Chapter Text
“Operation: Buddie”
Christopher Díaz had a plan.
He was ten years old, he had a whiteboard with color-coded sections, and he had the full power of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s most chaotic team at his disposal. What he didn’t have—yet—was two dads who knew they were in love with each other.
But he was working on that.
“Okay,” he said, tapping the board with a marker. “Dad is clueless, and Buck is worse. They need help.”
Bobby raised a hand like he was in school. “Just to clarify—you want us to make your dad and Buck... kiss?”
Christopher gave him a withering look. “They already act married. They just haven’t noticed. We’re helping them notice.”
Hen snorted. “I mean, he’s got a point.”
Chimney nodded solemnly. “I once caught Buck folding Eddie’s laundry while humming Can’t Help Falling in Love. That’s not platonic.”
“So we’re in agreement,” Christopher said, clicking a PowerPoint slide on the screen Bobby had definitely not agreed to lend him. “Operation: Buddie is a go.”
---
Phase One: “Accidental” Romance
It started with small things.
The lights at the firehouse were dimmed during dinner. Candles—actual candles—appeared at the table, courtesy of Karen. Soft jazz played from Chimney’s Bluetooth speaker. The crew didn’t sit in their usual spots, leaving two conveniently placed seats beside each other.
“Why is it so dark in here?” Eddie asked, sitting beside Buck anyway.
“Ambience,” Hen said, ladling soup with suspicious elegance.
Buck frowned. “Since when do we do ambience?”
“Since love is in the air,” Bobby muttered, too quiet for anyone but Athena (and maybe Christopher) to hear.
Eddie and Buck didn’t kiss. But Eddie did pass Buck a bread roll without being asked, and Buck smiled like he’d just been handed the moon.
Progress.
---
Phase Two: Strategic Separation
Next, the crew took extreme measures.
“Sorry, Buck, the ladder truck’s full,” Chimney lied, holding up a clipboard with fake assignments. “You’re with Eddie in the ambulance today.”
“But we’re both not medics—”
“Special assignment,” Hen said. “Bonding exercise.”
Eddie narrowed his eyes. “Why do I feel like I’m being set up?”
“You’re not,” Hen said quickly. “You’re being… observed from afar by your son and coworkers who love you.”
Buck blinked. “What?”
“Nothing! Go!”
They spent the day side by side, laughing too loudly at nothing, exchanging the kind of looks that had definitely crossed the line between “friends” and “soulmates.”
Still no kiss. But Buck did take off his jacket to wrap it around Eddie when it got chilly, so... progress again.
---
Phase Three: Desperation
Christopher called an emergency team meeting.
“They’re still not kissing,” he said, exasperated. “How can two people look that in love and be so bad at it?”
Athena rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. “Sometimes grown-ups just need a little more help.”
“Then we go nuclear,” Christopher said, and flipped to the last part of his plan.
---
Operation: Buddie - Final Phase: LOCK-IN.
The next Sunday, Eddie and Buck were invited to a “team-building exercise” at Bobby and Athena’s house. They showed up in matching jeans (unintentional, sure), and were immediately handed drinks by a suspiciously cheerful Chimney.
“Why do I feel like I’m being tricked?” Buck whispered to Eddie as they stepped onto the back patio.
“Because we are,” Eddie whispered back.
Before they could escape, Athena smiled sweetly and pushed them inside the sunroom.
“Stay here a sec,” she said. “We just need to, uh, bring out the grill.”
The door shut behind them. Locked.
“What the hell,” Eddie said, trying the handle.
The rest of the crew appeared in the backyard, along with Christopher holding a cardboard sign that read: JUST KISS ALREADY.
Buck turned red.
Eddie’s mouth fell open. “Chris!”
Christopher cupped his hands around his mouth. “YOU LOVE EACH OTHER!”
“We’re best friends—” Buck began, panicking.
Christopher gave him a look so disappointed it could’ve melted stone. “You’re literally in love. You tuck each other in with your eyes.”
“I—what does that even mean?” Buck asked weakly.
“Seriously?” Eddie said, looking at him with wide eyes. “You didn’t notice?”
“Notice what?” Buck asked, still very aware they were locked in a sunroom while all their friends and family watched like it was a rom-com finale.
“That I love you,” Eddie said, just like that, no hesitation.
Buck blinked. “You do?”
Eddie laughed under his breath, a little stunned. “Yeah. A lot. I think I have for a while.”
Buck stared at him, wide-eyed. “Oh thank God. Because I’ve been dying over here.”
Eddie laughed. “Then come here, dumbass.”
And then—finally, finally—they kissed.
It wasn’t perfect. Buck bumped Eddie’s nose, and Eddie accidentally stepped on Buck’s foot, but it was still the best damn kiss either of them had ever had. The world sort of melted away for a second.
Until the cheering started.
They pulled apart and turned to see the entire crew and Christopher outside the window, clapping and grinning and hooting like teenagers.
“Can we come out now?” Buck asked.
“Nope,” Athena called. “Not until we’re sure you’ve sealed the deal.”
Buck turned to Eddie. “We should kiss again. For the mission.”
Eddie smiled. “For the mission.”
They kissed again.
---
Later, when they were finally released and fed an excessive amount of celebratory barbecue, Christopher climbed into Buck’s lap and grinned.
“Told you it’d work.”
Buck kissed the top of his head. “You’re a genius.”
“Obviously,” Christopher said, sipping his root beer. “Now you just have to get married.”
Buck choked.
Eddie didn’t.
“That’s Phase Two,” Christopher added.
Buck groaned. “God help us.”
Hen smirked. “Don’t worry, we’ve already got the Pinterest board"