Chapter Text
Eddie never planned to end up at the 118. Station 6 had seemed like a much better fit, when he reviewed the offers from both houses when he was waiting to officially graduate from the academy. Sure, it was further from his house, and Captain Nash had done a fairly good job advertising Station 118, but everyone at the academy had warned him that the 118 was notorious for being a bit crazy, and Station 6 sounded much more stable and prestigious. There were promotion and bonus opportunities, which Eddie could do for more of, recently finding himself a single father living in LA.
But there was a change, sometime before graduation. He got news from his instructors that he would have to go to the 118, that Station 6 hadn’t necessarily rescinded their offer, but he was no longer allowed to take it. It would be fine, Eddie reasoned, how different could things be just because he was going to the 118?
Well, Eddie had failed to account for a number of factors - three to be exact, and their names were Hen, Chimney, and Bobby.
Hen was powerful and charming, immediately taking Eddie under her ‘wing’ to show him the ropes and get him comfortable with the job. Any chance of leaving personal life at home went through the window the moment Hen sat down next to him in the locker room on his first day and started hounding him for stories from Texas, Eddie helpless to escape, not that he truly found himself wanting to.
Chimney… Well, Chimney may have been flirting with Eddie, he couldn’t really tell. There were a lot of jokes, and a lot of talk about submissions for the hot firefighter calendar, which Eddie had decided to enter himself for at the promise of a sizable bonus if he made it in. Chimney made it so there was never a dull moment, not on a call, not at the station, not anywhere in between, and for that, Eddie was grateful.
Bobby, their fearless leader, was something of everyone’s dad. He kept a cool head at scenes, was patient with Eddie’s on-the-job learning, and made absolutely delicious food. Eddie was fairly certain Station 6 didn’t get michelin-level meals every shift, but the 118 did. On Eddie’s first day, they were served the best pasta Eddie had ever eaten, along with garlic bread he could only describe as heavenly in a slew of other probably-sacreligious mumbles that Bobby, a practicing Catholic, very kindly did not comment on and trigger Eddie’s guilt.
I was on their third call that Eddie convinced himself he wasn’t crazy, because it was strange they kept getting his name wrong. ‘Eddie’ and ‘Diaz’ were both common enough but neither sounded anything like ‘Buck.’
At the first scene, Bobby had been assigning tasks when he made eye contact with Eddie and said “Buck, get the jaws” before Eddie’s confused look caused him to correct himself.
Then, while transporting a patient from the second scene, Hen had very clearly asked for “more gauze, Buck.”
What really sealed the deal that something was going on that Eddie didn’t know about was when Chimney mumbled something like “Buck would’ve loved this” that Eddie couldn’t quite make out.
Eddie asked on the way back to the station.
“So, who’s Buck?” It was supposed to be an innocent question, but he hadn’t really considered the fact that it might not be taken that way. He very quickly realized this when everyone suddenly went quiet. “Sorry.”
“No, no, it’s a valid question.” Bobby reassured him.
“I - It’s just, you’re brand new .” Hen groaned hesitantly.
“He’s going to find out tomorrow, isn’t he?” Chimney asked Bobby.
“Yeah, he is.” Bobby turned back to Eddie. “You’re his replacement.”
Christopher had seemingly endless questions about Eddie’s first day as a firefighter. He had to dull most of it down to the point it was appropriate for 7-year-old consumption, but was able to talk to him extensively about how happy he was with his new coworkers. It wasn’t even a lie - Eddie had never had anything above a professional relationship with any coworkers since his medical discharge from the army, and while he had heard firehouses could become like family, it had never been something he imagined for himself.
He didn’t exactly have a good track record with most of his family. His father was barely around, always on a business trip, which led to him parenting his sisters to the point they hated him. His mother was overbearing to the point he was forced to sneak out of Texas with barely a day’s notice to keep her from trying to get custody of Chris. The only close family members Eddie had a positive relationship with at that point were his abuela, his tia Pepa, and Chris himself. He wasn’t even going to get started with Shannon. Their relationship was practically non-existent, his wife disappearing into the night like a ghost.
Eddie drops Chris off at Abuela’s before his second shift. He makes him promise to tell him all about it and Abuela kisses him on the cheek before sending him off. He has no regrets about moving to LA. Outrageous prices aside, the city had been good to him, and maybe even better to Chris. Little did Eddie know, LA had one more gift to give them, and they wouldn’t even realize it until months later.
Buck arrived early for dinner. Hen and Chim teased him about it like he was their little brother, though he was more than a head taller than each of them, with looks to boot. Buck was not at all what Eddie had been expecting when he followed his coworkers into the loft at Bobby’s announcement that dinner was ready. They found Buck leaning on the counter next to Bobby as he prepared to serve the brisket he’d been working on all day. The man was drawn in on himself, but brightened at the sight of Hen and Chim, hugging them close.
Eddie got to work on setting the table while the others sat in their seats and Bobby set the brisket and sides down on the table. An additional chair had been added to account for the extra guest, and Eddie found a seat between Bobby and Chimney. Eddie glanced towards Buck as he waited for his turn to serve himself and found the man glaring at him.
It was the first time Eddie really got a good look at Buck, and he made a mental note of the details that made up his first-impression handsomeness. His face was striking - blue eyes, sharp features, a distinguishing birthmark around his left eyebrow. His hair was a dark blond, some part of Eddie registered the shade as strawberry, but he wasn’t sure. The unruly curls were still flopping slightly into Buck’s face, but it appeared that at least some attempt had been made to tame them. Maybe one of the other’s had ruffled their hand through it when Eddie wasn’t looking, it certainly seemed like something they would do.
However long it had taken Eddie to catalog Buck’s face and the mashed potatoes to make their way around the table, it wasn’t long enough for Buck to stop scowling. Eddie served himself and tried to ignore it. He was new, maybe Buck was just like this when he met new people, or maybe it had something to do with what Bobby had said the day before - ‘you’re his replacement.’ And suddenly the only thought flooding Eddie’s mind was why Buck left in the first place.
Buck was tall, and muscular enough. He was pretty much the stereotypical image of a firefighter that you’d expect to find next to the corresponding passage in the encyclopedia. He clearly still had a positive relationship with everyone at the 118, which meant he probably wasn’t fired for anything serious and he didn’t quit. It hit Eddie when Hen placed the brisket dish down next to Buck and the other man reached his right hand across to serve himself. It hit Eddie when Buck leaned in closer whenever he was listening to someone talk. It hit Eddie when Buck stood up slowly to get something from the kitchen and his left leg dragged on the floor slightly with each slow step. Something had happened.
Eddie suddenly felt guilty over his curiosity. Because it all made sense. Firefighting was a dangerous job, that much was drilled into every recruit to ever enter the fire academy. Firefighting was also physically grueling. One bad call could mean losing this career forever. It could’ve been something else, too, but Eddie expected it wasn’t by the way Buck looked around the firehouse.
Chimney’s voice broke Eddie out of his thoughts. “So, Buck, have you met our new probie?”
“We haven’t been introduced, no.” Buck’s voice was strained, as if he was holding himself back.
Eddie held out his hand over the table. “I’m Eddie. Eddie Diaz.”
Buck hesitated before shaking Eddie’s hand once, firmly. “Buck.”
“I have to say, Eddie, if you have any worries about messing up in your probie year, it’s going to take you a lot to outdo Buck over there.” Chimney smiled smugly while Buck seemed to retreat into his seat.
Eddie did not ask for clarification. He got it anyway.
“How many times did you steal the trucks for sex again?” Hen chuckled. Buck’s face was starting to brighten back up as he held back a smile.
“Two.” Bobby answered for him. “That we know of.” Bobby, Chimney, and Hen all burst into laughter, Buck chuckling softly as his face reddened. Eddie could feel his own cheeks getting hot in sympathy.
“It was just the two!” Buck tried to argue, but was laughing himself. Eddie let out a giggle of his own, quickly prompting Buck’s face to return to a scowl as he went back to eating his dinner.
“So, Eddie, it’s your second shift, I guess we haven’t really talked about you, have we?” Bobby asked.
“Uh, no Cap, not really. But we have plenty of time.”
“I guess you’re right. I’m sure we’d love to hear all about it, whenever you’re ready.” Bobby reassured Eddie with a hand on his shoulder. Buck scoffed quietly. Everyone politely ignored it.
Eddie went home and did not tell Chris that he nearly got into a Real Housewives-level spat with the guy that used to have his job. He did not tell Chris that he was a bit scared of losing another source of income due to an on-the-job injury - at least firefighting was generally safer than being an Army medic, LA wasn’t an actual warzone. Instead, Eddie sat on Chris’s bed as the boy drifted off to sleep and told him a story about a fire that never happened and a nonexistent cat that got stuck up a tree.
Then Eddie lay alone in bed and worried about a man he barely knew. Because there was something about that Buck guy - something about the fury behind his eyes as he stared daggers into Eddie’s head, something about the love he shared with a family Eddie now had the privilege of working with instead of him, something that made Eddie want to get on his good side more than anything else.