Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

It had been just over 10 months.

10 months since Buck had gotten hurt on a call.

10 months since Eddie had stormed into Buck’s hospital room and carried him bridal style out of the building with growling blank-eyed people chasing them.

10 months since Christopher got separated from he and Eddie in the crowd in the hospital parking lot, never to be found.

10 months since Eddie had brought him to the 118’s firehouse, finding it empty of everyone who should have been there.

10 months since the governor had died screaming while on a live television broadcast.

10 months since the army had dropped a handful of bombs on downtown Los Angeles in the hopes of stopping the spread of an unstoppable virus.

10 months since the first time Eddie had kissed him.

The world ended on a sunny day.

Sort of.

The birds still sang, the sun still rose and set, the plants still grew, squirrels still chattered in the trees.

But there was no one around to see it.

It had been 10 months since Buck had seen another living person other than Eddie.

Eddie, who was a shell of who he had been.

Losing Christopher on the day everything went to shit had changed Eddie forever.

It had changed Buck too.

But, as different as things were, there were times when Buck almost found himself lost in the moment, almost glad that this was his present.

Like any time Eddie’s increasingly rare smile was directed at him in that soft way that made Buck’s stomach do backflips.

Or any night he and Eddie spent together in their makeshift bed up in the loft.

Or all of the times he’d woken up to Eddie’s soft lips against his.

There were things Buck missed.

There were people that he’d give anything to see alive.

But only in this fucked up mess the world had become, did Eddie Diaz belong to him.

Buck smiled faintly when he felt a calloused hand stroke his cheek, his blue eyes fluttering open to meet Eddie’s brown ones.

At one time, Buck might have described Eddie’s eyes as warm, but they’d long since lost that. The only thing Eddie looked at with warmth anymore was Buck.

And even then, his eyes never got more than lukewarm at best.

“Hey.” Eddie said, face soft, but no smile to be found.

Buck leaned into Eddie’s hand. “Hey.”

“Did you sleep okay?”

Buck averted his eyes, which was answer enough.

Eddie sighed. “Me neither.”

This was nothing new.

Both of them had struggled with nightmares even before, and it had only gotten worse after they’d seemingly become the last 2 people on Earth.

“You want to talk about it?” Buck asked.

He knew what the answer would be.

Eddie never wanted to talk about it.

Therapy was well and good while there was still a society to be a functioning member of, but there was only one thing Eddie wanted to do about his feelings anymore.

Or 2, really.

One being Buck, the other being ‘cleaning the streets’, which is what he called it when he dressed in turnouts and took an axe out to knock some heads off of the dead that always seemed to be walking around LA.

Eddie swiped his thumb at the corner of Buck’s mouth. “Not in much of a talking mood.”

He never was.

Eddie’s free hand landed on Buck’s waist, and Buck went pliantly when Eddie gently rolled him onto his back.

Eddie’s hand trailed up from Buck’s trim waist and almost caressed the toned muscles of his chest.

“You’re so beautiful.” Eddie whispered against his lips.

Buck didn’t take it too personally.

It wasn’t too hard to seem beautiful when you were literally the only living option left.

Eddie pecked a quick kiss to Buck’s mouth, then rolled so that he was on top of him, arms bracing himself up so that Buck wasn’t held down by his weight.

Buck tilted his head back, and Eddie’s lips immediately found his pulse point, eliciting a gasp from the blonde.

Eddie shifted so that his left hand was enough to hold him up, and trailed his right hand down Buck’s body, until it rested on his muscled thigh.

Buck groaned and spread his legs just a little bit, which brought a pleased hum from Eddie’s throat.

Eddie detached his lips from Buck’s neck, and looked up at the other man through his long eyelashes.

“Buck.” He said in a deep voice.

Buck shivered, and let out a whine.

Eddie’s mouth ticked up at the corner. “Needy today, aren’t we?”

“Eddie… please.” Buck begged.

Eddie’s eyes softened just a little, and he took the hand from Buck’s thigh and caressed his face instead.

“Dios, I love you so much.”

Buck pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and tilted his head back further, opening his legs a little wider with a groan.

Eddie laughed fondly. A breathy thing that Buck hardly ever got to hear.

It made Buck whine and roll his hips up against Eddie’s.

Eddie breathed in sharply through his nose, before his lips were back on Buck’s, and his hand was trailing down Buck’s body once more.

“Breathe.” Eddie whispered against Buck’s lips as his fingertips brushed down the prominent V of muscle that led past his hips.

“Eddie…”

“Shhh… I’ve got you, Cariño.”

Eddie’s chest met Buck’s for a moment as his left hand reached out and grabbed a little tube, which he flipped open before squeezing the contents onto the fingers of his right hand.

Buck let out a low moan when he felt the slick fingers at his entrance.

10 months ago, he’d never have believed this.

He’d never have had a clue that this was something he could want so badly.

10 months ago, he didn’t know what he was missing.

Sure, he’d admired other men, but Eddie was the first to ever do this, and, even if they weren’t the only people left on the planet, Buck knew Eddie would be the last.

Eddie panted against Buck’s lips as the first finger delved in.

Buck’s back arched, and his legs spread wider still.

If there was one even remotely good thing about the world ending, this was it.

Not that he wouldn’t trade it away if it meant the world could come back.

As much as he loved being fucked by Eddie, he’d give it up for the rest of his life if it would even just bring back Bobby, Athena, Maddie, Chimney, Hen, and Christopher.

But it wouldn’t.

“So good for me, Buck.” Eddie whispered in his ear. “So good.”

Buck’s hands fisted into the blanket under him when another finger joined the first.

Almost there.

Just one more, and Buck would get the grand prize.

Though, it really should be two, but Buck could never be patient long enough for Eddie to get to a fourth.

“Buck.” Eddie said breathlessly.

Buck whined in reply, pushing down so that Eddie’s fingers were pushed deeper into him.

“Oh, Cariño, you’re so beautiful like this.” Eddie said softly as he added a third finger.

Buck moaned and pushed down on Eddie’s fingers again.

“Eres tan bueno, mi amor.”

Buck loved it when Eddie spoke in Spanish to him. He didn’t do it much anymore, unless he was trying to say something sappy that he thought Buck couldn’t understand.

Just another reason Buck was glad he hadn’t told Eddie how far he’d gotten with his Duolingo. Or that the Duolingo had really been more of a refresher, since he’d become almost fluent in the language while living in Peru.

Buck’s breathing hitched when Eddie slowly removed the fingers.

He knew what was next.

Sure enough, seconds later, something a lot bigger than a finger pressed carefully against him.

It didn’t push in. Not yet.

“Buck.” Eddie said softly, drawing Buck’s attention.

Buck knew what Eddie wanted from him.

He looked into Eddie’s eyes and gave a jerky nod.

One hand immediately landed on Buck’s hip, holding him steady as Eddie guided himself in with the other.

Buck’s thighs shook and his mouth gaped as Eddie slowly entered him, inch by inch, until his hips rested against Buck’s.

Eddie gently ran his hands up and down Buck’s sides as they both adjusted, and, once Buck gave him a nod, Eddie slowly pulled back until he was just barely inside of Buck anymore, then pushed back in just as slowly.

It was tender.

It was agonizing.

It was everything.

There wasn’t really a need to hurry anymore.

It’s not like there was any place they needed to be or any people to possibly interrupt them.

Sure, there were plenty of times when they were anxious or stressed that they’d take it fast, but this wasn’t about that.

This wasn’t about the anger and grief they felt for the world outside the walls of the former 118 firehouse.

This was about them.

Eddie tenderly kissed Buck’s collar bone as he pulled back again.

Buck smiled, eyes hooded as they made eye contact with the man that he loved most in the world, even before the rest were gone.

Sure, Buck was Eddie’s consolation prize.

But Eddie was Buck’s everything.

“Eddie…” Buck moaned as Eddie pushed back in.

“Relájate, mi corazón, te tengo.”

Oh, Buck really loved it when Eddie talked in Spanish to him.

Buck’s hands unclenched from the blanket under him and rested on either side of Eddie’s face.

Eddie turned his head slightly to kiss Buck’s palm, then slowly began to pull back again.

“I— ah— I love you.” Buck breathed.

Eddie paused in his movements, and looked Buck in the eye.

Buck felt anxiety creeping over him, overwhelming the warmth that Eddie’s body on top of his was radiating.

They’d been doing this kind of thing for nearly 10 months.

And, while Eddie had let the ‘L’ word slip on occasion, Buck never had.

Eddie’s hips snapped forward unexpectedly, and his lips crashing into Buck’s swallowed up the surprised noise Buck had made.

Buck moaned into the kiss, and slid his hands up until his fingers were digging into Eddie’s shoulder blades.

Gone was the slow pace they’d had thus far.

Buck’s confession seemed to ignite a spark in Eddie that had been absent for a long time, and Buck was feeling the effects in a way that he never had any other time they’d done this.

“Ah! Eddie…” Buck moaned when Eddie broke the kiss long enough to pant a few breaths against Buck’s lips.

Their mouths immediately crashed back together, and Eddie was thrusting into Buck so hard that Buck had to wrap his legs around Eddie’s waist in order to quit sliding up away from him.

One of Buck’s hands travelled up and tangled into Eddie’s hair, pulling just slightly.

Eddie growled low in the back of his throat in response, sending a pleasant shiver down Buck’s body.

He’d never heard Eddie make that sound before.

“Please…” Buck panted when Eddie’s mouth pulled back just an inch. “Eddie… please…”

With one final thrust and a groan, Eddie buried himself deep inside of Buck and came.

The sensation of warmth filling him up brought Buck over the edge after him, and he cried out Eddie’s name as he painted their lower abdomens white.

Buck then tipped his head back, exhausted, and just laid there, eyes half-closed and chest heaving.

Eddie peppered soft kisses across Buck’s face, then collapsed bonlessly next to Buck, before pulling the younger man against his chest.

Eddie placed a gentle kiss on the top of Buck’s head, then whispered into the wild blonde curls. “Yo también te amo, querido. Te amo más que estrellas en el cielo.”

Buck snuggled further into Eddie’s chest as his eyes began to close.

“Mi corazón, mi alma, ellos son tuyos mi amor. Soy todo tuyo. Siempre.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:

Buck frowned at the shoe print in the dirt in front of him.

It was clear.

It was pressed.

It wasn’t from the odd sliding shuffle that the feet of the dead made through the streets.

It was from a real step.

A living step.

Buck cast his eyes around warily.

He wasn’t as good of a tracker as Eddie.

Eddie could use the skills he’d learned from the army to tell him when the person passed through here, how big they were, even how fast they were walking.

But Eddie wasn’t here.

It had been Buck’s turn to do a supply run today, meaning that Eddie was holding down the firehouse.

They didn’t necessarily have anything that they desperately needed, but they never let their supplies get that low.

They were both too experienced with extenuating and unforeseen circumstances to risk that.

Buck sighed as he stood up and hefted his axe.

At least they had plenty of water.

The firehouse had an underground filtration system that had been separate from the city’s water supply.

It was technically supposed to just be used for the hoses and filling the trucks’ water tanks, but it was safe to drink, if a little stale tasting at times.

And, because it drew from the ground water, it was only in danger of running out during a drought.

Which they were not experiencing at the moment.

Buck turned his eyes away from the footprint, and picked up the radio on his shoulder.

That was something else that living in the firehouse provided.

The firehouse had been connected to the city’s power grid, but it also had it’s own back-up power, in the form of not one, but 3 generators.

They weren’t big generators. Just barely enough to run the whole firehouse for a couple days each, without needing refueled.

But they didn’t need power in the whole firehouse.

The only places they fed power to were the loft and the truck bay, and they used it sparingly.

One of the things they’d used it for, was charging their radios.

“Eddie.” Buck said into his.

There was a brief silence from the other end, before there was an answer. “I’m here, Buck.”

“I’m on the corner of Smith and Daniel.” Buck breathed a shaky breath. “Eddie, there’s a footprint in the mud.”

“A what?” Eddie asked in shock. “Like an actual footprint?”

“Yeah. And not one of the smeary ones from a deader, either.”

“Can you take a picture of it?”

That’s something else they’d done with their limited electricity. They’d charged their phones.

The internet was down, and the service didn’t work, but all of the offline capabilities were functional. Including the camera and the local multiplayer on Eddie’s Scrabble game.

“Yeah, hold on.”

Buck fished in the pocket of his turnout coat for his cell, and held it up to unlock it.

His throat dried, as it did every time he saw the picture of a smiling Christopher at the zoo on his lock screen, but Buck couldn’t bring himself to change it. And he doubted he ever would.

He cleared his throat and opened up the camera, before he very carefully snapped 10 pictures of the shoe print, just to make sure he got a good view from every angle.

“Okay.” He said into his radio. “I’ve got some. What do you want me to do now?”

“Come back. We’ve got enough supplies to last us, and I don’t like the idea of you being by yourself with someone out there.”

Buck shook his head. “Eddie, I can’t turn tail and run every time something gets a little dangerous out here. I’d never leave the firehouse if I did that.”

“Fine with me. Then I’d always know you’re safe.”

“And I wouldn’t have any excuses to get dressed.” Buck teased.

“That too.”

“Eddie. You know I can’t go back until I at least find something.”

Eddie sighed. “Sometimes, I wish you weren’t so stubborn.”

“Just one of my many amazing qualities.”

There was a pause.

“Fine. But I want you to turn on the open line. I want to hear everything you’re hearing.”

Buck smiled fondly. “Copy that, Captain Diaz.”

“Buck.” Eddie said in exasperation, but the fondness was clear.

“I’ll be careful.” Buck promised, voice going from teasing to soft.

“You’d better. I don’t think I could do this without you, Cariño.”

With that, Buck hefted his axe and started carefully making his way down the street, eyes darting around, never focusing on one place before moving to the next.

His breath hitched nearly imperceptibly with any small movement he caught.

Most turned out to just be ragged newspapers or filthy Styrofoam cups blowing in the wind.

One of them belonged to a blackbird that was dragging a clump of long human hair with skin still attached to it, and Buck had to turn his head with a shiver.

Only, when he did, he came face to face with a filthy man with wild hair, a gaunt face, and a patchy short beard.

Buck let out a startled yelp and swung his axe at the man on instinct, only for him to shatter when the axe head touched him.

“Buck!”

Buck stared in shock at the broken car window.

That man.

That had been him.

That had been his reflection.

God, it had been so long since he’d seen his reflection.

How the Hell Eddie still looked like a male model, when Buck looked like the guy from Castaway, he didn’t know.

“Buck, answer me dammit!”

“It’s okay.” Buck said, still a bit shaky. “I’m fine. I just— I just scared myself, is all.”

“What did you do?”

“I looked in a mirror.”

There was a heavy silence, and then, “That’s not funny, Buck.”

No. No it was not.

“Mind giving me a shave when I get back? And maybe a haircut?”

“…I guess. I’ll have to find the razors first, though. We haven’t exactly been concerned with appearances for a while.”

Buck let out a shuttering breath and continued on down the road.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Buck smiled softly at Eddie’s concern. “Yeah. I’m fine. I love you.”

“I love you too, mi amor.”

Buck hesitated when he came to the corner.

He knew there was a small drugstore off to the left about a block, and, because of how small it was, most of the looters had left it alone when all Hell broke loose.

He and Eddie had raided it a few times, but they never took more than they could use, so there was likely some things still inside he could grab.

The downside of that, was that the Thai restaurant across the street was full of the dead, and the window had been cracked the last time Eddie had gone through.

It was a risk. A pretty big one, too.

To the right, Buck knew that there was an apartment building with a rooftop garden.

Eddie had brought back some of the plants a couple of months ago, and they’d started a small garden near the bushes where Buck used to park his Jeep in front of the firehouse.

But, the plants were small, and didn’t yield much.

And Eddie hadn’t had enough room to carry all of the plants, so there were still some varieties on that rooftop that they didn’t have.

Unfortunately, Buck had scolded Eddie something fierce for going into an apartment building like that, because there were too many blind corners and shadows to be able to accurately see if the dead were inside.

He knew that if he went in there, Eddie was likely to charge out of the firehouse and drag him back by his ear, probably repeating some of his own words back to him along the way.

Buck sighed and looked straight ahead.

He was at the top of a hill right here, and he could see the twisted metal of downtown LA in the distance.

He hadn’t been able to bring himself to get to close to it.

That’s where the bombs had fallen.

Not that they’d helped.

They’d only made the problem worse.

He and Eddie were fending off still-burning deaders for weeks after, and surely not all of them had been dead before the blasts.

Though, admittedly, Eddie had done most of the fending, since Buck had still been hurt.

Eddie hadn’t let Buck leave the firehouse for a month after they’d arrived, and not by himself until nearly two months after that.

Buck’s chest ached as he looked out over the landscape.

How could so much change so quickly?

One could point out that 11 months wasn’t all that quick, but it hadn’t taken 11 months to get to this point.

No, this had happened literally overnight.

With another sigh, Buck trudged on through the intersection, going straight, and automatically avoided the deader that was still half-crushed under the overturned police cruiser in the middle.

Buck had cried the first time he’d seen it, mistaking the car for Athena’s, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t.

Athena was 727-L-30, and the overturned police cruiser on top of the growling dead McDonalds employee was 721-L-40.

He and Eddie hadn’t bothered killing the deader, both deciding that getting that close to the crashed car was too much of a risk, considering that it had been steadily leaking gasoline when Eddie had come across it 2 days after everything went down.

The thing could have exploded any second, and neither of them believed that the dead guy trapped underneath posed enough of a threat to take that chance.

Buck pointedly didn’t look at the rotting face as it followed his path through the intersection.

He’d first seen the guy when he was still kind of fresh, but 11 months under that car hadn’t done the guy any favors, and it always made Buck uneasy to see the difference that damn virus made.

“Arnold?” Eddie asked quietly.

‘Arnold’ was what they’d nicknamed the guy. He’d become a sort of landmark for them.

Lost in the pitch-dark streets and hear a gurgling?

Oh, it’s just Arnold.

In a sick sort of way, he’d become a sign that they were getting close to home.

“Arnold.” Buck replied just as quietly.

Buck started making his way down the hill, looking around carefully as he went, checking behind him every so often.

He hadn’t forgotten about that shoe print, and it had made him more uneasy than he’d led Eddie to believe.

He and Eddie had changed drastically during all of this.

They’d become depraved in a sort of way that neither of them had ever really imagined before the world ended.

Hell, they’d fucked all over the firehouse by now, with zero reservations about what that place used to represent.

The only line they’d drawn was the bunkroom. That place hadn’t been touched since C shift abandoned it. It was almost a shrine by now.

Not even Bobby’s office had been sacred in that way, considering the amount of times Eddie had bent him over the desk.

11 months ago, that would have been unimaginable to them.

Who knows what changes had occurred with any other people who survived?

Buck had seen The Walking Dead.

Not much of it, granted. He hadn’t really kept watching after Noah died.

But he’d seen enough of it to know the sorts of things those people had been willing to do.

Cannibalism, murder, rape, conquest, torture. The list just goes on. And while, yes, it was fiction, Buck didn’t think it was too far-fetched.

They’d already had the zombie part, hadn’t they?

Though calling the dead ‘zombies’ had just felt wrong. And calling them ‘walkers’ hadn’t felt right either.

He and Eddie had come up with the term ‘deaders’ during the third month, just after Buck’s first solo supply run, when neither of them had been able to fall asleep.

That’s back when they’d actually still talked things through instead of employing Eddie’s favorite method of ‘fucking about it’.

 Buck smiled bitterly.

His injuries were freshly healed still, and Eddie had been so worried about breaking him.

They hadn’t fucked for the first time until about 2 weeks later.

At last, Buck saw what he was looking for, and angled off towards a busted-up storefront.

There hadn’t been much left the last time he’d come in here, and he knew that Eddie had been in twice since that, but it was worth a shot.

Buck was expecting the mess.

He was expecting the dead dog laying in the corner, where Eddie had been given no choice but to kill it in the early days when Buck was still healing but too stubborn to stay behind, and the thing had gone for his throat immediately.

He was expecting the blood splattered across the walls and the rotting disembodied hand laying next to the missing cash register.

He was even expecting the dead body of a little girl around Christopher’s age slumped against one of the shelves with a meat cleaver in the top of her head.

What he was not expecting, however, was a deader standing in the middle of the store.

Any other time, Buck would have cut his losses and left the shop, leaving a black paint marker line on the door as a warning for Eddie if he came by here again.

But he didn’t.

He couldn’t.

It’s like his feet were glued to the floor.

Because this wasn’t just some random dead person he’d never met.

This was someone he’d known.

Someone he’d loved.

He hadn’t even known she was back in town.

“Abby?” He choked out.

Abby’s cloudy eyes stared vaguely over his left shoulder as some truly haunting growls fell from her bloodied lips.

“Buck, I need you to listen very carefully. That’s not Abby. Not anymore. You need to get out of there.”

She wasn’t even rotting yet.

Not really.

She could’ve been alive only a couple days ago, from how she looked.

Buck’s heart stuttered in his chest as memories of this woman washed across his eyes.

Her smile.

Her bright eyes.

Her soothing voice.

All now tainted forever by blood-caked lips, a blank gaze, and a menacing growl.

“Buck! I know it’s hard, but I promise you, she’s not in there. You can’t bring her down, Cariño. You’ve got to leave. Now!”

Buck never would have been Buck without Abby.

He’d have still been Buck 1.0 when Eddie walked into his life if it wasn’t for her.

He may never have met Eddie or Christopher if she hadn’t have changed him, because Bobby never would have let him come back without the work she’d started during the call with the home invasion and the little girl.

She’d been so special to him.

Everything about her had been special.

From her dedication to her mom to performing the world’s most romantic tracheotomy on their first date.

Abby was special.

And everything that made her special was now gone, replaced by a husk with her face and her hair and her skin, but none of her warmth.

He could hear Eddie panting through the radio now, but he couldn’t focus on it.

It was as if he was hearing everything from a long tunnel.

Everything except for the gurgling growls Abby was making as she shuffled towards him.

Those he could hear so clearly she might as well have been making them from inside his eardrums.

He couldn’t move.

Not when her head lolled on her shoulders in a way that suggested her neck had been broken at some point.

Not when congealing black ooze poured from the corner of her mouth and dripped down the front of her blue sweater.

Not when her too-pale hand reached out towards him, as if inviting him to take it.

Not when her feet stuttered in their shuffling motion across the garbage strewn floor.

Not even when he heard heavy footfalls outside the door behind him.

She was close now.

Close enough that her cold fingertips were mere millimeters from brushing the sleeve of his turnout coat.

And then she wasn’t.

All Buck could see was yellow reflectors moving on a heavy sleeve as an axe raised up and then was brought down with a furious yell.

Abby’s body crumbled to the floor with a heavy thump, lifeless long before the axe removed her head from her shoulders.

The axe clunked to the floor not long after, and Buck could feel himself shaking.

But he couldn’t take his eyes off of where Abby’s head had rolled to.

Her eyes, so beautiful in life, stared accusingly at him in death, even as her jaw still moved and still made those horrible gurgling growls that Buck was sure would haunt his dreams.

It was then that the door behind Buck flew open and Eddie charged in.

His eyes flicked first to Abby’s headless body, then to her disembodied head, before finally settling on Buck, who had now slumped against the wall.

Eddie’s hands reaching out were the only things that kept Buck from sliding down to the floor.

“Are you alright?” Eddie asked in a panic. “She didn’t bite you, did she?”

Buck was numb.

He couldn’t look at Eddie.

He couldn’t look at anything but her eyes.

Blank and glassy, but still somehow staring into his soul.

“Buck!”

He felt Eddie shake him, but all he could see was her.

“Evan!”

That finally seemed to snap Buck out of his reverie.

“Eddie?” He asked faintly.

“Are you hurt?” Eddie asked urgently.

Buck shook his head. “N-No. No. I— No.”

Eddie stared hard at him for just a moment longer then crushed him in a hug.

“Gracias a Dios.” He whispered into Buck’s hair. “I’d thought I lost you for a moment there.”

After a minute, Buck slowly raised his arms up, and clung to Eddie.

He buried his face into Eddie’s shoulder, and let out a strangled sob that caused Eddie to hold him even tighter.

“I’ve got you, mi amor.” Eddie whispered soothingly. “I’ve got you.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3:

It had been 12 months since the world had died by fire and blood.

And one month since Eddie had let him leave the firehouse by himself.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Buck paused in putting on his turnout coat, the name ‘Buckley’ still shining despite the grime that now covered it. “Gearing up.”

“I see that,” Eddie said, crossing his arms. “but why?”

Buck let out a huff of air. “It’s supply day, and it’s my turn.”

Eddie reached a hand out towards him.

Buck watched his hand until it curled in the edge of his turnout coat and started trying to tug it off.

Buck let out a forced laugh.

“Not right now.” He halfheartedly tried to bat Eddie’s hand away. “Maybe when I get back.”

“You’re not coming back,” Eddie said carefully. “because you’re not going.”

Buck lost all pretense of humor.

“Yes, I am.”

Eddie shook his head. “I can’t— I can’t lose you, Buck. I need you to stay here. Where I know you’re safe.”

“And you think I don’t want the same for you?”

“I’m not the one that almost let my dead ex-girlfriend eat my face off.”

Buck scoffed. “She didn’t almost eat my face off.”

“Yes, Buck, she did.” Eddie said, voice gaining an edge. “And what happens if you see someone out there that meant more to you than her? Because they are out there, Buck. What happens if you run into Hen or Bobby or, Dios forbid, Maddie or Jee?”

Buck shrugged Eddie’s hand off. “Are you telling me you’d just stay cool as a cucumber if you saw Chris?”

Eddie took a step away from Buck.

“No.” Eddie gritted out. “No, I wouldn’t. I’d scream, I’d curse every deity I could think of, and afterwards I’d probably break. But I wouldn’t freeze.”

“Because it would be so easy to take him down, is that it?” Buck asked harshly.

“Yes!” Eddie yelled, balling his hands into fists. “Because he’s already dead, Buck! If I were to put him down, all I’d be doing is giving him some rest! It’d be a mercy to whatever small part of him was still suffering in there!”

“Well, I can’t do that!” Buck snapped. “I can’t just look into someone’s eyes, someone I used to love, and chop their head off without a second thought!”

“I know! Because you almost let her take you away from me instead! I came so close to losing you that day, Buck! There’s days when I wake up, and I still have to check to make sure you’re actually alive!”

Buck spread his arms open wide. “Welcome to the end of the world, Eddie, we’ve been expecting you! Do you think I don’t have to make sure you’re still here, or that you’re still real any time I close my eyes!?”

Eddie’s eyes softened at that. “Buck.”

Buck’s chest heaved from the adrenaline coursing through his veins from the fight.

He and Eddie never fought.

Though, that’s probably because they never really talked.

If there were feelings that Eddie couldn’t deal with, he just had to look at Buck with those big sad eyes, and Buck would already be stripping before Eddie even had to ask.

And if Buck had feelings that he couldn’t deal with, it went the same way. He’d look a little sad or lost or angry, and Eddie would just be there, pulling him close, before fucking him to help him forget.

Eddie Diaz’s method for solving problems would have been Buck 1.0’s dream come true.

The Buck he was now wasn’t quite Buck 2.0 anymore or a 3.0 yet, but he was certainly not a 1.0.

Not that it made any difference.

Buck could never say no to Eddie. It had never even crossed his mind to do so.

Eddie’s hands reached out for Buck and gently cradled his face. “Don’t go out, Cariño. Please.”

Buck melted under Eddie’s gaze, and let his turnout coat drop to the floor, before wrapping his arms around Eddie’s waist.

Eddie kissed Buck passionately, then maneuvered the two of them until Buck’s back was slammed into the wall of the truck bay.

Buck knew what was coming. Of course he did.

Eddie hadn’t really said anything particularly earth-shattering, but it was more than he usually let slip, and he’d need a distraction to keep his mind from going to those dark places his feelings always took him.

It was something that Buck both loved and hated.

He loved that Eddie wanted him, and he truthfully counted being fucked by Eddie as one of his top 3 favorite things.

But he hated what it had come to mean.

It wasn’t an act of love between them. Not really. Or, at least, not most of the time.

There were exceptions.

There were mornings where Eddie would wake him with gentle kisses and handle him like the most precious treasure in the world.

There were nights when they’d be in their makeshift nest in the loft and Buck would be the one to initiate contact, and Eddie would just lie there and let Buck do all of the work, praising him and loving him the entire time.

But more often than not, it was the way it was about to be now.

Hard, fast, and only because Eddie didn’t have any other coping mechanisms that didn’t involve going hunting for deaders, which Buck had begged him not to do anymore.

Buck let his head fall back and rest on the wall, breaking the kiss and exposing his neck.

Eddie wasted no time in latching his mouth over Buck’s jugular.

“Ah!” Buck let out, hands scrunching up in Eddie’s shirt, unconsciously pulling the other man closer.

Eddie growled against Buck’s neck, his hands immediately fumbling with the belt that held up Buck’s loose blue jeans.

In a matter of moments, Eddie was pushing the jeans down over Buck’s hips, leaving them to slide unhindered down his legs and pool around his boots.

Buck gasped out a moan, drawing an almost predatory look from Eddie, who barely paused before unbuttoning his own jeans and pushing them down just far enough for his cock to spring free.

Buck’s hands tightened even more, further bunching up the shirt at Eddie’s waist.

Eddie’s hands, meanwhile, trailed down Buck’s body, before resting on the backs of his thighs.

He quirked an eyebrow at Buck in silent question.

Buck arched his back with a moan. “God, yes.”

With that, Eddie hefted Buck up, so that the blonde’s legs were wrapped around his waist, and used the wall as a support to keep him there.

Buck’s hands moved up from their previous position, and clenched in the fabric covering Eddie’s shoulders.

Eddie didn’t stretch him.

He didn’t need to.

They’d only just fucked an hour before Eddie had waltzed into the truck bay to see Buck donning turnouts.

Eddie didn’t wait for him to nod either.

He did most of the time, but, on occasion, he got a bit too carried away to do it.

Buck’s mouth opened in a breathy cross between a moan and a cry of surprise when he felt Eddie start to push into him.

It wasn’t slow, it wasn’t gentle, and it wasn’t sweet.

But it was Eddie.

And Buck would always take what Eddie gave him.

Soon enough, Eddie’s hips met Buck’s with an audible slap, and Buck closed his eyes at the feel.

“Buck.” Eddie growled in a low voice.

Buck cracked open one eye with a whine.

Eddie’s eyes were glued to his face, and Buck couldn’t read the expression in them.

“Let me see you.” Eddie panted. “I need to see you.”

Buck’s eyes fluttered open, and, the second they did, Eddie pulled back, and then snapped his hips forward again.

Buck pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, but kept his eyes open and stared unblinkingly into Eddie’s.

The corner of Eddie’s mouth twitched, which was Buck’s only warning before suddenly Eddie was thrusting in and out of him quicker than Buck could keep up with.

“Eds— ah! Yes!” Buck panted, which spurred Eddie into even more powerful thrusts, hips meeting Buck’s with so much force that the slaps could have been heard from the bunkroom.

Buck couldn’t even get any words out of his mouth now, cutting off into moans and unintelligible sounds of pleasure any time that he tried.

It was all over quick, due to Buck’s noises causing Eddie to finish far sooner than he’d wanted to.

“Ah!” Buck cried out, following soon after.

The pair crashed to the floor together when Eddie’s legs gave out, but they didn’t get up.

Instead, they just laid there, giggling like a pair of teenagers instead of the 30-something men that they were.

“Dios, mi amor. PodrÍa escucharte hacer esos sonidos por el resto de mi vida.” Eddie whispered contentedly to Buck.

“Yo también te amo.” Buck mumbled in reply, bringing a surprised smile to Eddie’s face.

“I thought you said you didn’t get far with your Duolingo?” Eddie asked.

Buck shrugged. “I didn’t. But far enough to get the gist.”

Eddie stroked a hand gently down the side of Buck’s face. “¿Qué hice para merecerte?”

Buck blinked tiredly. “Nothing good, that’s for sure. But I’m glad you did.”

“Me too, Cariño.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4:

“There’s no way.” Eddie said in a deadpan voice.

Buck smugly picked up a dictionary and flipped to a specific page, before showing it to Eddie.

Eddie squinted at the page, before slumping back in his seat with a grumbled, “How the Hell did you even know kakorrhaphiophobia was a word?”

“I read.”

“When?”

Buck absently scratched his cheek. “Well… not so much anymore. But I used to.” ‘Before the end of the world’ went unsaid.

Eddie furrowed his brow. “I don’t remember you doing much reading then either.”

“Where did you think I learned all my random facts?”

“Google.”

Buck leaned back casually, Eddie’s eyes tracking the movement. “Fair enough.”

“When did you even have time to read?”

Buck shrugged. “I had a lot of spare time after every injury. Particularly after the truck bombing and all that followed.”

Eddie poked at the Scrabble game on his phone, not meeting Buck’s eyes. “After we shunned you, you mean.”

“Yeah.” Buck said without heat. It had been a long time since that had really bothered him. It had just felt so insignificant in the face of the fact that everyone who’d done it were gone.

Even Eddie.

Because while, yes, he was still Eddie Diaz, he’d changed so much that people who had known him back then wouldn’t consider him to be the same person.

Buck certainly didn’t, at times.

Eddie sighed and pushed his phone away. “I give up.”

With a smirk, Buck languidly got out of his chair and sauntered over to where a piece of paper was tacked to the wall.

He grabbed a red pen that was hanging from a string, and made a tick mark under his own name, then stepped back to admire the paper.

Buck’s name had so many marks under it that he’d have to stand there and actively count them to find out how many there were.

Eddie’s only had 4.

Buck whistled. “Man, you suck at Scrabble.”

“I do not.” Eddie argued. “You’re just ungodly good at it.”

“Name one person that you were actually able to beat consistently.”

“All have you know, I beat Christopher almost every time we played.”

“I meant one person that wasn’t a 10-year-old, Eddie.”

Eddie huffed and picked at a spot on the table. “Not my fault you weren’t specific.”

“Stop pouting.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.” Buck corrected as he rounded the table and settled on Eddie’s lap with a fond smile.

“Do I at least get a participation trophy?”

“Close. You get me.”

Eddie kissed Buck’s forehead. “I’d lose at Scrabble any day for you.”

“Not that you’d have much of a choice in the matter.” Buck teased.

“It’s the thought that counts.”

Buck laughed softly, then pecked a quick kiss to the corner of Eddie’s mouth. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Ciérralo.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Eddie’s eyes sharpened, and his hands gripped Buck’s waist in a tight grip. “Careful, Buck. You might end up with a problem you don’t want to solve.”

Buck quirked an eyebrow with a smirk. “I’m a pretty good problem solver, sir.”

Eddie took several steady breaths and clenched his jaw. “You’re the one that asked for a PG game night.”

“You didn’t think I wouldn’t test your restraint, did you?”

“I’ve got some actual restraints you can test if you keep this up.”

Buck tsked. “Not very PG of you.”

“Parental guidance, Buck. I’m a parent. I can approve it.”

Buck grinned. “Not sure that’s how that works.”

“Who’s going to enforce it?” Eddie asked with raised eyebrows.

“Hm. Good point.”

With that, Buck turned so that instead of sitting on Eddie’s lap, he was straddling it.

Eddie smirked. “Knew you couldn’t go without for the whole day.”

Buck pouted, then made as if to stand up, but Eddie’s hands gripped his hips and pulled him back down.

“Now who can’t go without?” Buck whispered teasingly against Eddie’s lips.

“Still you.” Eddie replied in a false-casual voice.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Hm. Let’s test that theory.”

Buck rolled his hips just a little, causing Eddie to inhale sharply through his nose.

“Doesn’t prove anything.”

“Oh, I think it does.”

“Yeah.” Eddie scoffed. “That you couldn’t resist the urge to poke for more than an hour.”

Buck shrugged. “What can I say? You’re a hard man to resist, Edmundo Diaz.”

“At the moment, yeah.” Eddie rolled his hips up against Buck’s to prove it.

Buck leaned in and stopped just a hairsbreadth from Eddie’s lips. “Maybe you should do something about that.”

Needing no further prompting, Eddie stood up with Buck’s legs wrapped around his waist, and carried the blonde towards the pile of blankets at the other end of the loft.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5:

 “What do you make of this?” Eddie asked, from where he was crouched down in a patch of damp earth in front of a fire hydrant.

Buck frowned and went to look over his shoulder.

“That’s—”

“I know.”

There, in the mud, was unmistakably a footprint.

“Is it the same, do you think?” Eddie asked.

“No. This one’s definitely a boot, and I think the other was a running shoe or something.”

Eddie hummed in thought. “Same size. Or, similar, at least.”

“How old?” Buck asked.

“No more than an hour.” Eddie pointed out some broken off blades of grass in the footprint. “These aren’t dried out yet. They’re not even close.”

“But, with them being on a wet patch, wouldn’t they dry out slower?”

“No.” Eddie replied. “Drying out has nothing to do with actual moisture and everything to do with being cut off from the rest of the plant. Grass is a simple plant. No ways to really retain water without the roots, so it becomes dry and brittle pretty quick.”

“So, whoever stepped on it could still be around.”

“Yes.”

Buck’s eyes immediately set to scanning their surroundings.

There was no way of knowing if the person who made that track was a friend or foe.

Maybe they didn’t pose a threat, but, if Buck had learned anything in the 2 years since the world ended, it was that everything was a threat until proven otherwise.

It was one of the few things that Eddie had managed to drill into him.

It was that mentality that caused them to decide to stop doing supply runs separately.

Sure, neither of them liked leaving their home unattended, but, even with their radios, they both felt that it was too dangerous for the other to be out alone.

And, going out together, had been Eddie’s condition for letting Buck go back out after the whole Abby thing.

“I don’t like it.” Buck said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

The corner they were at was only 2 blocks away from the firehouse, the opposite direction of Arnold’s intersection.

It was far too close for Buck’s liking.

“Me neither.” Eddie replied with a frown. “Especially since we haven’t seen any sign of them other than where they’ve been. And, even then, this is only the second footprint we’ve found.”

Buck nodded. “Doesn’t mean they haven’t seen us though.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I hate that we have no way of knowing either way.”

Buck’s eyes caught a flicker of movement on the sidewalk down the block, and he let out his breath in a huff of frustration when it was just a deader.

“Want me to get him?” Eddie asked, eyes trained on the same stumbling dead guy.

Buck shrugged and relaxed his stance.

He knew how much Eddie liked taking out the deaders. It made him feel something that not even Buck could evoke anymore.

It gave him a sense of purpose.

It was the same feeling that he’d gotten when running into a burning building.

That feeling of helping someone.

Because, not only was he showing some measure of mercy towards the poor souls that were trapped in their rotting corpses, but he was also saving anyone they might have infected in the future.

It also had the benefit of giving Eddie something to take out his frustrations on that wasn’t Buck.

Sometimes, it got to him a bit. The fact that Eddie only initiated things with him when he was stressed or in a bad mood.

There used to be exceptions.

But there weren’t anymore.

“Have at it.”

Without needing Buck to tell him twice, Eddie sprang to his feet with the grace of a dancer and the lethality of a jungle cat, and stalked towards the deader.

Buck wished he could move like that, but the longer things went on, the more mechanical his own movements seemed to become.

Physically, Eddie thrived in this new world.

But not Buck.

Without access to the calorie-rich foods he’d taken to when he’d first started building his muscles, Buck’s body had slowly reverted to the wiry frame he’d sported as a teenager.

But Eddie was still built the way he always had been.

Buck sometimes thought that his scrawny form had caused Eddie’s gradual shift away from any real intimacy with him. After all, no matter what Buck did, he couldn’t put on any weight, and he couldn’t accumulate, let alone retain, any sort of musculature.

With all of Buck’s sharp edges, Eddie must’ve felt like he was fucking one of those fake skeletons that used to hang in science classrooms.

Buck couldn’t imagine that Eddie could ever look anything but beautiful. He could never not take Buck’s breath away, even if his build someday started to resemble that one guy from The Corpse Bride, like Buck’s had.

But he was the consolation prize, not Eddie.

And Eddie, naturally, had probably been disappointed when the jacked hot participation trophy he’d gotten had turned into post-crash Chuck Noland.

“You good?” Eddie asked as he approached, the decapitated deader laying on the sidewalk behind him, so long dead that no blood left the corpse.

“I’m fine.” Buck replied, turning and walking away from the fire hydrant, taking some small bit of comfort when Eddie’s soft footsteps followed him.

Buck and Eddie walked in silence all of the way back to the firehouse.

They’d found the footprint at the end of their supply run, so they hadn’t needed to go find anything else.

Not that either of them had really wanted to anyway.

Finding evidence that there were living people around you in this world couldn’t help but make you uneasy.

And, when you’re uneasy, you don’t want to leave your home empty for any longer than you have to.

“Think they know we live here?” Eddie asked as they entered the truck bay.

Buck shrugged. “Maybe. If they didn’t they might now. I didn’t see anyone following us, but…”

Eddie nodded slowly, then walked away from Buck, face pinched in thought.

That was something Eddie had only started doing these past few months.

Walking away from Buck to think something over instead of just jumping his bones to avoid thinking altogether.

Sure, Buck had wanted Eddie to actually have a meaningful interaction with him that didn’t involve them fucking, but he hadn’t voiced it to Eddie.

And, truth be told, Buck kind of missed having Eddie plastered to his side any time he wasn’t plastered elsewhere.

He missed those comforting silences where Eddie would just watch him and give one of those little soft smiles that wasn’t really a smile, but something so much more that Buck didn’t have the words to describe.

Eddie wasn’t Eddie anymore.

He hadn’t been in 2 years.

But now, he wasn’t even the Eddie that Buck had gotten used to.

Sometimes, he seemed a bit cold.

And sometimes Buck got the feeling that Eddie was looking through him, like he’d become a ghost when he wasn’t paying attention.

Buck looked longingly towards the hallway where Eddie had gone, then went up to the loft to put away his bag of loot from the supply run.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6:

“Fuck.” Buck moaned.

A year ago, that might have made Eddie falter.

It might have made him speed up or lean up over Buck’s back to press a kiss to the back of his neck.

It didn’t do any of that now.

Buck wasn’t quite sure how he’d gotten here.

One second, he was making dinner (nothing fancy, just some stale almonds and a watery stew made from the vegetables they’d grown next to the driveway1), and the next, there were hands on his hips, spinning him away from the stove and bending him over the countertop of the island.

“Ah! Eds!” Buck found himself crying out as Eddie managed to hit a spot that made him see stars for a moment.

Buck was being very vocal, as always.

It used to bring fond comments from Eddie or whispered Spanish words about how much Eddie loved the sounds he made.

But it didn’t.

It hadn’t for a while.

Buck threw his head back and made little ‘uh’ sounds as his hips slammed into the edge of the countertop with every one of Eddie’s thrusts.

Behind him, Eddie was silent, only the occasional grunt falling seemingly unwillingly from his lips.

Buck knew things were getting out of hand.

He knew he needed to address whatever was going on with Eddie.

But he was scared.

Scared that Eddie would yell at him for pressing the issue.

Scared that any conversation Buck tried to start would end in their current activity.

Terrified that he’d speak up and Eddie would decide that enough was enough and leave him.

“Yes.” Buck hissed in pleasure as Eddie’s thrusts started losing their rhythm.

He was close.

That happened every time he was close.

Soon enough, Eddie finished deep inside of Buck with a moan that sounded like Eddie was trying to suppress it.

He leaned over Buck’s back and planted gentle kisses across his shoulder blades. He then pulled out and strode away on shaky legs, leaving Buck bent over the kitchen island with his jeans still around his ankles.

Buck’s eyes tracked Eddie until he went down the stairs and out of the loft, before they started welling with tears.

Not even pausing to pull his pants back up, Buck turned and half-stood before sliding down the cabinets and leaning against them as he pulled his knees up to his chest and started quietly sobbing.

Eddie used to cuddle him after every time, no matter his reason for initiating or what mood he was in.

He would just hold onto Buck and whisper sweet words about how good Buck was and how thankful he was that he still had Buck in his life.

He would softly murmur Spanish in his ear. Buck didn’t understand all of it, but he’d understood enough to know that the things Eddie had said were praises and compliments and beautiful, loving, words.

He’d help Buck get his clothes back on and make sure Buck cleaned up, because he knew that Buck sometimes got too caught up in the moment and forgot that he needed to do that.

And he would never ever walk away from Buck without so much as a word, let alone leave him half-naked and dazed bent over the counter.

Eddie had told him he loved him.

Not too often, and it had gotten less and less over time, but he used to say it.

Buck hadn’t gotten an ‘I love you’ from Eddie in months.

And, to Buck, that was telling.

Eddie didn’t love him anymore.

He’d only loved him because he was the only option left.

The beginning of the spiral was the day Buck found the first footprint, and Eddie had been pulling away from him since.

And, now that they’d found another last month, Eddie was pulling away even faster.

Buck wasn’t the last option anymore.

He wasn’t the only other living person in the world.

He was just Eddie’s emaciated former best friend, turned former lover.

And it was former lover, because whatever the hell he and Eddie had just done, love had no part in it. 

Not on Eddie’s side.

Buck tipped his head back until the back of it was resting on the cabinets, tears still streaming silently down his gaunt face.

He’d lost everything.

He’d lost his job, he’d lost Christopher, and Maddie, and Jee, and Bobby.

He’d lost his family.

He’d lost the world.

And now, he was losing Eddie too.

Buck never heard the footsteps on the stairs.

He never saw the shadow cast on the floor as someone moved closer to where his hitching breaths were no longer as silent as he’d wanted them to be.

Buck didn’t even notice someone had crouched down next to him until two calloused hands reached out and cradled his face, thumbs gently swiping away his tears.

“Hey.” Eddie said softly, eyes looking concerned. “What’s wrong, Cariño?”

Cariño.

Buck hadn’t heard that endearment since the morning they’d found the second footprint, and it brought a fresh wave of tears that had Eddie’s face scrunching in worry and guilt.

“Buck, baby, did I hurt you?”

 One of Eddie’s hands left Buck’s face and hovered uncertainly over his bare thigh.

“Buck?”

Buck silently shook his head, which, if anything made Eddie look even more worried.

Eddie slowly reached out the hand that wasn’t on Buck’s face, and rested it on Buck’s waist, pulling until Buck was against him.

Buck immediately turned his head and buried his face in Eddie’s shirt, while Eddie cradled him in his strong arms, rocking slightly, and humming an off-key tune that Buck didn’t recognize.

When Buck finally regained his voice, he snuggled even further into Eddie’s chest, and said in a broken whisper, “Stay?”

Eddie’s arms held him tighter, and he settled back against the cabinets, so that Buck was laying half on top of him.

He pressed a light kiss to the top of Buck’s head, and whispered softly into the wild blonde curls, “Always.”

Chapter Text

 Chapter 7:

Eddie’s worried eyes looked in the rear-view mirror and saw Christopher in the backseat, a stuffed bear that Buck had gotten him after the lawsuit held in the boy’s lap.

Eddie hit the steering wheel with a barely audible growl.

Buck.

Bobby was so sure that he wouldn’t make it if they got him out of the hospital.

But what was Eddie supposed to do? Leave him there?

He was only there in the first place because of Eddie.

If Eddie had moved just a little faster on that call, Buck wouldn’t have had to push him out of the way when part of the ceiling collapsed.

And if Buck hadn’t have pushed him, it would be Eddie laying in that bed.

If that was the case, Eddie knew what Buck would do.

Eddie’s eyes strayed to his son again.

Christopher was the only reason for Eddie’s indecision. If he didn’t have his child to think about, he’d already be in that building getting Buck out.

The city fell apart around them as Eddie’s truck continued to idle in Cedars Sinai’s parking lot.

The military was talking about dropping bombs on the city any minute, and here Eddie was, sitting right smack in the middle of it.

The phone in Eddie’s cupholder buzzed for what must’ve been the 25^th time in the last 10 minutes, Bobby’s contact lighting up the screen.

He knew what his Captain wanted.

He wanted Eddie to leave and bring Christopher to the firehouse.

That’s where everyone was supposed to be meeting.

But Eddie couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t leave Buck behind.

Mind made up, Eddie turned to face his son. “Stay here. I’m going to get Buck.”

Christopher shook his head immediately. “I’m coming with you.”

“No you’re not.” Eddie said. “You’re staying here, where I know you’re safe.”

Before the boy could argue further, the pair snapped their heads in the direction of a loud shattering noise, and saw deranged people peeling a windshield away with their bare hands to get to a screaming woman in a Toyota 60 feet away.

“On second thought,” Eddie hurriedly amended. “you’re coming with me. But stay close, and, whatever you do, do not let go of me.”

“Ok, Dad.”

With that, father and son got out of the truck, and Eddie immediately scooped his son up and ran towards the doors to the hospital.

The inside of the building was complete chaos.

Beds were toppled over, people were screaming, blood painted the walls in concerning patterns.

But Eddie ignored all of it.

He couldn’t help anyone. Not now.

All he could do was make sure his family stayed safe, and that meant getting his best friend and son out of the building alive.

Eddie knew better than to try for the elevators.

They were sure to be swamped, and, even if they weren’t, it would be all too easy for one of the growling people to corner them in one.

So, he ran straight for the stairs.

It was hard work, running up the 3 stories to where Buck’s room was while everyone else was trying to run down, but Eddie managed to do it in a respectable amount of time, coming out into the 3^rd floor hallway after about 5 minutes.

“Watch behind me, and let me know if there’s anyone there.” Eddie told his son, as he jogged towards room 317.

“Don’t worry.” Christopher said seriously. “I’ve got your 6.”

It was in that moment that Eddie finally realized Abuela was right. Christopher played too many video games.

Not that he was complaining about it right now.

“Thanks, mijo.”

Eddie pushed open the door to Buck’s room and set Christopher down on his feet before rushing towards the bed.

“’ddie?” Buck asked faintly, eyes barely cracked open.

“Hey, Buck.” Eddie said softly, pausing to stroke a hand along Buck’s cheekbone.

“What doing?”

“I’m getting you out of here.”

Buck shook his head as much as he was able, though the movement clearly aggravated his concussion. “No. Run.”

“I’m not leaving here without you.” Eddie said firmly, before beginning to pull out Buck’s IVs.

Eddie then reached down with one hand and grabbed the oxygen tank that Buck’s nasal canula was attached to and laid it on Buck’s stomach, where Buck brought up one shaking arm to hold it in place.

Buck tried squirming away, but he wasn’t strong enough to put up any real fight as Eddie placed an arm behind his back and under his knees and picked him up.

“Chris.” Eddie called across the room.

“Hallway’s clear.” The 10-year-old reported.

Eddie strode over to the door, and peeked out himself, double-checking his son’s observation, before pulling his head back into the room.

“Grab onto my shirt, and do not let go.” Eddie ordered the boy.

“No, ‘ddie.” Buck weakly protested. “Needs up.”

“I can’t carry both of you, and you certainly can’t walk.” Eddie said firmly. “And I can’t put you in a wheelchair unless we want to chance the elevators. Which I don’t.”

If anyone else had actually come with Eddie when he told them he was saving Buck, it would be a different matter. There would have been someone to carry both of them.

But everyone else had trusted Bobby’s judgement when he said Buck wouldn’t live long outside of the hospital anyway.

Eddie had never been very good at abandoning the long shot. It was one of the things that made him such a good firefighter. Even if Buck’s chances weren’t great, if there was a chance at all, Eddie had to take it.

After making sure that Christopher had a secure hold on his shirt, Eddie started moving forward as quickly as the little boy could handle.

Unlike when they were going up, the stairway was completely empty when they left the 3^rd floor.

“Careful, buddy.” Eddie told Christopher. “One stair at a time, okay?”

“We need to go faster.” The boy whined.

“We’re doing fine, mijo.” Eddie said softly. “And we won’t go any faster if you get hurt.”

Christopher reluctantly nodded and started moving a little more carefully on the stairs.

Where it had only taken them 5 minutes to get up the stairs, it ended up taking them closer to 20 to get down them.

“Hold on.” Eddie said, stopping Christopher before the boy could turn the door handle to go out onto the ground floor. “It’s too quiet.”

Eddie stepped up to the door, and peered out the square window.

There was blood and black goo all over the place.

And was that a disembodied arm on the floor?

No. Something was definitely not right.

Steeling himself, Eddie looked down and locked eyes with his son.

“When I say run, we run, okay?”

Christopher looked back with a determined expression, and nodded.

“On 3.” Eddie said. “1… 2… 3.”

Christopher flung the stairway door open, and Eddie exited the doorway at a slow jog so that Christopher could keep up.

The sight that met his eyes when Eddie glanced back over his shoulder made his blood run cold.

Rushing towards them down the hallway were dozens of growling people, covered in blood and mouths dripping black goo.

“Go, go, go!” Eddie yelled, speeding up his jog, and forcing Christopher to do the same.

“’ddie…” Buck whined. “Slowing down… leave me.”

“Now’s not the time for jokes, Buck.”

“Need… go.”

“We are going, Buck.” Eddie said. “We. As in all of us. I’ve never left you behind before, and I’m not starting now.”

Buck’s head tipped sideways, landing on Eddie’s broad shoulder.

The effort of arguing seemed to take a lot out of him, brief as the argument had been.

The sliding glass front doors opened as the trio approached them, spilling them out into the parking lot.

Screams and growls mixed in the air around them as they entered the crowd, moving as quickly as they could away from the front doors where wave after wave of deranged blank-eyed people were pouring out into the parking lot.

They were shoved around every which way, the still normal people panicking more and more with every scream that was abruptly cut off.

“We have to get to the truck!” Eddie called over the din.

Buck groaned weakly, eyes half-lidded, but he didn’t seem to have the strength to say anything.

Eddie didn’t need him to. He knew Buck was just going to tell Eddie to leave him again. And, once they got out of this, Eddie was going to do his damnedest to show Buck that he wasn’t as expendable as he seemed to think, but they had to make it out alive first.

They were just in sight of the truck, when a shove from the crowd wrenched Christopher’s hand away from Eddie’s shirt.

“Dad!” The boy screamed, too small to push against the tide of panicking bodies.

“Christopher!” Eddie called out.

He tried moving through the crowd towards his son, but Buck’s bulky presence in his arms didn’t give him enough maneuverability.

“Dad!”

“Christopher!” Eddie kicked people out of the way as best as he could, but Christopher was just getting pushed further and further away.

“Daddy, help!”

“Christopher!” Eddie swung his upper body in a way that allowed him to use Buck’s legs to clear a path, but Christopher wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Christopher!”

Buck abruptly went limp in his arms, and Eddie’s panic dialed up another 10 notches.

No.

He couldn’t lose them.

“Christopher!”

Eddie just kept pushing and shoving through the crowd, sweeping Buck’s legs back and forth to ease the way.

“Christopher!”

Slowly, but much too fast for Eddie’s liking, the screams around them started becoming outnumbered by gurgling growls.

“Christopher!” Eddie screamed out desperately.

Eddie walked through puddles of blood, stepped over unmoving bodies, dodged around people with black goo staining their faces, all the while still calling out for his son.

“Christopher!”

Buck let out a pitiful whimper, and Eddie looked down to see a mouth dripping black goo closing around the blonde’s neck.

“No!” Eddie kicked out with all of the strength he had, and knocked the thing away from Buck.

“Buck!”

Buck didn’t respond, just laid silently in Eddie’s arms, head lolling and a circle of black goo in the shape of a mouth marring the skin over his jugular.

“Buck!”

Nothing.

Eddie’s eyes flitted around him, noticing with a sinking heart that the crowd was more dead than alive now.

He’d lost Christopher to it.

And now he’d lost Buck to it.

Eddie was just about to sink down and give himself over to the crowd, join his family, when a low whine escaped Buck’s lips.

A rattling breath pulled its way forcefully into Eddie’s lungs, and he started pushing through the crowd with renewed energy, this time shoving towards his truck instead of away.

He let out a grunt of exertion as he swung Buck’s legs, the blonde’s feet striking a man in the side of the head.

He didn’t want to leave.

Christopher was still out here.

But Buck would die without him. Had almost died with him.

And there was very little chance his boy was still alive when people much bigger and stronger than him were dying before Eddie’s eyes.

At long last, Eddie got to the truck and carefully set Buck into the passenger seat.

Eddie then swiped a shaking hand over the black goo on Buck’s neck, and nearly sobbed in relief.

The bite hadn’t broken the skin.

“’ddie?” Buck asked, voice weaker than Eddie had ever heard it.

“You’re okay, Buck.” Eddie croaked. “You’re going to be okay.”

Eddie then shut the passenger side door and rushed around to the driver side, where he stopped and stared out at the crowd, not a single living soul left to be seen from where he was.

“Christopher!” He called out, just in case.

No response.

Feeling as if he was leaving half of himself in that hospital parking lot, Eddie climbed into the truck, and sped off into the night.

Eddie sat straight up with a gasp, the blanket that had been covering him falling to pool around his hips.

Next to him, Buck let out a small whine, and snuggled closer, rubbing his head against Eddie’s groin in his sleep.

Eddie let out a shaky breath, and started running a hand through the wild blonde curls, allowing the movement to calm him down.

That night… it haunted his dreams more often than not.

It was, no contest, the worst day of Eddie’s life. And not even because the world ended.

He’d lost Christopher that night, and he’d come within milliseconds of losing Buck too.

All it would have taken was a single tooth to break the skin and Buck would have been a dead man walking.

Eddie had barely survived losing Christopher, and, sometimes he felt like part of him was still walking around that parking lot screaming the little boy’s name.

But if he’d lost them both?

In those few seconds when Eddie thought Buck was gone too, he’d been ready to give up. He was going to give up. Hell, he already had by the time Buck showed signs of life.

And he knew if he ever lost Buck for real, he would again.

Buck saved his life every day just by existing, and the man had no idea.

Even before the end of the world, Eddie had loved Buck.

But he’d never believed that Buck could possibly feel the same way, so he wouldn’t have acted on it.

And then everything changed.

The world ended, and Christopher was gone, and, when Eddie finally got Buck to the firehouse, whatever group had met there had already left.

Eddie couldn’t bring himself to tell Buck they’d lost Christopher.

Not while the man was still so fragile.

And a week later, when Eddie had finally broken down and told him, Buck had been so furious, that Eddie’d had to distract him with a kiss and tie him to the pole with a firehose to keep him from marching out to look for the boy.

Buck blamed himself for Christopher’s loss, Eddie knew.

If Eddie hadn’t been carrying Buck, he’d have been able to carry Christopher, and then the little boy wouldn’t have been able to be carried away by the crowd.

The blonde never listened in those early days when Eddie tried convincing him that it was actually himself that was at fault not Buck.

But that was hardly surprising.

Buck had always blamed himself for things that weren’t his fault.

Eddie sighed, stroking a hand gently along his lover’s protruding cheekbone.

He was hurting Buck, he knew.

He wasn’t quite sure what he was doing to hurt him, but he knew he was.

He’d thought he was making things better when he’d stopped going to Buck for a distraction. When he’d actually started letting himself think and stopped using Buck to feel numb.

He wasn’t blind.

He’d seen the light in Buck’s eyes dim a little more with every meaningless sexual encounter.

But, in trying to fix things, Eddie seemed to have just made them worse, and he wasn’t quite sure why.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8:

Buck didn’t say a single word to Eddie as the pair walked back into the firehouse from a supply run.

He was furious.

And the anger just built more and more every time he looked at Eddie and saw the sticky black bitemark on the arm of Chimney’s turnout coat.

The coats were thick. That’s why they wore them whenever they left the safety of their home.

They’d hoped the tough material would protect against bites, but that’s all it had been. Hope. They didn’t know for sure it would.

Until today, when Eddie had been too distracted watching Buck instead of their surroundings, and hadn’t noticed the deader approach them until her teeth were sunk onto his arm.

Buck’s heart had stopped, he was sure, as he watched the congealing black goo drip out of the corners of the mouth that was latched onto Eddie.

He’d screamed and he’d begged and he’d cried, and Eddie had just watched the deader with a sort of sick fascination while Buck’s entire world crumbled around the edges.

Then Eddie had casually slipped out of the turnout coat and brained the deader with his axe before putting the coat back on.

And the second Buck registered the unblemished forearm his heartache and desperation had turned to pure rage.

Rage that Eddie could have just gotten himself killed.

There was relief there too, that Eddie was okay. But Buck pushed it to the far reaches of his mind, and let the fury course through his veins, because Eddie had almost left him.

Something that he’d promised Buck he would never do.

He didn’t talk to Eddie the entire way back, and he didn’t talk to Eddie now, as the pair stripped out of their turnouts.

“Want to tell me what that’s all about?” Eddie asked Buck, crossing his arms after he’d hung the turnout coat back in Chimney’s locker.

Buck turned around, giving Eddie nothing but his thin shoulders in reply.

“Buck.” Eddie sighed. “Come on. You’re obviously pissed at me, so let’s have it.”

Buck’s back tensed so much that he thought he might pull a muscle, then he swung around and stalked towards Eddie, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Eddie made no move to defend himself as Buck’s fist swung up and grabbed ahold of his shirt collar before shoving him against the door of Chim’s locker.

A slight ‘oof’ left Eddie, the air having been knocked out of him from the force of his back hitting the metal, but, before he could do or say anything, Buck was on him, lips crashing into his so hard that his head hit the locker door next.

Eddie seemed to almost melt into the touch, going pliant and letting Buck’s harsh wandering hands do whatever they wanted.

Buck had been forceful before. He’d been needy and he’d been rough before.

But he’d never attacked Eddie’s mouth with such intensity, and his hands had never been so aggressive in pulling off Eddie’s clothes.

He’d ripped Eddie’s shirt a bit, from how roughly he’d yanked the garment off, but Eddie didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

If anything, his eyes had actually gotten darker.

Soon, Eddie was naked in front of him, caged between Buck’s still clothed body and the lockers.

Eddie’s hands pulled insistently at Buck’s clothes, until Buck threw his shirt off with a growl, and pushed his loose jeans and boxers down in one single fluid motion.

He then manhandled Eddie until the other man’s chest slammed into the locker doors with a moan.

Buck growled again at the noise, and sucked a bruise onto the side of Eddie’s neck while his hands continued wandering over the rest of him.

Moments later, he held his fingers up to Eddie’s mouth in a wordless command.

Eddie shivered, then sucked the fingers into his mouth swirling his tongue around them in a way that might have made Buck moan any other time, but only made him suck another bruise onto Eddie’s neck.

Buck pulled his fingers out of Eddie’s mouth with a wet pop, and held one teasingly at Eddie’s hole for a second, before pulling it away and reaching behind himself instead.

Eddie let out a shuttering breath and tipped his head forward, resting his forehead on the locker.

When Buck felt he was sufficiently stretched, he pulled away and manhandled Eddie over to the bench and pushed him down onto it with a growl that made Eddie’s breath hitch.

Buck then straddled Eddie’s lap, and didn’t give the other man’s mind time to catch up before he was sinking down onto his cock.

Eddie threw his head back and moaned, hands coming up to grasp Buck’s hips in a bruising grip.

Buck continued slowly lowering himself until he was fully seated in Eddie’s lap, then planted his hands on Eddie’s shoulders and started riding him.

“God.” Eddie choked. “Oh fuck.”

Buck threw his head back and moaned beautifully, as he set a brutal pace.

“So good.” Eddie praised. “So fucking good, Cariño.”

Buck was practically jumping in Eddie’s lap now, impaling himself on Eddie’s cock over and over and over, panting and moaning the whole time.

Eddie tightened his grip on Buck’s hips. “So good for me— ah— so perfect.”

Buck moaned in reply, causing Eddie to lean forward and place a soft kiss to his jugular.

“Beautiful.” Eddie said, awed as Buck continued bouncing on his cock. “Most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Mi todo.”

“Eds—” Buck moaned. “Eds— oh God, Eds— Love you so much.”

Eddie sucked in a sharp breath, and kissed Buck’s jaw. “I love you too, Cariño.”

Buck arched his back then and came all over Eddie’s stomach with a moan, but kept bouncing on Eddie’s cock.

One of Eddie’s hands left Buck’s hip and stroked gently up and down his side, as Buck whimpered from over sensitivity.

“It’s okay, mi amor.” Eddie said softly. “I can take it from here. You don’t have to hurt yourself for me, remember?”

Buck shook his head. “Need you—ah— need you so bad.”

“You have me, Cariño.” Eddie pressed a kiss to the corner of Buck’s gasping mouth. “Always.”

A tear fell from Buck’s eye. “N-No. Al-Almost lost you.”

Eddie’s hand flew back to Buck’s hip, and he held the other man still, stopping the bouncing.

“Is that what this is about?” Eddie asked. “Buck, querido, it’s okay. I’m okay. You don’t have to do this.”

Buck whined. “Want to. Need it. Please, Eds, let me have it.”

Eddie kissed Buck’s lips gently. “What do you need, mi corazón?”

“Need you. Need it in me, please, Eds.”

Eddie furrowed his brows. “Cariño, I’m already in you.”

“N-No. Need you to— Need you to—” Buck whined. “Need you to cum. Please, Eds. Need it.”

Eddie nodded, and let go of Buck’s hips. “Okay. Okay, Cariño.”

Buck immediately went back to bouncing on Eddie’s cock, still whimpering from the over sensitivity, but Eddie didn’t stop him this time.

“E-Eddie—ah—please.”

Eddie cradled the back of Buck’s head in a gentle hand. “Come on, Cariño.” He said softly. “You can do it.”

Buck clenched down on Eddie’s cock and moaned. “Cum in me, please Eds. Cum in me.”

Eddie’s back arched, and he wound an arm around Buck’s waist, stilling the other man’s movements as he shot his release as deep inside of him as he could currently get.

Buck just sat there for a moment, Eddie’s softening cock still buried in his ass, and a smile on his face.

But his smile slowly melted away, and he hid his face in the side of Eddie’s neck as sobs began to shake his thin frame.

Eddie held him tightly, and pressed a loving kiss to the wild blonde curls. “I’ve got you, Cariño. It’s alright. I’ve got you.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 9:

Eddie’s face set in a stony expression as he looked up at the sign over a mostly destroyed shop.

It had been hard to convince Buck that he could make the supply run on his own, despite the fact that the other man could hardly move without throwing up.

It wasn’t anything major, just a flu.

But Eddie had used the need to search out some Tylenol or Pedialyte as an excuse to not push back the supply run until Buck was feeling better.

Both were already weighing down the messenger bag over Eddie’s shoulder, along with a dented can of chicken noodle soup and a half empty bottle of zinc tablets.

He should be heading back to the firehouse.

He had what he came out for.

But then he’d seen this little shop on the corner, and a desire that he’d mostly squashed over the last few years flew back to the surface.

He loved Buck so much.

He wanted to spend the rest of whatever subpar existence he had left with Buck by his side.

But he knew he wasn’t good at expressing that.

He knew that Buck didn’t know just how much he meant to Eddie.

But this?

This could be a way to show him.

It wouldn’t mean all of the same things that it had meant before the world ended.

It wouldn’t be able to mean the same things.

There was no big declaration to be made in front of friends and family because there were no longer any friends or family to see it.

And a promise to stay with each other until their dying day would certainly have meant more if they weren’t, possibly, the last two people on the planet.

But the gesture itself would be enough for him to tell Buck without words that, even if, somehow, somewhere, other people were still alive, Buck was the only one for Eddie.

With a deep breath, Eddie moved towards the jewelry store.

He knew what Buck’s ring size was.

It was something that had offhandedly come up in a conversation back when the two of them were firefighters on a hot LA day and Buck was trying to draw attention away from the fact that he’d just quietly admitted that he would have married Abby if she’d stayed.

Hopefully, somewhere in the mess of the turned over jewelry counter and broken displays, Eddie could find a size 12 ring that he thought Buck would like.

The inside of the store was a sad sight, but Eddie was used to those by now, and brushed it off as easy as breathing before crouching down to sift through the debris and garbage.

There was blood too.

Blood and gore and a disembodied foot with a dingy red highheel still standing upright near where one of the cash registers used to be.

Eddie ignored all of this, too focused on trying to find the one thing that could have a chance of making Buck stop questioning his place in Eddie’s life once and for all.

Precious stones were discarded in the same manner that the plastic cups and old newspapers were.

They held about the same value in the world now.

And then, Eddie picked up a section of the old counter, and grinned when he saw a velvet board underneath with a selection of metal bands still shining in their places.

Size 8…

Size 9…

Size 9.5…

Size 10…

Size 11…

Size 11.5…

There. Size 12.

Eddie’s grin widened as he took in the row of size 12’s.

There were 5 rings there.

5 rings in Buck’s size.

Surely Eddie could pick one from 5.

The first one in line was something that Eddie could only describe as crowded. There was not a single spot on the silver band that was not encrusted with tiny gemstones.

The second one was elegant, with swirling engravings leading to small chips of diamond around the gold band.

The third was labeled as white gold, and had intricate lines intersecting and weaving around the metal, not a single stone on the band.

The fourth was a glittering sliver with chips of diamond so tiny that Eddie nearly mistook them for glitter at first.

The fifth was smooth gold, the only embellishment on it an engraved heart with a small stone in the middle.

Eddie mentally crossed out the first one immediately. Eddie, himself, found the ring a bit overwhelming, meaning that Buck certainly would.

The other 4 were a bit harder to choose between.

Silver would look beautiful on Buck’s hand, but gold would go so well with his wild blonde curls.

Buck wouldn’t like too many stones, but Eddie wanted him to have at least one, so number 3 was out.

And, as pretty as the fourth one was, Eddie didn’t think Buck would be a fan of the glitter look.

So that left the second one or the fifth.

They were both gold, and the same shade of gold even. The only differences were the designs.

Swirling or clean.

Elegant or simple.

6 tiny stones or 1 slightly bigger one.

Ultimately, the fifth won out, but Eddie pocketed the second one too, just in case Buck didn’t like his first choice.

He then scooped the whole line of size 11’s into his pocket so that Buck could pick out one for him without having to make a trip back to this place.

Provided Buck said yes, which Eddie knew he would.

With one final look around the shop, Eddie turned on his heel and walked away, back towards the firehouse and the man that he loved more than anything left in this world.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10:

Buck turned over on his side when he heard Eddie come back in from the supply run.

Eddie hadn’t been gone long, not really.

But any sort of time separated from his best friend seemed to take forever to Buck.

“Hey.” Eddie said softly, approaching the nest of blankets, where Buck was currently cocooned in a navy-blue fuzzy throw blanket. “How are you feeling?”

Buck managed to bring a small smile to his lips. “Better now that you’re here.”

Having a fever definitely made Buck more honest.

Eddie knelt down next to him, pulling a bottle of Tylenol and some cherry Pedialyte out of his messenger bag.

“That’s good.” Eddie told him. “Do you think you could sit up for a moment?”

Buck shivered in the blanket, but tried to sit up, before falling back with a groan.

“Hey,” Eddie said in concern. “It’s okay if you can’t. Let me help you, Cariño.”

Tears gathered in Buck’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have to take care of me again. This isn’t what you signed up for. I’m—”

“Shhh…” Eddie brought a hand up and cupped the side of Buck’s pale face. “Don’t apologize for that, querido. You never have to apologize for that. I’m not taking care of you because I have to, Evan, I’m taking care of you because I want to. And, if you let me, I want to keep taking care of you for the rest of our lives.”

Buck’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What?”

Eddie looked a bit sheepish. “This… isn’t how I pictured this going. But, I think you need me to do it sooner, rather than later.”

Eddie reached down into his messenger bag and pulled something out in his closed fist.

“Cariño,” Eddie said softly. “you’re the most important thing in my life. You’re my heart, my soul, my everything. You’re the reason that this whole fucked up world makes any sense to me. You’re the reason my heart still beats in any way that matters. And, so long as there is breath in my lungs, I promise to love you.”

A tear ran down Buck’s face as Eddie opened his hand, showing the golden ring sitting in his palm.

“Evan,” Eddie drew Buck’s attention back to his face. “Will you marry me?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 11:

The beach was peaceful without the sounds of the city in the background.

No tinkling carnival music from the distant pier.

No car horns blaring in the streets beyond the sand.

No boat motors revving and roaring over the water.

Just the sounds of waves crashing on the shore and seagulls cawing overhead.

And, of course, the gurgling growls of deaders wandering aimlessly across the sand.

“Any second.” Eddie whispered in Buck’s ear.

Buck clutched Eddie’s hand tighter in his own in anticipation.

This part wasn’t going to be fun, Buck knew.

Bad memories were going to be dredged up from the depths of his mind the second it started, but it would all be worth it for what would come after.

Buck turned his head away from the beach and looked at Eddie’s softly smiling face.

He couldn’t believe they were doing this.

He couldn’t believe that Eddie wanted this.

Not with him.

Then again, it’s not like there was anyone else anymore.

If Eddie wanted this with someone, Buck was his only option.

Buck was jerked violently from his thoughts when the tsunami siren started blaring, drowning out every other noise.

His eyes automatically scanned the sea, body tensing up in preparation to run at the slightest hint of rising blue on the horizon.

He’d been present when Eddie rigged the siren to go off. He knew there wasn’t actually a tsunami.

Eddie leaned into Buck’s space until his lips were brushing the shell of Buck’s ear, and said in a soothing voice, “I’ve got you, Cariño. I’ve got you.”

Buck wanted to relax at the words, but there was just too much packed into what he was feeling.

Too many images of running on the pier with a wall of water at his back and a long gone child over his shoulder.

Too many memories of screaming that child’s name over the ruined streets once the water was gone.

And then Christopher had died anyway, lost and alone and terrified while Eddie spirited Buck away from a crowd of the dead.

It felt like an eternity that the siren wailed, when in reality, it had only been about 10 minutes.

Buck let out a shuddering exhale when the siren finally cut off and looked out over the deserted beach.

Not even the deaders were present anymore, all of them now growling and rasping in a ragged pile at the base of the tsunami siren’s pole near the pier.

The siren had done its job.

Eddie wordlessly guided Buck down the wooden staircase in front of them and onto the sand, before leading him over to where a small canopy had been set up the day before.

Once under the canopy, both of them shed their turnout coats and draped them over a commandeered bike rack, before turning to face each other.

Eddie looked absolutely gorgeous in a white vest that buttoned tightly over his muscular chest and stood out against his tan skin, gleaming gold band already sitting ready in his palm, and a slightly crumpled bouquet of violets and dandelions gripped in the other hand.

Buck, across from him, sported an open black velvet jacket with the sleeves cut off. A black bowtie rested on his bare collarbones and there was a small stack of photographs in sliver frames held in one of his hands, the other closed around his own ring.

Eddie tucked the ring into a pocket on his vest, then accepted half of the photographs from Buck, and sat them up on a blanket at the edge of the canopy, while Buck did the same, before placing his last one on a box across from the blanket.

There were 5 photographs in total.

Eddie placed down one that was a group picture of Christopher, Abuela, and Pepa, and one that was of Hen and Karen.

Buck placed down one that was of Athena, May, and Harry, and one that was of Maddie and Chim.

The photograph on the box was one of Bobby.

Once the pictures were in place, Eddie and Buck stood across from each other between the blanket and the box.

“I wish they were actually here.” Buck whispered, eyes locked onto Eddies.

Eddie smiled sadly. “They are, Cariño.”

The pair stared at each other for a moment, then Eddie pulled his ring back out of the pocket on his vest and he reached out and carefully slid it onto Buck’s left ring finger.

“I know that this isn’t how either of us ever imagined it would go.” Eddie said softly. “And I know that things aren’t what we wish they were. But I’m so thankful that, even when this messed up world took everything else from me, it left me you.

You’re my heart, my soul, my everything. And, with this ring, I promise that I’ll remind you of that every day for the rest of our lives.”

Eddie let go of the ring, and allowed Buck to grab his left hand and bring it up between them.

Buck kissed Eddie’s hand, then carefully slid a gold band with elegant silver swirls onto his ring finger.

“I know I haven’t made things easy.” Buck said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “But you’ve loved me anyway. There’s been so many times in my life that I’ve wished someone would do that. The end of the world might have taken everything from me, but it gave me you.

You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And, with this ring, I promise that I’ll love you like that for the rest of our lives.”

Buck then let go of the ring, and darted his eyes down to look at the picture of Bobby on the box.

Their silent officiant.

He then let out a shaky breath and looked back up at Eddie.

Eddie quirked a teasing smile. “You may now kiss the groom.”

Buck laughed and then did just that, hands sliding into place on Eddie’s trim waist while Eddie’s muscular arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him down further into the kiss.

The pair pulled back at almost the same instant and rested their foreheads together, before taking a step back and each retrieving a small bag of cotton balls from the pocket of their turnout coats, which they then started throwing in the air.

Traditionally, people threw rice at the married couple, but rice was more precious than gems in the world now.

And Buck had excitedly rambled about how cotton balls were biodegradable, so of course Eddie had agreed to throw them instead.

Anything to make Buck happy.

The pair then ran around and played on the beach for a while, letting loose in a way that neither of them really got to do anymore.

Eddie wrapped his arms around Buck’s waist from behind and spun him around, Buck ran into the shallows and teasingly splashed water at Eddie, Eddie pinned Buck against a lifeguard tower and kissed his breath away.

Little moments that would stick with the pair forever.

Precious things that had become so rare in this new world because they weren’t absolutely necessary for survival.

Eventually, their laughter started drawing the deaders back away from the tsunami siren, so the newly married couple decided to call it a day and walked hand and hand back to the canopy, where they put the photographs back into the pocket of Buck’s turnout coat, before putting the coats back on.

Eddie then pulled a piece of white chalk out of his own pocket and scrawled the words ‘Just Married’ across Buck’s shoulder blades, before turning around so that Buck could do the same on his.

The deaders had ambled pretty close by this point, so Eddie chucked his bouquet of violets and dandelions at the group, and then he and Buck walked hand and hand away from the beach while the deaders gathered around the flowers.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12:

In hindsight, Eddie should have known that using the tsunami siren to distract the deaders would have consequences.

But he didn’t.

The thought hadn’t really crossed his mind.

At least, not until Buck started screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night and Eddie was jerked out of the first peaceful sleep he’d managed to get in years.

He hadn’t realized what was happening at first, rolling to the side and picking up his fireman’s axe in one fluid movement, before preparing for the possibility of having to put Buck down on their wedding night.

From the sound of the scream, Buck surely must be getting eaten by a deader, and Eddie was torn between putting a stop to it and letting the thing bite him too.

Only, when he took a look, Eddie realized that there wasn’t a deader in the place.

Just Buck.

Buck, who was tangled up in the sheet, bare chest heaving, drawn-out scream echoing from his open mouth.

Eddie carefully put his axe down, and climbed back into he and Buck’s makeshift nest of blankets.

“Buck.” Eddie said, putting a hand on his husband’s shoulder.

Buck’s skin was sweaty under his hand.

The touch didn’t seem to be doing anything to rouse the blonde, so Eddie shook him slightly.

“Buck.” Eddie said a little louder. “Cariño, wake up.”

Buck’s body twisted in a way that made Eddie’s spine ache in sympathy, and his eyes flicked around behind the closed lids, but he was no closer to waking.

“It’s just a dream.” Eddie said even louder, giving Buck’s shoulder a firmer shake.

Buck’s scream cut off into an odd gurgle, and his chest stuttered as it heaved, as if unable to use the air his lungs were pulling in.

Shit.

Eddie knew what Buck was dreaming about.

“Buck, you have to wake up.” Eddie said, hand tapping the side of Buck’s face. “Wake up, Cariño.”

Buck’s eyes flew open, but there wasn’t awareness in the blue orbs, like Eddie had hoped there would be.

The fact that it was absent made the situation a lot trickier, because there wasn’t a quick fix for that. Not anymore.

There was a time, when all Eddie would have had to do was haul Buck up from his couch, and drag him down the hallway to Christopher’s room.

After a few minutes of standing in the doorway, watching Christopher sleep, safe and alive, in his bed, Buck would come back to himself, and everything would be fine.

Eddie was always reluctant to leave him after those dreams, so, instead of leading Buck back to the couch, Eddie would lead him to his own room.

Every barrier and layer between the two of them would come down as they cuddled under Eddie’s covers, Buck too tired and shaken up to keep up the pretense, and Eddie too guilt-ridden over having been the one to make Buck leave his bed that day to deny the younger man any comfort he could give.

Things were not so easy now.

Christopher was gone.

And, even if Eddie had been able to show him to Buck, it wouldn’t have done anything good.

Seeing his boy that way would break Eddie, so he couldn’t even imagine what it would do to Buck in this state.

“Look at me, Mi Amor.” Eddie said softly, placing his hands on either side of Buck’s face.

Buck didn’t hear him, trapped within his memories as he was.

Buck drew in a deep breath, preparing for a shout that always broke Eddie’s heart to hear.

“Christopher!”

Eddie’s head tipped forward, and he leaned his forehead against Buck’s.

“You saved him, Cariño.” Eddie said softly. “You did what I couldn’t. You protected him.”

“Christopher!”

Eddie let out a shaky breath. “He lived through that day because of you. I know you still think you failed him, but you didn’t. You saved him, Buck, you saved him.”

Buck’s sightless eyes flicked frantically around the loft space, looking for a figure that would never be there again.

“Christopher!”

A lump formed in Eddie’s throat.

He knew that Buck had spent nearly 12 hours that day walking around the city, bleeding out on blood thinners, dehydrated, limping on his strained bad leg. And all to try and find Christopher.

The day Buck found out they’d lost him, Eddie had seen the same determination that had carried Buck then flare up, and he’d known that Buck was going to try looking, damn the consequences.

He’d known that, even before Buck had tried to drag his oxygen tank out with him, still unsteady on his feet, and too weak to even stand long enough for a shower.

Would he have called out the boy’s name, like he had that day?

Like he was doing now?

“Christopher!”

Had that aching desperation been in his voice when he was sifting through bodies and salt water and debris for a hint of a yellow shirt and curly hair?

Eddie thought so.

He couldn’t imagine how hard it must’ve been for Buck. Really.

He had only believed his son to be dead for about 30 seconds, and they had been the worst 30 seconds of his life until he’d lost Christopher for real.

And, both times, he’d had Buck there to lean on.

Buck had been forced to face it for 12 whole hours, alone, hurt, terrified.

Eddie truly didn’t know how Buck had done it. How Buck had somehow found the strength to keep doing it long past the time when anyone else would have given up and gone home.

“Christopher!”

A tear made its way down Eddie’s face, and he let out a shaky breath.

“Evan.” Eddie whispered, pressing his forehead more firmly to Buck’s. “He lived. He survived, and he thrived. And that’s all thanks to you. Get out of the water, Cariño. Come back to me.”

Buck’s eyes blinked blearily, confusion overtaking Buck’s features.

The blue eyes went a bit cross-eyed in an attempt to look at Eddie’s face. “Eds?”

Eddie swallowed thickly. “It’s not your fault, querido. It’s never been your fault, and, someday, I’m going to make you believe that.”

Buck shook his head. “I lost him. I—”

“I lost him too.” Eddie whispered hoarsely. “At least, you managed to save him. That’s more than I could do.”

Buck sucked in a sharp breath. “It wasn’t your fault, Eds, it was a goddamn apocalypse. You couldn’t control—”

“And what? You could control the tsunami?” Eddie said with a raised eyebrow, before his face and voice softened. “No one else ever would have fought as hard as you did for Christopher that day. No one else would have loved my son enough to try. And Christopher loved you enough, trusted you enough, that he knew you would never stop looking for him.”

Eddie then pulled back and pressed a gentle kiss to Buck’s forehead.

“I am so happy that my son had someone in his life that cared about him as much as you did.” Eddie whispered. “Someone that accepted him and protected him. Someone that loved him as much as I did.”

Buck swallowed. “I wish… I wish that—”

“I know, Cariño.” Eddie said quietly. “So do I.”

Eddie then gently coaxed Buck to lay back down, and then curled into the blonde’s side, head resting on the bony chest.

“I love you.” Eddie whispered, snaking his arm around Buck’s waist. “So much.”

Buck’s arm draped across Eddie’s shoulders. “I love you too.”

Eddie hid a fond smile in Buck’s chest, then kissed the younger man’s sternum. “Goodnight, Mr. Diaz.”

Buck grinned, something bright and shiny that almost covered the shadows that hid in his eyes.

Almost.

“Goodnight, Mr. Diaz.” Buck replied, tightening his arm around Eddie.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13:

Buck tilted his head to the side consideringly, as he leaned his hip against the table next to where Eddie was sitting.

On the table in front of his husband, was a notebook paper with dozens of little calculations written down.

Some of them were scribbled out, some of them were circled, and one of them had a little star next to it.

Buck had never been good with math or anything that had to do with math, so he couldn’t make heads or tails of what he was looking at.

The strange thing was, Eddie normally didn’t understand math either.

Next to the paper, was a bunch of bits of machinery and wires.

“What are you doing?” Buck asked.

Eddie startled, as if not realizing that Buck was there. “Oh. Uh. I’m figuring something out.”

Buck shook his head with a slight smile. “I can see that. What are you figuring out?”

Eddie put down his pencil, and turned to look at Buck. “You know how we’ve found those footprints?”

Buck’s brow furrowed. “Yeah.”

“Well.” Eddie swallowed. “With people around again, I’ve been a bit worried about this place. About what could happen to us if someone came in here without us knowing.”

Buck nodded.

That’s something that he had been worried about too.

Deaders were still a concern, of course, but that’s why he and Eddie had chosen to sleep up in the loft, and they had one of the smaller tables blocking the top of the stairs so that nothing could get to them that way.

The real danger now was the people.

“I, uh.” Eddie rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “I came up with a way that we could give ourselves a warning and maybe deter someone from sticking around if they come in here while we’re on a supply run.”

“Really?” Buck was intrigued. “How?”

Eddie reached over and pulled some of the bits of machinery closer to him. “If we go up to a building and we hear deaders walking around, we don’t go in. Not unless there’s only like one, right?”

“Right.” Buck nodded along.

“Well, what if they walked in here, and they heard 40 of them?”

Buck raised his eyebrows. “You’re not suggesting that we bring 40 deaders into the firehouse, are you?”

“No, no, no.” Eddie shook his head quickly. “Not the deaders. Just their voices. Groans. Croaks. Gurgles. Whatever the hell you want to refer to them as. That’s what we bring in.”

“40 of them?”

Eddie shrugged. “Around that, yeah. Some of them we can layer and use more than once, but not every deader sounds the same, right? So, I figure, we find some pretty distinct ones to stick in with the run-of-the-mill average sounds, and boom. Alarm system and defense all in one.”

“The Voice, Deader Edition. I like it. How, exactly, are we going to do it though?”

“With this.” Eddie held up a piece of circuitry with wires and an old cellphone stuck to it. “Wire this into the PA, and we’ll have different deader sounds for every room of the firehouse.”

“How?”

“Every room has a different relay. Right now, they’re all connected, but if I disconnect them and wire them into one of these, they all become individual. I mean, I need to leave some sort of connection so that they all go off at the same time, but…”

“But how are they going to go off?” Buck asked. “I mean, the deterrent could be manual, I guess, but not if you’re wanting it to be an alarm system too.”

“It’s not going to be manual.” Eddie set the contraption back onto the table. “I figured we could go lift some of the sensors from the trip lights and set up pressure plates of sorts in front of the exits. Trigger them that way.”

“Wow.” Buck said in awe. “You’re really smart, you know that?”

Eddie shrugged like it was no big deal, but he couldn’t hide the pleased look on his face. “I guess.”

“No, Eddie, I mean it.” Buck said, leaning down so that he was at eye level with his husband. “You’re so smart. And it’s so hot.”

Eddie smirked. “Really?”

“Uh huh.”

Eddie moved his chair back away from the table, and reached his hands out towards Buck, until the blonde straddled his lap.

“How hot?”

Buck draped his arms over Eddie’s broad shoulders. “So hot.”

“Hm. And what are you going to do about that?”

“Not sure. What do you think I should do about it?”

Eddie’s hands rested loosely on Buck’s hips. “Well. I think you should reward me. For being so smart.”

“Oh?”

“Mhm.”

“And what kind of reward do you think you should get?” Buck asked with a smirk.

The moment was shattered when the pair heard a gunshot echo in the distance.

Buck immediately stood up from Eddie’s lap and grabbed their axes from where they were leaning against the table, and tossed one to Eddie, which he deftly caught.

Eddie gestured for Buck to be quiet, and then started using hand signals that Buck vaguely recognized from his SEAL training.

But, just because he recognized them, didn’t mean that he remembered what they meant.

Buck shrugged, signaling to Eddie that he didn’t know what the hand signals were trying to say.

Eddie looked a bit exasperated, and started using gestures that were a bit more obvious, kind of like something one would see in a game of charades.

The chain of gestures ended with Eddie pointing to the pair of fire poles, and then walking his fingers in the direction of the truck bay doors.

Buck nodded.

The pair hefted their axes, almost in unison, then crept over to the poles and slid down them in a practiced movement that neither of them would ever forget, before making their way to the front of the truck bay and slipping unobtrusively out one of the small doors off to the side.

Eddie cocked his head to the side, listening for something.

Buck definitely did not think that the way Eddie had immediately slipped into a sort of combat mode was hot.

And he definitely did not think about all of the ways he wanted to show Eddie how hot he was after they got through the current situation.

Another gunshot rang out from somewhere, but Buck couldn’t tell where it had come from.

There were too many buildings around, too many surfaces for the sound to bounce off of.

But Eddie was more practiced at looking past the way the sound could bounce around.

He was more experienced with locating the precise location of a gunshot in unfavorable conditions.

Though, he’d never had to use this ability in the middle of LA. It was a completely different terrain with completely different challenges than Afghanistan had.

And that just made Buck even more impressed when Eddie started jogging off in the direction that he’d worked out the gunshot had come from.

They went on down the road, passed the place where Buck had found the first foot print, towards the intersection with Arnold and his over-turned police cruiser.

A third gunshot rang out as they approached the intersection, this one accompanied by panicked screams.

Living screams.

There was a living person nearby.

It had been so long since Buck had seen a living person other than Eddie. He didn’t know quite what to do with the prospect of seeing one now.

But, despite the fact that Eddie’s thoughts had to have been going in a similar vein, he looked perfectly calm and collected as the pair approached the intersection.

There, stumbling away from a crowd of deaders that Buck was sure had come from the Thai restaurant across from the little drug store, was a man in a red sweater.

He had to have been in his early fifties or late forties, and he was pointing a shaking pistol at the crowd of the dead.

He wasn’t watching where he was going, though, as he backed away from the crowd, and Buck had seen what was going to happen just moments before disaster.

Neither Buck nor Eddie had enough time to call out a warning before the man in the red sweater stumbled backwards and stepped into Arnold’s reach.

The dead McDonald’s employee immediately grabbed the man’s ankle in his rotten hand.

The man in the red sweater screamed out in fear, turning the pistol away from the crowd and pointing it at Arnold.

He shot, but somehow missed, despite the fact that the squirming corpse was only about 4 feet away from the barrel of the gun.

Eddie was sprinting with every bit of speed he possessed towards the crowd of deaders that was approaching the man, axe raised and face set in a sort of snarl.

Eddie had always been a faster runner than Buck, and, normally Buck wouldn’t mind it, because being behind Eddie was always a great view, but this time…

This time, being slower meant watching his husband charge towards a swarm of the dead without any turnouts on.

It didn’t matter though.

None of it mattered.

Seconds before Eddie’s axe would have been within harming distance of the fringes of the crowd, the man in the red sweater let out a piercing scream.

Arnold had managed to pull the man’s leg close enough to sink his blackened teeth into the man’s calf.

Eddie started hacking into the crowd regardless, but Buck stopped in his tracks.

There was nothing they could do.

There were close to 30 deaders between the pair and where Arnold was gnawing on the man’s leg.

They might be able to take down the crowd. But it was already too late for the man in the red sweater.

It was only a matter of seconds before the front of the crowd reached the man, and his screams abruptly cut off as a rotted woman with the right side of her torso missing ripped out his throat with her exposed teeth.

Eddie stopped swinging his axe, and quickly moved back away from the crowd, coming to a stop next to Buck as the deaders closed in on what was left of the man in the red sweater.

The man looked up at them through a gap in the crowd, terror in his green eyes, black goo splattering his face, as he choked on his own blood.

They watched solemnly as the man in the red sweater raised the gun up to his head just before the gap in the crowd closed.

Eddie flinched violently when the shot rang out.

Buck reached out a hand and tried to comfort his husband, but Eddie shrugged the hand away, eyes fixed on the feasting deaders.

Buck sighed.

There was no point in staying there.

The man was dead.

He was doomed from the moment Arnold had grabbed him, despite the fact that his heart had still been beating.

There was nothing they could do for him now.

“Eddie.” Buck said softly.

“If we had just taken care of that damn thing on day two, he’d still be alive.” Eddie growled.

“We’ll take care of it once the crowd disperses.” Buck promised. “We’ll come back tomorrow and take him out.”

“That doesn’t help him, does it?” Eddie snapped.

“Neither does us fighting.” Buck snapped back. “We can’t undo what happened to him. We can’t go back and stab Arnold’s stupid rotten face before something like this happened.”

“We should’ve taken him out years ago.” Eddie growled. “We should’ve—”

“Arnold was no danger to anyone who actually paid attention to their surroundings.” Buck growled back. “If the guy had watched where he was going, Arnold never would have gotten ahold of him. We had no way of knowing that leaving him alone would do any harm.”

“So, you’re saying this is his fault?” Eddie asked through grit teeth.

“No!” Buck replied. “I’m saying that this sucks, but it’s not something that we could control or prevent. Even if Arnold wasn’t there, the guy would have backed himself up against the police cruiser and been trapped. He would have died either way.”

Eddie let out a shaking breath, obviously trying to calm himself down. “You’re right. You’re right, and I’m sorry I—”

“Eddie, we just watched a man die.” Buck said, interrupting the apology. “You have a right to be upset.”

Eddie shook his head, then reached out and grabbed one of Buck’s hands, lacing their fingers together. “I shouldn’t take it out on you. I hate that I always seem to take it out on you.”

Buck squeezed his husband’s hand. “I know. And it’s… it’s not fine, but… you’ve gotten better. You’ve gotten a lot better about working through things.”

“Not good enough, apparently.”

“You’ll get there.” Buck said softly. “I believe in you.”

Eddie raised their joined hands up and kissed the back of Buck’s, and the pair turned away from the crowd of deaders before making their solemn way back to the firehouse.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14:

Evan Buckley loved Eddie Diaz.

He did.

He really did.

But sometimes…

Sometimes mariticide started to look like an attractive option.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Buck demanded, hands on hips and eyes narrowed.

Eddie didn’t turn around from where he was wiring his device into the circuitry of the PA system in Bobby’s office.

“I was thinking that the guy had a pretty distinctive growl, and we could use it for our alarm/defense system.” Eddie replied, the firm line of his back growing just a bit tense.

“There are plenty of deaders around with distinctive sounds, Eddie.” Buck countered. “You don’t have to almost kill yourself just to get one.”

“I had everything under control.”

“The second bite mark on Chim’s turnout coat says differently.”

Eddie sighed, and Buck knew without having to see that his husband had just rolled his eyes.

“You worry too much.” Eddie informed him. “We already know that the turnouts block bites.”

“And what if it hadn’t?” Buck snapped. “What if, this time, the bite had gone through, huh? What then?”

“We’ve all got to die sometime, Buck.”

Buck’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Not you. Never you. Don’t you dare.”

“It’s not like I’m going to live forever.” Eddie said harshly.

“I’m not saying you have to live forever. But you damn well better outlast me, because if you even try to go first, I’m going to make sure I beat you to it, and then I’m going to come back and haunt your ass, and I know how much you hate stuff back there.”

Eddie paused in his task, and slowly turned to look at Buck with a confused expression. “What do you mean, you know how much I hate stuff back there?”

Buck gestured wildly with his hands in a sort of way that suggested he wasn’t quite sure how to reword the statement. “We’ve been intimate with each other for four years now, and I’m always receiving.”

“I thought you liked that.” Eddie said, brows furrowing.

“I do!” Buck rushed to assure. “But I just… I figured…”

Realization dawned on Eddie’s face. “You thought I was opposed to it.”

“Well… yeah.”

Eddie shrugged. “I’m not. It just didn’t seem like you were interested in switching it up.”

Buck looked at Eddie with wide eyes, then shook his head to clear it, almost like a dog shaking off water.

“We’ll come back to that.” Buck promised, before his stance shifted back to defensive. “You can’t be reckless like that, Eddie. I could lose you if you keep this up. And I can’t, okay? You’re the only thing I’ve still got in this world, and I can’t lose you, Eds. Please don’t make me lose you.”

Eddie’s rigid posture deflated somewhat, and his hands let go of his device before reaching out and cupping Buck’s face.

“I’m not going anywhere, Cariño.” Eddie said softly. “And I didn’t mean to make you think I was.”

“I know.” Buck replied quietly. “I know you’re just upset right now because it’s Christopher’s birthday tomorrow, but, Eds. You really scared me today.”

Eddie leaned forward until his forehead was resting against Buck’s. “I’m sorry.”

“You’d better be.” Buck told him, small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “God, you’re lucky I love you.”

“Yeah.” Eddie said, pecking a gentle kiss to Buck’s forehead. “I really am.”

The pair stared softly into each other’s eyes for a few moments, before a smirk formed on Eddie’s lips. “Now, about that other thing.”

“Are you sure?” Buck asked.

Eddie’s hands found their way to Buck’s waist. “Absolutely.”

Without any further prompting, Buck spun Eddie around and steered him towards Bobby’s desk.

The office wasn’t very big, but by the time the pair had gone the short distance between the hole Eddie had cut into the wall and the desk, Eddie’s clothes were gone, and Buck’s were starting to follow.

“How are we going to do this?” Eddie asked.

“Carefully.” Buck answered. “You haven’t been on that end of it before. We’ll have to take it easy at first.”

“You won’t break me, Buck.”

“I know. But I don’t want to hurt you either, so we’re going to take it slow at first, okay?”

“Fine.” Eddie reluctantly agreed.

Buck gently pushed a hand between Eddie’s shoulder blades, prompting the other man to lean over the desk.

Buck then leaned down and picked up a little pump bottle from next to one of the desk legs.

Eddie had brought him in here for this activity often enough that they’d started keeping a bottle in the office.

“Relax.” Buck said softly as he coated his fingers in the slick substance.

Eddie let out a breath, and his shoulders loosened just a bit.

Buck stooped down and placed a kiss on his husband’s lower back as he carefully slid the first finger in.

Eddie sucked in a sharp breath and started to tense, so Buck froze in his movement.

“I’ve got you, baby.” Buck’s lips brushed the small of Eddie’s back as he spoke. “Relax, I’ve got you.”

Eddie’s body slowly lost its tension. “I’m good, Cariño. Keep going.”

Buck slowly slid the single finger in and out until Eddie’s hole stopped putting up any resistance, and then he added a second finger.

Eddie moaned. “God. Is this what you feel every time?”

“Just wait.” Buck said with a grin. “You haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.”

Eddie just moaned again and pushed back against Buck’s fingers. “C-Cariño, I need more. I— ah—I need—"

“Shhh…” Buck soothed. “I know what you need. I’ve got you.”

Buck then pulled the fingers out completely, before sliding three back in.

Eddie’s back arched. “O-Oh. God.”

Buck smirked. “Nope. Just me.”

Eddie turned his head to glare over his shoulder at Buck. “You are such a smarta— ah!”

Buck chuckled at the reaction, as his fingers found Eddie’s prostate.

“Feels good, huh?”

Eddie nodded his head, mouth hanging open as Buck pressed down on the spot.

“Bet I could just make you cum like this.” Buck whispered. “Wouldn’t even need to go any further.”

Eddie shook his head frantically. “P-Please. I— ah— I n-need you.”

Buck’s free hand stroked gently down Eddie’s back. “I know. Don’t worry, baby, we’ll get there.”

Eddie whined. “N-Need you now.”

Buck’s fingers relinquished the pressure on Eddie’s prostate, and went back to sliding in and out.

“Not yet.” Buck said softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“F-Fuck.” Eddie gasped. “This is— ah— revenge for me telling— fuck! For me telling you t-that all this time, isn’t it?”

Buck laughed. “Maybe. But it’s still true.”

“Please.” Eddie begged. “Please, I-I need it. I need you.”

Buck spread his fingers, testing the give of Eddie’s hole, then shook his head. “Not yet, baby. Soon, I promise, but not yet.”

Eddie whined. “Evan, please.”

A surge of want tore through Buck at the sound of his given name falling from Eddie’s lips like that, and he had to hold himself back from just pulling the fingers out and diving in.

Eddie wasn’t ready.

He wasn’t stretched enough.

Eddie was loose enough that if Buck went in, there wouldn’t be any risk of tearing, but he was still too tight for it to be anything but painful.

Buck wouldn’t do that to his husband.

Especially not this time.

“Not yet.” Buck said tightly. “Not yet.”

Eddie whined and pushed back on Buck’s fingers.

“I can take it.” Eddie panted. “Please, Evan. I need you.”

Buck gripped tightly onto Eddie’s hip with the hand that wasn’t moving in and out of Eddie’s hole and took a deep breath.

“Fuck, Eds.” Buck said shakily. “You’re going to be the death of me, you know that?”

Eddie pushed back on Buck’s fingers again with a moan. “Please. P-Please.”

Buck let out a shaky breath before spreading his fingers again.

Eddie’s hole was looser now than it had been before, but it still wasn’t as loose as Buck would like it to be.

However, he got the feeling that if he took too much longer, Eddie was going to push Buck onto the floor and take control of the situation, and, as much fun as it would be to see Eddie riding him, that’s not what Buck wanted this time to be.

“O-Okay.” Buck said, pulling his fingers slowly out of his husband. “Okay.”

Eddie arched his back and swayed his hips a bit. “Come on, Cariño. Fuck me.”

Buck wasn’t quite sure how this had gotten turned around on him, but he wasn’t complaining.

He reached down and grabbed the bottle of lube again, and pumped some out into his palm, before coating his shaft in it.

“This might sting a bit at first.” Buck warned.

Eddie looked at Buck over his shoulder. “I don’t care.”

Buck shrugged at his husband, then guided the head to Eddie’s hole, before he slowly started pushing in.

Eddie threw his head back and moaned, apparently loving the feeling despite the fact that Buck was sure it wasn’t painless.

Then again, this was Eddie.

Buck really shouldn’t be surprised that his husband liked a bit of pain, after all, this was the man that hadn’t let Buck trim his nails for a month one time because he liked the scratches that Buck left on his back.

“F-Fuck.” Eddie panted when Buck was fully seated.

Buck smirked, hands landing on Eddie’s hips. “That’s the idea.”

Eddie glanced over his shoulder at Buck, a scowl on his face, before clenching around him for a moment.

A gasp left Buck’s mouth, and his hands tightened their grip on Eddie’s hips.

“What are you waiting for?” Eddie asked him. “Fuck me.”

A full-body shiver made its way through Buck’s thin frame at the words, and he immediately started pulling back.

Buck pulled back until the only part of him still inside of Eddie was the head, and then slowly started to push back in.

Eddie, it seemed, wasn’t a fan of the pace. “Come on, Cariño, you’re not going to break me.”

Buck swallowed, then started pushing in a little faster.

Eddie still wasn’t happy with the pace. “I’m not made of glass, Buck. Come on.”

Buck gripped Eddie’s hips tighter, and stopped his movement completely. “What, exactly, do you want then?”

Eddie licked his lips. “I want you to fuck me like you mean it. Not whatever the hell that was.”

Buck let out a slow breath. “I’m not going to just pound into you, Eddie. Not right away. Your body needs some time to—”

“Fuck that.” Eddie looked at Buck over his shoulder with an unimpressed expression. “That’s what I want, Buck. I don’t want you to hold back because you think that’s what I need.”

Buck bit his bottom lip for a second. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Buck. I may not have been on this side before, but I’ve fucked you enough times to know exactly what I’m asking for.”

Buck let out a shaky breath. “Okay. Just checking.”

He then pushed the rest of the way in with all of the speed he could manage.

Buck’s hips met Eddie’s ass with a loud slap that echoed around the office, and Eddie moaned.

“Yes, j-just like that.” Eddie panted.

Buck slowly pulled back, and then slammed back in, pulling Eddie’s hips back to meet the thrust.

“Ah!” Eddie cried out, hands gripping the opposite side of the desk.

“Is this what you want?” Buck asked in a low voice, as he slowly pulled back again.

Eddie nodded his head, but didn’t have enough time to give a verbal answer, before Buck’s hips snapped forwards and slapped against Eddie’s ass again.

“A-Ah! Yes!” Eddie cried out.

Buck groaned. “God, Eds, you’re so responsive.”

“Fuck!” Eddie cried out as Buck slammed in again.

“So good,” Buck praised. “So good for me, baby.”

Eddie arched his back, pushing back into the next thrust with a scream of pleasure.

“G-God, Eds, you don’t know what you do to me.” Buck whispered in awe. “We’ve only just started, but I’m so close. So close, baby.”

Buck’s next thrust in slammed right into Eddie’s prostate, and Eddie’s mouth fell open in a wordless moan as his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Sounds like you’re close too.” Buck whispered. “Are you going to cum with me, baby? Are you going to cum on my cock?”

Eddie started to nod his head, but Buck’s next thrust in seemed to scramble the little bit of coherent thought he’d had, and Eddie ended up just gasping out Buck’s name instead.

Buck took in a sharp breath through his nose, and miraculously managed to slam in harder on the next one.

Eddie’s mouth stretched wide, but no sound came out of it, as if too overcome by the feel to manage even something incoherent.

“I’m not going to last, baby.” Buck gasped, body starting to tremble with the effort to keep himself from finishing.

Eddie whined and pushed back on Buck’s cock, pulling him in deeper until Buck pulled back again.

When Buck slammed back in this time, Eddie pushed back to meet him again.

Only, this time, the head of Buck’s cock slammed directly into Eddie’s prostate.

Eddie came all over the top of the desk with a scream of Buck’s name, and his body clenching down around Buck pulled him over the edge too, causing Buck to shoot his load deep inside of his husband.

Buck nearly collapsed from the force of it, his legs barely holding him long enough to pull out of Eddie, before he dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

Eddie groaned, and slid off of the desk to join Buck on the dusty carpet.

Buck instantly turned and snuggled into his husband’s chest, Eddie’s arms coming up and wrapping tightly around him.

“You did so good, Cariño.” Eddie told him with a tired smile as he stroked Buck’s back. “So good.”

Buck let out a little whining noise, and then started to sit up, but Eddie pulled him back down.

“Shhh…” Eddie said softly. “It’s alright. Rest now, and we can clean up later.”

Buck allowed himself to relax back against Eddie’s chest with a contented sigh, and his eyes slipped closed within seconds, the steady sound of Eddie’s heartbeat lulling him to sleep.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15:

Buck and Eddie wore grim expressions as they stood at the table in the loft and looked down at 6 pictures.

It had been 4 years now, since Buck had found the first footprint.

And today, they’d found number 7.

Eddie added the picture to the other 6 scattered on the tabletop, and frowned.

“7 footprints over 4 years. These 2,” He pointed at numbers 2 and 5. “look like they could be from the same boot. But the rest are all different. And this one,” He tapped the picture of footprint number 4. “is definitely from a child.”

Buck nodded. “I agree. But I also think this one,” he pointed at footprint number 7. “could be from a child too. An older one for sure. Probably a teenager. But still a child.”

Eddie scrutinized the footprint, and nodded slowly. “Or a small adult.”

Buck put a hand on his chin, eyes darting from picture to picture. “What do you think it means?”

Eddie frowned. “It’s hard to say… but… I think maybe it means that people are coming back to the city.”

Buck was afraid of that.

5 years ago, at the start of everything, Los Angeles had been overrun with deaders.

But, over time, as there weren’t any more people getting infected, the deaders started becoming more and more decomposed, until some of them just started falling apart and dying on their own.

Every supply run, Buck and Eddie were finding more and more piles of rotted sinew lying in the streets.

With the dead finally dying, it was only natural that survivors would start coming back.

Buck and Eddie hadn’t seen anyone except for the guy in the red sweater since the day the world ended.

Nor had they heard any news whatsoever since 3 days after Eddie rescued Buck, when the governor died screaming on a live broadcast after the camera man shuffled up to the podium with black ooze trailing out of his mouth.

They had no idea how the world outside of their little corner of Los Angeles had faired.

But, people coming back to the city was bad.

Very bad.

Because, while the deaders were dying off, they weren’t all dead yet. Take even one deader and pair it with a group of idiots and they’d be back to square one.

And that, was Buck’s only concern with it.

Because, after Buck’s meltdown when Eddie almost got bit a couple years ago, the couple had finally bitten the bullet and had a long overdue talk that, for once, didn’t end with them fucking.

It did, however, end with them getting married on the beach.

And, after a lot of reassurances on both sides, neither of them were afraid of the other running off if civilization suddenly came back.

Which was a big step for Buck, because he’d never been able to actually trust that someone wouldn’t leave him before.

His therapist, if she wasn’t probably a deader somewhere, would be so proud. Or maybe she wouldn’t, considering it had taken them 3 years of fucking each other’s brains out and almost dying to get to that point, but hey. Progress was progress.

“What should we do?” Buck asked.

Eddie sighed and hunched his shoulders in that way he did when he was annoyed. “Nothing. I don’t even think there’s anything we can do.”

Buck tilted his head back. “Yeah, I can’t think of anything either.”

Eddie hesitated. “I… Buck I don’t think we’ll be able to keep doing supply runs together. I mean, it’s dangerous not to, but, if people really are coming back, we can’t just leave this place undefended.”

Buck nodded. “You’re right. I don’t like it, but you’re right. How’s that PA thing you were working on going?”

“Great, actually.” Eddie said. “But I don’t know how well it’ll actually work until we get some intruders, and I’d rather just not know if it works at all than get some unwanted visitors.”

“Did you get the one that had that odd vibrato to the gurgle?”

“Yep.” Eddie said brightly. “He’s playing over the bunkroom along with 3 normal deaders and your terrible impression of one.”

“If it was terrible, you wouldn’t be using it.” Buck pointed out.

“Hey, if we’re getting invaded, I’ll need something to laugh at.”

“What’s the cue so we know it’s the system and not actual deaders breaking in?”

Eddie snorted. “Our cue is going to be 37 deaders and 3 Bucks suddenly growling and gurgling at the exact same instant from all around the firehouse.”

“You used my impression 3 times?”

“Yeah.” Eddie confirmed. “You’re also in the showers and Bobby’s office. Far enough apart to still be useful as 3 separate deaders without anyone being able to tell they match up. Especially because I staggered their timings a bit.”

Buck smiled softly. “You’re really smart, you know that?”

Eddie quirked an eyebrow. “I’m going to pretend not to be offended by how surprised you sound.”

Buck walked around the table and pecked a quick kiss to Eddie’s lips.

“Still offended?”

Eddie considered. “Hm. Yes, I think so.”

Buck kissed him again. “How about now?”

“Yeah, still offended.”

Buck kissed him again, only deeper this time, licking into his mouth for a moment before pulling back and looking up through his eyelashes. “Now?”

“Hm? Oh. Oh. Uh. Yeah.” Eddie cleared his throat. “You might want to try a different method.”

Buck grinned wickedly. “I’ve got just the one in mind.”

Eddie look intrigued. “Oh?”

“Yep.”

“Am I going to like this method?”

“You know, I think you might.”

10 minutes later, Buck had Eddie bent over the back of the couch, fucking into him so hard that he kept having to take a step forward from how much the couch was moving.

“Uh! Cariño— ah— just like that.” Eddie panted.

“You still offended?” Buck asked teasingly.

“N-Nope.” Eddie arched his back. “No one offended, here.”

Buck stooped down and kissed between Eddie’s muscular shoulder blades. “Good.”

The pair froze, as suddenly 40 different growls and gurgles started sounding around them.

“Fuck!” Buck whisper-shouted, pulling out of Eddie and helping the man stand up.

Eddie padded over and grabbed two axes from where they were leaning against the kitchen island, then walked back and handed one to Buck with a stormy expression.

“Now, I’m offended.” Eddie growled. “Whoever just interrupted that, is getting chopped.”

“Should we, maybe, put our clothes back on before we deal with them?” Buck asked.

“Hell no.” Eddie growled. “I was getting fucked very nicely until they came in. Fuck modesty, I’m pissed.”

Buck grinned, in spite of the situation, and kissed Eddie’s cheek. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”

“Not now, querido, I need to stay enraged.”

“You mean ‘engaged’?”

“That too.”

The two of them then exchanged glances and slowly approached the railing of the loft at a crouch, then peered cautiously down into the truck bay.

No one was there.

“What do you think?” Eddie breathed in a voice that was something even quieter than a whisper.

Buck tilted his head to the side consideringly. “Maybe just the wind? Or a bug or something? How sensitive did you make the plates?”

His question was answered a moment later when they watched a mouse run over one of the plates in front of the big bay doors, re-starting off the growls and gurgles over the PA system.

Eddie cursed. “I’m going to have to fix that. Can’t have it starting over every time someone steps on one of the plates.”

Buck smirked over at him, and then stood up. “While you’re at it, maybe adjust the things so that mice don’t set them off.”

Eddie stood up too. “Yeah…”

Buck pecked a quick kiss to Eddie’s cheek. “It was a good idea, baby. You’ll find a way to fix it.”

“Yeah. But first, I’ve got a mouse to hunt down.”

Buck laughed, but Eddie looked completely serious.

“That thing ruined a moment. I told you, whoever interrupted that was getting chopped. And I don’t particularly care that it was just a mouse.”

Buck laughed even harder, leaning his axe against the railing, before leaning against it himself.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, go ahead. Laugh it up.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 16:

“Dammit.” Buck muttered under his breath.

Eddie looked positively gleeful. “Rack ‘em up, Cariño.”

Buck reached down into all of the pockets around the pool table and pulled all of the billiard balls back out, before carefully arranging them in the triangular rack.

Eddie watched with a smirk, as he chalked up the end of his pool cue. “Ready to lose again?”

Buck crinkled his nose in mock disgust. “Lose? Me? Never.”

Eddie sat down the cube of chalk. “Lose? You? 3 minutes ago.”

“You cheated somehow.” Buck countered, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly upwards from his suppressed smile.

“I didn’t, and you know I didn’t.” Eddie said casually. “I’m just that good.”

“Yeah, good at losing.”

Eddie huffed out a small laugh. “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is. I’ll even let you have the break.”

Buck lifted the triangular rack away from the billiard balls. “Deal.”

Buck caught the cube of chalk that Eddie tossed to him and chalked up his pool cue, before setting the cube down on the edge of the pool table.

He then leaned over the edge of the table and lined up his shot, trying not to be distracted by Eddie’s hands finding their way to his waist.

That’s the real reason why he’d been losing every game that day.

Eddie was being a little more handsy than usual, and it had been distracting Buck.

So, really, Buck’s accusation of Eddie cheating at the game was true.

Buck didn’t mind it though. He loved the fact that Eddie, apparently, wanted to touch him bad enough that not even a game of pool would make him keep his hands to himself.

And then, just as Buck began to move the cue forward, a sound rang out in the firehouse that made him startle and hit the cue ball in a way that sent it sailing down into the truck bay, where it bounced off the top of the fire engine with a metallic thunk.

A phone was ringing.

In the 5 years since the world had ended, not once had a phone rang.

But there was one ringing now.

And it was Buck’s, by the sound of it.

Eddie and Buck both dropped their pool cues with a clattering noise, before scrambling into the kitchen, where Buck’s phone sat ringing on the counter.

They both just stood and stared at the phone for a moment.

“Who the hell could be calling me?” Buck asked in shock.

Eddie visibly swallowed. “I think, the better question is, who is alive to call you?”

Buck gingerly picked up the ringing phone. “You don’t think it’s someone calling about my car’s extended warranty, do you?”

Eddie gave Buck a look that plainly conveyed a sarcastic remark without Eddie even having to open his mouth.

Buck sighed. “I should answer it, shouldn’t I?”

Eddie raised his eyebrows. “Buck. Someone is specifically calling you in the middle of the damn apocalypse. Yes, you should answer it.”

Buck made a face, then pressed his finger down on the green icon at the bottom of the screen. “H-Hello?”

Chapter Text

Chapter 17:

Maddie Buckley-Han liked to think of herself as someone who had adjusted well.

Not everyone had.

There were stories on the news every day about someone else who had tried to break back into the Dead Zone to try and retrieve a possession and/or person.

Maddie had never even entertained the thought.

She wasn’t necessarily happy about her situation.

She’d lost her brother in the outbreak, of course she wasn’t happy about the aftermath.

But she was content. Mostly.

She still had Howie, whom she had married 3 years ago, and their little girl, who had just turned 2 last month.

She still had her parents, distant as they were. She’d never forgive them, though. Their lack of reaction to finding out about her brother’s death had made it so that she did not even feel they were worthy of her forgiveness.

She still had her chosen family with the 118 and Athena.

She still had the little boy her brother’s best friend had inadvertently left to her through her brother.

They were all alive and they were all together.

Yes, they were in Texas instead of Los Angeles, but they were together, and that’s what mattered.

The fact that they were all together made it easy to forget sometimes.

Made it all too easy for Maddie to pretend that her precious baby brother was just on shift or something and not a corpse stumbling around a city 800 miles away.

She would laugh and she would smile and she would interact with those around her, as if nothing was wrong.

And then she’d see Bobby and Athena’s memorial to their honorary son hanging on the wall, or she’d hear Christopher calling her ‘Mama’, or she’d catch sight of Hen and Denny and the empty third chair that always sat next to them at the table and she’d be reminded that everything wasn’t alright.

That nothing would ever be alright again.

That Buck, Eddie, and Karen had all been lost to something that couldn’t be fought.

Times, like these, Maddie would feel overwhelmed.

She’d feel just a little less adjusted than she liked to think she was, and she would just need to hear her brother’s voice to help her calm down.

Buck’s phone was out of service, of course. The entire Dead Zone was, due to the fact that the bombs had knocked down the cell towers.

But, that just mean that when Maddie called it, she would go straight to Buck’s voicemail.

She’d hear her brother’s voice cheerfully telling someone that he could be on shift and that he would get back to them as soon as he could, and, even just hearing that, would make her feel infinitely better.

She knew it wasn’t healthy.

Her therapist had already told her that.

That her calling to hear Buck’s voicemail was just a way of holding onto him instead of moving on, but Maddie felt that she’d already moved as far away from her brother as she could.

Her hearing his voicemail on occasion didn’t hurt anyone, and it made her feel better, so what was the problem?

She knew when she’d slipped away at the Grant-Nash barbeque, they’d all known what she was slipping away to do.

None of them had stopped her, and most of them would have been hypocrites for trying.

She knew that Bobby called Buck’s voicemail too, and she knew that Hen called Karen’s and left messages to it on the off chance that Karen would be able to listen to them someday.

She didn’t leave messages for Buck.

She just listened to his voice until the tone sounded and then hung up.

She knew her brother was gone.

Knew that there wasn’t anyone on the other end of the phone to answer it, and that, even if Buck did still somehow have his phone, him answering it would do nothing but haunt her nightmares.

She knew he was dead.

Knew that he was one of those zombies that rogue news helicopters sometimes showed shuffling down a freeway.

And so, when Maddie pressed on Buck’s contact, she braced herself for the thing to skip right over the suspense and go straight into the voicemail.

But it didn’t.

For the very first time in all of the years that Maddie had been calling to hear her brother’s voicemail, the phone did something it hadn’t before.

It rang.

Maddie clutched her phone tightly in her hands.

It was ringing.

The phone was ringing.

But…

It shouldn’t be.

Even if there was an undamaged tower left in LA or a satellite happened to hit the city at just the right angle to give Buck’s phone service, the thing should be just as dead as its owner.

Buck had been gone for 5 years.

Even with a phone that was outfitted with a ton of technological advances that had been made in that time, Maddie’s battery only lasted 24 hours at the most.

Buck’s phone shouldn’t be ringing.

But it was.

It was ringing.

And ringing.

And ringing.

When the thing had first started ringing instead of just kicking straight to voicemail, Maddie could admit that she’d gotten her hopes up.

But, with every successive ring, her heart sank more and more.

The thing shouldn’t even be ringing at all.

It was a fluke.

A glitch of some system somewhere.

And then, wonder of all wonders, it picked up.

“H-Hello?”

Maddie nearly threw the phone in her shock.

No.

It wasn’t possible.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

Right.

Maddie’s phone had been destroyed a couple years ago during one of Christopher’s breakdowns. She had a new phone now. A new number.

She hadn’t popped up on Buck’s caller ID as anything more than a random string of digits.

“Buck.”

There was shuffling and hushed voices on the other end until she spoke, and then it all died away.

“Maddie?”

A broken sob left her mouth, then she was rushing out of the room and back towards where she’d left everyone else.

“Woah, woah, Maddie.” Howie stopped her with gentle hands on her arms. “What’s wrong, baby?”

Maddie held the phone out, shoving it up under his nose, until Howie went cross-eyed trying to see the screen.

“He picked up.” She sobbed.

In an instant, everyone who had been lounging in Bobby and Athena’s living room sprung to their feet and rushed to surround Maddie and Chimney, each one of them trying to get a look at the phone screen.

“He did, I can see the timer running.” Hen said in surprise.

“Hen?”

Hen choked. “Buck? Is that you, sweetheart?”

“Uh. Y-Yeah.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Athena demanded, tears gathered in her eyes.

“LA?”

The room froze.

“You’re still in LA?” Bobby asked.

“Yeah.”

“How are you alive?” Chimney asked. “The whole place is overrun with infected!”

“Tell me about it. I’ve seen way more of those things than I can count.”

“And I’ll ask again, how are you alive?”

“Eddie, mostly.”

A ripple ran through the room.

“Eddie’s alive too?” Athena asked quietly, eyes fixed on Christopher, who appeared to be in shock.

“Yeah, h-he’s right here, actually.”

“Hey.” Eddie said, voice a bit fainter than Buck’s, suggesting he was further away from the speaker.

“Oh my God.” Hen said faintly. “This whole time. You’ve been alive in there this whole time, and no one knew.”

“Is Mom there too?” Denny asked quietly.

“Hen? But she’s there. She just talked to us.”  Buck said in confusion.

“Which means that he’s obviously asking us about Karen, Buck.” Eddie sounded exasperated. “And, no. She’s not here. Or, not with us, at least.”

“Are there others alive in there?” Athena asked as Denny burrowed into Hen’s side.

“We think so?” Eddie replied. “We haven’t actually seen them, we’ve just seen where they’ve been.”

“Well. Except for Red Sweater Guy.” Buck corrected. “But he’s dead now, so.”

“And there have been deaders that haven’t been dead the whole time.” Eddie said thoughtfully. “Didn’t you say that you thought Abby had only been gone a couple days?”

“Yeah. 3 at the most.” Buck replied.

“Wait, Abby?” Chimney chimed in. “As in Abby? Buck’s ex?”

“Yeah.” Eddie replied. “We ran across her a few years ago. It wasn’t pretty.”

“No.” Maddie sniffed, wiping at her eyes. “I’d imagine it wasn’t. Where are you guys?”

“The firehouse.” Buck answered. “It’s where we’ve been living.”

“Do you think you guys would be able to hang in there a little longer?” Bobby asked. “It might take us some time to convince anyone to let us come get you.”

“Oh, yeah, we’ll be fine.” Eddie said flippantly. “We’ve got enough supplies right now to last us a month. We could just hole up in here if we need to, provided the generators hold up.”

“It won’t be a month.” Bobby promised. “I’ve got enough favors to call in that, if no one sends us within a week, we’ll just storm the place. It’s about time someone went back into the city, anyway. Only problem is going to be keeping us protected from the infected.”

“Do you have access to turnouts?” Buck asked.

“Oh yeah.” Bobby replied. “Why?”

“Bites don’t get through ‘em.” Eddie answered. “We found that out the hard way.”

“That’s… really good to know, actually.” Bobby said, surprise in his tone. “Having a way to protect ourselves should make it easier to convince someone to let us go in.”

“There’s that phrasing again.” Buck said. “Why would anyone have to let you come in?”

“Buck…” Hen said hesitantly. “The whole city is walled off. And the military patrols the wall.”

“We haven’t seen a wall,” Eddie said slowly. “But then again, we haven’t gone far from the firehouse either, except when we went to the beach.”

“Oh yeah,” Chimney snarked. “World War Z is the perfect time for a beach day.”

“It was a wedding, actually.” Eddie said in amusement.

“A wedding?” Athena asked. “Whose wedding?”

“Ours.” Buck answered brightly.

“Only good thing to come out of this mess.” Eddie said in a soft voice.

“Well, uh, congratulations.” Maddie said. “But you do know that, as soon as we get you guys out of there, you’re having another wedding, right?”

Buck laughed. “That’s uh. That’s fine with me.”

“Me too. I’d marry you again any day.”

“Sap.”

“You know you love it.”

“Boys.” Bobby interrupted them with a smile. “We don’t know how long this connection is going to last.”

“Right…” Eddie said thoughtfully. “The phones haven’t worked until now. We don’t know if it’s just temporary. We might not have a way to contact each other again until you guys get in here.”

“What about the radios?” Buck asked. “I mean, they won’t work over long distances, but they work for us on our supply runs. If we can coordinate a channel for you guys to change to when you get here, we can at least—”

The phone cut off into static.

“Buck?” Maddie asked. “Hello? Eddie?”

The static continued for another second or two, then the call dropped completely.

Bobby put a hand on Maddie’s shoulder. “At least we know they’re alive.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 18:

“Maddie? Maddie!” Buck yelled urgently into the phone. “Maddie!”

Eddie put a steadying hand on his husband’s shoulder. “It’s gone, Buck. The call dropped.”

Buck lowered the phone, and turned to look at Eddie with teary eyes. “I—”

“At least you know she’s alive.” Eddie said bracingly. “And Hen and Chim. And Bobby and Athena. They’re alive, Buck.”

Buck’s bottom lip wobbled. “All this time. All these years. We thought we were it. That everyone else was gone.”

Eddie’s other hand came up and cradled Buck’s face. “I know, Cariño, I know. It’s a lot to take in. But we’ll get through this. Together.”

A tear slipped down Buck’s face. “I-I feel like I should be grateful, and I am, but… but they’re alive, a-and Christopher’s still—”

Eddie pulled Buck into a crushing hug, just silently holding him.

He didn’t say a word to that. He didn’t have to. Buck knew that he felt the same way.

Even with everything they’d just gained, everything they’d just gotten back, they were still missing the one thing they wanted most.

Their boy was still just as dead today as he was yesterday.

And they were both happy that the rest of the 118 was alive, they really were.

But the fact that the others had made it out just made Christopher’s death hurt that much more.

Because it showed Eddie that if he hadn’t taken Christopher with him when he went to save Buck, the kid could have made it.

And it showed Buck that if Eddie hadn’t come to save him, Christopher really would still be alive.

And maybe it also hurt that they’d all just left him to die and then they’d gone and thrived.

Because that’s what had happened.

Eddie was the only one who had come and tried to get him out of the hospital.

Everyone else had made the decision to leave him there.

Everyone else had decided that he wouldn’t live long enough outside of the hospital to make rescuing him worth it.

They’d just left him to suffocate when the power cutting out shut off his oxygen or get eaten alive when the dead made it up to his floor.

And then Eddie had saved him from the hospital and kept him alive.

It hadn’t been easy at the start.

Eddie had needed to go raid some of the other firehouses to find more oxygen tanks when Buck had gone through all of the spares at the 118, and there was a very painful couple of hours when Buck’s pain meds wore off but Eddie hadn’t been able to give him more because he wasn’t sure what the hospital had given to him, so he’d needed to wait for whatever it was to clear the rest of the way out of Buck’s system.

It hadn’t been easy, by any means.

But they’d still done it. They’d still managed it.

Buck had still survived for 5 years and counting after Eddie had rescued him.

And the rest of the 118 didn’t give him that chance.

He was glad they were alive.

But he wasn’t sure if he’d react too well to them when he was actually faced with them.

Because they’d left him to die.

He’d never have given up on one of them that way.

He’d have fought tooth and nail to get them out of that hospital, and he’d have done everything he could with his limited EMT knowledge to give them a chance to live.

And he’d always thought that they’d do the same for him.

But they hadn’t.

It was different when he’d thought they’d died, but even Maddie had just left him there.

Even his sister had left him to die.

And right then, standing in Eddie’s arms, all of those feelings started pouring out.

“Let it out, baby.” Eddie whispered against Buck’s temple. “I’ve got you, querido. Just let it all out.”

And so, Buck did.

He sobbed into Eddie’s shoulder, body shaking and heaving with his cries, and all the while Eddie held him.

The one person in Buck’s life who had never given up on him.

The only person who had thought that Buck deserved the chance to live.

There was no one else Buck would have rathered be stuck in an apocalypse with.

“I love you.” Buck gasped between sobs. “I love you so much.”

Eddie held Buck even tighter in response to that.

“I love you too, Cariño.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 19:

“Absolutely not.”

It had taken Bobby a lot of convincing, but, in the end, he had managed to get enough other AFD Captains on his side that the chief had caved and gotten permission from the governor for them to go in and retrieve Buck and Eddie.

And now, when he, Athena, Chimney, and Hen were all packing up to leave, they were running into a problem in the form of two 15-year-old boys.

“Mom’s in there.” Denny argued. “You’re all going to be looking for Buck and Eddie, but who’s going to be looking for her?”

“We don’t even know if she’s alive, honey,” Hen said, obviously trying to be delicate. “and we have no idea where she would be if she is. We’re just the advanced party on this, if we’re successful, there will be others, and they’ll find her.”

“But it’s my dad!” Christopher put up his own argument. “And Buck might as well be! I have a right to go!”

“Do you have any idea what they would do to us if we took you in there?” Chimney asked. “Because I don’t, and I really don’t want to find out. I like my organs where they’re supposed to be, thank you very much.”

“And what if something happens?” Christopher snapped. “What if you don’t get them out? What if this is my only chance to see them?”

“Then I’ll be doubly glad you aren’t there.” Chimney countered.

“Come on—”

“No.” Chimney said firmly. “We are going into this without any knowledge of what the situation inside those walls is like. All we know is that it’s going to be dangerous. I can’t, in good conscience, take you into that.”

“But—”

“Christopher.” Bobby said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “It’s going to be dangerous for everyone involved. None of us are going to be as alert or as aware as we need to be if we’re worried about you. And your dad and Buck? They would gladly sacrifice themselves without hesitation if they thought it was going to keep you safe. Our best chance of getting them out, is when you’re not there.”

Christopher swallowed, and then straightened his shoulders with a defiant look. “I’ll stow away. I’ll—”

“No, you won’t.” Bobby said firmly. “Because you’re needed here. Your dad and Buck have been alone in a dangerous situation for a very long time. They’re going to need some help to adjust. I need you here so that you can get things ready for when they get here. Make that transition easier on them.”

Christopher frowned. “Is it going to be like when Dad came home from the Army?”

Bobby’s hand squeezed Christopher’s shoulder bracingly. “It might. And that’s why they’re going to need you. You and Maddie are going to make up the spare room for them, give them a place to recuperate and heal until they can find a place of their own. Because, I’m sure, they’re not going to be in the best shape.”

Christopher swallowed again, and nodded this time.

Denny, on the other hand, hadn’t given up the fight yet. “But—”

Hen sighed. “I know, baby. I want to go find her too. You have no idea how much I want to comb over every centimeter of LA until I find her. But that’s going to be someone else’s job, okay?”

Denny looked defiant for a few moments, until his shoulders slowly hunched forward, and he lunged to hug his mother.

Hen’s arms closed around him immediately.

“Alright.” Bobby said. “Now that that’s sorted. We still have to find a way in.”

“Leave it to me, Cap.” Chimney said with a ghost of a smile. “I’ve still got someone who owes me a favor.”

“For the record,” Tommy Kinard said into the headset. “This is a very bad idea.”

Chimney grinned from the copilot seat, Hen, Bobby, and Athena piled into the back of the helicopter. “It’s kind of exciting, though, isn’t it? Going home.”

“Not sure ‘exciting’ is the right word for it.” Bobby said grimly as the helicopter approached a high metal wall with twisted skyscrapers rising up behind it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 20:

Tommy hadn’t been able to take them directly to the firehouse.

The helicopter would have drawn too much attention to it, both from the dead and from the living.

There was no way of knowing what kinds of threats that attention could attract.

So, Tommy had dropped the 4 of them off on the 405, and took off to go wait for them to call him. There was also an emergency code in place, just in case the situation got too bad to actually call him.

3 radio clicks for ‘come get us immediately’ and 6 radio clicks for ‘don’t come get us, it’s too dangerous’.

When picking them up, he’d land on the roof of the firehouse, because, by that point, it would not matter if attention was drawn to them.

But, for now, he had to find a helipad to wait on so that he did not waste fuel.

“Wow.” Hen said, staring at the destruction around them.

None of them had ever imagined the damage that 5 years of neglect could do to the city.

There was grass growing shoulder high on every bit of greenery, weeds poking up through every crack in the road, and new cracks created that were only there for new weeds to grow.

There were bits of concrete crumbling from every concrete surface, and, in LA, that was almost all of them.

Buildings had fallen into such disrepair that they were beginning to fall in on themselves.

Packs of dogs ran in the streets below the overpass where they stood, some with collars still on, even now.

The dark, twisted, outlines of buildings still stood in the distance, showing where the bombs had fallen all of those years ago, a blackened scar on the landscape.

A florist down one of the side streets had been completely taken over by the plants that it had once sold, a mysterious vine growing hundreds of feet up the building next door, and some variety of creeping moss obscuring the road and sidewalks for the entire block.

A jewelry store on a corner was smashed open, glittering jewels shining in the street like hundreds of discarded stars, and the sign that had once sat atop a pole at the front of the shop was now laying across the roof.

On down the 405, they could see a ladder truck and ambulance, paint long faded by prolonged exposure to the elements, but the numbers ‘118’ still easily discernable on the metal.

Birds dove down in choreographed lines to peck bits off of the few shuffling dead people that were visible on the streets below.

Piles of bone and clothing and rotted meat laid everywhere, each one having been an infected at some point in the past.

The air was so clean and bright without the pollution that had occasionally left the city in a smog, even with the stench of the dead permeating every corner.

In an intersection below, they could see an over-turned police cruiser with a whole hoard of the dead just calmly meandering around it, a still body among them wearing a red sweater that was just so shockingly bright that it was hard to ignore.

And there, just a few blocks from that intersection, they could see the former 118 firehouse.

“How the hell have Buck and Eddie survived here all of this time?” Chimney asked in a hushed whisper, breaking the spell that had captivated the group.

“Ask them, yourself.” Bobby replied. “Let’s move.”

It had been just over a week since Maddie had called Buck’s phone, and he was starting to drive Eddie crazy.

“No, Buck, I don’t know if they heard the part about the radios before the call cut off.”

“No, Buck, I don’t know if they’re still firefighters.”

“No, Buck, I don’t think they’ll care about my facial hair.”

It was never ending.

It was all Buck had talked about the past week.

Eddie didn’t want to get mad or snap at Buck.

He never wanted to do that.

But, he was beginning to worry that he would, because Buck just. Would. Not. Quit.

So, he’d done something that he never had before.

He’d asked for some time to himself.

Buck hadn’t reacted well, at first, and it had taken Eddie a minute to realize why.

“Cariño, you know that I’m not going to leave you, right? I don’t care that we’re not the last ones anymore. You’re it for me, and other people being around doesn’t change that. This isn’t me leaving. I’m just going down to the gym for a bit.”

 And so, that’s where he was.

Standing down in the gym in just a pair of basketball shorts, hitting the crap out of a punching bag so that he could take his annoyance out on something that wasn’t his husband.

And that’s when the growls started.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21:

The first thing Buck felt upon seeing the 4 figures entering the firehouse through the bay door where the absent ambulance used to park, was fear.

Fear that he and Eddie were being invaded.

Fear that, after everything, they’d die before their family got there to rescue them.

He looked over towards the gym, where he saw Eddie’s fists slowly lowering from the punching bag, and he knew that Eddie’s next move would be to reach for the axe that was leaning against the treadmill.

He knew that Eddie would run at the figures with that axe poised to swing if he found them to be threats.

Buck grabbed his own axe, from where he’d leaned it against the wall while admiring his husband’s muscles as he attacked the punching bag, and hefted it, ready to defend himself and Eddie.

But then, he recognized a voice.

Chim’s voice.

He couldn’t make out the exact words over the noise of Eddie’s little PA project, but he didn’t need to.

They weren’t being invaded.

They were being rescued.

Relief coursed through Buck, as he leaned the axe back against the wall.

Relief that he and Eddie were safe at last.

And, despite everything else that Buck felt towards the 118 about their actions 5 years ago, right that moment, Buck’s strongest emotion was relief that they were alive.

He rushed forward, intending to hug the family that he’d thought he’d lost.

But that’s when the gun made an appearance.

Athena wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting when she entered the firehouse, but the growls and gurgles of a couple dozen out-of-sight zombies wasn’t it.

“Oh, God.” Chimney said, devastation dripping from every word. “We’re too late.”

Hen, to her right, sucked in a hitching breath, and Athena didn’t need to look to know that there were tears in her eyes.

She didn’t blame Hen and Chim for breaking, because she wasn’t far from it, herself.

Buck had been like a son to her, and the thought that she’d gotten him back, only to lose him before even getting to see him, was tearing her apart.

But it wasn’t safe to break here.

Which, she knew, was the only reason Bobby was holding it together.

Athena didn’t have much time to spare a thought for her husband, before a boney figure with wild hair came bounding out of the darkness near the stairs.

In an instant, her gun was in her hands and pointed squarely at the man.

He stopped in his tracks, hands immediately raising and a hurt expression on his gaunt face that Athena didn’t know why she found familiar.

She didn’t have time to think on it or examine the man closer though, because, at that moment, a thin man with an axe in hand lunged towards her, snarl just visible under his dark facial hair.

Almost on instinct, Athena swiveled and pointed the gun at the man with the axe instead, and fired.

The man’s brown eyes widened, and he brought a hand up to his bare chest, where bright blood was beginning to bubble up from a wound.

He seemed to fall in slow motion, giving Athena’s eyes enough time to catch on the mole under his left eye.

A sinking feeling began to take root in her chest.

That mole… it looked familiar. And, right this second, it wasn’t familiar in a good way.

The feeling quadrupled moments later, when the man hit the floor, and the first man cried out in an all-too-familiar voice.

“Eddie!”

Hen’s blood ran cold the second she heard Buck cry out.

As she started to run towards the fallen figure, she saw Athena slowly set the gun on the floor out of the corner of her eye.

She didn’t know how things had gone so bad so fast.

Hen was the first one to get to Eddie, Chim arriving at her side barely a second later.

He looked different than he had 5 years ago.

Thinner, though he still had some of the muscle definition.

And his hair was longer than she’d ever seen it, not quite long enough to hang, but long enough that it had a slight curl at the ends.

And he had a full beard, which she never would have thought would suit him, but it did.

What didn’t suit him, was the splash of red visible on his chest under his hand.

“Eddie, I need you to move your hand, so that I can—”

She didn’t get to say anything further before Buck was shoving her out of the way with more force than she would have thought his emaciated frame could muster.

He crouched down over Eddie, teeth bared at her in an un-Buck-like way.

He looked wild. Almost feral.

“Buck, listen to me,” Hen said urgently. “We can’t help him if you don’t move.”

“You’ve helped enough.” Buck snarled.

“Please.” Hen implored. “We can still save him. I need you to let us save him.”

Buck was shaking, and Hen felt her heart break at the sight.

He was terrified.

Of losing Eddie, certainly, but also of them.

“Buck,” Bobby said softly, kneeling down next to Hen. “Come here, son. Please.”

Buck looked down at Eddie, whose jaw was clenched from the pain.

“Go.” He managed to grit out.

Then, and only then, did Buck move away from his guard dog stance and allow Bobby to lead him a couple feet away.

“It’s okay.” Hen told Eddie as he looked up at her. “We’re going to help you.”

Eddie’s face scrunched up, and his hand jerked where it was resting on his chest.

“Promise me something.” He bit out between his clenched teeth.

Hen shook her head. “No. We’re not there yet. We can still—”

“Hen!” Eddie interrupted her. “Medic, remember?”

Hen swallowed. “Ok. What do you want me to promise?”

Eddie let out a ragged breath. “Take care of him. Please. Promise me that you’ll take care of him.”

“No can do, Diaz.” Chimney chimed in. “You’re going to be doing that, yourself.”

Eddie looked like he wanted to say something else, and he probably would have, if his eyes hadn’t rolled back up into his head.

“Shit!” Buck heard Hen say.

He turned around to look, and immediately felt his world crumble down around him.

Eddie.

Eddie’s eyes were closed.

And the only thing moving his chest was Chimney’s compressions.

No.

No, no, no.

They’d been through so much.

They’d survived so much.

This couldn’t be the end.

This couldn’t be the end.

Buck didn’t know how to live in a world without Eddie anymore.

For a long time, Eddie was all he had, and he didn’t know how to breathe if Eddie wasn’t breathing with him.

If Eddie was leaving, so was he.

Before anyone could stop him, Buck tore out of Bobby’s arms and dove for the gun that Athena had laid on the floor.

How poetic.

The same gun that had taken out Eddie would take out Buck.

Buck pressed the still-warm barrel of the gun to his temple, wincing slightly at the burn it was probably going to leave there.

It hardly mattered, though. A burn would be the least of his problems in a minute.

“Woah, woah, Buck!” Bobby tried reaching for the gun, but Buck reached up and expertly turned off the safety, still familiar with firearms despite the years it had been since his half-completed SEAL training.

“Stay back.” Buck told him in a slightly hoarse voice.

“You don’t have to do this, baby.” Athena told him in a shaking voice.

Dammit. Buck hated that he was using her gun to do this, but there hadn’t been much else around he could use, short of impaling himself on Eddie’s axe.

But they’d have been able to save him from that.

No amount of bandaging or staunching blood flow would save him from this bullet.

“I can’t do this without him, I can’t.” Buck told Bobby, eyes wild.

“Buck, you have to put the gun down, okay?” Bobby put his hands out in a calming gesture.

“I can’t.”

“You can.” Bobby countered. “Eddie’s not gone yet, is he? No. Chim’s still doing compressions. They could still save him. What would he think if he woke up and you were dead?”

Buck shook his head. “I-I can’t live without him. You don’t understand, I can’t.”

“I don’t understand?” Bobby reared back in disbelief. “Come on, kid. You know better than that. I understand this, just fine. What? You think I didn’t think about it when Marcy died? You think I didn’t stand on the roof of that hospital for 12 hours trying to work up the nerve to jump? Trust me, Buck, I understand this. Which is why I can tell you that, as hard as it might seem, you can keep living.”

Buck’s bottom lip trembled. “I can’t—”

“And what do you expect me to do?” Bobby snapped, voice suddenly harsh. “Go back to Austin and tell that little boy that he’s lost, not one dad, but 2? Because I can’t tell him that a second time. I won’t.”

Buck’s frows furrowed. “What little boy?”

Bobby stared at Buck and then cursed under his breath. “You don’t know. You really don’t know.”

The gun shook a bit in Buck’s hand. “Don’t know what?”

“Buck.” Bobby said, voice suddenly delicate. “Christopher’s alive.”

Buck nearly dropped the gun in his shock. “What?”

“Christopher’s alive, and well, and stubborn as hell.” Bobby said with a slight smile. “Maddie’s been taking care of him.” Bobby’s smile dropped and left a grim expression in its place. “Did you even think about her, before you picked up that gun? What losing you like this would do to her?”

Buck shook his head.

“I thought not.” Bobby said darkly. “If you do this, you’ll break both of them.”

The gun’s shaking became even more pronounced, and just when it looked like Buck might put the gun down, Hen called out, “I’ve got a pulse!”

Tears filled Buck’s eyes as he watched Eddie take one rattling breath, and then another, and he shakily dropped the gun into Bobby’s hand.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, kid,” Bobby said softly. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

Bobby then talked into the radio on his shoulder. “Tommy, I’m gonna need you to double-time it. We’ve got an injured person, here.”

“Already setting her down, Cap.” A man’s voice echoed out of the radio. “Athena clicked her radio 3 times 10 minutes ago.”

“Copy that.” Bobby replied. “Heading to the roof now.”

Bobby then stepped forward and helped Chimney lift Eddie, Hen walking next to them with her fingers pressed to Eddie’s wrist to monitor his pulse.

“Come on, Buckaroo.” Athena said softly, placing a gentle hand on Buck’s back and leading him up the stairs behind the others.

Buck could see the others looking around curiously as they climbed, taking in the differences between the firehouse they’d all worked in 5 years ago and the one that he and Eddie had made into their home.

It wasn’t as clean as they remembered it, surely, because Buck and Eddie didn’t worry much about cleaning.

Things were moved around, too, like the couch, which was still scooted almost 2 feet to the left from the last time Eddie had bent Buck over the arm.

And there was a large Kodak printer in the kitchen that Buck had convinced Eddie to help him loot from an abandoned CVS so that they could print off some pictures from their phones. That’s how they’d been able to have the pictures of their family at their wedding.

There were other additions, like the paper on the wall with a pen hanging next to it on a red string. There were 23 tick marks in the column that said Eddie’s name, but Buck’s column had no more room to add tick marks. It even had some squished in above his name.

And there were about 3 dozen picture frames on the wall near the walkway that led over to the pool table, each one containing a picture of either the 118 or the Diazes.

And 8 more frames a little separated from the group, that were all of Buck and Eddie on a beach.

Buck snagged a one of those on the way by, and clutched the photograph tightly to his chest as the group continued on through the loft and to the door that led up to the roof.

When Hen used her free hand to push open the door at the top of the stairs, a harsh wind instantly blew in, carrying old leaves and clouds of dirt and dust with it.

A helicopter.

There was a helicopter on the roof of the firehouse.

The man in the pilot’s seat gave a jaunty wave, a smile that was extremely smirk-like adorning his lips.

Buck swallowed.

The man was attractive, to be sure. With his mussed up dark hair, cleft chin, and square jaw.

And, in another world, if Buck didn’t have Eddie, the man might have been someone Buck would have gone for.

But, in this life, he could never imagine loving another person as much as he loved Eddie.

He watched, eyes like a hawk, as Bobby and Chimney loaded up his husband into the helicopter, Hen’s fingers never leaving the pulse point on Eddie’s wrist, and then moved forward when Bobby motioned for him to do so.

He clambered into the helicopter, settling down at Eddie’s side, and then watched Bobby and Athena climb in after him, before Bobby was motioning for the pilot to take off.

Concern shone out of Bobby’s eyes as he watched Buck.

“He’s going to be fine, kid.” Bobby said softly.

Buck let out a shaky breath. “Yeah?”

Bobby nodded. “Yeah.”

Buck’s eyes immediately rolled up into his head, and the last thing he heard before his world went black was Bobby calling his name.