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This is hell on earth…
Buck had procrastinated and then had a whole heap of shifts not line up with normal retail operating hours so here he was 3 days out from Christmas having to do his gift shopping and when he told his team earlier about his woes, they were not exactly empathetic to his plight.
“You have to do all your Christmas shopping!” Hen exclaimed, trying and failing to hold back her laughter.
“Three days before Christmas,” Chim bent over from laughing so hard, tears running down his face.
“I mean, I don’t exactly have many gifts to buy, so how hard can it be?” Buck shrugs, secretly growing concerned about Chim’s ability to breath as he continues to laugh.
“It’s not the amount of gifts, it’s the people you will have to deal with,” Bobby chimes in with a small smile on his face.
“What?” Buck is confused, he realises there will be lots of people but it’s just people right?
“You’ll see,” Bobby shakes his head.
“Actually, Buck. If you are braving the crowds and general crazy of pre-Christmas week shoppers, could you keep an eye out for this toy robot? Apparently it's a new craze but it only came out in the last two weeks,” Hen asks after pulling herself together.
“I mean I’ll try?”
That brings him to now, and Buck has realised exactly what his team was talking about when they mentioned the people. First, it’s not just crowded, there are a lot of people and Buck has been in crowded places before, concerts, night-clubs and such, but these people have trolleys piled so high they can’t even see where they are going. Or are carrying mountains of bags, whacking the backs of people’s legs every time they turn. And they are ruthless, Buck has personally seen three punch ups where security got involved and four hair pulling, screaming curses and insults altercations.
Most of the stores he has been into have row upon row of empty shelves, there are scraps of packaging and sad lonely hangers and as staff try to restock from either newly arrived deliveries or returned and rejected consumer choices they are waylaid and set upon by flocks of soccer mom vultures and angry men in business suits who clearly forgot to get their wives and mistresses presents.
Buck makes his way to the service counter in one of the numerous department stores he has been in today and smiles at the clearly exhausted assistant behind the desk.
“Hi,” Buck checks the nametag, “Maureen. I’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times today but do you happen to have the Lazer Fightbot 3000 in stock?”
Maureen relaxes as she realises Buck isn’t going to scream or berate her and runs a hand through her dishevelled bob, “Um, actually we have one left. It got hidden behind a panel by this on-seller earlier and she got caught and banned from the store for breaching the 1 per sale limit,” she finishes with a conspiratorial tone.
Buck chuckles, “Well, that was just karma for her wasn’t it? It’s hard to find this toy without unscrupulous people jacking up the prices just before Christmas.”
Maureen giggles as she places the box on the counter, “That’s true. Now, I’d like to ring you up here but the register was damaged when they dragged her out of the store so I’m afraid you’ll have to go line up at the front.”
“Not a problem, I’ve still got a few things to get but thank you for your help. I really appreciate it,” Buck flashes his winning smile at Maureen and turns to look at his phone for his list which is why he overhears the request from the next person who stepped up to the counter.
“Hi Maureen. I know this is a longshot but do you have any of those Lazer Fightbots in stock at all?”
Buck can hear a bit of a Texas twang in the man’s polite request and angles his body so he can check him out (sue him, he has a bit of a voice kink).
Maureen’s voice is sympathetic, “I’m sorry sir, we just sold the last one.”
“I understand. Would you happen to know where else I can try? It’s my son and I’s first Christmas in LA and I’m still learning the area.”
Buck looks this (incredibly good-looking) stranger up and down and makes a potentially stupid decision, but well as he’s been told before ‘Buck’s gotta Buck’, besides worse case this guy runs off in disgust or embarrassment, absolute worst case, Buck gets punched - either way Buck takes the toy home for Hen or best case scenario…
“I haven’t actually purchased it yet so I can help you out, for a price,” Buck fixes a cocky look on his face.
“A price? Are you seriously trying to swindle cash out of me?” the guy glares at Buck.
“Not cash,” Buck continues, “A date.”
The guy raises an eyebrow, “A date?”
Buck’s odds of getting a date are possibly improving, or at least the odds of getting punched seem to be getting lower, “Yes, a date. You agree to go on a date with me and you can take the robot home to your kid so he can have the best Christmas ever.”
The guy narrows his eyes at Buck, “Or I could potentially get murdered and thrown off the pier and my kid has the worst Christmas of his life.”
Buck bursts out laughing, “Wow, you are a pessimistic and deeply untrusting person. I swear,” Buck holds up his hand like a boy scout, “I am not going to murder you on the first date.”
“I highly doubt that you were ever a boy scout and don’t think I didn’t notice you specifying not murdering me only for the first date.”
Buck laughs again, “I mean I rarely go on a second date so that’s why I said that but also I am not a murderer. They tend to frown on that in the fire service, you know?”
“You’re a firefighter?”
Buck can see the guy starting to relax a little and nods, showing his LAFD work ID, “Evan Buckley, but everyone calls me Buck.”
The guy scrutinises Buck’s ID and his face for a few more moments before holding out a hand, “Eddie Diaz.”
Buck shakes the guy - Eddie’s hand, “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Are you actually serious about the toy though? Won’t whoever you were getting it for, be upset?” Eddie asks.
“Nah, it’s for my teammate’s kid but it was only as a ‘if you see one’ type favour. She finished her Christmas shopping weeks ago apparently, like everyone on my shift,” Buck grins his easygoing grin as he hands over the box to Eddie.
“Yeah, my Tia lectured me about waiting until the last minute to do mine too,” Eddie looks at the box in his hands before looking back at Buck, “I’m a single dad, so I know it’s only one date but fair warning, my kid always comes first.”
“I have no issues with that at all. I love kids. So can I get your number?” Buck asks and the pair exchange numbers with a tentative plan to meet up for a brunch after Christmas. Buck smiles as Eddie walks away with a wave and feels good about making a kid’s - Chris’ - Christmas a good one.
“Excuse me, sir?” Maureen calls out to Buck and he approaches the counter, “While you were talking, Faith found another of the Lazer Robots tucked away. Here you go. Merry Christmas.”
“Thank you…Merry Christmas,” Buck picks up the robot and heads off to complete his shopping.
~ 🎄 ~
Christmas passes and Buck is looking forward to his brunch with Eddie. They’ve messaged a few times, just to confirm the location and time and Buck finds himself feeling a little nervous. He arrives at the cafe before Eddie, which he expected as Eddie mentioned needing to drop Chris off at his Abuela’s on the way. He doesn’t have to wait long though, Eddie enters the cafe looking immaculate and Buck’s breath catches in his throat. How did he manage to get a date with this gorgeous looking man - oh wait, through a little bit of deception, that’s right.
The brunch goes great, Buck is enjoying himself immensely and he’s pretty sure he’s reading reciprocated interest from Eddie’s side as well. Only problem is that each passing moment where they are clearly gelling is making Buck’s guilt worse.
“Uh, so look, I had a great time today and hopefully I’m not misreading anything but I think you did too and I’d like to see you again, but full disclosure. The shop found another one of those robots so I didn’t actually miss out,” Buck winces as he waits for the inevitable storm out.
“Oh I know you didn’t,” Eddie says calmly.
“Wait, really? How?” asks Buck.
“I saw the lady call you over and hand you the toy just before I turned the corner for the main registers,” Eddie takes a sip from his coffee.
Buck furrows his brow, “So why didn’t you cancel? Or stand me up today then?”
Eddie shrugs, “Easiest date invitation I’ve had since moving to LA. You already knew I had a kid, so I didn’t need to explain the whole single dad thing. Plus I’m not blind.”
Buck blushes, “Then, is that a yes to a second date?”
“Long as you aren’t planning on murdering me and throwing my body off the pier,” jokes Eddie.
“Well I thought I’d save that for the third date, just some light torture for the second date I think,” Buck laughs.
“I think we can work something out,” Eddie grins.
~ 🎄 ~
Buck enters the firehouse a few weeks later with a spring in his step. He and Eddie were going great. Buck had met Christopher after their third date when the kid had gotten unwell and Buck had driven Eddie to collect him from his Abuela’s. It was a fleeting meeting at that time but once Chris had gotten better Buck had arranged for a zoo day for the three of them in lieu of the rescheduled third date. Buck had even been invited to family Sunday dinner next weekend with the Diaz boys and Tia Pepa and Abuela. So Buck was feeling good that morning.
“Good morning all,” he greets the team cheerfully but is instantly on guard when they share a look and step back, “Wha-what’s going on?”
“We are getting a new recruit,” Bobby says, “We are just about to go meet him.”
“Oh, okay,” Buck is not a great fan of change due to the instability he’s faced for the majority of his life, but he realises there isn’t much he can do about this one. It does dampen his mood a bit though, he doesn’t want to be replaced. Buck’s like 99%, ok fine more like 90% certain of his place within the team dynamics and he’s worried that a new person will throw off this rhythm.
“Here he is. Team meet…” Bobby is interrupted,
“Eddie?”
“Buck?”
“Wait, you know each other?” Chim is incredulous.
“Uh, yeah this is my, my - “ Buck stumbles over what to call Eddie but he needn’t have worried.
“Boyfriend,” Eddie supplies.
The team explodes with questions and Bobby mutters under his breath, “I already have so much paperwork to do, what does one more form matter?”
Buck and Eddie share a private smile before the alarms sound and they are headed to their first incident together.