Work Text:
Eddie breathed a satisfied sigh of relief as he headed toward the locker room. He had completed his first shift as a firefighter. Something he had only dreamed of but never actually thought it would happen. His life was absolutely perfect, in his eyes.
It had been pretty great overall for a first shift. He liked the captain, Bobby, a lot, and Hen and Chimney the two paramedics were people he could see himself growing close to. He was a little more mixed on his new work partner, Buck, but he was amused by him enough. They could work well together, Eddie thought. Buck had been a little... much for most of the shift. Eddie felt like he was purposefully trying to make him feel unwelcome or something like that, even to the point of confronting him about it in the firehouse gym earlier. But that all seemed to be put aside after they worked together to pull a grenade out a man's leg. So Eddie wasn't worried or anything, he felt that he and Buck would become friends.
Buck jogged over to the locker room as soon as Eddie got there and stood a little closer to him than Eddie would have liked.
"Personal space, much?" Eddie chuckled.
Buck took a step back at that, "Sorry man, just still reeling. Crazy save we did there."
Eddie gave him a polite nod as he continued to change back into his casual clothes. There was a bit of an awkward tension, but Eddie just brushed it off.
It was all going fine until Buck reached his hand out to lightly brush his fingertips along the lengths of Eddie's arm, and got closer again like he was originally was.
Eddie quickly moved his arm away from Buck and gave him a questioning look. "You good, man?"
Buck flushed and gave Eddie a slight smirk as he said, "I was just wondering... maybe you'd like to grab a drink or something? You know, to celebrate our big save." he finished off the sentence by giving Eddie a wink.
Ah. Eddie understood now why Buck had been so weird to him all day.
He forced himself to give Buck a small smile, and said "Er, maybe as friends some other time. I'm happily taken."
Buck then noticed as Eddie slid off the black silicone ring from his ring finger, the kind Hen also had so it was fireproof. Eddie placed the silicone ring into his locker and pulled out a sleek gold one, and placed that back onto his finger where the other ring had been.
"Oh..." Buck tripped over his words, "you're married?"
Eddie chuckled at that and nodded, "Almost two years now."
Buck looked extremely embarrassed. "Sorry, I guess I never noticed the ring earlier."
"No worries." Eddie said as he shook his head.
"So uh... what's your wife like?"
Eddie chuckled again. "Don't have a wife. I'm gay, so you got that part right." He then opened up his locker wider to show Buck the picture he'd taped on the inside of it. The photo was of Eddie sitting on the porch steps of a house, a handsome tall man with dirty blonde hair sitting to his left, and a young boy sitting in between them with slightly curly hair and glasses. It looked to have been taken around Christmas time, as there was a wreath on the door and all three boys were wearing festive sweaters.
"My husband and our son." Eddie said.
He could see the shine in Eddie's eyes and the bright smile he had as he looked at the photo. Oh, Eddie really loved his family.
Buck was at a loss for words at the moment and stood there with his jaw open. Eddie closed the locker door and clapped Buck on the back saying "See you tomorrow man!" as he walked off towards the parking lot, leaving Buck standing there frozen.
- - -
The next day, Eddie was sitting on the loft couch drinking a cup of coffee. It was already a slow day, very few calls.
He was enjoying the quiet time, when suddenly all 4 of his coworkers crowded around to join him on the couches.
"So Eddie..." Hen started, "Buck tells us there's some special people in your life you didn't mention? Tell all, please."
Eddie smiled, "My husband Tommy, and our son Christopher. He's seven."
"Elaborate man, come on." said Chimney, "How'd you meet, when did you move here, where does he work? If you're going to be working here we've got to know all the details, it's sort of an unspoken rule."
Eddie laughed and continued. "Tommy is a first responder as well actually, he works over in air rescue at the 217."
"Could come in handy knowing someone like that." Bobby replied.
"We've been married almost two years now, and we met shortly after I moved to LA when Chris was about two as well."
"So you didn't become a firefighter right away then?" Buck asked.
Eddie shook his head, "Tommy was already working in air rescue, but I had some small temporary jobs for several years there so I could focus on staying home with Chris. He's got cerebral palsy. I'd always thought of becoming a firefighter but it'd didn't really pan out until recently, and there was no doing that back when I was in Texas."
"Your family is in Texas then?"
"Most of them, yes. I've got my Aunt and my Abuela here which is great. They've were a huge help with Chris while I was getting through the academy. My parents and sisters are back in Texas though. I still talk to my sisters but I cut off my parents once I moved here. It... wasn't a great relationship, and I don't really want Tommy or Chris to have to deal with them."
Eddie didn't usually like talking to strangers about his personal life, but he felt comfortable with the 118. Even just on his second day, he could tell these were people he could trust.
Buck shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he asked, "So does Christopher have a mother in the picture or..." his words slurred off at the end.
Eddie was taken aback by the question, he hadn't expected them to ask. It was hard for him to talk about this subject. He had long since accepted he was never actually in love with Shannon, what with being a closeted gay man who was forced to marry her by the church, but she was still Christopher's mother.
He took a deep breath before responding, "She passed away years ago. We got pregnant when we were young and were kind of pressured into getting married before Chris would be born. It didn't last long before we got a divorce, and I had just assumed after that we'd carry on coparenting anyways. Then one morning I woke up and she had disappeared. Left a small note for us saying she wouldn't be coming back."
The rest of the team could tell Eddie was having a hard time telling this story but he continued anyway, "I never saw her again, and Chris was only one at that point. About a year later her sister reached out to let me know she had been in an accident and passed away..." Eddie trailed off at the end.
It was so quiet in the firehouse you could hear a pin drop. Nobody really knew how to respond to that.
Luckily, Eddie spoke up again, "My parents were always on me to find the perfect women because Chris needed a mother, even to the point of trying to convince me to let them raise Chris. I had enough after that and so Chris and I moved to LA. That's pretty much it."
"You met your husband after the move then? I just noticed you keep saying Chris is 'our son'." Bobby asked.
Eddie grinned at that, "Yeah I met Tommy just a couple of months after getting here. I wasn't even looking to date anyone at that time, I was too focused on raising Chris and trying to get a job. I mean, we met a grocery store of all places." he laughed at that, "After I got settled we started dating and did that for a few years before we moved in together and got married. Shortly after our wedding he adopted Chris."
Hen rubbed Eddie's shoulder, "Sounds like you found exactly what you needed then."
Eddie smiled softly to himself, tears threatening to prick at his eyes, "He saved my life, to be honest. I don't know where Chris and I would be without him. I love those two more than anything."
Everyone was very receptive to the story. Bobby, Hen, and Chimney all offering encouragement and saying they hoped to get the chance to meet them soon.
Everyone except Buck that was, who was still acting extremely awkward about the whole thing. It had confused Eddie. He only had eyes for Tommy, and told Buck as much, but he didn't think Buck would be that embarrassed over a failed move on a married man. At least, Eddie didn't see it as a big deal.
- - -
A week later Tommy had decided to surprise Eddie with Chris and pick him up at the end of a shift. "Looks like you've got some visitors Eddie." Bobby had said and nodded in the direction of the railing.
Eddie's grin upon seeing his husband and their son was so bright it could have illuminated the entire firehouse. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" he yelled excitedly as he ran down the stairs to greet them.
"Hi, baby." Tommy said softly when Eddie reached him. Eddie scooped up Chris in his arms and gave Tommy a kiss. "Thought we'd take you home together."
Eddie almost could have cried at that. It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot to him. That he had someone who went out of their way just to spend time with them, even though Eddie could have easily driven back to their house himself.
"Come meet everyone before we go?" Eddie asked as he took Tommy's hand, their matching gold wedding rings shining together.
He didn't even have to move, as once he turned around the rest of the team was already there.
Bobby, Hen, and Chimney each introduced themselves. Tommy shaking each of their hands while keeping his other arm wrapped protectively around Eddie's waist. Not that he didn't trust Eddie's team, he'd just missed his husband and wanted him close. Touch was their love language after all.
Buck had hung back however, watching from a distance. It had annoyed Eddie. If this guy was going to be his work partner then he wanted him to get to know his family. All of this just because of a failed pick up move? Maybe he still was attracted to Eddie, who knew. It wasn't Eddie's problem though. He only had eyes for Tommy and it would remain that way forever. If Buck couldn't see that just from watching them interact here then that was his own thing to deal with.
- - -
That night, Eddie and Tommy laid in bed together, their legs tangled with Tommy's arms wrapped around him. One hand sweeping soothingly up and down his back while the other was combing through his hair, as Eddie had his head on Tommy's chest. They had retired to bed early after cooking Christopher dinner.
"Everyone was really nice at your work." Tommy said softly, "I think you picked a good house."
Eddie perked up at that, "Yeah? You really liked them? It's important to me that you do."
Tommy smiled and kissed Eddie's forehead, "I thought they were great. Well... except the guy that was staring at us, but I didn't really get to meet him."
Eddie sighed, "That was Buck, my work partner. To be honest... he tried to hit on me on the first day and got embarrassed when I told him I was married."
Tommy laughed at that, "The ring wasn't obvious enough to him?"
"He said he didn't notice it but I have my doubts about that. I'm always touching it to think about you." Eddie said sweetly.
Tommy hummed, "Well at least he knows you're taken. Don't want anybody else hitting on you without knowing you're mine."
Eddie laughed and connected their lips in a soft kiss. It was truly baffling to him that anybody could think he'd be interested in someone else besides the perfect man in bed with him right now. Even if Buck hadn't known about Tommy at the time, it was still amusing to Eddie. Everything he needed was right here and that would never change. He was truly happy with his life, and he wasn't going to take that for granted.