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“Come on, Eddie, please,” Buck practically begs, ignoring Chim’s undignified snort from the chair opposite them. “It’s bad enough Gerrard is making me do this.”
Eddie regrets not taking Hen’s earlier warning more seriously. The warning in question being that Buck was going to ask him to be his volunteer patient for his mandatory rescue training.
After Buck broke a toe about a month ago, Gerrard had decided that was enough to justify sending Buck off to requalify before he’d allow him to return to normal duties, and no matter how much Buck complained that it wasn’t necessary, Gerrard had been insistent.
“And why can’t you just deal with whatever volunteer they provide you with?” Eddie asks, because that’s what he’s always done in the past. “They’re not so bad.”
“They’re not so bad, he says,” Chim chimes in, finishing off typing out a text and placing his phone down on the station dining table. “Someone’s had good luck with volunteers.”
“Last time I got this old lady who kept trying to tickle me.” Buck pouts, and Eddie tries very hard not to laugh. “She thought it would be funny but I almost dropped her, Eddie. What if it happens again this time, and I actually drop my patient, and then Gerrard uses it as an excuse to fire me?”
Eddie’s about ninety-nine percent sure Buck’s just screwing with him, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that their evil temporary boss would do just that.
“It’s a shame you broke up with Tommy,” Chim jokes. “You could have asked him.”
Eddie snorts. “No way.”
“You don’t think someone would volunteer to be a fake patient for their boyfriend’s rescue training?” Chim asks.
“Someone? Sure,” Eddie concedes, before doubling down. “Not Tommy though.”
“Guys, come on,” Buck complains half-heartedly. “Tommy wasn’t that bad, was he?”
Eddie and Chim both don’t say a word, and Buck sighs.
“Yeah, okay,” Buck gives in. “He was kind of shit, wasn’t he?”
“He really was,” Chim says, before turning more towards Eddie. “But back to you. Come on, man. Buck needs your help. It’s dire.”
Eddie can’t believe how dramatic they’re being about this.
“Please, Eddie,” Buck whines, and Eddie can feel himself giving in even before Buck leans in closer towards him and implores, “It might be fun, you never know.”
“Why can’t Chim do it?” Eddie asks, glaring at Chim half-heartedly. “Or Maddie?”
“No can do.” Chim leans back in his chair, smirk on his face. “Gerrard’s got me requalifying too, and Maddie’s volunteering as my patient.”
Eddie narrows his eyes, “Of course she is.”
He’s almost one hundred percent sure that Gerrard isn’t making Chim do shit, but he doesn’t exactly have any proof. Nor does he have any idea what reason Chim would have to manipulate the situation so that he’d feel obligated to be Buck’s volunteer.
Ugh.
“Fine,” Eddie says with a sigh, grunting as Buck yanks him into a sideways hug and squeezes him within an inch of his life.
“You’re the best, Eddie,” Buck says as he stands up. “I won’t forget this. If you ever need a volunteer, I’m totally there!”
Before Eddie has a chance to say anything in response, Buck’s wandering off to help Hen over by the ambulance, leaving him alone with a gleeful looking Chim.
He’s pretty sure he’s going to regret agreeing to this.
*
Two days later, Eddie finds himself waiting in line at the new LAFD Rescue Training Warehouse. The name is stupid, but at the very least it’s nicer than the last place he had to go for one of these things; meaning the floor’s clean, there’s windows for once, and there’s no weird smell permeating the air. There’s even a designated area for sign-ins and then a section for the ‘patients’ to sit or lay down as they wait to be ‘rescued’.
Eddie walks over to get in line for sign-in, a little surprised when someone walks up and nudges his shoulder. He looks down and smiles as the nudger moves in for a hug.
“Maddie,” Eddie says, giving her a quick squeeze. “It’s good to see you.”
And it is good to see her. Even if the last time they’d had a run in was wine night at Hen and Karen’s where Eddie had admitted he was gay and then locked himself in the bathroom in a panic when he convinced himself they were going to tell Buck before he had the chance.
As far as he knows, they’ve all followed through on their promise to keep it a secret.
And Eddie really has been trying to find a chance to tell Buck for weeks. He has! It’s just never been the right time, and he can’t ever seem to find the right words.
“Good to see you too,” Maddie says. “Chim told me you’d be here, but I thought he might just be messing with me.”
“Is it weird that I’m here?” Eddie asks, suddenly second-guessing his presence even though Buck had been the one to ask him to come. “I thought—”
“No!” Maddie interrupts. “Seriously. Not weird at all. I just meant—you know what? Never mind. Are you excited?”
“Am I excited?” Eddie repeats, raising an eyebrow.
“You haven’t done this before, right?”
“I’ve done rescue training, but I’ve never been on this side of things,” Eddie admits.
“Don’t worry, it’s fun,” Maddie says reassuringly. “Otherwise I wouldn’t always be so happy to be here.”
“You enjoy it that much?”
“Yep.” Maddie gives him a strange, vaguely amused look. “You know, I’m actually curious to see if you enjoy it in the same way I do, to be honest.”
What?
“What does that even mean?” Eddie asks.
But unfortunately, before Maddie has a chance to answer, they’re interrupted by a voice calling out from the sign-in desk.
“Next!”
Maddie just shrugs and grins as she steps up to check in.
Eddie’s left standing in line wondering yet again why the hell he agreed to do this.
*
When it’s Eddie’s turn to walk up to the sign-in desk, a woman who introduces herself as Tina checks him in and hands him a casualty card along with some clothes covered in fake blood and a green fabric sleeve.
Eddie raises an eyebrow.
“What?” Tina asks, clearly trying to be very serious about everything.
Eddie rolls his eyes. “It’s a bit much, isn’t it?”
“We take things very seriously around here when it comes to firefighter rescue training, Mr Diaz,” Tina says. “Gotta have you all looking the part.”
“Oh, definitely. I bet the realism is extremely important. Especially when it comes to…” Eddie trails off as he glances down at his casualty card. “Missing leg below the knee, gunshot wound to the shoulder, and period pain.” Eddie pauses. “Seriously? How am I supposed to act these out?”
“The green fabric sleeve is to be placed on your lower leg to indicate the absence of the limb,” Tina explains even though that’s not the part that’s throwing him off, “and the shirt you’ve been given has a fake bloodstain where your shoulder is located.”
“This says period pain,” Eddie says slightly questioningly. “I’m a man. I don’t get period pain.”
Tina stares at him. “You’re not missing a leg and you haven’t been shot in the shoulder either.”
“Not today at least,” Eddie says under his breath. But sure, he at least has experience with being shot and has seen soldiers lose limbs. That’s not what he’s worried about portraying. “How am I supposed to indicate period pain to the firefighter rescuing me? I’m a male-presenting ‘patient’. How is he supposed to—”
“I’d recommend describing period pain verbally—”
“So just tell the firefighter I have period pain” Eddie interrupts drily. “What’s the point of that when they’re supposed to—”
“You should describe the pain in a way that will lead the firefighter to the diagnosis, not tell them outright,” Tina cuts him off to insist. “That’s very important.”
“Sure, but if I were to describe lower abdominal pain and cramping, the firefighter might not assume a male-presenting patient has period pain,” Eddie insists. “Can’t you give me another card? This is stupid.”
Eddie raises an eyebrow and meets Tina’s eyes. It’s almost as if they’re in some kind of stand-off because she clearly thinks it’s ridiculous, but for the sake of keeping her job she most likely can’t actually agree with his opinion out loud.
Eddie realises pretty quickly he’s not gonna win this one.
“I should just go put these on, shouldn’t I?” Eddie asks, holding the clothes and fabric up in the air.
“That would be ideal. And once you’re done, you’ll be over by your friend.” Tina nods her head towards Maddie, and Eddie looks over to see Maddie sitting with her legs out against the back wall. “Remember to read over your casualty card and don’t be afraid to have fun with it. Some people go all out with their acting.”
“Of course,” Eddie says, already planning on just telling Buck the period pain part instead of acting it out. “For the realism.”
“For the realism,” Tina repeats, grinning enthusiastically as she calls the next person forward.
*
“So? What’d you get?” Maddie asks excitedly as soon as Eddie’s within hearing distance. “Mine’s a bit different to what we usually get. I got a broken arm, a gunshot wound to the abdomen, and kidney stones. So much better than last time, though.”
“Take a look,” Eddie says, passing her his casualty card as he starts to pull the green fabric sleeve over his lower left leg.
“Missing leg below the knee, gunshot wound to the shoulder, and period pain,” Maddie reads off of the card. “Seriously?”
“That’s what I said!” Eddie’s glad someone else gets it.
“This is certainly one of the weirder ones I’ve seen,” Maddie admits. “Maybe they’re trying something new by having serious issues accompanied by less serious issues to see how the firefighters prioritise and treat? I mean, I got kidney stones.”
“You do these training days a lot, don’t you?” Eddie asks.
“Normally just any time Chim’s here,” Maddie says as she shifts against the wall to get more comfortable. “Which is once or sometimes twice a year.”
“Any particular reason?” Eddie asks. “It’s gotta be pretty boring, right?”
“Oh, Eddie,” Maddie says, maybe a little condescending but mostly affectionate. “You’ll see.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, laying down on the ground flat as directed by his casualty card.
“Let’s just say there’s a reason I’m extremely happy to volunteer any time my husband needs a fake patient to rescue at one of these things.” Maddie laughs when it’s clear Eddie still doesn’t get it. “It’s hot, Eddie. I know realistically it’s a whole lot different when you guys are out in the field rescuing people in actual life-threatening situations, but there’s nothing wrong with me experiencing it in a slightly less scary scenario.”
Eddie gapes at her. “Does Chim know that’s why you always agree to come?”
Maddie grins.
“Alright everyone!” Tina interrupts any response Maddie may have had as she calls out to the room at large. “Everybody take your places and the firefighters will be in shortly to complete their rescues. Please remember to stick to your individual casualty cards, and feel free to have a little fun with it! We’ve got a grand prize waiting for the best performance!”
Eddie genuinely had no idea this is what it was like behind the scenes every time he’s had to do this as a firefighter himself. He sees a few people nearby seem to sit up straighter and get into character. He somehow manages not to laugh out loud.
“Don’t bother,” Eddie hears the woman on the other side of Maddie say. “It’s a shitty five dollar Starbucks gift card. You can’t even buy a single drink with that!”
Eddie makes the mistake of making eye contact with Maddie and they both have to hide their laughter as they get into their designated positions.
*
Eddie can’t stop fidgeting as he lays on the ground waiting to be fake-rescued.
He feels like he’s been laying here for hours, and yet there’s still been no rescue attempts at all. He leans his head up to look around for Tina, but the moment he does, a foot gently connects with his side.
“Ow!” Eddie hisses, turning to glare at Maddie even though her attempt at a kick didn’t really have much impact. “What was that for?”
Maddie’s response is interrupted by the doors to the warehouse slamming open. Eddie’s head jerks in the direction of the noise, and he watches as approximately two dozen firefighters come running into the warehouse with purpose.
Eddie feels his heart start to race.
Holy shit.
Oh, this was not what he was expecting.
Ever since his little realisation about being attracted to men, Eddie’s been noticing men more. It’s just a fact. He’s not sure why—sometimes he wonders if maybe it’s because it feels like he’s given himself permission now—but one thing’s for sure: it’s not always convenient.
Today is apparently a perfect example. Because in this moment in particular? Eddie deeply regrets giving himself permission to notice men.
And by men, he means Buck.
Buck—who’s at the front of the group—his face serious as he quickly scans the room and makes eye contact with Eddie. And Eddie would love to say he returned the eye contact, he would. But no, Eddie’s eyes are immediately drawn to Buck’s arms as they seemingly attempt to escape his shirt.
He attempts to make eye contact again as Buck jogs over, but no, this time his eyes drop down to Buck’s thighs to take in how strong they look as Buck slides onto his knees beside him.
Eddie quite literally feels his heart skip a beat when Buck says, as seriously as he possibly can with a giant grin on his face, “I’m gonna get you out of here, don't you worry.”
He begs the universe to have mercy on him, with no success.
Instead he’s forced to try not to swoon when Buck—beyond gorgeous at this point and leaning more into actual physical god territory—proceeds to lift him up off of the ground and throw him over his shoulder as if he doesn’t weigh anything at all, carrying him out of the building with ease.
And while Eddie’s heard the stories about how Buck carried him to safety after he’d been shot, being conscious and fully aware of the situation while it’s unfolding is something else entirely.
He can’t ignore the way Buck’s hands feel wrapped around the backs of his thighs—so strong and capable. And his arms. His arms are… god, Eddie just wants to take a bite out of them. Is that normal? That can’t be normal.
Shit.
He’s so screwed.
*
By the time Buck carries him all the way outside and into the triage area for phase two of the rescue, Eddie’s brain feels almost like it’s completely mush. He lays there and watches as Buck holds his arm in the air to indicate he’s completed phase one—the extraction of the patient—and wonders if he’s going to survive the rest of the day.
“Buckley, extraction complete. You may proceed with triage!” a voice that sounds like Tina’s calls out, and Buck’s hand drops down to start running over the green fabric on Eddie’s lower leg.
“Okay, sir,” Buck says, turning back to Eddie and looking down at his face. “What seems to be the problem?”
And Eddie can’t help himself—he snorts at the ridiculousness of it all.
“Jesus Christ, you’re really gonna try and do this properly?” He’s referencing the dramatics of course, the fact that Buck’s playing along with the request for realism even though they’re both firefighters and know how this works. “Do you want me to play along?”
“Sir.” Buck says as seriously as he can again while looking like he’s barely holding back a laugh. Eddie feels the corner of his mouth twitch in response. “My name’s Firefighter Buckley.”
Eddie rolls his eyes and with a grin says, “Hi Firefighter Buckley. My name’s Eddie Diaz.”
“Excellent, now back to my original question, what seems to be the problem today, Mr Diaz?” Buck’s eyes roam over Eddie’s body, starting at his feet. “It looks like you’ve got a leg injury?”
“Oh more than that, Firefighter Buckley,” Eddie says amusedly. “Surprised you didn’t notice, but my leg’s gone missing.”
Buck snorts. “That’s no good.”
“No, not at all.”
“Anything else?” Buck asks, his eyes moving upwards. “Shoulder injury?”
“Gunshot wound,” he tells Buck nonchalantly without thinking. Immediately, Eddie notices Buck’s eyes dimming a little as he looks at the shoulder bloodstain. Shit. “Hey, it’s not real.” Eddie waits for Buck to look him in the eye. “It’s just for this stupid rescue training. They’ve got a bad sense of humour around here.”
Buck offers a smile as he shakes himself off. Eddie hears him mumble, “Yeah. Yeah, ‘course you’re fine. I know it’s not real.”
“So, you gonna try and figure out what else is wrong with me then?” Eddie says in an effort to distract Buck from the shoulder wound completely.
“You’re telling me there’s something else wrong with you, Mr Diaz?” Buck says a little teasingly. “I don’t know, you look pretty good to me.”
Eddie’s heart skips a beat.
Damn it.
He proceeds to lose his train of thought entirely and forgets how to speak.
“Eddie?” Buck questions, a little more seriously. “Was there something else?”
Something else?
Yeah, there was something else. But what was it?
Oh, yeah.
“Period pain!” Eddie blurts out, and then flushes. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you outright, but fuck it. You were never going to guess it if I said I had abdominal pain. I don’t have a uterus—you know that—and I told them it wasn’t fair to expect you to guess that with a male-presenting patient but they didn’t care. So I lied and said I wouldn’t tell you, but I just did. That’s it. That’s the last thing on the card.”
Buck’s staring at him like he’s a madman. And to be honest, Eddie thinks that’s a fair call at this point.
Buck bursts out laughing.
“Holy shit, Eddie,” Buck manages to get out in between all the laughter. “Okay. Period pain. Uhhh, we’re gonna give you some morphine to start because that’ll address the pain of all three presenting issues.”
Buck takes a piece of paper of god knows where and hands it to Eddie.
“Thanks,” he says with a laugh, watching Buck focus as he assesses the rest of the situation.
“We’ve gotta deal with the leg and the shoulder. So after the morphine, we’re gonna tourniquet the leg—” Buck cuts himself off, reaching for the fake tourniquet and then manhandling Eddie as he wraps it around his thigh loosely before moving it to about 2.5 inches above the top of the green fabric sleeve and securing it in place. “—right about here. It said lower leg amputation and I’m just assuming we’re going off of the area covered by the fabric.”
“Sounds good to me,” Eddie says breathlessly, staring at Buck’s hands around his thigh. He doesn’t want to think about what he’d give to have Buck’s hands wrapped around his thighs for another reason. Oh boy.
“For the shoulder, we’ll want to get a good look at what’s going on—” Buck lets go of Eddie’s thigh, and he’s in mourning for a whole two seconds before he realises Buck is unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Eddie asks stupidly.
Buck has a cheeky look on his face. “Need to get a good look at you, don’t I?”
“Oh, of course. Right, that’s important,” Eddie says. “You better take a good look.”
Buck unbuttons the shirt the whole way down—completely unnecessarily in Eddie’s opinion—pushing the shirt open fully. Eddie shivers as Buck’s hands graze his side.
“Sorry,” Buck whispers.
“Why are we whispering?” Eddie whispers back, his eyes tracking Buck’s hands as they trace over his chest. “And what are you sorry for?”
“I, uh—don’t know,” Buck admits, still whispering as his hands move towards Eddie’s scar from the shooting. “To both those questions.”
“Did you find anything else?” Eddie asks. “Besides the gunshot wound, I mean?”
“No, you’re perfect,” Buck says, seemingly without thinking.
A beat.
Eddie’s not entirely sure what Buck means by that, and when he looks up at Buck he sees a frozen look on his face. Eddie can’t quite read him.
Was that a moment?
Did they just have a moment?
“I should apply pressure to stop the bleeding,” Buck says finally. Buck moves to apply fake pressure to the ‘gunshot wound’ with one hand, holding his other arm up in the air again for his final check-off. He turns back to Eddie, apparently back to normal again. “Don’t worry, I’ve had practice at this. You’re gonna be fine, sir.”
Eddie can’t help but laugh.
And that’s how Tina finds them—Eddie laughing his head off on the ground with a morphine card in his hand, a fake tourniquet on his leg, and his best friend also trying not to laugh as he applies ‘pressure’ to his fake gunshot wound.
“Your patient seems in good spirits, Mr Buckley,” Tina says. “Can you tell me what issues your patient presented with today?”
“Uh, sure. Mr Diaz here presented with a missing leg below the knee and a GSW to the shoulder.” Eddie nudges Buck with his knee and looks down at his stomach. Buck follows his line of sight and adds rather quickly, “And period pain! Mr Diaz here has period pain.”
Tina’s mouth quirks, and Eddie just knows she’s enjoying this.
“Excellent work Mr Buckley,” Tina says. “Particularly keen instincts on the last one as your patient appears to be male-presenting.”
Eddie can’t believe she’s throwing his own words back at them, but luckily Buck has it under control.
“Oh, totally,” Buck agrees. “I’ve got great instincts. Just, uh, had a feeling it was period pain, you know?”
Eddie laughs but manages to turn it into a fake cough.
Buck’s mouth twitches, but he manages to keep a straight face.
“Totally.” Tina makes some notes on her notepad. “And what treatment did you provide?”
“I applied a tourniquet to Mr Diaz’s leg 2.5 inches above the amputation site—we used the top of the green fabric as a guide, I hope that’s okay—and then I applied pressure to the shoulder to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound.”
“And for the period pain?” Tina asks, a smirk on her face.
“Uh, I gave him some morphine for the pain,” Buck says, and Eddie happily waves his hand around in the air, showing off the morphine card.
“Morphine?” Tina questions. “You don’t think that’s a little excessive?”
“I mean he’s also lost a leg and been shot, so…” Buck trails off, another grin on his face as he looks up at Tina while still applying fake pressure to Eddie’s shoulder.
Eddie startles when Tina starts laughing.
“I’ll give you that one, Mr Buckley.” Tina makes another note on her notepad. “Alright, you’re all good to pack up here, you two. Mr Diaz, you can hand your clothes in over by the cookie stand.”
“Do I need to do anything?” Buck asks.
“Just head on over to the tent over by the entrance and you’ll be able to get your paperwork signed.”
“Thanks, Tina,” Eddie says as he sits up, displacing Buck’s hands as he leans down to pull the green fabric off of his leg. Buck helps him yank it over his shoe when it gets stuck, and Eddie offers him a smile. “You did great today, Buck.”
“Thanks, you too,” Buck says before pausing, seeming a little nervous as he continues, “Hey, I was wondering—”
“Hey guys,” Chim calls out, making his way over with Maddie. “How’d you go?”
Eddie hates them.
He really, really hates them.
“Uh, good,” Buck says, turning away from Eddie and towards Maddie and Chim as they approach. “You ready to get your paperwork signed off, Chim?”
“Sure?” Chim says, a little confusion in his tone probably because he and Maddie had only just arrived. “Did you wanna go now?”
No.
Eddie doesn’t want them to go.
He wants to know what Buck was going to ask him before they showed up.
“Yeah, probably best to get it out of the way,” Buck says, avoiding eye contact with everyone. “You guys can go get your cookies and we’ll meet you by the picnic tables.”
And with that, Buck leaves with Chim to get their paperwork signed off, leaving Eddie staring at Maddie in slight confusion and frustration.
Damn it.
*
Eddie and Maddie do indeed head off to collect their complimentary cookies and make their way over to the seating area nearby. They’re nice picnic tables, and Eddie sits himself opposite Maddie so he’ll be in the best position to watch behind her for when Buck and Chim are finally on their way back to join them.
From where he’s sitting, he’s still got a good view of Buck from behind. Overall, Buck is objectively hot as all hell, but Eddie’s focussed on his arms in particular at the moment. The arms that were being used not half an hour ago to carry him out of a building with ease. He gets the urge to take a bite again and—
“God I’m so gay,” Eddie says completely out of nowhere, followed by a sigh. “And if I wasn’t already aware, today would have been extremely eye-opening.”
Maddie turns to look at him, with an amused look on her face.
“So we’re talking about it, then?”
“Talking about what?” Eddie responds nonchalantly. “My sexuality? You already knew about that from wine night.”
“Your feelings for my brother,” Maddie clarifies, and Eddie flushes. “You know he feels the same way about you too, right?”
“You really think so?” Eddie asks, trying to keep the hope out of his voice. “Did he say something to you?”
“He didn’t need to,” Maddie replies, sounding like it should be obvious. “He’s my little brother, Eddie. I can read him almost as well as you can.”
Almost, huh? Eddie takes it as a compliment that Maddie thinks he can read Buck better than she can. And yet—
“I can’t read him at all when it comes to this,” Eddie admits. “Sometimes I think maybe … but then he—I don’t know. I wonder if it’s just wishful thinking? You know?”
“If there’s nothing there, then we’re all stuck in a mass hallucination,” Maddie responds with a laugh. “Because I know I’m not the only one who sees it. Chim definitely does. Hen, Karen and Athena. Bobby too, probably. Josh!”
“Jesus Christ,” Eddie swears. “Josh? Seriously?”
“It really is kind of obvious to anybody who spends more than a minute in your presence when you’re together,” Maddie continues. “I think I’m just the first person who’s been in the right place at the right time to say something about it to one of your faces.” Maddie pauses. “Actually no, that’s a lie. I was in the right place at the right time when Buck told me he was realising he was attracted to men. But I didn’t say anything because I thought he’d figure it out on his own. I regretted it the entire time he was dating Tommy, to be honest.”
“God, Tommy sucked.”
“Yeah, he really did,” Maddie agrees immediately. “You’re gonna be a much better boyfriend to Buck than Tommy was once you two get your heads out of your asses.”
Eddie flushes. “Maddie!”
Maddie ignores him and eats her cookie with a satisfied look on her face.
Eddie can’t deny it’s nice knowing he’s got Maddie on his side, even if she does enjoy embarrassing him a little too much.
*
It ends up being not too long before Buck’s finally done.
Eddie’s alone now—Maddie having wandered off to grab another cookie then find Chim—and he’s since moved to sit on the table itself, his feet hanging down and swinging back and forth under the table.
He looks up and sees Buck heading in his direction, and he watches Buck loosen his suspenders as he walks. When Buck looks up to grin at him as the suspenders fall down and smack against his thighs, Eddie’s unsure where to look in return.
Honestly, he’s not sure if he’s going to survive if Buck doesn’t stop being so attractive.
“Thanks for coming today,” Buck says as he reaches the table. “I didn’t expect it to be so ridiculous.”
Neither had Eddie. He’d thought it was going to be pretty boring, but boy had he been proven wrong.
“Me either. I had fun though,” Eddie admits, thinking back to everything he experienced throughout the day. “I’ll gladly be your volunteer patient if you need one again.”
“As long as it’s only pretend,” Buck jokes, moving to stand directly in front of Eddie. “I had fun today too, but I don’t like thinking about you being hurt for real.”
Eddie understands. “I don’t like thinking about you being hurt either.”
“Guess we’ll just have to stop getting hurt,” Buck jokes.
Eddie laughs softly. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”
They stand in silence for a moment before both attempting to speak at once.
“Hey, I was—”
“Do you wanna—”
“You go first,” Eddie insists, gesturing for Buck to speak. “You were…”
“I was wondering,” Buck continues after a moment, his eyes darting around to look at anything but Eddie. “I mean, I, uh—Maddie said I should—wait, no—I mean—well, actually, she did—but that’s not—”
“God, you’re adorable,” Eddie accidentally says out loud instead of inside his head.
Buck freezes, his eyes flashing up to lock onto Eddie’s. “What?”
“What?” Eddie repeats, wondering if maybe Los Angeles could produce one of its random catastrophes and have a sinkhole appear and swallow him up.
“Eddie, you just—”
“Shit.”
“Are you…” Buck trails off.
“Gay?” Eddie supplies. “Yeah, turns out I am.”
“Well, that’s convenient.”
“It is?”
“Yeah.” Buck nods and steps closer, making his way between Eddie’s legs and forcing him to tilt his head up to make eye contact. “See, I was gonna ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight. Some place fancy, maybe?”
“Like on a date?” Eddie hates that he needs the clarification, but he can’t afford to get this wrong.
“Yeah, like on a date,” Buck says with a grin.
And at that, Eddie feels his stomach start to flutter. It’s not like Buck hasn’t given him butterflies before, but this is the first time they’ve been quite so out of control.
He can’t resist teasing Buck though, now that he’s pretty sure they both feel the same way.
“Does it have to be fancy?” Eddie asks. “Because I could really go for a burger right now.”
“Eddie,” Buck says through a laugh. “It can be whatever the hell you want.”
“Well, okay then,” Eddie responds pretty much straight away. “I’m in.”
“Good,” Buck says, fake seriously.
“Good,” Eddie repeats, also fake seriously.
Eddie looks up at Buck, unable to hold back the stupid smile he’s sure is spreading across his face. Buck’s so beautiful in the late afternoon light, and Eddie can’t seem to bring himself to stop staring. Neither can Buck, apparently, seeing as he’s staring straight back at him.
“Fuck,” Buck mutters, his cheeks looking a little more red than usual.
“What?” Eddie asks, running his hand up and down Buck’s arm—barely resisting the urge to hold onto his biceps.
“You’re so gorgeous,” Buck says, leaning in a little closer. “And I really can’t wait to take you out tonight.”
How is one man allowed to be this sweet?
“I kinda really wanna kiss you,” Eddie responds without thinking. “But we’re in the middle of a park beside a goddamn LAFD training centre and I don’t know if it’s appropriate or if you even want to kiss me too or—”
Buck kisses him, answering the latter question rather succinctly.
A moan escapes Eddie as he presses up into the kiss, chasing Buck’s lips for kiss after eager kiss. He curls his arms around Buck’s neck—heat sweeping through him as Buck wraps an arm around his lower back, pulling him in even closer—and he loses his breath entirely as Buck kisses him even deeper.
Unfortunately, just as Eddie’s contemplating whether it would be worth risking getting arrested for public indecency, a loud cat-calling whistle rings through the air and forces them apart.
They turn to see Chim and Maddie fast approaching, and Eddie’s shocked to realise the whistle came from Maddie. He buries his face into Buck’s chest in an attempt to hide as he groans.
“Sorry,” Buck says, not sounding sorry at all. “I couldn’t resist.”
Eddie chuckles before pulling back to look up at Buck.
“I’m really not complaining.” Eddie smiles widely, feeling his cheeks flush as he glances over at their audience briefly before looking back into Buck’s eyes.
Chim’s stunned expression and Maddie’s grin have got nothing on the beautiful smile Eddie sees mirroring his own on Buck’s face.
This time it’s Eddie who can’t resist, and he leans in to kiss Buck again with zero hesitation.