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If you’d asked Eddie Diaz six months ago what he’d be doing on a cool early spring afternoon six months from then - when he missed Christopher so much his chest hurt and his only thoughts were about getting to Texas to be with his son - he would not have guessed in one million years he’d be here. Not physically here of course, as he drives this route to work nearly every day, but under these circumstances. Eddie Diaz was on his way to work on his day off just to steal a kiss from his boyfriend - and okay, also bring him some lunch, if anyone gets suspicious.
Eddie pulled into the parking lot of the 118 fire station right next to the same Jeep he’s parked next to for nearly 7 years feeling like an entirely different person. Only last night he and Buck had finally confronted the massive, obstructive elephant in the room: their obvious romantic feelings for one another. Obvious, only in hindsight of course. Obvious like, ‘we just kissed for the first time but of course I have been in love with this man for my whole life’. Obvious like, ‘years ago I gave him my son, how could I not see this before’? Obvious like, ‘oh…there you are. Of course it’s you.’
So yeah, that happened last night. This morning Buck had detached himself from where he’d been holding Eddie in bed, an all encompassing warmth that left so abruptly it caused him to reach back instinctively, only for Buck to grab his hand. He placed a kiss on his palm and reminded Eddie that he’d picked up an extra shift weeks ago. That was five excruciating hours ago and as most love sick people do, Eddie decided he couldn’t wait another minute to see Buck again. Forget the fact that they spend almost every waking minute together.
Eddie grabbed the takeaway bag from his front passenger seat (sandwiches, because he knows Buck doesn’t like to eat anything heavy when he’s on shift - though Bobby’s macaroni and cheese is the exception) and headed into the fire station. He noticed almost immediately that the place was empty but he also knew Buck was man behind today.
“Buck?” He called out, scanning the bays for any sign of his boyfriend. (Boyfriend? Is that what they are now? He should really nail that down.)
He took the stairs two at a time up to the loft, taking in what he could see with no luck there as well. He knew Buck would never hit the bunks when he’s man behind, and certainly not so early in the day, so there was only one more place he could think to look.
The LAFD owns a series of utility trailers for the use of doing fire safety demonstrations at local schools. Not anything fancy, just a couch, a lamp, maybe a coffee table. Eddie has never really gotten the point - all they do is light the interior on fire and then put it out - it’s meant to show how quickly a room can ignite (however usually they use a Roman candle to light the place up which… who even has a Roman candle in their living room that would be a concern for setting the house on fire?) But the kids love it and there’s a speech and Q&A afterwards that’s usually pretty informative. Not every station has a demonstration trailer on site but the 118 does.
Through the years, Buck and Eddie have often used this space as somewhere to go when they need privacy. Including but not limited to: planning Chim & Hen’s surprise birthday party (Bobby claimed he wanted nothing to do with the planning since he was quote, “graciously loaning the use of my house” which of course he would’ve done anyway), deciding whether or not to invite Ravi to their Super Bowl party when he first started (yes), and whether or not to invite Tommy to movie nights with Chris (no). It is also where they have had heavier discussions they didn’t want prying ears to hear. Eddie telling Buck just a few weeks back that he didn’t want him to move out just yet, Buck telling Eddie about how Tommy broke up with him and how he felt like the failure of his first relationship with a man invalidated his queerness in some twisted way. It’s the space where Buck and Eddie go to be BuckandEddie.
So that is why Eddie found himself behind the station now, ambling over to the trailer. His knuckles rapped the door lightly and he heard Buck’s frantic voice from inside saying “…shit, be right out!”
Not wanting to worry Buck further, Eddie pulled the door open and announced, “Hey, it’s just me.”
Buck was already halfway off the couch when Eddie opened the door fully, and the grin on his face when he saw Eddie made every decision Eddie had made that day worth it. Hell, maybe even every decision he’d made in the 34 years he’d collected on this earth so far. Buck looked radiant, like he’d been sitting in the sun and not in a dark trailer. He had a glow about him that Eddie couldn’t help but hope had something to do with their conversation and subsequent events of last night. He was blushing slightly, and when he opened his mouth to speak he sounded bashful like he’d been caught in the act of something. “Hey Eds,” he started, giving the other man a quizzical look, “I uh, I didn’t think I’d see you again today. Is everything okay?”
Eddie held up the sandwich bag, “Yeah, just brought lunch. I knew you were man behind today and thought you’d want some company. Plus, after last night, I kinda didn’t wanna be away from you that long.” He said the last part quickly, hoping Buck wouldn’t process what he said. It’s not that he didn’t want to be open with the man, it was just hard being that vulnerable.
Buck chuckled, “Wow, Diaz. You missed me?” He teased, and then quickly his tone morphed into something more sincere. “I uh… I missed you too. It’s kinda why I’m in here. This is our spot, you know. Made me feel closer to you.”
Eddie plopped down and leaned into Buck, sandwiches forgotten on the other end of the couch. Buck wrapped his arms around the shorter man and pressed a kiss into his hair. “You know,” Eddie started, “you could’ve just called me instead of trying to feel my presence like I’m a ghost, you weirdo.”
Buck scoffed and admitted, “Yeah, I could’ve, I suppose. Didn’t wanna bother you though.” Eddie could tell the joking facade was gone and turned to level Buck with his most sincere stare.
”Buck, you could never. Ever. Even before last night, hearing from you is never a bother. I promise.”
Buck surged forward to catch Eddie’s lips in a kiss and everything else melted away. It felt so right, so normal, so comfortable, despite being an activity they just started engaging in together less than 24 hours ago. Eddie thought he could live in this feeling forever, safe in the arms of his best friend. Suddenly the trailer lurched and Eddie quickly realized they’d made a grave mistake.
The thing about the fire safety demonstration trailer, and their school fire safety demonstrations in general, is that they were always always scheduled well in advance and that information was relayed to everyone on that shift - on Bobby’s watch anyway. Clearly, the B-shift captain did things differently.
As the trailer began to move Buck let out a panicked, “Oh, hey what the fuck.” And instinctively held on to Eddie tighter.
”Buck, thank you for trying to protect me, but I don’t know if that’s really helpful right now.” Eddie said, wriggling out of Buck’s arms to pull his phone out of his pocket. Upon seeing Buck’s dejected face, however, he pressed a quick kiss to his lips and assured him, “I love you, I’m not mad at you. I just need to assess the situation.”
According to Eddie’s assessment, they were currently in a utility trailer being driven to God knows what local school, and nobody knew they were back there. Fucking fantastic.
Eddie checked his phone. No service, of course.
”Anything?” Buck asked, “My phone is back at the station.” His head was in his hands now, clearly distraught by the situation. He glanced up at Eddie through his fingers. “I’m sorry, Eds. I got us in this—“
”Don’t even start.” The other man interrupted, “We have spent hundreds of hours in this trailer through the years and this has never happened. There’s no way you could have known it would happen today.”
Buck looked at Eddie with eyes that glistened in appreciation. “Thanks, Eds. You’re right. I was starting to spiral.” He leaned back on the couch in clear exhaustion, blindly reaching for Eddie’s hand. When he found it, he held on tight.
”Okay,” Eddie began, “since there’s not much we can do about our current situation…” He reached over to pluck the bag off the couch where it had been discarded earlier. “Sandwiches?”
Buck groaned in approval. “Please, I’m starving.” And took the sandwich Eddie held out to him without hesitation.
They ate in companionable silence, as the trailer bumped along the road. They felt the way the traffic ebbed and flowed. Usually, the station stayed in district for these demonstrations, but they’d been known to venture farther for the odd private or charter school when needed. This seemed to be one of those trips. After about 20 minutes on the road, Eddie became increasingly concerned.
”I mean, come on!” He exclaimed, “Where could we even be going?” He kicked the coffee table in front of him lightly to show his frustration.
”Woah there, cowboy, calm down.” Buck chuckled, and placed his hand on Eddie’s knee to steady him. “We’re probably just stuck in traffic. Or maybe a B-shifter requested their kid’s school and it’s a little further out. Either way, we’ll get there when we get there. And in the mean time…” Buck’s voice trailed off on a lilt as he positioned himself in Eddie’s lap, grabbing a bit of Eddie’s shirt and pulling him into a kiss.
“Buck…” Eddie murmured into the kiss, “Baby, you’re still on shift.” He only half heartedly protested, he and Buck both knew it was bullshit anyway. Buck was grinding down ever so slightly, which drew a sinful noise from Eddie’s lips. Buck tugged at Eddie’s jacket and the other man helped him by shrugging it off the rest of the way. The sound of the door opening startled Buck off of Eddie, but not quickly enough before light flooded the inside of the trailer. The men squinted out into the daylight, looking guilty as ever, and were faced with the entire B-shift of the 118 and about 150 kids staring back at them.
Buck fully stood up off the couch, with Eddie in tow. From the crowd, a clearly annoyed voice rang out. “Dad…Buck? What the fuck?” The voice came from the front of the crowd, which was back about fifty feet from the trailer, but there was no mistaking that was indeed Christopher Diaz.
”Fuck…” Eddie murmured under his breath. ”Of course it had to be Durand.” He dragged a hand down his face and let out the deepest sigh known to man.
”Buckley…Diaz… What on earth is going on here?” The B-shift captain demanded. Both men sputtered for an excuse but came up empty.
“Sorry cap it’s… a long story.” Buck supplied with a nervous chuckle, but nobody else seemed amused, aside from one B-shifter who was slipping another smug looking firefighter a ten dollar bill. Typical B-shift.
The captain let out a deep sigh and gave a dismissive gesture. “Fine, I don’t really care anyway. Both of you, take the captain’s truck and go back to the station. I’ll let Captain Nash know he should be receiving a call from you shortly.” Both men nodded and hurried off, but not before Eddie tried to find Chris again in the crowd, with no luck.
When Buck and Eddie got back to the station, sure enough, Buck had a text from Bobby.
1:45pm
Captain Dad: Call me as soon as you get in. - Bobby Nash
Buck let out a sigh and Eddie subtly put his hand on the taller man’s shoulder to ground him.
All in all, the call went fine. Bobby was happy for them, though slightly concerned about their use of LAFD property and the slight time theft of it all. He said he would wait until they were ready to tell the rest of the team on their own terms, but he had some paperwork already prepared in his office they needed to sign at the start of next shift to declare their relationship to the department. Eddie didn’t want to look too far into that. Buck still had to finish out his shift, of course, so Eddie gave him a reluctant kiss goodbye and headed home. He had a job to do anyway - tell Christopher everything and hope he doesn’t hate him.
After a twenty-four, Buck usually likes to take a shower and crash in bed almost immediately upon returning home. Today, however, after the most awkward shift anyone has ever experienced in their life in the entire history of the world, when Buck slides into his Jeep in the station parking lot, he has a text from Eddie waiting.
8:07am
Eds<3: Good morning, cariño Hope the rest of your shift went well. Chris wants to talk when you get home. Drive safe. Love you.
While the end of the text warmed Buck’s heart, he couldn’t help but worry and the drive home was excruciating. Is Chris pissed? If he doesn’t approve, what does that mean for him and Eddie? Can Buck go back to being friends with Eddie after this? Will Chris ever trust him again? By the time he gets home, Buck’s mind had properly spiraled into enemy territory.
He unlocked the front door with shaking hands, fearful of the energy he was walking into. When he stepped inside, however, it became clear that spirits were higher than his brain led him to anticipate. Music played faintly from the kitchen and the smell of breakfast wafted his way. As he kicked off his shoes and headed for the kitchen, he could hear the sound of Christopher’s giggles. When the boy came into view, he was all smiles.
“Hey Buck!” Christopher exclaimed, arms outstretched indicating to Buck he wanted a hug.
”Hey…hey buddy,” Buck started and pulled him into an embrace. Buck decided in this moment it was either a really stupid or brilliant idea to just go ahead and rip off the band-aid. Either way, he was going to do it. “Hey, I’m really sorry about yesterday.” At the realization that Buck was just diving right in, Eddie let out a surprised “oh”, removed the current batch of eggs from the burner, and wandered over to meet his partner. He wrapped a supportive, comforting arm around Buck’s waist as Buck continued, “We wanted to tell you first, we really did. It just happened, literally the night before. I’m sorry you found out that way. I bet it was really jarring, not to mention embarrassing-“
Christopher cut him off with a laugh, “Oh, it was. I’m just glad y’all figured it out though. Plus, my friends think it’s really cool I have two dads.”
At that, all the stress Buck had been holding in burst forth as tears started streaming down his face. He pulled Christopher into another hug, this time including Eddie. And for the first time in a very long time, everything felt right. Buck was home.