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Chimney thinks he has a good read on the new guy. He’s pretty sure at least. And he’s also pretty sure Hen’s with him on that.
Look, it’s not like there are no layers to Buck. He’s a nice guy. And he has a sweet, interesting personality, always buzzing with energy and spewing fun facts even in life or death scenarios, maybe a little overzealous sometimes, but nonetheless a good firefighter with good instincts. It’s just that in some ways…he’s pretty predictable. Chim just had to look at Hen’s raised eyebrow once to know she got that exact same impression, that he’s. Well. He’s your typical “mid 20s, sleeps with everything remotely attractive” kinda guy.
(Especially if the way Buck happily shares his weirdest sex stories with the whole team just a couple calls in is anything to go by.)
Or so Hen and Chim thought.
Because after a month of being convinced they had him all figured out – single bachelor getting laid every night – a 7.1 earthquake hits LA and for once Buck isn’t making bad puns or telling them the entire history of earthquakes ever when they’re in the engine. Instead, he’s glued to his phone, worry woven into every inch of the expression on his face and leg nervously bouncing up and down.
“Everything okay?” Hen asks and Buck looks up at them, almost flinching, like he forgot they were there.
“Yeah, uh, there’s no service. Texts won’t even get through.”
Chim and Hen share a look. “Who’re you trying to get a hold of?” Chimney asks, on behalf of both of them, because they’re nosey bastards like that.
And Buck bites his lip and sighs and says, “My son. I’m trying to reach my son.”
And isn’t that…something?
“Wha- wait, you have a kid?” Chimney’s aware that was a little loud, but- he’s surprised. No, not just surprised, shocked even. And from the looks of it he’s not the only one. Even Bobby turns around.
Buck smiles softly. “Yeah, Christopher,” he says, pulls up a picture on his phone and turns it to them. “He’s seven.”
His screen shows Buck sleeping on a couch, arms wrapped tightly around a little boy with glasses on top of him, even in his sleep. The boy’s laughing into the camera, smile as bright as the yellow of his striped t-shirt shirt.
“Oh Buck,” Hen says, voice soft. “He’s adorable.”
“Yeah.” Buck nods and the expression on his face is so fond it’s almost strange. Chim’s never seen him look this- mature? Is that the right word?
“He really is,” Chimney agrees, trying to shake off his surprise. “Man, I love kids.”
Buck sighs again, even deeper. “Yeah, me too, but. God, especially this one. I’m all he’s got right now, it’s- it’s complicated.” He takes his phone back, locking it, staring at it.
“And he’s at school?” Hen asks. Buck nods. “Then I’m sure he’s fine, Buck,” she reassures and reaches out to gently squeeze his knee once. “School’s about the safest place for him to be right now. Believe me.”
Buck nods. “Yeah, I- yeah.” He sends her a tight smile, then looks down at his lap. “Thanks.” It’s obvious he doesn’t really want to talk about it anymore, but before Chimney can even try to change the subject (for all of his nosiness, he does know what empathy is) they’re already arriving on scene and it’s actually sort of impressive how quickly Buck snaps back into firefighter mode.
Hen and him stay back for just a second, sharing another look. “That’s certainly…”
“A revelation?” She nods. “It really is.”
_____
Look, they’ve seen Buck flirt with countless women on calls, right?
Obviously, Christopher’s mom isn’t in the picture. Chimney’s gathered that much from Buck’s “I’m all he’s got right now” and his unwillingness to talk about it more. Chimney has been guessing there’s probably more to it, but-
It’s just that – he knows about Buck’s son now and his impression of him has shifted a bit, but…he still didn’t exactly realize that…Buck doesn’t flirt. Not really.
Sure, there’s a teasing smirk or an amused chuckle every now and then when the women (and some guys) throw themselves at him, but…but up until now Chimney’s just never realized that Buck actually always- lets them down gently. He just wasn’t paying enough attention apparently.
He is now. When they need to rescue a girl with her head stuck in a truck’s tail pipe and her drunk friends are all over the “hot fire guy”.
“Just type your number in my phone and I’ll text you so you have mine,” one of them says, waving her phone in front of Buck.
Buck smiles the smile that Old Chimney would have classified as a flirty smirk and New Chimney now realizes is genuinely just Buck’s ‘be kind to strangers’ smile, and replies, “That’s great, but uh, I need to focus right now so my captain doesn’t cut your friend’s head off.”
When the other one doesn’t take that as a no and asks him if he has Snapchat, Buck’s smile falters for a second and Chimney realizes two more things.
Number One: Buck’s actually a little bit uncomfortable with the attention. Like genuinely uncomfortable.
And Number Two: The reason Chimney didn’t realize this was…well. This is a little embarrassing, but he might have been jealous. That there were constantly people calling Buck things like “the hot fire guy” and not him. He was jealous and that overshadowed his rational thinking and made him a little blind to the fact that Buck doesn’t seem to be enjoying the attention as much as Chimney himself probably would.
He decides to blame Tatiana.
“Look, I’m flattered, really, but-” Buck keeps going because apparently those girls still don’t seem to take the hint. “I don’t think I’m what you’re looking for. I have a son.”
At least one of them seems to back off now, but the other one just puts a hand on his shoulder and says “That’s great, so do I,” and Chimney decides to step in.
“Alright, what say we move the peanut gallery a few steps over this way, thank you. Everybody back a little bit, thank you!” he says as he ushers them away and Buck sends him a grateful nod. Chimney smiles. And then they focus on doing their job, getting the girl out of the truck in one piece.
It’s only when they’re walking back to the engine that Chimney’s curiosity gets the best of him.
“Is your son really the reason you don’t date?” he asks and Buck stops in his tracks and turns to him, confusion visibly painted on his face.
“What?” he asks, puzzled. “No. Why would you- No. Christopher’s not the reason I don’t…date.” He pronounces every word weirdly, like that sentence has an entirely different meaning to him than it does to Chimney.
Chimney shrugs. “I’m just saying, cause you said it back there, so-”
“Yeah, I.” Buck blinks and resumes walking. “I just realized a while ago that it’s apparently way more of a dealbreaker for people when I tell them I have a son than when I tell them I’m married. And those girls especially would’ve probably asked for a threesome or something.”
Chimney frowns and stays behind, confused. “Um. Okay,” he says, mostly to himself. Then he shakes his head and shrugs. So Buck doesn’t date. So much that he’s tried telling people he’s married to get them to back off but when that didn’t work as well as he thought it would he just stick to the truth?
That guy’s really…
Well. Predictable definitely isn’t the right word to describe Buck. Not anymore.
_____
They meet Buck’s kid about another month later. It’s been a q-word shift the whole day and everyone in the 118 is capital b Bored. They’ve been playing Uno for about an hour and Hen’s winning streak has been going forever and Chimney’s just so tired of this. He wants to do something, goddamnit.
He’d be grateful for a cat in a tree right now.
But then, when he gets up to make more coffee, he hears footsteps and a clacking sound from downstairs and a voice calling, “hello?”
But before Chimney can even start walking towards the stairs, Buck jumps up from where he’s been moping on the couch. “Maddie?” he exclaims and rushes to the fire pole, then proceeding to actually use it.
Chimney follows him, now curious, and so does everyone else, because finally, something’s happening (but they take the stairs).
And then, there’s the kid from Buck’s phone, on crutches (which explains the clacking sound), even more adorable in real life, and a gorgeous brunette women with him, a hand on his shoulder. “Hey,” she says, smiling and watches as Buck kneels down to hug Christopher. He picks him up and holds him close, pressing his nose into Christopher’s shirt for a second and there’s a tug in Chimney’s heart.
Seeing a father love his son this much just hits too close to home. Every time.
“Look, Evan, I’m sorry for just showing up here with him, but…you said it’s been a calm shift, so I thought-”
“No, no, Maddie, thank you. I really needed a hug from my superman, didn’t I, Chris, huh?” He presses a kiss to his son’s cheek and Christopher laughs.
“He just…he really misses his dad.” The woman, Maddie, says and Chimney frowns at the present tense for a second.
“Yeah, I-” Buck sighs and then he says something to Chris that sounds a lot like “hey, so do I, buddy,” but it’s whispered and a little muffled by Christopher’s shirt, so Chimney can’t be too sure. He’s way too distracted by Maddie, anyway.
Because she’s…stunning and she puts a gentle hand on Buck’s shoulder and with the way Buck leans into the touch…it would just make sense, right? If she’s the mother? Seeing that she’s with Chris and seems a whole lot like family to Buck and- well. Maybe Buck doesn’t date because it really is more complicated than ‘the mom’s not in the picture’. Maybe they’re not quite over.
But then Buck turns around, smiles at the team and says, “Everyone. This is my son Christopher and my sister Maddie.”
So. Not the mother.
Huh.
_____
It doesn’t take long for Chimney and Maddie to become best friends. A couple months and they’re inseparable. Weekly movie nights, bi-weekly karaoke nights and long late night phone gossip sessions. Hen and Buck keep insisting they’re dating, but they’re not.
Maddie just got out of an abusive marriage and Chimney…well, he’s head over heels for her, but he respects her so much, and he won’t do anything about it until she’s had time to heal a little more and be really ready to give them a chance. So it’s just friends for now. And Chimney’s good with that. He really is. He loves having her around, in whichever form of relationship that comes.
He’ll happily wait. He’s patient like that.
Lately it’s just been her brother who’s really getting on his nerves. He’s not patient when it comes to that sibling.
Buck’s…exhausting right now. He’s in a bad mood 24/7, he doesn’t find any of Chimney’s jokes funny, takes it even more to heart than he already does anyway when they lose someone on a call and it just-
It’s annoying. Especially because Buck’s become such an important person in their fire family already. Ever since he’s been off, the 118 has been off and Chimney just needs a break. It’s all too much right now.
And Maddie knows him, so it’s no surprise that after just two glasses of wine she’s managed to pry him open like Buck did a car on a call today.
“Chim, come on, spit it out. What’s wrong?”
Chimney sighs, defeated. “It’s…it’s your brother.”
Maddie raises her brows. “My brother?”
“Yeah, he’s…he’s just not been ‘spreading the best vibes’ as the youngsters say.”
“What are you, sixty?” Maddie teases, but then she turns a little serious. “What do you mean?”
Chimney sighs. “He just- god, he’s so grumpy. All the time. Like- I just. He’s driving us all crazy, wanting to be the one to do everything, wanting to control everything, it’s- he’s like Clipboard Buck, but worse.”
Maddie purses her lips and sighs quietly. “Yeah, I know that version of him.” She gently puts a hand over Chimney’s for a moment and for a split second Chimney’s distracted from what they were actually talking about. “That’s him, worrying. It’s how he copes, being the one putting himself in danger so it doesn’t have to be anyone else, trying to control everything around him…it’s so he can make sure that nothing happens to the people he loves he actually can keep an eye on.”
Chimney’s just more confused than he was before. “What do you- what does that mean ?” The ones he actually can keep an eye on? What exactly are they talking about here?
“Just…” Maddie shrugs. “He hasn’t heard from Eddie in over two months. He’s crawling in his skin, he’s scared, Chim.” She sighs again. Gives him those doe-eyes of hers that she knows exactly are gonna make Chimney agree to whatever she wants (he hates those, he can never say no to her when she uses them against him) (he doesn't hate them, that was a lie). “And frankly, I am too. A little, at least. So please just…bear with him? Try your best to be there for him?”
Chimney blinks. “Eddie,” he says. “Who’s Eddie?”
At that Maddie barks out a laugh and claps a hand over her mouth, which is adorable. “That’s funny,” she says, but then her eyes settle on Chimney’s puzzled face. Her eyebrows shoot up. “Wait, you don’t- you really don’t know?”
“Uh. No.”
“What do you- oh my god, he usually can’t shut up about him. I guess it really is worse than I thought this time.”
“This ti- Maddie, please, take some pity on me. What is going on? Who is Eddie?”
Maddie’s face does something complicated then. There’s a flash of sadness, then she smiles, but it seems a little defeated. She scratches her chin and reaches for her wine, before she says, “my brother in law.”
If Chimney could guess, he’d say that it’s probably his face that does something complicated now. “Your-” he sputters. “Your brother in law? Do you have like a…a secret sister I don’t know about or something?”
Maddie snorts. “No. No secret sister. Just Evan.”
“Wait, okay, hold on a second.” Chimney leans a little forward, closer because he cannot comprehend what is happening right now. “Please be kind, rewind. Are you really telling me that Buck, our Buck, probie Buck…is married?”
Maddie just raises her glass to her lips and shrugs. “Yeah.”
“And to a guy?”
“I- I mean,” She chuckles. “Chim, have you never wondered why we don’t have the same last name?”
“I-oh. I thought, I- I assumed it was your…uhm, you know, your-”
“My married name was Kendall. Buckley’s the real one.”
Chimney looks at her. And then it dawns on him. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
“I was wondering how the hell you get Buck from Evan Diaz.”
“And yet you weren’t questioning how a guy as white as my brother was named Diaz?”
“Huh.” Now Chimney takes a sip of his wine. “Apparently not.”
Damn. This is really messing with his head. Married. Wow.
He cannot wait to tell Hen about this.
_____
He doesn’t get the chance. The shift is straight from hell. Chimney’s convinced someone must have said the q-word, because this is- it’s never been this crazy without the curse acting up.
They respond to the weirdest calls and at the end of the day they all just fall into the bunks without even so much as saying another word to each other, exhausted and tired to their bones. Thank fuck that it seems to calm down overnight because there’s not a single time the bell rips them from their sleep and when Chimney wakes up the next morning he seems to be the last one.
Everyone else is gathering around the table in the loft, Bobby’s famous scrambled eggs making the entire fire house smell like heaven, but when Chimney’s eyes settle on Buck his heart sinks a little.
He looks like he didn’t get a single second of sleep, despite the fact that they didn’t get a call. There are dark circles under his eyes and he’s just sitting there, staring at the cup of coffee in front of him, not moving. He looks. Sunken, in a way. Like he’s starting to fade.
It pains Chimney to see his normally so vibrant and bright friend this…exhausted. Tired. Drained.
He thinks about saying something, anything to cheer him up or maybe even just give him a hug, when suddenly they’re interrupted.
“Uh, Cap?” Phillips calls from downstairs, where he still wanted to finish polishing the truck and Bobby frowns and doesn’t sit down like he just wanted to.
“Let me just go check that out, you guys can dig in,” he says, jogging over to the stairs. Chimney just shrugs and reaches for the pan, serving Hen, himself and then Buck, who’s still just staring into space.
Hen gives him a weird look, probably because Chimney doesn’t usually do that (everyone else is perfectly capable of serving themselves food) but he had to. Call it some kind of parental instinct kicking in, even if he’s far from being a father. He just feels like right now they should all be looking after Buck a little. When apparently he’s too exhausted to do it alone.
“Uh, Buck?” Bobby now calls, in pretty much the same tone as Phillips earlier, and Buck blinks himself out of his trance.
“Yeah? What’s up?
“Could you just…come down here for a second?”
Buck sighs, closing his eyes for a second and starts nodding. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll. I’ll be right down.”
He gets up, slaps himself on the face lightly, presumably to wake up a little more, and slumps over to the stairs.
Chim and Hen share a look. “Are you curious? I’m curious,” Hen says and Chimney scoffs.
“Have you met me?” he asks and then they’re rushing to get up and follow Buck.
Downstairs Phillips is back to polishing the truck and Bobby-
Bobby is standing there, talking to a man dressed in army fatigues, a duffle bag next to them on the floor.
And Buck’s staring at him like he’s a ghost.
When the man’s eyes settle on Buck a soft smile breaks out on his face.
“Evan,” he breathes and before Chimney can even connect the dots, he hears a choked,
“Eddie?” Buck can’t seem to move. He just stands there, still staring at him, mouth gaping, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
“E-eddie!” he then whimpers, again, and then he’s practically flying, running, stumbling forward, crashing into the man who just wraps his arms around him, keeps him steady, pulls him tight against his chest. It’s only now, when he lets one of his hands run up Buck’s back and into his hair, holding him close, that Chimney notices the cast around his other wrist.
Buck’s full on sobbing now, shoulders trembling in Eddie’s arms and his broken, accusing, “I thought you were dead!” rings through the entire fire house. Chimney’s eyes start to water and his heart breaks a little and from the soft “oh” next to him he can tell Hen’s is, too.
“I’m not,” Eddie promises, pressing a kiss to Buck’s temple, not letting him go. Buck does push him away a little, but only far enough to look at him, cup his face in his hands. He nods.
“You’re- you’re not,” he says, tears on his face.
“Very much alive and breathing.”
At that, Beck seriously presses two fingers to Eddie’s throat. Eddie chuckles quietly. “Feel my heart?”
Buck nods and then- when it finally seems to sink in, he just lets out a sigh, wraps his arms around Eddie’s neck and pulls him into a devastating kiss.
Chimney can feel the pure, unfiltered love radiating off of them. He starts for a second to feel a little jealous. Then he thinks of Maddie and- yeah. He’s getting there, he knows it.
When they pull apart Buck leans his forehead against Eddie’s. “You’re actually here.”
“I’m here, mi amor.”
“And not…you’re in one piece?”
Eddie smiles and sighs. “Well, my wrist’s still healing but other than that-”
“Still healing, what does that-”
“There was an accident. That’s why everything got so complicated, why I couldn’t get in touch with you and Chris, I-”
“Accident, what do you mean, accident-” Buck scrambles out of his hold, to grab his wrist, looks at the cast like it personally offended him, some more tears in his eyes.
“And it took some time, but I-”
“Eddie, you- what, I can’t. What happened, what-”
“Baby!” Eddie interrupts him, voice soft, but firm enough to get Buck to stop rambling and really look at him. He cups his face in his good hand again. “I’m fine. I promise I’m okay. I made it home.”
Buck stares at him some more.
“You’re…you’re home,” he says.
“I’m home,” Eddie repeats.
“For- for how long?”
A blinding smile breaks out on Eddie’s face “For good this time.”
“What?”
“I’m done. I’m here to stay.”
“Really?” The disbelief in Buck’s voice drives another stake through Chimney’s heart.
“Really. I’m not leaving you, or Christopher, ever again.”
For a second Buck just breathes. Then he nods. “Good,” he says, voice still sick with tears, hands pressed to Eddie’s chest, one of them fisting his uniform. “Good. You’re not allowed.”
“Not allowed?” Eddie repeats and there’s a glint in his eyes now, his lips pulling into a teasing grin.
“No. No, I forbid you from leaving us.”
“You forbid me?”
“Uh huh.”
“Well, this worked out perfectly then,” Eddie flirts, crowding into Buck’s space again, “Cause I ain’t planning on it.”
Before he can kiss him again, though, Bobby clears his throat and says, “Gentlemen.”, reminding them of their audience. Chimney almost feels bad about pulling them out of their little bubble of happiness, but then again, he can’t wait to tease Buck about it either.
Bobby looks at Buck with raised brows. “What, you’re not gonna introduce us?”
“Oh, yes, I um, of course.” He smiles at them then, bright and relieved and happy. “Everyone, this is Eddie,” he says, gaze settling back on Eddie. “My husband.”
“Nice to meet you,” Eddie says.
There’s a short pause and then:
“I mean I sorta gathered something here, but…still…husband?” Hen echoes, turning to Chimney to share her surprise, but he just. Winces.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all shift.”
Her jaw drops. “You knew about this?” she says, accusingly, gasps, “the betrayal.”
“Hey, for less than 24 hours I swear,” Chimney defends himself but Hen just shakes her head.
“Alright, everyone,” Bobby interrupts them before they can get into it more. “Let’s have breakfast.”
“Yeah,” Buck says, still looking at Eddie. “Let’s have breakfast.”
“I love you,” Eddie sighs. “I missed you so much.”
“Y yo a ti, Eddie,” Buck replies. Kisses him. “Y yo a ti.”
Chimney grins to himself, walking up the stairs.
Evan Diaz, indeed.