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Eddie Diaz woke up late for the first time in years.
Although, technically he wasn't late, he woke up when his alarm screeched in his ear and not before.
He hadn't woken up when Buck did.
Buck who always wakes up early and leaves early to keep up appearances.
Their marriage was a new thing and they weren't sure when to tell the team.
Buck didn't want to "jinx" it, saying they were lucky the chief didn't separate them.
Eddie agreed about the luck, he still didn't believe in jinxes.
His head was pounding like he had a bad hangover and his throat was dry enough to hurt when he swallowed.
With a groan, he pushed himself out of bed and started his journey toward the kitchen.
Christopher was already at the table, phone in one hand and the other was holding a spoon to scoop cereal into his mouth.
"Mornin'." Eddie grumbled, his voice hoarse and gravelly.
He walked past Christopher to the coffee maker, staring at it blankly for a few minutes.
Eddie never used the Hildy Buck bought for them all of those years ago, but when his old- normal- coffee maker broke, he suddenly was left with no choice.
The thing was, he didn't know how to use it.
There were so many buttons, what did they all do?
He was too tired to figure it out, he settled for whatever energy drink Chris forced him to buy in bulk.
"Hey!" Christopher protested, looking up from his phone to frown at his thieving dad. "Those are mine!"
"I bought 'em, they're mine." Eddie argued, taking a sip.
He nearly spit it out, 'Dios, these are disgusting.'
"Nevermind. All yours." He said, wincing back and placing the energy drink in front of Christopher.
Maybe he should just stick to coffee, they had some at the station.
For the moment, he settled with a glass of milk and Advil for the headache.
The familiar sound of the bus approaching had him shooing Christopher out of the house, kissing his curls before he left. "Have a good day, I'll be home tomorrow after my shift."
Chris rolled his eyes at the affection. "Stay safe."
"I will." Eddie promised. "Now go, don't be late. I won't be able to drop you off today if you miss the bus."
He smiled at his son, waving goodbye as he tried not to wince as the pounding headache turned into a sharp, stabbing pain.
Okay, maybe he was just having a migraine. That was fine.
Buck had developed chronic migraines after the lightning strike, he could probably give Eddie some pointers.
His head didn't even hurt that bad.
The drive to the station was a blur, muscle memory doing most of the heavy lifting through LA traffic.
"Morning, Eddie." Chim greeted as he walked through the doors.
He nodded in acknowledgement.
"Rough morning I take it?"
Eddie nodded again.
He really needed some coffee.
Getting dressed in his uniform took longer than it normally did, his body moving sluggishly through the movements.
"Hey Eds." Buck chirped as the brunet joined the rest of the team in the loft. He slid over a cup of coffee to Eddie, like he could read Eddie's mind. Or maybe he just remembered there was no coffee at home because Eddie and Hildy had beef. "You feeling alright?"
'You didn't wake up when I was leaving' went unsaid.
"Migraine, I think." Eddie replied, cradling the steaming cup of coffee in his hands.
The first few sips helped soothe his throat, but after that it had little effect.
Buck cringed, sympathetically. "Yikes, migraines are the worst."
Eddie had seen first hand how bad migraines could be. A bad one could take Buck down within a few minutes.
He just nodded, taking a seat at the table with the rest of the team.
The breakfast Bobby made looked great, but Eddie had no appetite to eat it.
It smelled nice though.
Buck nudged his plate in Eddie's direction, subtly.
Eddie nudged it back. "I ate at home."
His husband frowned, clearly not believing his lie, but didn't make any further attempts to get him to eat.
He was thankful for that.
Hen spoke up, drawing Buck's- and everyone else's- attention away from the food Eddie wasn't eating.
"Denny keeps talking about this movie and I'm not sure if it's suitable to watch, y'know, with him and Mara being so young. Buck, have you watched Project Hail Mary?" Hen asked.
Buck, ever the cinephile- and Ryan Gosling fan-, had of course seen it.
"Yeah!" Buck answered, his eyes lighting up at the opportunity to talk about the movie. "I watched it with Eddie and Chris on Friday. It's a great movie, you should watch it with Denny."
Eddie smiled, watching Buck recommend the movie like he wasn't bawling his eyes out during the climax of the movie.
He'd never seen anyone get so emotional over a little alien rock.
'A very smart, genius, scientist alien rock.' Buck had corrected when Eddie teased him about his crying.
"I bet Karen would like it too. It would be a great family movie for you." Buck added.
Hen smiled and nodded. "Okay, well, I know what I'm doing on my next 48 off."
By the time their first call hit, Eddie was sniffling and trying to hold back sneezes every few minutes.
The team noticed, but when they asked he blamed it on allergies.
"The pollen index said levels were elevated this morning." Buck said, half shouting over the loudness in the rig. "I'm surprised no one else has started."
"I took allergy meds before I came in. Jee and Nash got hit hard with allergies this morning." Chim jumped in.
Hen smiled, probably ready to brag about her "pollen tolerance" or something.
Eddie didn't think he'd ever seen her affected by allergies. Ever.
"Just try not to sneeze on any patients." Bobby warned, but his tone was light and teasing.
"Yeah, yeah. I w- won't." Eddie stuttered, feeling the beginning of another sneeze he tried to force down.
It didn't work, he sneezed into his arm as he tried to cover it.
"Ew.." Buck mumbled.
Although the concerned stare he was giving Eddie made him think he didn't really mean it.
"Thanks, Buck." Eddie grumbled, rubbing his nose. "Normally people say 'bless you' when someone sneezes."
"Why would I bless you?" Buck scoffed. "Aren't you gifted enough?"
"I hate you."
Buck pouted, knocking their knees together.
Eddie rolled his eyes, but knocked their knees again in response.
A silent 'I'm fine.'
The engine pulled to a stop outside of the scene.
A medical emergency, the dispatcher said. Someone got their head stuck in a bucket and was having difficulty breathing.
Eddie was wondering how who was stupid enough to stick their head in a bucket.
Walking into the house, Eddie got struck with a sudden chill.
His first guess was that the air conditioner was cranked, not uncommon in LA, but no one else seemed to be feeling it.
He was shivering as he climbed the stairs, following Buck to find the idiot who got trapped in a bucket.
The idiot was a man named Larry, his excuse for his stupid situation was that he tried doing a Bucket Head cosplay, but the bucket fell down over his mask and got stuck.
"Alright," Bobby sighed. "Eddie, grab the lube. Help Buck pull off the bucket."
Eddie blinked, feeling a wave of dizziness. "You got it, Cap."
On the way down to the engine, Eddie burst into a mild coughing fit.
He was thankful no one was around to hear it, Buck could probably put him on bedrest if he had the slightest inkling Eddie was sick.
Which he wasn't.
If you had to know three things about Eddie they would be:
1) He doesn't panic
2)He's not stubborn
And 3)He doesn't get sick. Ever.
He was perfectly fine.
Just swallowed wrong, that's all.
The dizziness subsided as Eddie rejoined the team, working with Buck to yank the bucket off of Larry's head.
"Okay," Buck said, his voice firm and determined. "We go on three. One, two, three-"
They lifted and with a bit of effort, the bucket and mask slid right off.
Even though it wasn't much work, Eddie's arms felt like lead for some reason.
He probably just needed some food. He hadn't eaten since the night before.
Buck didn't say anything, but Eddie knew he wanted to.
He had that worried look on his face, his eyes locked onto Eddie's with silent determination to get him to admit something.
But Eddie had nothing to admit. He was fine.
Just allergies and such.
Back in the rig, Buck slung his arm over Eddie's shoulders. His cold fingers slid up against the warm skin of Eddie's neck, making him shiver and feel even colder than he already was.
He knew what Buck was trying to do, trying to check his temperature without drawing too much attention to it.
Eddie slapped his hand away, he was fine.
"Okay, enough canoodling." Chim demanded, motioning for Buck and Eddie to scoot farther apart. "I know you are... whatever you are, but there's a strict no PDA rule."
Buck stuck his tongue out defiantly, keeping his arm firmly around Eddie and their legs touching. "You're just jealous Hen doesn't like you."
Chim scrunched his nose. "She's a lesbian, I'd be worried if she liked me."
"And I have a beautiful, loving wife. Thank you very much." Hen added.
Eddie was too tired to argue or move away from Buck, so he stayed in place.
He didn't sleep too well the night before, hopefully he could grab a quick nap at the station in between calls.
His eyes slipped closed once, twice, three times on the ride back, the spaces in between opening them grew longer each time.
If he slumped against his husband when a sharp turn came, that was no one's business but his own.
"Eddie!"
He jolted upright at the sound of his captain's voice, blinking away his daze.
Bobby gave him a stern look from the front passenger's seat, "Did you catch a single thing that I just said?"
"Uh..." No. The answer was no.
"I'll take him home, Cap." Buck said. "Don't worry."
It was only then did Eddie notice everyone else had piled out of the truck, going on with their day, and Bobby was quick to join them.
"I don't need to go home." Eddie insisted, pushing himself away from Buck. "M'fine."
Buck gave him a look, something Eddie would get teased about because it was definitely a "dad" look. "You're burning up, Eds. And you feel asleep in the rig. You've been sneezing, you said you had headaches-"
"Not that bad." Eddie mumbled.
"C'mon." Buck said, hauling Eddie out of the rig. "We're going home, baby."
"Noo.." Eddie whined, weakly.
As if Buck wasn't carrying him to his truck because he felt too tired and too weak to walk.
As if he wasn't unfit for work.
As if he wasn't falling back asleep the moment Buck buckled him in the passenger seat.
Eddie didn't remember the drive home or Buck carrying him into their house, nor did he remember being tucked into bed.
He woke up hours later, disoriented in a dark room. His bedroom.
"Bu-ck?" He choked out, coughing halfway through the word. "Buck?"
He couldn't even sit up, the dizziness from that morning was back and it was dialed up to eleven.
Footsteps padded down the hallway, a moment later the bedroom door opened.
Eddie winced, reaching a hand up the shield his eyes from the light spilling in from the hallway.
The light that did nothing but worsen his headache.
Buck stepped in, closing the door behind him.
"How are you feeling, baby?" He asked, sitting on the bed next to Eddie.
Eddie merely groaned in response, reaching for his husband with a weak hand.
He was cold, Buck was warm. A perfect solution.
Instead of Buck, Eddie's hand met with something held in Buck's hands.
That was bullshit.
He should be the only thing in Buck's hands.
"I made you some chicken noodle soup, it's Bobby's recipe." Buck spoke softly, trying not to worsen Eddie's headache. "You slept through lunch, so I bet you're hungry."
'Not really.' Eddie wanted to say, but no words came out.
Buck carefully maneuvered Eddie, treating him with so much love and care- the type he never got from his parents when he was sick- that Eddie felt like his heart might burst in his chest. He was propped up in a sitting position, his back pressed up against the headboard, as Buck began spoon feeding him.
Normally, Eddie hated being babied like this, but he really had no other option.
His body refused to cooperate, it barely tolerated sitting.
"I had Maddie pick up some cold and flu medication." Buck said, feeding Eddie another spoonful of soup. "You're showing, like, all of the symptoms for the flu right now."
The soup was good, that was the only reason Eddie wasn't arguing.
"She also picked Chris up from school, I told him to be quiet so he wouldn't wake you." Buck continued.
"Fank oo." Eddie mumbled through a mouthful of chicken and noodles.
"Don't talk with your mouthful." Buck chastised. "You'll choke."
Eddie rolled his eyes.
Dios, his husband could be such a dad.
He loved Buck dearly, but he was fine.
It probably wasn't even the flu, Buck was overreacting.
Besides, Edmundo Diaz didn't get sick.
It just wasn't in his nature.
He finished maybe half of the bowl before turning his head away, refusing the next bite Buck offered him.
Buck sighed, the spoon fell into the bowl with a faint 'clink.'
The blonde pressed a kiss to Eddie's forehead, placing the bowl on the nightstand so he could help his husband lay back down.
"I'll be in the living room, call out if you need anything." Buck said, gently. "I love you."
Eddie turned his head to face Buck again, looking up at his face- unclear in the shadows of the room.
He wanted to pull Buck into bed with him, but that wouldn't be right.
If he did that, Buck would get sick.
And if that happened, Eddie wouldn't be able to deny that he was sick.
Because he was.
"I love you too." Eddie whispered, watching his husband leave the room.
He let himself fall back into a dreamless sleep, helpless against its heavy pull.
Eddie didn't know what time it was when Buck woke him, but he assumed it was probably after dinner.
"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." Buck teased, nudging Eddie with his knee.
"Mm..?" Eddie hummed, groggily.
Buck smelled like strawberries, Eddie's foggy brain knew it was because Buck probably just finished a shower.
"I can't believe you slept through the sound of the blender." The blonde chuckled. "That thing's loud enough to wake the dead."
Blender?
"I made you a smoothie. It's got strawberries, blueberries, and half a banana in there. Supposedly those are supposed to help boost your immune system." Buck just shrugged. "Alright, let's sit you up."
Eddie was a little more helpful this time when it came to sitting, feeling fractionally better after sleeping most of the day.
Buck placed two pills in his hand. "Take those and-" He placed the cold smoothie in Eddie's other hand. "Drink this."
Eddie did what he was told, greedily sipping the smoothie because it helped his sore throat. "S'cold." He complained.
"Yeah, sorry about that. It's to help bring your fever down."
Eddie let out a small noise.
Buck was so sweet and helpful, what did he do to deserve a husband like that?
"Think you're up for a shower? It'll probably help you feel better."
"Warm." Eddie mumbled. "And help. Please?"
"Of course, baby." Buck smiled, his face lighting up like the sun.
He let Eddie lean against him on the walk to the bathroom, then sat Eddie down on the toilet as he got the shower running.
The two of them stood chest to chest in the shower, Buck washing Eddie's hair as he buried his face against Buck's shoulder.
Eddie was much cleaner than he would've gotten by himself.
He probably would've fallen asleep in the shower if he were left to his own devices.
Buck helped Eddie get into soft, warm clothes and helped him get into bed.
Eddie tried to stop him from laying down next to him. "You'll get sic' too." He mumbled.
"Oh? Is this your way of admitting I was right?" Buck teased, curling up against Eddie's side.
"M'no..."
"M'yes." Buck giggled. "You are very sick, Mr. Diaz."
"No, m'not, Mr. Diaz." Eddie argued.
"We'll have to tell the team before I can get that name change."
"...tomorrow."
Buck laughed, "Okay, sure. Tomorrow."
"Love you."
"I love you too."