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Buck’s head hurt.
He blinked, eyelashes fluttering as he fought to open his eyes. The lights burnt blindingly bright, making his head hurt even more. Buck groaned, grabbing the attention of Maddie, slumped in the hard plastic hospital chair perched next to his bed.
“Buck!” Maddie yelped,surprised,"Here, small sips.” She said, bringing a small plastic cup to Buck's mouth when he immediately fell into a coughing fit while trying to speak.
“Wha-” another coughing fit, “What happened?” he croaked, voice sounding deeper and rougher than usual. Maddie immediately leant over and pressed the call button with a confused look on her face. Buck gave her an even more confused look, mirroring her face back at her, raising an eyebrow as to say well? .
“You fell through a flight of stairs,” Maddie said, “Hit your head pretty hard, grade 1 concussion and broke your arm in two places, had to have surgery, scared the shit out of your boyfriend,” She tilted her head, puzzled, “ and became… British?”
“What? Maddie that doesn't make any- oh.” He said, his voice rough and undoubtedly
British.
“Yea.”
Just as Buck was about to continue, the nurse walked in.
“Mister Buckley, you're awake, Dr Hetfield would like to run a couple more tests before we discharge you, but you should be able to head home by tonight.” The kind nurse explained, adjusting Buck’s IV bag.
“Uhm, one slight problem ma’am, but I uhh, wasn't British until just now.” It came out like a question, as if he wasn't sure of his own nationality.
“Oh, okay well I’ll page Dr Hetfield and get him to run those tests as soon as possible!” the redheaded nurse responded, as bubbly as ever, giving both Buck and Maddie a warm smile before heading out the room.
After the doctor runs his tests and scans (including a very uncomfortable MRI, which Buck did not enjoy), Maddie breaks the not so awkward silence, “I’ve just messaged the group and let them know they can come see you now, which means we can expect Eddie and Chris in five, four, three, two and one-”
“-Buck! You’re awake! You scared the hell out of me!” Eddie called out, holding the door open as Chris walked into the room, crutches clicking on the ground as he moved as fast as they would let him.
“Buck!” he said, dropping his crutches beside the bed and throwing his arms around Buck in a tight hug. “Are you okay? You scared me.”
“Yeah buddy, I'm okay.” He sighed, as he relaxed into the hug, just as Chris pulled back.
“Woah, what happened to your voice?” Chris asked, tilting his head to the side, exactly like Buck did when he was confused.
“Yea, what happened to your voice? Why are you British?” Eddie questioned slowly, when a new voice cut through the room.
“That is exactly what I am here to tell you, actually,” he pauses, taking a breath, “Mister Buckley here has foreign accent syndrome, incredibly rare, this being the first case this hospital has ever seen in all the 37 years it has been here,” He explained “We are unsure whether or not this is temporary, however if it doesn't at least begin to fade within the next 36 hours, 48 hours after you were wheeled in, then we believe it will most likely be permanent.”
“So I might be like this, British, forever?” Buck groaned as the doctor nodded.
”Chim is never going to get over this.” Maddie added, chuckling lightly.
“Get over what?” Chim questioned as he and Hen walked into the room, Buck groaned again, loudly.
“Bucks British now.” Chris chimed in.
Chim raised an eyebrow in confusion, turning to face Buck, who again, groaned.
“Its not that big a deal! I just might be British for a while, maybe even forever, but it-it's not a big deal!” He watched as Chim's eyebrows both now shot up to his hairline, Hen's jaw dropped to the floor as they both turned to each other. Biting their lips together into a thin line on both their faces to stifle their laughs, before promptly bursting into laughter so hard Hen fell to the ground, clutching her stomach while gasping for air. Soon enough, Chim followed her to the floor as Buck held his face in his hands, and as he seemed to be doing a lot today, let out a big, long groan.
—
“Alright, I got the discharge papers, just gotta sign them and we are good to go, Mr Brit.” Eddie said, collapsing onto the bed next to Buck's crossed legs.
“I told you to stop calling me that, Eds.” He complained.
“And yet I will continue to do so until the accent goes away, babe.”
“If it ever does.” Buck whined.
“Is it bad that I kind of want it to stay? It's kinda hot.”
“Fuck off.”
Eddie chuckled lightly. “Come on, Buckley, let’s get you home,” he said, patting Buck’s leg lightly before he bounced to his feet. He reached out his hand to Buck as he swung his legs over, bringing himself to his feet and almost falling over in the process. “Whoa, easy, buddy,” Eddie laughed. “Come on, home time,” he said, swinging his arm over Buck’s good arm.
On the drive home, as they turned onto their street, Buck noticed something, “ Why are there so many cars?” he paused as he realised, “You threw me a welcome back party, didn't you?”
“No!” Eddie squeaked out, his voice an octave or two higher than usual, he glanced in Buck's direction. “Okay, okay maybe.”
Buck laughed, “Of course you did.”
“But you have to pretend to be surprised! Chris organised it and it was very sweet.”
“Okay, surprised, got it.” He said as they got out the car and proceed to walk towards the house, laughing when they see Chim look through the curtains, obviously trying to be sneaky, but failing miserably.
“Shit! I think they saw me!” They heard Chim yelp from inside the house as Eddie twisted the key and opened the door.
“SURPRISE!”
—
Later on, after the excitement and everyone (especially Hen and Chim) making Buck say random words just to hear them with an overly British accent, Carla comes up to Buck.
“So Buckaroo, you really are a full blown Brit now, huh?” She hugged him, being careful of his bad arm, but still managing to get him in a tight squeeze.
“Not really. Just the accent that will hopefully go away by tomorrow, because if not the doctors say it will be permanent.”
“I like it. It suits you.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“–I hope it stays, it's hot.” Eddie butts in, swinging his arm around Buck’s good shoulder.
“Yes, Eddie, we all know what you think of the accent.” Buck complained.
"Well, we will know whether or not the accent is permanent by 1:32 tomorrow, the time we rolled you into the ER yesterday.” Eddie sighed, “God, I really hope it stays.” a look of yearning taking over his face.
“We know!” Carla and Buck said at the same time, exasperated.
“I even have an alarm set.”
“Of course you do.” Buck grumbled.
—
The next morning, Buck wakes up to quiet chatter and pots clanging. He turns over and checks the electronic alarm clock Eddie insisted on buying even though Buck argued that just using their phones was fine, and sees the time is 12:32, the longest he's slept since Bobby's death. God, Buck hated concussions. He pulled the blanket off himself, swinging to his feet and making his way towards the kitchen, seeing Eddie plating up a slightly burned omelet and placing it in front of Chris, who then took the plate straight to his room.
“Morning Mr Brit!” Eddie called out as Buck sat down, wincing when his bad arm hit the table slightly, “Okayyy, pain meds time mi amor.”
Buck scowled “ I hate pain meds.”
“I know, but you are taking them anyway.” he places two small pills in front of Buck, along with a glass of water. “So, the accent hasn't budged.”
“Guess so.” Buck sighed.
Eddie checked his watch, “One hour until we see if it’s permanent.”
“Eds, it hasn’t even slightly faded, if anything it's even worse. I think that tells us enough.” Buck murmured.
“Probably. How do you feel about it?”
“What? The accent?”
“Yea. I just realised you never really told me how you feel about it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“We have time.” Eddie reassured.
“I guess it’s like, I’m me… but, also not. Like since I woke up from surgery someone else has taken my voice and replaced it with a whole new one. Like everything I say is me , everything I do is me, but it’s also not. Like the lump in my throat that's my voicebox is someone else's, foreign, which I guess is ironic but, I dunno. It's stupid, but I guess I was just so used to my voice, getting what feels like a completely new one out of the blue is just… overwhelming. But it also feels nice, like a new part of me, like a fresh start almost but it's not, and I know it's not. It's just confusing. Sorry, I told you it was dumb. It doesn't make any sense.”
“No, I get it, it makes sense.”
“It doesn’t.” Buck said, smiling slightly.
Before either of them could say anything else, there was a sharp knock on the door. Both Buck and Eddie made their way towards the door, Eddie opened the door to reveal-
“Tommy?” Buck and Eddie said at the same time, shocked.
“What are you doing here?” Buck questioned his ex, stepping in front of Eddie.
“Holy shit what happened to your voice??” a face of shock and confusion taking over Tommy's face.
“Foreign accent syndrome.” Buck replied blankly.
“And also none of your business, Tommy, what are you doing here?” Eddie snarled.
“I heard Buck got hurt so I wanted to check on him, but he wasn't at the loft so i figured he'd be here or you would at least know where he is.”
“Well you've seen him now, and he's fine, so, bye.” Eddie practically growls at him, before promptly slamming the door in his face, at least he tried to, but Tommy managed to catch the door before an apprehensive look took over his face.
“Actually, I was hoping I could speak to him,” his eyes darted from Buck to Eddie, “ in private?”
Before Eddie could reply and tell Tommy to fuck off, Buck cut in,
“Fine. You have five minutes.” Buck then looked to Eddie, asking him to leave with only his eyes. Eddie nodded, completely understanding Buck's silent request and quietly leaving the room.
“Just shout me if you need me.” He called back to Buck, who nodded.
Buck turned to Tommy, crossing his arms as best he could with the sling, “What do you want, Tommy?”
“I was wrong, Evan. It can be the same thing.”
“What? What can,Tommy?”
“I can be your first and your last.” Bucks eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. “Please Evan, I can do better this time, we can be better this time. Just give me a chance Evan.”
“No chance. I love Eddie. I will always love Eddie. And I will never love you, Tommy. Never.” Buck walked over to the door, opened it, and gestured for Tommy to leave. “Also, my name is Buck. Only Maddie and Eddie get to call me that.” He said as Tommy walked through the door, slamming it behind him the second he got onto the porch.
Buck turned to go find Eddie, only to see him leaning against the doorway that led to the hallway.
“I love you too, by the way.” Eddie said softly, a small but genuine smile on his face.
Buck walked over to him, cupping his cheek in his hand, “I know.” he smiled, then kissed him.
Then the door opened, Maddie bustled into the room, arms full of bags, some containing groceries, but mostly takeout bags. “Why did I just see Tommy Kinard walking to his car, looking like he was about to cry?” Buck and Eddie looked at each other, and burst into laughter.
—
The next week, Buck was at the hospital for a follow up on his concussion, the accent still not having faded at all.
2 months later, Buck was getting his cast removed.
3 months after the accident, Buck was featured in an interview and study on foreign accent syndrome.
6 months later, Eddie proposed.
One year after Buck fell through a flight of stairs, he and Eddie were happily married.