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Eddie hates working shifts without Buck. No hate to Ravi, he’s a good kid and a great firefighter. He’s just not Buck. But Buck had been sidelined since he sprained his ankle last week on a call so he’s home and Eddie is here, working without him. When they get back to the station after a particularly brutal call to a multi car pile up on the 405 Eddie wants nothing more than to talk to Buck. So while everyone else heads to the showers Eddie sits down on the bench in the locker room and pulls out his phone.
“Hi baby.” Buck answers almost immediately.
“Hey.” Eddie says quietly.
He can hear the sound of shuffling on the other end of the line and then Buck says “what happened? Are you ok?”
“I’m ok.” Eddie says automatically, then he sighs. “We had a rough call. A multi car accident. It was bad Buck, there was this kid… he was 17 maybe 18… I tried to get him out. I tried to save him but…. He was just a kid. Barely older than Christopher and now he’s dead.”
“Oh Eddie. I’m so sorry. I wish I was there with you right now.” Buck says in a comforting voice.
“Me too. I mean I don’t want you to have to go through a bad shift like this. I just… I wish you were here so I could touch you.” Eddie admits with a slight blush. Just then Ravi comes back from the showers and as he opens his locker to get his spare uniform shirt he raises an eyebrow at Eddie. Eddie blushes deeper and turns away from him, lowering his voice.
“Oh is that right?” Eddie can hear the smirk in Buck’s voice. “And how exactly is it that you want to touch me?”
“Oh my god that is not what I meant.” Eddie insists “I just meant I want to hold your hand, or have your arms around me. Mostly I just want to be near you. Being near you always makes me feel better.”
“Wow, I had no idea you were such a romantic Edmundo.” Buck says with a laugh. But Eddie can hear the hesitation in the laughter and he can almost see the blush that is certainly covering Buck’s cheeks and neck right now.
“Yeah well I love you, Evan.” He emphasizes the name so Buck knows he’s only using it because he called him Edmundo. And it works because Buck laughs. Ravi makes a weird noise behind him and then quickly shuts his locker and leaves the room giving Eddie an unreadable expression as he does. Eddie is confused for a moment but shrugs it off and turns his attention back to his boyfriend.
“I love you too.” Buck says. “Are you going to be ok?”
“Yeah I am.” Eddie says with a deep breath and a smile. “I just needed to hear your voice.”
“Well I am happy to talk any time you need me to.” Buck jokes but Eddie knows he’s serious and he’s glad for it. He could listen to Buck talk about anything.
“I know. I should go, Bobby is making alfredo for lunch and if I don’t get up there soon Chimney will eat all the garlic bread.”
“I can’t believe I’m missing pasta Thursday!” Buck laments. “Stupid ankle.”
“I’m sorry baby. If there’s any leftovers I’ll bring them to you after my shift.” Eddie says.
“I knew there was a reason I loved you.” Buck says with a contented sigh.
“Bobby’s pasta? That’s why you love me?” Eddie asks, standing up and heading towards the showers so he can clean up himself before eating.
“Well that and Christopher, and abuela. You know? My favorite Diazes.”
“Of course.” Eddie says with a smile. “Ok I really do have to go now. I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Buck says. “Have a good rest of your shift. Be safe.”
Ten minutes later, after taking a quick shower and getting dressed as fast as he could, Eddie heads upstairs to join the team for lunch. When he sits down next to Ravi he glares at him then gets up claiming they need the salt and pepper. But then when he comes back he sits down next to Chim on the opposite side of the table from Eddie and refuses to meet his eyes. Eddie exchanges a confused look with Hen and Chimney looks back and forth between Eddie and Ravi for a moment before asking “you good Panikkar?”
“I’m fine.” Ravi says shortly. “Let’s eat.”
The rest of the shift goes more or less the same. Ravi spent most of the time ignoring and avoiding Eddie but when they were forced to be in close proximity, in the engine or on calls, he would only look at him with angry glares before turning away. And when he had to speak to Eddie it was short clipped words and small sentences, just the right amount of words to get his point across without adding any extra fluff or leaving a space open for conversation. Eddie tried to ask what was wrong with him but Ravi had just scoffed and shook his head walking away.
At the end of their shift Eddie decided he would try again, or at the very least apologize to Ravi for whatever transgression he had apparently committed. But before Eddie had even finished changing his clothes Ravi was already in his car driving away.
When he gets home the house is quiet. Chris was already gone at school but Eddie had expected to find Buck in the living room watching tv or in the kitchen cooking something. He makes his way to the bedroom and finds Buck fast asleep on the bed, the mystery novel Maddie has recently lent him open next to him, half under his face with a new drool stain on the pages, and his hurt leg propped up on a pillow. Eddie rolls his eyes when he notices the pillow his boyfriend’s foot is currently resting on was not one of the many throws Buck had insisted on buying only to toss them on the ground every time they got into bed but instead the one Eddie slept with every night. He watches Buck sleep for a minute, he doesn’t normally see him like this. Buck is an early riser so most days he’s out of bed before Eddie. But right now he looks so peaceful and Eddie hates to disturb that.
Eddie quietly approaches the bed and grabs the book from under Buck’s cheek and closes it, making sure to place the bookmark back before he does. Then he places it on the bedside table and reaches forward brushing the stray curls back from Buck’s forehead. It takes a minute but then Buck stirs and opens his eyes. When he sees Eddie his face breaks into a wide smile. “Hi baby!”
“Hi. How’s your leg?” Eddie asks, sitting down on the edge of the bed and reaching to rub a hand lightly over Buck’s calf.
“It’s good. Hasn’t really hurt much today.” Buck says, “how was your shift?”
Eddie looks at the pillow holding up Buck’s foot and the slight bruise still visible under the wrap and raises a questioning eyebrow at that but he didn’t press the issue. Instead he answers Buck’s question. “It was weird.”
“Ok. Weird how?” Buck asks, pushing himself into a sitting position so he can look Eddie in the eye. “Did something happen after we talked?”
“That’s the thing, I have no idea.” Eddie wracks his brain thinking of anything that might have happened to make Ravi upset with him. “The first half of the shift was fine. I mean we had that hard call but things were normal. And then after our call I showered and went up to join everyone for lunch and Ravi was being… weird.”
Buck gives him an inquisitive look and shakes his head. “What do you mean weird? What was he doing?”
“I sat down next to him and he got up and moved to sit by Chimney. And then for the rest of the shift he’d barely even look at me. When we were at the station he’d completely avoid me. And then when we were out at calls he’d only look at me to glare and only talk to me if absolutely necessary for the call. And when I tried to ask what happened he scoffed at me and rolled his eyes like it should have been obvious and my even asking was offensive to him or something.” Eddie sighs and rubs a hand over his face. “I truly have no clue what I did to him.”
Buck looks pensive for a few minutes then asks. “Nothing happened between the two of you on the call did it? The one with the pileup?”
Eddie shakes his head. “No. Not that I recall. He was fine on the drive back to the station and then when I went up to join everyone for lunch he was mad. At first I thought maybe he was annoyed I took too long and they waited for me so they didn’t get to eat as soon but that doesn’t make sense because he seemed genuinely mad at me.”
“Weird. Do you want me to try texting him?” Buck asks, reaching forward a bit to slip his fingers between Eddie’s.
“No, it's fine. I’ll give him a day to calm down and hopefully by the time we go into work tomorrow he’ll have gotten over it. Or at least calmed down enough to tell me what’s wrong.” Eddie shifts so he’s sitting next to Buck with his back against the headboard. “Right now I just want to forget about it.” He sighs and slides down the bed so he’s laying on his back looking up at Buck. “And maybe take a nap with my boyfriend.”
“A nap?” Buck asks, leaning down so he’s hovering over Eddie, a mischievous glint in his eye. “I thought you wanted to touch me?”
Eddie laughs and reaches up to grab the back of Buck’s neck pulling him in for a kiss. Then when Buck is sufficiently distracted, he reaches his arms around Buck’s back and flips them over. “We could do that too.” He says, leaning down and kissing the surprised grin off Buck’s face.
A few hours later after they’ve worked up quite an appetite and thoroughly proven that Buck’s ankle is in fact healed, they decide that neither of them feels like cooking anything for lunch so they go out to the park by their house that always has food trucks with a delicious assortment of menus. Buck gets a gyro from the Greek truck and Eddie gets a burger and fries from a truck designed to look like a 1950s style diner. Once they both have their food they go over to the picnic tables and sit down together. Buck immediately reaches over and attempts to steal one of Eddie’s fries. Eddie swats his hand away. “If you wanted fries you should’ve ordered fries.”
“But I didn’t want a burger and the Greek place doesn't sell fries.” Buck pouts. “If you loved me you’d give me a fry.”
“Oh is that right?” Eddie asks, raising an eyebrow and eats a fry. “So if I don’t give you a fry I don’t love you?”
“No, I mean you already didn't bring me any of Bobby's alfredo. You clearly don’t care about me at all.” Buck jokes, waiting until Eddie picks up his burger to reach out and grab a fry, smirking as he bites into it. Eddie drops his burger back onto his plate and he’s about to reach over and grab the fry from Buck’s mouth when he hears someone behind him make a scoffing noise that they try to turn into a cough and Buck looks up at whoever it is. “Ravi, Hi!”
Eddie whips around and sees Ravi standing behind them with a to-go bag from the Mexican food truck looking uncomfortable and avoiding Eddie’s eye. “Hey Buck, how's the ankle?”
“It’s good. Much better actually I should be back at work tomorrow.” Buck says with a grin.
“Good. That’s good.” Ravi still doesn’t look at Eddie so Eddie clears his throat.
“Hi Ravi.” he says in what he hopes is a neutral voice but he has to admit sounds a bit stiff even to him.
“Eddie.” Ravi says flatly eyes flitting to him for a second before returning to Buck. “So you’re back tomorrow? That’s great.”
“Yeah...” Buck says looking from Eddie to Ravi and back with a furrowed brow. “Is there something wrong, Ravi?”
Ravi clears his throat and puts on a very clearly forced smile. “No. I’m fine.”
“No you aren’t.” Eddie says. “Come on man what is wrong? Why are you so mad at me?”
Ravi looks at Eddie with one brow raised. His eyes flit to Buck for just a second and then the fake smile is back. “I’m not mad at you Eddie.”
“Yes you are. And I want to know why.” Eddie demands.
Ravi looks guiltily at Buck for a second and then he sighs and turns back to Eddie, crossing his arms. “Fine, I’ll tell you. I’m mad because Buck is my friend and I think he deserves better than you.”
“What the hell?” Buck says, staring at Ravi in disbelief. “That’s a little out of line don’t you think?”
Ravi looks sheepishly over at Buck but then his angry expression returns and he looks back at Eddie who is frozen in place with his jaw dropped. “I heard you. I mean come on Diaz what else did you expect doing that in the station where anyone could walk past. You should just be grateful that it was me who overheard and not Hen or Chimney or god forbid Bobby. They might’ve murdered you on the spot.”
“Ok I’m sorry, what the hell are you talking about?” Eddie asks, now feeling both confused and exacerbated.
Ravi’s eyes once again flit over to Buck and then he looks at Eddie and raises his eyebrows. “You really want to do this right now? You want me to say it right now?” When Eddie just nods and gestures for him to go on he sighs then says “Ok fine. Who’s Evan?”
Eddie looks over at Buck who seems just as confused as he is. “Um... I am?” Buck says in a befuddled voice. “Evan is my first name.”
Ravi immediately looks regretful and takes an awkward step backwards. “Your first name is Evan? Wow ok... um I’m an asshole.”
Eddie is looking from Buck to Ravi still incredibly confused when suddenly it dawns on him. “Oh my god! You thought I was cheating on Buck?!”
“Wait, you thought Buck was my first name?” Buck looks more confused about that than he does about the cheating thing “You thought my parents named me Buck Buckley?”
“Well when you put it like that it makes me sound like an idiot.” Ravi says with a pout.
Buck and Eddie share a look and then both turn back to Ravi trying hard to contain their smiles. “Well, misunderstanding aside, I appreciate you having my back probie.” Buck says with a grin.
“I’m not a probie anymore Buck, I haven’t been for a while.” Ravi says frowning. “But you’re welcome.” Then he turns to Eddie with an apologetic look on his face, “Sorry I thought you were a cheater man.”
Eddie chuckles at that. “No worries. Although maybe next time you think I’m cheating on my boyfriend just ask.”
“I mean I don’t see this misunderstanding happening a second time but if it does--- Promise I’ll come to you first.”
“That is all I ask.”