Buck's Baby (By Accident)

Apartments

"Dude, stop jiggling, you're making me nervous".

Buck and Eddie were once again sat in the waiting room of the hospital, the day of Buck's cast coming off finally upon them. Buck was filled with nervous energy as he envisioned his life without the cast, back to normal at last. He'd be able to hold his son without worrying about knocking him with the hard plaster and he'd finally have proper use of his thumb and forefinger again.

Buck grinned sheepishly at Eddie. "Sorry, I'm just excited for it to finally come off",

Eddie huffed a laugh out his nose. "Ready to see your arm all weird and skinny?" he asked cheekily. Buck was semi-prepared for what he knew would probably be a drastic change in the appearance of his arm, having lost muscle from lack of usage. He just hoped his tattoos would still look fine.

"I'm not sure I'm going to be prepared for the smell" he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. One thing he would miss about the cast was that the rough surface was excellent for scratching any itches. Buck had turned his arm into a makeshift back scratcher, humming with pleasure as he'd twist his arm to run it over his back. Eddie had caught him doing it once and had demanded Buck do it to him, wanting to know what all the fuss was about. Eddie ripping his shirt off in front of Buck and exposing his perfect, muscular to the young man had done absolutely nothing to help Buck's more than platonic feelings for Eddie. Buck sometimes got the feeling that Eddie was riling Buck up on purpose with all the small touches the two had exchanged over the last 5 weeks.

"Need me to come in with you to hold your hand?" Eddie asked with a smirk.

"I'll be fine on my own thanks, I'm a grown man" Buck replied drying, giving Eddie a flat look. "Besides, this isn't the first time I've had a cast taken off, I'm an expert".

Eddie chuckled and nodded. "Okay, I'll be right out here if you need though".

Buck found it touching that Eddie was clearly worried about his wellbeing, even if he was using humour to cover it up. Despite Buck's realisation about his feelings the other week, and the awkward way his night had ended after ice-cream with Eddie and Christopher, his relationship with his friend hadn't been effected. Buck had been worried that he was acting weirdly or avoiding Eddie but the older man didn't give him an opportunity to, instead increasing the amount of time they spent together by insisting they watch movies before going to sleep or showing Buck some things he'd found on Instagram that he thought he might find funny. Stuff like this that made Buck realise he was really gonna miss Eddie and Christopher's company when he left.

They'd decided that Buck was going to stay with them for a couple more days until he was able to take care of Aidan independently. Buck knew his arm was probably going to be achy for a while as his joints got used to moving again but that the pain would probably be gone after a few days, especially if he took painkillers.

"Mr. Buckley?"

Buck shot up out of his seat, shooting a quick "be right back" over his shoulder to Eddie as he followed the nurse to a small room off the side of a corridor. He sat down in the chair and bounced his knee, eager to get started.

"How are you feeling today, Mr. Buckley?" the nurse asked, grabbing Buck's notes and sitting next to him.

"Yeah, good. Excited to get this thing off my arm".

The nurse laughed good-naturedly and patted Buck's arm. "Well, lets get to it then" he said, grabbing the saw from the bench behind him.

"Now you know this blade is designed to cut casts and not skin, right Mr. Buckley?"

Buck nodded, he'd had the same rundown when his leg cast had come off after the fire truck incident, and when he'd had casts come off as a kid.

The nurse switched the saw on and pressed it into the cast, the saw omitting a high-pitched whine as it cut that hurt Buck's ears. It took a couple of seconds for the nurse to run the saw up and down the cast so there was a clear cut down the middle. Buck was then instructed to flip his arm over so the other side could be cut, meaning the cast could be prised off from both sides.