Work Text:
Heat in Los Angeles is not an unusual thing. Quite the opposite. It may, in fact, be the only thing you can rely on in this city most of the time.
But the heat that hangs over the city today is something else. It’s heavy and damp, heavy clouds hanging over the sky, close to bursting, but stubbornly refusing to.
“I feel like I’m inside a fucking pressure cooker.” Chim complains, wiping his hand over his forehead for the third time in the last minute.
He slams his locker shut and grabs his bag. “I’m outta here”, he announces.
Eddie waves at him, but he’s only giving about six percent of his attention to Chim. The other ninety-four percent are, as always, dedicated to one Evan Buckley.
But who can blame him, when Buck is standing in the locker room, wearing nothing but Gym Shorts, hair still damp from the shower.
“I’m thinking Caprese Salad for Dinner?”, he says, turning to look at Eddie. His muscles shift under his skin as he twists his body to face Eddie and pull on his shirt at the same time.
“Uhm”, Eddie says, intelligently. “Sure.”
“Great,” Buck says.
Eddie wonders when that happened, the immediate assumption Buck will be coming home with him, cook Dinner for Eddie and Christopher.
Sure, they’ve been tight knit for years, but this is new.
It’s a given they’ll watch a movie after, and Buck will sleep on the couch, and make breakfast in the morning.
Eddie wonders whether he should offer Buck a drawer in his dresser. Or if is that too much of a boyfriend thing, something they decidedly are not. No matter how much Eddie would want them to be.
“You ready?”, Buck asks, Eddie looks up, right into Buck’s smiling face. He swallows heavily. “Yeah.”, he says. “Let’s go”.
Outside the climatized Firehouse to heat is even worse, the clouds seem to be having even lower now, as Buck open the backdoor of the truck to toss in his bag, while Eddie opens the front to crank the AC up as far as it will go.
And then, when the heat is basically unbearable, just as Eddie is about to pull the truck out of the parking lot of the station, the sky cracks open, with big heavy droplets, cutting through the hot air.
“Great.”, Eddie says. Buck just shrugs and turns of the radio.
“Wanna bet they play some cheesy shit, like raining men?”, Eddie asks, while the steers the car carefully onto the road.
The rain beats down onto the windows of the car, so loud Buck almost has to shout to be heard.
“You know rain is considered good luck in countless cultures. Native Americans pray for rain, there are actual counts of human sacrifices for rain all over the world. And it can be very romantic.”, he adds with a grin.
“What about this is romantic?”, Eddie asks, gesturing at the water sloshing down the windshield.
“Come on,” Buck says. “The Notebook? Four Weddings and a Funeral? The Wedding Scene in Pirates of the Caribbean? What does that tell you?”
Eddie scoffs. “That you’re a huge Nerd?”
Buck smacks his shoulder. “Ass. But I just think there is something really romantic about kissing in the rain.”
He looks out the window, a small smile on his face. “I always wanted to kiss someone in the rain. Never got the chance to.” He turns to look at Eddie, a look on his face, that could almost be described as wistful.
Something in Eddie snaps. He knows it’s a really dumb thing to do, but he whips around the wheel in a U-turn, back into the parking lot of the fire house and slams on the break.
Buck frowns at him. “What are you doing?”, he asks. “Is everything okay?”
Eddie barks out a laugh. He’s not okay. He’s a certified nut case, that’s what he is, but he still unbuckles his seat belt and pulls open his door. Immediately the rain falls into the car, drenching the leather of the seat, spraying on the steering wheel.
Eddie climbs out of the car. The rain hits his face like he’s looking into a shower spray.
He asks himself what the fuck he’s doing, as he rounds the car and opens Buck’s door with more force than strictly necessary.
Buck looks at him, obviously confuse.
“What are you doing?”, he asks, but he climbs out the car before Eddie can ask him to.
He stands before Eddie, looking slightly lost, water dripping out of his hair and over his face.
“Uhm”, Buck says.
“Look”, Eddie says. He might as well go for broke now. “You wanted to kiss someone in the rain. Well, I want to kiss you. Maybe we can make a deal?”
He gives Buck a weak smile.
Buck stares. And stares. And stares.
And just as Eddie is about to wonder about whether or not he’s made a colossal mistake, Buck surges forward and slams their lips together.
His hands come up to wrap around Eddie’s shoulders and he kisses Eddie, messily and greedily and with reckless abandon.
Eddie comes to life, finally, and in one swift motion closes one hand around the back of Buck’s neck and the other one around his waist, pulls him in and slots their lips together.
It’s messy, and not graceful at all, rainwater runs down his forehead, his hair is dripping wet.
They keep kissing, right there in the parking lot, in the pouring rain until the need to breathe becomes imminent.
Eddie carefully detaches their lips, but keeps his hands where they are, holding Buck loosely in his space. His face is wet, droplets are running down his cheeks. A few have caught in his lashes; they flutter away as he blinks.
“Hi”, Eddie breathes. He swallows hard, against the water that’s collected on his lips.
“Hi”, Buck says, a brilliant smile on his face. His shirt is clinging to his body.
“I’m in love with you”, Eddie says, because it doesn’t matter now anyways. Buck’s smile grows impossibly wider.
“That’s good”, he says. “Cause I’m in love with you too.”
Eddie laughs, loud and wild and free and then he leans in to kiss Buck again because why wouldn’t he? Kissing Buck is fantastic.
“Move in with me?”, he asks, when they separate.
“I mean, I basically live with you anyways?”, Buck says, and shakes his head a little to get rid of some of the water that’s collected in his hair.
“Good, that’s settled then.”, Eddie says.
“Boys”, comes a voice from behind them, Eddie whips around to see Bobby smiling at them,
“Hey, Cap”, Buck says sheepishly.
“I’m very happy for you. But your car is blocking the exit.”, Bobby says, motioning to Eddie’s truck that is haphazardly parked across the entrance to the parking lot.
“Sorry,” Eddie mutters.
“It’s fine. I’ll bring you the relationship disclosure form tomorrow.”, Bobby says. “And now beat it. If I’m late for dinner, I’ll get in trouble.”
“Sorry cap,” Buck shouts, the ridiculous smile still on his face. Then he turns back to Eddie.
“Let’s go home?”, he asks.
Eddie smiles back. “Yeah,”, he says. “Let’s go home.”