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Buck was beginning to understand why Eddie hated Hildy so much, since his new nemesis was introduced in the form of a hover.
Unbeknownst to him, Bobby decided it would be a good idea to change the rota to “mix things up” Buck thought it was Bobby's way of punishing him after he had accidentally burnt a hole in his favourite apron, putting Buck on a temporary ban from kitchen duties and instead was left to do more tedious jobs: washing the bedding from the bunk room and vacuuming the firehouse.
It's not that Buck minded doing these Jobs, they're ones that would normally be fought over because of how quick and easy they are. however, last week when he used the vacuum, he had forgot to empty it out causing a dust cloud to form around him, which is how he found himself being passed a small red vacuum “Buck there's somebody I want you to meet, this Is Henry” Buck glanced down to see a smug little red vacuum glancing back up at him, judging him “uh cap, how old is this thin...” before he could finish answering his question his captain had disappeared back into his office. Squinting down at the arrogant machine “I'm watching you” he mutters pointing his fingers towards his eyes and then back to the machine.
A few minutes had passed by and Buck was making light work with his new duties having already finished up with the bunk room and moping the floors, all he had left was Bobby office. “You. Useless. Piece of. Shit” pulling the nozzle of the vacuum towards himself, “Woah Buckley, that's no way to talk about yourself” Chimney glanced through the door and was met by Bucks eyes full of hatred, he gave the Nozzle one last tug, pulling the vacuum out from the outlet he landed on his back “I see you're getting on well with your new friend” Hen had now appeared, “Screw you guys” mimicking look of shocked and ‘who me expressions’ Chim and Hen burst into hysterics and began to walk away from the door “you have to unwind” Eddie stepped into the office crossing the room towards the machine “Oh and you know all about that mister I'm so “pent-up”” Buck said dryly as he began to push himself back up on hid feet, brushing himself down. “Okay wow, firstly I meant The vaccum cleaner. You have to unwind it” Chuckling to himself Eddie began to turn the handle to unravel the chord. “Secondly I have you know I'm feeling a lot more relaxed these days” rising to his feet he began to inch his way closer to Buck “is that so” Buck offered. “Eh hem” Bobby coughed, entering his office with a stack of paper work “Eddie, Buck Doesn't need any help vacuuming” Eddie began to create some space between them as Bobby looked between the two men “go finish up with the latrine and then was up, dinner will be ready soon” he directed To Eddie “sure thing cap” Eddie bounced his way out of the office, “Why do you hate me” Buck turned to his captain who was now sat behind his desk “I don't hate you Buck” Bobby mumbled eyes glued on the document he was filling out.
The next time Buck had to bring out Henry, he had gotten the nozzle stuck behind the couch in the loft of the station “Buck stop pulling it” Eddie yelled “I'm trying but it too tight” Eddie moved from his sitting position to his knees, coping Bucks position to look behind the couch “Why didn't you pull it out” Hen and Chim appeared at the top of the stairs before turning and go back down them “Oh my God” Chim mutter, Hen remained speechless, Eddie looked up just as the pair began leaving “I meant the couch” he leapt up to hid feet and began to chase after them “I meant why didn't you pull out the couch, before you began vacuuming” Eddie's cries echoed against the walls of the station “sure you did buddy” Hen offered patting his shoulder as she walked past “sure you did” she continued to mutter to herself.
By the third time Buck began to consider the department, again. They were all sat around the kitchen table listening to Buck complain about His duties “all I'm saying cap, is if I was sue…” “no” the rest of the table grumbled, Buck rolled his eyes as his phone lit up, it was Tommy, Buck let it ring out “why Is your ex calling you” Eddie's tone layered with a hint of jealousy “Hey Buck” Chim looked up from his phone toward Buck “what does your ex-boyfriend and vacuums have in common?” “They both suck” Hen chuckled “they're both dirtbag” Eddie sparked through a mouth full of pasta, nearly choking as he reached for his glass of water, his arm knocked over the salt “sorry” he mouthed In Bucks decision “it's fine I'll go grab him” Buck pushed himself up from his seat “At least Henry's better than Tommy” Chim yelled “Because even when Henry sucks he's good” Chim laughed to himself as he turned back to face the rest of the table he was met with looks of disappointment “What, that was funny” he raised his hands “no we get it, it's just” Hen began “stick to the day job and leave the comedy for comedians” Bobby continued as he began gathering the dirty plates.
By the fourth time Hen and Chim were convinced something was going on with Buck and Eddie they were sitting closer together and having more disputes, on their last call a person mistake them for being romantic partners and instead of work partners, which is how several hours had passed and neither Buck nor Eddie had spoken to or remained in the same room with each other for more than a minute.
In the supply closet, Buck sat in the middle with a dismantled Henry after having to change his dust bag “This blows” Buck mutter to himself as he clipped the bag into place, “I'm pretty sure it's meant to suck” Eddie appeared leaning on the door frame crossing his arms over his body. “Do you want to talk about it?” offering Buck a sympathetic smile, “What's there to talk about Eddie” Buck rose to meet the other man's gaze, “we're friends who got mistaken for more than friends” grabbing Henry Buck wheeled him back to the corner “beside it's not the first time someone thought we were a couple” he placed the box of dust bags back into the cupboard, “hold up” Eddie stepped into the room, his brows drawn together in confusion “what do you mean, this isn't the first time, there's been others?” Buck turned and began walking towards Eddie “yeah, well not like a lot” Buck began to fidget with a rubber band he found in his pocket, twirling around his fingers, he looked up to a spot on the ceiling recalling the few but many times people had thought him and Eddie were together “but it has been said more than once, yes” Bucks eyes finally met Eddie's, his expression subtly changing from confused to curious “By who?” he said more bluntly than intended, his eyes remained focused on calming blue ones which stared back “well you remember a few years back, me and you took Chris to see Santa?” Eddie nodded a smile crept up onto his face, one filled with fondness. Eddie had been struggling since Chris had moved to Texas, for the summer, it caused him to have a midlife crisis in which he grew a mustache, which everyone hated but buck, who secretly loved it, despite knowing his son would be back home in a couple of weeks Eddie still felt like he was missing out on important parts of Christopher's life, at least he would be back for Halloween. Snapping out of his daydream Eddie remained still confused by this whole situation as he didn't recall anyone saying anything about him and Buck “Well the elf working there, she told me that we had an adorable son” Eddie still remaining confused let buck continue to word vomit at him as he soaked in this new information he began to nod his head “and before then Maddie asked me “if my boy crush on Eddie meant that I was finally moving on from Abby?” Eddie began to blink away the thoughts “wait, wait, hold on” Eddie began to movie closer to Buck, waving his hands trying to get the other man to stop talking for five minutes “you had a crush on me?” pointing between himself and Buck, “I, no I wouldn't say” Bucks face became flustered the as his cheeks flushed the same pink as his birthmark, feeling a sense of embarrassment, Buck turned and headed towards the door, Eddie placed one hand in front of him to prevent him from leaving, he stood blocking the only exit “no Buck” he turned and locked the door “how long have you felt this way?” Eddie's hand grip Bucks waist holding him so he would stay stood in front of him “I didn't know at the time, what I was feeling…” Buck looked anywhere, but Eddie's eyes “Buck” Eddie said his tone stern as he was beginning to feel exasperated from the other man, he placed one of his hands onto Bucks shoulder in order to make him feel more willing to open up “How. Long?” Buck met Eddie's eyes, they had begun to glaze over as Buck let out a deep sigh he wiped the tear that began rolling down his cheek “five or six years now, I don't think I've never not loved you Eddie” idly Eddie's hand began to play with the collar of Bucks shirt “well say something, please because i need to know how this makes you feel, if you're uncomfortable I can ask Bobby to switch…” Before he could finish Eddie had pulled Buck in for a kiss, there mouths pressed together felt like coming home, Eddie wasn't sure he could feel something this good or that he deserved it, Buck couldn't help the smile that followed.
Pulling away from Eddie's warm embrace puck held on arm out to stop Eddie from kissing him again “I have so many questions” Eddie feeling Breathless just looked at Buck with nothing but awe and adoration In his eyes it made Buck want to keep kissing him and never stop, as Eddie leaned in again Buck pulled away again, letting out a sigh Eddie rolled his eyes “fine. Short answer I love you too Buck” Buck beamed at the confession as he struggled to hide the bright grin on his face, he began to walk Eddie backwards towards the door when they were both startled by a loud bang, causing Eddie to fall on top of Buck as the room began to fill with dust “Buck are you alright?” Buck began to cough as he inhaled the thick grey particles “yeah, don't mind me. I'm used to choking” at that point the door had swung open and they were met with eyes from the rest of their team “i didn't do anything, It was Eddie” Buck gestured with a look of embarrassment as his face turned scarlet, Eddie turned back to face the man below him with a look of bewilderment, “Hey what are we all staring at” Chim said as he made his way between Hen and his captain, he looked At the two men who had now pulled themselves apart “Alright pay up everyone” he gestured Holding out his hand to the rest of the 118, “wait you betted on us?” Chim just smiled back as he collected his winnings “Bobby, did you know…” Bobby began walking away "Buck, Eddie, clean up and then come to my office we have some HR documents for both you to fill out”
As Buck brought out Henry again he turned to Eddie unable to contain his happiness “hey Eddie” he smiled at Eddie who hadn't Even realised he was staring “yes Buck” picking up the remains of the burst vacuum bag and placing it into the bin, “are you a vacuum?” Buck began to giggle, Eddie rolled his eyes offering to humour Buck “no Buck, why?” He rubbed his hands together to brushing off the dust “because you just sucked me into your world?” Buck couldn't help the uncontrollable laughter that came out from him Eddie found the joke stupid but couldn't help the Laugh that crept out of him, he wished he could feel this way forever.
A few weeks had passed since the supply closet incident and Buck and Eddie had become a couple, Halloween was fast approaching and Buck had his heart set on a couples costume, as the pair lied in bed, legs intertwined, buck rested his head on Eddie's chest “what about Mario and Luigi” Buck offered “you already have the mustache for it” Eddies hands stopped brushing through Bucks curls “it's not your worst suggestion” Eddie began to move, ushering Buck to sit up “but I really don't want to dress up as brothers” Eddie began to place gentle kissed along Bucks jaw and down his neck “especially because if we were brothers what were about to do would be very illegal” Bucks breath hitched as he placed the iPad face down, his mouth met against Eddie's on a sloppy kiss, Buck went to reach for his phone, opening Spotify he went to click onto his steamy playlist, which is a lot harder to do with your eyes closed He soon found out as Under Pressure began to play from his phone, causing Eddie to freeze “um Buck I know you're trying to set the mood, but I don't think this is the best song, to do it to” Buck grabbed his phone and looked at his phone and was met with an image of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury “Wait Eddie, this is perfect” Buck pushed himself off Eddie and rolled back onto his side of the bed “For sex?” Eddie said confused about how the songs about humanities fears and being brought down could help raise his humanity “No, no not for tonight, but Halloween” Buck eagerly stated laughing to himself “I'm not following” Eddie rolled over onto his side and snuggled into Buck “For Halloween our costume, I should go as David Bowie and you can go as Freddie Mercury” Eddie began to think the logistics of the costume, he couldn't think of anything so he agreed and placed a kiss to Bucks cheek “you really like the mustache, huh” Buck laughed as Eddie began placing a trail of kisses from Bucks neck down his “shut up” Buck Said playfully smoking Eddie's ass.
After talking to Maddie the next day Eddie decided instead of using Freddie's outfit from Live Aid as his costume inspiration he would go as Freddie from the 'I wasn't to break free music video, not only because of the irony within his own life but because Maddie had told Eddie about the crush Buck had on him in that one performance growing up.
So this is how he found himself the morning of Halloween in a leather black skirt, stalking and one of his tanks stuffed with socks. He began to tidy up the house since he woke up before Buck and thought It would be nice to surprise him, as he heard the water from shower turn off from down the hall Eddie began to Vacuum the last bit of the living room, turning it off he began to wind up the cable “Eddie?” Buck stood in the living room with a towel hanging at his waist, Eddie stood up and faced his boyfriend “what do you think?” gesturing to himself, he twirled on the spot to help showcase the whole outfit “bedroom. Now!” Buck ordered dropping the towel from his waist.
Later that evening Buck, Eddie and Christopher found themselves on the sofa opting to stay in for Halloween instead of going the rest of the crew at Chimney “house of horrors game night” as he dubbed it, according to the group chat the only thing scary about that evening was that Maddie hadn't seen ET “you've seen ET right Buck” Eddie asked as Buck returned from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn “umm” Buck tried to recall the film knowing well that he hadn't seen it, he took the seat beside Eddie leaving space on the other side for when Christopher returns from the bathroom “You haven't seen ET” Eddie shouted “shh, it's not that dramatic” Buck rolled his eyes “you want to bet” Eddie glared at Buck as a grin crept onto his face “don't you dare Eddie, Christopher will hate me” the clicking of the crutches echoed down Eddie's hallway as Christopher made his way back into the room, taking his seat on the opposite side of Eddie. Bucks’ eyes remained focused on Eddie like his eyes would burn a hole in his head, “Chris did you know Buck has never seen ET before” Christopher swung his head round leaning forward so he can look at Buck “What do you mean you haven't seen ET?” Christopher gave Buck a questioning glare “How? Why not?” Christopher demanded answers “Is this really that big a deal?” Buck questioned and was met with a synchronized “Yes” from the two most important people in his life “Dad, we have to show him it, it's a rite of passage” Christopher reached for the remote flicking through the catalogue of movies, he scrolls down before landing on it, Eddie turned to Buck and whispered “see he doesn't hate you” Buck smiled and gave Eddie a small kiss to his temple as the three of them tuned into the film “I love you” Buck whispered as he wrapped an arm around Eddie's shoulder “I love you too” Eddie returned resting his head on Bucks shoulder, feeling like he finally has the happiness he deserves.