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Chapter Text

Buck should really stop wearing his best friend’s old army sweatshirt. 

It’s just that he misses him so much. Buck always knew he was going to miss Eddie like a limb, from the second he flipped over that tablet to see listings in El Paso. It was inevitable. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and Eddie was leaving. Buck knew what it was like to wait for someone to get back. He knew it was going to hurt. 

He didn’t expect it to hurt this much. 

Despite subletting Eddie's house, he could barely stand to be there most of the time. It smelled like Eddie's scent. Chocolate and cinnamon. It even smelled faintly of Chris, too, the sharp citrus baked into the walls. (That was fairly common for families who lived in one house for a long time. In fact, there are even services to deep clean houses with scent removers.) Spending time in that house meant missing Eddie with every breath he inhaled. So he started staying over at maddie and chimney’s house. 

Eventually, his company wore them thin, and maddie politely kicked him out. (“I love you,” She said. “But go home .”)

So Buck learned how to Live with missing eddie. Eventually missing eddie didn’t hurt like a cracked tooth anymore. Buck finally unpacked (after like, a month and a half). He got a bed frame, rearranged his living room several times, and finally put all of his cutlery away. And now, after coming to terms with the Diaz's temporary absence,  every breath actually feels like it brings him closer to eddie. Like he’s not really gone, his presence still lingers in the house. His scent of chocolate and cinnamon becomes a comfort, a sign that buck is actually home, and safe. 

So as much as Buck initially hated inhaling Eddie's scent on every breath, a reminder of what wasn’t there, when he wakes up one day with no real trace of Eddie's scent in their home, Buck mourns the loss. It feels like a true loss, like a signal that Eddie and Chris are never coming home, like somebody struck him with lightning again. Every nerve of his lighting up in a panic at how wrong it feels to be looking at the same walls that have always accompanied Eddie's cinnamon and only smelling his own vanilla. It made Buck want to curl up into a ball and bawl like a baby. 

Buck Wishes he could talk to somebody about it, but honestly, they’d probably imply that it was an Alpha and Omega thing, instead of understanding how it was a Buck and Eddie thing. It would probably piss him off. Like, fuck off with that. Just because Buck is an Omega and he’s missing Eddie, Who happens to be an Alpha does not mean that he’s a damn damsel. At this point it’s pretty old school rhetoric that Alpha’s and Omega’s can’t be friends without being more than friends, and yet it’s nonsense that a lot of people quietly believe. And if Buck told someone about his cinnamon-and-chocolate problem they’d probably say, “Oh silly omega’s! Always looking for a big-strong-Alpha scent, without even knowing it, tee hee!”  And that’s not a thing. That’s not what Buck is doing. If he wanted any old alpha, he could go out without scent-remover patches and find an alpha within two blocks of his house. No, this is definitely just a buck and eddie Problem. So that’s why he won't ask for other people’s input on it, no matter how desperately he wants to talk through all of his problems. They wouldn’t get it.

So, Buck tries to find other solutions. Solutions that don’t require talking about it. 

His first thought, the one he does without thinking about it, is… well, going out and finding some big strong alpha to take care of his… woes, for the night. He ends up at some freshly-opened gay bar, Packed with men of all kinds, Alphas and omegas and betas alike. Buck Grinds up on a couple of them, But all of them seem to be having too much fun for the night to be over, and buck is already stifling yawns and longing for his bed, beefy alpha in it or not. He’s not some twenty-something playboy omega like he used to be, He realizes. Sure, all of these men find him hot, But not enough to drop anything and come running. Maybe it’s not worth the hangover he’s sure to have tomorrow. And then he sees tommy. 

And honestly? He considers it. Tommy would be right for the job, frankly, a one-more-time thing. Buck Remembers Tommy's big shoulders pressing into his own, His broad hands. Buck remembers other things too, and he starts to salivate. And then he remembers Tommy's scent. And he thinks about Tommy's scent in Bucks house- in eddie’s house. And buck suddenly wants to throw up. The idea of inviting him there, having him possibly imprinted, the smell of charred barbecue mixing sourly with Buck’s vanilla and sugar in Eddie's house? Buck really should find the bathroom if he’s drunk enough to feel this sick to his stomach. 

Buck goes home alone that night. 

Okay, so Buck's first thoughts aren’t always his brightest. Buck goes back to the drawing board. He decides that he’ll bake his way through this eddie shaped space in his life. Suddenly chocolate chip muffins and Cinnamon-sugar toast is what he eats for breakfast every day. He experiments with chocolate scones versus regular chocolate covered scones. He sprinkles a little cinnamon in his sweet potatoes now, even though he never did that before. He makes a carrot cake and doubles the cinnamon in the original recipe. He Bakes cookies every week now, alternating from chocolate chip to snickerdoodle each time. 

And just for a second, after pulling fresh chocolate-chip cookies straight out of the oven, While they are still fresh and hot, he can close his eyes and imagine that it’s Eddie instead. He closes his eyes and sees Eddie standing there. It’s almost like the real thing. 

It’s almost like the real thing until the cookies cool. Eventually the kitchen smells like dish soap. And then it goes back to sweet vanilla and sugar. And buck wants to cry. Or throw things. Or bake more cookies. Because ‘almost’ is more cruel than ‘not at all’. It’s like he can only have the sun for 20 minutes out of the day, and then he has to eat (or give away) a whole batch of cookies before he can see it again. Every time it sends Buck into a deep pit of spiraling despair as he misses his best friend like he would miss an arm. The phantom pain pings in his heart. 

And it’s not like Eddie is dead or anything. Buck can call or text any time of the day. In fact, He does. Often. Everytime he misses Eddie he texts or calls. And Buck almost always feels guilty, like he’s taking too much time and effort (again), or like he’s being needy (again), or like he’s going to cling too hard and ruin their whole friendship (again). But then Eddie will respond eagerly, or pick up the call already grining. Eddie will call and text as much as buck, even when not prompted by one of buck’s texts. Eddie reassures him, I miss you too, and Buck wonders how he got so lucky to have someone in his life who understands him as much as Eddie does. 

‘Almost’ is crueler than ‘never’. 

Because it’s not the same. No matter how they try, no matter how much they talk, no matter how hard Buck closes his eyes, squeezing them tight and imagining Eddie's standing right in front of him, it’s not the same. It’s almost the same. Sometimes Buck wonders if it would be better for the both of them just to have a clean break. But he’s simply too selfish for that. He wouldn’t be able to stand it. He’s holding on, clinging (he’s an expert at clinging) for as long as Eddie will still even talk to his weirdo friend from LA. You know, the one he left. 

On a particular bad day, Buck kind of has a breakdown about it. 

He just can’t stop crying. To the point where he’s frustrated and annoyed and not even sad anymore, but the tears won't stop. And it’s not all about Eddie (this time). He’s just had a shit day, with a shit shift, and his bad leg just… hurts. He’s on the verge of a migraine, he hasn’t had any food all day, but now he’s too ridden with nausea to even eat. He just wants to curl up in his bedroom closet and cry, Like he used to do when he was young. When Maddie was gone, and his mom didn’t even look at him anymore, and it was a miracle if dad said a kind word to him. He would curl up in the closet and cry, because it was the only place he ever allowed himself to be (in his younger self’s words, ones he doesn’t believe in anymore) “a bitch.” It always used to make him feel better. 

And it’s not all about eddie. But it is somewhat about eddie. He doesn’t know what it is about this week, But Eddie has started to be sparse when answering text messages. And they haven’t called at all this week, and buck kind of fucking freaks out becuse, Oh god. What if this is the end? What if this is when texts start to peter out? What if this is when things get stale, and every “How is your day?” text gets a one-worded “good” back? What if they never call again? What if Buck forgets Eddie's voice? 

What if ‘Almost’ becomes nothing? 

So yeah. Buck’s been sobbing on and off all day. It’s late and he wants to go to bed, but nothing is working to soothe him. So like a small child having a tantrum, Buck goes and sits in his stupid bedroom closet. The closet that used to be Eddie's. The one that still has a few of Eddie's old boxes of stuff he was going to donate shoved into the bottom of it. Buck sits next to a bunch of boxes of Eddie's old stuff, and he cries. And he just lets himself feel pathetic about it. 

And it… kind of works? Well, He feels better. He has no idea why though. The tight constricted dark closet kind of helps with the headache, but the cramped position he’s in is doing nothing to help the flaring of his nerves in the bad leg.  He still feels like he’s going to throw up. Not much has changed about the whole situation, so why does he feel so much better? Buck takes in a big stuttering breath, soothing the burning in his lungs when he catches it. The faint smell of… 

Buck springs for the furthermost box in the closet. It has some tape loosely keeping it closed, and the top of the box reads “Old clothes”. He rips the tape off the top of the box, rather aggressively, digging through a box that mostly smells like citrus, until he gets to the bottom of the box, where he finds what he’s looking for. 

An army Sweatshirt. 

An Army sweatshirt that says “Diaz” on the sleeve and Smells Like Eddie. Smells like home. Smells like safe. A desperate sound Rips out of his chest, and without thinking, Buck Lifts the fabric of the sweatshirt to press against his face and takes a big breath of Eddie, closes his eyes, and pretends. 

He instantly feels calmer than he has in months. It’s like an instant relief. Buck feels every muscle in his body relax, Like he was putty that’s been sitting in the sun for a week, melting. His bad leg spasms, and Buck takes another breath on accident, mostly in pain, before the smell of eddie and safety hits him again. Fuck. The smell was a million times better and richer than any of his stupid baked recreations. 

Buck puts the damn sweatshirt on and he goes and lies in his bed. He falls asleep quicker than he has in weeks, and he dreams all the way through the night. Mostly about eddie. Of course it was about eddie. 

When he wakes up, it’s a similar feeling to a one night stand (without the soreness). Shame and regret flood him… because this is definitely weird, right? Best friends don’t just… miss each other's scent like this. Sleeping in an old hoodie because you miss the scent of someone you're close to isn’t a best friend activity. And now here he is, using Eddie's hoodie in probably a really weird way. God, what is wrong with him? 

He tries to put the hoodie back in the closet and forget this ever happened. He really really tries.

It lasts like, 12 hours. 

Because, Well. Buck gets drunk. It’s supposed to just be one beer and a bad movie, But one turns into two, and two eventually becomes three… Yeah, he’s decently drunk, even though he has work in the morning. And he’s watching a stupid romcom, and it’s supposed to be funny because it’s bad, but instead it’s… kind of beautiful? And buck is so lonely? If Eddie was here, they’d be having a great time, but when bucks alone it hits differently. If Eddie was here…

He sleeps on the couch that night, Bundled in Eddie's hoodie. Once again. The “Diaz” embroidered into the sleeve feels like a warm kind of brand. Buck tries not to think about it too much. 

The next day, he has a shift, and Eddie's text messages are still frustratingly sparse. He’s 12 hours into his 48, staring at the little “delivered” underneath his newest text. It’s been that way for 2 hours, at this point. 

“Did I do something?” Buck wonders out loud, talking to nobody in particular. “Am I being too annoying?” 

“You are always annoying,” Hen declares. She gets up from her seat on the couch and wanders over to buck. (Chim follows.) “But what are you talking about specifically?” 

“Eddie’s text messages are starting to get… distant. I think I may have said something to annoy him, but I have absolutely no clue what I said. He’s started responding hours late to me.” Buck explains. Chim visibly freezes, locking up. “Wait, do you know something?” Buck asks. 

“It’s probably just because he’s spending a lot of time with chris. How is he, by the way?” Hen cuts in, Clearly trying to change the subject. 

“Chim,” Buck says, voice low and threatening. “What do you know?” 

Ravi walks in. “Wow, it’s cold in here. Why are we glaring at chimney?” 

“Chimney is hiding a secret, about Eddie from me.” Buck says. 

“Wow, It sure is QUIET around here!” Chimney blurts out. Hen nearly drops her phone, and Ravi's jaw DROPS. The bell blares. 

“118, Come on, Let’s go!” Bobby calls from downstairs, and Buck glares daggers at chimney. 

-x-

So yeah, the next twelve hours of their shift is absolute hell. Thank god none of the accidents were fatal, but they were all very labor intensive and shocking. They even where kept over their shift by about thirty minutes, wrapping up a structure fire at a locally owned sex business (no proper sprinkler system AND the lube caught on fire, do not ask.) Buck is so tired he feels like a zombie driving home. 

Correction: Buck is feeling tired and sad. His whole body hurts from the non-stop calls, But his leg Hurts especially bad. And It’s not like he had time to talk to chimney (buck suspects that was the point) about whatever he knew about what was going on with eddie. But buck knew something was going on, and he knew that somehow Chimney (and possibly hen?) knew about it and that buck didn’t. And that made him feel worse, because, well. What could possibly be going on with Eddie that he wouldn’t tell Buck? It had to be something huge, right? But something he would confide in chimney and not buck… Did he feel like Buck wouldn’t listen? Or was it about Buck? About how he was so clingy, and so annoying, and always texting and never giving Eddie any space. 

When Buck gets home, He climbs into the shower and cries. He cries a lot. He keeps himself moving, Peeling off the scent patches he put on for work, shampooing his hair and sobbing sadly. All of his worst fears might as well be confirmed. Eddie doesn’t want to be around him anymore. 

He puts on his most comfortable sweatpants, and the stupid army hoodie, and he tries to distract himself by watching the newest Property Brothers . It didn’t help much, his thick sad scent stinking up the whole house. He tried not to check his phone too often, but everytime he did check his phone, it was empty with notifications. 

Somebody knocked on Buck's door. 

He tried to just ignore it. None of his chatty neighbors needed to see him like this: Sad scent, Army hoodie with someone else’s name on it and grey sweatpants. Plus, it was almost 11 pm. Whatever they needed or wanted to say could wait until the morning. Another Knock. Buck groaned. Whoever it was was being persistent, and they could probably see all the lights on from his front window. 

“Just one second!” He called out, Brushing the cracker crumbs off of his front, and running his hands through his hair a couple times. He took a deep breath before opening the door. He swung the door open, An alpha scent hitting him like a brick wall. A cinnamon-and-chocolate scent. Eddie. 

Eddie was standing on Buck’s porch. 

“Hey, Buck.” Eddie said, a quirky smile on his face. He was holding Buck’s favorite brand of beers. 

“Eds?” Buck asks, in awe. He can’t believe it. “You’re here?” 

“I’m Home,” Eddie says, and buck flings forward for a hug. He wraps his arms around eddie’s neck, and holds on tight. “Okay, okay,” Eddie laughs. “Can I get inside to put these down and hug you properly?” 

Buck lets go, taking a deep breath, (filling his lungs with the smell of Home, Safe, Eddie) and stepping in backwards. Buck sits on his couch, and tries not to be impatient. Eddie wanders into the kitchen, putting the beers in the fridge. He grabs two of the cold ones in Buck's fridge, before joining him on the couch. 

“Uhhh, buck?” Eddie asks, sitting next to him. “Why were you crying watching property brothers?” He passes buck a beer. 

“Um…” Buck thinks about lying to make it less weird. He ponders, then decides on the truth. “I missed you.” 

“And… the sweatshirt?” Eddie asks. 

Fuck. He forgot that he was wearing Eddie's army sweatshirt. 

“... I missed your scent.” Slips out of Buck’s mouth, and Eddie’s eyebrows shoot up. “Not like that! I just… When I moved in, everything Smelled like you and Chris. It smelled like home. And then, it started to smell like me and not you. And I missed… Yeah. Sorry.” Buck finishes lamely, staring down at his fidgeting hands. 

“Buck, I-” Eddie starts, But Buck cuts him off. 

“I can take it off if you want!” Buck offers. “I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, I wouldn't have worn it if I knew you were coming home tonight, I-” 

Eddie gently grabs Buck’s chin, tugging up until Buck was looking in Eddie's eyes. Buck’s heart skipped a beat. “I do want you to take it off,” Eddie grins, and Buck’s face flushes. Eddie lets go of his chin, taking Buck's breath with it. “My scent on it is stale, and it’s drenched in the smell of your sad scent. I’d rather smell you happy.” 

Buck wordlessly takes off the sweatshirt, Leaving him in just a tank top. 

“Better?” He asks eddie.

“Yeah,” Eddie says. He smiles. “Hi.” 

“Hi,” Buck chirps back. “You’re home.” 

“I am,” Eddie tells him, taking a swig from his beer. “I’m home for good.” 

“What about chris?” Buck asks. 

Eddie hums. “Still in texas. He wanted to finish his first year of high school there. I offered to stay but he said I should go ahead of him and set up our life for when he gets back.” 

“He’s coming home?” Buck asks, unable to keep the hope out of his voice. 

“Yeah, Buck.” He smiles. “We both are.” 

Buck wants to cry. For the first time in a while, it’s out of joy.

“Now, Want to fill me in on whatever the property brothers are doing?” Eddie asks, startling a wet laugh out of Buck. 

Buck and Eddie end up drunk, pressed up against each other on the couch, trying to make up time for all the times they couldn’t be. Eddie smells so good, and buck suspects that if he wasn’t drunk-drunk , he’d be drunk on eddie’s scent anyways. Eddie also isn’t being subtle at all about taking in deep wiff’s of buck’s scent every few minutes. It makes Buck feel so loved, so owned. Not in the bad way! He wouldn’t mind being Eddie's. He wouldn’t mind Eddie calling him his. 

Fuck. He shivers. 

“You cold, Buck?” Eddie teases. He throws an arm around buck’s shoulders, and buck settles into the crook between his arm and his torso. Double fuck. Like this, Eddie’s wrist (and therefore, the scent gland on his wrist) is closer to Buck’s face. He’s so screwed. He’s gone for that scent. 

Buck is in love with eddie. It’s not some big revelation. He’s known it for a while, Since probably the shooting. But he’s denied it so hard it’s frankly embarrassing. Out loud to his friends, out loud to Maddie, and even in his own head. He’s denied it so many times. But in this second, this stupid Tuesday, on his stupid couch, in Eddie's house, with his arm wrapped around Buck, this is when buck knows he can’t deny anymore. He’s too hooked on this man. He is forever changed. Buck will never deny himself Eddie any more. 

Eddie yawns, cracking his jaw. 

“As much as this is riveting-” Eddie draws, clearly being sarcastic. Buck giggles. “-I drove for like 13 hours today. I need sleep.” 

Buck sat up, stretching his back a bit. “Okay, you know where the bedroom is.” 

“What? No, buck that’s your bed. You sleep in it tonight. I’ll take the couch.” Eddie insists. 

“No, but eddie-” Buck giggles a bit. He’s drunk. “That was your room first. Go to bed.” Buck half-heartedly pushes Eddie's shoulder towards the back hallway.  

Eddie sighs over dramatically, rolling his eyes to a silly degree. “Guess there is only one solution.” 

“Oh yeah?” Buck Smiles. “What’s that?” 

Eddie leans in close, And Buck is taken over by the smell of his favorite beer on his breath, and the warm chocolate and cinnamon smell. “If there’s only one bed…” Eddie says, a teasing tilt to his voice, “Guess we’ll have to share.” 

“What?” Buck asks. “No-” 

Eddie stands up from the couch, Before Picking Buck up off the couch with ease. He’s holding him in a bridal style carry. Buck screeches, and giggles. “If you drop me, I will never forgive you, Diaz!” He calls out. Buck’s never had anyone carry him like this before, considering how big he is, but it’s so nice. 

“Oh, is that how it is, Buckley?” Eddie smiles, carrying them both to the bedroom. ( Eddie’s bedroom. Buck’s bedroom. Our bedroom. Buck thinks, delirious.)

Eddie plops Buck down in the middle of the bed, and then changes into some sweatpants he borrows from Buck (“All of my clothes are in my car buck. I’m just stealing some of yours.”) Before buck knows it, Eddie is shirtless and in his sweatpants, sliding into bed next to buck.

“I’m glad you're back.” Buck slurs. He didn’t realize how tired he was before he got under the covers. “I missed you. I can’t wait for this house to smell like you again.” 

“It’ll smell like both of us, Buck.” Eddie says fondly. His scent smells that way too- fond and content. Buck wants to bottle it, and then drown himself in it forever. “Did you really miss me that hard?” 

“ Yes ,” Buck said, exasperated. “I know it was the right thing for Chris, and I want you to choose him first, always. But yes, I missed you. So much .” He whispers. 

Eddie stills for a second. Then he sits up.

“Come here,” He says. Buck follows, Sitting up and scooting to sit in front of eddie. “Can I…”

“...can you, what?” Buck asks. It looks like Eddie's gathering the courage. 

“Can I scent you?” He asks, quiet. Waiting for rejection. And the thing was, well, it wasn’t really a best friend thing. Scenting someone is deeply personal. Usually Only for Family or Pack or Mate. I meannn… Buck reasons. Eddie’s family. It doesn’t mean mate. Eddie is important to him in all of the ways. Eddie is also Pack. It’s not that weird. It doesn’t mean anything. 

“Yes,” Buck says. Eddie smiles, bright like the sun, and Buck knows he’s made the right choice. Even if he’s never going to get over the crush he has on Eddie now.

Eddie Brings his wrists to the top of his temple, Rubbing Gently on both sides, dragging them down to Buck’s glands on his neck, passing over very lightly. Buck shivers for a second, and when Eddie pauses, Buck just gives him a small smile to reassure him. Eddie keeps going, wrists passing down his arms until Eddie is holding Buck’s hands and their scent glands are matched up on each wrist. 

The taste of cinnamon blooms on his tongue. Buck smiles so wide, he feels like his cheeks might bruise. Eddie is smugly smiling. 

“For the rest of the night, you’ll smell like me.” Eddie tells him, proud.

Buck’s scent blooms happily between them, Cinnamon and Sugar mixing well. Eddie’s Smile only grows bigger. “Wait, OKAY!” Buck announces, bouncing a little bit. “I’ve got to do you too! To match.” Buck Grabs Eddie's face with both of his hands, His Sugar and vanilla blooming happily. Buck rubs the scent over Eddie's face, then scenting his neck, before grabbing Eddie's hands once more and lacing their fingers together, And scenting his wrists. 

Eddie looks shocked and in awe. LIke he didn’t think buck would do that. 

“Mine,” Buck says. He means for it to be playful, But it comes out way more intense and sincere than he means for it to sound. 

“Yours,” Eddie agrees 100% serious. 

In the morning, Buck will wonder. About what this all means, about what Eddie wants in the future. In the morning, Buck will ask One hundred million questions about Chris, and the house Eddie bought in texas, and all of the intricate details of their new life. But for tonight, He doesn’t worry about any of that. Tonight, he simply falls asleep in his best friend’s arms.

Chapter Text

It’s Been about a week Since eddie has been back in town, And buck is ecstatic. He’s had to go to work for his regularly scheduled 24’s, but that's been pretty much the only time they’ve been separated. (And Eddie's coming back to work at the 118 in a month anyways, after Chris gets home, so soon they won't even be apart at work.) Anytime either one of them has gone out of the house for groceries, or a coffee run, or anything else they’d need, buck and eddie have done it side-by-side. They’ve fallen back into step so easily, as if they were never apart. 

The best part? Buck knows that he’s needy. He knows he can be too clingy. But everytime he pulls away, afraid he’s being too much, Eddie meets him where he’s at. Like, Buck is trying not to demand that Eddie goes everywhere with him, but all that means is that Eddie is the one offering to go (or just grabbing his keys and following buck). It’s actually pretty great. But Buck knows that he can’t always have Eddie by his side forever (as much as he’d LIKE that). The bubble is going to burst any day now. And about a week in, It does, because maddie invited him over for a Buckley-Sibling chat™.

And well… he could invite Eddie, But buck knows for a fact that this is maddie’s time off from being a mom. Chim and Jee-Yun were going out to dinner, so maddie inviting him over for a Buckley-Sibling chat™ that was just them was kinda sacred. She was eight months pregnant, and even before Eddie got back, they hadn’t spent any time just them in a while. 

Yeah. He has to spend some time with Maddie. She deserves it. 

So buck goes to maddie’s house, Greeting her at the door with baked goods for the Buckley-Han household, instead of his usual bottle of red. She greets him with a smile. Twenty minutes later, they are sitting at Maddie’s kitchen island laughing together. It feels so nice. Buck just feels relaxed and taken care of. That’s what it’s like to be around his alpha sister; fun and safe. Buck didn’t realize how much he missed her. Maddie makes a particularly funny joke, And Buck throws his head back, laughing hard. His Scent blooms into the room, happy and full. 

All of a sudden, maddie scrunches her nose. 

“Buck, Why do you smell like eddie?” Maddie asks, outrage laced into her voice. “I swear to god, if you started dating without telling me, I'll actually kill you.” 

“What?” Buck asks, laughing a little nervously. “Literally what are you talking about?” 

“You smell like Eddie, Buck.” She accuses. “Did something happen?” 

“The only reason I smell like Eddie is because we live together, Mads.” Buck tries to insist. “I’m sorry for tracking another alpha’s scent in, I showered before I left, i don’t know why it would cling to me after that.” 

“No-” Maddie says, frustrated. “You aren’t understanding me. You didn’t smell like Eddie until you produced a bunch of your scent. Your scent smells like Eddie's, faintly.”

He brings his wrist to his face, trying to discreetly smell. And… oh god. Maddie is so right. Buck’s face flushes hot. He… He hadn’t noticed, because he’s been basically bathing in Eddie's scent for the past week, But deep, buried under layers of sugar and vanilla, a distinct note of cinnamon (Eddie) and a pinch of citrus (Chris) stands out. Buck’s eyes go as wide as quarters. When- when did he and Eddie trade scents? 

“Buck. PLEASE DON’T TELL ME that you didn’t even know that you were producing Eddie's scent.” When buck looks up at maddie, She’s pinching the bridge of her nose. 

“Um… I totally knew that,” Buck jokes, trying to save some of his pride. Maddie just glares at him. 

“Wait, so are the two of you dating?” Maddie asks. “Because trading scents like that only happens when couples start thinking about mating each other.” 

“What?” Buck asks. “What do you mean?” 

“Yeah,” Maddie stares at him. “Chim and I only started trading scents after I was already pregnant with Jee. Right before we mated for real.” A pause. “Wait, Buck. Are you pregnant?”

“No!” Buck insists. “Oh my god, maddie no! We haven’t-” Buck feels the blush re-insulate itself on his face. “We aren’t even dating, oh my god.” 

“You aren’t dating?” Maddie questions. Buck nods. “Then why the fuck are you thinking about mating him!” 

“Literally who said that, Maddie!” 

“Biology!” She shoots back. “Buck, what happened when Eddie came home?” 

“Well…” 

Buck tells her everything. There is nobody that he trusts more than maddie, so she might as well know about it. About how buck was totally sleeping in the same bed as eddie, about how eddie had offered to scent him and buck had accepted, about how deeply he missed eddie while he was away in texas, to the point where he was wearing an old sweatshirt that had the alpha’s scent on it. By the end of the story, Maddie is just staring at her countertops in her house in disbelief.

“So… a lot happened after he came back.” Buck concludes Lamely. 

“Oh my god…” Maddie just marvels. “You two are idiots. You’ve done everything in the wrong order. You do understand that you are in love with him by now, right?”

Buck Blushes. “Yes, maddie. Of course I know.” 

“And you know that he’s in love with you back, right buck?” 

Buck sighs. “I don’t know, mads.” Maddie just mirrors his sigh with one of her own and looks up at her ceiling. 

“You know what? I think you need to deal with this on your own.” 

Buck rolls his eyes. “Whatever.” And they change the subject. 

-x-

When Chim and Jee get home, Buck happily reads Jee a story to get her to go down for the night. It’s his job and privilege to do that, as the “Favorite Uncle.” He actually gets roped into reading three chapters of a Junie-B-Jones book, One of the books he gifted her for christmas. (He got her a box book set. She squealed when she saw it, and then immediately demanded that Buck read her some after christmas-morning breakfast.) 

Once she was down for the night, he decided not to overstay his welcome. He gathered all of his things, meeting maddie at the door. 

“Thanks for inviting me,” Buck tells her. “It was nice to talk, y’know, not over the phone.” 

“Yeah. Oh! Before you leave.” Maddie pulls him in for a hug. He goes willingly before he realizes her plan. She playfully attacks him, Rubbing her hands through his curls and up and down his arms. She’s scenting him like a mother would her pup (the way his own mother never really scented him when he was young. Maddie always filled that gap anyways.) She pressed her deft fingers into Buck’s birthmark, pressing his nose just to annoy him, dragging her scent all over him. 

“Hey!” Buck Half-Heartedly tries to push her away. Giggles bubble out of his chest. “Mads, you’re getting your stupid alpha scent all over me.” More giggles and attempts to wiggle away as she holds him close and scents him. “Stoooppp,” Buck whines. 

“That’s the point,” She says smugly, slowly releasing him. She leans in, whispering mischievously, “Eddie needs to know that you were in my Pack first.” 

Buck basically flees the house, blushing wildly, Maddie cackling behind him. 

When he gets home, Eddie greets him at the door. 

“Hey,” Eddie says, “I saw you pull in.”

“Hey,” Buck Grins. He pulls Eddie in close, hugging him. Eddie easily wraps his arms around Buck’s shoulders, and buck sets his forehead on Eddie's chest. They sway in silence for a minute. “Jee was so cute tonight.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asks, pulling back to look Buck in his eyes. He takes a deep breath, and a little crease appears between his eyebrows. “Did Maddie scent you? I can’t smell you.” 

“Yeah.” Buck Blushes. “She uh- She said that you needed to know that I belonged in her Pack first. She was mostly joking, I think.” 

Eddie snorted. “Why would she say that?” 

“Eddie, we- Did you- When’s the last time you smelled your scent?” Buck stumbles through.

“Um…” Eddie looks confused. “Everyday?”

“Just… Smell again.” Buck tells him. Eddie looks at him puzzled, like he thinks Buck is silly. “Indulge me.”

Eddie Shifts, So that one arm thrown around both of his shoulders, still keeping Buck close, and Eddie's other wrist lifts up to his face. He gives a whiff, and the confused smile disappears off his face. He takes another deep breath, eyes slipping closed. Buck wiggles, trying to give Eddie his space, But eddie just draws him back in, with the hand still on his shoulder. 

“...I smell like you.” Eddie says, after what feels like an eternity. “I’m making your scent.” 

“I smell like you, a-and chris.” Buck says, watching as Eddie melts into his arms. Warm awe and delighted shock.  “We um… we traded scents, apparently.” 

“Realy?” Eddie asks. Again, he looks in awe. Like he’s the luckiest alpha in the world to trade scents with Buck. Buck Steps back a bit, Licking his thumb and then rubbing it against his wrist in order to get rid of maddie’s scent marking over his scent gland. He then holds his wrist in front of Eddie's face. Eddie doesn’t even hesitate, a large hand coming up to grip Buck’s wrist and bring it closer to his nose (it makes buck go a little weak in the knees). Eddie takes a deep Breath. 

When his eyes snap down to meet buck’s, they are shiny with tears. 

“Oh, eddie.” Buck coos. “Come on, come here.” He bullies Eddie backwards, till they are both standing in front of the couch. Buck Lays down, pulling Eddie on top of him until Eddie is laying on buck’s chest, His nose very close to the scent gland on buck’s neck. Eddie laughs wetly. 

“Buck,” He says, and he pushes up on his arms to try and stand up, But buck gently pulls him back down on top of him.

“Nope,” Buck says. “When you make that face, and you look like you’re about to cry, I am legally entitled to take care of you until you feel better.” Eddie laughs again. 

“How’d I ever get so lucky to get to have you in my life?” Eddie asks him. A steady silence settles between them, eddie draped over buck. They stay like that for a while.

“Hey,” Buck says softly. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“No,” Eddie tries playfully, but when Buck fixes him with a glare he sighs. “It made me very emotional that I could smell Chris on you. Smelling My Pup on you… I don’t know if you fully understand how much it means to me. The fact that anyone who can smell your scent knows that you belong with us. Me and Chris. Do you know how much that means to me, Buck?” 

Buck blinks slowly. Now it was Buck’s turn to become teary eyed. He shakes his head. “I didn’t even think of it like that, eds.” I’m so in love with you. Remains unsaid. Buck somehow wonders if Eddie could hear it anyways. “I like it too. I do Belong with you, and you belong with me .” 

Eddie snorts. “God, we are such dorks.” 

“Hey!” Buck says, indignant. “We were having a moment before you ruined it.” 

They eventually get into their shared bed, Vanilla and Chocolate, Cinnamon and sugar swirling together. The memory of that conversation is something Buck holds close. It’s something he dreams about that night. It’s something that thrums under his skin the next morning when he realizes just how domestic their whole routine is now. It’s something that simmers in his heart when they go out to the grocery store, well aware that anyone who could smell either of them would know they belonged to each other. It made the omega in his chest long for something more. 

-X- 

A month passes, and Christopher is finally coming home.

Eddie drives up to El-Paso to go get him. Buck offers to go with him, But Eddie says that they are going to need all of the space in the small car they can get, even with the handy vacuum-sealed bags that buck provided to them. Neither of them are happy about it, But buck tries to put on a brave face and pretend that it’s not getting to him. 

“Well, I hope this is the last time we have to do this,” Eddie says, standing in their driveway. 

“Drive 13 hours to El Paso and 13 hours back to LA?” Buck asks. 

“Say goodbye,” Eddie says. Buck meets his eyes, and he’s somehow surprised by the look of sincere love and genuine distress that meets him. “ Dios , I’m going to my parent’s for one night, and I'm going to miss you so bad.” 

Buck closes the distance between them, basically having them stand chest-to-chest. Buck Grabs Eddie's Hands, Sliding both of their palms together, lacing fingers. 

“This isn’t a goodbye, Eds.” Buck says, with conviction. “You are coming back. This is a See-you-soon, at most.” Eddie gives him a smile, but his scent still smells like longing, like missing someone. 

That just can’t stand in Buck’s books. 

“Here,” Buck says. “For the drive.” Buck Makes his moves pretty clear, in case Eddie wants to pull away, But Eddie lets Buck scent him, and even leans into it a little bit. Buck lightly covers Eddie in the safe smell of vanilla and sugar, Trying his best to telegraph the feeling of home. 

Eddie’s eyes slip close, clearly savoring it. 

“Thank you, Sweetheart.” He says, His voice is all low and bass, and alpha like. Fuck. 

“Go get Chris,” Buck says, trying to keep the shake out of his voice. “I’ll see you in a little over 36 hours, okay?” 

Buck started counting the seconds when Eddie pulled out of their driveway. Eddie sent him occasional updates on the drive there, and Chris sent him updates every hour on the hour for the drive back. Every second that passed felt like one more second closer to their happy return. 

Buck nearly cried when Chris texted “In the neighborhood now :))”. He got up off the couch, stretching, and he stood on the porch, turning the light on. 

The car pulled into the driveway, and before it was really even off, Chris flung his door open. 

“Buck!” He shouts. Buck hears an echo in his head of the little six year old pup shouting the same thing, and Buck is instantly tearing up. Buck and Chris meet on the walkway, and buck is automatically holding him. He wraps his arms around the tall teenager. 

“Chris!” Buck says, through tears. “Oh man, I missed you.” 

Buck not-so-subtle scents Chris, rubbing his hand through Chris's curls, pressing his hands into Chris's face, booping him on the nose. Chris giggles, scenting him back, the happy mixture of lemon citrus and sweet vanilla complementing each other. The familiar scent of home settles in the air. Buck pulls his pup in for another hug. 

Finally, He thinks. My Pack is all home, nearby, and safe. Finally. 

Buck looks over Chris's shoulder (Because he can no longer look over his head), to find Eddie. He locks eyes with Eddie and he can’t help but marvel at the look of pure adoration spelled out on his face. 

“Hey,” Buck says, pulling back from the hug. “I’m sure you had a lot of good food at your grandmother’s house, But there’s some Buck food still warm in the oven. How does that sound?” 

“Sounds amazing, Buck.” 

Chapter Text

The next morning, Chris is sitting at the dining room table chatting with Buck. Eddie is still in their shower. Buck prematurely fixes Eddie's coffee (the way he knows Eddie likes it) in a travel mug. Today is Eddie's first day back to work, and the first time they’re going to let Chris stay home alone during a 24. (He’s promised to keep his phone on. Eddie wants to check in a lot.)

“Can I ask you something, Buck?” Chris asks. 

“Sure! What's up?” Buck responds. 

“Did…Are you and my dad dating?” Chris asks. Buck’s mouth drops open in shock. “I’m not going to be like, Mad! …or anything. You know. If you are.” 

“Why Would you think that?” Buck asks, bright red. Chris’s phone buzzes, a text message he ignores.

“Maybe because this whole house smells like the two of you? Maybe because I could smell dad on you last night? You know, in your scent?” Chris pauses, letting that sink in. Right when buck is about to respond, Chris adds; “Maybe because you are sharing a bed?” 

“It’s- It’s not like that!” Buck hisses. God, he’s going to die of embarrassment. 

“You don’t have to lie, Buck.” Chris says, a knowing look on his face. “I’m not seven anymore, and they made us take health classes on this kind of thing.”

“I’m not lying, chris. Your dad and I are just friends.” Buck huffs. Chris narrows his eyes. His phone buzzes again. 

“You know the worst part?” Chris rhetorically asks. “I believe that you genuinely believe that.” 

“Aren’t you the teen here?” Buck attempts to change the subject. “Shouldn’t I be asking about your life? Who’s texting you?” 

Chris huffed, Flipping over his phone, and instantly his smile brightness. “Christi. She’s updating me on choosing the paint color she picked out. Her family is doing a full remodel of her room for her birthday. I keep trying to tell her that she’ll hate coral in like a year and she’ll be stuck with it, but she’s set on it.” 

“Do you like christi?” Buck asks, wiggling his eyebrows. “She’s the omega of your friend group, right?” 

“Ew, buck. Christi and Taylor are dating. We are just friends.” Chris looks Buck in the eyes, his mouth quirking into a smile. “ You’d know all about that, huh?” 

“ Christopher Diaz , Did you just sass me ?” Buck asks, his smile evident. Chris’s little smirk breaks out into a full-on, teeth out smile. 

“Ooooooohhh,” Eddie teases, rounding the corner. “Someone’s in trouble.” He stops next to Buck, his hair still damp, in his ‘going to work’ civvies. He gives him a small morning smile.  “What’d our pup do now?” Eddie turns to get something out of the fridge, and Chris mouths ‘Our pup’ to buck behind his back. 

“He grew up, presented as an alpha, and started sassing his buck, apparently.” Buck says, handing Eddie his designated cup of coffee when he turns around. Eddie takes a sip, then shakes his head at chris. 

“Don’t make it a habit,” He says, but then leans in conspiratorially. “But he probably deserved it.” 

Chris laughs, a bit in disbelief, and flashes his smile at Buck. Buck picks up a magazine from the mail pile they’d yet to throw out, rolls it up in his hand, and playfully smacks the back of Eddie's head. 

“Hey!” Eddie says, and Chris laughs brightly. Buck turns to him. “Buck, Don’t-!” Buck obviously gets him. 

“I will not be outnumbered by sassy alphas in my own house!” Buck declares, throwing the still rolled up magazine in the trash with a dramatic flourish. He’s smiling, so it obviously doesn’t have the intended effect, as both of his diaz boys are still laughing. He huffs, playfully.  “Eddie, get a move on, we’ve got to get to work.” 

Eddie walks around to the kitchen table, pausing to kiss Chris on the top of his curls. “Be good,” Eddie tells him. “And take a break from the video games at some point today, okay? You don’t need to strain your eyes.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever dad. ” Chris whines. “See you both later.” 

“Wow, you weren't kidding about the sass,” Eddie says as they walk out the front door, getting into Buck’s jeep. 

“When did our pup get so big?” Buck whines, starting up the car. “I swear that just yesterday he was eleven, and now I've got a 15 year old sitting in the kitchen. Can we go back in time to when he was little enough that I could pick him up?” 

“You’re telling me. I knew he had a growth spurt, But when I got to texas and he was nearly as tall as me, I cried.” Eddie says. 

“I remember that. You called me.” 

“That's right,” Eddie says. His voice softens. “I did. You answered.” 

Something thickens in the air. Buck swallows. “I’ll always answer.” He promises. 

“I know, Buck.” Eddie says. 

The weight of unsaid words washes over them both. Buck knows Eddie is holding back; that’s okay though. Buck is also holding back. They understand each other in that way. Because contrary to popular belief, neither of them were stupid or naive about their emotions… anymore. But maybe neither one of them were ready for anything more… Maybe they both needed space, and love, and acceptance that only the other could provide. They needed each other, without expectations of what should happen next. Because they are Buck and Eddie, and they have never done things in a proper social order. Buck knows that Eddie and him will always understand each other deeper than anyone will ever understand the two of them. 

When they get to work, Eddie pretends to be thoroughly surprised by the excellent surprise party that the 118 threw for having him back on the job. It’s small, one banner, a couple streamers and a cake, But Buck knows that even that amount of attention on Eddie is pushing it. You see, if it was buck, He’d want a parade in his honor and at least a week of constant attention. It would make Buck feel appreciated and loved. Eddie however, Hates that kind of attention. He much prefers other ways of love and appreciation. 

“Man, this was a lame surprise party,” Chim comments, paper plate of half-ate cake forgotten in his hand. “Could have been better if you and Buck weren't attached at the hip.” 

“Oh?” Eddie asks, amused. “And why is that?” 

“He wouldn’t let us plan anything without him, But he barely had any time to sneak away from you. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if you caught him planning it.” Chimney snorts. “You two are terrible at keeping secrets from each other.”

Eddie and Buck lock eyes, amusement dancing between them. The truth is, Eddie did walk in on buck planning his surprise work party over the phone. But chimney didn’t need to know that. 

“Like you can talk about keeping secrets, Chim.” Buck retorts. 

“I kept ‘Eddie is coming home’ a secret!” 

“Didn’t you say the Q-Word because Buck was onto you and you wanted to avoid him all day?” Ravi asks from his place sprawled out onto the sofa. 

“And?” Chim defends. “It worked.”

“I was so pissed at you for that, by the way.” Buck tells him.

“It all worked out in the end, Didn’t it?” Chim says. “Isn’t that right, eddie?” 

Eddie and Buck lock eyes again. “Yeah, that's right.” Eddie responds. 

The bell goes off before Buck (or anyone else) can say anything. 

-x-

Buck is so glad to have Eddie and Chris back at home. Cooking things together over facetime was nice, and he’s glad they did it to get by, But nothing will beat being together in the same kitchen and dancing around each other. Nothing will beat being able to smell both of the diaz boy’s scents and throwing jokes and everyday conversation across the kitchen. 

“Oh, By the way!” Chris says, looking up from his school laptop. “Are you guys working on Friday the 15th? The school club fair is that day and I've been thinking about what I want to sign up to do in my sophomore year.” 

“We’re off that day, we can take you. Do you want to do a lot of afterschool clubs?” Eddie asks. “We can figure out a system so you don’t have to uber every week when we’re at work.” 

Chris shakes his head. “No, actually. A lot of clubs meet during the lunch period at this highschool, because everyone has the same lunch period. In Texas, my school was so big that we had to have multiple, but I kinda like the one-lunch system better. I can see all my friends that way. It sucked when Taylor was put in the 12:00 lunch while the rest of our group was in the 12:30.” 

“So lunch-period clubs, got it.” Buck says. “What kind of clubs do you want to be in? Do they have a chess club?”

“They do, but granddad liked me being in the chess club.” Chris said. “I didn’t like it as much, and tournaments made me nervous. So I don't know if I'll join it.” It looks like he’s nervous. Eddie also tenses up a little. Buck wished Eddie had warned him that chess was apparently out. 

“Ok good. I didn’t need a 15 year old outsmarting me in my life,” Buck jokes. Chris cracks a smile, and so does eddie. Success. “What does that leave on the docket, clubs wise?”

“If everything stays the same, I’ll probably be in crochet club on mondays- maggie is willing to teach me, she says it’s going to be easy once i get the hang of it- Coding club on wednesdays, and, um, GSA on friday.”  Buck pauses, on that last one. Chris notices. 

“What’s GSA stand for?” Eddie asks. 

“It stands for gardening student association,” Chris says, and there’s a little shake in his voice. It’s a cover story. He’s looking at Buck for a reaction. 

Thats, That's totally fine. If he’s not ready to tell them, that's okay and normal. Hell, Buck hasn’t even told his own parents about the bisexuality thing outright, and he’s in his late thirties. It’s totally fine if Chris doesn't want to tell Eddie or buck about it yet. Buck schools his face and scent into a neutral smile.

“Gardening?” Eddie asks, oblivious. “You’ll have to call and ask your Tia Peppa about that, she’s the only one in our family that has any kind of green thumb.” 

“Okay. What do you think, Buck?” Chris trepodasously asks him. 

“Well, you're back to outsmarting me with the coding club, kid.” Buck smiles at him. “I’m proud of you.” 

They didn't talk about it that night.

Buck remembers in college, he got handed a flier for a GSA club. At the time, he’d scoffed and shoved it in his backpack, Not wanting to be seen with a flier with a rainbow on it. Later that night, he cried about it when his roommate was out at a party. He shredded the flier, put it in his trashcan and then took the trash out. So yeah, the signs that he was repressing gay feelings were always there. After one year and half a semester, he dropped out of college, he traveled all around a bunch of different countries. He “experimented” with some men, but he would always reason out ways why they didn’t count. (He really was a dumbass, sometimes.)

But anyways, all of that meant that he could understand why Christopher wouldn’t want to tell either of them that he was going to “Gay Straight Alliance” club. Maybe he was just an ally, showing up for one of his friends. Maybe he was “Experimenting”. Maybe he wasn’t ready to tell them about this part of his identity, and that was totally okay. 

The next morning, Buck and Eddie were off. Eddie had left the house early in the morning anyways, taking the jeep to get serviced. It had started making this weird noise, and they really didn’t need it to break down right now. Buck had offered to go with him, But Eddie just said that they should both have to spend their entire saturday waiting on the car to be done. So it’s just Buck and Christopher at the house today. 

He’s eating some toast at the kitchen table when Chris joins him. Buck tries not to, But he’s watching him out of the side of his vision. Does Chris know that they won't judge him? Does Chris know that it’s okay to be… Whatever he identifies as? He just. Buck wants to make sure Chris isn’t upset. Chris is also watching him, Buck relizes. He looks like he’s looking for some kind of adverse reaction. And that just makes Buck want to throw up. 

“I love you,” Buck says, without thinking. “No matter what. You know that, right?” 

Wowww, Buck thinks. That was totally not subtle of me. 

Chris just groans, putting his head in his hands. “I knew it. You totally know. You know what GSA is, don’t you?” 

“I can know, if you want to tell me something.” Buck says. “Or, um. I can not know, if you aren’t ready… God, I'm bad at this.” 

“You really are,” Chris jokes weakly. He doesn’t pick his head up from hands. A silence is cast across the kitchen.

“You do know that you’re dad and I still love you, though?” Buck breaks the silence. He needs Chris to hear this part. The part he never heard from his parents.  “We always will. No matter what’s going on, okay. We’re pack. Family. No matter what happens, we’ll be there for you. Even if you are bad at gardening , like your dad.” Chris giggles into his hands, and Buck is glad the joke landed. The air around them feels lighter now. 

Chris picks his head up. “Okay, this conversation is a comfy-on-the-couch conversation, not a kitchen table conversation.” Chris gets his crutches, Standing up. 

“We don’t have to talk, if you don’t want to.” Buck says. He doesn’t want to force anything Chris isn’t ready to talk about. 

Chris rolls his eyes. “Buck, you are being so supportive and loving that it’s annoying. I want to talk, just on the couch. Come on.” 

Buck follows him. Chris settles on one end of the couch, and points to the other side for buck to sit in. He follows suit. 

“Okay, let's get this out of the way first,” Chris starts. “I know that you and dad love me. I know you’ll accept me, in every situation, forever, till the end of time. I’m not worried about that. That’s not why I lied about…” Chris smiles a little bit, rolling his eyes. “About gardening . I just- I didn’t tell you and dad About GSA outright because… I d-don’t know what I am yet.”

“Okay.” Buck says. “It’s okay to not know. I didn’t know until very late in my life. You have time to figure out if you’re straight or what label you go by.” 

Chris snorts. “Well, I know I'm not straight.”

Buck raises his eyebrows. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Well, I had this… friend, in texas. We were kind of- well, we weren't dating, but we weren't not dating. She gave me a bracelet, and I gave her one of my jackets to wear, you know? It was very ‘officially unofficial’. Everyone knew about us.” Chris explained. “I had been showing some signs that I was going to be an alpha, and even she thought she was going to be an omega. But then we presented…” 

“And she wasn’t?” Buck guessed. Chris shakes his head.

“She presented as an alpha, like me. Everyone was shocked, and people started acting like it was some kind of tragic tale. I didn’t understand it. I kind of had this mindset like, So what? This doesn’t change a thing. ” Chris shrugs. “I kind of forgot, that it’s like… taboo. Or whatever. And grandma…” Chris sighs. 

“Did she say something?” Buck asks. He already hates that woman for the things he’s installed into Eddie's brain about right and wrong. If he finds out that she said something to his pup , he’ll lose it. 

Chris winces. “She didn’t like… Bash me for it. She just saw that I was still wearing the bracelet, and she told me very pointedly that I should give it back to my friend, and she heavily emphasized that word. She said it just like that, ‘ your friend ,’ in that tone. Every time we had talked about sadie- uh, that’s her name- in the past, She always called her my ‘ little girlfriend ’ or, um, ‘that little crush you have.’ Grandma didn’t like, say anything, But she- I knew what she was thinking. ” 

Buck shakes his head. If it was up to him, Neither of his Diaz’s would ever speak to helena or ramon ever again. Fuck that. 

“Anyways, after we both presented as Alphas, she kind of started to avoid me a lot. I let it happen, you know? I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, or anything. Then about a week after, she texted and asked if we could meet up at a park- one that was walking distance from both of our houses. It was kind of our spot. We had a conversation on the swings- I know, cliche- and she…” Chris sighs. “She kissed me. And then I kissed her.” Chris pauses for a second. “Then she told me that we could never do that again, and that it was a sin. That we should both repent, and that she never wanted to see or speak to me again. She said it all in tears. She threw my jacket at me, and I went home and cut the bracelet off of my wrist.” 

“Wow, Chris. I’m so sorry.” Buck says. 

“It’s okay. I’m- It was hard at the time, But it was a while ago. I’m okay about it now.” Chris says. Buck looks for any trace that Chris was lying on his face and in his scent, But it wasn’t there. 

“Anyways, When reflecting on everything, I started to realize that like… Not everyone thought like me? I mean, I knew that before, too, about other things. But… I just noticed that all the alphas around me were actually only interested in finding an omega or beta. Like, for a long time I thought everyone was just pretending to care about the whole ‘second gender’ thing. I thought we all knew, in the back of our heads, that if you really loved someone who was the same second gender, that it would be okay to break the normal rules and pursue that anyways. You know, just like how if you’re a boy and you love another boy, you can drop the pretense, right? As long as you really love them.” Chris chuckles. “Yeah, apparently other alphas my age don’t think that. They really aren’t even open to the possibility or hint of anything like that. They don’t see an alpha and think ‘Oh, they are cute. If only they were a beta or omega it would be easier to be with them.’ Like, um…” Chris turns pink. “Like I do.” 

“Yeah?” Buck asks. Chris nods. 

“And then I was thinking about it, and I realized that I kind of do that with gender in general, not just second gender? Like, Yeah, I’ve only talked about crushes or dating with girls, but i… I have this kind of, um, secret box in my head filled with people who are guys that I've had crushes on. And I kind of thought that everyone was like that, I guess? But we all know that we aren’t supposed to acknowledge that out loud, of course, so we keep it secret. But that's not how other people think. They truly have only ever been attracted to the opposite gender, and I'm different.” 

“And that’s how you realized that you’re not straight?” Buck asks.

“Yeah.” Chris said. He shakes his head. “Sorry, that was a long story.” 

“No, no, I’m glad you told me.” Buck says. “Does it feel better after talking about it?” 

Chris furrows his brows. “Wow, yeah actually, it does. I feel kind of lighter. I mean, I told some of my friends in Texas about it, but… thanks buck.” 

“Of course.” Buck tells him.

“So yeah. But all of that was to say, I know I'm not straight, but I don't really know what I am yet. I’ve been thinking about some labels, but I'm just not for sure about it. I didn't, um, tell dad what GSA actually means, because I didn't want to make a big to-do of it all when I'm not even sure about my ‘identity’, I guess.” Chris makes finger-quotes when he says that. “I was going to tell you both eventually when I had everything figured out.” 

“It’s also okay if you don’t get it perfect the first time, chris. Labels can change all the time. Nobody is going to call you a fraud if you decide that the thing you called yourself at 15 is not what represents you forever.” Buck explains. 

“I know,” Chris says. “I just want something to call myself, you know?” 

“Yeah,” Buck says. “I do.” 

“Ugh, this is so sappy.” Chris says, laughing to break the tension. 

“These conversations are supposed to be sappy!” Buck says. Chris makes a ‘throwing up’ motion. “You know what? Come here, you little snot-” Buck lunges across the couch, dragging Chris into his arms, hugging him tightly. Chris wiggles for a second, not really trying to break free but just showing his displeasure at being “forced” to hug his buck. Buck scents him a little, just because he can and it feels playful and right in the moment. 

“Ughhhh, Buck.” Chris complains. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re too old and too cool to hug me, and to have me scent you, and to have sappy conversations.” Buck says. They both giggle together. Then the moment settles.

“I was kind of… I mean, not scared , But nervous to tell you.” Chris says from his arms. Buck tenses up. “Not because i was worried how you’d react. But, I feel like i just got my life back, and i’m already kind of changing it. Is that crazy?” 

Buck shrugs. “Change is scary. I mean, you, your dad, and I all kind of have that trait, being afraid or weirded out by change. You should hear about the freak-out i had when i heard that your dad was moving to texas.” 

“Oh, yeah. Didn’t you temporarily adopt a dog?” Chris pulls back a bit to look in Buck’s eyes. Buck nods. Chris’s eyes sparkle. “Can we get another one?” 

“You have to ask your dad about that one, bud.” Buck says, and Chris pouts. “Anyways, what i’m trying to say is that, sometimes changes are necessary. And it doesn’t mean that it’s any less sucky. But you’ll realize that sometimes after we change something about our lives, after the initial suck of it all, we feel much in our post-changed life. I hope this change helps you feel much more free. And less like you have to keep a secret box locked up in your head of all the guys you’ve had a crush on.” Chris smiles at that. 

“Speaking of secrets…” Chris says. “Do you think I should tell my dad? We did kind of promise that we weren't going to lie or have any secrets between us anymore, and I am kind of doing that right now.” 

“I think you’ve got a free pass in this very specific case.” Buck tells chris. “Your dad isn’t going to be mad at you for not being ready to share just yet. And if he is, I'll put him in his place, don’t you worry.” 

“I don’t think he’d be mad, But i don’t want him to find out and immediately think that I didn't trust him enough to share.” Chris explains. “I don’t want him to be sad about that. I do trust him, but not telling him is more of a me thing, you know?” 

“Well, Whenever you tell him, You can say that. Your dad will understand.” Buck reassures him. Chris nods. “And, it’s on your dad to manage his emotions when it comes to stuff like this. I want you to be empathetic, of course, But you shouldn’t live your life by the measure of how other people will feel about it, okay? Don’t let people push you into certain actions because they are going to feel a certain way. I used to have a nasty habit of that, and it leads to bad places most of the time.” 

Chris nods, then smiles a little bit. “You’re really good at giving advice, you know?” 

“Oh, and who’s too cool to have sappy conversations now?” Buck teases, and Chris groans. 

“I was trying to match your energy, Buck. ” Chris says. He playfully smacks buck’s arms.  “Let me go now, i’ve got to go play like, six hours of call of duty just to get the sappy-ness out of my system.” 

Buck laughs at him as he gets up. He gets as far as the doorway before turning around. He shoots buck a grin, and thats all the warning buck gets. 

“If change is good, and valid, and important, and a way into a better life, then why are you and my dad still pretending to be best friends?” Chris asks. Buck’s jaw drops in surprise. 

“Christopher!” Buck gasps, and Chris laughs at him openly. Sassy alphas, Buck thinks. I’m surrounded by sassy alphas. 

Chapter Text

Eddie was always told how mating with someone would be as a kid. His mom painted this idea of a fairytale love, a perfect moment, the best moment of his life. Ideally, After a beautiful wedding, (one she’d have a large part in planning, of course.) Not bonding wasn’t even an option when Eddie was a kid. He was told that he would find a nice omega woman to settle down with, because he was an alpha male, and that was the inherent way of the world. The only moral way to live his life. 

When he got Shannon, a beta, pregnant when they were only dating, and not anywhere close to getting married yet, he was sat down by his father. Ramon told him that he was now responsible for not only the human life he’d created, but the life he’d changed forever, too. He was told that he was going to marry her, And that he would provide for her and the pup that would eventually be named Christopher. That was that. 

He was also told by his mother that marrying Shannon would make him a disappointment to the family. That he was inherently broken because he couldn’t settle down with someone who was the correct secondary gender. It was considered taboo. He specifically remembers his mom worrying about what the people in church would say. Who would gossip and how fast it would spread that Eddie was marrying some Beta. 

Eddie loved shannon. Even if his parents hadn’t so strongly Bullied him into it, Eddie would have married Shannon. He had a ring before he even knew about their potential Pup. He had accepted that he’d never bond to an omega, something that was supposedly sacred. He would have given up the whole world for her eyes. 

But eventually Shannon passed. And While his love for her never diminished, A space in his heart started to grow beside her. A space in his heart that was suddenly fulfilled by Evan Buckley. And well, Buck just happens to be an omega. 

So Eddie started to get some… ideas. About what it would be like when they took the next step together. How they would eventually get everything together when the time felt right, and they would start dating. About how they would get married, and what kind of venue they’d pick. About their wedding night, and eventually… maybe a few weeks down the line…

Biting Buck. Bonding Buck. Claiming him forever, tying their souls together intertwined forever. Now, he kind of wishes he had acted on that impulse sooner, Before this whole nightmare happened. Eddie Hits replay on the day’s events. Once more, and he’ll surely make sense of everything, right? 

It was a normal call, until it wasn’t. The 118 were called out to a collapsing building, And buck and eddie were getting back into the swing of being “Buck and eddie”. They were rescuing people from the rubble. It was dangerous work. They both knew that. 

Eddie, of course, was trained on Instant bonds. He knew what they were supposed to look like. When an unmated Alpha or Umated Omega was put in life-threatening danger with a real possibility that they might die, sometimes their biology would bond them with their emotionally closest unmated companion. The strong Mating Bond would incentivise their now mated other half to protect them in any circumstance, just like a regular bonded couple. They’d be able to push emotions and thoughts through the bond, and unless it was intentionally broken, the bond would be functional for the rest of their life, Though significantly less effective than the regular bond. The ‘standard’ bond, as it were, was stronger, because it required the alpha sinking their teeth into the omega’s scent gland on their neck, and vice versa. 

Just because he knows all of this stuff in his brain doesn’t mean that he’s prepared for when it happens to him. It’s like the difference between understanding how to treat a bullet hole and being shot. 

They were almost out. They were almost out of the rubble, when everything shifted. It only shifted once, but that’s all it took. A Beam fell overhead, and Buck crumbled next to him. Eddie suddenly felt a swoop in his gut, Also stumbling like he was hit. (He wasn’t.)

“Buck! BUCK! ” Eddie screamed. Buck didn’t wake up. Eddie was hit with a wave of nausea. Buck still didn’t wake up. 

“Buck, Eddie, Get out of there!” Captain Nash’s voice crackled through the radio. “The whole building is shifting, it’s going to collapse!” 

Eddie Stripped Buck of his heaviest gear, also stripping off his own, Abandoning it in the building that was going down. He scooped his omega’s broken body into his arms, Alreadying seeing bruising form on his skin. He Ran out of the building like that, carrying Buck and nothing else. As soon as he was clear from the rubble, He Collapsed onto the hot pavement, laying buck out beneath him. Eddie was sobbing, But he wouldn’t know it, because he couldn’t hear anything but the presence of Buck’s beating heart. 

Usually, Instant bonds happens between an unmated pair- an Alpha and an Omega- that was already dating. The bond was already being strongly developed, Possibly having spent a heat or rut together already. Their bodies recognize each other, and the bond snaps into place instantly, the injured one needing the other’s strength. Buck needed his strength. 

He was alive , He was alive. Buck, His omega , was still alive. But he was hurt. Eddie threw his body over Buck’s, like he’d take anymore pain before it got to Buck. Sobs wracked his body.

Chimney tugged at Eddie's shoulders from behind, trying to pry him from Buck. He could see Hen in front of him, reaching out to try to assess both Buck and eddie. Eddie growled, Low and deep, and both Chim and Hen froze, Chim’s hands leaving his shoulders. 

“Eddie, We have to help him. You need to move,” Chim said, and Hen started to move closer. 

“Don’t!” Eddie yipped. “Don’t touch my mate!!”

Chimney gasped, but Hen remained calm. “Hey eddie,” The alpha said, hands up in a placating gesture. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” 

Eddie Just held Buck tighter. His mate was hurt. Nothing else was ever going to be okay again. 

“He needs help,” Hen explained to Eddie. “Can’t you feel it? We’ve got to help him, okay? You can stay right here, and watch everything we do while we help him. Or, He can get worse. That’s the two options.” 

Hen was right. He knew they needed to save him, He knew that this protective instinct wasn’t helping the situation. It felt like the worst kind of torture, But eddie did what he knew was best and slowly sat up, peeling himself away from his Buck, his Omega, His mate. He moved, cradling Buck’s head in his lap. Hen and Chimney immediately got to work on either side of him, Undoing Buck’s turnouts, and cutting off the LAFD shirt underneath. It was tacky with blood. He was covered in bruises, mostly around his ribs. Eddie whimpered, And chim’s head snapped up to look at him, But he just shook his head. The beta Must have understood that Eddie wanted Buck checked out first, Because he quickly ceased his gawking and hooked Buck up to the Lifepack. 

Eddie Brushed buck’s curls back, off of his forehead. He scanned over Buck’s vitals, But he couldn’t focus on that. He trusted Hen and Chimney to do that and save buck. They were part of his pack, Of buck’s pack, and they would do everything they could to save his mate. Buck, his mate, his omega, his pup’s father, the love of his life. Why didn’t Eddie say that when Buck could hear it? Buck was the love of his fucking life, And he needed to wake up already so that eddie could hear him say it. 

Eddie had seen an Instant Bond in the field while he was with the army, during an active duty tour. Later, when their families went through the bunks, it was clear they had been secretly dating for months. They had plans to live together once they were out of the army. Eddie never knew their names, But he’d seen their faces, their crumpled bodies tangled together on the battlefield, slick with blood. He’d heard their story, over and over, passed along soldiers as a comfort and a cautionary tale. The Instant Bond had killed them both. Eddie feels like he’s going to die , sobs caught in his chest, tearing up his lungs but not escaping his mouth. 

“Eddie, Take off your scent patches,” Hen orders him. “His BP is dropping too fast. He needs a spike in his heart rate right now, come on.” 

Eddie scrambled, Peeling off the scent patches off of his wrists. As soon as they were off, He held Buck’s head in one hand, Holding his other wrist in front of Buck’s face. “Come on, c’mon Buck.” Eddie Tugged at the bond, deep in his chest. “You’ve got to be okay, alright? Please…” 

A strong sputter of confusion skittered across the bond. Chimney started celebrating, As buck’s BP started spiking upwards again, into the normal range. Hen calls for a gurney. Buck’s eyes crack open. 

“...Eds?” He asks. His voice sounds scared, and wrecked, and it makes Eddie want to throw himself overtop Buck again. 

“Hey, Hey, Hi, buck .” Eddie compulsively smooths his hands over any part of Buck he can touch, scenting him. His scent in buck’s curls, on the side of buck’s face, on the tops of buck’s shoulder. “I’m here. You’re okay.” Eddie tried to channel all of the bravery and enthusiasm he could and tug on the bond with it. 

Buck whimpers in pain. 

“Don’t move.” Eddie tells him. “It’s going to be okay, alright? But for now just stay where you are.”

The 118 had once responded to a call with an Instant Bond. A young couple were trying to fix up their gutters on the house they just bought. The male alpha fell off of the ladder, and broke his spine. When they responded on scene, his female omega partner was thrown over him, and they ended up having to sedate her to get to him. Buck- fuck. Buck had said that it was romantic. He said that stepping up to save your partner no matter the cost was nobel and the ultimate show of romance.  Eddie had called him crazy. 

“Buck, I’m going to give you some morphine, alright? It’ll help with the pain.” Hen tells him. She then turns to eddie. “You might feel some of this,” She warns. Eddie nods, and she gives Buck the morphine. Eddie can feel as his mate relaxes, going boneless. Weirdly enough, He does feel some of the effects of the morphine, But in a distant way. Like being empathic to it. It’s not happening to him, but he can understand the feeling of it in his mate’s body. 

Hen, Chim, and Eddie Manges to get Buck on the backboard, transferring him to the gurney and wheeling him into the ambulance. Eddie lets go of buck’s hand for two seconds in order to Climb into the back of the ambulance, and Buck lets out a whimper at that. 

Come back, Eds. Comes through the bond, as well as a feeling that feels like deep yearning and pain. Eddie scrambles to get to buck, and as soon as he’s within arms length of buck, they both cling to each other. It looks like buck’s got some broken ribs, according to hen, and even though she gave him some meds to help ease the pain, it still hurts when he’s jostled too hard. Eddie tries to soothe his omega by carding his hands through buck’s hair. 

“Sh, it’s going to be okay,” Eddie whispers. “Chim says we’re five minutes out from the hospital okay? They are going to take good care of you there, and you’ll be okay.” 

Buck wimpers from behind the oxygen mask that was placed over his face. Eddie gets a very strong urge to punch someone. Eddie breathes through it, and tells Buck to do the same. 

When they get to the hospital, the nurses wheel Buck straight back into the hospital when they get there. Eddie tries to go with him. Eddie would follow his omega anywhere. “Sir,” A nurse stops him. “You can’t go back there!”

“You don’t understand,” Eddie pleads. “That’s my mate. I need to be there!”

“Eddie,” Bobby tugs at his hand. “She knows, okay?”

“We need to evaluate him independent of you first, Okay?” The omega nurse tells him. 

“But i-” Eddie protests. 

“ Eddie. ” Bobby Puts on his Pack Alpha voice. Eddie feels himself calm a bit, instinctually. “They are going to take good care of him, okay? But we’ve got to let them do their work. You know the drill.” 

It’s very unfortunate, but Eddie does know the drill. He’s used to sitting in hospital waiting rooms. Bobby and hen are discussing taking the ambulance and truck back to the station, and who’s car they are going to use to come back to the emergency room. Eddie lets some of the conversation wash over him. Chimney leans into his side, the Beta attempting to comfort. It doesn’t help the ache, But he’s glad chim is doing it anyway. 

“Can… Can you take my turnouts back to the station?” Eddie asks Bobby. “I- I have to stay. I can’t leave, even for a little bit.” 

“Yeah, Eddie.” Bobby uses a tone of voice like he’s afraid Eddie will break if he speaks too harshly. “We can do that.” 

“I need to call chris.” Eddie mutters to himself. “He’ll want to be here. I need to call maddie, too.” 

“Why don’t you worry about your son.” Chim says. “I’ll call my wife on the way to the station.” 

And just like that, It’s Eddie alone in the Hospital waiting room. The truck and the ambulance have to go back to the station, as well as all the gear and firefighters. If Eddie wasn’t newly mated to buck, he’d also be going to the station, and Bobby would be dragging him there. That was what it was like when Buck got struck by lightning; they all went to change into civvies and get showers. The pack morale was low, sad and angry, but Bobby made them do it. It was protocol. 

Guess there isn’t much protocol for Instant Bonds. Either that, or Bobby was ignoring protocol, which was worse. He only did that when the situation was dire. Eddie decides that he doesn’t want to know what the answer is. Either way, it will make him feel worse. 

He finds the quietest corner of the ER he can, while still being able to see the door the doctor would walk through. He sits down, takes a deep breath, and opens his phone. He navigates to Chris's contact, a photo of him and buck as the contact photo. Eddie feels like he’s falling apart at the seams. He tugs on the Bond with Buck, Just to feel it. Just to make sure it’s still there. He gets a little tug back, and he feels relief flood him. Buck’s going to be okay. He tells himself. 

He clicks call. The line rings once, twice, before Chris picks up. 

“Hey, dad!” Chris says through the speakers. “What’s up?” 

“Chris, Buck is in the hospital.” Eddie tells him. His voice sounds hollow and scratchy, like he was screaming at the top of his lungs. (He probably was, at some point.) “I’m with him. It- It might be a couple days before we can come home.” Tears threaten to spill over. “I- um. I can find someone to stay with you in the house. To heat up food and such.” A thick, ten-second long silence fills the air before Chris responds. 

“No, Dad. I'm coming down there. Let me pack a bag, and I'll uber.” Chris tells him, forcefully. 

“I know how much you hate hospitals, Chris. And i know-” This time, tears do slip down his face. “I know that buck isn’t going to look so good. He’s, um, covered in bruises.” 

“It doesn’t Matter.” Chris says, and Eddie is surprised at how steady and calm Chris's voice is. “Buck needs his pack. I know for a fact he’ll feel better seeing both of us. I’m coming down to the hospital.” 

Eddie takes a deep steadying breath. We did such a good job raising that pup, Eddie thinks. “Okay,” He says to chris. “Pack for a few days. With injuries like that… They are going to want to keep him for a while.”

“Okay, dad.” Chris says. “The uber says it’ll be here in like ten minutes. I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can.” 

“I love you.” Eddie says. He needs to say it. What if that beam had hit him? What if he almost died on Chris again? He needed to say it, even though he knows Chris knows it.

“I love you too, dad.” Chris says. “I’ll be there soon, promise.” 

Chris hangs up. Eddie is all alone again. He closes his eyes and tries not to cry. He can feel Buck’s confusion, pain, and deliriousness. Buck keeps pulling on the bond. It feels like a physical tug in the direction they took him. Like buck is tugging on a rope attached to his ribcage, trying to pull them towards each other. Eddie wishes he could be back there. He wishes that they never went into that stupid crumbling building. Eddie tries his hardest to send reassurances and platitudes back, tugging back, trying to let Buck know that he’s there. 

“Family of Evan Buckley?” A nurse calls out. Eddie stands up. 

“Yes?” Eddie asks. 

“Are you Eddie Diaz?” The nurse asks. It’s the same nurse that he talked to earlier. 

“Yes, I am. Is he okay?” Spills out of Eddie’s mouth. 

“Please come with me.” The nurse says. She takes off back into the patient rooms, And Eddie follows. “He’s been checked out. He has 4 broken ribs, and bruising on all of his major organs. He needs some rest. We tried to sedate him, but he was inconsolable and his body is resisting the meds. We think it’s because he’s fresh off of being mated.” She stops in front of one of the patient rooms. “TLDR: He’s really upset and we need you to go in there and soothe him so the anesthesia can work to put him to sleep. So he can heal easier.” 

“Okay,” Eddie agrees. “Of course.” 

The nurse opens the door. Another nurse- one in pink scrubs- is standing beside buck’s bedside, gentilly holding him down by the shoulders. He isn’t really trying to resist, or get up. He’s just seizing and rocking back and forth, And Eddie winces. That’s certainly not going to help the pain or the broken ribs. He needs to settle. She looks at the door, about to say something, then she does a double take. 

“Oh, what the hell,” Pink-scrubs says. “Savannah, who is this? He’s not supposed to be in the room yet!” 

The nurse who had come to get him- Savannah, apparently- just rolled her eyes. “I know Charlotte. Despite what you think, I'm not dumb. But this is a special circumstance.” 

Buck thrashes again, and Eddie can feel the bloom of pain it causes. Eddie move’s to buck’s bedside. 

“Sir, Don’t!” Nurse Charlotte says firmly. “You aren’t supposed to be back here!” 

“Hey, Buck.” He says, ignoring her. He pets buck’s curls in a soothing gesture, scenting buck with as calm of a scent as he can muster. Buck opens his eyes, shiny and red. “Hey, shhh, it’s okay.” 

“ Mate, ” Buck says. His voice is scratchy. The sadness oozing out of his voice and scent kind of makes Eddie want to jump off of the empire state building. “Eddie.” He stops thrashing around as much. 

“I’m here, okay? I’m not going anywhere. Chris is coming, Mads and Bobby are coming, too.” Eddie tells him. “You’re going to be okay, alright? But you got to rest now.” 

Buck wimpers. “I’m scared, ” He admits, voice no higher than a whisper. He reaches for Eddie's hand, and Eddie lets him take it. Buck has a deathgrip on Eddie's hand.  

Eddie shakes his head. “You don’t need to be anymore, okay? I’m here, I’ll protect you. Just go to sleep now, okay Buck?” Buck wimpers again, but his eyes droop closed. A few seconds later. He was asleep, but the deathgrip on Eddie's hand clasped in his didn’t ease up any. 

Eddie huffs a little. He turns to the two nurses, holding up their clasped hands. “It looks like I'm not going anywhere. Can one of you pull up that chair for me?” Charlotte stays still, Narrowing her eyes at Eddie, While Savannah moves to help. She scoots the awful hospital chair to right behind Eddie, and he sits down.

“Thank you, Savannah.” He says. 

“He’s still not supposed to be back here.” Charlotte says. 

“We let mated pairs see each other prematurely all the time,” Savannah’s annoyance is thick in the air. “And it worked. Evan stopped thrashing, and he actually went to sleep. You said that’s what he needed, medically, right?” 

Charlotte rolls her eyes. “They aren’t confirmed mates in any of our systems yet. If the charge nurse sees it, I'm not going down with the ship. You’re going to have to deal with that and the consequences on your own.” 

“I’ll start the bloodwork right now, okay charlotte? Is that good with you ?” Savannah asks, a bit aggressive. Charlotte just huffs, turns heel, and walks out of the room. Savannah sighs, turning back to eddie. “Sorry about her.” 

“No, I get it. Policy, and all.” Eddie reassures her. “I am kind of asking a lot.” 

Savannah chews on her lips. “I am going to have to take a vial of your blood and his to confirm you’re mates.” She tells him. “I don’t doubt it, but for the system, you know.” 

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “I know.” 

She goes to one of the cabinets on the wall, pulling a key off of her lanyard to unlock it. She grabs two vials and two needles. She kneels at Buck’s side, pricks him. The metallic scent of Buck’s blood floods his senses, amplified by the bond. He squeezes his eyes shut and takes a deep breath from his mouth. 

“Woah, are you okay?” Savannah asks him. 

“Yeah, I'm good.” Eddie lies. His entire body feels on fire with the instinct to protect him. “Just tell me when you’re done drawing blood from him.” 

“You're a firefighter and you’re squeamish when it comes to blood?” She asks, genuine confused amusement flitting through her voice.

“No,” Eddie says, trying to keep from being snappy at her. “I’m less than two hours newly mated to my best friend, who you are drawing blood from, and I'm trying my best not to yell at you. Because you seem like a nice kid, who doesn’t deserve that.” 

“Oh,” She says. It sounds like she forgot that. “Of course. All done now, sorry.” 

Eddie opens his eyes. “Not your fault,” He assures her. 

She puts a vial of buck’s blood on a nearby tray, (and Eddie gets the weirdest urge to steal it,) before rounding the bed and squatting beside eddie. 

“Make your hand into a fist,” She tells him, and he does just that (with the hand that buck isn’t holding on to). She finds a vein fast, and she starts drawing his blood. 

“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” Eddie tells her. “You know, the first time we met.” 

“Oh, that's okay. You're pretty well mannered.” Savannah waves him off. “The last time we had an Alpha who was freshly mated in the ER, He flipped two tables and punched me in the face.” She laughs, a bit nervous sounding. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay!” She says, squeaky voiced. She seems so young. “Life as a nurse.” 

“It’s not okay.” He meets her eyes. “I know as healthcare professionals we just kind of have to take it, but it’s still fucked up, and you’re allowed to say that.” 

She smiles, tight-lipped, and looks like she’s trying not to cry. “Thank you,” She whispers. “I needed that.” She takes the two vials of blood, and walks out of the room. Eddie watches her go. 

And then it’s just buck and eddie. They sit in silence and Eddie tries not to cry too loudly. 

Three hours later, there’s a knock on the door. Savannah stands in the doorway, and standing behind her is Chris. “Mr.Diaz?” Savannah calls out.

“Come on in,” Eddie tells her. “Chris, I’m so sorry. I forgot that you were coming.” Savannah puts a duffel bag (Chris must have packed) to the end of the bed. Chris also has a Backpack slung across his shoulders. 

“It’s okay, Dad.” Chris tells him. He uses his crutches to get through the door, and then Savannah helps him pull up a chair. “Basically the entire firehouse was there to keep me company. Oh, and Aunt Maddie. She brought food, it’s in my backpack.” 

“I’ll be sure to thank her.” Eddie tells him. “Is she alright?” Savannah busies herself by checking Buck’s vitals and charting something. 

Chris shakes his head. “I mean, she could be worse. The nurses were able to tell us that Buck was stable and that he’s going to be fine, so she’s not anxiety-spiraling. She’s still worried though.” 

Eddie nods. “Right, right.” 

Savannah turns to the two of them. “Okay, so. Mr.Buckley should be waking up within the next two hours. When he does, Don’t panic. We’re going to try and keep him from being afraid and spiking his levels again. I’d recommend just talking him up from the medically induced sleep, quietly and calmly, and then pressing the call button, Located right there.” She explains. 

“Okay,” Eddie says. “Thank you.” 

Savannah nods, Turns to exit the room, and then suddenly turns back to face eddie. “Oh! One more thing. We’ve run the Lab Work, and it’s official now. The two of you are confirmed Biologically Mated. Congrats!” 

Suddenly a Lump is growing in his throat. “Thanks,” He croaks out. Buck and him. Mates. This day doesn’t feel real. Chris’s mouth drops open in surprise and shock. 

“ What? ” He asks. Savannah quickly exits the room. “You and Buck are mated? ” 

“Yes, Chris.” Eddie tells him. 

“Since when?” 

“When Buck got into an accident, An Instant Bond developed. He-” Eddie takes a deep breath in. “He, um, got hurt so bad that he might have died. So an instant bond developed between us, to keep him alive and safe.” 

“...Oh.” Chris looks down at the floor. “So it was really bad.” 

“Yeah.” Eddie looks at where he and Buck’s hands are connected. About an hour in, Buck stopped holding on so tight. Eddie didn’t let go, though. “And now he’s going to be okay. And we’re mates.” 

A beat of silence. “Are you freaking out?” Chris asks him. “You know that you don’t have to freak out about this, right?” 

Eddie chuckles a little bit. His son knows him so well- he had been freaking out before Savannah brought Chris into the room. “Yeah?” He asks. “And why is that?” Chris reaches across the small space between their chairs, grabbing Eddie's other hand. 

“Because it’s Buck.” Chris tells him. “No matter what happens, Buck will understand. And he’ll love us anyway. He’s part of our pack now, and he’s been part of our family for longer than that.” 

Eddie tears up a little. “Yes, Chris. No matter what happens between buck and i, He will always love you.” 

Chris shakes his head a bit. “That is definitely not what I said,” He huffs. I said that no matter what happens, Buck will love the both of us. You included.” 

“It’s complicated,” Eddie tells him. “Everything is different now.” 

“Why?” Chris asks, his tone implying that Eddie was being stupid. “Because you’re mated? ” His son scoffs. 

“It’s not a small thing, Christopher.” Eddie says. “And Buck didn’t even get to choose. It happened when he was unconscious.” 

Chris considers that for a second. “Do you think Buck would have said no, given the choice?”

Eddie shrugs, trying to keep it together. It’s unfortunate that Chris knows him so well. “I don’t know,” He answers honestly. “He didn’t get to choose.” 

“Yeah, but..” Chris shifts a little bit. “He may not have chosen to be Bonded to you, But the very core of him recognized you as a safe person. The person who would do anything to keep him alive. He may not have chosen to be Bonded with you, but he chooses to be around you, and live with you, and go into burning buildings every single day. And even though you may not KNOW whether or not he would have said ‘Yes’ to bonding with you, I’m pretty confident that he would have, so.” 

Eddie sighs. “Everything is going to be different between us.” 

“Is that bad?” Chris asks. Eddie looks at him for the first time in the conversation. Chris just looks Eddie in the eye, and then shrugs. “Change is scary, sure, but sometimes life after change is better. You’re worried, and scared about the bad changes between you and buck, But you aren’t even considering the possibility of the two of you being happy and bonded together.” 

Eddie doesn’t even know what to say. He feels like his brain is short circuiting. 

“You’re so insistent that everything is going to change for the worse, But what if everything changes for the better?” Chris asks. Eddie feels like someone punched him in the face. He feels stunned. 

“I-” Eddie starts to say. And then buck squeezes his hand. 

Eddie, Buck says, through the bond. Eddie turns away from his son, towards the bed Buck is laid up in. 

“ Hey, Buck .” Eddie whispers. Christopher picks up one of his crutches, only leaning on it enough to stand over the bed and press the button that alerts the nurse. “Chris is here, and everyone else is waiting in the lobby.” 

“Hey, Buck.” Chris says, smiling softly. “If your ribs were not broken I'd be climbing into that bed and clinging like I was six again.” 

Buck cracks a smile at the same time he opens his eyes, before immediately wincing at the bright hospital lights. Eddie can feel the pain lance through his mate’s brain, headache immediately establishing itself. Buck cracks his eyes open again, however, to look at Chris. 

“Hey, Chris.” Buck says. His voice sounds absolutely wrecked. “Who’d you have to bribe to get back here?” 

“Oh, no one.” Chris’s sweet smile turns troublemaker real fast. “I just told them that I was your son and turned on the waterworks. They let me in real fast.” Eddie is pretty sure that it’s a joke, But he makes a mental note to ask Bobby about it later anyways. 

Chapter Text

Being mated to someone is weird as fuck, actualy. 

Eddie has never experienced an awareness like this before. A sense of understanding something so deeply outside of his own body. He understands what buck is thinking and feeling, before buck even has the opportunity to explain or express himself. If Eddie thought he knew and understood Buck before their mating bond snapped into place, he was sorely mistaken. He now knew what it was like to be truly and fully bonded and tied to another Human person. Him and Buck are trying their best to navigate the whirlwind of new emotions and experiences together.  

It was kind of making Eddie fucking insane. 

He had never had the “Angry Alpha Mega Instinct” before. Well, He did. He, of course, Went through ruts and he’d been overprotective to a fault (Especially when it came to Shannon and Chris). But Eddie had never been the type of alpha to have the instinct not to let his omega out of his sight until now. He never felt so possessive until buck, Like anyone who came to the door (mailman included) might be a threat. He’d never felt so overbearing, like he does now, the urge to smother and spoil his omega ever present. 

He’d never been the type of alpha who would Un-ironically think or say the words “My Omega”. (Even when he was dating Marisol, the only Omega he’d dated so far.)

He would worry about whether Buck hated him for it, But he knew the answer to that already. He knew that everytime Eddie acted all weird about their bond, Buck preened under the attention and the devotion. He noticed that Buck also started displaying more possessive, doting, husband-like qualities around eddie. If they were holding back at all about being insufferable and non-separable before the accident, they dropped the pretense now and let themselves be. 

And to have Buck be this like, Perfect partner, in all things about their life, was kind of fucking eddie up a bit. How could he, a man with such a sorted history, deserve someone like that? Buck was so kind, caring, compassionate, knowledgeable, not to mention very physically attractive, even before they bonded. Now? With him being so perfect? Slotting into Eddie's life as easily as he is? In the dead of night, When buck isn’t awake to smell or feel his insecurity, Eddie lets himself freak the fuck out about it. In the end, he reasons that he can’t keep this forever. Eddie will fuck up, somehow, and Buck will (rightly) leave. Eddie reasons that for as long as he’s allowed, he’s going to keep it this way, but he’s not going to do anything that will jeopardize his relationship with buck. Never ever ever. 

“What are you so pensive about?” Buck asks, sitting on the couch. He turns to where Eddie is standing at the doorway to their living room. “You aren’t sending me any words or feelings, But i swear to god I can hear you thinking.” 

Eddie cracks a smile. “I’m thinking about you.” 

“You don’t need to worry about me all the time, you know.” Buck grumbles out. “Bad enough that I'm all taped up over here, and that I can't even get up from the couch without help. I don't need anyone hovering.” 

Eddie rounds to sit beside Buck, careful to not put any pressure on Buck’s still-broken ribs. They were healing very very slowly. “I know,” He says. “That’s why I put myself on maddie’s shit list and kicked her out of our house.” 

Buck rolls his eyes. “Thank you, eds, seriously. I thought she was going to wear a path in the floor from pacing. She was driving me nuts, and she was stinking our house up with her burnt pastry scent. It’s how she smells when she worries.”  

“It’s in her Instinct to protect you.” Eddie tells him. 

Buck scrunches up his nose. “What, Because she’s an Alpha?” 

Eddie shakes his head. “No, because she’s a big sister.” Buck smiles at that. 

“So, if you're done worrying,” Buck says, changing the subject, “Can we please do something fun?” 

Eddie raises his eyebrows. “Something fun? Buck, what could we possibly do with you stuck on the couch?” 

“I don’t know.” Buck grumbles. “But we’ve got a childless house for at least another hour. It’s a Saturday night. We should do something fun.” 

“I can’t believe Chris and  his friends are old enough to pick him up in their cars . Because they have permits !” Eddie groans, and Buck giggles. “They are all so grown, it’s driving me crazy. And making me anxious, I think.” 

“Yeah, But now there’s less sleepovers, because everyone can be dropped off at the end of the night. Less stress about him sleeping in some strangers house.” Buck reasons. Eddie hums noncommittally. 

“Yeah.” Eddie says. “Okay, let’s binge something. We’ve got a few hours till he’ll be home, right?” 

That’s how they end up binging medical dramas and falling asleep on the couch together. Chris tells them in the morning that they were practically wrapped around each other when he came home and let himself in with his key. 

Then it kind of becomes a routine. Every Saturday night, they sit on the couch together and binge through their guilty pleasure trashy medical dramas (that are not medically accurate, by the way) and fall asleep together, tangled up on the couch. 

“How is it possible that late at night that couch is so comfortable, but by the time we wake up in the morning it’s replaced by a couch from hell filled with rocks?” Buck complains one Sunday morning. “We should go couch shopping, I swear.” Chris fondly rolls his eyes. 

“Or you could stop falling asleep on the couch.” Chris says. “Next time you feel comfortable late at night, remember the ache in your neck from today.” 

“You know what?” Eddie says. “No more falling asleep on the couch. We can do that.” 

Turns out, they couldn’t do it.

It was the very next Saturday, and Chris had gone with some of his friends to see a new movie they were all excited about. (Apparently, it was huge on TikTok. Don’t ask eddie.) Buck and Eddie had, of course, Decided to binge their trashy medical drama, and to celebrate Buck being taken off his pain meds, they decided to have a beer too. 

4 episodes, three hours and two beers each later, Buck was starting to fall asleep on the damn couch. 

“‘M not asleep,” Buck complained from on top of eddie. Eddie was lying down, fully stretched out on the couch, and buck was on his front, wedged in between him and the back of the sofa (thank god for deep couches.) Buck was comfortable, tucked under Eddie's arm, finally, after weeks of broken ribs, pressing the whole span of his torso against Eddie's. It felt so good to be tucked together like this. 

“ You’re about to fall asleep, buck. ” Eddie wipsers in a teasing tone of voice. “ And i can’t exactly carry you to bed when i’m not able to get out of the couch myself, baby. ” 

“Let’s just say here,” Buck complains. “I’m not ready to go to bed yet. You’re comfy.” 

“Remember last week? When you complained that entire Sunday of a stiff neck? It’ll be worse, with you curled up and tucked into my side like that.” 

“ Alpha ,” Buck says, exasperated. “Let me be.” Eddie blushes a deep red color, and Buck flashes him with a smile. I knew that would get to you, He gleefully admits through the bond. Eddie can feel his deep sense of smugness about the whole thing. 

“Oh, you’re gonna pull that card, Buck?” Eddie asks, just to watch Buck’s face flush as he realizes he-done-fucked-up. Eddie pulls buck close, looking him deep in the eye. “Come on, Omega. ” He growls playfully. Buck’s Blush flares brighter. “Time for bed.” 

“Eddddiieee,” Buck whines. “Let me just-” 

“No, no, no, sit up right now.” Eddie insists. “Your spine will thank me tomorrow, when we’re at work.” 

Buck huffs, sitting up, and Eddie follows. Both pairs of sock-cladden feet touch the hardwood underneath them. It’s late, and the entire house is dark (“For the vibe, eds!”) Except for the light coming off the TV, the netflix loading screen. Eddie’s shoulder touches Buck’s. 

“I hate you,” Buck huffs. “Always being so reasonable.” Buck turns to face him. They are so close, noses centimeters away from touching. Eddie feels like all he can see is the blue light bouncing off of Buck’s skin and the baby blue eyes looking at him. 

“ You love me ,” Eddie murmurs. The air grows thicker. Buck swallows. 

“ Yeah ,” Buck whispers.  They are so close that they are breathing each other’s air. Buck’s eyes flick down to Eddie's lips, and they both start to lean in. 

Chris’s key rattles the front door knob. 

Eddie and Buck Both jerk backwards, and then Chris opens the door. “Hey dad, Buck!” He calls. “I’m surprised you’re not asleep already.” 

“Well, we were just headed to bed,” Eddie says. He’s surprised at how smooth his voice sounds, when internally he’s panicking so hard. “We aren’t sleeping on the couch tonight.” 

“Well, I’m probably going to stay up for at least another hour, Because i’m not old, ” Chris jokes. He looks up when neither of them laugh. “Geez, why the gloomy mood?” 

“Sorry.” Buck says. “Tired.” 

Chris narrows his eyes, but he doesn’t question it. Eddie listens as his footsteps down the hallway, then the soft click! of his bedroom door closing. 

Eddie turns to buck, who abruptly stands up. “Buck-” Eddie says, reaching out. 

“I’m just going to… go to bed now.” Buck tells him. And then he flees down the hallway himself. Eddie sighs, Putting his head in his hands. In a half hour, when Eddie finally makes his way to bed (Witch he had been putting off, stuck in a spiral of thoughts of everything is changing ) Buck is curled up on his side, staring at the wall. He’s definitely still awake, but he’s trying to pretend to be asleep, and Eddie doesn’t call him on it. He just slides into bed next to him, and tries not to feel so sad that buck can feel it through the bond. He’s not sure if he succeeds, though. 

The next morning rolls around, and Everything feels… off. Out of sync. Which is not normal for them. Their entire morning routine has been disturbed, and it feels weird and rushed and frantic for no reason. There’s a space growing slowly larger between them, and Eddie can feel every painful inch in his chest. 

They almost run into each other, turning at in-oppurtuine times, and then jerking back like they’ve been electrocuted. Chris sees it, raising his eyebrows as high as they can go. He meets Eddie's eyes, looks at Buck, then meets his eyes again, silently questioning it all. Eddie doesn’t give him an answer, just looking away. It makes him feel like a coward. 

The ride into work isn’t any better. Eddie hops in the passenger seat, and they drive to work in silence. Neither of them touch the radio. Eddie hates it. 

The 118 definitely noticed. The notice in the first hour, when Buck decides to sit next to Ravi on one of the couches, rather than pressed up against Eddie, where he normally exists. None of them say anything, but that’s not to say that Eddie doesn’t feel the questioning stares on him from the rest of the crew. 

Unfortunately, it’s a slow shift. The bell hasn’t rung in over three hours, and everyone in the firehouse is bored out of their minds. Meaning that the most interesting thing about the day is the abnormal way that Buck and Eddie aren’t really talking to each other. Which means that every firefighter in the house are trying to corner Eddie and ask him about it. Eddie is SURE that it’s only worse for Buck, who is the more friendly and sociable of the two of them. 

“I need someone to reorganize the supply closet,” Captain Nash says. “It’s a slow enough day, and I've been putting it off for weeks now.” 

“I can do it,” Buck and Eddie say, standing up in perfect sync. The only time they’ve been in sync the whole day. 

“Or um…” Buck starts to say. “You can do it. If you want.” 

“No, Buck. you’re way better at that.” Eddie says. Buck turns bright pink at the complement, then his face twists in a sour way, and he basically flees. Eddie sighs, and sits back down on the couch. 

Chimney sighs loudly. “Okay, I’ll bite. What is up between you and Buck?” 

“Nothing,” Eddie says, far too quickly. Even Bobby looks surprised at that answer. “We’re good.” 

I mean, it’s not like Eddie is telling the truth, but how do you tell your entire pack that the reason you're acting weird is because you tried to kiss one of your best friends, (who happens to be your mate, and also their best friend and pack omega) and now he’s intentionally putting space between the two of you? Because that is what's happening, and it’s straight up miserable for both of them. Eddie’s fucked it all up, because he was too greedy, and he just had to go and change everything. And now Buck hates him. And that's totally fair! Eddie shouldn’t have felt so entitled to buck in the first place, even though they were mates! Eddie should have never tried to kiss buck. And now it’s weird, and everyone can tell. 

Chimney sighs again, louder this time. “It’s pretty obvious that the two of you are fighting, man. I’ve got to get some info for the wife.”

“We aren’t fighting.” Eddie tells him. It’s not as sharp as it could be, but Eddie definitely has some hints of back-off in his voice. “If maddie wants to know, she can ask buck herself.” Eddie stands up, deciding that the roof would be a better spot to sit. He was definitely not fleeing, no matter what anyone who watched it go down would say. 

-x- 

The rest of the day, unfortunately, was still very quiet. Eddie considered saying it out loud, just to get the others mad. It would be better than this nothing-burger of a day. Especially when Buck and Eddie were still clearly avoiding each other. It was apparently the one thing they were bad at. Several times today Buck and Eddie had walked into the same room, seen each other, and walked out. Embarrassingly, they’d done this in front of the whole firehouse, who kept giving them weird looks. Eddie was so done with it. 

It was finally the end of shift, and they were all throwing their civilian clothes back on in the locker room. Eddie was, for the first time this shift, dreading the end of it. Because that would mean getting in the car with buck, driving home, and then being subsequently surrounded by silence as they avoided each other in the tiny South Bedford home. Eddie didn’t want that. 

Hen scooted next to him as he laced up his boots. “Hey,” She said. “Karen and the kids are going to be at a trampoline park till like, 7:30 tonight. Birthday party. Drinks at my place?” 

Eddie considers, then looks at Buck for his reaction. They lock eyes. 

Eddie, Buck says through the bond. Just go, have fun. Don’t worry about me. 

“Okay,” Eddie responds out loud, to both Buck and Hen. “Why not?” 

-x-

“So let me get this right.” Hen drunkenly slurs, “The two of you are Biologicaly mated , have been for weeks , and you’re freaking the fuck out becuse you almost kissed?” 

“No, but like-” Eddie huffs. Suddenly he’s so drunk that words are very hard. “You don’t get it.” 

“You are so right, eddie.” Hen says, swaying in her chair a little. “I don’t get it. The two of you are fuckin’ mated, and yet you’re acting like prudes about making out sloppy style, witch you totally want to do by the way . You want to make out sloppy style with him, and i hope you know that and you aren’t fuck-n mind blown.” 

“Hennnn-” Eddie starts to whine. “Be nice to me!” 

“Do you know how most people get mated, eddie?” Hen says, and blush springs up on Eddie's face. He feels like his face is actually hot. “They fu-” 

“ I Know that! ” Eddie hisses out. “But we didn’t! And what if we start dating now, and he realizes how fucked up i am, and then i’m mated to my Best Frenid of all time, Love of my life, father of my pup, and he fucking hates me?” 

“Buck wouldn’t hate you if you ran over his grandma and then spit on her grave at the funeral.” Hen says, dismissively. “It’s Buck. He’s already seen you fuck up in every way possible. And did he ever turn on you? No. He stood there and loved you anyways.” 

Eddie feels like the floor is kicked out from underneath him. “Do you think Buck loves me?” 

“ Bitch- ” Hen starts to say, Before the door swings open. 

“We’re home!” Karen’s voice rings out through the house. Denny and Mara stomp up the stairs to go to each of their respective rooms. Karen walks into the kitchen, noticing the handle and shot glasses on the table, as well as the very, very drunk firefighters at her dining room table. She sighs. “What is all of this?” 

“ Eddie needed advice, and I needed a drink to even withstand his issues,” Hen explains to her wife. 

“Karen, Karen, Karen… Do YOU think Buck is in love with me?” Eddie asks. He feels like he’s about to cry just saying it outloud.

Karen tilts her head, like she doesn’t quite understand the question. “Well, you are mated.” 

“Yeah, but it doesn't count because it was a- an um-” Eddie tries to remember the words ‘Instant Bond’ , Before deciding to just change the sentence. “It wasn’t on purpose.” 

“Eddie, Buck wouldn’t just Bond with you if he wasn’t in love with you. Instant bond, or not.” Karen says, like it’s obvious, and Eddie feels like somebody smacked him across the face with a two-by-four. 

“Thank you, My lovely, doting wife.” Hen slurs, reaching out for Karen's Hands. Karen sighs, before indulging Hen and locking hands with her. She looks at Eddie once more (who feels a million miles away, struck with the thought that Buck might love him back ,) before making up her mind about something.

“Look, Eddie, as much as I love you, I need you out of my house.” Karen says. “I’m calling Buck to come get you. You are officially his responsibility tonight, Mkay? I’ll have enough trouble with this one- ” she points at hen, “-already.” 

“Please don’t tell him anything I said about how he’s the love of my life.” The words spill out of his mouth. Karen’s brows shoot up in surprise, while Hen laughs at eddie. 

“She wasn’t here for that part,” Hen draws, teasing. “She didn’t hear you say ‘Buck, love of my life, dad to my pup, my best friend in the world…’ Remember when you said that, eddie? That is so embarrassing. ” 

Eddie groans, putting his head in his hands. He’s so pathetic. Karen just pats him on his shoulder.

“There, there,” Karen says to eddie. “I’m not going to say anything. I’m just going to ask him to come get you.” 

And that's how buck finds them, forty five minutes later. Karen lets him in through the front door, and Eddie is immediately love-struck. Oh god, it’s so bad. It’s- like Hen said. It’s frankly embarrassing. If Eddie had a tail it would be wagging. It’s objectively mortifying how down bad he is for this man. This gorgeous amazing beautiful man. Oh god, he’s so in love with buck. And buck might be in love with him back! And they almost kissed! (When did his life get so good? Sometime tonight, apparently. Maybe between the third and fourth shot.)

“Heyyyyyy Buck.” Hen says. 

Buck gives a small laugh. “Heyyy Hen.” He mocks. She pouts. 

She turns to eddie. “Make him be nice to me.” 

Eddie ignores Hen. “Hi Buck.” He smiles. He catches Hen rolling her eyes at the besotted tone in his voice, and he can’t even blame her. It is annoying. Eddie doesn’t care though.

Buck sighs, giving him a tight, but genuine smile. “Hey Eds. You have fun?” 

“Tons. Missed you, though.” Eddie tells him. Buck goes bright pink, and some sick part of Eddie is satisfied. 

“He would not shut up about the two of you.” Hen says.

“ Henrietta. ” Karen warns. “Play nice.” 

“What?” She says, smirking lazily. “It’s true.” 

Eddie isn’t really paying attention to the conversation. No, he’s more so paying attention to the warm, large, hand on his shoulder. Buck’s hand. He brings his own hand up to tug on it, playing with him and pushing his face into the scent gland on his wrist. 

Mine, He snaps playfully, talking through the bond. 

“Okay,” Buck says, Cutting off whatever karen and hen were bantering about across the table from them. “We should get home. I’m sure y-you’ve got dinner to start- and so do i. Come on, Eds, Let’s get you home.” 

Karen and Hen both raise their eyebrows at the thinly veiled excuse, But then they say their goodbyes. Eddie will have to remember to thank them both- especially Karen though- and apologize for being rude and not saying goodbye. But in the moment he couldn’t take his eyes off of Buck for one minute. He needed to remind himself that this was real. That buck was here, and his, and in love with him. 

And Eddie was an idiot for pulling away instead of making out with his mate on that goddamn couch. Even if His pup- their pup - saw. He was an idiot for getting into his own head and letting it be awkward at all. He was an idiot for not macking on buck every second of their god damn lives. 

Buck insisted on helping him down the stairs of Hen and Karen’s front porch, throwing Eddie's arm over his shoulder, pressing them in close. Eddie feels like if it were biologically possible he'd be purring right now. His scent blooms, happy and content. They make it down the stairs, and Buck attempts to pull away, but Eddie whines. So buck stays under his arm, rounding his car- their car- parked in the street, sitting Eddie in the passenger seat. Eddie whines again when buck pulls away, but this time buck doesn’t come back. He shuts Eddie's door and gets in the driver seat. Eddie kind of has the urge to climb into his lap, driving or not, and fall asleep there. 

When they get home, Buck bullies him to the bed. Eddie tries to pull him into the bed, too, but Buck is weirdly resistant about it. 

“Come onnn, Buck.” Eddie whines. “I’m cold and you’re letting all the air in. Just get under the covers already.” 

“I don’t think-” Buck takes a deep breath. “I’m going to take the couch tonight.” 

“But why?” Eddie asks. “It’s our bed.” Ours, Mine, Echoes through the bond. Eddie didn’t mean to do that, but it’s true enough that he’s not embarrassed about buck hearing. 

“You are so drunk, ” Buck laments. “You're gonna sober up in the morning and hate me. I just don’t want to have to watch you remember that you hate me.” 

“I don’t hate you,” Eddie says. “Why would I hate you? ‘M in love with you.” 

Buck freezes, Before he smooths the covers over the top of eddie. “I’m sleeping on the couch. We’ll talk in the morning, Mkay?” 

“Don’t gooooo,” Eddie whines, But he lets go of Buck anyways. 

“Go to sleep, Eds.” Buck tells him. He closes the Bedroom door behind him. Eddie remembers drifting asleep to the red glow of the alarm clock and the smell of his own disappointment. 

When he wakes, he’s not sure what woke him up. He feels like he was plunged into ice-water, and he’s shaking all over. He sees the glow of the alarm clock, and it’s one in the morning. His head aches, no doubt the Hangover he’s going to be nursing for the next few hours. He glances around the room. 

A loud boom, A clap of thunder. A flash of light. Terror floods eddie. A memory flashes through his mind, the smell of sizzling flesh and an anxious three minutes and 17 seconds where he felt like his own heart might as well have stopped. Tears well up in his eyes. He flies out of the bed, quickly opening the door. 

I’m not going to wake him, He thinks. I just need to see his face and hear him breathing. Then I’ll go back to bed.

He walks briskly down the hallway, hoping to get a glance of Buck on the couch. Just a reassurance that Buck is alive. When he gets to the end of the hallway, however, He sees that the Couch is empty, the throw blanket crumpled at the end. The kitchen light is on. Eddie walks into their Kitchen, and there buck is, nursing a cup of something that smelled like tea. 

The look on Eddie’s face must be pretty awful, Because Buck does a double take when he sees it. “Eddie?” He asks, tentatively. “Whats wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Eddie says. “I just-” Another flash of light, another crack of thunder. Eddie flinches, Pressing his eyes closed, trying to rid himself of the memory of burning flesh. He forces them open. 

“Oh, eddie.” Buck says, voice oozing sympathy. He stands up. They meet halfway through the kitchen. “C’mere.” Buck pulls Eddie into his arms, scenting him and the entire Kitchen, trying to calm him. He breathes in the deep vanilla and sugar, and he feels much better. Eddie moves one of his hands up to Buck’s neck, Checking his pulse. Buck lets him. 

“Sorry,” Eddie says. “I wasn’t going to wake you.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Buck tells him. “It’s okay.” 

“I feel stupid.” Eddie chuckles wetly. “You were the one who was struck by lightning, and here I am shaking like a leaf in a storm.” 

Buck pulls back enough to look Eddie in the face. “I don’t remember it. You had to see it though. You remember.”

“I thought I lost you,” Eddie tearfully admits. “For three minutes, I thought you were gone.” 

It’s Buck’s turn to get teary eyed now. “You’re never going to lose me. Never ever, Eds. Promise.” He thickly swallows. “Even if I do something stupid, and you hate me forever, I’ll still always be there for you.” 

“I don’t hate you.” Eddie says. 

“Even after I got selfish and tried to kiss you?” Buck asks. 

“Is that what you think happened?” Eddie responds. Buck tilts his head.

“Okay, now I'm confused.” Buck admits. 

“Hold on,” Eddie says. He steps back, breaking the hug, But grabbing Buck’s hand. He pulls them to sit at the kitchen table, wiping his face of the tears. “Okay, let’s actually talk about it.” 

“Eddie- W-we don’t have to-” Buck starts to say, squirming in his chair. “I’ll never do it again, okay?” 

“I don’t think you understand.” Eddie says. “I tried to kiss you.”

“No,” Buck says. “I definitely leaned in. But you don’t have to worry, okay? We can still be friends.” 

“Buck, You aren’t hearing me.” Eddie Laughs. The whole thing suddenly feels very silly. To hell with it. “I want to kiss you.”

Buck blinks. And then he blinks again. “...What?” 

“I want to do more than kiss, actually,” Eddie teases. “But we’ll start slow.” Buck flushes, then blinks again. “Oh my god, I think I broke him. Earth to Buck?”

“Sorry, I just…” Buck giggles. “What?”

“Yeah.” Eddie says. “We almost kissed. And then we both freaked out, right? But some very wise women told me that you probably loved me back, so I guess I'm shooting my shot.” 

Buck’s face breaks into a huge grin. “Yeah?” He leans in, brushing noses with eddie. “ You want to kiss me, Diaz? ” He whispers. 

“Mhm,” Eddie hums, suddenly earnest. They lock eyes, smiling. The storm rages outside the kitchen window, but  as they come together for the first time under the safety of the kitchen light, the storm is completely forgotten. 

Chapter Text

The first thought that Buck has when he kisses Eddie is ‘why haven’t we been doing this?’ It was so unexpected, but everything fit perfectly, and it just made sense, the scent of joy and too-sweet cinnamon and sugar claiming every inch of Both buck and eddie. The entire kitchen was lit up in joy. 

And, look. Buck knows that the only reason Eddie and him hadn’t started dating was because of their own stupidity, okay? He knows. But at the same time, He kind of wishes he could go back in time and tell his younger self to just Kiss Eddie already, Because it was so much better than he could imagine. 

And now he’s kind of Obsessed, actually. 

It’s like they are teenagers again, honestly. Eddie is so handsy, and Buck knows he’s no better. Whispered conversations late at night become quiet make-outs, waking up at sunrise becomes whisper-flirting in the kitchen while their kid is still asleep, and everything about their life becomes an inch more towards the perfect domestic fantasy; working together, coming home to each other, and falling asleep in each other’s arms. Everything in their lives shift, but only an inch, and Buck is for once happy to accept the change. 

One week- One small, but joyous week of them dating passed before Christopher realized. 

It wasn’t like they were trying to hide it, necessarily. It was more like they just hadn’t broached the topic. Buck understood if Eddie might want to keep it from Chris for a while; give some time to just be buck-and-eddie on their own. It’s why he didn’t mind waiting. He would wait forever for Eddie. So they didn’t immediately tell him. 

But he figured it out quick. 

They were all sitting in the kitchen on one of their off days. It was a lazy morning for them, with buck and eddie not going into work and christopher off of school for the summer, no one felt really in a rush to wake up or start the day. The whole morning felt easy and bubbly to buck, who was attempting to make blueberry pancakes, and being actively thwarted by his menace of a boyfriend. 

(God, Eddie was his boyfriend. It felt a little silly to be lovesick over a title like that when they were literally bonded, but still, Buck can’t help but feel starstruck that him and Eddie are dating now. it feels both stupid, to be so giddy, and yet important anyways.)

Eddie, menace that he is, was taking the blueberries buck had set to the side for pancakes, and sneakily eating them. Normal buck wouldn’t mind, but just twenty minutes ago, buck very specifically asked him if he wanted his own bowl of blueberries. Eddie had insisted he didn’t want any. 

AND YET, every time buck turned his back on the bowl of blueberries he had meticulously portioned out, blueberries went missing. This was even worse than the many times Eddie INSISTED he didn’t want fries, and then stole some of Buck’s. It was worse because eddie was doing it on purpose, to spite him. 

And it was working. 

Buck pretends to turn around again, before quickly faking Eddie out and catching him mid-bite, a smirk on his face. Buck picks out some of the blue-berries in the bowl, throwing several at him in quick succession. 

“Hey!” Eddie laughs, mouth dropping open in feign shock and real delight. 

“Thief!” Buck giggles. Eddie’s mouth drops open, before he also scrambles for the bowl, grabbing a whole handful, throwing them at him, all at one time. They bounce and scatter across the countertop, some rolling on the floor.  “Stop!” Buck barks playfully, but now he’s riled the alpha up, and he knows he’s made a grave mistake when Eddie grabs the mostly empty bowl of pancake batter. “Don’t you dare!” 

Eddie made quick work of scooping some batter on his fingers, then coming up behind him, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him flush, and then smearing pancake batter all over his face. Buck is wiggling, trying to get away, but Eddie holds him still till he’s done. 

“Happy now?” Buck deadpans when Eddie finally lets go of him. Eddie leans up against the counter, and the smirk on his face makes Buck want to devour him. “I swear to god,” Buck says slowly, “if you got pancake batter in my curls i’ll-” 

“You’ll what?” Eddie challenges, tilting his head 90 degrees with that stupid smirk on his face, and Buck is about to start another play-fight when Chris places his phone down on the table loudly in annoyance. 

“Ughhh,” Chris groans. “Can you two stop flirting and just kiss already?”

Buck and Eddie both freeze. Chris notices. 

“Wait,” He says, narrowing his eyes. “Are you two already dating?” 

Buck locks eyes with Eddie, silently tugging on the bond. Your call if you want to tell him. Eddie smiles. I want to, He sends across the bond. Buck smiles wide, and he feels Eddie's relief when he deems the smile to be genuine excitement. 

“Yeah,” Eddie says out loud. His voice is so fond, Buck blushes wildly. 

“Cool,” Chris says, smiling. “Finally.” 

“Aren’t you surprised?” Buck asks, curious. 

“My dads are dating each other,” Chris snorts, looking down at his phone. “ Breaking: fork found in kitchen. ” 

“Hey! Tone, ” Buck scolds, but his smile makes it clear he’s not genuine scolding, it’s banter. 

Chris’s smile twists into a wide one of genuine delight. “Is now an apt time to start saying-” He puts on a thick caricature voice of a whiney teen, “ -Your not my realllll dadddd! You’re just my step-dad, god! ”

“Christopher!” Eddie says in shock, and he looks so genuinely scandalized. Buck burst out laughing. “Wha- Buck, Stop laughing!” 

“I think it’s funny!” Buck proclaims, and Eddie looks at him genuinely confused. That sends buck into another laughing fit. Buck wipes away tears- literal tears from laughing so hard. “Sorry, Sorry,” He says. “It’s just that…. Well, if the worst thing I can be is married to you, I think I'm doing well, sweetheart.” Eddie melts at that, his scent turning chocolate-heavy, so deeply and clearly in love. 

Chis wrinkles his nose and groans, and buries his head into his hands. “ God ,” He says (muffled and slightly echoed from the cup of his hands). “ They are going to be so much worse now. ” That causes both buck and eddie to crack up, and even with chris’s face hidden, buck can tell that he’s secretly giggling from the way his shoulders are moving. 

“Oh, kid,” Eddie says, moving into buck’s space. “You have no idea,” He says, a spark of mischief in his eyes. He leans in, and Buck gets the idea. They make intentional obnoxious kissing noises, and Chris makes loud retching noises. Buck breaks apart from Eddie's lips on a giggle. Eddie looks on the outside exactly how Buck feels, so happy and excited and in love. 

“Can I get a puppy?” Chris blurts out. 

Both Eddie and Buck look at each other in surprise. “What?” Eddie asks. 

“Figured i’d try it.” Chris answers, not giving much of an explanation. 

“Sorry, you want a consolation prize puppy because we’re happy and in love?” Buck asks out of disbelief. 

Chris shakes his head. “No, but consultation puppy is a good idea.” He grins. “I asked because you both looked so happy, I figured you might say yes on impulse.” 

“No,” Eddie says. “We are not getting a puppy.” Buck catches Chris's eye, and winks. “I saw that, Do not encourage him, Buck. Puppies are so much work. ” Eddie grumbles. 

“All I'm hearing is ‘maybe’,” Chris says, shrugging. “I’m going to my room and looking up LA adoption centers.” He grabs his crutches, dutifully ignoring the list of reasons Eddie is providing why ‘getting a puppy’ is not happening. 

In contrast to Chris, It took the 118 four and a half weeks to figure everything out. 

Once again, Buck and Eddie were not really trying to hide it. Their kid knew now, and telling everyone else felt less stressful with the first conversation being an admaint success. They didn’t walk into the fire house going “Hey Everyone, We’re dating Now!” , But Buck kind of figured that they didn’t need to do that, you know? Everyone had been implying that they were basically dating already for… honestly years. 

Buck felt confident that the shift from Buck and Eddie being weird “best friends” to pretty standard “mates” wasn’t going to shake the foundation of the 118 that hard, you know? 

So on their first shift of being ‘official’, Buck let himself be kind of touchy and clingy. He kind of stayed by Eddie's side all day, brushing shoulders and standing too close. Knees brushing together in the rig, and pressing in instead of jerking away. Buck even holds his alpha’s hand at one point, and not one member of the 118 blinked an eye. 

The problem is he wants someone to ask him about it. He wants to look at his entire friend group and confidently say, “Yeah, Eddie is my boyfriend.” He wants the looks of shock and delight that will surely follow, the flurry of congratulations and the wide smiles of acceptance. 

They are about an hour away from getting off shift when Buck decides that he’s had enough of it. He flops down on the couch eddie is sitting on, (looking so good, reading a book, it’s unfair) and he dramatically throws his feet into eddie’s lap. He gets a quirk of the eyebrow from eddie, but eddie lets his feet rest there anyways. 

Ravi scoffs loudly. “Are you guys dating yet?” 

“No,” Eddie deadpans, voice with clear sarcasm lacing it. “We’re clearly just best friends.” He cracks a smile and buck, grabbing his ankle and tugging a bit, and buck snorts. They were allowed to make fun of themselves, after all. 

 A few seconds pass. Buck notices that there’s no Chorus of disbelief from their fellow firefighters. Everyone has gone back to the task they had before the comment. Hen may have rolled her eyes but…

Holy shit, eds. Buck speaks through the bond. I think that they believe your stupid comment about us being friends. 

What? Eddie asks. No way. Buck watches him look up and assess the quiet firehouse. Before letting out a huff, quietly laughing. 

Yes way, Buck quips back. Look, none of them even batted an eye!

To be fair, we did do a lot of uh… non-platonic things together and then sincerely insisted we were only friends. Eddie reasons. Why would they stop believing us now?

I wonder how far we could go, and insist that we weren't dating, before they called us out on our bullshit, Buck wonders, and Eddie's (Very faint) laughter lines crinkle up in amusement and mishref. I bet I could sit in your lap, and they’d believe us when we told them it was just a buck-and-eddie thing and NOT a couple thing. 

No, our friends are smart. They’d know we were fucking with them. Eddie insists. 

Buck tilts his head, quirking his mouth into a cocky smirk. Wanna bet?

“Hey!” Hen says. “You two good for drinks tonight?” 

Eddie’s eyes spell out mischief as he looks away from buck and towards hen. “Yeah, Chris is going to be out till at least eight, so we’re good for like two hours.” 

“K!” She yells back at them, quickly scrambling down the stairs to go get changed. Suddenly the loft is just them. Everyone else must have left while I was busy getting lost in Eddie's eyes. Buck thinks dreamily. 

Buck swings his legs off the couch, getting up easy. He stands in front of eddie and offers him a hand. Eddie takes it, Heaving himself up, looking around. “You know what?” Eddie says. “I’ll take you up on that.” And then he plants a quick, chaste peck of a kiss on Buck’s lips, and Buck's mouth just drops open in shock and surprise. Eddie flees quickly, walking across the loft briskly, throwing Buck a wink when their eyes meet again. That kicks buck into gear, sprinting to catch up with him and go out. 

The bar is packed by the time the 118 make it there, and the booth that Hen choses to sit in is BARELY big enough for her, Chim, Ravi, Buck, and Eddie to sit at. They are basically sitting on each other, no room. 

It’s a perfect fucking set up. 

Buck is two drinks deep (for courage), and he’s returning to the table basically juggling another round, (Jesus, a round for five people is a lot of drinks). He manages to set all of the drinks on the table without spilling any, and Eddie's right there so…. 

Buck sits in his lap. 

Instantly, three pairs of eyebrows shoot up, and Buck thinks oh my god, i’m going to lose this bet. Chim’s mouth actually drops open in shock and surprise. Eddie, being very helpful, brings his big hand up to buck’s thigh to hold him so he doesn’t fall, eventually casually resting his hand on Buck’s knee. Buck is definitely flushing tomato red, and he wouldn’t be surprised if his birthmark was an exact match for their firetruck. 

A little giggle slips out of Buck’s mouth. 

“Buck?” Hen asks. 

“Yeah?” He responds, a fake innocence laced in his voice. Play it cool, Buckley. Eddie’s voice slithers across the bond. Buck pinches Eddie's hand under the table. 

“Either i’m so drunk i’m hallucinating,” She prefaces, “Or you’re sitting in eddie’s lap.” 

“It’s crowded in here. I’m just saving space. ” Buck’s pre-planned excuse slips out of his mouth easily. He turns to eddie. “Right?” 

“Yeah,” Eddie confirms. But god, the way he’s looking at buck is like buck hung all the stars in the sky. He’s so in love, and it’s so obvious. They are so getting caught. Because Buck is looking right at him, he can tell the exact second that mischief crosses Eddie's mind. Eddie licks his lips. “What else are best friends for?” 

Ravi’s head drops down onto the table with a thunk, and a little too much force. Chim openly gawks at the two of them, and Hen curses into her drink. And yet, they all seem to believe that Buck and Eddie are being completely genuine. 

It’s less then twenty minutes later when eddie leans into buck a little. He has his phone out, and it’s a text from Chris, asking to stay over at some friend's house, with eddie responding in the affirmative. Empty house, Buck thinks, and he wiggles a bit in Eddie's arms. Eddie grabs onto one of his arms, pulling him in a little as he whispers directly into Buck's ear. “Let’s go home,” He says, and his tone is so low and growly and alpha that Buck shivers, visibly. His hands shake while ordering the Uber. They need to get alone, Now. 

They get into the back of a Toyota corolla, and Buck and Eddie are basically immediately making out. Buck makes a mental note to give the very nice drive a five star review and a large tip for not interrupting them. Buck wishes that he could pull himself together and deprive himself of Eddie for the 15 minute car ride, but… 

Buck is just a man. And when you have Eddie-Fucking-Diaz panting into your mouth, and bearing his teeth, and biting your lips, what is man to do? Buck thinks, sincerely, that if eddie stopped kissing him like this for even a second, he’d die.

 Buck isn’t innocent either, honestly, considering the way he’s opening up his mouth for Eddie, letting him in, squirming in his seat and biting his own tongue, trying not to moan. Flashes of Eddie’s arousal come across the bond, little snippets letting Buck feel how much Eddie likes what Buck’s doing. Buck suspects Eddie isn’t even doing it on purpose, and that’s even better. Because that means that Eddie is feeling so much right now that he can’t even contain it, and that makes Buck feel so good about himself. 

When the Uber pulls up to the South-Bedford home, Eddie hops out, and in an instant he’s opening Buck’s door for him, pulling him out and they are giggling like teenagers. It’s drizzling rain, so Eddie grabs Buck's hand and they both do a half-sprint over the lawn, as to not get too wet. Buck feels more like a love-sick now than he ever has before. 

Eddie quickly uses his key to unlock the door. He pushes buck in the house, closing the door and spinning them both around so that buck’s back is pressed to the door. Buck lets out a surprised yip, and Eddie kisses him hard, chasing the sound. 

“Mine,” Eddie says, no, growls, into Buck’s mouth. “My Mate. ” Buck’s hands grab at Eddie’s face, cupping his jaw, desperate, needy for another kiss. Eddie nuzzles his nose into Buck's cheek, Scenting him, But stops just shy of kissing him. Buck is going to lose his mind.

 “Everyone at that table thinks I'm fuckn’ stupid for not getting with you.” Eddie says, a little bit of Texas draw coming through that makes buck’s knees go weak. Eddie’s hands find Buck’s waist, pulling Buck forward, making them pressed up against each other from sternum to knee. “Here I am, with a perfect, pretty, sweet omega-thing, sitting right in my lap, and they all think I'm not taking the bait. But we both know that you’re mine, Right sweetheart?” 

Buck Whines, deep in the back of his throat. He dips his head, nuzzles at Eddie's jaw a little before biting it, hard. Eddie’s scent turns dark, rich, chocolate. Buck wants to roll over, bare his stomach, bottle the scent and bathe in it.  “ My alpha,” Buck says, just as possessive as Eddie is being, and Eddie moans, ragged and wild. “ Alphaaaa, ” Buck says again, drawing out the syllables just to feel Eddie squirm. Eddie squats, bending at the knees, Grabbing buck and lifting him off the ground to carry him to bed. Needless to say, they were very busy for the rest of the night. 

A couple of hours later, In the twilight morning light, before the sun is up, buck and eddie are indulging in some post-knotting snacks. Eddie has carrots and hummus set in front of it (says he’s craving healthy food, like an absolute weirdo ) while Buck's got some warm cinnamon-sugar toast.

“How long do you think we could keep this thing going?” Buck wonders outloud, biting into a corner of his toast.  “How long before they called our bluff?” 

“I think they’ll figure it out before the week is over,” Eddie shrugs.

“There’s no way.” Buck says, and Eddie shakes his head. 

“They aren’t stupid, buck.” He says, smiling a bit. “They have to know.” 

“Of course they aren’t stupid, eds.” Buck says. “But we were. They have no idea that we’ve wised up in the love department, you know?” 

“Sure.” Eddie says, deadpan. “Hey, when I win this bet-” He smirks, the bastard, “-What do I get as a reward?” 

“Oh, well, I won last night’s bet,” Buck counters. “And I didn’t get anything.” 

“I think you got your reward plenty, Baby.” Eddie says, eyes glimmering with the suggestion. Buck’s entire body flushes. 

“Yeah, okay, point made.” Buck laughs. “If you win-” 

“ When I win,” Eddie insists. 

“If you win… I’ll let you do whatever you want to me,” Buck bats his eyelashes, ducking his head. Eddie sucks in a breath. 

“Anything?” Eddie asks, his eyes flashing in interest. 

“Anything within reason,” Buck amends. But they both know he’ll probably say yes to anything Eddie asks. 

“Deal,” He says. “You have no idea the things i’m planning, sweetheart.” 

So of course, the two of them start to up the antics. Eddie, of course, decides that the best way to win the bet and prove a point is to flirt with Buck, of course. He throws way more complements Buck’s way than would be considered normal. It’s honestly fucking Buck up a little bit, because as much as this is a game, he knows eddie genuinely believes it too. “Good work, Buck.” In the morning obviously evolves to “Oh, you’re so good at that, Buck.” and even “Looking good, Buckley,” by the time lunch rolls around. As the 118 is sitting down for food, Buck hands Eddie a napkin and Eddie responds with “Thank you, Buck. You’re always so good to me.” and then sits down like it’s no big deal. 

“ Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. ” Ravi complains, and Eddie cracks a smile at Buck (one full of pure and utter chaos) before he turns to ravi. 

“What?” He asks, picture of innocence, and Ravi just looks at Eddie like he’s stupid. 

“If you don’t know, I don’t know how to help you.” Ravi states planely. 

“Okay Boys,” Bobby says, clearly amused. “Come on, sit down.” Eddie keeps shooting Buck loaded glances throughout the meal, and buck can’t help but feel smug. 

The rest of the week goes the same. Eddie is basically blatantly hitting on him anytime the 118 is not on a call, but it’s all minuscule stuff that ‘best friends’ could say to each other (however unlikely). It’s like they’ve got their own little secret, their own little inside joke, and it feels so good. A secret harmless and silly, something just for them. Buck actually can’t be normal about it. So when the week’s over, and Buck’s won the game, he kind of feels petulant about it. 

“I honestly didn’t think we’d make it a week without making out in the supply closet,” Eddie muses, taking a small bite of strawberry ice cream and licking his lips. “And then subsequently being caught making out in the supply closet.” They are sitting on their couch after the last shift of the week, small bowls of ice-cream in their hands. 

“Don’t tempt me,” Buck says. “Honestly? I’m kinda sad that the game’s ending now. It was fun.” 

“You're just saying that because you loved me hitting on you all week.” Eddie says. 

“Is that such a crime?” Buck jokes. “To want my big beefy boyfriend to chase me around the firehouse all day?” 

“Oh, is that what you want?” Eddie teases.

 Buck ducks to hide his blushing face behind his own ice cream bowl. “Shut up.” Eddie chuckles at that. 

A moment of comfortable silence passes through them. Eddie runs his fingers through Buck’s hair. 

“You know,” He says, voice darker than it normally is. “We could always extend the bet.” 

Buck squirms in his seat a little. He likes the idea of that. “What do you have in mind?” 

“How long do you think it’s going to take them to realize that we’re a couple?” Eddie asks. The fingers in his hair tighten their grip. “Be honest,” He says, voice like sin, “Don’t you dare lowball me, Buckley. ” 

Buck shivers. He considers, thinking about it for a second. “I think it’ll be a month,” Buck says with confidence. 

“Okay,” Eddie grins, gaining confidence and swagger. “If they call us out before the month is over, I'll win. If it takes longer than that, you win. Yeah?” 

“Yeah, okay,” Buck agrees, and he’s pretty sure he’s red and agreeable to anything Eddie might suggest. He’s not really thinking, even though he stands by the bet he’s made. 

“And buck?” Eddie says. “You have to actually play the game.” 

Buck scrunches up his nose. “What do you mean?” He asks.

“I’m not saying you have to flirt with me, but if you agree, you shouldn’t hold back anymore, okay?” Eddie explains. “Otherwise you’d be throwing the bet in your direction.” Buck cracks a smile, one that’s infectious apparently, eddie’s smile blooming just the same. 

“Okay,” Buck giggles. “But I'm so gonna win.” Eddie just scoffs. 

-X-

Three shifts later, and buck and Eddie are flirting with each other pretty relentlessly. Weirdly enough, most of their flirting just sounds like their regular banter (Buck is an idiot for not getting with Eddie earlier. He’s working through it.) so nobody really bats an eye at it. Buck honestly kind of forgets about the bet. This is just his new normal (and isn’t he so lucky?)

So when someone starts flirting with him on a call, he kind of forgets about being secretive with it. 

It’s this middle aged lady, a little older than him. He saved her from a structure fire in her apartment, and he’s helping her get to a gurney, holding her by the arm. Her knee looks pretty banged up, but it luckily doesn’t look broken.

“Thank you,” She rasps, “For saving me.” She’s sitting on the gurney now, but her hands are still holding onto him and his arms. 

“No problem,” He says, not thinking much of it. Hen comes over to assess her. “It’s kind of my job,” He jokes. 

“Yeah,” She says, a little breathless. Her hands come up a little too far, basically gripping his shoulders and squeezing. “I might need a little more saving,” She says, biting her lip. 

Buck stumbles backwards like he’s been stunned, immediately releasing her from the light grip he’d been using to keep her steady. “Oh!” He says. “Um, no , Ma’am. I have a boyfriend!” 

Her face falls. “Oh, my god. I’m so- Oh my god.” 

He laughs, honestly kind of shaky, just trying to get away from this awkward situation. “Don’t even worry about it, Ma’am. Just um… H-have a nice day.” He quickly walks away from the ambulance. He tugs on the bond with Eddie just to reassure himself, and he actually watches as Eddie's head whips around like he’s just been called by name. 

Buck walks to where Eddie is, leaning on the front of the firetruck. Buck leans against the firetruck, too, and lightly leans his shoulder on eddies. As much as Buck understands why they need scent patches, he wishes that he could smell Eddie for a bit. Mated alpha’s and omegas could help each other with their scents. It biologically steadies the shaken partner, and buck would be lying if he said that cinnamon-and-chocolate wouldn’t reassure him right now. But no, they were on scene.  If he was really feeling bad about it, he could probably pull eddie away to some semi-private place and peel back the scent patch on his wrist. Buck does feel kind of jittery, but more in the light way that would go away in like an hour or two. 

When they get back to the station, almost everyone in the station settled into a couch or a stool at the breakfast nook. Buck, like always, flopped onto a couch and immediately pulled out his phone to start doom scrolling. (Sue him, okay?) But Hen… 

Hen didn’t sit down. 

She stood right in front of Buck, crossing her arms and looming.  

When Buck notices, she raises an eyebrow. He waits for a few seconds. She doesn’t budge. “Can I help you , Hen?” He asks. 

“I’m just wondering when we’re gonna talk about it,” She says, narrowing her eyes. 

“Talk about…?” 

“The thing you said on scene earlier!” She says, and an incredulous look on her face. 

“I literally have no idea what you’re talking about, Hen.” He says, one-hundred percent genuine. “I said a lot of things today.” 

“Okay, How about when you claimed to have a boyfriend when that lady flirted with you?” Hen asks, and immediately the energy in the station gets focused on him. Say what you will about firefighters, but if they are one thing they are gossip mongers. Even Eddie is looking at him, surprise and delight etched into his expression. 

“Uhhhh,” Buck says, kind of feeling called out. “Well… I do.” 

Hen sighs, before putting her head in her hands. “Just tell me it’s not tommy. ” She says. Eddie wrinkles his nose at even the suggestion. Buck feels true disgust boil up. 

“Yuck, no.” Buck says. “It’s someone new.” Buck doesn’t elaborate more than that. Hen’s eyebrows slowly climb with every passing second. 

“Is that all you’re going to tell us about this?” She asks. “God, buck, I normally can’t get you to stop talking about your love life. What's with the secrecy when I want to know?” 

A smile spreads across his face. “I’m not at liberty to say.” Buck snarks. Hen actually scoffs. 

She turns around. “What about you, eddie?” She asks. Oh my god. Buck thinks. Did she figure it out? 

Eddie blushes a little, turning pink. “Uh, What about me?” He asks. 

“What do you know about this mystery man?” She interrogates. 

“Yeah, Eddie.” Buck teases. “What DO you know?” Eddie shoots him a look, glaring daggers at the tone of Buck’s voice. Hey, you wanted me to play the game… Buck says across the bond. 

“Almost nothing,” Eddie lies, ignoring buck. Buck fights the urge to giggle. 

“Wait, wait, wait. You and Buck live together, and are around each other all the time, and you have no clue who the guy is?” Ravi points out, and Buck’s a little surprised. He honestly didn’t think about that when coming up with his story. How would that work?

Eddie, who’s adjusting a little too smoothly to the game, shrugs. “He’s being weirdly secretive about it. I didn’t care enough to push him on it.” 

“Yeah,” Buck says. “I’m keeping him close to the chest, I guess.” He says it way too fondly, and everyone focuses on him. 

“Do you really love him?” Chim asks, fascinated. 

“Yes,” Buck says, a little breathless. He says it without flinching, and more importantly, without thinking. Normally it wouldn't be a problem saying that about someone that you're dating. It’s just that…. 

Okay, It’s not Buck’s first time saying ‘I love you’ To eddie. They used to say it all the time, even if that wasn’t exactly “best bro’s” actions. But it’s his first time saying that he loves Eddie, out loud, in front of people. And his first time implying that he loves Eddie after they’ve been mated and dating. And Buck thinks about all of that way too slowly, after saying it out loud. In front of eddie. 

And Eddie is having a lot of big feelings about it, because Buck is catching glimpses into his mood through the bond. It’s mostly sappy, happy emotions, so buck keeps the lid on his panic a bit. 

“Wow,” Chim says. “We’re happy for you.” 

“You’re going to tell maddie when we get off shift, Huh.” Buck says, a hesitant smile crossing his face. 

“Yup.” He says, grin plastering his face. “I’m already counting the hours.” Buck just groans into his hands at that. He’s sure that he’s looking forward to a call from a Furious and pushy maddie in his future. 

Hen turns to eddie again. “And you really know nothing? ” She questions. “That seems- well, frankly impossible .” 

“Hey!” Buck defends. “I can keep a secret!” 

“Yeah, but not from eddie.” She counters. “The two of you are…” 

“Co-dependant?” Ravi guesses. At the same time Chim says, “Inseparable?” 

Eddie and Buck lock eyes. A bit of humor dances between them, and god. They are so intertwined, and everyone can tell. Everyone can tell, they were made for each other. Eddie is his better half, his other, his whole heart, and everyone in this firehouse can tell. 

“Apparently he can keep a secret,” Eddie says, and there’s a double meaning served up with a side of mischief. Eddie’s talking about their secret, and nobody else knows but Buck, and he’s furthering the game. Buck is trying to hold off a fierce blush right now. “So, what’s he like?” Eddie asks, in a rehearsed casual tone, His brown eyes crinkling in humor. Everyone’s heads snap back towards Buck, all of them equally curious. 

“Ummmmm,” Buck considers. What can he say that’s not going to give him up? “Kind. Heart full of gold. Single father, and his pup is just, so cute, you would not believe. Uh, He's former military, and he has a wretched love for telenovellas and medical dramas, no matter how much he’ll deny that. I don’t really mind, though, it’s adorable.” 

Eddie’s eyes go wide, both with Buck’s besotten tone, But also with the pieces of how Buck sees him. Buck notes it down for later; He’ll make sure to tell Eddie what he sees. Buck sees the good in him. 

“Okkkkayyy, But like.” Ravi takes a deep breath. “That could be any guy on the street. Sell it to me straight: Is he hot?”

“ What? ” Buck giggles, now blushing. 

“C’mon,” Ravi shifts forward, a smirk sealed firmly on his mind. “What does he look like? Is he hot?” 

Buck can not look at Eddie, because he doesn’t want to see the hungry look on his face. God, Buck bites his lip. “I think he’s hot,” Buck answers. He doesn’t expand on it. 

“Boooooooooo,” Chim calls out. “That’s a fakeout, Buck!” 

“Okay, okay,” Buck says, piling up the courage internally. Hen, Chim, and Ravi’s gazes get more intense. “Well, He’s um. He’s an alpha, strong, and uh, lean, I guess? He’s an inch or two shorter than me, but that doesn’t really matter. He’s got short brown hair, with these, huge brown eyes. I’m learning very quickly that my resistance to puppy eyes needs to be stronger if I ever want to get anything done.” Buck giggles, and then he thinks about it for another second, before an idea for playful revenge pops into his head. “Oh, and he’s got this mustache on his face. Yeah, a tiny handlebar mustache that I'm pretty fond of, I guess.”  Buck shrugs, but he can’t keep the smile or the blush off his face. 

“Well now we’re talking!!!” Chim excitedly shouts. “I’m gonna go get Athena to put out an APB on this mystery man.” 

“I’ll dust for prints,” Ravi jumps on. “We’ll have a name before sundown,” He laughs. 

He looks at Eddie, mostly to see his face about the last comment, but he’s not prepared for the open want on his face. It kind of makes Buck want to do something insane, like getting on the floor and crawling to eddie. To be ravaged, cherished. He’s pretty sure he’s going to be devoured when end of shift comes, and buck feels his hind brain purr something about alpha, and nope! Not going there! He’s at work! He has to focus, and not think about that.  

Buck rips his eyes from eddie. “Hey! No police work on my boyfriend. Aren’t you guys firefighters?” 

“Why?” Eddie teases. “Do you not want us to meet him?” He challenges. 

Buck feels a bashful smile spread across his face. “No, I don’t, actually. I want to keep him as just mine for a little while, is that so bad?” Ravi and chimney snicker as Buck watches as Eddie reacts to that, turning bright red. Thankfully, nobody is looking at him, because it would immediately give them away. He can feel the weight of that ownership cross over into Eddie’s brain, and buck feels something that feels close to pride in his chest. He did that to his mate. 

“Wow, am I hearing wedding bells?” Hen says, a joke with a hint of disbelief in her tone. 

Buck sucks in a breath. “Well, I hope so.” Buck lets those words sink into the room, before he nervously bursts out, “ I-mean-it’s-way-too-early-for-that-but-i-just-mean-yeah-i-guess .” There's a beat of silence, before all five of them burst into giggles. “Yeah.” Buck smiles wide. 

“Well, I’m glad someone is having relationship development.” Ravi says. “I was getting bored of ‘My wife’ one-” He points at chimney. “- and ‘My wife’ two,” He points at Hen.

“Woow,” Chim says. “Loving your wife is boring, apparently.” 

“Yes, It is!” Ravi banters. “I want the dating drama.” 

“Whatever,” Hen smirks. 

-x-

Later, When Buck is just heading out of the firehouse at the end of his shift, Hen calls him over to her. “What’s up?” Buck asks. 

“So, about your boyfriend…” Hen says, and buck immediately considers sprinting away from the conversation. 

“Yes, What about him?” Buck asks, even though he for sure doesn’t want to have this conversation. 

“I just…. Well, buck, have you noticed that you’ve got a type?” She asks, cautiously. 

Buck doesn’t expect that. “Uh,” He says, caught off guard. “What do you mean??” 

Hen gives him the don’t-bullshit-me eyes, and just says, “C’mon Buck.” 

“I seriously don’t know what you mean!” Buck protests. 

Hen blows out a deep breath. “You know… Brown eyes, muscular, former military, single father,  alpha?”

“Okay??” Buck says, getting more and more confused by the second. “So?” 

“Is your boyfriend a carbon copy of eddie?” She asks, clearly done with the games.  

Buck turns a bright red. “I-” 

“Listen,” She cuts him off before he can get a word in. “I don’t know what's going on with the two of you, But what is your boyfriend going to think when he finds out that you are mated to another alpha. An Alpha who looks just like him, acts just like him, and is in love with you, by the way.” Buck’s jaw drops, a blush filling out his cheeks. Did Eddie say that to hen? “So, Uh, be careful okay. You might really hurt this mystery man, you know.” 

-x-

“I honestly don’t know what we could do that would break the news to them at this point,” Eddie says. They're standing in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Chris is in his room, gaming with some friends, so buck and eddie are talking through their dinner and talking it through. 

“Maybe you should just kiss me in front of them and then deny it,” Buck suggests. “It would be worth it for their faces.”

“Mhm, and that’s totally the only reason you’d want me to kiss you,” Eddie teases. 

Buck snorts. “Oh babe, I don’t need to concoct some reason to make you kiss me. I’ve got you wrapped around my finger, you know.” 

Eddie’s eyebrows shoot up. “Oh do you?” He asks, clearly amused. 

“Mhmm,” Buck confirms. Eddie’s hand wraps around his jaw, tenderly holding him. Buck flutters his eyelashes at Eddie and that’s all it takes to get Eddie to duck down and kiss buck. God, why did we wait all this time to do this? Buck can’t help but think, again for the like ninth time in these few weeks. 

Eddie pulls back. “Okay,” He says, blushing a bit. “Maybe i’m wrapped around your finger just a little bit. ” Buck giggles. 

“Plus, you can’t just kiss me at this point.” Buck tells eddie. Eddie tilts his head a bit in a why not? gesture. “Hen is convinced that i’m dating a carbon copy of you, so…” 

“Realy?” Eddie asks in disbelief. 

Buck nods. “Yep.” He says, popping the ‘p’. “According to her I have a type.” 

Eddie just chuckles. He bumps his shoulder into Eddie playfully. Everything feels right. 

-x- 

It’s a week later, when they are found out. And it’s all Eddie's fault. 

They are standing in the firehouse kitchen alone, late at night. Well, alone together, if that makes any sense. It’s just them, existing in space. Buck made them both some tea, to hopefully make them sleepy enough to go back to the bunkroom and knock out some sleep before the alarm starts ringing again. It’s not that buck isn’t tired- he’s fucking exhausted. But… 

It should be nothing. 

They responded to a call with a whole bunch of fireworks today. Apparently, some neighborhood kids wanted to celebrate the fourth of July a month early because “All the good ones are on sale.” One of the neighborhood moms saw their little celebration out of context and called 911 because she thought one of the power boxes near her house were sparking- It doesn’t really matter. One of the boys shot off a firework while they were on scene, and while almost everyone flinched… Buck felt a spike of terror shoot through him, and he’d grabbed Eddie's hand. Eddie for sure felt the panic through him, unfortunately. 

Buck hates when eddie worries about him like this. It makes buck feel selfish a little, because how is he making something that happened to eddie all about him? Eddie however, doesn’t let him brush it off. He knows buck, knows exactly whats wrong and what he needs. When buck got up from bed in the bunkroom, eddie was already toeing on his slippers and holding out his hand for buck to take. Now they’re set up in the firehouse kitchen, sitting next to eachother at the counter, stools pulled together so that their knees touch. Buck’s tea is starting to get cold, and he still hasn’t had much of it. 

I’m okay , Eddie says. I’m here.

“I know,” Buck says out loud. “I just…” Buck grimaces at the memory that’s been haunting him since, the tacky hot blood spray. The terror filling him as edie fell, the desperation filling every atom in his body. He sniffles. I love you, Buck says. It seems like a non-sequitur, but Buck has a feeling that Eddie knows what he means. 

“Buck…” Eddie’s eyes soften. He smiles a little through the worry, grabbing Buck's hand and slipping it in his own. “ You saved me, ” Eddie whispers. “ I’m okay now. ” 

Buck lets go of eddie’s hand, instead putting his hand on the back of eddie’s neck. He pulls eddie  towards him, gently resting their foreheads together. They are connected at a few points, the forehead, the tips of their noses, and their knees still pressed together. Buck breathes in, and it feels like the first deep breath he’s gotten all day. They stay like that for a minute, and as much as buck is pulling energy from eddie, he gets the unique feeling that eddie is also relying on buck just as much. 

Buck presses in, just a little, and changes the angle, kissing eddie. It’s not quick or rushed, not passionate and not chaste. Just them, just existing, just a need to be close to one another. 

A sharp gasp rings out through the no-longer-empty kitchen. Buck and Eddie break apart, heads both turning to the top of the stairs where a sleep-mused ravi is standing. 

“Uh-” Buck says, but ravi cuts him off. 

“WHAT TIME IS IT?” Ravi yells excitedly. 

“It’s almost two am…?” Eddie says, confused at this turn of events. 

“YESS!! I WON!!!!!!!” Ravi excitedly jumps up and down. 

“ Shhhh! Ravi, Shut up!! ” Buck hurriedly whispers. “ You’re going to wake the entire station!!!!!! ” 

“Too late…” Someone grumbles from the dark, and suddenly the light is flipped. They all wince at the sudden light, but when buck opens his eyes, bobby, hen, and chimney are all in the common room too. 

“Now,” Bobby says, voice gruff from sleep. “ Why are we yelling instead of sleeping?” 

“Buck and Eddie just kissed-” a sharp gasp from chimney, and hen’s mouth actually drops open- “and it’s officially june first, witch is the month I PREDICTED that they’d get together!” Ravi excitedly tells them. “Oh, and happy pride, By the way. ”

Beside him, eddie starts giggling. Buck tries not to, but the lack of sleep and frankly insane situation in front of them doesn’t help, and he quickly finds himself cracking up, too. 

“What?” Ravi asks. “I finally won a genuine 118 bet!” 

“Oh, ravi…” Buck trails off. “I hate to tell you this but-” 

“We’ve been dating for several weeks,” Eddie cuts him off, and buck can’t help but break into another bout of laughter. 

“WHAT?” Chimney bursts out. Hen hangs her head.

“Suprise?” Buck says. Bobby shakes his head, disappearing into his office. 

“But wait!” Hen points at buck. “You have a boyfriend!”

“Yeah hen…” Buck says. “Eddie. Eddie is my boyfriend.” 

“...I hate you.” She says. Buck just grins back. 

Bobby returns from his office, holding two folders. He hands one to Buck and one to Eddie. “These are mostly filled out already, But i need you to sign and date.” Bobby tells them. When buck opens the folder, he sees that it’s the proper paperwork for reporting a relationship, with buck and eddie’s names already written at the top of the first page.

“Thanks cap, but uh… Why is it dusty?” eddie asks. 

“Oh, I’ve had those for forever.” Bobby says, and suddenly Buck wants to cry. 

“Man, I relay wanted to win that,” Ravi complains, and all the tension seeps out of buck again. 

Yeah, it was never a question of if. It was a matter of when. 

Chapter Text

To be fair to Buck and Chris, Eddie was the one who ultimately decided to get the dog. 

Okay, it was Chris’s idea. Ever since he’s heard about the brief stint where Buck had rescued a dog, Chris was deadset on getting one (“To keep forever this time,” He’s said. Buck almost gave in that time, because his face was so full of joy. ) He’s been playfully pestering the two of them ever since. He’s shown them countless facebook and instagram posts of puppies in their area who need saving, they’ve collectively gone to the shelter several times. Not to mention how Chris keeps dropping facts about dogs and mental health supports. 

“You know that Dogs are good for family packs?” Chris not-so-subtly slips into the dinner conversation. Eddie shoots him an amused look, a little ‘oh-here-we-go’ face. “Any size, Any breed, they say.” He continues. “Helps strengthen pack bonds and dynamics.” 

“Is that so?” Eddie says, indulging his son.

“Yeah,” Chris says, not even looking up from his plate. “It’s one of the reasons why firehouses used to have dalmations. What's a firefighter without a dog?” 

“How much time have you spent researching the benefits of getting a dog?” Buck asks, amused. 

“Well, I've got to spend a lot of time on it,” Chris says in that i’m-smart-and-your-dumb voice all teenagers have. “It’s my summer research project.” 

“From the email I got it’s supposed to be a partner's project, Christopher.” Eddie says. “You have to get the go-ahead from whoever you’re paired with.”  

“Oh, Alex said that it’s fine. He loves dogs, has two of them,” Chris says. “Plus he said I could pick the project topic because he had no ideas. He said it was cool of me to pick something so easy to research but he doesn’t know how deep I plan to go on this.” 

And maybe it’s the soft tone, or the way Chris is fiddling with his sleeves, but alarm bells start to go off in his head. Buck throws a glance at Chris and he can’t help but notice the growing blush on his face. 

“Soo, Uh…” Buck clears his throat. “You know the guy you’re paired up with?” 

“Oh, Yeah.” Chris ducks his head. “Uh, This is Alex from the 7th grade? We kept in touch all throughout Texas because we like to play COD together.” He pushes some of the food on his plate around. He looks lost in another world. 

Eddie raises his eyebrows from across the table. 

“So when I saw that he was going to be in the same class as me this year, and Ms.Saunders emailed and said we had to pair up with someone for a summer project, me and him figured…” Chris shrugged. “Easy.” 

“Is this the Alex you also spend all your time texting, as of late? ” Buck asks, putting on that i-know-what's-going-on-here tone , and Chris turns a deeper shade of red. 

“We don’t talk that much,” Chris grumbles. “I haven't texted him the entire time we’ve been sitting at the dinner table.” 

A beat of silence follows, and Buck watches as Chris's eyes slide to the forgotten phone flipped face-down on the table. 

“Now that you’ve said it out loud you want to check it, don’t you?” Buck guesses. 

“Whatever,” Chris says, flipping his phone over to look through his notifications. 

Eddie chuckles, taking his plate to the sink. “Give him a break, Buck.” He says. “If we could text our friends when we were kids, we’d be insufferable too.” 

Buck Raises his eye at “friend” and Chris continues to try not to make eye contact with him. “Yeah,” Buck says, smirking a little. Chris has a crush, it’s adorable. “You’re probably right.” 

Anyways, when Chris had suggested they’d go to the “Meet a dog” event put on by the police station, Buck and Eddie were already primed to say yes. They’d been visiting animal shelters for weeks now, always setting up the expectation with Chris that they were here to visit, not adopt. Chris had been on his best behavior up to this point, always toeing the line but never pushing it when it came to asking about adopting the dogs they went to see. 

So when he produced a flier for the Meet a dog event and promised to be on his best behavior, Buck and Eddie figured they’d make a little family outing out of it. 

They’d been walking around for about an hour- well, Buck and Eddie were walking. Chris was practically running, moving from one pen to another as fast as he possibly could. He was making friends out of all the dogs and volunteers. Mostly the dogs. Eddie and Buck were trailing behind him. 

“Good afternoon!” Buck says to the worker at the pen that Chris has stopped at. 

“Why, Hello!” The worker says. “Looking for a Dog today?” 

“We’re just visiting.” Eddie says. Laughter bubbles up from the puppy pen, where Chris is on his knees, greeting the dog, who’s sitting next to him and gently licking his face. Buck feels himself soften at the image. 

“Well, That’s good too!” The worker says. “I’m Emily and this is Kujo!” 

“Hi Kujo!” Chis says, and the German shepherd gives one small bark, as if to say hello back. Chris giggles again, and then says “Hello!” 

“What’s his story?” Buck asks. “He’s too big to be a puppy; Did he get abandoned?” 

“Uhh, Actually! Kujo was an Army dog!” Emily says, handing Eddie a pamphlet. “He was a bomb sniffer dog, and he saw several years of active duty.” 

“Don’t they Usually go home with their handlers?” Eddie asks. It’s the first time he’s asked a question all day. 

“Well,” Emily wrings her hands. “His handler had an allergic son.” 

“Ah.” Buck says. 

Eddie’s eyebrows furrow. Buck can tell that Eddie feels wrong. “And he hasn’t been adopted yet?” Eddie asks. Buck kind of wants to comfort him, and while he doesn’t know exactly what Eddie is thinking, he’s got a pretty good idea of what Eddie's feeling. 

“He has been adopted.” She says. “And returned, twice.” 

“Oh no!” Buck gasps. “Who would do that?” 

“Well, I think the families who previously housed him didn’t understand kujo and his needs prior to adopting him.” Emily says, practiced sympathy in her voice. “He has pretty strong separation anxiety, can tear into things, and is very, uh, protective. He barks a lot, and sometimes growls if he feels threatened. He’s pretty battle hardened.” 

“That’s hardly his fault,” Eddie says. Buck can’t help the way his hand shoots out to grab one of Eddie's. Eddie is distressed, and he’s holding it together pretty well on the outside. Buck suspects he’s the only one who can see how deeply it’s bothering him. He runs his thumb across Eddie's, and presses a quick message of I’m Here, across the bond. He can tell that Eddie appreciates it, and Eddie sends a quick I’m okay Back. 

“I agree.” Emily says. “That's why I volunteered to be his buddy today. I wanted to impress his past on anyone who showed interest. I doubt he can handle finding another family and then getting returned to the shelter.” 

“That’s so sad,” Chris says, and when Buck looks at him again he’s hugging the dog, arms wrapped around Kujo, and hands buried in the fur. 

Eventually they move on from Kujo’s playpen, But Buck notices how Eddie doesn’t let go of the pamphlet for Kujo. Buck notices how when they get home, it goes in the junk drawer instead of in the trash. Buck notices how Eddie's eyes wander to the drawer every few minutes that night. 

Buck notices when he wakes up that his mate is already out of bed. 

Eddie’s always been an early riser, something he says was trained into him in the army. He manages to sleep in on good days, but it’s not uncommon for Eddie to have been awake before Buck for a few hours, actually. It takes Buck a few seconds to wonder why the cold sheets are so concerning to him, this particular moment. That's when he notices… The bed smells all wrong. Too much like Buck. So that probably means that Eddie didn’t come to bed at all last night. 

He finds Eddie at the kitchen table, staring at the pamphlet. 

Buck doesn’t immediately seek him out. Sometimes immediately asking a million questions about whatever Eddie's thinking while he’s still processing is a bad idea. Eddie needs time to slowly pull himself up from the world he’s in. Buck understands that, somewhat. So he goes for the coffee pot first. He grabs Eddie's already existing mug off the table, and he grabs one of his mugs off the shelf. He fills them with coffee and all the specifications Eddie likes. 

When he returns to the table, He puts Eddie's mug down, then his own. Eddie mutters some thanks, and buck sits down a little too close on purpose, knocking knees with eddie. 

“I can’t stop thinking about that dog.” Eddie says, unprompted. “He needs a good home.”

“Okay,” Buck says. 

Eddie pulls a face. “Okay?” He asks, amused. “Just like that?” 

“I mean,” Buck says. “Do you want me to put up a fight?”

“I just want to be able to say that we thought about it beforehand,” Eddie says. “I don’t want to rush into it because I'm…” He sighs. “Biased and emotional.” 

“Let’s think about it.” Buck says, resting his hand on the table. “Kujo would be a lot of work, but we have the time and resources. It would make Chris very happy, But we’d probably have to get on his nerves more often. And he couldn’t go over to friends' houses as often. It would be a bit of an impulse decision, but… uhh…” 

Eddie laughed, sensing that Buck ran out of excuses. “Dogs strengthen family packs.” He smiles. “And what’s a firefighter without a dog?” 

“Exactly!” Buck barks out between laughs. 

“Well, We’re off this Wednesday and thursday.” Buck Says. “Why don’t you call the shelter sometime today or tomorrow? I’ll start a list of the things we’ll need to get.”

Eddie’s eyes shine a little. Thank you for doing this with me. He thinks. Buck smiles. 

Buck lazily lays his hand on Eddie's cheek. We can do anything together. Buck passes back to him. And I’m Happy to do this for you. 

They sit in silence for a second. Eddie huffs a small laugh. “Well, Theres only one question left,” He says. Buck gives him a questioning look. “Who’s gonna get to tell chris?” 

-x-

“Can you please just tell me where we’re going?” Chis asks for the fifteenth time, clearly exasperated. 

“We’re actually here,” Buck says, and Chris immediately looks out the window. 

“Some public park?” He observes. And then, Buck can see the moment that he sees Emily and Kujo break through the tree line. He quickly scrambles for the door, grabbing his crutches and getting his feet under him. He meets Kujo halfway up the path, and they are both so excited to see each other. 

“Kujo!” Chris calls, as kujo happily licks at his hands and knees. “And Emily!” 

“Hi Chris!” She says. “Are you excited to bring Kujo home?” 

He looks up at her with wide eyes. “What?” He asks, Before whipping around and looking at Buck and Eddie. “What????” 

“Oh! I spoiled the surprise?” Emily asked, and Buck laughed a bit. “Whoops!” 

“Are we getting a dog?” Chris asks, voice full of excitement and wonder. “Really?? For real???”

“Yes, We’ve adopted Kujo.” Eddie smiles, and Chris Breaks into a wide grin. “We’re bringing him home tonight, after we go to the pet store and pick some things out for him.” 

“YES!!” Chris yells, and Kujo starts barking in excited solidarity. “You’re coming home with us, Kujo!” Chris turns to Buck and Eddie and starts a string of “thank you thank you thank you thank yo-” that doesn’t stop until they get to the pet store. 

So every time Kujo hides shoes, or tears up random paper and trash, or is a little too loud at three in the morning, Buck rejoices in telling Eddie that he chose to get the dog in the first place. Even though, to be fair, it was Chris’s and Buck’s Idea first.