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“Alright, 118–let’s pack up and head out,” Bobby’s commanding voice rings out as boots stomp past on wet concrete. It was hot—the June heat starting to lick at them as they gathered their tools. They had been called to the beach after a fire started at a beachside flea market—one of the vendors was using an open flame to demonstrate some cool wear when the wind blew a banner the wrong way and lit the tent up like a candlestick before spreading to six adjacent tents. Now there were burns and wounds to treat from the scramble, both from customers fleeing and vendors trying to save their wares.
It took almost an hour and some heartbroken looks, but the 118 was able to get the fire under control and put out.
“You ready to go, Buck?” Eddie asks as he passes, a hose slung over his shoulder and a hand patting warmly on Buck’s upper arm.
“Y-Yeah, right behind you,” he responds. It’s Eddie’s first week back on the job after months in Texas, and Buck's missed having his partner around more than he thought he would. He looks at Eddie from behind, trailing him and taking in the fact that he was actually here, actually back, and actually with Buck again.
“Hey,” the sudden voice startled Buck, causing him to stumble over his own foot and barely regain his balance. When he casts a bewildered gaze to his left, he’s met with a woman dressed in her fifties behind a table with psychic symbolism covering the tapestry, a glass bottle in her hands. “Can I interest you in a love potion?” Her eyes turn to find Eddie. “I know that look anywhere.”
“What?!” Buck asks incredulously, scoffing. “What? No—that’s more than fine, thank you,” he was about to command his feet to move as far away from her as possible. Just his luck, Chimney comes up beside him before he can.
“What’s taking so long, Buckley?” He asks, a curious quirk in his brow as he approaches Buck from the front. Panic rises in Buck as he steps forward, trying to drive his brother-in-law back before… “Love potions? Oh, Buck,” he teases as a mischievous grin breaks onto his face. “Come on, man. You don’t want to put the work in with Eddie the old fashioned way?”
“I’m not—Eddie’s—“ he’s stammering, completely losing any semblance of control he has over the situation.
“Eddie, is that that Diaz fellow?” The…psychic? Witch? Salesperson? asks, referencing Eddie’s surname on the back of his turnouts.
“Yes, yes it is,” Chim responds brightly, enjoying this way too much. “Was my friend here about to buy one of those?”
“Chim, no—“
“I was just telling him about my love potions and how they may do him a great deal of service.”
“Look, I’m sure those are great, but I don’t need one—he’s my best friend and he’s straight,” Buck mutters, hand on Chimney’s shoulder to hopefully guide him away.
“If I buy one, can I give it to him to use?” The woman shrugs and gives a half-nod to Chimney, who was already pulling his wallet out. “There’s $60, keep the ten.” he winks at the women who stuffs the bills in her bra and hands him the potion.
“Just a few spritzes will get him falling head over heels for you.”
Chimney grins as he tosses the bottle to Buck, who catches it in a scramble to prevent it from crashing onto the sidewalk. “Hear that, Buck? Head over heels ! Yippee,” He pats Buck on the shoulder. “Now come on, you’re holding us up.”
Buck takes one more withering look at the woman who was moving stuff around on her table, sighing as he follows behind Chimney. He takes one last look at the bottle and the swirls in the liquid before shoving it in his jacket—Eddie cannot find out about this. He’s going to look insane. Once back at the rig, Buck hops into the back and right beside Eddie as always.
“Oh, hey—I was wondering where you ended up,” Eddie says, along with that melting smile and kind eyes.
“I’m right here,” he responds with a quick clear of his throat. With a sound of the door shutting and a click of his seatbelt, they were off.
Back at the firehouse, Buck can’t shake the squirrely, paranoid energy that’s taken over every cell of his being. He doesn’t know how, and he doesn’t know when, but Chimney will pay for this. The bottle feels like lead in his hand as he looks over his shoulder both ways before trying to stuff it into his locker. The light catches the corner of the geometric shape, and he can see the liquid sloshing around in it. For a moment, the devil on his shoulder whispers tempting taunts to use it–truth be told, it’s almost enough to sway him. If that’s what it takes , he thinks–just for a second. He shakes himself physically to rid his brain of that thought. He can’t manipulate Eddie into having feelings for him, and Buck has been facing that fact for almost a year now.
It would be great though, if Eddie did have feelings for him. He knows Eddie would take care of him, but more importantly to Buck, he knows that he would take good care of Eddie. Eddie, who, from a young age has had to live a life without the tools to set himself up to succeed but fights through every hurdle that comes in his way. The man who does everything in his power to be the best father, friend, and man that he can be. The man that Buck has been looking to for guidance for years now, who he knows would calm the raging waters in his mind with one warm glance and a few kind words. He loves Eddie, and he knows Eddie loves him back to a degree, and that was going to have to be enough because that was leagues better than Eddie not being in his life at all.
He feels the slightest bit calmer as he shuts the door to his locker, satisfied with the bottle being tucked behind his sneakers.
“Hey Buck, what are you up to?” Every ounce of calm leaves his body hastily as his annoying brother-in-law makes himself known, leaning on the lockers beside Buck’s.
“Jesus! How long have you been standing there?”
“Just got here,” he says with a cheeky grin, chewing his gum. “You’re so jumpy.”
“Of course I’m jumpy,” Buck retorts with annoyance. “I can’t have Eddie finding out I have this...thing! Chim–why did you make me get it?” he sighs, probably a little too dramatically and rests his forehead on his shut locker door.
Chim rolls his eyes and squeezes Buck’s shoulder. “Would you lighten up? It’s just a prank–you don’t actually believe that ‘Love Potion’ is anything substantial, do you? We bought it off some beachside psychic for fifty bucks.”
“But if he finds it, then I’m going to have to explain it to him. And right now, my two options are: telling him I’m in love with him, or faking some random person and having to lie to my best friend.”
“Well, you could always tell him it’s for one of your exes,” Chim teases, dodging Buck’s elbow aimed at his ribs.
“He’s going to lose his mind. He’s made hints on numerous occasions that he never wants to hear about Tommy or Taylor ever again–he made me do a spit shake and make a deal that we never talk about my hookup while he was gone again.”
Chim snorts, trying to stifle his laughter–both he and Hen had stopped trying to figure out the anomaly that is ‘Buck and Eddie’ a while ago. If he was younger, that statement would’ve given him whiplash, now, he understands that these two dolts really just think this is what friends do. “Okay, so the way I see it, you’ve got two bad options where you have to lie, and one good option where you tell the truth and you live happily ever after.”
“No, I have two bad options and one worse option where I have to either tell him I was desperate enough that I had to buy a love potion from a psychic so I wouldn’t be a pining loser anymore, tell him that I didn’t care about what it took to get him that I would go so far as to essentially drug him into loving me, or–and I have to emphasize that this is the worst option of all–I have to deal with his rejection. So no, I don’t have a good outcome where I live happily ever after, Chim. Thanks a lot,” his brows furrow as Chim chuckles sheepishly.
“Well, when you put it like that…”
Just then, Bobby taps on the glass of the locker room, startling them both now. “Hey, kid. I’m getting the pot roast going. Come help me chop up the veggies. Chim, Hen was looking for you a minute ago," he points behind him with his thumb, knocking on the doorframe before heading off.
They both nod at their captain and share one more look before Buck sighs in defeat, following Bobby.
The savory, hearty smell of Bobby’s pot roast filled the air in the firehouse loft as he got it cooking on high. It was one of Buck’s favorite dishes, and he was a little suspicious whether or not Bobby knew Buck wasn’t having the best day when he decided to cook it. Whether or not Bobby had his Buck-sense tingling or not, it was still something to look forward to after today. Running back down to the lower floor, Buck was looking for Eddie. Bobby had sent him to clean the firetruck and the bathrooms with Ravi, and Buck was greatly missing his presence nearby.
“Ravi,” Buck called out after spotting his friend chatting with Sanchez and Jones. “Where’s Eddie?”
Ravi turns slightly, nodding his head towards the shower room. “He wanted to clean up after bathroom duty,” Buck nods his thanks and turns to head over and just as he’s about to take his first step, he is intercepted.
“Hey, Buck. Look, I just wanted to say I’m sorry–I didn’t realize how it was gonna make you feel,” Chimney starts. Truth be told, Buck felt calmer about it now. He was able to confide a little bit in Bobby, although he did have to fabricate the ‘person’ he was talking about so that he wouldn’t actually think it was Eddie. He wanted to be mad at Chimney, but it was just a harmless joke at the end of it, and he wasn't going to continue to punish Chimney for something so miniscule.
“Chim, it’s ok–” his sentence is cut off by the sight of Eddie, freshly showered with damp hair and his long sleeved shirt clinging perfectly onto his torso. He stands like a Greek God in front of Buck's locker, spraying himself with copious amounts of the liquid that Buck had hoped he would never find out about. “No!” His long legs allow for a quick closure of the distance between him and the locker room, and he’s swinging the glass door open with wild, bewildered eyes.
“Oh, hey Buck,” Eddie greets cheerfully, his face screwed in something that seemed close to confusion. “Hope you don’t mind–I forgot my cologne at home so I thought I would just borrow some of yours. It’s very…fruity.”
Buck’s jaw was slack as he took in the sight of Eddie with the bottle in his hand, finger on the pump. He couldn’t find any words to say as Chimney and Ravi come up behind him, one quicker than the other. “Shit,” Chim mutters as Ravi looks on in confusion.
“Sorry, man–I can replace it if you want,” Eddie’s brow is quirked as he sets the bottle back into Buck’s locker. “Just didn’t think you would mind,” Because Buck doesn’t, usually. In fact, if things were different, he would be borderline obsessed with the idea of Eddie smelling like him. That was a dream come true–but not like this.
“Oh, man, Buck, that was the perfume you got for Maddie’s birthday, wasn’t it?” Buck looks at Chim, his brain still buffering slowly, but appreciating the effort to cover it up. He guesses he’s going to have to lie after all.
“Y-Yeah! No, that was the one Maddie wanted, but don’t worry about it, Eddie!” He exclaims, sheepishly chuckling as he waves a hand dismissively, trying to dissuade any doubt that Eddie’s still-quirked brow was shooting his way.
“Oh, okay–sorry man. Let me know how much it was and I can Venmo you some cash to replace it,” Eddie scoffs, smiling as he looks at the bottle once more. “And Buck? See if they sell Love Potion in a box, maybe?” He sets it back and shuts the locker before walking over to them, patting Buck on the shoulder as he walks past him and towards the loft.
“What the fuck am I going to do now?”
The next hour goes by slowly, dinner isn’t quite ready yet and they still had six hours to end their shift. They had elected to pass the time by playing some pool. Let it be known that while Buck wasn’t the best out of them, he usually isn’t this terrible. He’d been missing the cue ball completely, completely choking his shots and scoring for his opponents. To add insult to injury, Buck choking meant Eddie was on the losing team against Hen and Ravi, and he didn’t want to be the reason they lost. Eddie, annoyingly enough, was the best of them and Buck was really endangering his good record.
“Buck, one more miscue and I’m gonna have to fix your form before your next shot. You’re gonna make us take the ‘L’ at this point,” Eddie says, amusement in his voice.
“I don’t like when you talk like Ravi,” he mutters, a blush creeping up his cheeks at the idea of Eddie getting behind him and using his hands to move Buck’s body into the right position.
Eddie chuckles quietly. “I like riling you up.”
Buck’s eyes snap up to find Chim’s as his brother-in-law sat at the table, eyes peeled from the book he was reading to look at Buck with worry. Riling him up? Fixing his form? Was Eddie teasing him? Was this him flirting? Was the potion taking effect? Questions flew around in his head at mach speed, rendering him completely frozen.
“Hey, hey–Buck?” When the voice breaks through, Buck’s eyes meet Eddie’s and he feels the heat of his palm on the small of Buck’s back. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to take it too far,” Eddie’s hand was rubbing a circle on his back, and every instinct told him to push away. Instead, he leaned into it.
“Y-You’re okay, Eddie. You didn’t take it too far, I like joking around with you too." Of course, a joke, because Buck's entire life is one big never ending joke right now.
“Are you sure? You look like you saw a ghost,” Eddie says with that adorable furrow in his brow. Eddie is always worrying about him, so he’s used to seeing it. It’s one of the many things that makes Buck love him.
“Yeah, just a lot on my mind,” he clears his throat and takes his stance, which inadvertently pushes Eddie to step back and away, leaving Buck with instant regret. “I’m good.” He leans down and takes his shot, the green ‘6’ falling into the corner pocket with precision.
Another hour and a half passes, and they are returning from a minor call–just a backyard fire from a dilapidated fire pit and a man who was burning documents that definitely did not raise suspicions. The man’s motives for burning documents with his company’s letterhead emblazoned on top was Athena’s problem now that the fire danger had been eradicated. They were finally sitting down for dinner, and while Buck had a moment where he thought about sitting away from Eddie, his body was magnetized to the other in a way that was impossible for him to resist. He plants himself beside him, the fruity scent wafting into his nose and causing a little turn of his stomach.
He manages to actually eat, to his own surprise. The excitement of his comfort meal was enough to override his anxiety, and the table talk was enough to distract him. His gaze may linger a little too long on Eddie when he speaks, and whenever their eyes meet it’s like Buck’s body physically warms up. He’s too far gone on Eddie, far too soft from the feeling of their family back together, too full of delicious pot roast and too tired from the day to fight anything right now. He lets himself melt as he pushes some sauce around his empty plate–he’s disappointed to see the pot had been emptied, not that he was expecting any less from Bobby’s cooking. He would’ve loved a few more bites, but he was absolutely not complaining with his belly full.
“Here,” he hears from beside him, and the scraping of cutlery against ceramic signals Buck to look down just in time to see Eddie sliding his last piece along with some of the honey glazed carrots onto Buck’s plate.
“Wha–Eddie, no, you eat that.”
“Buck, it’s your favorite,” Eddie says softly, smiling at Buck and he is sure Eddie is blushing. The problem was Eddie was usually blushing, he was adorable like that. He looks down at his plate then back up to Eddie, who was now the one averting his gaze. He watches as Eddie clears his throat and take a drink, worried that the potion was making Eddie more uncomfortable. “Buck, seriously, eat up.”
He was about to argue back, not wanting Eddie to sacrifice his dinner for Buck, when he felt a soft kick to his shin. Across from him, Chim is looking at him with a stern look, one that tells Buck to just let it go. Buck gets it–the more he pushes back, the more inclined Eddie is to find out what’s bothering him. “Thanks, Eddie,” he says softly. He can feel his own face heat up as he looks down at the succulent roast on his plate.
It’s your favorite .
He hasn’t actually told anyone other than Bobby that, not even Eddie or Christopher. He figures there wasn’t a point in sharing the fact until he could share the flavor. Failed roast after failed roast was making him better–the last one was just slightly too bland, but he was getting there. Once it was perfect, he would have one ready for the Diaz boys to consume until they were all bloated and happy.
An old adage rings in his head: to be loved is to be seen . He hasn’t told anyone other than Bobby that his pot roast was Buck’s favorite meal, but Eddie knew.
“Hey, Buck,” Eddie was soft in his approach, Buck looking up from his phone as he heard his voice come near. He was just scrolling, learning about the mantis shrimp and its deadly punch as their dinner settles. Everyone had gone about their miscellaneous pastimes, hoping they can avoid any major calls before their shift ends in a little under two hours. His name falling from Eddie’s lips make his stomach somersault more than usual.
“Yeah, Eddie?”
“I was thinking, did you maybe want to catch that new exhibit at the science center during our 48-off? The one about the neurological and endocrine systems? I was thinking we could ask Christopher too, but if he’s busy or it’s just not his speed, we could go! I mean, I know you would love it,” he was rambling now, his eyes drifting away from Buck’s. As he speaks, Buck’s heart is quickening to a concerning pace. He had gone on a bit of a tangent about it during their wind-down a few nights before–Eddie had listened intently as they prepared the house on South Bedford Street for the night. When Buck had stopped himself and apologized for his rambling, Eddie had softly encouraged him to keep going. Eddie seems like the only person who doesn’t tire of Buck some days.
He wants to go, he does–he would want nothing more. But he still doesn’t know if Eddie is doing this under the influence of the psychic’s elixir. He can’t say yes under these circumstances. He can’t take advantage of this beautiful, thoughtful man.
“I–”
“Hey, no pressure–I didn’t mean to drop it on you either, I just thought it could be fun,” Eddie said, obviously responding to Buck’s slow response. Buck doesn’t blame him for it either, after all–Evan Buckley and impulsive are synonymous to one another. If their positions were switched, he might take his own hesitation as rejection too. Just as he was about to finally say something instead of staring at Eddie with a slack jaw, the alarm goes off.
They were back on the beach now, the same beach they were at earlier. A few more tents had caught fire and the shifting winds had threatened to take out anything that still stood from the afternoon.
“How could the same place catch fire twice in the same day? I thought everyone was evacuated?” Ravi mulled as he sprayed a few lingering embers with a fire extinguisher. They had taken care of the larger blaze once they were able to clear some space to prevent it from spreading further.
“We did,” Eddie started, “Or at least, we told people they should pack up and shut down for the day.”
“Well, looks like some people aren’t very good at taking instructions,” Athena’s voice cuts through the night air as she turns the corner, guiding a handcuffed individual in front of her. “Not only did Miss Velma here not evacuate, she thought it was a good idea to light some candles in her booth.”
“Her booth,” Hen says as she thinks, “Which was basically ninety-five percent taffeta blowing in the wind.”
Athena nods as Velma sighs, resigned. “Look, I didn’t think the candle was going to cause so much damage. Business wasn’t going well, so I thought I would light one to really up the mystique of the place. Make it look legit, you know?” She scans the group, perking when she sees Buck. “You,” she nods in his direction. “You bought a love potion earlier, you agree my booth needed something…more, right? How am I supposed to sell magic with a boring booth?”
All eyes turned to Buck, Hen and Ravi chuckling while Bobby, Athena and Eddie looked at him in curiosity. “You bought a love potion from a psychic in a flea market, Buck?” Athena asks, in that tone that teeters on judgement and amusement.
“Ha, ha! That’s funny, Buck! Why would you do that?” Chim says, hoping the exaggeration he was putting behind the statement could clear him of his guilt. Buck swivels and looks at him, astounded by his audacity and was about to give him a piece of his mind when he hears Velma speak up.
“Listen, if I’m going to jail anyway, I should probably tell you that it was just some Bath and Body Works body mist that I put some glitter and food coloring in. It wasn’t real.”
Buck completely forgets about Chimney’s treason when he hears those words. “It’s not a real love potion?” She shakes her head, now looking a little ticked off.
“No, because love potions aren’t real.”
“Alright, I suggest you refrain from admitting to fraud or any other crimes,” Athena says derisively, guiding her forward again. “Have a good night, 118. Bobby, I’m going to be home late tonight.” Bobby nods and smiles as she walks past, murmuring something quietly about how he’ll be waiting.
As they started to wrap up and pack it in, Buck couldn’t help but bask in the relief washing over him. He finds Eddie, who was rolling up a length of the hose they used. “Eddie, I’m so sorry–I should’ve been honest with you,” he says sheepishly as he approaches his best friend. “Once you basically bathed yourself in the stuff, I thought I was too far into it to go back.”
Eddie chuckles quietly, shaking his head and smirking at Buck. “You thought what, that you accidentally dosed me with love potion and that’s why I was acting the way I was?” Buck shrugs, unsure of how to respond. He really dug himself into a hole with this whole situation.
Wait.
The comforting. The giving of his food. The invitation to something Buck wanted to do.
All things that were done without the influence of magic or other external forces. Eddie was acting on his own volition.
Oh.
Oh .
Buck looks at Eddie to find him looking right back at Buck with a soft look. “Eddie?”
“I love you. Without love potions, or magic, or anything, Buck. I love you,” he sighs at the end. “And look, it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. Maybe you were freaking out because you meant it for someone else, but you just nee–” Eddie didn’t have the opportunity to finish the sentence before Buck’s lips found his, soft and warm. Buck’s hands were on Eddie’s cheeks and pulling him close, Eddie’s hands over his and preventing him from leaving. It feels like a millennium goes by before they’re breaking apart, looking at each other with nothing but love.
“There’s no one else. No one else, Eddie.”
“Good," Eddie says quietly, his hands locked behind Buck's neck. They linger there for a minute, just looking at one another and taking in their new reality.
“Hey lovebirds, let’s get going!” Chim calls out, a safe distance from Buck, who was absolutely going to make his life a living hell for an unforeseen amount of time.
Back in the firetruck, the two of them sit side by side, their legs touching and their fingers interlocked. They had pulled Bobby aside before everyone loaded up just to make sure he knew what he had missed when he accompanied his wife to the cruiser, and he gave them both a big hug, told them he was proud of them and happy for them, and they would deal with any formalities in a few days.
“You aren’t getting off the hook for buying me that potion, Chim,” Buck says, his tone as sharp as his glare. Chim elected to sit in the seat furthest from Buck, probably a smart choice.
“Buck, it honestly felt like magic was the only thing that was going to get you two on the same page,” Hen teases, shaking her head. “I don’t blame Chim one bit,” she turns to her partner with a bemused smirk. “What I don’t understand is how you didn’t clock Eddie was being normal . That’s just how he acts with Buck, we all know that.”
Eddie turns scarlet, visible even in the darkness of the truck’s cabin as it got rolling back towards the firehouse. He clears his throat, and for a second, Buck was worried Eddie would deny it. Him denying it would probably sting, Buck thinks. But to his surprise, Eddie doesn’t deny that it was his expected behavior. Instead, he tries to pivot the topic. “Wait, if Chim bought it, then hypothetically shouldn’t I have fallen in love with him?”
Buck’s glare sharpens more at Chimney, now Eddie’s hypothetical adding to the fire. Ravi steps in before Buck explodes. “I don’t know a lot about magic, but I think intent plays a big part in it–Chim may have bought it, but Buck was the one with the feelings.”
“Yeah, exactly! Thank you, Ravi–glad someone is thinkin’ with their noggin,” Chim compliments, trying to glare back at Buck and failing miserably. “Besides, no offence Eddie, you’re not really my type.”
The cabin erupts in chuckles, Eddie feigning offence. He squeezes Buck’s hand and Buck melts into the touch, resting his head on Eddie’s shoulder, joining in the laughter.
“Oh yeah?” Hen asks, smirking. “And what is your type? And you can’t say Maddie.”
Chimney deflates at the condition, pursing his lips. “I know what you’re asking, and the answer to ‘what guy I would buy a cheap love potion for’ is Bobby,” Everyone’s eyes turn to their captain in the front seat, who simply shoots them a thumbs up, refusing to get involved any further. “He gets it.”
The group shares a laugh as Eddie rests his head on Buck's curls, both much too tired to care about the public display in front of their colleagues. Like Bobby said, this would all be a problem for later. "By the way, you two suck at lying," he says, a cheeky smirk pointed at Chimney. Buck raises his head, looking over at Eddie. "I mean about Maddie's gift."
"Oh yeah? How so? I thought we were pretty convincing," Buck says pridefully, a handsome smile on his face.
"Buck, it's June," Eddie says plainly. "Maddie's birthday is in February."
"It could've been an early birthday gift."
"Okay, okay. It was a very convincing lie," Eddie says fondly, a soft kiss pressed to Buck's chin.