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Buck glared at Hen and Chimney as they snickered at him. They'd been doing it every time they saw him, and it was getting annoying.
He'd checked his hair and it was fine, although he'd used a bit more gel just to be sure. There was nothing stuck between his teeth, and there were no remnants of the day's food smeared across his face or down his uniform. Nothing was ripped or torn to reveal anything that should be covered while on duty.
Buck really couldn't see what Hen and Chim were so amused by.
And now Bobby was giving him A Look. A very pointed look, one that promised a conversation in his office in the near future.
He'd almost got Ravi to fess up, until Hen had rescued the younger firefighter from Buck and the axe that was coincidentally in his hand. And now the two paramedics were shielding Ravi from him, so he had completely lost his chance.
“Buck, come up here and help me with lunch,” Bobby called out from the loft. With a last glare at the trio by the ambulance, Buck jogged up the stairs to where Bobby was hopefully not going to be weird.
After just a few minutes Buck realised that his hopes were in vain. Bobby was being even weirder than the other three. There was a strange edge to his behaviour, like he was wanting to ask Buck something but didn't know how.
“So, erm, are you keeping up with laundry okay? I know you've been picking up extra hours with B and C shifts recently.” Bobby said hesitantly, as if Buck was going to explode over an innocent question.
Buck shrugged. “I've been managing.” He sighed and put his knife down, turning to face Bobby at the kitchen island. “What's going on, Cap?”
Bobby shook his head, and put his own knife down. “Well, it couldn't escape my notice, or anyone else's, that you came in today wearing one black sock and one grey one. And so did Eddie.”
Buck took a deep breath, and looked down at his feet. Sure enough there were two different coloured socks poking out from the bottom of his uniform pants.
How he hadn't noticed that when he'd changed after being vomited on – twice – he didn't know.
“I stayed the night at Eddie’s, I guess our clothes got mixed up when we were getting dressed this morning.” Buck offered.
Bobby's knowing smile made Buck blush slightly. He tried to push the feeling down, he had nothing to be ashamed of. He and Eddie were both adults.
“There's paperwork for you two to sign whenever you're ready,” Bobby said. “Congratulations. Now, get chopping, and keep everything out of this house and these vehicles.”
Buck nodded and turned back to his pile of vegetables. He was just positioning a bell pepper under his knife, when Bobby made another remark that almost made the knife slip.
“Damn, I think Karen got the pot.”