Something I Need: A Buddie Story

Firehouse Announcement

Buck sat in the loft of the firehouse enjoying the dinner he helped Bobby make. Everyone seemed to be in their own little bubbles, conversing about their last call or about what they were planning on doing after the shift was over.  

"You excited to see Eddie again tomorrow?" Hen asked Buck, who flushed red.

"Uhh yeah, of course. It's weird working without him." Buck admitted back. 

"You sure that's the only reason?" Ravi asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yes, Panikkar. I don't know what you're trying to imply here". Buck responded exasperatedly. 

Before Ravi could continue questioning the poor man, they all turned down to the garage doors where the sound of crutches could be heard hitting the cold concrete floors. Buck moved towards the balcony and was met with the 12-year-old he could have sworn he had just dropped off at Tia Pepa's house. 

"Chris? What are you doing here?" Buck asked, making his way downstairs.

Christopher himself was smiling so widely that his eyes practically disappeared. He enveloped Buck in a hug and as he pulled away he turned to look behind him. Standing there was Eddie. 

Eddie was dressed in his formal firefighter uniform, combat boots to match and hair slicked back. In his hand, he was carrying a bag of goodies he brought back for the 118. 

Buck was in awe. 

The crew had begun piling down the stairs even as they saw Christopher so they were already right there in front of this scene; Buck staring at Eddie, while still holding Christopher. 

"Hey, Buck". Eddie greeted, arms out and ready to embrace his partner. 

"You were supposed to come home tomorrow, what are you doing here?" Buck completely ignored Eddie's greeting. 

Eddie chuckled and decided to just hug Buck anyway. They hugged for a second more than what would have been acceptable for two best friends. 

"I've missed you, mi vida", Eddie whispered into Buck's ear while in their embrace. 

"I've missed you too, baby", Buck whispered back, nuzzling a little into Eddie's shoulder.

As they pulled apart, the rest of the crew began to come in to give Eddie hugs and pats on the back. 

"There was a tornado warning so we wrapped everything up this morning. I had to do the closing speech so that's why I'm still in uniform. Flew back immediately after the ceremony and went to Tia's to surprise Christopher, now here I am." Eddie explained to the whole crew.

"But why didn't you tell us he was coming back today?" Hen turned to Captain Nash, who was playing with Christopher. 

He looked up from where he was kneeling and said, "He asked me to keep it a secret."

The 118 continued to ask Eddie questions as they made their way up to the loft. Bobby offered to fix Eddie a plate, which he declined, seeing as he had just eaten on the plane. Eddie handed everyone their souvenirs, which ranged from hot sauces, and magnets as well as just some generic old T-shirts. As he was doing so, Buck gestured towards the locker rooms while making his way there. 

Eddie excused himself from the table, leaving Christopher to enjoy a meal and conversation with his Uncle Chim. He swooped into the locker room and found Buck standing in the middle of the room looking flustered. 'How adorable', Eddie thought. 

Buck took three large strides towards Eddie and crashed his lips into the Texan in front of him. The kiss was intense and filled with longing from being apart from each other this past week. None of the phone calls or text messages could ever replace the feeling of actually being with the other. The kiss became hungry as the two men's hands made their way across the other's body. A groan escaped from Eddie's mouth, which made Buck chuckle. 

"Hey, Eddie, you sure you don't want to oh, oh my." 

It was Bobby. 

Buck and Eddie pulled apart immediately, putting as much distance as possible between them. 

"I'm just gonna leave." Bobby paused for a moment before confirming, "Yeah, I'm gonna leave". 

He hastily made his way out of the locker room, closing the door firmly behind him. 

"Oh, my god. What are we going to do?" Eddie said, sitting down on a bench and landing his head in his hands. 

Buck sat next to Eddie, mimicking his position. 

"There's only one thing left to do, isn't there? I mean, so many people know but the people that we actually want to know don't. Hen and Karen know, and Bosko knows, hell, the 126 knows! Should we just..." Buck trailed off, interlacing their fingers.

Eddie didn't respond, he just stood up and gestured for Buck to follow him back up to the loft.

When they got there, Bobby was sitting at the head of the table, in conversation with Hen and Ravi. He glanced up when he noticed the two walking up the stairs, but didn't say anything. 

Eddie cleared his throat and called for everyone's attention. 

"Uh hi, everyone, we actually have a small announcement to make." He said loudly, causing the whole firehouse to gather at the loft.

"We're-", Buck started, but began to choke on his saliva. He cleared his throat and continued, "Eddie and I, uh, we're together. Like romantically." 

Eddie put an arm around Buck's waist and pulled him close. He smiled at the blue-eyed man next to him. 

The next thing they knew, the rest of the fire crew were passing money around to each other. More specifically, they were handing money to Hen. 

"What? What is going on?" Eddie asked. 

Hen laughed and smirked before explaining, "We had a bet to see how long it would take you two to figure out your feelings for one another". She shrugged after she said this. 

The rest of the crew also nodded to her statement. This revelation made Christopher burst out laughing, which caused Buck and Eddie to also laugh. Their laugh was more out of relief. Bobby came up and hugged the two, stating how proud he was of them. 

And how they would have to fill out a form for Human Resources later that day.