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His sweat is pooling into the back of his shirt. One more set. Buck pushes himself up, his head spinning for a second before it refocuses on the figure coming his way. The tousled hair and loose tank taunt him, a strange sensation pulling from within him. As if the silver star and competency in the field wasn’t enough, Eddie is kind, he keeps checking in on Buck with during and after calls, his kid is adorable as hell, and he keeps looking at him with those stupid brown eyes. Buck would hate how much attention the alpha has been giving him, if he wasn’t already falling for him.
“Hey, you need a spotter?” Eddie’s soft voice calls from next to him. “You can say no. Just don’t want my partner to get hurt you know?”
Buck nods wordlessly as the word flickers in his head. Partner. He knows Eddie means it professionally, Bobby even made it a point to tell him that he’d brought Eddie on to work with him specifically but part of him wants him to mean it in every other way. Buck’s enveloped in Eddie’s scent, the strong coffee and cinnamon scent melting around cedar that burns at the start of a campfire and it’s hard to explain away. It’s hard to think that there isn’t something between them.
“Sure.” He breathes out, grateful his scent hasn’t soured at the reminder.
“You sticking with the same weight or want me to add more?”
Buck blinks.
“This should be fine.”
Eddie nods, putting the weight in his hand back onto the rack.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Buck nods and finds himself staring into Eddie’s eyes. He’d like nothing more than to tell him, ask if he’s not alone in feeling this. But Eddie has Shannon. Yeah, she wasn’t around for right now, but who wouldn’t come back to Eddie? So he knows it won’t happen, it can’t. Buck is stuck pining for the one alpha that made him feel safe and seen in such a short amount of time, the alpha that lets Buck be there for his pup despite not being immediate family or officially pack. Eddie moves behind Buck, checking the bar for him and pushing the weights back so they sit snugly on the barbell. Buck puts his hands over the bar, rolling his shoulders back and arching his back slightly. He takes a deep breath, bracing his core to push the bar up. He gets it up and pauses, eyes catching Eddie’s.
“Good.” Eddie encourages, the bar lowers and comes up, an easy glide, their gaze locked into each other. Buck loses count of his reps and only stops when Eddie touches his elbows slightly and whispers that he can let go. The bar drops, the echo reverberating around the empty gym.
“Was that your last set?”
He sounds just out of breath as Buck feels. Buck slides down the bench and pulls himself up slowly. He closes his eyes and feels a water bottle being slid into his hand.
“Mhm.” His voice cracks as he opens the bottle and finishes it in one smooth gulp.
“You okay?”
“I’m a little dizzy.”
Eddie’s brow furrows.
“Have you eaten today?”
“Will you yell at me if I say no?”
“Hm.”
Before Buck can say anything else, Eddie walks out of the gym. Buck can see him going up the loft stairs and he groans. What the hell is he doing? He stands and walks slowly up the stairs to find Eddie pulling out large containers of food from the fridge and turning on the stove.
“Bobby will kill you if you ruin any of his cookware.”
Eddie stops and looks at Buck, a soft smile starting.
“I promise I’m only reheating. Sit. Abuela made this and she wanted you to try it.”
“Your abuela knows who I am?”
Eddie nods.
“She um, she caught your scent on Chris and asked me who you were. I told her about you, about how that soft mix of wild honey and sandalwood feels like home to Chris already. How he won’t stop asking me to bring you over so he can share more animal facts.”
“I feel like home?”
Buck breath hitches, his eyes don’t leave Eddie as he blinks back tears.
“Of course you do.”
“Did she, did she say anything else?”
“More like told me to be honest with you and myself. And ask you how you’d feel about me? If maybe you’d be okay with,” Buck finds himself stepping closer to the loft’s island, relishing in the faint blush on Eddie’s cheeks, “with me courting you?”
His stomach flutters, as he thinks back to the drawing on his fridge from Chris, the battered army sweater that Eddie lent him on his first night over that still faintly smells like him. His mind fills with all the casual touches that neither of them stopped, with Chris burrowing in his nest as if it was his own. He wants this, but…
“What about Shannon? I thought she was… aren’t you bonded?” Buck’s eyes widen as the words leave his mouth. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer, I know it’s private.”
Eddie moves around the kitchen unfazed, grabbing one of the silicone spatulas. Buck can smell the food coming from the pot. It’s earthy and spicy, a soft green broth with hominy and what looks like shredded chicken.
“We talked about it, never felt right for us. I think deep down we knew there was someone else out there for us.”
“You’re not bonded.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re not bonded and your Abuela wants you to court me?”
“Technically, I want to court you. Abuela just told me to get my head outta my ass.”
“But… even if you… Eddie you’re married.”
“Buck, I filed for divorce after my first day here.”
“What?”
Eddie laughs softly.
“Not everyday you meet the person your entire being knows is your other half, imagine my surprise when you acted like you hated me.”
“I never hated you, was I angry that a very hot and capable alpha joined and I couldn’t understand why my body was reacting the way it was? Probably.”
Eddie’s smile widens. Chim and Hen’s voices suddenly start, getting louder as they walk up the stairs.
“I told you someone was cooking!” Chim points to the stove where Eddie is gently stirring. He laughs.
“It’s my Abuela’s pozole verde. Should be warm in a minute, one of you wanna get Cap?”
Chim mock salutes before he walks toward Bobby’s office. Hen stares at the sight before her and smiles at Eddie.
“Did you tell him?”
Eddie shakes his head and moves to turn the heat off.
“We were in middle of that, but you two interrupted.”
Hen raises her hands and moves out of the way when Eddie tosses a cut lime at her.
“Well don’t let me stop you.”
“Ohh no, you don’t get a front row seat. We’ll talk about it after shift.”
Buck laughs.
“Don’t I get a say in that?”
Eddie walks around the counter and stops in front of Buck, his hand coming up to lightly trace over his birthmark.
“Cariño, we need to make sure both of us are on the same page but in front of our pack isn’t the best idea.”
Buck nods, leaning into the touch.
“I know. Just promise you won’t change your mind?”
Bobby walks onto the loft with Chim and stops to inhale slowly. His face brightens as he sees Hen already setting the table.
“Who cooked?”
“Eddie’s Abuela.” Buck preens, Eddie’s hand softly trailing down his neck.
“Ohh, worthy competition.”
Eddie takes a step back from Buck and smiles at Bobby.
“No competition Cap, just a gift for my new pack.”
Buck wonders if he should just be brave, tell Eddie in front of who he considers family that he can’t wait for their courting to officially begin. That he’ll return the affections, court him right back, after all Buck may have dreamt of someone courting him but he can’t help but want to spoil his… this alpha. He bites his lip as Eddie begins to plate the food, and then looks at Chim, a sudden seriousness finding him.
“If I say something, could you keep it from Maddie? Just until I can tell her?”
Chim rolls his eyes.
“I am not that bad…”
Buck shakes his head at him but turns to Bobby anyway.
“Pops? I think Eddie and I will be coming into your office for some declaration forms sooner rather than later.” He smiles as Bobby’s expression changes from confusion to understanding. “We have stuff to talk about obviously, but I wanted you, my family, to know about it.”
Bobby sits at the head of the table, picking up a lime to squeeze into his bowl. He looks straight to Eddie, whose spoon is frozen mid air. The first taste of the pozole hits his tongue in a wave of familiarity, like this is exactly what home should feel like. He takes a few more bites and realizes Bobby hasn’t responded yet. Is he okay with me thinking… He looks up to find Bobby’s eyes glistening, a soft and pensive look to him.
“Shit, I’m sorry Cap. I should’ve asked if it was —”
Buck doesn’t finish his thought before he’s being pulled up into a hug by Bobby.
“I’m honored that you think of me, of us, as family. If you want to call me Pops? Do it, just don’t get mad if I ground you when you act stupid.” Bobby wipes at his eyes, a small laugh escaping him. He turns to Eddie and lets out a breath. “You and I will talk later. Given I’ve been promoted, you’ll have to tell me your intentions with my son.”
Eddie nods curtly. Chim and Hen continue to eat as if Buck’s world didn’t just tilt on its axis in the last hour. His phone dings and he groans turning to Chim.
“You couldn’t last five minutes?”
“Slander. And against your own family,” Chim dramatically gasps at him, “I haven’t even touched my phone.”
Buck narrows his eyes.
“Then how the fuck does Maddie know already?”
Eddie clears his throat.
“That’s my fault. I may have asked Chim to give me her number so that to ask for her blessing to court you?”
Chim smirks and sits back in his chair. Hen shakes her head at him. Buck laughs. Yeah, he’s very much already falling for Eddie Diaz.