Work Text:
The 118 family were all having a fun day at the beach. Cap had made a bunch a sandwiches for everyone to eat. They were super fancy and delicious. Maddie and Chim were watching Jee play near the water. Chris Denny, harry, and May were all building sandcastles. Of course Buck was helping, so was Eddie. Athena was sitting next to Bobby talking about how nice the water looked today. Bobby agreed and they started just admiring everyone and they found family, and how lucky they all were to have found each other.
Buck was helping Chris build a sand castle, they were trying to make the best one for the competition they all were having. Him, Eddie, and Chris were all on a team. Harry, Denny, and may were all on the other. It was a timed competition so Buck was rushing when he tripped and fell on a pile of sand and landed right on top of there sandcastle and destroying it. “Oh, come on Buck!” Eddie yelled. “Sorry it was an accident” Buck yelled back, soon after they all started laughing and Harry, Denny, and May were celebrating there victory of the competition.
Buck was super sandy but didn’t really want to go in the water just yet for obvious reasons. So he just decided he would continue to build another sand castle to avoid going in the water and not look too suspicious for staying all sandy. Just his luck though Eddie noticed and wanted to try to encourage him to go in the water. “Buck, why are you still covered in sand?” He didn’t really want to say the exact reason, but he also didn’t want to lie to his best friend, so he just said what was partially true. “Umm, I didn’t want to rinse off until I was done building another sandcastle.” Thankfully he just shrugged and said “okay” but he could tell he didn’t by it. He was just glad he didn’t have to go in the water yet.
Later on they were about to eat the sandwich’s that Bobby made, when Buck got over there though Maddie was eyeing him and said “Buck you need to go rinse off you still covered in sand, your gonna get on the beach towels.” He sighed and said that he was just gonna stand up and eat then he wouldn’t have to worry about getting sand on her ‘beach towels’ which he did understand he wouldn’t want to sand on his beach towel either. “I’ll just stand” she sighed and said “okay”.
Eventually he got tired of being covered in sand himself so he said he was gonna go finally rinse the sand off of himself. He headed toward the ocean and paused for a second when Eddie appeared behind him and asked “you alright?” He replied with a quick “yea” and headed toward the water. He could sense Eddie watching him but didn’t mind. He could see him headed toward Bobby and Athena probably to just start a conversation. Buck made it waist deep into the water and was anticipating whether or not he wanted to try and go under water. Thats when a big wave came and decided that for him. He came back up quickly with a rapid heart beat because he was not expecting that wave to hit like that. For a second he was actually enjoying being in the ocean. That was until one wrong wave hit him and the rip current pulled him under. He froze and didn’t try to fight to get back to the surface because all he could think was he was back in the tsunami wondering where Chris was. He was back fighting wondering which way was up and which was down, he was terrified and didn’t know what to do so he just froze and didn’t do anything hoping someone would notice he didn’t come up.
Eddie watched as Buck made his way into the water, he was a little worried about Buck considering being at the beach. So he watched him just in case anything happed. He made his way towards Bobby and Athena for another sandwich cause he was still hungry. He sat down and started to eat his sandwich. After a little bit he asked Bobby if he was worried about Buck to because this was the first time he had been back in the ocean since the tsunami. He said “yeah, but it’s better he get over his fears sooner than later” but Eddie could tell he was just as worried as he was considering anything could trigger him and cause him to freeze. He watched as Buck could smacked down by a wave and winced as he thought that’s gonna leave a mark. Bobby was also watching Buck but he wasn’t gonna say anything about it cause he understood. They were both watching when another wave came right at buck and it knocked him down again. This time though Buck didn’t come back up as quickly and he started to worry he went to get up but Bobby stopped him and said just give it a minute, but then Bobby started to worry when they still didn’t see Buck. That when Chim yelled “Guys” and looked over at Bobby and Eddie. Eddie finally gave in and rushed towards the water to go help buck. Chim also started rushing towards the water to help and Bobby was close behind just in case. Eddie was panicking cause he didn’t see Buck anywhere but then he spotted him and he was just there floating in the water frozen on his stomach. Eddie rushed getting to him. When he finally got his hand around his waste to pull him up he wasn’t breathing, that’s when Chim made it to them and they started to carry him to the shore. They set him down and Eddie started doing chest compressions and yelling “come on Buck, don’t do this to me man!” He started doing mouth to mouth get him to start breathing. Everyone was now gathered around while Karen watched all the kids to make sure they didn’t get close. Maddie was crying while Chim held her. Bobby was holding on to Athena while Hen was doing chest compressions when Eddie wasn’t doing mouth to mouth. That’s when Bucks eyes fluttered open and he started to cough up what looked like half the ocean. “Yeah there we go, get all out” Eddie was so relieved he started to shed few tears from his what felt like an upcoming sob he was about to let go.
Buck eventually stopped coughing and started to look around at all the concerned faces staring at him. That when it hit him that he just drowned. He started to sit up when Eddie pushed him back down. “No you need to let me look you over before you do anything” he started to argue before he was cut off again by Bobby “let Eddie or hen look you over before you do anything else” He sighed and said “guys seriously, I’m fine” Eddie scoffed and said “yeah, okay says the one you just almost drowned” Buck sighed again and said “fine” Eddie smiled at that and started looking him over. He didn’t see any injuries other than a bruise from getting hit by a wave. Soon everyone was heading back towards their own areas while Eddie was still checking him just to be safe! When he asked “what happened out there?” Buck tensed up at that and was going to change the subject when Eddie cut him off before he could “and tell me the truth, what happened out there?” Buck sighed and gave in “I don’t know, I just froze and it felt like I was back in the tsunami again…I panicked” “Buck..” He could see the concerned look on his face. “Why didn’t you say anything before you went in the water I could have went in with you to be safe.” Buck shrugged his shoulders at that and started to tear up a little. Eddie touched his chin and turned his head towards his and said “your not alone it okay to be scared it’s called trauma” He hugged Buck and he put his neck on his shoulder and let a few tears fall and shook his head. “I know” With the help of Eddie he got up and headed towards everyone else and started to help pack up. Maddie suggested that he got to the hospital, he really didn’t want to but he agreed anyways to make them feel better, and himself a little because there is no telling what was In that water and he was not trying to get an infection! Buck finally realized that it’s ok to to be scared of certain things when they have been traumatic for you and that you don’t have to go through them alone.