Buddie oneshots

33. It's not me anymore (?)

3rd person

TW: None

A strange man walked into the station. His clothes were dark and raggedy, his arms were covered in tattoos. He walked like he owned the place, and kept calling out a name. He reached the top of the stairs, revealing the confused and slightly annoyed crew. Bobby stepped forward.

"Is there something I can help you with?" The man looked at him with a cocky smile.

"Uh, yeah. I'm looking for Blondie. Where is he? Be a doll and tell me." False innocence dripped from his voice. Hen frowned, but Bobby managed to keep a smile.

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure who that is."

"Of course you do! He works here, I've seen him on the news, pretending to be a hero and junk. Where is he?" Bobby's smile started to fade, and the others slowly stood up. At this point, they all knew who he was talking about, but Bobby would rather swallow a grenade than willingly tell a shady man about Buck. Unfortunately, Buck walked up the stairs at that time. When the strange man turned around, Buck's smile quickly left and was replaced with a scowl.

"Well, well, well. Blondie got himself a job and cleaned himself up. I'm so proud of you." Everyone could see he was trying to get under Buck's skin, and they were worried Buck's hot temper would get the better of him. He shocked them when he just folded his arms and leaned on the wall. The stranger did not seem satisfied with that reaction.

"You know, I'm surprised." Buck tried to look uninterested, but even the strange man could see the curiosity was eating him up.

"I'm surprised that they let a drug dealer become a firefighter." The crew wasn't sure if they heard him right. The nervous glance from Buck shattered any hope that the man was lying. Buck turned back to the stranger, putting the uninterested mask back on.

"I wasn't the dealer, genius."

"Yeah, you were just the runner doing all their dirty work." The man said in a disgusted voice. An unnerving smile appeared on his face.

"Did they ever catch you? Wonder what I would get for turning in a big time runner like you."

"Hold it-" Eddie growled.

"Eddie." They made eye contact, silently speaking with their eyes. Buck turned back to the man and shrugged.

"Not much, I handled all that a long time ago." The man glared.

"Did you need anything else?"

"No, thank you Blondie." The man smiled, a little too forced looking, and walked back down the stairs. Buck watched him leave before nervously turning back to the others. Bobby brushed past him.

"Buck, my office. Now." He took a shaky breath. He felt a familiar hand on his shoulder and looked up at Hen. She gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry, Buck. You'll be okay." The honesty in her voice comforted him, gave him hope she didn't think of him any differently. He did a quick glance at the others. Ravi and Chimney both gave him a thumbs up, but Eddie seemed to be deep in thought. He looked at Buck, and Buck searched his eyes for something. Anything. He didn't get an answer in time. He felt Eddie's eyes on him the entire time. Bobby was sitting at his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. Buck entered quietly, shutting the door and waiting nervously. The longer Bobby stayed still without speaking, the lower Buck's stomach sank.

"Buck, why didn't I know about this." He wasn't sure if Bobby wanted an actual answer, so he stayed quiet.

"Buck, seriously. Why didn't you tell me that-" Bobby stopped, looking at Buck.

"Are you smiling?"

"I-uh. I'm nervous."

"So you're smiling???"

"Yeah, why not." Buck smiled again. Bobby shook his head.

"Buck, what that guy did today was dangerous. It would have been nice to know so I could've prepared for this sort of-'' He was cut off by a giggle. He looked back up again to see Buck's head in his hands. Whether the shaking was from the laughter or the nervousness, Bobby couldn't tell.

"J-jeez Bobby, get to the point! Am I fired, benched, warned, in the clear. Tell me, I'm so n-n-nervous I'm gonna throw up!" Bobby got up and rested a hand on Buck's shoulder, causing him to look up.

"Buck, I'm not gonna fire you for something you couldn't control. And there's nothing to be mad about, I just wish you had told me. Why didn't you?" Buck shifted and mumbled under his breath.

"Buck, speak up please."

"I didn't want you to look at me differently. I was gonna tell you before, but I was afraid you'd look at me like I was a criminal. Or dirt under your shoe. I didn't want to take that chance." Bobby nodded, sad that Buck thought that would happen but also understanding where he was coming from.

"Alright, you can leave now. Stay out of trouble, I'm proud of you for leaving that life behind." Buck was surprised, but nodded. No one ever said they were proud of him for leaving. Most people said thank god, or about time, or so you finally came to your senses. He was walking happily back to the hangout area when someone yanked him into the bathroom. The light was off and the door closed shut, so it was pitch black. He heard someone shift around before the light switch flipped on. When his eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he realized Eddie was the person who grabbed him. He was staring at Buck with a strange look, almost lustful. His mouth went dry. Eddie stalked closer, watching him carefully. Buck almost took a step back, but he realized he didn't actually want to. They were barely two feet away from each other before Eddie finally spoke.

"Come to my house. Tonight." Buck went to speak, but Eddie beat him to it.

"No," he put a hand against Buck's mouth, "excuses. I need to talk to you." Buck tried to ignore his pounding chest and nodded with his signature smile. Eddie grinned back, and the butterflies acted up in Buck's stomach again. He was probably imagining the glint in his eyes and the way Eddie lingered close to Buck a few more minutes than needed before leaving him in the bathroom.

The rest of the work day, Buck kept feeling Eddie look at him. A few times, Buck glanced back at him, receiving a grin from the other. This would cause Buck to turn red and look away, while it made Eddie grin wider. The others kept looking from one to the other, trying to piece the puzzle together.

Buck was in his car. At Eddie's house. Too nervous to get out. He wasn't sure why, Eddie clearly didn't hate him for the whole drug runner thing. There was no point in him sitting in his car, so he reluctantly got out and walked in the house, not bothering to knock.

"Eddie?"

"Bedroom!" Buck got unexplainably nervous, but he shook it off. Well, most of it. Eddie was half sitting, half laying on his bed when Buck walked in. When he saw him, he patted a spot next to him. Buck sat down, waiting for Eddie to speak. He sat up a little more before looking Buck in the eyes again. Just like the other times, Buck held his gaze for a minute before he blushed and looked away, pretending to be looking around the room.

"So," Buck looked at him, "drug runner, aye?" Unsure of where this conversation was going, Buck nodded.

"Well, you may be the ex-runner, but I'm the one who's in control here." Eddie said simply before tackling Buck. After a few minutes of rolling around, Eddie was on top of Buck and staring into his eyes. Buck was a flustered mess, but still managed a comment.

"Getting rather confident, aren't you Diaz?"

"Sure are, Buckley." Eddie thought he was doing pretty well, until Buck gave him a soft smile followed by a giggle. Then he too was a flustered mess. He groaned as he rolled to the side, laying next to Buck.

"Why do you have to be so cute! I swear."

"Well, it's not any easier for me, having to see such a hot person around all the time." Buck said while rolling on his side to get a better look at him. Eddie hummed as he stroked Buck's cheek with his thumb.

"I guess we'll call it a draw then."