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It started at a wedding.
Not their wedding, obviously. Hen’s cousin had gotten married, and she’d invited the whole team — plus ones and all. Buck had gone alone. Eddie had brought a woman. Someone from Chris’s school. Someone pretty, warm, polite.
Someone who wasn’t Buck.
They didn’t hold hands or anything, but she laughed at Eddie’s jokes and he leaned in when she spoke. And Buck couldn’t stop watching. It wasn’t like he didn’t know Eddie dated. But something about seeing it happen in real time, all dressed up and smiling, made Buck feel like he’d swallowed a stone.
“You okay?” Maddie asked, not even looking up from her drink.
Buck turned his gaze to her, startled. “What?”
“You’re chewing on that straw like it said something offensive,” she said mildly. “You keep staring at Eddie.”
Buck winced. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me? Always.”
He looked away, suddenly feeling too warm in his suit jacket. “It’s nothing.”
Maddie just hummed. “If you say so.”
—
The next week was worse.
Eddie was quiet at the station, but not cold. Just distant. Polite, careful — like he was walking a line Buck didn’t know he’d crossed.
When Buck swung by after shift to bring Christopher his favorite doughnuts, Eddie thanked him and then said he was “heading out for dinner.”
Buck didn’t ask who with. He didn’t want the answer.
So he told himself it didn’t matter. Eddie was his friend. His best friend. And Buck didn’t ruin the most important things in his life anymore. He’d learned from that. Hadn’t he?
But then came the Thursday call — a multi-car pileup on the 405 — and everything boiled over.
A car had been leaking fuel. A rookie moved too slow. Buck shoved the guy out of the way just as the vehicle erupted in flames. He rolled, caught a metal shard to the ribs, and lay winded in the debris as smoke curled above.
Eddie was the first one to him.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” he shouted, yanking Buck up too fast for his ribs to appreciate.
“Nice to see you too,” Buck groaned, wincing.
“You could’ve died, Buck!”
“I saved someone!”
Eddie looked like he wanted to shake him. “You think that makes it okay? You think it’s just part of the job to keep throwing yourself at death like it owes you something?”
The words hit too close. Too deep.
Buck’s mouth hardened. “What do you care? You’ve been acting like you barely want to talk to me. I figured you’d be relieved if I took myself out of your life.”
Eddie froze. “What?”
“You’ve been avoiding me. Ever since the wedding. Ever since her.”
Eddie’s brows pulled together, stunned. “You think I’m with her?”
“You brought her to a wedding!”
“She’s a friend. From church. My aunt set us up. We had one coffee.”
Buck blinked.
“And I’ve been avoiding you,” Eddie went on, quieter now, “because every time I see you, I want things I’m scared to ask for.”
Buck’s breath caught.
“I didn’t know how to be around you without… without giving something away. So I backed off. Because I thought if you knew how I felt, I’d lose you.”
Buck took a step closer, ignoring the ache in his ribs. “How do you feel?”
Eddie looked at him like it hurt to say. Like he’d been holding it in for far too long. “I’m in love with you.”
The air seemed to shift — lighter, somehow.
“You idiot,” Buck whispered.
Eddie flinched. “Okay, wow. Not the response I—”
“No,” Buck said, shaking his head. “You are an idiot. Because I’ve been in love with you for months, Eddie.”
“You have?”
“I thought I was too late. I thought I’d missed my chance.”
Eddie stepped in, so close their breath mingled. “You didn’t. I just… needed a sign.”
Buck smiled, even through the pain. “How about saving a guy from an exploding car?”
Eddie laughed softly. “Yeah, that’ll do.”
And then, finally, he kissed him. Gently, carefully — like it wasn’t their first time, but the first time they were allowed to mean it. Buck leaned into it, fingers curled in Eddie’s shirt, the weight on his chest lifting for the first time in weeks.
When they pulled apart, Buck let out a shaky breath. “So… dinner sometime? With no mystery date?”
Eddie smiled, warm and a little stunned. “Dinner. And breakfast. And everything in between.”
“Bold.”
“Finally being honest.”
Buck grinned. “Took us long enough.”
“Yeah,” Eddie murmured, brushing a thumb across Buck’s cheek. “But we’re here now.”
And that, finally, was enough.