Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It really wasn’t Ravis fault that he found out, it was entirely Buck’s fault actually. Ravi was in the middle of folding up the duvet he had been using, when Buck walked into the almost empty bunkroom. He barely acknowledged Ravi before walking over to Eddie —The only other person in the room—, who was still asleep. Buck bent over Eddie, bracing himself with his arms either side of Eddie's head. And then he kissed Eddie. Buck had kissed Eddie. Right in front of Ravi.

“Food’s ready.” Buck’s voice was unbearably fond, and he dropped another kiss onto Eddie's lips before standing back up.

Eddie's fingers wrapped around one of Buck's wrists, tugging slightly. Buck huffed

“No, Eddie, get up.”

Eddie opened his eyes and groaned. He stood up, stretching his arms above his head, popping his spine. Eddie let his arms fall onto Buck’s shoulders, pulling him down into another kiss.

Ravi didn’t really know what to do. On one hand he wanted to book it, run away, get out, out, out. He felt like he was intruding on an intimate moment, and he needed to leave. But on the other hand he liked to gossip, and had never been ashamed to admit to being nosey. And it wasn’t like leaving the bunkroom would magically change the fact that Ravi had been standing there, nor that he saw– whatever the fuck that was. So Ravi just, well, stood. Standing, observing, and gawking at his coworkers.

Buck turned his head towards Ravi, “Dinner.” was all he said

Which, “Huh?”

Buck dropped his hands from Eddie’s waist and turned to fully face Ravi. And when the fuck did his hands get there. Ravi’s mouth had apparently decided —Without checking in with his brain, mind you— to keep going.

“Wait, what– no. Huh? What, Wh– no.”

And Eddie, the asshole, laughed at Ravi, folding his arms over his chest, before saying the first coherent thing he had said since waking up. “You alright, kid? Bobby made soup.”

And that had, quite literally, nothing to do with anything. Both Eddie and Buck were looking at Ravi expectantly, as if he was the one who needed to explain himself. He sat down on his bunk —Crumpling the covers he had just finished straightening out— with a loud groan. Buck tilted his head and squinted at Ravi, seemingly trying to understand why he was acting weirdly.

“Why has no one warned me about all–” he cut himself off and waved his hand aimlessly towards the couple. “that?”

That apparently made it click for Buck, he spoke hesitantly, as if he was piecing together brand new information “No one... no one told you we’re married?”

And... what? “No? You two are married?”

Now, it wasn’t like Ravi hadn’t immediately upon meeting Buck and Eddie assumed they were together, because he had. But Hen had seemed so earnest when she had told him they were just friends.

“Hen lied to me.” He didn't really say it to anyone in particular, he just, kind of, said it.

It was Eddie's turn to be confused now, “What?” he chuckled, and oh god.

Ravi covered his face with his hands. “This was totally some elaborate prank wasn’t it? Everyone pretends you two aren’t together, just to see how long it takes before I figure it out. Oh my god.”

The realisation felt heavy with embarrassment on Ravi’s shoulders, he slumped forward, groaning again.

“Why would we do that?” Eddie’s voice was gentle, like he was comforting a child. The worst part was that it was actually comforting.

Ravi dropped his hands into his lap, staring at them as he picked on his cuticles, shoulders slumped. “I don’t know, some sick initiation bullshit maybe? How am I supposed to know?” God, he felt like a kid.

Buck’s voice was just as soft as Eddie’s had been when he spoke “Probie, this is a workplace, not a gang. We don’t do initiations.”

Ravi huffed, ignoring the urge to correct Buck —Because Ravi wasn’t a probie anymore— “Whatever.”

Eddie continued where Buck left off. “And no one is pranking you. At least not that we know of.”

Ravi felt like he was being scolded by insanely concerned parents. He looked up at the older men, and now he definitely needed the subject to change because they were both looking at him with soft, unreadable expressions that made the skin on his back itch.

Any other subject, something that wasn’t related to Ravi. “How long have you been married?”

And that was clearly the right thing to ask, because both their faces lit up, and Eddie sounded, in Ravi’s opinion, disgustingly happy when he said “Well, Christopher was five, so about nine years.”

“Oh?” Ravi hoped he would just keep talking, which he did.

“Yeah, we wanted to wait until he was big enough to take part in it.”

“That’s cute.” Please, please, please, just keep talking.

“Yeah, Buck insisted.”

“Huh.” Shit.

The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, it was just that Ravi was uncomfortable. Anything, good lord, just say something.

“What kind of soup did Cap make?” Good, that was good.

Buck hummed slightly before answering. “Pumpkin, I think. C’mon, let’s go.”

Ravi followed behind the other two, stopping for a moment to contemplate re-making his bunk, but Eddie hadn’t even pulled the duvet properly on the bed, half of it was on the floor, so Ravi decided it didn’t matter.

(Buck was wrong, it was some kind of fish-something. How he had managed to mix up pumpkin soup and something that was honestly more fish stew than soup, was beyond Ravi.)

Chapter Text

Ravi was sitting next to Christopher by the kitchen island in the Diaz-Buckley house. He had come over for dinner —Which had somehow become a common occurrence—.

“What inspired you to pursue your current career?”

Christopher had sat Ravi down the second he walked into the house, because ‘I need to interview people in three different professions about their jobs. And Pappa says I need to talk to non-parent people, which is stupid because Mr. Garcia didn’t say that, but whatever.’ So now he was being interrogated by a fourteen year old boy.

“Uhh, I don’t really know.”Ravi said, Christopher rewarded him with an unimpressed look.

“Okay, okay, well, I guess I just always kinda wanted to be a fireman.” he paused, but Chris had his hands in his lap, not even touching his keyboard, it was clear he wanted a better answer. So Ravi kept going

“But, I think what really inspired me to pursue my current career” Ravi would never have poked fun at a question Chris asked, but that was clearly one of Mr. Garcia’s questions, so he couldn't help himself. “was probably my cancer.”

Chris started dutifully typing away while Buck stilled his chopping, but neither of them said anything.

“Not directly, but,” Ravi sighed “I wanted to be like all the nurses and doctors who saved my life, I guess, I wanted to help people”

Buck resumed his tomato chopping, and Chris nodded.

“Why’d you become a firefighter, I mean, why not work in health care?” Christopher asked.

Ravi laughed slightly “I was intimidated by the schooling. And I never really wanted to work in healthcare. I just looked up to– and I still do, look up to them. And y’know there’s more than one way to be of service.”

Ravi paused for a second. “Plus, well, big, strong fireman.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows, earning an amused scoff from Christopher. And if making a teenager, one that was doing homework, laugh —well not really laugh, but whatever— wasn’t an achievement, Ravi didn’t know what was

Buck huffed a laugh “That’s probably the strongest argument I've ever heard.”

Ravi smiled “What, the cancer sob-story?”.

Ravi needed to make it a joke. He always felt weird bringing up his medical history, it always made people pity him. Buck just rolled his eyes fondly, shaking his head slightly. He looked like he was gonna say something, but Eddie cut him off by barging into the kitchen, haul in hand.

“I got you your stupid, expensive ketchup.” He hadn’t, it was tomato puree, but Buck didn’t correct him, instead he said

“You get what you pay for, love.”

Eddie huffed, setting the puree next to Buck’s chopping board. “They taste the same. Hey Ravi.”

Buck poked Eddie in the ribs with his elbow, but didn’t make a move to argue beyond that.

Ravi greeted the older man “Hi.”.

Eddie frowned slightly, “Did you-” Chris cut him off.

“Would you say your job is rewarding?”Christopher asked. Eddie snapped his mouth shut, sending his son a dirty look.

“Yes.” Ravi didn’t hesitate. “It’s hard work, but it’s so incredibly worth it.”

Christopher nodded again. He was reading something on his screen

“Jesus christ,”

“Language.” Buck interrupted.

Christopher ignored him “some of these questions are so stupid.”

Ravi raised his eyebrows “Yeah?”

“Mhm, like, ‘Does your profession require a uniform, if yes, do you think it’s necessary?’, how– why is that important?”

Ravi hummed in intrigue “Do you have to use all the questions?”

Chris pulled a face, “Yes.”

Ravi couldn’t help but laugh, a small thing, but enough to make Christopher's face soften. “Well, firefighters actually have a few different uniforms, and I do think they are necessary.”

Chris huffed, way too similar to Eddie. “Obviously.”

Chris stood up from his stool “That’s all the questions, I’m gonna go to my room and try to write a text around this.” Ravi nodded, but Christopher was already gone.

“God, they do really just grow up so fast, don’t they?” Eddie said.

Buck hummed slightly, but he was busy digging through the spice drawer.

“Can’t say I have much experience.” Ravi responded. “Who else is he interviewing?”

Buck had found what he was looking for “Aha! Uhh, he already interviewed both Karen and Athena.” Buck’s attention was barely directed towards the two other men in the room.

“Huh, I for sure thought firefighter would be the first to be checked off his list.” Ravi said

Eddie chuckled “If we let him interview us, sure. But you took too long to come over this week, so they beat you to it.”

Ravi hummed. His face scrunched up in thought. “Why didn’t he ask someone else? I mean, both Athena and Karen come with a firefighter.”

Eddie smiled “Karen just popped over to pick up Denny, and he didn’t even mention interviewing Bobby when him and Athena came over for dinner.” He paused for a moment. “He said he wanted to ask you.”

Oh. God fucking damnit. “I guess I’m just that cool.”

Eddie scoffed. “Did you cut your hair?”

Okay, sure. “Yeah, d'ya like it?” Ravi tilted his head slightly.

“It’s nice” Eddie sounded fond, but Ravi didn’t mind. Ravi always felt comfortable in the Diaz house, it wasn’t like coming home, but it was a close thing.

Ravi watched Buck stir the ground beef in the frying pan when he realised, “You don’t wear rings.”

Eddie, who had also been watching Buck, looked over at Ravi, dazed. “Huh? Oh, yeah, no.” He paused and took a breath. “We weren’t really in a spot where getting rings was a financially logical decision when we got married– or engaged.”

Ravi nodded. “That makes sense.”

Eddie looked relieved, for some reason that Ravi didn’t understand. “We talked about getting rings for our tenth.” There was something so insecure about Eddie's tone.

“And?” Ravi tried to convey his interest.

“We’re getting tattoos”

Ravi wasn’t following. “Of, like, wedding bands, or?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Ravi didn’t really understand the obvious anxiety radiating off of both Buck and Eddie, but he didn’t want to pry. The longer the silence stretched the less on-edge they seemed, so Ravi decided he didn’t have to worry too hard, if they wanted to tell him, they would.

“What’s the expensive-ketchup-tomato-puree thing about?” Eddie groaned loudly and thumped his head down onto the island. Buck, however, spun around to look at Ravi. He looked way too exited and Ravi had definitively fucked up, but it was too late.

(As it turns out; there's a lot more to tomatoes, ketchup and puree than Ravi ever thought.)

Chapter Text

They were seated by the large dining table in the Grant-Nash’s house. ‘They’ being Athena, Buck, Christopher, Denny, Eddie, Karen and Ravi. Chris and Denny were sitting at the far end of the table, laughing and whispering about something on Christopher’s phone. At the other end, Athena was telling a story about when May was apartmenthunting.

“–So I asked him why he wasn’t selling the property.” Athena said.

“Wait,” Buck cut her off. “He wasn’t selling it?”

Athena replied. “No, he was looking for renters.”

Eddie looked over at his son, and spoke softly. “Christopher,” Eddie waited until Chris looked up to continue “veinte minutos.”

“But, if he was moving to a different country would it not be more logical to sell?” Buck asked

Christopher groaned “¿Realmente tenemos que irnos tan pronto?”

“Well, that’s why I asked him.” Athena said.

“Anyway,” Athena continued. “He started talking about how ‘he should still be allowed to be successful’ and that ‘this was the reason he was moving’”

Eddie smiled at his son “Se supone que te tienes que ir a la cama en media hora. Ya te estás quedando despierto más tarde de lo que habíamos acordado.”

Ravi didn’t understand what Eddie and Chris were saying, nor was he really paying attention, —He was more interested in the story Athena was telling— but Christopher didn't seem too happy when he responded. “Pero el primer período se cancela mañana, así que ni siquiera tengo que levantarme tan temprano.”

“Turns out, he was under investigation.” Athena lowered her voice. “Apparently this guy worked at some big jewelry store, and he had been counterfeiting and stealing the goods.”

Eddie was silent for a second before he said “No soy con quien deberías tener esta conversación. Tu padre es quien te llevará a la escuela mañana, así que deberías tener esta conversación con él.”

“Wait, what?” Karen asked. “How does that make him not want to sell?”

Christopher looked at Buck “Pappa.”, he waited until Buck’s attention shifted from Athena to him “¿Qué te parece esto? Si nos quedamos una hora más, me iré a la cama inmediatamente cuando lleguemos a casa.”.

“I was getting to that.” Athena said, almost annoyed. “From what I was told, he thought renting out the house, instead of selling it, would make it seem less like he was fleeing.”

Buck chuckled “En este punto, te irás a la cama tan pronto como lleguemos a casa, sin importar cuándo.”

Christopher pouted at his answer.

“So,” Ravi asked. “His grand plan was, step one: steal necklace, step two: make copy of necklace, step three: plant copy, step four: leave the country.”

Buck hesitated for a second before he continued “Pero podemos quedarnos treinta minutos más. Entonces tendrás cuarenta minutos.”.

“He made the copies before he stole the jewellery, and he stole mostly bracelets.” Athena clarified.

Christopher nodded thoughtfully. “¿Cuarenta más y nos quedamos otra hora?” He said.

“Ahaa.” Karen said. “So, step one: copy, step two: plant, step three: steal, step four flee.”

Buck looked at Eddie, who, in response, half shrugged, “Up to you.” he said.

“Seems so.” Athena said.

Ravi asked “And why would he not sell the house?”

Buck looked back at Christopher “Fine.”

Athena shrugged, but Karen proposed a theory. “Maybe… maybe he thought that not selling would seem like he was planning to return? Maybe he was planning to return.”

Christopher cheered silently “Thank you, Pappa.”

Athena gave Buck a quizzical look. “I didn’t know you speak spanish, Buckaroo.” She said, ending the conversation about jewelry-thief-theories.

Buck’s face did something weird, and Ravi bit the inside of his cheek in an attempt to stifle his laughter.

Buck answered hesitantly “Why wouldn't I?”.

Karen joined in the conversation “Better question, why would you?”.

Buck just laughed, which definitely didn't help neither Karen nor Athena understand. Ravi —Who had not laughed, thank you for asking— decided he should join, and then completely derail, the conversation

“Did you guys know that only about thirteen percent of spanish speakers are second language speakers?”.

Karen just looked at him for a few seconds before saying “What?”.

Ravi nodded and continued. “Yeah, which in comparison to Urdu’s seventy percent, and french’s seventy six percent, is pretty low.”

Buck seemed to be the only one following Ravi’s train of thought. He nodded while saying, mockingly serious “And in comparison to Modern Standard Arabic’s one hundred percent it’s very low.”.

Ravi smiled while rolling his eyes “That’s an unfair comparison.”.

“What?” Karen asked, again.

“From what I remember,” Ravi began. “Arabic speakers learn their respective dialects, Standardised Arabic isn’t learned until formal education. ” Buck nodded along.

Karen said “I’m so confused.”, and Buck just smiled brightly at her. As if that helped.

(E:Christopher, twenty minutes.
C:Do we really have to leave so soon?
E:You're supposed to go to bed in half an hour. You're already staying up later than we agreed.
C:But first period is cancelled tomorrow, so I don't even have to get up that early.
E:I'm not the one you should be having this conversation with. Your father is the one who will be taking you to school tomorrow, so you should be having this conversation with him.
C:Dad[Buck]. How about this? If we stay another hour, I'll go to bed immediately when we get home.
B:At this point, you'll be going to bed as soon as we get home, no matter when.
B:But we can stay thirty more minutes. Then you will have fifty minutes.
C:Forty more and we stay another hour?)

Chapter Text

Buck groaned. “You literally speak Swedish, why am I doing this?”

Eddie looked down from where he was hanging the curtains. Looking at his husband who was sitting criss-cross-applesauce in the middle of Ravis —Mostly empty— living room.

“You speak Swedish just as well as I do, Buck.” He said, turning back to the yellow fabric.

“Well, I can’t read it.” Buck argued.

“Those are drawings, Buck, I don’t think reading comprehension plays a part here.” Ravi argued back.

When Buck and Eddie had offered to help him move Ravi had been more than grateful, and he still was. The takeout they had brought with them had been great, and they were pretty helpful when it came to carrying furniture. It did however seem like the Ikea-armchair-directions had bested Buck. And Ravi was forever grateful to his mom for hemming the curtains, as Eddie had been grumbling about ‘all this goddamn fabric’ the entire time he was putting up the first set, and Ravi feared Eddie would have had a conniption if they weren’t hemmed.

“I just feel like the tasks could have been distributed better.” Buck said

Eddie rolled his eyes as he slid the second set of curtains onto the second rod. “You picked your own task.” He said.

Buck just huffed in response.

“I mean,” Ravi teased as he tightened one of the screws holding the coffee table together. “We could switch, if you want to.”

“Ha, ha.” Buck deadpanned.

“No, maybe the table would be easier for you.” Eddie said while stepping off the folding ladder he had been standing on. “You know, with it being square and all.”

Ravi giggled. Buck on the other hand scoffed, “What’s that supposed to mean?” he followed Eddie with his eyes as Eddie walked towards him.

Eddie stopped a little longer than an arms length away from Buck, shrugging as he said “I just mean that maybe seeing yourself in the object would make it easier.”

Buck squawked in indignation and tried to swat at Eddie, but he was too far away. “You’re so mean, I can’t believe I married you.”

Eddie helped Ravi turn the table right way up while saying “And still, I don’t think you regret it.”

Buck looked like he was about to continue the bickering, but instead he said “Wait, what? How the fuck are you done?”

“It really isn’t that difficult.” Ravi responded.

“No, but it is though.” Buck said.

“Do you want help?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah.” Buck said slowly.

Eddie sat down next to Buck in the mess of screws, pegs and armchair-limbs.

“I’ll go get the living room boxes.” Ravi said as he walked out into the hallway.

Ravi was really happy with the new house, it had needed some work when he bought it, but it had really come together great. When he was stood in the back of the U-haul looking through the boxes, one of his new neighbors greeted him from the other side of the hedge.

“Hey!” She said “You just moving in?”

Which like, yeah? Why else would he have a huge moving truck parked in the driveway of a house that had been vacated for almost seven years?

Ravi turned his head to look at her “Yeah, I am.”

“I’m glad to see some younger people moving in. I’m getting really tired of all the retirees who have nothing better to do than yell at me.” She said, but of course she couldn’t just leave it at that, so she continued “Are you moving in by yourself, or with a girlfriend, or?”

What was this girl getting at? She was at most fifteen, so she could not be hitting on him. Hopefully she was just strange-weird and not creepy-weird.

Ravi sighed, “No girlfriend, no.” he turned his attention back to the cardboard boxes

And because she would not just drop it and leave him alone, she asked “Boyfriend then?”

And something about the way she said it made Ravis blood boil. Like she was admitting something by asking him. He looked back up at her. This time he really looked, and, oh. The hope in her eyes almost made Ravi nauseous.

He picked up one of the boxes, jumping down from the truck, and pushing the door shut. “No.” He said not unkindly, but definitely toeing the line. And walked inside.

Ravi kicked the door shut behind him and looked at the box in his arms. It read ‘bathroom’ in big, bold, bright red letters across the side of it. Ravi groaned and walked down the hallway. That’s what he gets for grabbing the first box he could reach.

When he made his way back to the living room –Cardboard box no longer in hand.— he was met with a fully put together armchair, and Buck and Eddie sitting on the floor in front of it.

They stopped their conversation when they noticed him. Buck raised an eyebrow “No box?” he said.

Ravi sighed and sat down with them, back against the coffee table. “There was a box, it just wasn’t a living room box.” He said.

“Okay?” Eddie said.

“I don’t think I like my neighbor all that much.” Ravi said.

And Eddie, like the asshole he is, laughed at him. “What, did a stay-at-home-mom with her kids name on the back of her van bully you into getting the wrong box?”

“No,” Ravi said matter of factly “her thirteen year old daughter did.”

Now both Eddie and Buck were laughing at him.

“I just don’t like the way she looked at me!” Ravi said in faux offence.

Buck laughed even harder at that. “The way she looked at you!”

“Shut up, you can’t even put together a chair.” Ravi giggled.

Eddie laughed at both of them. Buck kicked Ravi lightly in the shin, which quickly devolved into a play-fight.

(Eddie won.)

Chapter Text

Ravi was just finishing the pizza dough when his phone rang. He dried his hands off on his apron before picking up.

“Hey dude!” Ravi said into the phone.

“Ravi, god.” Buck sounded frazzled. “Would–” There was some muffled noise on Buck’s end. “Yeah, I know... No, no, yeah.”

“Uh, Buck?” Ravi tried to get his attention.

“Right, sorry man.” Buck said. “Would you be able to watch Christopher tonight? I know it’s pretty short notice, but, well,” He laughed awkwardly “something came up, and, y’know? But I– I mean, if you’re busy, obviously that’s fine. It’s just that–”

Ravi cut him off “Yeah, I can watch Chris, that’s no problem. Like, just this evening, or overnight?”

Buck sighed. “Thank you so much. If you could, overnight would be great.”

“Of course, Buck.” Ravi said.

“Thank you, um...” there was more muffled noise “In the cabinet. No, under the sink... yes. Sorry, Ravi. We’ll be there in like thirty, thirty-five minutes, maybe?”

“That’s perfect.” Ravi said.

~~~

Exactly thirty-three and a half minutes later the dough was done rising, the pizza sauce was finished, and Eddie and Christopher were standing on Ravi’s front step.

Ravi stepped to the side in order to let Christopher in. It was far from the first time Chris was staying at Ravi’s —Even in the new house—, so he offered Ravi a quick greeting before making his way down the hall towards the guest room.

“Thank you so much for watching him.” Eddie said. “My tía cancelled on us at the last minute– or I mean, yeah... whatever, man. Thank you.”

“Of course, dude. It really isn’t an issue.” And it wasn’t, it never was. Still, Ravi had to make sure, “Just, everyones okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, oh my god.” Eddie seemed surprised by the question. “Everyones okay. It’s just our wedding anniversary, and we have a reservation in, like, an hour. My tía was supposed to watch him this weekend, but she got stuck in a situation at work.” He clarified.

“Oh, congrats, dude.” Ravi said. “I could take him the whole weekend if you needed.”

“Would you?”

“Of course, Eddie.”

“Thank you so much, Ravi.”

Ravi shut the door while Eddie kept muttering ‘thanks’-s all the way down the front stairs. Ravi turned around and was met with a pretty-excited-but-too-much-of-a-teenager-to-let-it-show Christoper.

“Are you making pizza?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, you like mushrooms, right?” Ravi grinned while he said it.

Christopher rolled his eyes, “You know I don’t.” he said. “You’re not even funny.”

“I like to think I’m pretty funny.” Ravi said mockingly offended.

“‘Course you do.” Christopher said while walking into the kitchen.

Chris was already tying an apron around his waist when Ravi was done washing his hands. Ravi poured the dough onto the counter, splitting it in half and giving one of the dough-balls to Chris.

Chris shaped his dough into a nice, flat, only slightly oval, circle while Ravi got the pizza toppings —Cheese, ham, pepperoni, onion and mushrooms, because Ravi does like mushrooms— out of the fridge.

Chris looked at the toppings, —ladle of sauce paused halfway out of the pan— and scoffed.

“You’re very mean, has anyone ever told you that?” There was no heat behind Ravi’s words.

“Nah, most people think I’m decently kind, so you’re kinda the odd one out here.” If Ravi didn’t already know he was Eddie’s son that would probably have clued him in.

Ravi just huffed in response.

“I got my paper back.” Chris said while carefully dicing the onion.

“Oh?” It took Ravi a second to catch up to what Chris was talking about. “What d’ya get on it?” He asked.

“It wasn’t a graded assignment, but Mr. Gracia said he liked it. He asked if he could use it as an example text when presenting the task, and everything.” Christopher said with a shrug. But Ravi had spent too much time with him to be fooled by his whole ‘nonchalant’ act.

“That’s amazing, Chris.” Ravi said. “I’m really proud of you.”

Chris grinned.

(They spent so long arguing over what movie to watch while eating that they almost forgot the pizzas in the oven, but they only got a little burnt, so it’s fine.)

Chapter Text

Ravi’s next shift was busy, until it wasn’t. They had spent the first six hours, quite literally, speeding from emergency to emergency. They’d had maybe ten minutes of down time the whole shift, and then suddenly silence. Not one single call.

They were sat playing uno when someone noticed. It was Chimney, because of course it was. “Buck! You got a new tattoo and you didn’t tell us about it? How dare you.” He deadpanned.

Buck drew a card, and looked up from his cards with a pout —Which was honestly completely fair, because he had at least seventeen cards.—. “Would you rather I was obnoxious about it?” He asked.

“Yes.” Chimney said, apparently without thinking it through first, because he immediately scrunched his nose. “Or, like, just a little bit?” He played a yellow seven.

“When’d you get it?” Hen asked while Eddie put down a red seven.

Eddie and Buck smiled at each other, “Saturday.” Eddie said.

“Oh my god, did you go together? You got matching tattoos?” Chimney asked, exasperated. Finally noticing the identical, small, black band around Eddie’s ringfinger.

Ravi played both his red fours, and piped up. “Uno.”

“No! How?” Buck said, apparently a little too loudly, because Bobby gave him a stern look from behind his book.

Ravi grinned at Buck from across the table.

“Of course we did.” Eddie answered Chim’s question.

“Dear lord.” Hen muttered under her breath while putting down a plus two.

Buck looked at her, confused. “What?” He didn’t even complain when he drew the cards.

Chimney answered instead of Hen. “Like a bestest-bros-in-the-whole-world matching tattoo trip?”

Buck looked even more confused. “What?” He said again.

“What Chim is trying to say,” Hen said, while glaring at Chimney. “Is that, maybe, getting matching tattoos that look like wedding-bands isn’t the most platonic action.”

Chim played a colour-change. “Yellow.”

Eddie didn’t play anything, he was busy staring at Hen. “What?” He sounded mildly hysteric.

“I refuse to believe you didn’t realise that on your own.” Chim said.

At the same time as Buck seemed to gather his thoughts enough to say. “Obviously, it isn’t platonic. Nothing we do is platonic.”

Hen raised an eyebrow at Buck. “That’s shockingly self aware of you, Buckaroo.”

“What do you mean `Shockingly´?” Eddie asked, finally playing a yellow card, a three.

“I just mean that you guys don’t always seem like you’re able to recognise the implications.” Hen said

Ravi put down his last card —A blue three.— before he said anything. He was the only person, except for maybe Bobby, at the table who knew. Not only did he know that Buck and Eddie had been married for a decade, but he also knew that Hen and Chimney didn’t know.

“Happy belated anniversary.” Ravi was planning to say more, but the table erupted like a volcano, so he didn’t get the chance.

Hen and Chim yelling questions, ‘What’s that supposed to mean’-s and ‘What anniversary’-s and ‘How does Ravi know this shit’-s getting thrown around like softballs. Buck complaining about Ravi winning, and Eddie defending himself after Buck decided to blame him. The loft area was filled with loud voices and heated accusations without any real heat behind them.

And then Bobby closed his book harshly, the crack-like noise cutting off all arguing. “Settle down, the tide won’t take y'all, one at a time.”

“The tide won’t take us?” Buck raised an eyebrow.

Bobby sighed. “You’re not in a hurry.”

“Sorry, Cap, but that definitely isn’t a saying.” Hen’s expression could only be read as amused.

“Whatever,” Chim said quickly. “anniversary?”

“Yeah?” Buck said at the same time as Eddie said “What of it?”

“Oh my god,” Ravi groaned “Chimney and Hen, Buck and Eddie are married, have been for a literal decade. Buck and Eddie, Hen and Chimney don’t know you’re married.”

Ravi was kind of expecting another explosion, or at least one severe case of mouth-diarrhea, but instead there was complete qu– silence. Completely silent, yep.

“That–” Hen was the first to break the silence. “No, that actually makes a lot of sense.”

Buck looked between Chimney and Hen with saucer-eyes. “You didn’t know?” He said softly, and he looked a little bit like a puppy that had just been denied a trip to the park. In Ravi’s opinion.

“You never said anything! Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Chimney kinda sounded like he was about to cry.

“Does Maddie know?” Hen’s voice was low and fragile in a way Ravi had never heard before.

Buck and Eddie looked at eachother. “I– I mean,” Buck began. “I mean, we’ve always assumed she does, but...”

“But we’ve also always assumed y’all knew, so.” Eddie trailed off, but they all knew what he was gonna say, or rather what he wouldn’t say.

And, of course, that was when the bell rang. Loud and insistent. Multiple car pile-up, station 115, station 118, station 122, bla, bla, bla.

They all got up and rushed down to the engine bay. This was clearly a conversation they needed to finish, but not now, not today. They needed to talk about this off-shift. Soon

(Turns out Maddie did know, and she could provide multiple letters and postcards from her absolutely whipped, disgusting brother rambling about ‘actually the hottest guy ever, Maddie, you’ve got to see him’.)