One compliment too many

1

Eddie was like a whole new man now. Not too different, Buck knew he was still the exact same at his core. He was just letting what was at his core shine through a lot more for everyone to see. Or at least for everyone that mattered to see.

He was more open with his emotions good and bad, with his needs and wants, and even with asking for help. He didn't hold back anymore, or at least not nearly as much. All thanks to therapy.

Buck was very happy about all of this, obviously. Forever indebted and grateful to Frank for the work he'd done with Eddie, because Eddie was doing genuinely better now. He was doing better than Buck had seen him do, ever, if he was honest. So obviously Buck was extremely happy for his best friend.

Except, well....

If there was one drawback to the fact that Eddie didn't really hold himself back anymore, it was the fact that he didn't really hold back anymore when it came to Buck either.

Before, there'd been lines and boundaries that Eddie wouldn't cross when it came to Buck. Despite the popular theory held be Hen and Chim, they really did have boundaries. There were things that Eddie would leave him on his own to deal with, because they were so damn codependent that Eddie knew digging too far into Buck's problems would eventually circle back to his own issues.

Which meant that Buck was used to having a bit of leeway, some wiggle room to be messed up in. Except Eddie was no longer worried about digging into his own problems, and now that the man had finally settled his own inner battles, he'd turned his sight on Buck.

Which normally, Buck wouldn't complain about, having the attention of the man he was in love with wasn't exactly a hardship. Except, right now Eddie seemed intent on digging into his issues and insecurities with vigor. So Buck wasn't exactly having the greatest week thus far.

It'd started two days ago, or realistically it'd started the day he met Eddie, but Eddie was reminded of the issue and decided to do something about it two days ago. The issue in question being that Buck couldn't take a compliment.

Buck having a complicated relationship with praise and compliments shouldn't have been a surprise to Eddie. Not after Buck had spent their entire first shift together intentionally being an asshole and then crumpled after one compliment from Eddie. It was ridiculously embarrassing in hindsight, honestly.

To be fair to him, it hadn't been a surprise to Eddie when the issue had reared its head again two days ago. A firefighter from another station had complimented Buck's abilities on the job after the victims had been loaded into the ambulances, and Buck had assumed the other man wasn't being serious. Because why would the firefighter be complimenting him?

Buck had kind of snapped at him and told the guy he didn't have to be an asshole even if he didn't like the way Buck did his job. The guy had looked shocked and had to clarify that he wasn't being sarcastic. He'd genuinely meant the compliment. Buck had just eyed him warily, not trusting that the guy wasn't about to yell 'psych' and laugh in his face. When he didn't Buck had given the other man a hesitant and belated 'thanks' before turning around to leave.

Except when he turned to leave, he found that Eddie had been standing at his back, and having heard the whole thing, was fixing Buck with a sad look. It had felt awful, and a little bit too close to pity for Buck not to feel his hackles rising.

Except, now he felt so much worse than he had two days ago, because now Eddie had decided to fix him. Which was a word choice that Eddie had repeatedly protested in the past because 'there's nothing wrong with you Buck! You don't need fixing!', but Buck wasn't sure what else to call what Eddie was doing, so it stuck. At least when he referred to it in his head.