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Eddie is, admittedly, maybe not paying attention to where his feet are taking him across the grass when it happens. It’s possible he still has his head craned back over his shoulder to catch one last glimpse of Chris beneath the big white tent he’s been left in. Eddie slams into an immovable object with almost enough force to knock him onto his ass, a hard ridge of some sort hitting him in the gut.
“Ow! Shit!” Eddie hisses at the surprise impact.
Okay kind of rude of them to put a wall in the middle of this park-
His hands fly out on instinct to keep his balance and latch onto warm skin and firm muscle. His grip is mirrored quickly on his own forearm and makes him blink down at the contact.
Oh accept that’s not a wall, that’s a man-
And good fucking god that’s a really pretty man.
Shit.
“Shit, man. I’m so sorry.” The aforementioned wall stutters out.
Maybe he hit this guy's elbow harder than he thought because he can’t quite catch his breath when he catches sight of the face attached to broad shoulders, wide chest, and- jesus mary and joseph- bulging biceps. The pink of his lips is just unfairly distracting and it matches the adorable little birth mark that sandwiches his eyebrow. His thick curls look ridiculously soft and the urge to ruffle them has his fingers flexing against the man’s skin. There’s a healthy amount of scruff dusted across his jaw that makes Eddie's mouth water with the urge to gnaw on it.
And now Eddie is blind as well as breathless because the guy's blue blue eyes are burning into Eddie’s face. A face that he’s sure is dropped into some stupid slack-jawed expression that is just piling onto the load of embarrassment he’s buried himself under.
The buzz of activity that surrounds them fades into a blur as their gazes snag and hold. Every point of contact between them comes into sharp focus- the pressure of the guy's shoe pressed against Eddie’s where the toes overlap from their collision, the searing heat of the curve of his palm against Eddie’s skin. He wouldn’t be surprised if the guy's fingerprints are seared into his flesh when he walks away. You know, if he ever gathers his brain up out of the grass where it’s melted into a useless puddle.
At least he would have a way to track the guy down afterward.
Yeah that would go well. He can picture it now- waltzing into the nearest police station ‘yes officer can you check your databases for these fingerprints that have melted into my skin and give me the address of the man I ran into at my first ever pride and then stared at like a dying fish until he ran away from me and my mortifying personality?’
Luckily the guy’s fluttering eye lashes are enough to pull Eddie back to the present. If possible, his face lights up even more as his mouth pulls into a wide smile.
“No-uh,” Eddie croaks out of a dry throat. He clears it and starts over with a little shake of his head. “No worries. My fault. Wasn’t uh- wasn’t watching where I was going.”
The guy’s grin spreads with a small amused huff.
His blinding blue eyes flick down and scan Eddie from head to toe, his gazes leaving goosebumps as it goes. It pauses on Eddie’s shirt, a softness accompanying the amusement.
“You look a little young to be wearing one of those.”
His mammoth sized hands finally release Eddie to gesture at his front.
Eddie does not mourn the loss of contact, thank you very much.
He does let out a nervous laugh as he looks down at his own shirt and lets his arms fall awkwardly to his sides.
“My kid’s idea.” He gestures with a thumb towards the teen’s tent he was leaving. “First time here together.”
The big bubble letters in rainbow gradient spelling out ‘FREE DAD HUGS’ are a little out of his comfort zone wardrobe wise, but Eddie hadn’t been able to so much as think of a refusal in the face of Chris’s open enthusiasm when he surprised Eddie with the shirt this morning. He’d already given out a couple dozen hugs to a myriad of different people in the forty-five minutes they’ve been in the park. He had also given a couple smiles and nods to fellow fathers wearing similar shirts- and this guy wasn't wrong, Eddie probably was the youngest one here. At least the loose fitting tank top was comfortable in the June California heat.
And he for sure wasn’t mad at the way his bare arms seem to have caught the guys attention.
“The people of LA owe your kid a thank you.” He says under his breath, eyes trained on Eddie's exposed skin.
Eddie throws his head back with the surprised bark of laughter that comes out with the flush of heat rising up his face. The guy's eyes pop open wide before squeezing shut, pale skin flashing nearly as pink as his birthmark in embarrassment.
“And I said that out loud.”
“That you did.” Eddie chuckles.
The man ducks his head bashfully, one tattooed arm coming up to rub at the back of his neck. Between one blink and the next, the guy has one of his hands shoved into Eddie’s space.
“I'm Buck.” He breaths, pretty teeth winking behind a sheepish smile.
“Eddie.”
Eddie's breath catches at the firm grasp around his hand, the soft scrape of rough calluses sending a shiver up his arm. A charged silence stretches as they stare at each other, hands connected longer than necessary.
God, he’s cute. C'mon, Diaz. Flirt!
Eddie clears his throat and finally pulls his hand away, fingers flexing at the low current racing under his skin.
“So you’re from around here?” He cringes at the overly simple question.
Buck doesn't seem to mind based on the smile still glued to his face.
“Not originally, but yeah. I'm actually a firefighter.” He waves a hand at the navy blue t-shirt stretched across his wide chest.
The LAFD logo is bright against the plush curve of Buck’s pecks and if Eddie hadn’t been so distracted by those muscles in the first place he would have noticed that very obvious detail. Eddie shakes his head a little at his obliviousness and cocks his head to deflect.
“You just wear the uniform around everywhere?” he teases.
“Nah, I'm actually volunteering at the supply tent over on the north side of the park this year. Water bottles, sunscreen, the works.”
“Well, I don't want to keep you from-”
“No!” Buck says too at a decibel that catches a few passing people's attention and raises Eddie's eyebrows. The rest comes out softer and nervous.“Uh, no. Don't-don't worry about it. I-I'm on break.”
Eddie's smile grows. The opportunity to hear more from this stuttering giant filling him with warmth.
“What about you?” Buck asks, gaining some confidence. “Are you local?”
“Not originally, but yeah.”
“Yeah, what to do you?”
“I’m an ER nurse at First Presbyterian."
“No you're not.”
The adamant rejection of fact startles a laugh out of Eddie.
“No?”
Buck's lips tick up into a slow smirk and Eddie's knees turn to jelly.
“Nah. I’m in and out of that hospital so much, I’d remember if I saw your face in there.”
The blatant line makes Eddie's reply a little breathless.
“You think so?”
“Oh I know so.”
Eddie has to physically shake himself out of the charge of the moment, cheeks aching from a grin.
“Well, for your information I just moved over from Santa Clarita. I don't actually start until Monday.”
“Ah, see.” Buck points at him. Winks- holy shit- “told you I'd remember.”
Their eyes are glued in a heated stare, air stuck unmoving in Eddie’s chest when a slim arm locks around his elbow.
“There you are!” Shannon's cheerful voice breaks eye contact.
“H-hey!” Eddie stutters.
He looks down at her, wide grin on her face as she takes in the sea of color surrounding them.
“Where have you been? I thought we were going to be meet at the food trucks?”
Eddie opens his mouth to reply but the words get stuck in his throat.
“Uh, that was probably my fault. I about knocked him over. But I'll uh, leave you guys to it.”
Buck stutters out in a rush and is slipping off into the crowd before Eddie can so much as blink. Left staring after pale skin glinting at him from exposed calves poking out of navy cargo shorts at the end of mile long legs- that Eddie can't even properly fantasize about because they're gone before he even knows what's happening- his mouth stays parted in stunned silence.
“Did I interrupt something?” Shannon asks after an awkward moment.
Eddie blinks, shakes his head forlornly.
“I-I thought so.” he says helplessly.
He finally looks down at Shannon, a confused tilt to her eyes.
“He was cute.” She offers.
It surprises an amused huff through his nose. And then he catches sight of her shirt. The one that matches his and says ‘FREE MOM HUGS’.
“Shit.”
Buck throws himself into his camping chair hard enough to knock it back onto two legs, letting out the most dramatic groan he can manage- one that draws out until his lungs run out of oxygen and the front of the chair slams back down. Ravi does nothing but huff and continues staring out at the milling crowd with his arms crossed over his chest. Buck glares at his back and sighs loudly.
Ravi gives him an unimpressed side eye but doesn't take the bait.
So Buck pouts.
About his friend/coworker ignoring his very serious plight in favor of handing off water bottles to a cute lesbian couple decked out in orange and pink and sparkles from head to toe. And of course he pouts about what he had very swiftly convinced himself was the love of his life, in exactly three seconds worth of eye contact, apparently being married to a freaking woman. He pouts about the pretty woman who he's sure is very nice but also he now kind of hates because she gets to live happily ever after with Eddie and his big brown eyes and their kid while Buck withers in spinsterhood and dies lonely and alone.
Buck buries his face in his hands, slumps down in the canvas and lets out an agonized, guttural groan into his skin.
“Oh my god, fine! What is your problem?!”
Buck peaks out of fingers to find Ravi turned to stare at him, hands planted on his hips, eyebrow raised in irritated expectancy. Buck flops his head back.
“Pretty sure I just met the love of my life.” He sighs wistfully at the roof of the tent.
He can feel Ravi's eye roll.
“And why is that a problem?”
Buck pulls his head up with a whine because it now weighs approximately five hundred pounds because of the new found existential dread he's acquired this afternoon.
“He's here with his wife.”
“Ex wife, actually.”
The deep voice and chuckle make Buck jerk back hard enough to send the flimsy camping chair toppling over. With him in it.
He doesn't take the time to register the impact, head whipping around to the table at his left, bouncing against the grass. He finds Eddie on the other side of it staring down at him, a pretty flush to his plush cheeks and an amused smirk making his eyes sparkle. Buck splutters no real words and scrambles to his feet.
“Um,” he runs a hand through his hair to try to wipe away both grass and mortification, “h-how long have you been standing there?”
“Just long enough I think.”
The smirk that stays affixed to his face makes Buck swallow hard. And audibly.
They keep staring at each other, Buck in trepidation, Eddie in challenge, before Ravi clears his throat.
“Did you need something? You know, other than to render Buck here speechless. Impressive feat, by the way.”
Buck can't even drag his eyes away to glare at him. But Eddie doesn't either.
“Actually yeah. Turns out Shannon forgot to pack sunscreen this morning. From her own house. Since we got divorced six years ago. Cause I'm gay.”
“Okay.” Ravi draws out.
Buck just blinks at him, eyes wide, jaw hanging open like an idiot because clearly he is one but now he can’t get the words to fix this past the great rush of relief in his gut. Not that it matters what he plans on doing because Ravi then uses the back of one of his hands to manually push Buck's chin up with a clack of his teeth and then slaps one of the travel size bottles of sunscreen into his hand.
“Buck here will take care of you while I go on break!”
Buck vaguely hears Ravi mutter something about ‘stupid bisexual disaster’ before he disappears out of Buck's peripheral vision and the LAFD tent because Buck- for the second time today- is absolutely frozen in his skin by enchanting brown eyes. Ones that are currently dancing with mirth as Eddie holds out a hand for… something?
“Sunscreen?” Eddie chuckles, eyebrow raised.
Buck startles and finally breaks eye contact to look down at the object in his hand.
“Right!” He croaks.
He does not stumble over his own feet for the two steps it takes to be able to hand the bottle over to Eddie. The grass clearly grabs his foot to make him look bad- worse- than he already does.
What are the chances the fact that my face now matches the engine can be blamed on the heat?
He doesn’t love his odds.
He also chooses to ignore the laugh Eddie lets out under his breath. He cannot, however, ignore the pleasant little zing that travels up his hand at the contact their fingers make with the sunscreen handoff. Buck clears his throat, reaching for any sort of dignity and game he may still have- though it’s really fucking hard when Eddie stuffs the bottle of sunscreen along with his hands into the back pocket of his cutoff jeans in a way that pops his biceps out and makes Buck’s brain threaten to leak out of his ears.
“So uh-” he mumbles (if he wipes at the side of his neck to check for brain seepage, it's nobody's business but his.)
“You here all day?” Eddie interrupts, head tilted in curiosity.
Buck’s brain bluescreens as he fixates on the little strand of hair flopping forward over the eyes have absolutely wrecked him.
“Y-yeah. Uh. No! I’m here till tear down?”
Eddie raises a brow at the statement phrased like a question.
“I am here until six.” Buck manages to say more firmly.
The smile he gets in return is like a fresh slice of bacon to his inner golden retriever and if he had that big fluffy tail Hen makes comments about all the time, it would be creating a tornado with how fast he would be wagging it. Buck blinks at him uselessly.
“Maybe I’ll swing by when you’re done and you can buy me dinner. You know. For almost knocking me over earlier."
“Hey!” The lock on Buck’s words seems to break, finally, with the indignant squawk. “You were the one that…”
He trails off as Eddie’s mile widens, a hint of sharp canine peaking out and entirely derailing his defense.
Oh. Not the point, dumb ass.
“Y-you. Your son?” he manages.
“Him and Shannon are also leaving at six. They’re going on their annual mother son camping trip tomorrow and want to finish packing and get to bed early. I’m on my own until next Sunday. Unless a certain firefighter decides to keep me company.” He adds with a shrug.
Buck is all but panting with whiplash at this point but feels his own lips widen on a grin.
“Guess you’ll have to come back at six and find out.” He breaths.
Like he isn’t already drafting the text to Maddie to get her to water his plants this week. And the half-assed resignation letter to Bobby that gets scrapped after less than a second because if he quits his job to spend every possible second with the man he just met then he wouldn’t be a firefighter any more and then Eddie’s request wouldn’t be accurate. And he needs the income to be able to buy Eddie dinner, right? Like, every night for the rest of their lives?
(Buck is really grateful he’s frozen from doing much more than stuttering because even he’s aware that this train of thought is insane.)
“Guess I will.” Eddie says with a wink.
And then he’s backing away into the crowd, remarkably more coordinated than he’d been when he’d rammed into Buck earlier. With one last grin and a duck of his head, Eddie saunters off into the crowd with the bottle of sunscreen peaking out of his back pocket. Buck wonders if he knows he’s got a piece of Buck’s heart back there now too.
“That was the most embarrassing thing I have ever witnessed.” Ravi’s voice breaks through Buck’s trance. “And I still think about that proposal rejection that ended with the sewer explosion. You’re usually so much better at that, man.”
“Oh shut up!”
Even over an hour late, Eddie’s not sure what the hell he had originally planned on doing when he found Buck at the LAFD tent. All he’d felt was urgency when he realized what Buck had probably assumed and a bone deep need to correct that assumption. He’d stuttered out an explanation to Shannon before hurrying off to the north side of the park with her showing him away in encouragement. He’d almost turned around when he came across Buck and his coworker at the tent, doubt nearly taking the reins. And then he'd heard Buck call him the love of his life and was immediately possessed by whatever gay demon had been dormant in the back of his head his entire life.
Because the insanity of Buck’s declaration should have had him running for the hills considering they hadn't said more than a few sentences to each other to begin with. Instead, he had the split second thought of ‘oh thank god, he's as insane as I am’ and had apparently learned how to flirt. And now he was kissing his squirming teenage son on the head, his ex-wife on the cheek, and sending them off in Shannon's sedan so he could go on what he really hoped would be the first of many many dates with a man he knew next to nothing about.
See: gay demon.
It’s officially six o'clock, the end of the family pride festival in the park and all the vendors are starting to deconstruct their displays and tents. Which means it's also time for him to go meet Buck for their date. Assuming he’s still there. A flash of Buck's flushed face and bright smile in his mind give him the courage to shake off the nerves and start the trek back across the park.
He hears Buck before he sees him. The crowds are mostly gone but Buck is easy to hear over the remaining clatter. He seems to be ranting about… camping?
Eddie feels a bemused smile cross his face as the LAFD tent comes into view- half deconstructed. He should not feel this fond over a guy he barely knows but his chest still warms when he sees the big guy wrestling with a corner of the white canvas, head tipped towards the opposite corner to yell at his coworker. He seems to win the fight with whatever mechanism he was working on just as Eddie gets within a few feet of him.
“Yeah, and you were grateful for my convoluted tent when that storm hit you and May's camping trip last week.”
“I'm not grateful for this one!” The other firefighter snaps.
Buck snorts, Eddie watches him with what he can feel is a pathetically besotted smile on his face.
The other guy pops up from the other side of the tent they’re managed to push together in what was once the center of its coverage area. He catches sight of Eddie and smirks. He jerks his chin towards him and looks down at Buck where he's wrapping the tent up.
“Hey, the date you somehow managed to get it here.”
For the second time today, Buck is falling back in the grass at Eddie’s arrival.
“Still falling for me there Buck?”
Gay. Demon.
Because where the fuck did that come from?!
Buck is scrabbling to his feet with a breathless laugh, cheeks once again a shade of pink that makes Eddie think thoughts that make him very grateful he has his house to himself for a week.
“Hi.” He breathes.
Eddie grins.
“Hi.”
“Oh please leave before I throw up.” The other guy quips.
Eddie actually looks at him for once and is relieved to see the same smirk on the guy's face.
“You sure? I can make him help finish packing up before I steal him.”
The guy scoffs.
“Please, he'd be useless anyway. Take him off my hands before I have to see him at work on Monday.”
Eddie looks back at Buck- to be very pleased that he hasn't looked away from Eddie’s face. Eddie lets out a smirk of his own.
“My pleasure.”
Buck ducks his head and looks up at Eddie through his eyelashes.
I am so fucked.
“So dinner?” Buck asks.
How about the rest of our lives?
Ravi makes fun of Buck for showing up to work on Monday with a limp. The hickey low on his neck doesn’t go unnoticed either.
Buck takes the quips with a grin all shift.
He only goes to his own house once that week- to pack a bag.