Firehouse Oasis 118

15.Eddie

The 118 was fantastic. It was all he could've ever hoped for and more, especially in the world they were living in. There were showers, not hot ones but still, and there were actual beds, and plenty of food and water. It was an oasis. Plus, there were other kids, even one that was around Chris's age for him to play with. Hen, Bobby, Chimney, and Athena were great company too. He loved Chris, but he couldn't deny that he'd missed having conversations with someone who wasn't eight.

There was one problem though. Except 'problem' was the wrong word, because that would imply that it wasn't Eddie's fault.

Buck seemed to hate him.

It was an issue for Eddie to deal with, not a problem. It only would've been a problem if Buck had carried that energy over to Christopher, which he didn't. The few times Eddie had seen Buck interact with the two little boys, he'd been great with them. Chris talked about how awesome Buck was to Eddie all the time too. He seemed to be the kid's favorite other than maybe Denny or Eddie himself.

Having someone recognize him had been a shock. He knew his name had been circled around, the league had recruited him because of it. Still, he had doubted anyone would have been able to recognize his face so easily. Except, Buck wasn't just anybody. Buck had been there.

He'd recognised the other boy as soon as he'd laid eyes on him too. He'd never interacted with him back at Caledonia, he hadn't even known his name was Buck. He couldn't have ever forgotten him though, not after what Buck had done that night.

That being said, Eddie understood why Buck hated him. Eddie couldn't even blame him, not after he'd gotten upwards of a hundred kids killed, some of which were probably Buck's friends.

One of which was almost Buck himself.

Despite what people said about him, despite what Chris still somehow believed about him, Eddie was not some fucking hero. With all the children's blood on his hands, there were days that Eddie wasn't sure that he wasn't worse than the government and military that'd locked them away to begin with.

So Eddie wasn't going to push Buck to like him, and he would give the other boy the space he so clearly wanted. If it weren't for Chris he would've left altogether, but he couldn't take Chris away from this well supplied and safe place. He couldn't leave him here either though, he'd promised he'd never leave the kid, which meant he had to stay. Buck would have to get used to that at least, because Chris was more important.

Speaking of Buck, the guy was silent as hell. Eddie didn't even notice him come up behind him until he spoke.

"What are you doing here?" The boy questioned, and when Eddie turned to face him he saw that the other boy was alone.

"Uh, what?" Eddie said, dumbly.

"What are you doing here?" Buck repeated, crossing his arms and fixing Eddie with an assessing stare.

"I was reading." Eddie replied, holding up the book that'd been in his lap.

"No, I mean here, like, generally." Buck rolled his eyes, "Last I heard, you joined up with the league."

"I did," Eddie admitted, something in Buck's voice made him want to be careful with his words, "We were with them for six months. Then we left."

"You... left?" Buck drawled, raising his eyebrows.

"Yup." Eddie confirmed, unsure as to where this was going.

"They don't generally let you do that." Buck replied, and oh, Eddie realized Buck must've had his own experiences with the league.

"Well good thing I didn't ask for permission." Eddie shot back, he saw the corner of Buck's mouth twitch upwards.

"Why?" Buck asked, eyes squinting.