back into his bedside drawer to grab the remote and quickly locating a documentary that seemed to include bears.

Eddie sat beside Buck in silence for a bit as Buck went between drawing with Chris and watching the documentary. Somehow, it was actually making him feel better, although Buck had a feeling that had more to do with the company than the activity.

“Are you still going to be good to come to the barbeque tomorrow? I’m sure they’ll understand if you need to take a rain check.” Eddie whispered, glancing at Chris to make sure he hadn’t disturbed him. Buck frowned slightly, thinking. “I think I’ll be good. Worst case scenario I’ll sit down the whole time.” he responded eventually, leaning his shoulder against Eddie’s a bit.

Eddie nodded, turning back towards the tv. “I’m a bit nervous about you meeting my team, honestly.” Eddie said, looking resolutely forward. “They’re a bit… intense, I guess.”

Buck suppressed a snort, not really sure how to respond in a way that wouldn’t be too telling. He had promised Chimney he wouldn’t say anything, and he also didn’t really want Eddie to find out with Christopher in such close proximity, and–

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Eddie. I’ve been told I’m charming.” Buck did his best to muster some of his Buck 1.0 cockiness in the smirk he directed at the side of Eddie’s head, and felt a thrill of delight when the other man turned and immediately went red.

“Not sure who’s been lying to you about that…” Eddie teased, smiling back at Buck with his cheeks still pink.

“Shhh! Look, there’s bears!” Chris shouted, and Buck quietly mourned the time he would spend apologizing to his neighbors. The walls in his apartment were far too thin. “Sorry, bud.” Buck responded, reaching over and placing a hand over Eddie’s mouth. “I’ll make sure your dad doesn’t talk over the cool stuff.”

He yanked his hand back a few moments later, staring in disbelief at the wet spot where Eddie had just licked him. Buck turned a look of disgust on Eddie, fighting the curve of his lips as he got a look at the mischievous smile Eddie had on his face. He stuck his tongue out at the other man, leaning a bit further into him at the joy he could see in Eddie’s eyes. 

As much as his family loved him, Buck knew they had a hard time being around him when his leg was hurting and there wasn’t anything they could do. Eddie hadn’t even asked if he could do anything, he had just taken Buck at his word and settled in with him. Maybe– maybe Eddie wouldn’t completely run for the hills if he knew the extent of it. Maybe he had actually worked most of it out, and knowing the rest wouldn’t scare him away forever. Maybe–

“Hey Buck?” Buck snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Chris’ voice, quickly turning and plastering a grin on his face. “What’s up?” he asked, reaching out and gently ruffling Christopher’s hair.

The boy leaned away, giggling to himself. “Here, I finished.” He held out a drawing, and Buck took it delicately into his hands. It was a drawing that was very clearly meant to be himself and Chris, Buck with his cane and Chris with his crutches. They both had on capes, and were seemingly floating in the sky. Or maybe it was just a blue background? Buck had practice, but he still wasn’t the best at decoding kid art.

“Wow, I– thank you so much, Chris.” Buck said, ignoring how choked up his voice was. He felt a hand on his back, and turned to see Eddie watching him, the man rubbing up and down his back with a soft look in his eyes.

Ok, so it was possible that both of the Diazes liked having him around regardless of whether or not his leg was acting up. Buck smiled to himself as he watched Christopher continue drawing, leaning back against the headrest and feeling Eddie’s hand adjust so that his arm was around his back. Buck turned to Eddie with a raised eyebrow, but the man was seemingly pretending not to notice him. 

Buck turned back to the documentary, suddenly looking forward to the next day when he could finally get everything out in the open.

Buck woke up the next morning bright and early, pleased to finally be able to roll out of bed without feeling like absolute death. He had been discussing with his doctor recently about other potential mobility aids to use for his bad days, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to admit that he couldn’t get by with just a cane. Buck clambered into the shower, turning it to its hottest setting and quickly scrubbing himself down, taking a bit of extra care to shampoo and condition his hair properly.

Obviously he wasn’t actually meeting Eddie’s coworkers for the first time, as they were his first, but he hadn’t seen Hen or Chim for a few weeks with how busy he had been and he wanted to make sure he didn’t look like he’d been dragged backwards through a bush. And maybe he also wanted to look good for Eddie after being laid up in bed for most of their hangouts thus far, but nobody needed to know that.

Buck carefully stepped out of the shower, not wanting to ruin the day with a fall, and styled his hair in the mirror. Back in his room, he stared aimlessly into his closet. It suddenly felt like none of his clothes were right, and Buck groaned as he realized how much he was overthinking this. He wasn’t going on a first date. As much as it sometimes felt like maybe he and Eddie were moving towards that–

No. He needed to focus. Buck grabbed his nicest pair of jeans and a deep red long sleeve, quickly tossing them on and grabbing his cane before heading for the door. The barbeque didn’t technically start for at least another hour, but he usually showed up early to help cook and hang out with Bobby and Athena. He quickly toed on his shoes by the front door, heading down the elevator and deciding that he would not panic about the whole Eddie finding out situation until it actually happened.

Buck was panicking. Of course he was, he wasn’t really sure why he thought that he would be able to stay calm all day. Buck continued chopping the vegetables Bobby had set out for him, listening to the murmur of him and Athena talking in the next room over. Buck always felt so comfortable in their home, surrounded by people who loved him, but now–

Bobby was Eddie’s captain. He was Buck’s father figure, and Eddie’s captain. And Eddie had no idea. What if it weirded him out? What if he was upset with Buck for not telling him? Buck wasn’t really sure what he would do if he lost Eddie and Chris in his life, even though they hadn’t been in it for very long.

Before he could start properly freaking out, Bobby stepped back into the kitchen with a smile still on his face from speaking to Athena. “Hey, Buck,” he started, pausing while he analyzed him, “is everything alright? You aren’t looking too great. Do you want me to grab a stool?”

“No, Bobby, I– my leg is fine. I’m just nervous, I guess?” Buck stared harder at the cutting board in front of him, slowing down as he worked so he wouldn’t finish too fast and need to find something else to look at aimlessly.

“What for? I know Eddie doesn’t know that you’re our Buck– which, by the way, I don’t really get how– but he’s not going to be upset about that. If anything it’ll make it even easier for him, not having to actually introduce his new friend to his work friends. We’re already family, if anything him knowing about you just means we can invite him in too.”

Buck sighed, finally looking up to meet Bobby’s eyes. “What if he doesn’t want that? To be part of– of my family?” Buck looked up at the ceiling briefly, trying to gather his thoughts. “I like him, Bobby. Which is maybe a bit silly, but–”

“Not silly. Sorry to interrupt, but Buck you should see the way he talks about you at the firehouse. I nearly had a heart attack when I found out he was talking to you, felt like I needed to tell him to make sure he was taking good care of you.”

“Seriously?” Buck asked, mouth agape. Bobby nodded easily, smiling fondly at him. “And I invited him to get here early. I’ll set Chris up with Harry in his room and send Eddie in here when he arrives, which should be any minute now.”

As if Bobby had summoned them, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” Athena called from the other room, and Bobby smiled at Buck one more time before turning to follow her.

Buck felt like he was frozen in place, suddenly unsure of what to do. He listened as Bobby and Athena greeted them, Bobby clearly directing Christopher towards Harry’s room like he said he would. Buck backed up towards the opposite counter instinctually as he heard Athena and Eddie approaching.

“I’m sorry to be so early, Athena, I could have sworn Bobby said 1…”

“Oh, I’m sure he did. There’s someone waiting on you in the kitchen.” Athena responded, sounding amused.

Eddie came around the corner, eyes widening when he caught sight of Buck. Only then did Buck realize that he was wearing the stupid frilly apron May had gotten him as a gag gift for Christmas the previous year, and he flushed a deep red. Yanking the apron over his head, Buck gripped his cane tightly to ground himself and stepped closer to Eddie.

“Buck?” Eddie asked, confused.

“Yeah, hey. Uh– so I have something to tell you.”

Eddie watched him, eyebrows furrowed, and Buck rushed to continue as he realized Eddie was not going to actually respond. “I, uh– I used to work at the 118. Until my… my leg happened. I was there for a few years, and we were all really close, like a family you know? And obviously we still are, and I didn’t actually realize at first that you didn’t know who I was but then it was great ‘cause Bobby could tell me when you were having a bad shift, but I felt kind of bad. And I was so sure you would… I don’t know, I guess catch on at some point? I swear I’ve talked about Bobby before, and I know they talk about me sometimes, and–”

“Buck.” Eddie cut him off, eyes wide. Buck stopped in his tracks, snapping his mouth shut and watching Eddie carefully.

“I’m not really sure what to say to that. So– the guy I’m replacing. That’s you?” Buck nodded, not trusting himself to speak without rambling again. “Okay,” Eddie said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I feel like I may have actually realized that if Bobby didn’t talk about you like you were dead when I asked him what was up with them a bit after I got there.”

“Wait, what?” Buck asked, not remembering that in the tales that Hen and Chim had told him.

Eddie sighed, removing his hand from his face. “I hadn’t told them about Christopher yet, and I was justifying it to myself by saying it was because they obviously had some secret they weren’t telling me about. I asked Bobby and he said we lost someone or something like that, so I assumed someone had died.”

“Oh. Huh. Yeah, maybe not the best phrasing on his part. Are you mad?” Buck rushed the last words out, kind of hoping Eddie might not hear them. After all, if he never asked he never had to be told that yes, actually, Eddie never wants to speak to him again.

“No, Buck, I’m not mad,” Eddie responded, his eyes softening, “I understand that you leaving had something to do with whatever happened to your leg, so if you weren’t ready for me to find out what that is that makes sense. I don’t blame you. Besides, it’s not like you were lying about a fundamental part of your character, just a previous career.”

Buck breathed out for what felt like the first time in the entire conversation, leaning all his weight on the counter beside him. “You have no idea how worried I’ve been the last few days, Eddie.” 

Before Buck had to worry about trying to steer the conversation back to somewhere normal, he heard Athena opening the front door again, followed by Hen’s joyful laughter.

Soon enough they were all gathered around the table, and Chim was loudly making fun of Eddie. “I mean come on, man! I’ve talked about Buck! Plus the whole 118 gets a ridiculous discount at Save the Day, what did you think that was about?” Chimney leaned forward eagerly, waiting to see how Eddie could justify himself.

“Wait, that’s a good point.” Buck said, narrowing his eyes at Eddie. The other man sighed, rolling his eyes at them. “I thought maybe it was ‘cause of Maddie. She works at dispatch, right? I figured she must know the owners, or something.”

“And what, she convinced them to give her boyfriend’s entire firehouse a discount?” Chimney asked disbelievingly.

Buck laughed loudly just as Eddie was opening his mouth to respond, causing the man to look over at his questioningly. “I mean, it is kind of because of Maddie.” Buck pointed out, “She’s my sister. I was lucky that she did know some people there, and she got me the job. We got lucky that Mary really liked me and offered the discount to my old team, but– it can technically be attributed to Maddie.”

“Thank you!” Eddie said, gesturing towards Buck emphatically, “See? It’s not that bad.”

“Well…” Buck said, dragging out the word, “I definitely mentioned Maddie and Bobby the first time you came over, and you didn’t even notice somehow.” He bumped his shoulder into Eddie’s, smiling to himself when Eddie leaned back into him without seeming to think about it.

“Yeah, I, uh–” Eddie started looking a bit nervous. At the first sign of weakness Hen leaned forward, a smirk on her face. “Do you remember what you were doing, Buck?” she asked sweetly. “Getting ready for work, I think? I’d just showered, he was about to leave.” Buck responded, unsure why that mattered. “Mm.” Hen hummed, looking at Eddie with an eyebrow raised.

Eddie cleared his throat, lifting his fork up a bit higher than necessary. “This food is great, Bobby. Thank you so much.” he said quickly, face flushed.

Buck laughed, ducking his head as it occurred to him that maybe Eddie had been distracted by the sight of him fresh out of the shower.

The rest of the dinner had gone over well, with the team staying to normal conversations and leaving Eddie alone about his misunderstanding. Buck found himself frequently leaning over to nudge Eddie, his eyes practically glued to the other man the whole meal. It was just–

Buck had never expected the reveal to go this well. He had been so sure that Eddie would be at least a little bit upset with him, but the man didn’t seem to mind at all. He also had apparently not heard of the truck bombing before, as he still didn’t seem to know what exactly happened to Buck’s leg.

Now they were all gathered in Bobby and Athena’s garden, everyone breaking up into smaller groups to mingle. Chris had split off from Eddie after dinner to go play with Harry and Denny, and Buck and Eddie were watching fondly as they shouted excitedly.

“So.” Buck said eventually, knowing they were going to need to talk about it eventually if they were going where he wanted them to. “You haven’t asked about my leg. I’ve had cashiers ask about it after two seconds, I’m impressed with your restraint.”

Eddie looked over at him, considering. “I figured if you wanted me to know you would tell me, and if not then it was none of my business.”

“Have you heard about the package bomber that was in LA about a year ago?” Buck asked, resolutely counting the blades of grass in front of him instead of meeting Eddie’s eyes.

“I– yes.” Eddie responded, and Buck could feel the way the man stiffened beside him. “I didn’t realize– the ladder truck that got blown up. Was that the 118?”

Buck nodded, finally looking up from the ground to see Eddie watching him in horror, somehow managing to look worried for him about something that had happened a year ago.

“Yeah, I was– I was in the captain’s seat. Bobby wasn’t exactly… there, at the time, and Chim was riding in the other truck so I stole the captain’s seat. The truck got blown up, and I got stuck under it. Completely crushed my leg.” Buck spun his cane idly in his hand, watching the bottom of it dig into the grass in a way Athena was going to hunt him down for later.

“I’m sorry, Buck. That sounds awful.” Eddie said, reaching out and gently gripping his shoulder. “I can understand why you wouldn’t want to talk about that, it must suck to have to think about it.”

“Well, that, and…” Buck said, debating whether or not he wanted to explain himself completely. At Eddie’s encouraging look, he sighed. “You were a medic. You must have some idea how– difficult crush injuries can be. I think I was worried that if you knew what happened, you would know how difficult it can be to have to deal with me, and you might want to– not.”

Eddie snorted at that, looking offended. “That is– the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Not to invalidate your feelings or anything, but Buck–” Eddie sighed, taking his free hand and grabbing Buck’s other shoulder, turning him towards him. “I don’t think you’re difficult. I like being able to help you on your bad days just as much as I like doing other things with you on your good days. You just– you make me feel comfortable; I like to be near you.”

Buck sniffled, laughing a bit to himself. “Wow, Eddie, at least take a guy to dinner first before you have him crying in his parents’ backyard.” he got out, reaching up and carefully wiping away the moisture in his eyes before it could fall.

“I wouldn’t be opposed.” Eddie said, sounding sure despite the nervousness on his face. Buck stared at him, not expecting that response somehow, even though looking back it did seem like he was fishing for it.

“Listen, Buck,” Eddie continued in Buck’s silence, “I like you. A lot. I’ve been trying to pretend with myself like I don’t because it’s complicated with Christopher and everything, but– you’re so good. And I feel so happy when I’m with you, and I kind of just want to be around you all the time. It feels like we’ve known each other for years. I know that’s probably a lot right now, but I need you to know that I’m serious about this, alright? I know your leg is bad, but I don’t really care. Well, I care that it hurts you, but–”

Buck lunged forward, pecking Eddie gently on the lips to shut him up while he tried to think of something else to say. Unfortunately, just one short press of his lips against Eddie’s (admittedly pretty chapped) lips was enough to keep his brain empty for a bit longer. It seemed to do the same for Eddie though, judging by his stunned face, so Buck quickly tried to get his thoughts in order.

“I like you too. A lot. ” Buck said, repeating Eddie’s words. “I would love to get dinner with you.”

Eddie grinned at him, his shoulders relaxing from where they had been steadily rising towards his ears and his hands finally falling from Buck’s shoulders. “Damn, Buckley. A kiss already? At least let me take you to dinner first.”

Buck shoved Eddie back gently, laughing with him. 

Buck looked away from Eddie to try to get the lovesick smile he could feel off his face, only to meet Bobby’s eyes. The man nodded towards Eddie, tilting his head in question. Buck sent over a simple thumbs up, ducking his head down when Bobby smiled widely at him.

“What’s up?” Eddie asked, trying to see what Buck had been looking at. “Oh, nothing, just… Bobby kind of gave me a pep talk earlier. He was making sure everything went well.”

“Oh my God.” Eddie said, eyes wide and face pale. Buck looked around, startled.

“What?”

“I’m dating my captain’s son. He’s gonna kill me. If I don’t bring you home by 10 I’ll be cleaning the bathrooms for months.”

Buck startled a bit as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked behind him to find Bobby. “Don’t worry too much, Eddie. Just treat my kid right.” Eddie nodded, relieved. “Besides, if you don’t treat him right, my wife is a sergeant. I am capable of much more than assigning bathroom duty.” Bobby said, smiling pleasantly. “Why don’t you boys head on out? I think Chris is tiring.”

“Yeah, that’s– sounds like a great idea, thanks sir. I mean, Cap. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Eddie strode away quickly, presumably to gather Chris, and Buck turned fully towards Bobby. “Now that just felt mean.” Buck laughed out, leaning slightly into him. Bobby grinned, shaking his head. “I’m not sure how he hasn’t realized I’m joking, yet. You stopped taking me seriously so much faster.”

Buck giggled, turning towards where Eddie was lifting Christopher into his arms, feeling warm at the sight of them. He couldn’t wait for them to actually plan their date, although he hoped he wouldn’t have to wait that long for another kiss from Eddie.