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All in all, Buck had a pretty good life.
A birthday party at the ice rink in third grade had revealed he was surprisingly good at skating, something that had caught the eye of the peewee hockey coach who’d been dropping off papers at the time. He’d invited Buck to try out for his team and as his parents didn’t really care what he did beyond absently signing forms when he shoved them in front of them, it was easy enough to sign up. His teammate Kyle’s parents offered to drive him as they lived down the block and since he never made it his parents’ problem, they never even noticed his absence for biweekly practices.
Okay, so maybe his parents weren’t the best but other than that, things had kind of worked out for him.
Peewee hockey turned to high school hockey turned to Buck getting a full ride to BU. He’d actually had his pick of a few schools but Maddie had disappeared to Boston years ago and he’d hoped, slightly naively, that maybe being in the same town would mean he’d get to see her more.
It hadn’t but at least he came out of the whole thing with an entry in the NHL draft.
Somehow, despite his reputation of being a bit of a wildcard, he found traded to LA, one of the best teams in the league. Coach Nash apparently saw something in Buck he hadn’t been sure he’d even had and despite a few poor choices in his rookie year (definitely shouldn’t have slept with that girl a half hour before he was supposed to be on a plane to Dallas), it turned out to be a good fit. Bobby took Buck under his wing, taught him life skills and how to control some of his more self-destructive tendencies, and ultimately cared about him as Buck, not just Buckley. A part of him figured that must be what having a good dad felt like.
Funny what having someone who genuinely cared about you as a person could do.
Suffice it to say, hockey he had under control.
His dating life, on the other hand, was a nightmare.
There were so many hook ups in the beginning, Buck desperately craving affection in any way he could get it. It was all so fleeting, though, every evening ephemeral in a way that just left him slightly more bruised the next morning. When he met Abby, one of the marketing people he’d been jokingly warned would ask the world of him, he decided to actually give the boyfriend thing a go.
That didn’t work out so well.
After that, he became something of a serial monogamist with a revolving door of girlfriends and boyfriends, slightly more than a one night stand, slightly less than a partner. He felt like a child with a puzzle piece, jamming every possible combination together, none of them a comfortable fit.
It got better when Maddie showed up at his door on a Tuesday night, scared and bruised but there. It took some time for her to trust she was safe, for her to accept his help to make her monster of an ex-husband go away. What was all this dumb money for if not to rescue the one person who’d constantly had his back growing up?
Best of all, she stayed.
With his sister there, the ache wasn’t so much anymore. He took time for himself, time to focus on hockey and Maddie and life. Bobby started to teach him how to cook, after he showed up to practice one day with a lunch of things pulled from his refrigerator that Bobby deemed unfit for anyone, nevermind one of his players. From then on, Buck found himself invited over at least twice a week to Bobby’s place, a cozy two storey near the stadium he shared with his wife and step-kids, where they slowly worked themselves up from eggs and breakfast foods until Buck could cook a proper meal without embarrassing himself.
If no one else, Maddie appreciated it when he made her a three course dinner for her birthday the next year.
Yeah, Buck had been alright, pretty good even.
And then Christopher Diaz brought his dad to an LA Kings game.
Looking back, Buck was pretty sure he needed to send a gift basket to the person working the Jumbotron that night, whoever it was who had decided they should make it a running thing to put Chris’s face up there, the emblem of the King’s comeback. At first, it was just a bit of fun, a reason to skate harder out there and see that cute little kid’s face light up. He hadn’t realized Maddie was sitting next to them until later on and it seemed obvious he should invite the kid down, give him something in return for being such a wonderful good luck charm. It was just Buck being a nice guy, helping out the kids and all that.
In his wildest imaginings, he couldn’t have guessed Christopher came with an Eddie.
Eddie Diaz was everything Buck had never allowed himself to hope for. He was smart, he was funny, he had a killer smile and big brown eyes that twinkled like a goddamn Disney prince when he laughed. He had a preternatural ability to put up with Buck’s endless rambles and a dry sense of humor that nestled alongside Buck’s ridiculousness in perfect harmony. He was everything Buck could have possibly wished for in a partner. And somehow, magically, he was just as enamored with Buck as Buck was with him.
They’d only been officially dating for a little over a month and he didn’t want to jump the gun, as he knew he was prone to do, but Buck was pretty sure this was it.
“Oh my god, Buck,” Maddie giggled as she walked in his front door, shucking off her coat and purse to hang them on the hooks nearby. “Have you gone full housewife on me? Though, I suppose you already had the aprons for it.”
“Keep being smart and you won’t get a muffin.” He heard her slide onto one of the stools by his kitchen island behind him as he shut the oven door.
“I’m just teasing,” she assured him. “I’m just happy you’re happy and this whole Eddie thing is working out so well. Can I pick ‘em or what?”
Buck turned, eyebrow raised.
“Are you taking credit for my relationship?”
“I’m just saying,” Maddie reached forward to grab one of the cookies that had been cooling while the muffins were in the oven, “if I hadn’t sat next to the two of them that night, they wouldn’t have gone down to the locker room and you never would have met them.”
“I don’t know,” Buck shrugged, reaching forward to grab one of the cookies himself. “I think it still would have worked out somehow.”
“Yeah? How? Magic? Siccing a PR person on them?”
“I don’t know,” Buck shrugged, suddenly feeling a little shy. “I just can’t really imagine a world where I don’t find them eventually.”
Maddie rolled her eyes but her giant grin belied her true feelings. “Who is the ridiculous sap and what did he do with my brother?”
“Oh, shut up.” Buck could feel his face heat up as she laughed goodnaturedly at him but he knew, deep down, he wasn’t wrong. Meeting the Diazes had settled something in him, like some small part of him recognized some part of Eddie, whispered ‘oh, here he is’ and relaxed. Now that Eddie was in his life, he couldn’t fathom a world without him.
God, he had gotten sappy.
“Anyways, enough about me,” Buck hastened to change the subject. “What ever happened with that guy you were going to get dinner with on Monday? John? Jake? How did that go?”
Maddie rolled her eyes again, sinking down slightly on the stool as she pushed a couple of crumbs around the countertop with her finger.
“Yeah, can we just forget about that? And any of my attempts at dating, actually? I know I said I was ready but I’m starting to think the men of LA aren’t.”
Buck frowned. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Evan,” Maddie looked at him dead in the eye, “he spent the first five minutes just scrolling Instagram reels on his phone. Without headphones. Not even showing me a particularly good dog video or anything. Just scrolling.”
“That’s…”
“Don’t you even try to defend it,” Maddie cut him off. “I know you hate people who don’t use headphones in public as much as I do.”
“Humanity invented headphones for a reason,” Buck dutifully recited.
“Exactly,” Maddie nodded. “I don’t know. I might just take the rest of the year off from dating and see how I feel in January.”
“It’s April.”
“Which gives the men of this city plenty of time to shape up,” Maddie responded faux-cheerfully. “I know you’re really happy, Evan, and I’m so happy for you. But just because you found a good guy, it doesn’t mean I will.”
Buck’s heart sank at Maddie’s tone. His sister was the best person he knew and she deserved, more than anyone, to find her own happily ever after. It was fine if it wasn’t with whoever this (quite frankly terrible sounding) guy was but there was something in her voice that made him worry she was throwing in the towel all together.
Before he could start with an awkward pep talk, however, she visibly shook off their conversation and gave him a knowing grin.
“So what’s with all the baking? Not that I’m complaining but it’s not often you need several batches of cookies and two different kinds of muffins in the same afternoon.”
Buck glanced around at his kitchen, which was quickly running out of room for the various bakes he’d been churning out since fairly early that morning. The next batch of muffins might have to cool on his coffee table. He’d woken up even earlier than for morning practice to make sure he could get them all done.
“I may have let myself get roped into making a little something for Chris’s school’s bake sale,” he admitted.
“A little something?” Maddie repeated dubiously.
“You didn’t see his face, Maddie!” Buck countered, throwing up both hands (one still oven-mitted) in defense. “That kid has the most dangerous puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s impossible to say no to.”
“And he asked for enough food to feed a small army?”
“He asked for chocolate chip cookies,” Buck hedged, “and I might have gotten a little carried away.”
Maddie eyed the blueberry muffins Buck had just finished laying out on a cooling rack. “You think?”
“I got excited,” Buck shrugged. “I know you and the team like my bakes and all and that’s great but something about Chris actually asking me to help out with something for his school… I don’t know. It felt special.”
It really had. He’d been sitting in the Diaz living room, snuggled between Eddie and Chris as the credits for Finding Dory scrolled by when Chris brought it up, mainly complaining that Eddie wouldn’t be able to contribute anything.
“Dad’s the worst cook in the universe,” he sighed drearily, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “He can’t even make sandwiches right.”
“Hey!” Eddie reached around Buck’s shoulder to poke his son playfully in the back. “See if you get a pb&j in your lunch tomorrow morning.”
Chris giggled, putting his hands up around his neck, sticking his tongue out and pretending to fall over dead at the mere mention of having to eat something Eddie had prepared.
“What are they looking for?” Buck asked, once the poking which had led to a brief but vicious tickle battle had calmed down. “Cause cookies aren’t that hard. I bet your dad could manage a batch.”
“Or you could,” Chris looked up at him, puppy dog eyes in full effect. “Cause you’re the best baker in the whole wide world.”
Buck’s heart skipped a beat.
“Oh, so that’s the play,” Eddie chuckled. “Mijo, you can’t just ask Buck to bake you cookies.”
“Why not?” Chris asked, earnestly confused.
“Yeah,” Buck heard himself reply, “why not?”
“Buck!” Eddie turned his head, eyes soft but narrowed. “You do not have to bake cookies for my son’s bake sale. That is in no way your responsibility.”
“I know it isn’t,” Buck shrugged, “but I like baking.”
‘And I like you two and the idea I could maybe fit into your family like this,’ he added internally.
“Buck’s the best at baking!” Chris cheered from his other side, clearly already celebrating his victory. “He’d get a Hollywood Handshake!”
Buck kept his eyes on Eddie and nodded towards Chris, like ‘see?’
Eddie sighed. “Alright, fine. One batch of cookies. And you are not going to go out of your way for this, okay? Just fit it in if you can. You’re busy enough as it is.”
Buck had agreed, Chris had given him a giant hug, and later, Eddie had double checked one last time that this was alright and they weren’t putting him out in any way before kissing him goodnight in a manner that made it very hard for Buck to actually leave.
So yeah, Buck might be making a few too many baked goods. But what was the point of a bake sale if not variety?
“Is there some sort of reward for most money raised via bake sale?” Maddie asked, an indulgent smile on her face. “Cause I think you might just win it for Chris.”
“Don’t get my hopes up. Even if they don’t sell that well, at least I know I have a couple of folks who’ll help me polish them off.”
“I know you mean Chris and Eddie but I hope you’re considering including me in that number,” Maddie said while popping the last bite of her cookie in her mouth.
“You’re my big sister, Mads. You’re always included.” Maddie grinned at him softly and he let that sit for a moment before he continued. “Though you might have to fight Eddie for them. He’d say otherwise but he has the biggest sweet tooth.”
The day carried on and Buck managed to get through at least two more batches of cookies (“Are these for the PTA or the French Foreign Legion?”) before he made a crucial mistake.
Maddie was put on ‘bagging up baked goods that had cooled’ duty but was, understandably, distracted when a new episode of ‘The Bachelor Bubble’, a trashy reality tv show they would both vehemently deny they watched, came on the tv in the living room. Buck was halfway listening to it as he stirred some m&ms into another batch of dough (he was on a roll, okay? He’d bring some to his next practice, too, despite all the weird diets some of the boys were currently on and maybe even let Maddie bring some to work with her. He was fully aware he’d gone beyond what was feasible for him to bring over to Eddie’s.)
Crucially, neither of them was paying attention to the oven, which Buck hadn’t fully closed when he’d taken the last couple of baking sheets out.
Normally this wouldn’t be such a bad thing but as he was running out of counter space amidst cooling goodies, various objects that normally lived on counters had been hastily swept aside and sat, perhaps precariously, on the edges of said counters. Very close to open oven doors.
It wasn’t until Buck’s fire alarm started beeping that either of them even noticed the burning dishrag.
“Buck!” Maddie yelped, jumping up and running into the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“Rag’s on fire!” Buck yelled over the alarm, desperately searching for something to put it out with. “Maddie, the rag’s on fire!”
“I can see that!” Maddie rushed over to the sink, grabbing the sprayer and trying to shoot it towards the flaming fabric. Unfortunately, the sink sprayer’s range wasn’t created with ‘putting out fires in your brother’s kitchen’ in mind. “Buck, your sink sucks!”
“It’s not built for that!” Buck hollered as he desperately searched through his drawers, finally emerging with a set of barbeque tongs. “Get out of the way!”
Carefully, he reached out and picked up the burning cloth with the tongs, holding it as far away from his body as he could before dropping it in the sink. Maddie, who’d hopped out of the way when the fire was coming towards her, jumped forward again to turn the faucet on. A combination of the water and the siblings’ fervent shouting quickly put the fire out.
Of course, there was still the smoke.
“Open all the windows!” Buck declared as he ran into the living room, tongs still in one oven-mitted hand, headed straight towards his wall of windows that were, of course, purely for light and didn’t open.
“I’m trying!” Maddie called back, successfully cracking open the window behind the sink. “Why isn’t the smoke going out?”
“With how much trouble I got in for the bird getting in that one time, you’d think I had more windows that actually opened,” Buck huffed, ducking into his bathroom to get the window in there.
Between the two of them, they managed to open all the windows in Buck’s place slowly but surely, and the smoke began to make its way out. The alarm finally turned itself off after a few minutes but it was going to be awhile before the ringing in Buck’s ears stopped.
“Well, that was eventful.”
Buck turned to Maddie, eyebrow raised. “Is that judgement I hear, dear sister?”
“Never,” she raised her hands in surrender. “Just saying it’s never a boring afternoon when I come over to yours.”
“You were supposed to be bagging up the sweets! You were supposed to be watching!”
“And you were supposed to close the oven!”
Just then, there was a pounding on Buck’s door.
“LAFD, open up!”
Buck froze.
It couldn’t be.
“LAFD, anyone in there?”
“Buck, open the door!” Maddie hissed.
Oh, Buck was never going to live this down.
“Coming!” he called, already doing the calculations in his head if it were feasible for him to drop all the baked goods on Eddie’s doorstep later that evening, then disappear into the night.
Awkwardly smoothing down his hair as he walked, he made the short journey to his front door. Flipped the top lock, then the second.
And opened the door to a very concerned, very uniformed Eddie Diaz.
“Buck?” Eddie clearly hadn’t expected to see him, blinking and taking a step back. “What are you doing here?”
“This is my place,” Buck admitted sheepishly. “Not exactly how I wanted you to come over for the first time.”
“Wait, this is your Buck’s place?” a voice piped up from over Eddie’s shoulder. An Asian man stepped around him, older than the both of them and grinning in a way that told Buck everything about him and Eddie’s partnership already. “I can’t believe that–”
The man blinked.
“Holy shit, you’re Buck Buckley!”
Buck glanced at Eddie before looking back at Eddie’s partner. “Yeah?”
The man turned to Eddie in dismay, slapping him frantically on the shoulder. “Edmundo Diaz, you didn’t tell me you were dating Buck Buckley!!”
“Chim,” Eddie sighed, though Buck watched as his face flushed at the attention. It was adorable. Buck wanted to kiss him, see if he tasted different when his face was all warm. “Not the time.”
“Seems like the time,” Chim (?) countered. “We’re here, nothing’s on fire.” He looked back up at Buck. “Nothing’s on fire, right?”
“Something was but we put it out,” Buck assured them. God forbid he alienate his hot firefighter boyfriend by making him think he was a secret arsonist or something.
“We should probably come in and double check that.” Eddie’s voice was apologetic, clearly embarrassed by his friend but Buck was honestly not mad about the chance to see Eddie in full firefighter action. He had all the gear on: those big pants, coat billowing behind him, helmet perched on top of his brow. It was hotter than it had any right to be.
“Of course.” Buck quickly stood aside to let the two of them in, big heavy duty boots clomping over his hardwood. “It was, er, in the kitchen.”
He flinched slightly at the intake of breath when Eddie noticed what exactly was going on in his kitchen.
“Found the offender!” Chim called from the sink, cheerfully holding up the scorched dishrag. “Doing a little baking in here, Buckley?”
Eddie turned to him, eyes wide. “Please tell me these aren’t all for Chris’s bake sale.”
Buck paused. “Okay then, I won’t tell you.”
“Buck,” Eddie sighed, “I told you not to go out of your way.”
“I didn’t!”
Eddie fixed him with a look.
“Okay, I didn’t purposely, I just might have gotten a little carried away.”
Buck, Eddie, and Chim stood around the kitchen, surveying the frankly astounding amount of baked goods Buck had managed to produce in the past ten-ish hours.
“Don’t you have practice or something you’re supposed to be at?” Eddie sighed, trying to sound nonchalant though the red on his cheeks belied how he really felt. Slowly but surely, Buck was learning to read Eddie’s face. His boyfriend (!!) was not always the most communicative of people but it was almost always there in the flush of his cheeks or the slouch of his shoulders. It was kind of humbling, the privilege of getting to know someone else like this. One day, Buck hoped he’d be learned enough to earn his PhD in Eddie Diaz.
“I had a free day and since you were on shift, I invited Maddie over to bake with me. Oh!” In the commotion, he’d forgotten about his sister and turned towards the living area, where Maddie was watching everything play out looking extremely amused. “Maddie, you know Eddie.”
“So nice to see you again,” Maddie smiled, walking over and pulling a surprised Eddie into a quick hug. “I’ve heard so much about you since the game.”
“Well, that’s not intimidating at all,” Eddie chuckled embarrassedly. “I’ve heard a lot about you, too.”
“And I’ve clearly not heard enough about either of you,” Eddie’s partner chimed in from the sink, walking up to join the conversation, hand stuck out to shake Buck’s. “Howard Han but everybody calls me Chimney. Long story. I’m Eddie’s partner and need to know immediately how this dork came to be dating the captain of the Kings.”
Buck couldn’t help the enormous smile that overtook his face at someone else mentioning them dating. “Well, Eddie took Chris to a game.”
“And what, you spotted them in the crowd and sent some underling to bring them rink side?”
“I wouldn’t describe myself as an underling per se,” Maddie grinned, “but meddling big sister? Definitely.”
Chimney looked taken aback at being right, glancing at Maddie, then Eddie, then back at Maddie before Eddie took pity on him.
“Remember that game a few months ago when Chris was on the Jumbotron? It made the news, you sent me a Tiktok about it?”
“Oh yeah,” Chimney nodded. “Your sister said the Kings should pay Chris to be their mascot.”
“Oh my god, we should,” Buck agreed loyally. “Actually, I could–”
“That night,” Eddie cut him off before he could continue, rolling his eyes fondly, “Chris and I just so happened to be sitting next to Maddie so after the game, Buck had texted her about getting Chris down to the locker room to meet the team. And, well, one thing led to another...”
“And now Buck’s made a small regiment’s rations worth of baked goods for Chris’s bake sale,” Maddie laughed. “You’re welcome for the introduction, by the way,” she directed at Eddie.
“Enough of that,” Buck swatted at her. “You can tease me all you like but Eddie’s off limits.”
“Such a protective boyfriend,” she cooed, patting him gently on the arm, clearly enjoying the opportunity to poke fun at him.
Honestly, Buck didn’t mind it as much as he was pretending. His boyfriend and his sister in the same place, comfortable and smiling and just enjoying each other’s company? What he wouldn’t give to travel back in time to teenage Evan Buckley, lonely and yearning and skating away his feelings, to show him what his life would eventually become. It would have made those rough years so much more bearable to know one day he’d get this.
“Speaking of bake sales,” Eddie coughed, glancing over at the kitchen, “you know we just have to bring in one batch, right?”
“I was having fun,” Buck shrugged. “You can have as little or as much as you need. I can take the rest to practice with me or Maddie can bring them to work. It’s fine.”
“Josh loves Buck’s snickerdoodles,” Maddie added cheerfully.
Eddie frowned. “Well, we don’t know yet which kind Chris wants to bring to school but I’m sure we’ll figure out what to do with them all. I know Chris and I wouldn’t mind having a stash of cookies in the freezer to pull out when we need a little pick me up. No need to give them to Josh.”
That wasn’t a tone of voice he’d ever heard from Eddie, slightly scoffing, eyebrows scrunched together. It took Buck a second before he could place it, the realization causing a flurry of butterflies to take flight in his gut.
“Eddie Diaz, are you jealous?”
Eddie’s face turned bright red. This was the greatest moment of Buck’s life.
“I’m not jealous,” he protested. “It’s just, you made those for us, right? So it’s only right if, you know, we get to enjoy them.”
“Mmmhmmm.” Buck didn’t know if he’d ever smiled as widely as he was at that moment. “But aren’t you supposed to be selling them? You know, for the bake sale?”
Eddie blinked. Buck loved him so much.
“We’ll figure it out,” Eddie shrugged. “The bake sale’s one batch, remember?”
“Of course,” Buck nodded, very seriously. “We can pick the batch with the least amount of love baked in.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking things.”
“I’m always thinking things!”
“As adorable as this is,” Chimney cut them off, “Eddie and I should probably be getting back down to the engine. Your neighbors are likely wondering if they should be evacuating right about now.”
Oh. Oh yeah. Eddie was on shift. This wasn’t just a casual visit.
“Good call, Chim.” Eddie nodded, as if having to remind himself he was still at work too, before turning back to Buck. “I know I can’t stop you but at least be careful with the rest of your baking.”
Buck rolled his eyes, not dignifying that with a response. “When are you off? I’ll swing by with everything.”
“Tomorrow morning. If you’ve got the time, maybe come over for lunch? I’ll text you.”
“You better.”
“Okay, break it up, lovebirds.” Chimney’s eyes were sparkling as he took a step back towards the door. “We’ve got actual fires to fight.”
“We haven’t had an actual fire call in three days.”
“Don’t jinx it!”
“How many times do I have to tell you? There are no such things as jinxes.” Buck frowned. Well, that was something they were going to have to talk about later. Buck couldn’t have Eddie unknowingly jinxing his team in the future. At least they had a little time before they’d have to discuss a playoff beard.
“Stay safe.” Buck leaned forward, giving Eddie a kiss on the cheek, not sure how much PDA the other man was comfortable with in front of his partner. “I hope the rest of your shift is slow.”
“You and me both,” Eddie agreed, though Buck had managed to pinken his cheeks again. It was kind of adorable how easily Eddie blushed. Buck might have to grab a clipboard, start a study on it.
“That was a close one and you know it, Buckley!” Chimney gave him a fake scowl from the doorway. “Be careful with the q word! You’re an athlete, you know about these things! You don’t see me going around, saying Macbeth at the arena!”
“That’s theater,” Maddie giggled, tucking her hair behind her ear like a teenage girl.
“Maybe it’s hockey, too!” Chim argued, though he was grinning in Maddie’s direction. “You don’t know! I haven’t said it!”
“Keep talking and you’ll never get the chance cause Buck’ll never give you tickets.” Eddie bumped his shoulder against Chimney’s, knocking the man close enough to actually reach over and turn the doorknob. “Good luck with the rest of your baking.”
“Don’t need it but thank you.” Buck followed them to the front door, watching as the two firefighters stepped out into the hall and grabbing the door so it didn’t slam shut behind them. “It was nice to meet you, Chimney.”
“Nice to meet you too, Buck. And you, Maddie.”
Maddie, who had snuck up behind Buck when he wasn’t looking, poked her head out from behind his shoulder. “It was lovely to meet you, Howard.”
Buck and Eddie looked at each other, Buck confused at Maddie’s tone of voice, Eddie likely confused at the ‘Howard,’ before they both shrugged. This was a topic of conversation for lunch tomorrow. Speaking of...
“See you tomorrow, Eds.” Buck gave him a little wave that Eddie returned, a smile at the corner of lips.
“See you tomorrow, Buck.”
Buck probably would have stood at the doorway and watched the two men walk all the way to the elevator if Maddie hadn’t pulled him back in, gently reaching forward to make sure the door closed all the way and twisting the lock before heading back towards the kitchen.
“Well, that was certainly a way to spend an afternoon.”
“Don’t even start.” Buck followed her over and collapsed onto his sofa, letting his head fall against the back cushion. “If you had been keeping an eye on everything like you said you would–”
“That was not my fault and you know it!” She whapped him softly with one of the throw pillows before falling down onto the couch next to him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. “Mmm, he was cute, though.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Buck sighed dreamily, letting himself fantasize ever so briefly about Eddie in his uniform. Maybe he should let something catch on fire again, they were already in the neighborhood...
Still, something about what Maddie had just said was pinging something in the back of his brain.
Buck turned his head slightly so he could see Maddie’s face. “Wait, you’ve met him before. At that game. You met him before I met him.”
Maddie frowned back at him before something seemed to click in her head and she let out a small laugh. “That’s not who I– I mean, yeah, Eddie’s a good looking guy but I was talking about Chimney.”
Before Buck even had a moment to process that, Maddie gave him a quick pat on the shoulder before hoisting herself up off the couch and heading back into the kitchen to survey the damage.
After a short break of sampling the treats and properly watching that Bachelor Bubble episode (Jessica M. was voted off which was absolutely ridiculous), Buck got back to work as Maddie got ready to head out.
“Take care, little brother,” she chirped, hopping over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before slipping her purse over her shoulder. “Don’t burn down your apartment while I’m gone.”
“Ha ha. You’re so funny.” He pushed a bag of M&M cookies towards her. “Don’t forget your share.”
“I thought everything was Eddie and Chris’s first.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief, though she did reach forward to take the cookies and stuff them in her bag.
“Eddie has sisters. He knows about the sibling tax. Now get out of here before I change my mind and requisition them back.”
Maddie just laughed, giving him another wave before drifting out his front door and back to hers. She had a shift the next day, he knew she needed sleep.
He may or may not have baked a few more batches before turning in himself, but not before arranging everything in the appropriate bags and tupperware to be transported the twenty or so minutes to the Diaz residence the next afternoon.
When he pulled into Eddie’s driveway at 12:30 the next day, he was greeted with a sleepy smile and a kiss at the door, exactly what he’d been denied the afternoon before. It took them another five minutes or so of “saying hello” before Buck was properly let inside, darting away to carefully pile the several bags of baked goods on the kitchen table.
“Now, I have each bag labeled with type of treat, main ingredient list, and any allergen information, just in case.” He pulled out a bag of muffins to show to Eddie. “Anything you don’t want, I’m happy to take into work. Oh! Or you could take them to the station? I’m sure there are some hungry firefighters that wouldn’t mind some cookies.”
“Probably,” Eddie shrugged, “but like I said, Chris and I get first dibs. We can decide when he gets home.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“And again, you really didn’t have to do this.” Eddie had that face again, the one that said he couldn’t believe Buck was real, that he would go through all this effort for him. Like anything he did for Eddie could ever properly embody how much Buck felt for him. He’d have made a whole bakery’s worth of treats if he’d asked.
“Again, I wanted to.” Buck leaned forward, tapped Eddie on the nose. “I can’t wait to see Chris’s face when he sees them. Plus, I had fun making them, even if it did get a little out of hand there for a second.”
Eddie snorted, letting himself sink down onto one of the kitchen chairs. “Next time I come over, I want it to be for more fun reasons. And not with my coworker.”
“Agreed.” Buck sat on the chair across, reaching one hand out to rest on top of Eddie’s where he’d rested it on the table. “Although I wouldn’t mind seeing that uniform again…”
Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Mmmm, yeah. What good’s a hot firefighter boyfriend if he doesn’t bring his turnouts home every once in a while?”
“Is that all I am to you? A hot body in a uniform?” Eddie’s face was the picture of fake dismay. Buck adored him.
“And a pretty face to go with it.”
“I see how it is.” Eddie flipped the hand under Buck’s over so he could join their hands and stood, hauling him up with him. “Guess I better show you what this hot body and pretty face is capable of.”
Buck was not going to say no.
It wasn’t until a few hours later, after they’d made it back to the living room sated but peckish with chips and salsa to tide them over until dinner, that Eddie brought the day before up again.
“Did I tell you Maddie texted me last night?”
Buck, sacked out on the couch, turned his head to catch Eddie’s eye, greatly confused. “She did? What for?”
“You know I met your sister before I met you, yeah? Maybe she just wanted to catch up.”
Buck rolled his eyes. “She did not. And you don’t both get to pull the ‘I met them first’ card on me within 24 hours. That’s not fair.”
Eddie chuckled, pulling Buck sideways just enough to give him a quick kiss. “No, she didn’t. Actually, she was asking if I would give her my partner Chim’s number.”
Buck blinked.
“Which I did because Maddie was pretty much the only thing Chim talked about for the rest of shift. When he wasn’t teasing me about you, of course.” Eddie leaned back into the couch cushions, taking Buck along with him. “I thought I’d gotten the worst of Chim before but secretly dating a pro athlete must have unlocked something within him. I don’t think he’ll ever let this go.”
“And he’s...” Buck took a breath, tried again. “And he’s a good guy?”
Eddie’s arm around him tightened, snuggling Buck into the crook of Eddie’s neck. “Chim’s great. Sure, he’s ridiculous but he’d go to hell and back for the people he cares about.” He turned his head to give Buck’s temple a quick peck. “I know how wonderful Maddie is and how important she is to you. I never would have given her his number if I didn’t think they were both, I don’t know, deserving.”
Huh. His sister and Eddie’s partner. Who would have guessed?
“And you know the best part?” Eddie whispered into his ear. “If it works out, we get to hold it over them both for the rest of their lives.”
Oh, he loved Eddie so much.