Chapter Text
Chapter 1. Single, but not ready to mingle?
It's a myriad of sounds when Eddie exits the ambulance, and it takes him a full second to re-orient himself and jump back into action. The accident on Rodeo Drive had quickly become much bigger than initially expected, with 5 cars involved in the crash and the bottle-neck in traffic, plus the media that was now surrounding them. Luckily, only a few people have actually been injured, and it seemed to be mostly under control now. He and Hen had been tending to one of the drivers, who had unfortunately broken his wrist against the steering wheel, and had a minor concussion thanks to what is sure to become a very nasty bruise on his forehead. The last of the patients in his and Hen's list. After helping Buck extract people from the first car, the one in the worst state and had required them to use the jaws to get the passengers out, he had been assigned with Hen to help her attend to those with broken bones, while Chim and Buck made their way through the other's involved in the crash who had been able to get out of their cars themselves. "Divide and conquer" Bobby had instructed, the moment he realized the number of potential patients they had.
While Eddie doesn't mind joining Hen in paramedic duty, and understands that having one paramedic and one firefighter per team was a better strategy at the scene, he knows he works best with Buck as his partner. As soon as his feet are back on the asphalt, he scans the crowd quickly, and his feet are moving towards Buck before he can consciously process that's where he's going. It's more instinct than anything else at this point. Chim is a few steps away from Buck, checking a young girl for a concussion, but everyone else seems to be bandaged up already. It seems Buck and Chim are done with their list as well.
He's only a few meters away, his hand already itching to reach out to the other man, when one of the men from the green car to his left makes his way to Buck. Eddie stops in his tracks, unsure if the man needs assistance. That's the car where he and Buck had needed to pry the driver's door open, but Eddie was pretty certain the man walking to Buck was not the driver.
"Buck, right ? I think that's what I heard them call you." The patient asked, and Eddie almost groaned. He knew that tone of voice. The man was embarrassed. He knows what comes next, and he's not really looking forward to his...Buck. His Buck being flirted with right in front of him, especially when they have agreed to keep their relationship private for the time being.
"Yeah, Buck. Caleb, right?" Buck asked politely, bright smile in place. Of course Buck had learned the man's name. "How are you feeling? Any dizziness?"
"Uh, no, I'm okay, thank you. Just a small headache but I have been assured that's normal."
Buck nodded, and seemed about to start talking again, to give instructions or explain further what symptoms to expect, Eddie is sure, when the man spoke again, "I just wanted to ask, you know. The... the other firefighter? The one that was with you before. Is he, you know, single?"
Buck blinked rapidly at that, seemingly taken aback at the question. Eddie's about to continue walking towards him, to provide moral support or interrupt the man talking to him, he isn't sure, when Buck's answer confuses him "He's my brother-in-law, sorry."
It takes him an embarrassing 5 seconds to realize Buck is talking about Chim, and not about him. Eddie is pretty sure the patient, Caleb, was referring to him because he was the one to work that car with Buck. A fact that Buck seems to have forgotten.
"Oh, really? I thought he was with you, if anything, guess I was wrong. He's very cute, your sibling is very lucky." Caleb said, smiling at Buck.
"Yeah, Chim is married to my sister. He's the lucky one, though"
"Chim? No, you called him something else, no? Diaz, I think his uniform said?"
"Oh, you mean Eddie? Yeah, Eddie Diaz." And Eddie is a lot more interested in the answer now that Buck seems to have realized the man was asking about him. They haven't properly labelled it yet, but to Eddie it’s pretty clear that whatever they call their relationship, they are BuckandEddie. Except, Buck doesn't seem to share that particular thought, because he says, "Yeah, he's single." There was no hesitation in his voice.
He's less than 10 steps away from Buck now, but he turns around and goes to Chim to ask if he can help with anything or if he should get started on clean-up. Eddie never volunteers for clean-up, which earns him a funny glance from Chim, but he ignores it. Buck just told someone that Eddie is single. The pang of hurt is bright and strong. But just that, a pang. It is quickly replaced by anger. If Eddie is single, he should be the first one to know, not a random patient in the middle of a scene.