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1.
The first time it happens is unnatural and feels surreal.
Buck is standing, swaying in the crowd full of people, belting out the lyrics to whatever song is currently playing, while Bobby, his captain!! for fuck’s sake, is also swaying gently next to him with arm arm drapped across Buck’s shoulder.
Bright, flashing lights are casting shadows through the field of happy-high music fans, along with Buck and Bobby. The huge grin on Bobby’s face is like nothing Buck has ever seen before.
It’s quite contagious, actually. Buck can’t stop his own smile from spreading across his face. Bobby glances over at the kid next to him and his eyes soften just enough for Buck to notice. They don’t address the shift in their relationship, they just go along with it.
The song ends a heavy beat Buck whoops out in pure joy. The crowd erupts with cheers and applause alongside Buck noises of happiness.
The boy next to Buck seems to be laughing his ass off from pure joy and he turns to Buck, nudging his elbow.
“How fucking awesome is it that your dad brought you to a crazy cool concert like this?!” he booms.
Both men freeze immediately and Buck can feel the way Bobby’s arm tightens its grip on his shoulder.
Buck shakes himself off from whatever he might’ve been thinking and plastered on a fake smile, nodding along.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s awesome, right? I was so excited when he asked me to come along.” Buck lies straight through his teeth. He chuckles humorlessly.
Then, he spins back towards Bobby and gives him a soft punch on the shoulder. “Right, Dad?!” he grins falsely.
Bobby frowns and unwraps himself from Buck, muttering a quick, “Yep.”
2.
The second time it happens, Buck has called Bobby for reinforcements on what to get Chris for his birthday.
Bobby rolled his eyes and told Buck to get in the truck, they were going shopping.
“Are you sure Chris’s going to like it? What if he outright hates it?! What do I do then?!” Buck rambled at the checkout counter.
Bobby laid a reassuring hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Buck, Chris is going to love it. He loves you a ton, of course he’s going to love anything you get for him.”
The lady at the checkout desk must’ve just been happy today, because she poked herself right into Buck and Bobby’s business the second she heard their conversation.
“I think you son is going to love it! It’s a perfect gift! You must be such a good father to him! I can’t even imagine how happy he is to have a dad like you-”
Buck shares a shocked and confused glance with Bobby before turning back to the lady and smiling.
“Uhm, actually, he’s my-”
The lady completely ignores Buck and turns to Bobby with a cheery smile on her face.
“And you! That little boy must be so happy to have a grandfather like you! I bet he just has the most wonderful family anyone could ever ask for! You two are amazing dads!” she squeaks.
“Uhh, yeah, I- actually-” Bobby starts.
“I hope you two have an amazing day! Go give that little boy some hugs!” the lady smiles and waves them off.
Buck and Bobby head out the sliding glass doors and back to Bobby’s truck without saying a word. Buck loads the gift into the trunk and hops back into the passenger seat.
The second both car door have been shut, Buck and Bobby erupt in fits of hysterical laughter.
“She thought I was Chris’s-”
“ - and that I was old enough to be - ”
“ - I think you are old enough to - ”
“ - That’s not nice, Buck - ”
“ - Right. Sorry, Cap - ”
Another fit of laughing strikes across the boys and they double over, clutching their chests in pain. The car shakes with the force of their laughter.
“Wow, that was-” Buck breathed.
“Yeah it was.” Bobby responds.
3.
The third time it happens is actually a really cute moment for Buck, even if it happens right after a terrible fire.
Buck hauls a little girl out of a burning apartment building just before it collapses, and somehow, it doesn’t dim that little girl’s spirit one bit.
“I’m Bella!” she announces proudly as Buck’s carrying her to either Hen or Chim, whoever he can find first.
Buck smiles down at the little girl. “It’s nice to meet you, Bella. I’m Buck!”
Bella’s sharp white teeth grin up at Buck and his smile widens. Buck barely remembers being this little and so full of joy.
The little girl’s eye seems to be stuck on Bobby now, watching him give out orders to some other members of the 118. Buck doesn’t notice her change of interest.
“Who’s that?” she whispers. “Is that your dad?”
Buck frowns at the name. Phillip hasn’t been around in years, how would this girl know anything about him? But, when he follows Bella’s eye line, his eyes land on Bobby.
A sigh of relief is let out.
“That’s Bobby. He’s my captain.” Buck tells her.
“It must be soo cool to have your dad be your captain. He looks really good at his job!”
Buck grins down at the oblivious little girl in his arms. How nice would it be to just go back and be a kid again, he wonders.
“Yeah. Yeah, he’s pretty good, isn’t he?” Buck mumbles.
“I wish my dad was as cool as yours..” Bella whispers.
The sentence aches deep in Buck’s heart. He remembers that feeling, wishing his parents could be better people. All his friends parents were nice, why weren’t his?
“Hey, Bella?”
She looks up at him. “Yeah, Buck?”
“Don’t take what you have for granted. It might seem like your parents aren’t as good as other people’s parents, but give them a chance, okay? They might surprise you.”
Bella beams with those bright white teeth and it hurts and heals Buck all at the same time.
“Okay, Buck!”
Buck smiles back and ruffles up the girl’s hair just a bit. Hen sits kneels in front of Buck, waiting to check out his new friend. Buck kneels down as well and hands Bella over.
“It was nice meeting you, Bella. I know you’ll grow up to be a great person.” he says.
Bella grins again and waves him silly goodbye’s as Buck turns to find somewhere else he can help.
“Bye, Buck! I hope you have fun with your dad!” she calls out.
Hen gives Buck a knowing look as he skips away.
Bobby happens to overhear that last part of their conversation and hopes to God that little girl wasn’t talking about Phillip. God knows Buck could use a break from that man.
4.
The fourth time it happens is under some more.. unfortunate circumstances.
An injury on the job leaves Buck a little weaker than usual, but he refused to tell anyone in case he was told to take days off. That was the last thing Buck wanted.
Like feelings, pushing his injury farther and farther down ended up worse than if he had just said something in the first place.
Buck had ended up driving himself to the ER to get x-rays on his leg. The nurse had looked at him like he was made of steel.
“You’re telling me you ran on this leg for six days before you came to get it checked out? You used it while on the job for six days before coming in yourself to get checked out?” she asked, completely and utterly shocked.
“Uhm, yes? Why, is it that bad?” Buck wondered.
“You’ve got an ankle sprain. I don’t even know how you were able to go fight fires with this thing.” the nurse says.
“I’ve got tough blood?” he shrugs.
“Well no more toughness for you, mister. You need to keep off this foot to let it heal up. I’ll wrap you up and send some cloth with you to keep it wrapped. You might want to consider some K-T tape as well.”
Buck nods. He knew this was coming.
“Do you have anyone I can ask them to call? You’ll need someone to drive you home.”
Buck’s mind immediately snaps to a picture of Bobby in his head. “Bobby. He’ll come get me.”
The nurse starts to wrap Buck ankle as she says, “Is he family? I think it’d be best a parent or guardian come get you.”
“Uhh, yeah! Bobby’s my dad.” Buck blurts.
“Okay. I’ll have the front desk call him once you once you give the number.”
Bobby arrived at the hospital’s main entrance within 10 minutes. Don’t tell Athena, but he may have sped just a tiny bit.
“I’m looking for an Evan Buckley? I was told he got X-rays?” Bobby peered over the front desk.
“Ah, you must be Evan’s dad. He told us you’d be coming in. Here, I’ll bring you to his room.” the lady said and stepped out from behind the desk.
They stop at a window where Bobby can see a woman wrapping Buck’s leg in some sort of cloth material. He looks relatively okay, other than whatever happened with his foot and Bobby lets out a sigh of relief.
“Your boy’s a tough nut. Said he was walking with a sprain for six days. That’s impressive.” the lady whistled.
“I knew he got hurt on the job, I just- he seemed fine after it happened? I didn’t think anything of it. I should’ve noticed.” Bobby muttered.
“Meh, I wouldn’t worry too much. That kid got himself down here when he knew it wasn’t okay. He’s got a good heart. Besides- sometimes people just don’t want us to see what’s really going on.”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah, guess so. Hey, do you know when I can go in and see him?”
“Once he’s finished getting wrapped up, she’ll bring him out and you’ll be good to take him home.”
“Got it, thanks for your help.”
“No problem, Captain Nash. You take good care of your boy. Make sure he doesn’t overwork himself.”
“You got it.”
“My boy.” Bobby whispers to himself.
He watches as the nurse finishes wrapping up Buck’s ankle and helps him walk out to where Bobby stands, waiting for the kid.
“Pops! You’re here?” Buck beams.
“Course I’m here, kid. You called.”
The smile on Buck’s face widens and spreads onto Bobby’s face as well.
“You ready to go home?” he asks.
“Yes! I need a nap.” Buck announces.
“Well, let’s get you on your way then.”
Bobby helps walk Buck out to his truck and into the passenger seat comfortably. They drive towards the Grant-Nash house and Buck’s breathing starts to even out.
“They said I was your dad.” Bobby whispered.
“I had to say you were family so they would call you.” Buck mumbles, not opening his eyes. “Is it okay that I did that?”
Bobby chuckles. “Of course it is, kid. If you need to call me dad to get you out of any situation, I want you to do that.”
“Okay.” the kid mumbles sleepily. “Thanks, Dad.”
Bobby tires to ignore the way his heart beats faster as he drives Buck home.
5.
The fifth time it happens, Buck and Bobby are out grocery shopping for the firehouse meals.
It’s become tradition for the two of them to cook at least one meal a day together while they’re on shift. Sometimes Buck even comes over to the Grant-Nash house for dinner and cooks for Athena.
While Bobby’s browsing the meat section, Buck has run off once again to look at something that caught his eye, when an older man approaches Bobby.
“I remember when my boy used to run along the aisles in front of the shopping cart, pointing at everything he found interesting. I miss that kid so much, never though I’d grow to outlive him.”
Bobby’s face scrunched up in a mix or sadness and anger. “I’m so sorry, sir. I know how hard that must be. I lost another one of my boy’s in a fire a while back. God knows how much I want to keep this one alive.”
“Amen to that. Give it your all and he’ll do wonderfully in this world.” the many says.
“He already does.” Bobby mutters. “I try showing him how much I love him every day in hopes it’ll keep him here another day.”
“That sure as hell would be enough for me.” the man pats Bobby on the shoulder and walks off.
Buck chooses at that moment to come out from his hiding spot where he was eavesdropping and show Bobby what he had found.
The car ride back to the station is silently tense. No one says a word until Buck decides to ask about the previous conversation.
“You call Robbie another one of your boys.” he whispered. “Does that mean I’m your other one?”
Bobby frowns. “You heard all that?”
“Yeah.”
“It does. That is what I meant by it.” Bobby confirms.
“Oh. So I’m like.. you consider me your kid?”
“Yeah. Was that not already established by now?” Bobby glances over to Buck.
“Uhm, I guess it was. You said you.. you love me?” Buck wondered.
“I do. Was that also not already established by now?”
“No, no, it was, I think, I just-”
“Good, because I do. And you are my kid, and I love you, Buck.”
The kid grins. “I love you too, Dad.”
Bobby dramatically clutches his chest like he might have a heart attack and the two laugh all the way back home.
+1.
Bobby had asked Buck if he wanted to join him for a late breakfast on Saturday morning and Buck had excitedly agreed.
There was only one problem. He was supposed to take Maddie out today.
It was Bobby’s suggestion to bring Maddie along so they could have a ‘family brunch’ and Buck was ecstatic.
Bobby got to the restaurant first and got them a table on the patio because it was so nice out that morning.
He watched as Buck’s jeep pulled into a parking spot and the man jumped out like an excited puppy. The grin that formed on his face was inevitable.
Once Buck’s eyes landed on Bobby, he reached a hand out and waved crazily at the man. Muttering his usual “excuse me’s” and “sorry’s”, Buck bounced his way over to Bobby.
“Hey, Cap!” Buck exclaimed.
“Hey, kid. Good to see you.” Bobby said and wrapped the kid in a bone-tight hug.
“You just gonna leave your sister behind?” Bobby joked as Maddie walked up to them a minute later.
“Hi, Bobby!” Maddie said, all smiles.
“Hey, Maddie.” Bobby smiled back in wrapped her in her own hug.
“So, what have the Buckley siblings been up to lately?” Bobby asked once they were all seated.
“Chimney was a little sad he had to stay and watch Jee and couldn’t come to family brunch, so I’m told to give extra hugs when I leave.” Maddie informed.
Bobby grins and leaned in closer, lowering his voice: “Just don’t tell him you two are my favorites..”
Both Buck and Maddie exploded into giggles and promised not to say anything to their beloved Chimney.
A few minutes later, a little old lady on a walker came up to their table and smiled brightly at them.
“You two just look like such wonderful young men and women. I bet your daddy is just so proud to call you his children!”
Bobby grins, proudly, over at Buck and Maddie. “I sure am.” he states.
The little old lady turns a bit to face him. “You’ve done such a great job with these two! Absolutely delightful!” she tells Bobby.
“Thank you, Ma’am. You have a good rest of your day, okay?”
“Oh, I most definitely will! You three enjoy yourselves!” she exclaims and waves them off.
Buck and Maddie share the same equally surprised, but extremely happy looks on their faces and Bobby can’t help but to roll his eyes.
“What?!” he says.
Buck starts laughing as he shakes his head. “Every time we go out somewhere, someone thinks I’m your son and you always look so happy when anyone does that.”
Bobby frowns playfully. “Can a dad not be proud to call his son his? And his daughter, I may add.”
“I dunno, it’s just- you’re really cool about this whole thing.” Buck states.
“Course I am. I love you guys. It always makes me happy when someone recognizes you two as my kids. I’m very proud of that.” Bobby shrugs.
“What Buck is trying to say is- we aren’t used to the idea that a parent could love us so much, and you’re doing a very good job of showing us how things should be, and yes, we love you too, Bobby.” Maddie supplies.
Bobby grins again and he reaches out to squeeze Maddie’s hand.
“I’m glad I can show you what love should be like.”
“Love you, Dad.”