Archive of Our Own ^beta

Under the morning lights, Buck fills the kitchen with soft noises and the smell of seasoned scrambled eggs.

Eddie just woke up to find him already on track, apron set and coffee barely burning. He rests against Buck’s back, arms around his waist and head on his shoulder. At first, the position was just to watch what he was cooking and give him a little kiss on the cheek as a good morning, when he still had his eyes a little squinted for the tiredness. Then, he realized that he didn’t wanna move and miss the steady back, the ruffle of soft curls on his face, the smell of Buck’s cleanliness lingering on his neck.

Buck hums, still cooking, unfazed of Eddie’s touch. They were officially together only for a few days now, but that touch was something so familiar, so safe, so soft. He tugs a smile through humming thinking how lucky he feels right now.

Also, a good moment to save for the long job day they were about to have. They wouldn't act like that on duty. Unaproppiate for work plus a little detail: they haven’t told anyone yet.

‘God, you guys are being unbearable”. Well, Christopher knew. He loved them, of course. But wasn’t too fond of those endless displays of affection.

Eddie finds his way to the table at last, kissing Buck’s shoulder before separating from him to grab his coffee mug and sitting down in front of Chris.

“Good morning to you too, young man. Why do you hate love?” Eddie replies to him, teasing. A smile resting on his face between sip and sip of his coffee.

“I don’t. I knew you loved each other even before you did!” Buck turns around, amused, and puts the full breakfast in front of Chris. “Thanks, Buck”.

“You’re welcome. What’s with the urgent complaint then?” Buck doesn’t let it go.

“Look, I’m happy for you two. But you’re so codependent. You are around each other all the time. It’s annoying".

“Well…” Eddie chimes in. “We were kinda always like this, but if it’s such a trouble for you now we could tune it down a little”.

“Nah, that’s fine”. He responds immediately. “Not that you could tune it down either”

Buck looks up from his own cup of coffee, full smirk on display. “Is that a challenge I hear?”

Eddie denies with his head while Christopher starts nodding at the same time, talking to Buck only. “Could be a bet, don’t you think?”

“Talk to me”, Buck is obviously in before hearing any condition.

Chris takes a little time pouring a spoon of his well-cooked breakfast before answering. “You didn’t tell the others yet, right?”

Buck nods, finishing his coffee. “We’re trying to make a big deal out of it, like a little surprise party or something like that”.

“It is a big deal”, Eddie talks again, patiently waiting to listen to Chris bet, knowingly falling into a trap.

Buck takes a step forward to squeeze Eddie’s shoulder, smiling.

“See? You can’t do it. I’m so gonna win this”. Christopher continues, excitedly. “So, you two have to hide that you’re together this full shift. If they find out some way you’ll have to get me that game I’ve been checking on”.

“Pfft, that’s easy. We were gonna do it anyway. We just have to act normal”. Buck answers quickly. He would never back out from a challenge.

“Buck…” Eddie says, shaking his head. “Maybe it’s better if we don’t play any games”.

“Dad, c’mon. Please”.

Buck is already jumping a little on his feet with the joy of winning a dumb argument with a 14-year-old. The competitiveness runs in his blood and somehow, along the way, it became part of Christopher too. They always had the best time playing against each other, teasing, challenging and mocking the loser as long as it was funny.

Eddie always looked at them just like he was looking right now. Tongue clicked, eyebrows lifted, like the wheels inside his head were turning, investigating how this could damage any of them. Because Christopher was a smart kid, he wanted to know if there was something else behind it.

“What's in it for us if we win then?” Eddie crosses his arms but his facade is falling. The other two on the kitchen were too excited to crush their fun. It was only a game after all. He would do anything to keep them happy.

Even if it meant not touching or staring at Buck an entire day, full 24 hour window.

A little uncomfortable, but they could pull it off.

“I’ll do all the laundry for a month”.

“Ok, you’re on”. Eddie hides his smile finishing the coffee while Buck agrees on their part. “How much is this game again?”

Christopher's voice lowers, as he is embarassed now by his own proposal. “Three hundred…”

Buck’s eyes open up in surprise while Eddie chokes on his coffee. “We better win this or I will make you pay for that alone”.

“That’s unfair, you wanted to play too”. Buck frowns. He’s doing that face like he’s begging for something, sad blue eyes emerging in the kitchen. For Eddie, they shine more like the California sun coming from outside.

He can’t help it. Rolls his eyes, falling (again) into a trap. He gets up and puts his mug on the counter, he’ll have to wash it later. “Okay, okay. We don’t even have to talk about it, we’re gonna kick his ass”. He smiles looking at Chris and stops on his way to cup Buck’s cheek, brow furrowed just forgotten. Buck smiles and presses his face closer to feel the touch deepening.

Christopher's loud laugh breaks the sudden silence and the contact between them. “I am so gonna be 300 dollars richer tomorrow”.

________

“Ready?” Buck says pulling in the fire station parking lot. Eddie’s hand is resting on top of Buck’s hand just like it was all drive. In such a few days, it became something daily and now he’s aware of it at any moment. They both are.

Eddie sighs. “Not really. I can’t believe we caved in to our 14 year old”. Buck smirks as Eddie gives him a little peck before coming out of the car. The last of the day.

Buck still thinks it’s going to be fun. Because his plan does not include not touching Eddie at all that shift.

____________

Buck was having fun.

Since the shift started, he teased Eddie. He brushed his fingers lightly to his hand when they were setting the table, he leaned in forward inside the truck so their knees could touch, he patted his back repeatedly after responding to the first call.

And that was normal for all of them. No one could bat an eye because they were always together, always circling around each other, orbiting in lingering touches as if they were human magnets.

Of course, it stings a little that they couldn’t wrap their hands together or try to take a nap sharing a bunk bed because that would be too obvious.

Eddie was fine with it too. Especially because he didn’t wanna give up 300. Also he has to win, he wants to be right and not hear Chris’ endless mocks when he has the so wished game.

So, every time Buck orbits around him, he takes it in, like nothing. He doesn’t hug him, doesn’t sit at his side on the couch while he is reading a book, knowing that he would instantly put a hand on his thigh and rest his head on Buck’s shoulder, a touch that could make him fall asleep at ease in a few seconds as he found out only yesterday.

It’s a game for them both as well. Act normal, and Eddie really can. He is strong.

That’s until the 3 am call comes.

They arrive at the scene that apparently it’s better than they thought.

A girl crushed her motorcycle on a pretty quiet street, so there’s luckily only one person with a minor injury, herself.

The worst part is that she is clearly drunk. Sitting on the ambulance, Eddie is bandaging his ankle while she mumbles something, eyes glazed, lost, looking away behind him and her red long hair a mess, the aftermath of the accident. Hen is close in case Eddie needs help and all the others are talking to the few cops that came around.

“Hey you!” The girl shouts, not caring at all about Eddie’s ear close to her. He startles at the surprising sound. Realises that Andrea, the drunk girl, is not looking at some lost point at the horizon. She is looking at the rest of the team. Buck starts going closer to hear her, Eddie unnoticing. “You, beefy guy. You are so hot!” She shouts again, even though he can hear everything now.

Eddie tries to not tighten his grip on her ankle and keep working like always. His face quickly turned a bright red, thinking she just did not call Buck so hot.

“Seriously, I don’t know what the hell you are doing here. You should be modeling somewhere in LA. That body is to die for. And your eyes, God". Andrea continues, lowers her volume this time, and Eddie’s mouth turns into a thin line, annoyed. When the fuck she could look at his eyes, he thinks. He can’t see Buck but doesn’t hear an answer coming from him, probably ignoring her.

He finishes his work and talks to her directly. “Hey, we’re all set here”. The girl waits two seconds to catch his gaze and nod but Eddie thinks that distraction doesn’t relate with her drunkenness level.

“Thank you. Sorry, do you happen to have the number of your partner right there?”

Eddie clenches his jaw unconsciously. He answers without thinking. “Fuck no, not for you”. He’s still looking at her, not trying to hide his angry expression (he couldn’t actually) and Andrea nods again. She is drunk but not even the entire booze in the state of California could make her mumble another word, not after the look Eddie is giving her.

“Eddie! Be nice”, Hen reminds him they are not alone, a smirk running in her face.

“She is drunk, she won’t remember”. Eddie tries to excuse himself when in reality, he forgot he wasn’t supposed to react like that. At least not insulting the girl he doesn’t know at all. “Anyways, Buck doesn’t date people he meets on calls. I'm sure even less a dumb drunk driver”. Ok, he just did it again.

Hen shrugs but he can tell she is still amused at the same time she gets up and starts walking her way back to the ambulance.

All work is done there.

__________________

“I mean, can you believe the audacity?”

“Yes Eddie. You've been talking about it for half an hour. Can you let it go?” Hen isn’t feeling so funny anymore. Not when it’s almost 5 am, she wants to sleep and Eddie keeps rambling about the drunk girl nonstop.

“Yeah, sorry. I guess it startled me. How could she be driving that drunk?”

Hen nods, knowing in her heart that what bothers Eddie doesn’t have to do with the drunk driving, since it's the first time she hears about it since they came back.

She was the only one who could hear him because everyone else was taking a nap, all sprayed across the kitchen, uncomfortable sleeping.

“I think you should talk to Buck about this”, she said, eyes already closed.

“He went to sleep”.

“Lucky bastard, huh. Go wake him up if you need it. Stop bothering me”. Hen is direct, as always and Eddie lifts his hands up, noticing he sounds insane. He has his reasons, but he can’t blurt it out just like that.

Eddie leaves to the back of the station. Buck took the chance of claiming a private bunk bed the moment they arrived from the scene.

Eddie knocks on the door, politely and Buck opens it, so fast that he thinks maybe he wasn’t sleeping at all.

“Hey, you are awake. You don’t look—”.

Eddie finds himself interrupted by Buck’s lips on top of his. He leans in the kiss like it’s water in a desert. Buck grabs him by the hem of his shirt and moves him inside the room, closing the door entirely behind them.

This kiss isn't soft, more like desperate. That amount of hours without a single deep touch is doing magic on him, needing Eddie in a way that’s certainly not safe for work.

“Buck”, Eddie pants, breaking the kiss to gasp for air. “What is that for?” He hugs Buck, giving him a short kiss before he could answer.

“You are so hot when you're jealous”, Buck says and his hands move to grip Eddie’s back inside his shirt. “You were so angry on the way back too. So hot”.

Eddie grins, unaware until right now of the effect his jealousy had on his boyfriend. “You know I didn’t wanna tell you details because it's bad, so possessive”.

Buck’s eyes are almost only pupils under the dim lights of the room. “I heard you on the call. I like possessive”. He kisses Eddie again, mouths exploring each other, wet, fast, frantic. Buck isn’t thinking at all when he takes Eddie’s shirt off and he follows him, doing the same.

Eddie finally breaks up the kiss but not the touch, going directly to Buck’s neck. His own face red, his lips hot against Buck's warm body, licking and taking all in while Buck grabs him by the back of his neck to deepen the kisses, an impossible task given how close they are now. Eddie rests his right hand on Buck’s bare chest, caressing him, his heart pounding fast under him, his pulse going crazy on the touch. Eddie’s heart must sound the same, it’s echoing inside his head in a sound so strong he almost thinks Buck can hear it too.

Their brain fogs disappear suddenly with the loud noise of the siren blaring through the whole station. They freeze in action remembering, at last, where they are.

“God, they are gonna call HR on us”. Buck says, steading his breath while Eddie gives him a funny look, pressing his chest one last time and grabbing the t-shirt on the ground, putting it back on. Buck has to do the same, trained swiftness to go, put their gears on with the others and meet them again at the back of the truck.

Buck stares at Eddie thinking how gorgeous he looks with his now muffled hair, his face lightened up with the intense red of his cheeks, his lips still a little plump for the intensity of the kisses he had the pleasure to give him. Eddie lifts his gaze up to find him watching already and winks, teasing him. Buck feels vibrant watching the movement, the little mole on Eddie's face dancing along his eyelashes at that small gesture.

“Buck, are you okay?” Chim interrupts his obvious beaming and Buck clears his throat, thinking he must look flustered after all that make out.

“I’m fine. I was having the best dream ever and then the alarm woke me up”. He fidgets with his fingers, not telling the truth but also not a total lie.

When Chimney is about to ask again, the truck pulls over. Saved by the fire in front of them, Buck’s grateful to not having to make more excuses.

Also, grateful for the alarm because he was totally down to having sex with Eddie right then and there. At work. The day they were supposed to not touch each other.

__________________

They all come back tired, worn-over. Luckily, no rescues or casualties had to be done. But a building catching fire was rarely calm. They put their gears away with the smell of smoke still ghosting their entire bodies.

Buck and Eddie misses the looks Hen and Chimney are giving each other, back and forth, as a smile tugs their lips up. The two men turn their back to find them already laughing directly at them, totally missing the joke.

“What’s going on?” Buck asks, curiously squinting his eyes, not catching up.

“I don't know. Why don’t you two tell us?” Hen asks, clearly aware of the answer. But Buck and Eddie can’t understand. Chimney is chuckling, unable to form words.

“Guys, come on. Why are you laughing at us?” Buck asks again, a little frustrated now as he tugs his shirt down, when a morning wind coming from the wide open door creates goosebumps on his torso.

He notices. He felt the wind on his belly and his low back, a little exposed. That’s weird.

He tugs the shirt down again, not understanding why it feels so short, so tight around his chest, the neck a little up for his taste.

He looks at Eddie, who’s still puzzled. His shirt looks loose, too big on him considering the size he uses at work.

Eddie watches with more attention now, how Buck is still grabbing his shirt to keep it from going up.

They look at each other. A beat. They look at Hen and Chim that aren’t laughing anymore but are still looking at them like they are waiting for a drop. The butt of the joke.

They must haven’t noticed before because of the emergency, ready to work instantly, as they were trained.

Everyone notices now.

Bobby catches up with the group, giving Buck and Eddie confused looks. “Are you two using each other's shirts?”

‘Fuck’, Eddie blurts out when Hen and Chimney start laughing again, unable to stop.

“Guys, guys. We just got them mixed up in the locker room, it’s not a big deal”, Buck tries to still win them over, he thinks he sounds convincing.

“Isn’t that a hickey, Buckley?” Chimney wipes his left eye, tearing because of laughter. Buck looks down immediately to check, without thinking, but that just makes them laugh more. “I was joking but now you two are so busted”.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow. Our shift is over”. Bobby says, calm, but they can see a tiny smile is forming in his face too.

Buck covers his face with his hands, embarassed. The fucking shirt lifts up again.

He can imagine his wallet lighter, three hundred dollars less.

_________________

Buck and Eddie get back home defeated. Hen already sent Christopher a message teasing him, telling him “how could you not tell us, huh?”. So he’s got it covered, he knows he won.

After the long shift, they want to sleep tight. Nevertheless, they have to pay first.

Christopher is having a blast.

“I knew it! You were never gonna win it”. He glows while Buck gives him his credit card to buy the damn expensive game.

“Remind me to not accept any bet from this guy from now on”, Buck looks at Eddie that’s watching them from the kitchen entrance, trying not to smile.

“I told you! It’s a little funny though”.

“That’s okay dad”, Chris chimes in. “I know I can beg him a little longer and he’s gonna buy me anything anyways”.

Buck opens his mouth, faking surprise because he knows he is right. “Not three hundred! God. I’m so gonna crush you when we play this game”.

“I’ll be waiting”. Christopher answers, smugly and returns the credit card opening the game. Zombies appear on the opening credits, a somber music following. “I didn’t ask Hen, how did you get caught anyway?”

Buck shuts his mouth and looks at Eddie, waiting for him to find the right answer, not taking the bait. Eddie’s cheeks turn a new tone of red, and he shrugs, not wanting to say anything.

“Eugh! You had sex at work?”

Buck answers fast now, with an outraged “No!” while Eddie talks on high volume, “Christopher!” like he is scolding him.

Christopher huffs and focuses on his new, triumphant game instead. “Okay, not gonna ask again.”.

Buck laughs now, remembering the call. “Let’s just say your dad got a little too irritated with a girl on a call”.

“Hey, she was objectifying you”, Eddie lifts his hands, claiming innocence. Buck huffs.

“You called her dumb”.

Christopher now looks at them again. “Dad! Jealousy is an ugly emotion”, he nags him and Eddie rolls his eyes.

“She was pretty, also a redhead! She was your type” Eddie tries to defend himself and Buck pouts, funnily. Gets up from the couch and lifts a hand in Eddie's direction, quickly their fingers are tangled up.

“You are my type”, he says looking straight at him and Eddie can’t help himself, he tugs him closer to give him a soft kiss.

“Go to sleep guys”, Christopher says from the couch, eyes locked in on his game while he puts his headphones on.

“You do hate love!” Buck says, mocking him.

“I'm just joking. I'm happy for you. You are my family”.

Buck feels his chest burst with joy with those words. Chris isn’t the one to talk so openly about it, not these days. He comes back to the couch to give him a kiss on the temple.

“Always will be”.

Eddie grabs his hand again to do the trail to their bedroom. His face showing his sleepy smile, tired eyes glowing with happiness.

They change in silence to cuddle in bed, ready to get away from the day behind them.

“I don’t understand how you are always so fucking cold”, Eddie says, eyes already closed, the slow breathings from Buck craddling him.

“Not always”, he lifts an eyebrow, witty. Even when Eddie can’t see him, he bumps his chest with his hand.

“Dumbass. We can’t do that again at work, you know? We are grown men”.

“Yeah, I know. It was only that one time. Luckily I can have you here at home”.

“I’m starting to think this relationship was just a trap so I could be your human heater all the time”.

“You got me”, Buck looks at him, eyes closed, long eyelashes still on top of his cheeks, not resisting his pretty lips in the darkness of the room, kissing him softly. “That and the fact that I love you”.

Eddie opens his eyes a little to look at him again, a hand going to his hair to caress his soft and ruffled curls. “I love you too”. He whispers before falling asleep entirely. Inhaling and exhaling the cleanliness on Buck’s body beside him, hugging him like a lifeline. He is gonna do everything that’s possible, and the impossible too, to sleep like this every night of his life.

Also, no more bets are a good idea, he thinks when he listens to a muffled sound of Christopher shouting to his game, having a blast.

He falls asleep smiling.