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1 : Maddie
The first time Evan ever was given the luxury of receiving the aux cord was with his big sister Maddie. They were on a drive on the weekend, one of the few weekends Maddie was home from college in Boston and was Doug-free. He was so excited with the prospect of finally getting to hang out with Maddie again like the old days. Maddie was driving on the back roads around Hershey, Pennsylvania. Since Hershey was a small town in the Midwest, there was really nothing to do but hit the roads. Evan being 13, didn’t seem to mind, since he still got to hang out with his big sister.
As they were driving down the road Maddie glanced over at Evan, “How has middle school been? I know if it is anything like college, it has to be pretty crazy.” She chuckled as she let her hand ruffle her brother’s sandy curls. Evan huffed while swatting away her hand and chuckled at her antics. He acted like he didn’t like the affection his sister gave him, but on the inside, he craved it. The only type of slight affection he received was from his older sister. So when Maddie isn’t home for long amounts of time, he feels upset. He knows it isn’t Maddie’s fault she can’t be home to take care of him because that is his parent’s job. But his parents shun him, they rarely ever talk to him, unless it’s something they need done around the house.
Evan grinned and looked over at his sister, “School has been alright.” He didn’t add anything more because he didn’t have very many friends at school. He usually had his nose stuck in a book trying to find out new information to tell his older sister when she came home. If he wasn’t doing that then he was ending up in the hospital, or cleaning up his own scrapes and bruises from being reckless.
Evan’s eyes gleaned as a big toothy grin broke out across his face. “I was reading about strange laws in different countries the other day, and guess what I found out? Apparently, it’s illegal to own one Guinea pig in Switzerland because they are extremely social creatures. With them having no social interaction, they become sad,” Evan continued to go on and on about other strange laws he found out about in other countries.
Maddie nodded and listened to Evan, as the radio station, started to have feedback. Maddie started to flip through the stations but they all produced a fuzzy noise or just flat-out horrendous music. She then pulled over onto the side of the road and opened her glovebox to pull out the aux cord. She handed it over to Evan with her phone.
Evan’s gaze flickered in between the cord, Maddie’s phone, and Maddie herself. “Um- Mads? What am I supposed to do with this?” Evan had no remote idea what to do, seeing how he barely is in the car with his parents.
Maddie giggled taking the cord from Evan’s hands and plugging it into the radio, “Sorry Ev. Forgot you might not know,” she once again ruffled Evan’s hair before she took her cellphone and plugged the aux cord into it. She opened up Spotify on her phone and handed it over to Evan. “Just pick a song,” she then shoulder-checked and pulled back onto the road.
Evan looked down at Maddie’s phone and started to scroll through some of the songs. He started to hum as he decided what song to turn on. Evan saw a song that he recognized immediately because it commonly played on his iPod Maddie had gotten him for Christmas.
A soft voice started to play on the radio with a guitar and a soft beat. Evan immediately started to hum along to the lyrics and tap his finger with the beat on the window.
Maddie gave Evan a look as ‘Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson’ continued to play from the radio. Evan started to belt out the melody once it started to play, and started to perform a mini dance routine in his seat. His foot was bouncing as his head started to bop along with the beat.
Maddie began to laugh when Evan began shifting around his seat. Once the melody played again Evan began loudly singing into Maddie’s phone pretending it was a microphone. Maddie stifled her laughter with her hands and rolled her eyes, “Oh, Ev, how I missed you.” She mumbled to herself with a warm grin still on her face as she continued to drive. She continued to quietly hum along with the music, not allowing Evan to know she did though. She couldn’t allow her little brother to know that she enjoyed his antics.
She gave out a silent prayer she could have more nights like these, god did she need them.
-----
2 : Navy SEALs
Evan picked up the nickname 'Buck' during his BUD/S training but the team that picked him up after completing his training always referred to him as, Pit. This nickname is short for pit bull referring to Buck's inherently violent nature to anyone who makes a step the wrong way towards his family aka his team. His team, team 6 also known as DEVGRU, selected Buck to be a part of their team after he finished his SEAL qualification training. Though before Buck joined he furthered his education by taking foreign language training, seal tactical communications training, and sniper training. He was to be the team's permanent sniper and he helped with communications with non-native English speakers while out on his tours.
Currently Buck was sitting in the back of the Humvee with his team, they were currently on their way to do patrol. They were in Iraq and there were suspicions that Al-Queada was planning an attack on the city of Lawdar. Luca was driving while McGarrett was sitting next to him in the passenger seat. Buck sat next to Street, having his head rest on Street's shoulder. Somewhere sitting behind the two were Hondo, Deacon, Chris, and Tan. Their sister platoon led by Mumford was already in Lawdar. Buck nuzzled his head further onto Street's shoulder as he let out a yawn. "Damn, these next twenty hours are going to suck," Buck mumbled into Street's arm when Street squeezed Buck's arm in return. Street was Buck's snipping partner, he always watched his six and kept watch to help Buck become aware of any targets. They were given maybe six hours to rest back at camp, but he was restless whenever he closed his eyes. Of course, now that he was supposed to be awake, he was half asleep.
Street then took his other hand and ran it through Buck's sandy curls. Street then let his head rest on the seat behind his head with a sigh, "we are in for a long shift," mumbled when he shut his eyes, just as tired. Steve McGarrett glanced his eyes into the car mirror and chuckled, "Sleepyheads," McGarrett stated when he knocked on the door of the truck, "someone has to stay awake to watch our six." McGarrett then turned his attention to the radio in the Humvee, turning it on. He then connected his phone to the aux, and with Buck being the most tired he figured he could pick the music. McGarrett then knocked his knuckle on the door again, "Sleepyhead number one please pick the music." McGarrett stated as he set the phone down on Buck's thigh.
Buck slowly moved his head so that his eyes were facing down, he then opened his eyes while he grabbed the phone. Buck let out another yawn while he opened up Apple Music. Given the fact there was no internet nor wifi where they were driving, Buck had to use previously downloaded music on Steve's phone. Hopping had some good music on his phone, Buck hit the shuffle button since he was too lazy to scroll through the downloaded music. 'Dream On by Aerosmith' started to play and a deep chuckle from the front driver's side was heard. Luca then smacked the steering wheel, "Of course, you listen to blues rock," he said while shaking his head.
Buck felt the shaking movement from Street as he chuckled and shook his head, "Why wouldn't, Pops listen to dad music."
"Leave the old man alone," Hondo pipped in from behind him.
Steve McGarrett turned his head around, "You are almost the same age as me, Hondo."
"Well actually you've got two years on him," Deacon sounded from the back seat. Buck rolled his eyes at the team's banter as he unplugged McGarrett's phone, then plugged in his own. Buck then felt Street shift so that he was able to see Buck's phone screen as well.
"Not that I don't trust you or anything Pit, but your last song choice wasn't exactly an award-winning song," Buck knew Street was just pulling his leg. The two bantered like brothers and acted as ones too. Buck chuckled while angling his phone so Street could not see. He then picked a song he knew would get a reaction out of the team. 'Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado' started playing on the radio. Buck lifted his head from Street's shoulder and bopped around in his seat. He began to sing the male parts and he heard a laugh from Chris in the back as she began to sing the female parts in the song. There was a laugh from Tan as he joined in with the two loudly singing the chorus, which caused Luca to join in. A loud chuckle could be heard from the front seat as McGarrett shook his head.
With the song still playing in the background McGarrett began to fiddle with the radio on his chest. Luca noticed this as he turned the music up louder as McGarrett radioed into Mumford's squadron with Luca, Buck, Chris, and Tan still singing. "Please let me ride in your Humvee next time," McGarrett said with a wide grin on his face.
"Not if it means I have to ride in that party bus," Mumford's voice sounded through the radio.
-----
3 : Ravi
” I still don’t understand why you acted like you didn’t know us, please enlighten me,” Buck said with a deadpan look on his face as he stared at Ravi, though Buck was just joking around. “You were literally found at the scene! Working with us! Did you genuinely believe the police would believe you?” Buck continued on with other reasons, as he was counting on his hands with the reasons. Ravi huffed as he grabbed the all-purpose flour off the grocery store shelf Bobby had asked for. The two of them had been sent out to get groceries. Buck wouldn’t admit it but Ravi was probably sent out to supervise him. The last time he went grocery shopping for the 118 by himself, he got a little distracted by some sweets in a different aisle. When he says a 'little' distracted he means massively distracted, like he ended up losing over $100 distracted. He bought some snacks that reminded him of Christopher but then Buck felt like he needed to then get snacks for his boyfriend, Eddie. But then if he bought snacks for Eddie, he needed to get stuff for his team too. Let's just say after that thought, the shopping trip completely spiraled. He came back to the firehouse with over an extra $100 worth of a purchase that was not on Bobby's list. When Buck returned he became a $100 broker, having to reimburse the amount of the firehouse's credit card. As well as he was not allowed to come to the store without some sort of supervision.
Ravi slowly turned around, “It has been four months! Are you ever going to let me live that down? But in my defense, I found the treasure chest first, so technically I never worked with you guys. It was a solo mission you guys dragged me along on.” Ravi defended as Buck pushed the grocery cart next to him.
” That’s a funny joke probie, I forgive but never forget. Were you just going to through us under the bus like that though? I still stand by my belief that you double-crossed us probie.” Buck wasn’t genuinely mad at the man, he was just poking fun. He knew it annoyed Ravi but as Ravi's superior and mentor, Buck felt like it was his duty to do so. As they continued walking down the aisle, he saw some animal crackers that piqued his interest. They were the frosted white and pink ones with frosting. It reminded him of Maddie and when they used to eat them together when watching movies, while they lived with their parents. While Ravi was grabbing some fettuccine noodles that were the last item on the list, Buck quickly sneaked the crackers into the cart, hoping Ravi wouldn't check the cart before they left.
Once Ravi put the noodles in the cart, Buck then double-checked everything on the list was in the cart, "Whelp, I that is it. We should check out and get to the firehouse as soon as possible so we don't miss a call. Do you want to go out to the truck and meet me at the front of the store?" Buck never said he was a good liar, but no one said Ravi was very perceptive of Buck's lies anyways.
As Ravi left the building to go collect the vehicle, Buck chuckled and checked out the groceries. Once he came outside and loaded the groceries into the backseat of the truck, he hopped into the passenger seat. Ravi started to drive away as Buck went into the glove box. He grabbed the aux cord and plugged it in. He was not even going to bother to flip through the radio stations, they mostly just play commercials or really bad music. Buck proceeded to plug the cord into his phone and opened up Spotify. "You have any opinions on what we listen to?" Buck asked as he opened up the search bar on the app. Ravi took a second to respond so Buck looked up to see Ravi shake his head. Ravi's fingertips lightly tapped on the wheel as they drove out of the parking lot. Buck hummed in response and went over to the playlist section on Spotify. He selected the playlist he commonly put on while he drove to work in his Jeep every day, except for the days he came with Eddie. The first song which started to play was 'God is a Woman by Ariana Grande', Buck had no shame about this, obviously. Buck looked over at Ravi to gauge his reaction and laughed as he heard Ravi start to sing along to the music as well. Ravi started to thrum his fingers along with the beat on the steering wheel.
Buck was not going to lie, Ravi was a pretty good singer, surprisingly. Buck knew he himself wasn't the best singer but he chose not to care. He belted out in song with Ravi, probably ruining Ravi's beautiful singing voice. Ravi's eyes widened once he heard Buck singing and had to refrain from expressing any other reaction. So Ravi continued to drive back to the station as he continued to sing along beautifully, and Buck not so much. But that did not matter, at least the men enjoyed themselves.
. . .
"Buck, is there something you want to tell me? You know, maybe why there are frosted animal crackers in with the firehouse's groceries. Ravi, were you part of this?"
"Cap, I swear I didn't know!"
"Mhm, sure."
Let's just say Ravi and Buck never went grocery shopping together for the 118 again.
One part Ravi did not mind at that fact was, at least he did not have to hear more of Buck's singing.
-----
4 : Bobby & Athena
The look Athena was giving Buck, was the common mom's deadpan look, just daring Buck to continue with his actions. She had her arms crossed in front of her body as she leaned heavily on her left leg. Bobby stood behind Athena with a grin on his face, he proceeded to wink as he snuck the snack back into the cart. Before this event occurred, Buck had successfully snuck the bagged popcorn into the cart. Though Athena is well aware of the factor Buck likes to sneak food into the cart. Which lead to her searching the cart before they left the grocery store. Of course, Athena had to find the popcorn and she made them walk back to the aisle the snack was found in. She then made Buck put it back, which lead to this moment, where Bobby was sneaking the snack back into the cart. Bobby snaked his arm around Athena's waist and gave her forehead a quick kiss. "Come on, we need to get this show on the road to make food in time for the barbecue. I can check this out while you go lecture Buck in the car," Bobby said as he took the cart and started to walk away.
Buck gave Bobby an offended look at throwing him under the bus like that, "Yes, I just can't wait to get lectured," he mumbled under his breath so Athena could not hear. He slowly dragged his feet when he was walking behind Athena, not really listening to her rant. This was not the first tie he heard this exact same rant and it certainly would not be the last.
"Buck! Buck are you even listening to me right now?" Athena asked as she whipped around with a pointed look on her face, her hands already on her hips.
Buck held his hands in the air in a defensive manner, "Yes ma'am!"
Athena gave Buck a look that screamed doubt, "Oh really, what was I saying then?"
Buck shuffled back and forth, he was not sure where Athena had ended in the rant, so he was just going to have to take a shot in the dark. "You were talking about how if I sneak a snack in the cart, then I have to pay for it," Buck replied, as he hoped he was correct.
Athena lessened up on the look of doubt in her glare, with Buck being correct with his guess. She still had a strong feeling the man was still not actively listening, he was probably off in his own little mindscape. She then put her arms back down on her sides and continued to walk out to the parking lot to retrieve the black truck.
As the truck door slammed shut with Athena driving and Buck in the passenger seat, Buck turned on the radio. He connected his phone to the Bluetooth radio, it seemed as though Athena did not care. So Buck carried on with selecting music from his playlist. Before he could do that, Athena pulled up to the front of the store and ushered Buck out of the truck. Buck set his phone down on the dash and hopped out of the truck, to help put groceries in the truck bed. Bobby sent Buck a knowing look when he moved the plastic bag so the popcorn from earlier was visible, "Look what I got."
Buck chuckled and he shook his head slightly, "You should probably put that away before Athena sees."
"If Athena asks, I had nothing to do with this and I had no knowledge of this event happening,"
Buck nodded with a sly grin on his face as he helped load the groceries into the truck. Once they were done Buck pushed the cart back inside, while Bobby took Buck's place in the passenger seat of the truck. Buck then got into the back seat, in the middle spot, and buckled up. "Uhhhh, Bobby can you hand me my phone? It's on the dash," Buck motioned to the area his phone lay. Bobby nodded as he hand Buck's phone into the backseat. With his phone still connected to the Bluetooth on Grant-Nash's truck Buck selected a song. He had a cheeky grin on his face and had to stop himself from laughing as 'Smooth Criminal by Micheal Jackson' started to play.
Athena whipped around to shoot a look at Buck, "What did you do? I thought I strictly told you, no sneaking snacks into the cart." She then shot the same look at Bobby, "Are you the accomplice of our smooth criminal in the backseat?" Buck chuckled at her deciding to include the song name in the comment.
Bobby frantically shook his head, "I swear I know nothing about this."
He held his hands up in the air as Athena did a small doubtful nod as she let out an "Mhmm, I see."
. . .
Bobby gave a harsh whisper into Buck's ear, "Didn't I tell you to not get me in trouble? It looks like you did a pretty bad job at doing so." Buck chuckled as he snuck the bagged popcorn into the front seat of his jeep.
-----
5 : Hen
Buck woke up to a loud snore in his ear, though Buck recognized the touch of who it was, his boyfriend Eddie. Eddie currently had his arm snaked around Buck's waist and was leaning on Buck's left side. He had his head on Buck's shoulder, which means Buck was fully immersed in the sounds of Eddie's snoring. Buck's face was pressed against the glass of the firetruck's cab window. Hen, Eddie, and he were currently on their way to Texas to help aid the firefighters with the wildfires taking over Texas.
Buck shifted in his seat, turning himself so he could hold Eddie. The man was now sitting up against the inside wall of the cab, while Eddie had his head on Buck's chest with his arms wrapped around Buck's waist. The older man was in a deep sleep not even being affected by the younger man's movement. Buck picked up his right hand and started to softly play with Eddie's hair with a soft grin on his face. He twirled his fingers around the pieces of hair that stood out unevenly. They had been on the road for a while now, Buck had no idea how long they had been asleep or even when they fell asleep. But Buck continued to comb his fingers through Eddie's hair, lightly massaging his scalp. He knew Eddie had been highly stressed as of late and it was good to finally see the peaceful look on the older man's face. Buck yawned softly as he started drawing circles on Eddie's back with his other hand, as Eddie usually did to him. Eddie continued to snore lightly, though now with the moved position he was breathing lightly on Buck's chest. Buck did not mind the trip to Texas which was twenty hours, he was just glad to be of service to people. He knew he and Eddie both would miss Christopher, but maybe he could help save someone else's child. He knew Eddie's abuela and his Tia Pepa would take good care of Chris, so there would be no need to worry. He hopped with them leaving they had not worried Chris, lord knew the boy already had enough on his plate. Buck did not know how Chris took on so much, the boy was practically an angel when he found out about his dad's relationship. Christopher said he had a feeling Buck and Eddie would get together anytime now. But the child's reaction made Buck feel so giddy inside that he was accepted into their little family with open arms.
Buck heard a soft chuckle across from him which came from Hen. She was obviously just as tired as the two men but she was still awake typing on her phone. She kept glancing up from her phone at the two boys, Buck assumed she was texting Karen on her phone. Karen was probably stressed out at the house seeing how there was Denny and Nia were home and she did not have the help of Hen.
Hen let out a soft sigh as she leaned her head on the wall behind her, once her phone clicked off. "What's up?" Buck quietly asked Hen, as many other firefighters in the cab were also asleep.
Hen lifted her head a bit to show she was paying attention but kept her eyes shut, "Just worried about Karen at home, alone with the kids. I know Athena will stop by if Karen needs anything, but it doesn't really help the worry, you know? I imagine it is the same way with you, Eddie, and Christopher." Buck let out a soft hum in agreement as he nodded his head, his finger still massaging Eddie's scalp.
Buck then let his gaze flicker back over to Hen for a moment until he spoke, "What's helping me through it is we might have the chance to save someone else's Christopher, Denny, or Nia. At least, they are out of the path of this wildfire back home in California, but some kids out here did not get that luck." Hen nodded as they both sat there silently in thought.
"We should probably get some sleep before we arrive sometime tomorrow, who knows when we will be able to sleep next once we get there." Buck nodded in agreement. Now that Buck had to finally concentrate on going to sleep he was going to need a bit of help. Usually, as he and Eddie lay in bed, Eddie would hold him in an embrace. Eddie would talk softly telling Buck about his day, even though Buck was usually there with Eddie while running his fingers along Buck's back.
Buck let out a soft sigh as he removed the hand that was tracing circles on Eddie's back to his side. Once he realized he could not grab his phone and Bluetooth earbuds without moving, he began to shift lightly until he could grab them both. Hen raised an eyebrow at this and decided to comment, "I thought I just told you that we should probably get some sleep. That doesn't look like sleep to me."
Buck nodded, "Well I need noise to be able to sleep, more than the sounds of this firetruck." Buck softly chuckled as he removed one side of the headset he had to wear in the firetruck, just like every other firefighter, and popped an earbud in. "Why? You want one?" Buck asked as he held out the other earbud in an offering. Hen nodded as she did the same with her headset and popped the earbud in. "I usually listen to soft indie or folk music to sleep, that cool with you?" Hen nodded as she began to shift around to get comfortable. Buck then shifted his attention to his phone as he went onto Spotify. He then selected his sleeping playlist, and the first song that started to play was 'Atlantis by Seafret.' Buck was content with the song choice as he let his head rest on the wall and let his muscles relax. He laid his hands on Eddie's back as he shut his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
-----
+1 : Eddie
Today, today was certainly a bad day. It was down pouring outside, which usually Buck would be fine with just the rain. But the sounds of the thunder outside and the flashes of lightning were reminding Buck of a certain night he would rather forget. Not only did it bring up the memories of what happened to Eddie. But it also reminded Buck of the night he was on the ladder of the firetruck. Granted, he was glad he went up there over anyone else on his team, but that night had left a scar on him. Not only physically but mentally as well.
He was currently sitting in his bathtub in the bathroom with a baby blue soft fleece blanket wrapped around his shoulders that faintly smelled of Eddie. He had his knees pulled up to his chest, trying to become as small as possible. As thunder boomed in the distance, Buck was brought back to that rainy night. The load sirens already blaring but the boom of thunder engulfed his hearing entirely. All he could see was white light for a split second and then nothing. Just an empty blackness, with no noise, no feeling, no nothing. The feeling of floating through nothingness, no thoughts, just numbness. Eventually, there was just immense pain and this suffocating feeling. He couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe? His chest felt so tight with a burning sensation of not only feeling the need to breathe, but immense pain. He felt so sluggish and tired. Everything felt so foggy, something was wrong, but he did not know what. He could faintly feel hands on his body and voices before it all went dark again.
. . .
Once he could finally see again everything was very blurry with an unknown man in his face. In the background, there was the news quietly playing and everything felt scratchy. He didn't know what happened, but all he knew was he was in the hospital. The unknown man, who was obviously Buck's doctor, because he was in a white lab coat, was saying something but Buck was barely aware. "Wh-what happened?" Buck asked as he looked around the room and saw that the news was on that he faintly heard earlier. His doctor kept mentioning a ladder and how he should be more careful.
Suddenly a familiar face appeared, his sister Maddie. She was mentioning something about a family dinner tomorrow and was including the doctor in her banter. Who was this guy? He was so confused.
. . .
His doctor some reason brought him home to his apartment? His parents were there too, which Buck thought was frankly, very odd. Why were they acting differently? Like they actually cared about his well-being, like they were actually worried about him. They even told him they were worried too! Apparently, his doctor was also his brother. What the hell was happening? The only brother he had was dead, dead because of him. Because he wasn't good enough to save him. That had to be the reason why his parents did not care about him, because now that his brother was alive his parents magically cared about him. They even lived in California now!
Wait a second... did his mom just say his kids send him notes and flowers? He didn't have any kids, what the hell was she on about?
Apparently she was on about him being a teacher. Though he swears he was a firefighter and not a teacher.
As his mom continued to talk to him, he kinda began to tone her out. Though in his apartment he spotted a golden Faris wheel. Why did that for some reason resonate with him?
After that his dad and...brother apparently, invited him over to the couch to watch football. He grabbed the beer from his brother and began to watch the game. He will not question it. If his dad and mom were suddenly nice and cared about him, who was he to judge?
. . .
So the family dinner that was mentioned earlier, is happening now. He has never been to one before that has not ended in a screaming match, so he hoped this one would be different with his seemingly different family. Buck walked through the door with a vase full of flowers but when he shut the door and looked up at the wall of Maddie's house he paused for a second. Why did that wintery painting feel familiar? Why did it stick out so much?
There was calming music playing in the background, as the aura felt warm and safe like a non-dysfunctional family should. Everyone was greeting each other with warm hugs and welcomes. This was not the family he knew from Pennslyvania. His parents would never act like this, and his sister seemed slightly off. Something was wrong, the house looked different, less happy. The happy music playing was definitely there to cover up that factor.
When Buck asked about the whereabouts of his niece Jee, Maddie was confused, acting as if she didn't know who she was. Um, wait what? Why didn't Maddie know who her daughter was? Something seemed off, very off, and his whole world was shattered when this girl walked into the room. It was obviously Maddie's daughter but it was not Jee. Where was Jee and why was this girl so much older?
Everything seemed to click into place when Doug walked into the kitchen. Buck was nauseous and dizzy with anger, he could only imagine how Maddie felt. This could not be happening again. As Doug patted Buck's chest he felt extremely pissed off. Where the fuck was Chimney? The man Maddie was actually in love with. The man that made Maddie feel loved, cared for, and like she mattered.
Where was he?
. . .
As Buck was seated at the dinner table he sat there in a confused daze. What kind of ego boost rant was Doug going on about now? Didn't he understand no one cared, so could he please shut up? His brother, Daniel, seemed to have felt the same way, as the man confronted Doug. Seemingly angry with the man and telling him off.
He could see that Maddie began to physically panic at the rise of tension in the room. So Buck decided to cut off the two's argument by complimenting Maddie's pot roast. His entire family agreed and complimented Maddie as well on her cooking skills. Except for the man of the hour, Doug. Man was Buck pissed, Buck could see Maddie physically falter at his rude comment about the meal she made. He knew what was happening here and he would not let it happen to Maddie for a second time, he was going to put a stop to this.
Buck approached Maddie once she was in the kitchen, her guard was obviously down beforehand. But now that Buck was in the kitchen she rebuilt the walls and tried to act normal. Asking about if Buck wanted tea or coffee. It just irked Buck that Maddie felt like she could not tell him about what Doug was doing to her and more than likely their daughter. He needed to put an end to this, so he confronted Maddie about how bad of a guy he knew Doug was. She tried to play it off, but Buck was older now. He truly understood what was happening now and wouldn't let this go on. If she wouldn't tell him then he would have to find proof.
Buck gently took Maddie's arm in his grasp and slowly rolled up the sleeve of her blazer, so as to not hurt her. There was an obvious red handmark on her arm that was inflamed. Maddie tried to convince Buck that it was an accident that happened at work, but Buck knew better. But when he pushed she still tried to cover up Doug's actions saying that it was an accident. If she wasn't going to tell him, then he would have to convince her to leave. That she would be safe with Buck, he would protect her with his life.
He must have pushed too hard too fast because Maddie fled from the room. But his brother entered the room and started to complain about Doug as well. Buck needed to leave, he needed to get out of this place and go back home. Maybe Daniel could help him leave this messed up reality, so he tried to ask him. Though obviously, he could not just say 'I think I am in a coma, how do I get out?' But even with Buck's subtle question, Daniel didn't know the answer seeing how the man was never in a coma himself.
Maybe someone else could help him solve this mystery of what was going on.
. . .
Buck hoped he had the right place as he began to frantically knock on Chimney's door. As the door opened Buck started to word vomit almost immediately about his predicament. If anyone knew how to get out of a coma, then it would be Chimney. But Chimney seemed a bit more distracted by the random man at his apartment door and to be fair, he couldn't blame the man. So Buck introduced himself but continued with his questioning, he didn't have time to get into the nitty-gritty details. But Buck must have seemed like a deranged man because Chimney slammed the door in his face. Buck did not have time for this and needed some type of proof that he wasn't some weird man on his doorstep. He knew a way how to prove to Chimney that he knew the man, looks like he needed to pull out the big guns.
"I know why they call you Chimney."
. . .
Buck began to tell Chimney everything he last remembered, hoping the man could help him in any way. He knew he was not dead, but he was definitely in some type of coma dream.
Something on Chimney's table caught Buck's eye. It was a firetruck. A firetruck lay on its side. Chills ran through Buck's spine at the thought of that night. The night he almost lost his career. The night he almost died. He picked up the truck and stared at it for a second as Chimney started going off about how Buck's life was like a movie.
Chimney then asked how long Buck was in the coma, but how was he supposed to know? It has permanently been daytime the entire time he has been in this dreamscape. He was guessing it had been around two days and voiced this factor. Chimney seemed a bit suspicious of Buck and he was only now starting to question how he got into this alternate reality. But Buck felt like it was nice. Besides Doug being in the picture, having a caring loving family felt nice, and besides he finally had his older brother now. Speaking of family, maybe the problem he had to fix was Maddie's marriage. He told Chim about how he and Maddie had a house and a kid, and how they were together. Chimney started to get slightly defensive, and upset at the mention of this. He told Buck to hit the road.
Buck agreed and mentioned how he was going to head over to Cap's house because he did not really get any new information from this trip. But Chimney began to grow confused when Buck mentioned he was heading over to Bobby's house.
Chimney began to slowly walk towards Buck, telling him how Bobby was dead.
Buck's whole world began to freeze. What...? There was no way. No way this could be happening.
Suddenly Buck could feel his heart pounding heavily against his chest. Every fiber on his green sweater itched against his skin. His lungs began to protest any air he tried to breathe down, his chest flared up with pain from the lack of oxygen. He grabbed his chest lightly smacking it, hoping it would help him to be able to breathe. He could faintly hear Chimney asking if he was okay but he couldn't even respond. He couldn't talk, the air being too difficult to get down his throat. His breathing felt extremely labored as black spots seemed to dance around his vision. His legs suddenly gave out as he began to wheeze, trying to get any sort of oxygen in his lungs. He knew this was not a run-of-the-mill panic attack, because he physically could not breathe.
. . .
Warmness, was all he could feel. He was engulfed in a tight embrace that made him feel floaty. Granted his leg from the accident started to cramp up but the arms holding him made him feel safe, like he was home.
This feeling snapped him out of harsh wheezing of trying to get air into his body.
"Hey baby, I see you are back with me," Eddie said to Buck as he ran his fingers through Buck's hair before lightly kissing his forehead. "You are doing so great sweetheart, so good," Buck began to melt into Eddie's embrace. He knew he was finally out of that fever dream because it was night and Eddie was here. For some reason, Eddie was not in his coma dream, but the man was holding him now...in his bathtub where Buck originally hid.
Eddie lightly ran his fingertips up and down Buck's spine, "Are you still with me baby? Not going anywhere now?" Eddie asked with a quiet whisper as his lips brushed against Buck's ear. Buck shivered at the feeling and gave a small nod.
Though as to taunt Buck a loud boom of thunder shook the apartment, causing Buck to ball back up back into the corner of the tub, jumping out of Eddie's embrace. He began to slowly shake his head as he felt the darkness that pulled him in earlier start to lure him in now once again. "No. Please no, Eddie I don't want to go back," Buck began to run his hands through his sandy curls, tugging on them. "Don't make me go back. Please make it stop," Buck pleaded as his eyes began to become glossy.
"Sweetheart, it's okay, I promise I won't let anyone hurt you. Can I touch you?" Buck frantically nodded at Eddie's question. First Eddie placed his hands on top of Buck's in his hair and pried them out of the entanglement of the curls that Buck was previously pulling on. Eddie then cupped Buck's hands in his and brought them up to his mouth to pepper them with kisses. "As long as I am here they can't hurt you okay? Remember if I am here, then you can't possibly be there okay?" Buck gave a slow nod as Eddie pulled Buck into his lap. Buck had the back of his head on Eddie's chest as Eddie had his arms wrapped around Buck. As a roar of thunder sounded a bit further off in the distance Buck tensed up again. "Sweetheart, if it's alright with you, could I put your headphones on you?"
Having been through this before, Eddie knew what to do when he heard the first boom of thunder. He has a pair of noise-canceling headphones, that he puts on Buck in these moments. He usually plays some calming songs through the headphones to help lull Buck to sleep, when thunderstorms occur. Though before he does Buck has to be in a calm state because Buck won't be able to hear Eddie with the headphones on.
Eddie leaned forward to grab the headphones off the ledge of the bathtub, while doing so he lightly pressed a kiss to the birthmark on Buck's forehead. "Tell me if you need anything baby," Eddie whispered to Buck as he placed the headphones on his boyfriend's head. His blonde curls were wildly unkept from the tugging earlier. Eddie lightly kissed Buck's head as he adjusted his hold on the man to pull out his phone to play music. Eddie went to the playlist named 'Thunderstorm' which is the playlist Eddie made for Buck for nights like these. He selected the song 'rises the moon by Liana Flores' and put his phone down on the bottom of the tub. He began to soothingly rock back and forth holding the man while running his hands up and down Buck's chest. The younger man began to physically relax at the sound of the music.
Man, Eddie hated nights like these, but he knew he would always be there for Buck.