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Until Buck had met Tommy, there were a lot of things he had never done. Some were obvious, like kissing a man, and having sex with a man, and (as far as Buck was aware of) flirting with a man. Others were not so obvious, like going to his first professional basketball game (that he should have honestly just let Tommy and Eddie go alone together for), or finally going hiking on one of the many trails around LA (after claiming hiking was one of his hobbies the past seven years), and to the surprise of almost everyone he told, going flying.
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Tommy needed to give Buck a distraction. He knew Gerrard had taken back control of the 118 two weeks ago (he still wasn’t sure how that had happened, and talking to everyone else, neither had they), and he could tell the entire thing was putting Buck through the ringer.
“I swear, he has it out for me,” Buck said when they met for lunch the other day.
“What do you mean by that?” Tommy asked. From his experience, Tommy would think that Buck would be that last person on the team for Gerrard to have a grudge against.
Buck let out a long sigh. “After whatever happened with you guys ten years ago, he doesn’t want to single out Hen and Chimney for anything. He’s tried pressing Eddie’s buttons a couple times, but Eddie is somehow able to not give him a reaction. So that leaves me,” Buck said, pointing at himself. “And let me tell you, it’s exhausting."
“Have you guys put in a complaint yet?” Tommy asked, knowing that was how they got him removed in the past.
Buck scowled. “Of course we have, but he’s playing it smart,” Buck muttered. “Headquarters came back saying and I quote ‘we understand your feelings on the matter and how change of commands can be rocky at the start, but by the rules and regulations of the LAFD we cannot remove a Captain from their command simply due to a conflict of personalities’.”
Tommy raised an eyebrow, surprised. “What exactly did you put in the report?”
Buck sighed. “That’s what I mean when I said he was playing it smart. Yeah, he’s pushed everyone’s buttons and has been nit picky on a bunch of stuff neither Bobby nor anyone, even the chief has cared about, but he hasn’t actually done anything against any of the rules yet.”
That sounded like something much more like the Gerrard Tommy knew would do.
“Well…” Tommy said. “I really wish I could help you.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Buck said, dejected. It wasn’t that he had expected for Tommy to come up with some miraculous solution for them, he knew that if Tommy had thought of anything, Tommy would tell him. He was just tired of having no option or say in the matter.
“Just keep a look out for each other,” Tommy said. “I’m sure he’ll revert to his old ways eventually,” and boy was that the last thing Tommy wanted Buck to deal with. Gerrard was bad enough when he wasn’t being a racist, misogynistic whatever you wanted to call him. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to distract you from this when you’re not working,” Tommy then added.
“Distract me?” Buck asked as he leant in and gave Tommy a waggle of an eyebrow. “Like… going back to your place after this?”
“Well… I was thinking of something else,” Tommy said. “But we can always do that too.”
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So yeah, Tommy needed to find a way to distract Buck from the facts of life that he couldn’t change.
There was something that he thought could help. He typed up a message to send to Buck.
Tommy: Hey, are you free this weekend? Was thinking about finally fulfilling my offer of a helicopter ride.
Buck had seen the message about an hour later, and reading it, his mind began whirling.
Buck had never gone up in a plane, or helicopter, or… well any type of aviation vehicle really.
Growing up, the Buckley family hadn’t really met up with extended family members all that much. When they did, they were all somewhere else in Pennsylvania, or nearby in New Jersey or Maryland, all well within driving distance. When it came to family vacations and the like, his parents didn’t see the reason to go down to Disney World or the like, not when there was Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland both within a twenty minute drive of their house. They mainly went to one of the beach towns in Maryland and New Jersey, or camping somewhere in the Poconos.
And once Buck left Hershey, he just drove himself everywhere.
From Hershey to Chicago to Montana, even down to Peru, he drove the Jeep everywhere. When it had broken down when he was in the Fire Academy, the mechanic had looked at the odometer in shock, saying it had had the highest mileage he had ever seen on a Jeep, which certainly made Buck wilt when he realized that it wouldn’t be able to be fixed.
So yeah, Buck had never gone up in the air. Getting in the helicopter to go save Bobby and Athena had been his first time. And what with the night sky, rain, adrenaline, and stress about how pseudo-father’s life, Buck wasn’t able to take the time to actually process what was going on around him.
But now he could.
… a helicopter ride?
… with his hot helicopter boyfriend?
How could he say no to that?
Buck grabbed his phone, a large and excited smile stretching across his face as he typed a message out to Tommy.
Buck: That sounds awesome! I’d love to go with you!
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“You want to know something interesting?” Buck asked as Tommy was finishing up the last of the pre-flight checklist he needed to perform before they could climb into the helicopter and take off.
“What is it?” Tommy asked as he checked off the last box on the list.
Buck followed after him as Tommy went over to drop the clipboard with the checklist off, speaking. “That night we went to go save Bobby and Athena was the first time I flew in a helicopter.”
“Really?” Tommy asked, not that surprised really. It wasn’t everyday people got to fly on helicopters unless their jobs expressly involved it.
“Yeah,” Buck said as they turned around to walk back over to the helicopter. “Actually, that was the first time I flew on any air vehicle, really.”
“Really?” Tommy asked, actually surprised by that admission. It wasn’t all that often that he ran into someone who had never flown before, especially for someone as well traveled as Buck.
“Yeah,” Buck shrugged. “I almost went up in a hot air balloon once, well technically you can say I did, but I don’t really count that,” he said as his thoughts drifted back to the failed date with Abby, and the rescue that had happened a couple days before that.
Tommy passed him a headset as he powered the helicopter on. “Well then, I guess I really have to make this great.”
Buck smiled, large and eager. “Oh, you know it.”