buddie one shots 💞

Eddie Diaz's Epiphany

(Written at the time of In A Flash and In Another Life)

Eddie feels the concrete hit his back seconds after the crack of the lightning. It hurts to fall, but it doesn't hurt bad enough to distract him from what was more important. Eddie grabs his helmet, turning around to look back at the truck. Buck was at the top of the ladder, his body must have been hurled forward, because Eddie can see him hanging from the top. Eddie lets the scream rip through his throat, his eyes wide and scared. "Buck!" He shouts, climbing back up to the ladder.

He's climbing to Buck now, the rope dangling the man like a Christmas ornament. Eddie can hear Hen screaming, but he doesn't know exactly what's being said. His heartbeat is pounding in his ears. Eddie tries to pull the rope out, to no avail. "Buck!" He yells again, but he knows he can't hear him. His body trembles and he tries to fight it.

Eddie reaches the top of the ladder, looking over the top, his heart racing. He tries to pull the rope up, grunting. "Can you hear me?" He asks, but he knows the answer. "Buck!" He yells again. He directs the yell to Chimney, "we need more slack!" Chimney yells a response that he doesn't hear.

The rope starts to lower Buck to the ground, Eddie continuing to feed the rope out until he's laid down completely. The ambulance backs up right in front of Buck as he gets lowered, Buck gets directly laid on a gurney. Eddie sees Bobby holding Buck's still body. The 118 surrounds the gurney with the injured firefighter.

Orders are shouted, and Eddie finally sees Chimney on top of Buck, doing compressions. Eddie rushes over, breathing hard. Eddie walks by Bobby as he radios into the hospital. He gets into the driver's seat of the ambulance, and he sort of blacks out. He doesn't feel or see the drive to the hospital. He's only thinking of Buck, and not about the drive, or the helmet they left behind in the rain.

Eddie completely zones out once the ambulance is parked. He doesn't remember walking in, and gripping the gurney as Bobby feeds them information. Eddie can feel himself shouting, "do more!" In response to the doctor, but he isn't sure he can hear it. There's tinnitus in his ears, and nothing seems real until he wraps his arm around Chimney, and then he feels it weighing on his back like a ton of bricks.

--

Eddie sits in the waiting room for a while. He's still in his bunker pants, though his coat had been discarded somewhere that Eddie didn't care about. It takes Christopher coming in with Carla and bringing him a pair of clothes, as well as holding his nose and complaining how bad it stinks, for Eddie to change his clothes.

Logically, he knows Buck will be okay. Why wouldn't he be? Buck is the most stubborn, strong person he knows, and they work a risky job. He was in a good place, a coma and manually breathing is better than not breathing at all. Eddie isn't even thinking about seeing him. In the bed, hooked up to a machine. That's horrifying to him. So in his head, he's replaying every good memory with Buck. Possibly to try to reassure himself, or try to keep himself distracted...

It isn't working.

Carla takes Christopher home when it gets late. Eddie doesn't budge. Bobby is in the room, but as soon as he leaves, Eddie thinks, he's going to go in. He watches Bobby walk out, Athena following soon. Eddie's legs wobble as he stands up, saying a small acknowledgement to the couple, before looking through the window.

Eddie's heart thumps loudly in his chest. He watches Buck's chest rise up and down, and he feels himself slowly calm down. He turns the handle, and Buck's room seems colder, and he immediately misses the warmth and reassurance of the hallway. He sits down in the chair beside the bed, feeling where Bobby was sitting. Eddie reaches out and touches Buck's arm, feeling comfortable when he notices that its warm to the touch.

"Hey Buck." He starts, his voice somewhat raspy. He bites his lip after clearing his throat. "You need to wake up.. Like, now. I know you will, because you're Buck, that's what you do." He laughs fondly. "You freak everyone out for a few days, and then you come back and.. you're back." Eddie smiles, but it fades. "Bobby's starting to scare me. He's been sitting in here all the time, and I know Athena's scared too. Or, at least worried.

"You're really stupid, you know that right?" He laughs humorlessly. "I mean, you basically exposed yourself to it, seriously? You put yourself in danger, Buck. Obviously I don't wish that Chimney was up there instead. But, God, Buck. Just, God." He pinches the bridge of his nose, leaning forward so that his elbow is on the mattress by him.

Eddie swears to God he has an epiphany. Its like a beacon of light descended this crazy realization upon him. Eddie realizes, sitting on the bedside of his best friend, that the love he holds for him isn't platonic. Everything that's been going on with these men. Buck risking his life for Christopher, Eddie putting Christopher into his will, Buck trying to dig through thick, wet mud with his bare hands, 50 feet above him.

"You have to wake up, because I love you Evan. Now you have to wake up."

--

Buck wakes up a few hours later. Eddie goes into the room with Christopher once everyone files in. Eddie's gaze falls on Buck's lively eyes. His heart thumps when he realizes how much he's missed seeing them. He moves around everyone else saying their hellos, leading Chris to Buck. "Here, give him a hug," he says, not knowing which boy he's really directing it to. Buck hugs Christopher tightly, smiling really hard up at Eddie. Eddie feels himself start to blush, and he returns the smile and pats his shoulder, moving out of the way.

They all sit in the room and talk for a while, everyone hanging out. Christopher makes Buck move over on the bed to sit with him, and the way Buck complies makes Eddie's heart melt. Seeing his son and the man he loves share such a familial act does something to him. Blood rushes to his face.

--

Eddie gets alone time with awake-Buck. Everyone has had a chance to hang out with him while he was still in the hospital bed, he was now sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to the door. Eddie closes the door behind him. Buck turns around to look away from a book he was reading, beaming when he notices who's there. "Hey, Buck."

"Hi, Eddie," Buck responds, patting the spot beside him. Eddie fills the space, locking his eyes with Buck. He can feel the blood rush to his cheeks again. "You alright? You're looking kind of feverish." Buck brings his hand up to rest against Eddie's forehead. Eddie takes his hand down by the wrist, smiling.

"Well, you're one to talk." Buck laughs bashfully in response, hanging his head in the way Eddie has grown to love.

"I suppose I am." Buck meets Eddie's eye again, and the way his eyes are so close to being puppy eyes forces Eddie to bite his lip. "Eddie, I have something to tell you."

"And what would that be?" He questions, raising an eyebrow and leaning on an arm he decides to rest on the bed beside him.

"I heard when you told me you loved me. The pause in between your other comment, and then that one. And then you didn't say anything else.." Eddie pales. "What were you thinking in those few seconds? Between your comment and then telling me you love me?"

"Uh. You can have the truth, or you can have what I want you to hear." Eddie exhales loudly.

"The truth."

"I was realizing that it was romantic, Buck. That my strictly platonic feelings for you were no longer strictly platonic, and that you lying half dead in that bed almost killed me. I love you romantically, Evan."

"I love it when you call me Evan." Buck smiles, quickly cupping Eddie's face before he can protest. He leans in and gives Eddie the best kiss of his life, one with Buck.