Work Text:
Nashville, TN
Firefighter Games
Everything was going okay, at least in Eddie’s opinion. He and Buck, representing the 118 and LA, were in second place, tied with Nashville. He had just passed the red baton off to his boyfriend and Buck had taken off running, not far behind Boston and Nashville not far behind him. Everything was going great.
Until it wasn’t.
One of Boston’s firefighters had made both Buck and, if Eddie remembered correctly, Blue (Eddie couldn’t remember if that was Blue or if the one beside him cheering for the other was Blue) fall. He watched, a sinking feeling in gut as the ladder Buck had been on fell. He saw the look on Buck’s face, one of pure panic, when the ladder made contact, pinning his leg to the track. The same leg that the ladder truck had pinned seven years ago.
“Buck!”
Eddie didn’t even know he was the one screaming, let alone that he was running out onto the track, forgetting all about the crowd and games at that moment. When he got to Buck, even though the ladder wasn’t all that heavy (and nowhere near as heavy as the ladder truck had been), he was panicking. Buck’s eyes were glassy and his breathing was coming out short and fast. The commentator, Eddie couldn’t remember her name at that very moment, had called for the games to be paused when Eddie had run out onto the track to Buck.
“Not again. Not again. Not again!” Buck was screaming, even though his body felt frozen in place and his leg felt like it was on fire. “Eddie, please. Please, p-p-please. Get it off. I don’t— not again. Please, Eddie. It hurts please.”
And oh, Eddie’s heart broke seeing the way his boyfriend was breaking down. Someone was lifting the ladder before he got a chance to move. It was the Nashville firefighters, the brothers and their dad, specifically. He pulled Buck out as the ladder was lifted up enough and Buck was scrambling to cling to him, his breathing still coming out hard and fast, his body shaking, and tears streaming down his face.
“Sh, sh, cariño. I’ve got you. It’s okay. We’re in Nashville. At the Games, remember. It was just a ladder. Shh, shh. It’s alright, querida.” Eddie said softly, holding Buck in his arms. He gently moved one of his hands to wrap around one of Buck’s wrists, dragging his hand up to his own chest. “Can you follow my breathing, cariño? Just like this.”
He went through the motions, breathing in and out slowly. It took a few minutes before Buck’s breathing finally slowed down and he was still clinging to Eddie when he finally spoke. “‘M s’rry.” It came out quiet, almost too quiet to be heard but Eddie was still holding him close.
“You have no reason to apologize, cariño. It’s okay. You’re okay. Look at your leg for me, okay? It’s fine, see?” Eddie spoke as he gently pulled up the leg of the turnout pants, revealing the gnarly scar tissue that traveled from inside Buck’s shoe, up his leg, and under that part of the gear that was still covered. Eddie vaguely heard a whisper of ‘Damn.’ from one of the firefighters from Nashville. He thinks it was that Taylor girl.
“I-It’s okay? It’s n-n-not crushed again?” Buck’s voice was shaking still as his free hand slowly made its way down to trace the scar on his leg. “It h-h-hurt so much, Ed’s.” Eddie’s heart shattered again at how broken and scared Buck’s voice sounded. “I know, cariño. But it’s okay. It’s fine now. See? All healed up. You just had a flashback. It’s scary, I know, querida. But you’re okay now. I promise.”
After a few moments, Buck slowly nodded. It was silent for a few more minutes until Buck finally said something. “At least there wasn’t water too.” He murmured and Eddie couldn’t stop the short laugh that fell from his lips before he pressed a kiss to Buck’s forehead. “Yeah. That’s a good thing.” He then slowly stood up, holding his hand out to help Buck up, easily pulling him up when Buck grabbed his hand.
They then turned to the Nashville firefighters, Buck giving an awkward smile. “Sorry— about that…I was…” Buck trailed off, his eyes darting to Eddie. Eddie squeezed his hand, which hadn’t yet let go of. “Buck was the one that was crushed by the ladder truck in LA seven years ago. It’s what the scar is from. It was a crush injury. He almost…He almost lost his leg.” Eddie explained, keeping his voice gentle so as to not spook his boyfriend too much. He knew how easily spooked Buck could get after a panic attack, just sending him back into one.
“Oh, shit. I remember seeing that.” Captain Hart replied, keeping his voice soft too. “I can see how that could have caused a panic attack.” He glanced at Ryan and then Blue. Both of them were kind of staring at Buck’s still uncovered leg.
“Looks like shit, doesn’t it?” Buck’s voice had an edge of a joking tone. “Doctor said I’d never work again. Said I’d barely walk. But, here we are.” He grinned, moving his leg around and putting his weight on it. “I still get pain in it sometimes. Especially around the anniversary of it happening or the anniversary of the tsunami. That was a few months after the bombing that caused it. This is actually the first time I’ve had something like that happen again. I thought I was fine. Especially after I crawled under a ladder truck to pull this one out of the line of fire after he got shot but I guess not.” Buck rambled and rambled on. Eddie knew it was from nerves and embarrassment so he just squeezed Buck’s hand to try and calm him. His arm, the one where he was shot and the one he wasn’t holding Buck’s hand with, twitched at the mention of the injury but his face remained neutral.
“Trouble just follows y’all around, doesn’t it?” Taylor asked, a teasing tone to her voice to try and lighten the mood. Buck laughed, shrugging. “You have no idea.” He replied, leaning against Eddie a little bit.
After a while, when the track was cleared and was reset, with Boston disqualified for the stunt they pulled, they restarted the relay.
LA and Nashville ended up tying for first, agreeing to just let the tie be. After Buck said, “Fine, but only if you guys show us a good night.” with a laugh. To which Captain Hart replied with, “That can be arranged.” with a grin and a clap of his hands.