Fresh wind on a hot day (Jim Street x Evan "Buck" Buckley)

Catching Feelings

*Hey, it's Buck! I really wanted to wait a day or two before texting, but turns out I can't stop thinking about you. U free on Sunday? I almost suggested a hike, lol. Not with that ankle, huh? Next time then! How does chilling on the beach sound? 🥰*

Jim couldn't stop reading the message over and over again, every time feeling fucking butterflies wreak havoc in his poor stomach.

Buck asked him on a date.

Not even five hours after they parted their ways.

Took him nearly twenty minutes to respond, overthinking every single word he wrote to make sure it didn't somehow sound stupid. Which totally made him feel like a teenager interacting with their first crush. So what? It was reasonably overwhelming that he managed to impress someone so much, they wanted to see him again on their next day off. And the fact that person happened to be a handsome, likeable Alpha firefighter only added more stress to the raging anxiety fire.

Street couldn't even remember the last time he was on an actual date. Perhaps it was the awful one last year. Tan was bothering him for ages to meet with some gay cousin of his good friend, so to once and for all make him shut up, he agreed. It was a horrible mistake. That Alpha dude, who was apparently a very respectable neurosurgeon, clearly wanted to own a what he called "a rare object" in a form of a jacked, intimidating Omega working a manly job. This statement, voiced barely fifteen minutes after they met, left the officer utterly speechless. He was baffled by how confident in his deep arrogance that man must have been to say such offensive bullshit with absolute nonchalance. Just...wow. Tan was obviously fired from any further matchmaking, and all Jim's following encounters were purely physical because he had no mental strength left to deal with some people's stupidity. He really hoped the upcoming one won't be another disappointment, which was an odd thing to suspect since they already spent a significant amount of quality time together. Still, Street was nervous.

The next three days of doing absolutely nothing productive, because he was on that stupid medical leave, were a constant struggle as Jim couldn't fully focus on anything, too distracted by his Sunday plans. It was not clear what the exact idea was until Saturday evening, so various speculations filled his forced freedom. Not a single was correct, but at least the daydreaming killed the time.

Beer and sunset was what Buck suggested. How convenient, those were Street's two favourite things. Unfortunately, it also meant the firefighter wouldn't come to pick him up before the afternoon, which equalled lots of silly anxiety amplified by Luca being at work, thus not providing much-needed distraction. Fucking hell.

To muffle the ruckus in his head, the officer had to turn for help to the ultimate brain-numbing activity: watching reality TV. It's something Chris made him do on their days off before she moved in with Amelia and even after, the habit stayed, doing wonders to his noisy brain. So, hopefully dressed adequately for the occasion, he sat on the couch and fully immersed himself in a silly show until someone loudly knocked on the door, startling him terribly.

Fuck.

He lost track of time.

Nervously shaking only a teeny-tiny bit, Jim opened the door and almost whined when his stomach did a flip. No way that guy looked better than last time. How is that even possible?! Why is he so damn hot?!

-Hi there. Ready? -Buck asked softly, a wide smile instantly brightening his handsome face.

Nope. Not at all. Can we cancel and forget we ever met?

-Yeah. -Street lied, quickly going back to grab his almost forgotten phone. -You alright Buck? You look tired. -observed upon returning, without thinking cupping the younger man's cheek and gently rubbing it as he examined the darkness prominent under the blue eyes.