Work Text:
Buck [2:09 PM]
Did you get it ? :)
Eddie [2:36 PM]
How much did you spend on this
?
Buck [2:38 PM]
🤷♂️🤷♂️
Download the app !!!
Eddie [2:38 PM]
Okok
The package Buck sends him—Eddie tries to predict what it is for days, asking Buck, but he kept saying it was a surprise .
He opens it when he gets home, at Buck’s insistence.
‘Bond Touch’ bracelets.
Feel their presence, always.
Eddie [2:42 PM]
?
Buck [2:45 PM]
We can send each other little messages :)
But with vibrations
Like imagine we’re both busy ..
We can still talk but
Subtly
Eddie takes the bracelet out. It’s small, fits comfortably on his left wrist.
Eddie [2:49 PM]
Are you gonna abuse your power w this
Buck [2:50 PM]
Absolutely. <3
Put it on
And then you can choose a color !!
Whichever you choose , when you tap your bracelet , it will send that same color to me with your message:)
I already chose red
Eddie [2:52 PM]
I’ll do blue
Buck [2:52 PM]
See I knew you would
I saved it for you
Even though I wanted blue
Eddie [2:53 PM]
That’s so generous
Buck [2:53 PM]
I’m a generous guy
Eddie [2:53 PM]
You spent a fortune on these didn’t you
Buck [2:54 PM]
I’m not answering that question gtg
Eddie [2:54 PM]
Ok bud.
I have access to google you know
—
The next day, everything is all set up. Eddie finds out he has to keep the app open the entire day for the bracelet to work, but he has a charger for a reason.
Safe to say he becomes disappointed when he learns you can’t send more than ten pulses at a time, so they can’t actually use morse code. They end up coming up with codes themselves, which is suggested by couples who’d used them before.
One was hi, I love you, a check in, letting each other know they were missing the other. It gets used most often, usually by Buck. Eddie feels the buzzes at his pulsepoint at his wrist. It sends a silly, unexplainable happiness through him and brightens his mood just to feel it.
Two was , are you okay, because they asked this question already to each other multiple times throughout the day over text.
Three was yes, four was no, or, in other words, emergency, which meant to call as soon as possible.
Eddie explained that they needed emergency because of—the obvious, of course, the unpredictability of being a first responder—and Eddie left it at that.
But it was also in case he had a panic attack. One hadn’t occurred in months, but if it did, he could easily reach for help at the end of his arm. That sent a little relief through him.
Five was busy. It was good if Buck was out on a call and unable to be reached for a while. Eddie loved this one—not working with the 118 anymore left him in the dark of when Buck could talk.
It left him apologizing more than once when he’d try to call him twice and he wouldn’t pick up, so having the bracelets was easing some of the anxiety he had over not knowing what Buck was doing, which—sounded stupid, he knows, but it doesn’t when you’re used to spending your every waking moment with someone.
Six was a reminder. Eat, drink, sleep. Eddie would get that pattern if he and Buck went a couple hours without talking. Eddie sent it early mornings when he knew Buck was getting off shift.
Anything more than six was mainly Buck domain. He used them all if he was excited, or really wanted to get Eddie’s attention, in which case Eddie would send back one pulse, then two, letting him know in a silent way that . . .
He was excited, too. Happy that Buck was happy.
—
He’s having dinner with his parents, sisters, and Chris, and he shouldn’t want to get up and leave as much as he does.
His mom is gloating—or bragging, or being passive aggressive, or maybe it’s all fucking three. Eddie feels two feet shorter.
Chris is learning about Egyptian history in school, and has a presentation next week, and Eddie is—out of the loop. They both quiz him, and look at Eddie, and they aren’t even saying a word to him, but he can feel the burn of their gazes, saying, you should know this. Or maybe it’s saying, you shouldn’t know this, because you don’t know him anymore.
But then again, they aren’t speaking to Eddie, so what does he know, really.
He sends one pulse through his bracelet. He waits, sends one more. And then another, spacing them out, so Buck knows he’s sending one each time, saying, I love you, I love you, I love you, with the tap of his fingers.
A couple seconds later, his bracelet glows red on his wrist. He put his arm under the table so his parents wouldn’t see him nervously tapping at it, hound him on what it is, or God forbid, get that look about them when he mentions Buck.
One, two.
Then, a couple seconds later, one buzz, soft at his wrist.
Eddie couldn’t properly answer without sounding alarms, so he sent back a yes, then an I love you, and moved to fidget with the band of the bracelet instead.
—
Buck [8:49 PM]
Dinner with parents?
Eddie is home now—as close as he can get to home here—laying in bed, still messing with his bracelet. He’s grown more attached to it than he thought he would. Even though he doesn’t send messages through it as often as Buck, he still feels calmer with it on. Safer.
Eddie [8:50 PM]
How’d you know
Buck [8:50 PM]
Three I love yous ?
You sent that last time baby
Eddie [8:51 PM]
Shit
I didn’t even realize
But yeah, dinner
Amazing
I leave there feeling like such a good parent
They really know how to—
Eddie looked for a word. Encourage me. Discourage. Depress. Love me.
He deletes it.
Eddie [8:53 PM]
I’m okay
Buck [8:54 PM]
Are you sure?
Let me go to the roof, we can call
Eddie [8:54 PM]
Okay baby.
Thank you
Eddie taps at his bracelet once, even though he could type it out. Even though he gets to tell Buck over the phone in a couple of minutes.
One, I love you.
One, I miss you.
—
It kind of becomes an obsession. To both of them.
Buck gets in the truck, turnouts on, and the first thing he immediately does after putting on his headset is reach for his bracelet.
He taps twice to awaken it, then sends five pulses. Just the knowledge that Eddie is receiving the message in real time, from his fingers to Eddie’s wrist, has him relieved—that he can tell Eddie this quickly he’s about to be out on a call, all without having to find a time to text him or wait before he finds out.
Before, with their schedules being so different now, Buck would constantly find himself saying sorry for not answering, and it caused this guilt between them—Buck, for being busy when Eddie had something to tell him, and Eddie for calling him when he was at work.
Now, it basically never happens. Five taps, and Eddie knows he’s safe, at work, and can talk later. One tap, and he knows he loves him, misses him.
The vibrations are harder to feel in the truck, so Eddie sends his response with more intensity. It has goosebumps raising up Buck’s arm. One pulse. Then, more. Buck counted as they came. Six times. Eat, drink, sleep. In other words— take care of yourself.
Buck was smiling like a fool.
—
Eddie [8:14 AM]
Well I just had to explain to Chris what the bracelet I had on was and why it was vibrating repeatedly
Buck [8:21 AM]
Does he think its cool :)
Eddie [8:24 AM]
He thinks we’re saps
Buck [8:24 AM]
So, cool??
Eddie [8:24 AM]
Yes, baby. Very cool
❤️
Buck [8:25]
❤️
—
Buck [7:54 AM]
Seven pulses?
Eddie [8:25 AM]
From Chris
He wanted to say hi before school
I told him to do one but he wanted to be different so I said seven
Buck [8:27 AM]
I wish we could connect three bracelets :(
Eddie [8:27 AM]
I know sweetheart
Text him good morning
He loves you
—
Buck is able to go a couple weeks more without questions on his bracelet.
Honestly, he’s surprised it takes that long. He’s constantly tapping at it, receiving buzzes back, he expected he’d be found out his first shift with it on.
When he explains what it is, he receives vastly different reactions.
Bobby just gives him this fond, kind smile, and then asks where he got it.
Ravi says, “Cute. Bet it was your idea?” And Buck blushes, says, yes.
Hen asks him to explain how it works, the ins and outs, but when they all inquire about the code, Buck gives vague responses. The code is special to him and Eddie. It feels too exposing, like revealing a deep secret to say what each number of pulses mean.
But Chim harps on him about it for the rest of the day, and his hesitancy about it is forgotten.
—
Eddie checks his clock, eight in the morning. Unfortunately, he’s driving, with a passenger so he can’t call him.
He sends six pulses through the bracelet instead.
One back.
Eddie taps out two. You okay?
Three hits of vibrations buzz at his wrist. Yes.
One. I love you.
Eddie is able to focus again.
—
Eddie [6:32 PM]
Home soon ☺️
❤️
Buck [6:36 PM]
I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!
What should we do first ??
Eddie [6:36 PM]
Take a nap together
Buck [6:37 PM]
Smart baby
But you know I mean … social wise
Eddie [6:38 PM]
I know you think you’re very sneaky but I also know there’s been a note on your calendar every month about ‘118 drinks w/ E’ that you’ve been waiting to assign a date
Buck [6:39 PM]
…
Okay yes but I didn’t want to pressure you into it
Eddie [6:39 PM]
How long have you had this planned ???
You want me to get wasted that bad sweetheart
Buck [6:40 PM]
It’s a celebration!!!!! You deserve to get drunk and sing karaoke
And since you left, BTW
Eddie [6:41 PM]
What’s 10 buzzes?
Just choose a song baby we can go
Buck [6:42 PM]
10 is excitement + love you+ miss you+wanna kiss you
I have some contenders ..
Eddie [6:42 PM]
You wanna kiss me, Evan Buckley?
Buck [6:43 PM]
No big deal , yeah
❤️❤️
🎉
—
Even though Eddie is home, neither of them remove their bracelets.
Eight is you look beautiful.
Nine—Need you.
And five gets reinvented to Roof? Or just, can we escape/leave , depending on where they are.
The usage of them does go down, because they don’t need them at work anymore—but sometimes, Buck will be helping with dinner in the kitchen, and Eddie will be playing cards with Hen and Chim, and his bracelet lightens up with a spark of red, just once, and Eddie will smile.
It was $100 well spent.