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This last month has been good, great even. Eddie can’t remember the last time he was this happy. He had confessed his love to Buck a month ago. Buck had just been doing the dishes while Eddie dried. The sight was so domestic and simple that Eddie realized he wanted to see it every night. He’s still in shock that he said it, even more that Buck said it back. Every time he wakes up, he’s half convinced it was all a dream before he sees Buck sprawled out next to him.
Since the confession Buck and Eddie have been even more inseparable. Buck’s been in his loft less than two hours this entire month. Eddie’s tempted to start a count down on the fridge to the day his lease ends.
Having Buck around every day has made Chris happier too. Apparently, Eddie is terrible at video games, so Chris is excited to “finally have someone worth competing against.” They’ve started a mini book club to read the Percy Jackson series. Every night they have a debrief of that day’s chapter. Eddie can’t follow a word of it but is happy just listening to his two boys.
Buck is making Eddie a better parent. Eddie’s helpless when it comes to science. Buck, however, helped Chris make a model of the solar system that is impressively accurate according to his teacher. And now Chris is getting homecooked meals instead of the frozen dinners Eddie makes.
They had been terrified of Chris’s reaction to their relationship. If he didn’t approve, they would break up immediately, Eddie will always put Chris’s happiness before his own. Eddie had spent a whole week working out the best way to tell him. All the worrying had been useless though as one night Chris had gotten out of bed to get some water only to find them making out in the kitchen. Buck and Eddie had been frozen, but Chris had just called them “gross” and left with his water.
The next day Eddie had sat him down and asked him if he was okay with what he saw. Chris had simply pointed out that not much had changed. He just got to spend more time with Buck, which Chris would never mind. He did, however, tell Eddie to not mess it up and drive Buck away. Eddie had promised while chuckling, most people don’t get a shovel talk from their own kid.
Chris is the only one who knows something has changed. Eddie loves his family at the 118, however they can be insufferable with their teasing. Buck and Eddie had decided spending time in their own bubble away from scrutiny for a while wouldn’t hurt. So far no one has noticed that anything is different, which really shows how codependent they had been before they had gotten together.
So, life for Eddie has been good, however Chimney seems to be determined to change that during this shift. He should have been waiting for the other shoe to drop; he and Buck aren’t historically lucky.
This week is the anniversary of Chim getting a piece of rebar stuck in his head. He had decided to host another blood drive to “celebrate escaping death’s clutches.”
Unfortunately, he seems to have slipped back into his Captain Han mindset. He has been making sure every member donates all shift. Any other time Eddie would have appreciated Chim’s effort. He’s trying to help the community, something they all cared about. Eddie knows all his harassing comes from a place of love. However, he is unknowingly causing this to be a shift from hell for Eddie.
Buck and Eddie have been doing everything they can to avoid him. He can’t exactly tell Chim he’s disqualified from donating because he and Buck have had their dicks inside each other. Contrary to what people might think, even they aren’t that close. Chim doesn’t even know either of them like men.
They’ve been lucky so far. Eddie would never be glad someone is having an emergency, but he can be happy the emergency happened during this shift. The calls have been so frequent that Eddie is shocked that no one has mentioned something stupid like a curse.
They’ve been successfully volunteering to do chores to evade Chimney the short time they’re at the station. Eddie is envious that Buck was able to cook dinner while Eddie had to clean the bathroom. Sadly, Eddie was permanently banned from the kitchen when he caught a third pan on fire.
They are so close to escaping Eddie can taste it. He and Buck both showered (unfortunately separately) at the end of the shift so they’re the only ones left in the locker room. Eddie has never changed his clothes this slowly before. He’s praying that if he stalls enough Chimney will have left. However, he and Buck must leave the safety of the locker room eventually.
There’s just 20 feet between them and freedom.
Eddie sees that Chim’s still here. He quickly glances away, making eye contact is the last thing he needs. He starts picking up his pace and Buck follows suit next to him.
15 feet
Eddie’s astounded that they might pull this off. He was sure this shift would end with them exposed. At this point he’s walking so fast he must be beating Olympic records.
10 feet
He can see his truck and Buck’s jeep now. (Eddie is looking forward to carpooling once everyone knows they’re together. Their gas bill will be cut in half; it’s not like they go anywhere separately.)
Eddie does something dangerous, he begins to hope they will escape.
5 feet
They’re almost there. A smile forms on Eddie’s face then quickly vanishes.
“Buckley! Diaz!”
Fuck
Eddie keeps walking. He decides he’s far enough away from Chim to have plausible deniability that he didn’t hear him. Buck, however, does not get the memo as he stops dead. Eddie stops too. He unfortunately loves his boyfriend too much to throw him to the wolves alone.
“Finally! I’ve been trying to catch you guys all day. It seems that everyone has donated. Except. You. Two.” Chimney tells them while drawing out the last three words. “So come over here and let me see those veins.”
“We uh, we can’t donate.” Buck says reluctantly. For once Eddie wishes that they were regular coworkers who would take their statement at face value. However, he knows his wonderful family will always pry.
“What? Why not? I know you guys aren’t sick.” Oh god they need an excuse, something to throw Chimney off the truth. This is not the way he comes out.
Eddie feels a familiar panic wash over him. He can’t hear anything over his rapid heartbeat. They should have come up with a plan in case they were cornered. Eddie’s racking his brain for reasons people usually give to not donate blood. But his mind is racing, leaving him unable to latch on to any one thought. He won’t be shocked if he starts hyperventilating.
“I’m terrified of needles.” Buck blurts out next to him. Eddie can hear the matching panic in his voice.
“And I can’t donate because, because…” Come on Eddie think, “I can’t stand the sight of blood, I faint whenever I see it.”
Chim stares at them with confusion written all over his face.
“Eddie, you’re a paramedic. We deal with plenty blood every day and you’re fine.” He says slowly like he’s talking to a toddler.
“And Buck, I’ve seen you in hospitals enough to know you have no problem getting an IV.” Chimney points out. Eddie would say he’s dating an idiot, but he would be a hypocrite. Of course, those excuses didn’t work.
“Okay, guys, what is going on, first you ignore me all day and now you’re giving me terrible excuses. Is this some weird BuckandEddie thing the rest of us don’t get?” If Eddie wasn’t so nervous he’d laugh, Chimney’s not wrong, he just doesn’t realize how much of a BuckandEddie thing it is.
“Both of you had no problem donating blood last time, what changed?” Hen questions from her seat where she’s getting her blood drawn. Great, now they have to convince two people. And Hen’s much more skeptical than Chim.
Eddie can fix this; he’s a smart guy he just needs to stop panicking and think. He mentally runs through all the grounding exercises Frank taught him. Jello, he’s made of Jello, nice calming Jello. Jello doesn’t have to keep a secret. Jello doesn’t have to worry about its friends’ reactions. Jello doesn’t have to come up with a believable excuse.
Thankfully his thoughts start to slow. Unluckily, he isn’t suddenly struck by the perfect excuse to get him and Buck out of this.
“Come on guys, if you’re good I’ll even let you have a treat.” Chim teases them.
“That’s why I can’t, yeah, yeah, I’m on a diet so I can’t have the cookie. If I donate, I’ll pass out.” Buck says. That’s not the worst excuse Buck could have said. Eddie would steal it if he didn’t spend all last shift complaining someone ate his ice cream.
“I’ll get you an apple.” Chim says unamused. Damn, Eddie really hoped that would work.
He feels Buck tense up next to him when that excuse is dismissed. Eddie knows he must be panicking. He looks down and sees Buck’s nails repeatedly digging into his palm. He only does that when he’s trying to hide his emotions. Eddie wants to take his hand to stop it, run a soothing thumb over the crescent indents left behind.
Eddie can read Buck’s mind without him saying a word. Buck’s thoughts must be a giant web, rapidly weaving between topics trying to come up with something. He knows he must be getting lost in the web, too many ideas making him unable to focus on anything. Eddie wishes they were alone so he could help Buck unravel the disjointed thoughts.
But he can’t, all Eddie can do is try to get them out of this himself. It’s his turn to come up with something to get Chim to leave them alone. Eddie then remembers another restriction on donations.
“I can’t donate because of the travel restriction.” There, that’s a reasonable reason, right? And Buck can easily say the same. No one will bat an eye at them going on vacation together. It’s excellent, they’ll be fine.
“Eddie, we work together, I know you haven’t taken one day of vacation much less enough for an international trip.” Okay maybe it’s not an excellent excuse.
Eddie always digs himself into a hole when he tries to lie. He is much better at being blunt. He knows he should shut up now, but he can’t help himself. He can still try to salvage this.
“Yeah, but I’m planning a trip to, to…” Why can’t Eddie think of any country that would be a restriction. Luckily Buck saves him like always.
“Ethiopia! They have absolutely beautiful scenery and they’re at risk for getting malaria, so Eddie can’t donate.” God, Eddie loves his boyfriend and all his random facts. He would kiss him but that would ruin the whole point of this conversation.
Eddie starts to feel hopeful they will get through this. If anyone can get out of a situation it’s him and Buck. They’re a united front, this is no different than when they have to convince Christopher to eat his broccoli before ice cream. They’ve walked through fire together, both literally and figuratively. A blood drive will not be their downfall.
“Eddie. If you’re going in the future, it doesn’t affect your blood today.” Hen uses the tone usually reserved for head trauma patients.
“You can never be too safe?” Yeah, he dug another hole. Maybe if he digs deep enough, he can have a grave for when he dies of embarrassment during this conversation.
“Did you hit your head on the last call and not tell anyone? Let me check your pupils.” Chim steps forward.
Eddie bats him away, “No, no I’m fine.” It’s a fair question though, if a patient used that logic Eddie would be rushing them to the hospital.
“Clearly something is wrong Diaz. Maybe you two need some time apart. That’s the kind of logic I would except from Buck; he’s clearly rubbing off on you.” Chim teases lightly.
“Hey!” Buck protests next to him.
“Whatever is wrong we won’t be upset, you can tell us why you can’t donate.” Hen says before Chim and Buck can start squabbling like siblings.
“It’s against my religion.” Buck intervenes. At this point, Eddie will take any excuse. He and Buck joining a cult isn’t completely unbelievable. They do stupid stuff together all the time. How is this any different than trying to hustle poker against the chief?
“Buck, I’ve never heard you talk about going to church before.” Chim says.
“Despite what you might think, Buck does have the right to keep something private.” Eddie snaps. He instantly regrets it. Chim is just trying to help people, he doesn’t deserve that. Eddie knows he needs to work on not lashing out when he’s nervous.
“Since when have any of us had a private life? Trust me, I wish Buck 1.0 decided to separate work from pleasure.” Chim counters.
“Buck, just last week you kept complaining about those Jehovah Witnesses knocking at your door every day.” Hen adds.
“They made an excellent argument?” Buck tries.
Hen shoots him with an unimpressed look.
“Okay fine I didn’t join a religion.”
Eddie doesn’t know why he expected Buck to stand strong; he’s a horrible liar. He’s lucky his baby blue puppy dog eyes can always get him out of trouble. With one look he could get away with murder. Annoyingly, it’s one of the many things Chris has picked up from Buck. Eddie folds every time.
Eddie can save this. He’s been to war; he will not be defeated by Chimney Han. It hits him, they don’t need an excuse, if they have a reason to leave, they’ll be fine. Chim can’t host a blood drive every day. He makes an exaggerated move to look at his watch.
“It’s getting late, we can’t donate today. We need to leave right now if we want to pick up Chris on time.” This is believable, why didn’t he think of this sooner?
“Chris and Denny are at that camp all weekend.” Hen reminds him. Shit. Why must this be the one weekend Chris isn’t home, that would have been a terrific reason to escape.
“No need to rush home to an empty house Diaz.” Chim adds.
The house being empty is a marvelous reason to rush home. Eddie is very much looking forward to seeing how loud he can make Buck when their son isn’t home. However, he would rather be shot again than tell Hen and Chim that.
“Blood thinners!” Buck yells. “I can’t donate because of blood thinners.” Eddie doesn’t know why everyone discredits Buck’s intelligence, that’s a perfectly reasonable excuse. There’s no way Hen and Chim can argue against this one.
Hen and Chimney’s eyes widen in panic at this admission.
“You’re back on them? Since when? Are you okay?” Hen questions.
“Did you have another blood clot?” Chimney demands.
“Um, I- uh.” Buck stutters in the face of their concern.
“Was there a complication after the lightning strike?” Chim’s voice is full of care.
“Buck, you should have told us immediately. We need to carry the right supplies in case you get hurt on a call.” Hen says worriedly.
Buck looks a bit stunned when confronted with their concern. Eddie knows he’s still not used to other people caring about his well-being no matter how often they prove otherwise. If Eddie ever has the displeasure of meeting Phillip and Margaret Buckley again, he’ll have plenty of things to say to them. If there is one thing his mother taught him it is the art of southern passive aggression.
Guilt washes over Buck’s face. “Okay, no I didn’t start taking blood thinners again, I’m fine.”
Eddie should have known Buck was going to fold like a lawn chair. On the bright side, he’s positive Buck will never cheat on him because he can’t lie to save his life. Or apparently to save them from embarrassment.
“But like they could still be in my system, best not to risk it right?” Buck tries.
“Buck it’s been three years I think you’re fine. Now what is going on with you two? Why can’t you handle just giving a little bit of blood?” Chim asks.
“I mean what’s the harm of two less pints of blood? You’ve done such a great job getting people Chim.” Eddie decides flattery won’t hurt, “I’m sure they already have loads of my blood type, me giving more would just take up space they don’t have.” Eddie tries a new tactic.
He should have done this from the beginning. He knows he can’t make believable excuses. He feels like he’s a teenager again desperately trying to convince his mom he’s not drunk. Apparently claiming you have a medical condition preventing you from walking in a straight line doesn’t work on the woman in charge of your doctor appointments.
“Eddie, you have O negative blood, you’re the type that they need the most.” Bobby says while walking over. Great now they might as well call Maddie and Athena, make the whole family watch Buck and Eddie crash and burn.
“You don’t know that.” Eddie replies while cringing. Bobby has done too much for him to deserve gaslighting, but Eddie is desperate at this point.
“Yes, I do. I know all your blood types; it’s in your files in case your injured on the job.” Eddie can’t argue against that.
“Even if you weren’t O negative that’s still terrible logic Edmundo. As a paramedic you should know how important blood donation is.” Hen scolds. “What is going on with you two? There are only five reasons someone can’t donate, and we’ve already ruled out-“ She pauses at that.
Hen has the same face she makes when trying to figure out what is wrong with an unusual patient. Her eyes narrow and flick between Buck and Eddie rapidly. Suddenly they widen with shock. “Oh!”
Fuck. She knows.
Eddie braces himself for her to expose them.
“You two are to-“ Hen pauses at their matching looks of terror. “I mean you two are anemic. Right? You guys can’t donate because you’re anemic.”
Eddie is going to send her a gift basket, he’s so grateful. That’s a flawless excuse that Eddie should have thought of immediately. He’s never going to complain about her calling him an idiot again. Hen is clearly the brains of their group.
“Exactly!” Buck quickly agrees.
“You guys came up with all those excuses because you are embarrassed about being anemic?” Chim questions. “Buck, you drink a spinach smoothie every morning. I highly doubt you’re anemic.”
Eddie suddenly doesn’t feel bad about refusing to kiss him after Buck drinks his disgusting smoothies. They’re bright green, there’s no way they just taste like bananas and strawberries.
“We can test your iron levels, to make sure.” Chim adds.
At least Hen tried. Eddie fears they are officially out of excuses.
“I don’t know what is going on with you two, but whatever it is it will be okay.” Oh no, Bobby is going to give one of his dad speeches. Eddie won’t be able to lie to his face after this, there’s something about his caring eyes that forces Eddie to be honest.
“I understand being afraid. I used to not want to donate either, but then I was reminded how helpful my blood could be to people. I know you both care deeply about our community and know how crucial blood transfusions can be. You can be honest with us, whatever is wrong we can come up with a solution together, as a team.” Bobby says.
“I’m a werewolf! If I have any blood connections to someone, I could pass it on. Full moon shifts are crazy enough we don’t want to deal with werewolves too.” Buck blurts out. The group is silent at that. For once even Chimney seems to not have a witty retort.
Eddie loves Buck with his whole heart. He loves his determination. Buck will never give up. If someone is still in a burning building Buck won’t leave. If Eddie tries to bottle up his emotions, Buck will patiently push until he’s comfortable talking about it. If someone in their family has a problem, Buck will research until he has five solutions for them. It is incredibly admirable.
However, this determination has its downsides. Claiming to be a mythical creature? Definitely a downside.
This is worse than the time he forced Eddie and Chris to do a cleansing ritual at their house. It’s an old house, of course there will be creaking sounds at night, that doesn’t mean they have a ghost.
Eddie drags his hand over his face and sighs, “Buck, that’s ridiculous. Let’s just tell them.”
“Are you sure? I thought you wanted to wait.” Buck turns to whisper to him.
He knows Buck will keep coming up with excuses until their team thinks he’s insane if Eddie isn’t comfortable. He will always throw himself on the sword for Eddie. Which is one of the reasons Eddie loves him so much. Maybe telling the team isn’t that bad, he’ll be able to love Buck openly. Buck deserves to know how special he is to Eddie, how loved he is.
“I know, but they have to find out at some point, might as well be now. Are you sure you’re okay with it?” Eddie whispers back.
Eddie’s surprised to realize how much he wants Buck to agree. Now that the thought is there, he wants to tell everyone that he’s the one lucky enough to have caught Evan Buckley’s attention.
But if Buck disagrees Eddie will figure something out. He’ll do anything to make Buck comfortable. Maybe he can grab Buck’s hand and run out of the station, pick up Chris and flee the state.
“Yeah Eds, it’s okay.” Buck says. His smile is blinding.
Eddie turns back to the group.
“Okay we can’t donate because of the rule about, uh, about-“ Eddie really does not want to talk about their sex life in front of their friends. Especially Bobby. He might as well be Eddie’s father-in-law.
“About having sex with another man.” Buck finishes awkwardly saving Eddie from his stuttering.
“Oh!” Bobby’s expression is a mask of surprise. It’s rare that something displaces his carefully neutral captain’s face. “Congratulations, I’m happy for you two.”
Chimney is still standing with his jaw open.
“Careful Chim you’ll catch flies.” Buck jokes nervously.
“I- yes, yes so happy for you guys. Really. Congratulations.” He stutters.
“Congrats boys, I’m proud of you.” Hen adds.
“Buck I’m wounded that you told Eddie before your own brother-in-law.” Chim jokes to try and break the tension.
Before this Eddie hadn’t realized how awkward coming out is. He knows how supportive his team is but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to crawl into a hole to escape this. He never would have thought he’d miss being trapped in that well.
“Well, Eddie kind of found out immediately.” Buck replies with a shrug.
“Did you call him right after? That’s super codependent even for you guys.” Chim says.
“No Chim, Eddie was the guy I had sex with.” Buck explains slowly.
“Oh! I- I really shouldn’t be surprised by that, should I?”
“No, you should not.” Hen interjects with a smirk. Eddie can admit that’s fair; he’s shocked no one figured it out sooner.
“Maddie is going to be so excited.” Chim says while pulling out his phone.
“No!” Buck snatches his phone. “She’s already going to kill me for telling you guys first. She is not going to find out from you.”
“Buck, you know I can’t keep a secret, especially from Maddie.” Chim pleads. That’s fair, Eddie hates having to keep something from Buck.
“Fine,” Buck sighs, “We’ll come straight to your house when we leave.”
Bobby walks over and pulls them into a hug. “I’m truly proud of you. You both deserve a partner who will stick by your side, who will love you with all their heart. You two work so well together, I know you’ll be that partner.”
“However, you guys could have avoided this by saying you already donated this month.” Bobby finishes in an amused tone. That would have been an airtight excuse that Eddie really should have thought of.
“And having ideas like that is why Bobby is captain.” Chim says then pauses. “Wait, you guys do know they got rid of the MSM rule in May, right?” He asks.
“What?” Buck and Eddie both exclaim in unison.
“So, this whole conversation was pointless?” Eddie is trying not to feel like an idiot.
He and Buck just made complete fools of themselves when it all could have been avoided if he just pulled up the Red Cross’s list of requirements. Eddie decides he’ll blame Buck for this one. He’s the one that reads wiki articles all night, he should have read the rules.
“And that means you two don’t have an excuse to not donate.” Chim says while pushing them towards two open seats.
As they’re walking away Hen and Bobby start whispering to each other. Eddie hears parts like ‘cake guy’ and ‘barbeque.’ He has a feeling that he and Buck will be getting an invitation to simply “have dinner” at Bobby and Athena’s soon.