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There are so many things that Buck loves about being a firefighter. There’s the fierce pride and satisfaction that comes with saving someone from a burning building, there’s the bone deep ache in his body at the end of a long shift that signifies to Buck that he did something that day, was of service to someone, there’s his coworkers, who are more like family to him at this point, after almost a decade on the job, and there’s the impressed look that dates give him when they hear what he does for a living. It’s by far the most rewarding job that he’s ever had, and he couldn’t be happier that he chose to make a career out of it.
There’s one aspect of the job that Buck almost loves more than any other, though, and it’s assisting Bobby with tours of the firehouse and fire safety lessons for schoolkids. There’s nothing quite like the excitement in their eyes and the smiles lighting up their faces when they get to sit inside the fire engines, and their deep concentration as he and Bobby tell age appropriate of fires they’ve fought, and how quickly things can get out of hand, even with controlled flames.
Buck can never keep the grin off his own face as each group shouts out a chorus of thank yous before they leave, another group of fire safety conscious kids headed back out into their city. The best are the classes of first and second graders, old enough to grasp and be inquisitive about what’s being explained to them, but young enough to generally not be too disruptive.
And Buck knows he shouldn’t play favourites, but inevitably, with every group, there’s one kid in particular that will imprint on him like a momma duck and duckling. In today’s group, it’s this ridiculously cute little boy who’s got a mop of unruly, golden curls on his head, red glasses that magnify his eyes, and a pair of crutches. He doesn’t even need to speak before Buck knows that he’s found his secret favourite.
After Buck explains that an adult, or you, if there’s really no adult around, should call 9-1-1 in case of a fire, the boy raises his hand to ask a question. Buck calls on him, and the teacher announces that his name is Christopher.
“Yes, Christopher?” Buck smiles.
The boy, Christopher, keeps his hand waving in the air the entire time he speaks, and Buck finds his smile growing impossibly larger. “If I call 9-1-1, will I get to talk to you?”
Buck shakes his head. “No, you’ll talk to a dispatcher, who will call us and tell us where the fire is, so we can go there and put it out.”
“Thank you, firefighter Buckley,” Christopher says, so politely, nodding seriously, like he’s filing that information away in his brain, which is great, it’s exactly what they’re hoping for here, that the kids actually take this new knowledge and remember it if God forbid, it’s needed at some point down the road.
“Anytime, Christopher,” Buck smiles. A polite and adorable kid. His parents must be so thankful.
Not long after that, they do a tour of the firehouse and engines, and each kid gets a turn sitting in the driver’s seat with the comms headphone on their head, the teacher snapping a picture of each one in turn. They’re using a step stool to clamber into the truck, but Christopher, near the back of the line, turns his big, magnified eyes on Buck when it’s his turn. Buck doesn’t want the kid to feel like Buck assumes he needs help, so he waits for the kid to ask. “Hi, firefighter Buckley,” he says sweetly. “Can you help me? My dad says I can do anything, but that looks too hard.”
Buck nods, seriously. “Of course I can. It’s great to know when you need to ask for help. Everyone needs help sometimes.”
Christopher’s eyes widen. “Even you?”
Buck laughs. “Yeah, kid, even me.”
As Buck lifts him into the engine, Christopher leans in close. “I have another question, firefighter Buckley.”
“Sure.”
“Will you be my friend?”
He gives Buck a big grin, one of his front teeth missing, and Buck’s heart melts even further into a puddle of goo.
“Yeah, definitely. You should know that all my friends call me Buck, though.”
“Like a nickname? My dad calls me Chris, and he says that’s a nickname.”
Buck nods. “Exactly. Like a nickname.”
“That’s a cool nickname, Firefighter Buck. I like it.”
“Thanks,” Buck grins. “I like your nickname too, Chris.”
When Chris is done posing for his photo in the engine, Buck helps him down again and then helps Chimney set out the juice and snacks that the teacher brought along with her. He sits criss-cross applesauce on the floor with the kids and has an orange juice box and a chocolate chip cookie and thinks the firehouse should start doing mandated juice and cookies every day. It’s nice.
After they’ve had their snacks, as they’re heading back to the school bus, Chris turns and waves at Buck, and Buck can hear him loudly telling a classmate about the new friend that he made. The kid really needs to stop, Buck’s heart can’t take it.
He waves at the bus as it drives away, considering it another job well done. Now he just needs to go to Maddie and Chim’s and visit with Jee-Yun when his shift is over. Buck’s always wanted to be a dad and really hopes it’s still in the cards for him someday, if he meets the right person, but he hasn’t yet, so for now, he just has to be content with his role as world’s best uncle.
At least hanging out with Jee takes the edge off the burning desire to have a kid of his own for a little while. The fast approaching arrival of Maddie and Chim’s second child, a brand new little baby for Buck to cuddle with, will help even more, until Buck can make his dreams of parenthood a reality.
***
Eddie might be biased since he’s the kid’s dad, but he doesn’t think he is. It’s just plain truth that Christopher is the greatest kid ever. He’s sweet, polite, generally well behaved, funny, smart, and completely adorable. Edde counts himself incredibly lucky to get to call Chris his son.
But of all the things that Eddie loves about Chris, his favourite thing is probably his limitless imagination. He’s always loved coming up with creative names and backstories for all of his stuffed animals, and the stories he comes up with, even at just seven years old, are far more fun and creative than what you can find in most picture books these days. Eddie knows that Chris can do whatever he sets his mind to when he grows up, but with a creative mind like that, he’s sure he’ll become an author.
Knowing this about his son, Eddie doesn’t even blink when Christopher comes home from school one day, about a month after they moved to LA, and starts talking non-stop about a new imaginary friend, Firefighter Duck. It makes perfect sense, really, given both that Eddie’s just graduated from the fire academy, and is currently trying to decide which fire station to accept an offer of employment from, and that Chris’s class spent the afternoon touring a local firehouse and learning all about fire safety. He leans right into it, like he always tries to do when Chris is being creative.
“So, tell me all about Firefighter Duck, Mijo,” Eddie says, as they drive from Chris’s school towards home.
After that, Chris is off and running, waving his arms around animatedly as he talks. “He’s so cool, dad. He’s big and strong and he’s tall, even taller than you, dad. He’s really nice and has tons of muscles, and his hair is curly like mine, and he has pink marks on his face, right here.”
Eddie takes his eyes off the road for just a second, to watch Christopher point at his left eyebrow. It’s quite the vivid mental picture that Chris is creating. And isn’t that as sure a sign as anything of how badly Eddie needs to get laid, that his son’s new imaginary friend sounds really hot. Jesus Christ, Eddie, he scolds himself, get a fucking grip and get on Grindr.
He tunes back in just in time to hear Christopher say, “He says that his friends call him Duck, and he said he’d be my friend when I asked him, so I can call him Duck!”
Christopher continues to talk about his new friend Firefighter Duck and the fun they had at the fire station today, telling Eddie about how he got to sit in the fire engine and wear a big headset, and Eddie half listens as his mind drifts back to dating.
He knows that he doesn’t need to rush into meeting someone, that it would honestly be better at this point in the chaos that is his life if he waited a while. He and Christopher just moved to LA a month ago, and Eddie didn’t even unpack the last of their boxes until this past weekend. And he hasn’t even started working yet. His life is only going to get more hectic. Where will a relationship fit in there?
Plus, he and Shannon have only been officially divorced for a couple of weeks, and he’s still getting used to being single. He should sit with that for a while. It’s the first time he’s been completely unattached since he and Shan started dating when they were 15 years old.
And on top of all that, he’s still getting comfortable with being openly gay. It’s only within the last six months that he’s been able to admit it to himself, and only about two months since he came out to his Abuela, Tia Pepa, Shannon, and Chris. They’ve all taken it well, they’re happy for him, which has bolstered his confidence about putting himself out there and trying to meet someone, but so far, his attraction to men has been completely theoretical, not something he’s gotten to put into practice. He wouldn’t mind testing out kissing with a hot, buff firefighter, even if he’s imaginary, best friends with Eddie’s seven year old son, and apparently named Duck.
***
About a week after that last school visit, Bobby calls Buck into his office. Bobby’s getting older and has started talking about when he retires. He’s begun getting various members of the team comfortable with taking over some of the not strictly captaincy related aspects of his role. The two components that he’s discussed with Buck are cooking more meals for the team and taking on a bigger role in station tours and safety talks, with the goal being for Buck to take them over completely within the next couple of years.
So, with that in mind, Buck assumes that Bobby wants to talk to him about one of those two things. That doesn’t end up being the case. It turns out that they’re bringing in a new probationary firefighter, Edmundo Diaz, and Bobby wants to partner him up with Buck.
Now, there would have been a time in the past when Buck would have been jealous of a new probie joining the station. Honestly, there had been a time when this was the case, when Buck was young and lacking in self-confidence, fairly new to the team himself, and unsure of his place in the 118 family.
Ravi had been paired with Buck, and he’d made the poor guy’s life a living hell, up until Bobby had pulled Buck into his office and explained that he’d chosen Buck specifically because he was kind and patient, friendly and welcoming, and always did things right, if a little exuberantly, and was a real asset to the team, someone that he would want new firefighters to learn from. Now Buck wears his role as the probie whisperer as a badge of honour.
“When does he start, Cap?” Buck asks excitedly. It’s been a while since they got their last probie, and Buck’s ready for the challenge of guiding them through their first months on the job.
“Still a couple weeks from now,” Bobby replies, shuffling some papers on his desk. “He still has a few things to get in order, and some paperwork that he needs to sign, but I just wanted to give you some advance notice, so you have time to get your peptalks ready. I have a really good feeling about him, though. I think you two are going to be good for each other.”
Buck has no clue what Cap means by that last bit, but he grins anyway. Bobby knows how much Buck loves to give a good peptalk. “Aye aye, captain. I promise I’ll take real good care of him.”
Bobby smiles, standing and walking out from behind his desk, towards his office door. “I didn’t doubt it for a second. Now, how about you and I go bake some cookies? I’ve been meaning to show you how to make my famous snickerdoodles.”
Buck follows quickly behind him. He’s been begging Bobby to show him exactly how to make them for years now, so this is a true honour. He carries the buoyant, happy feeling in his heart with him for the rest of the day, even as they respond to two back to back massive apartment fires and he ends his shift almost too tired to stand.
***
For the past two weeks, all that Christopher has wanted to talk about is Firefighter Duck. Putting together puzzles would be more fun if Firefighter Duck was there, as would their trip to the beach, playing in the park, even their morning stretching routine.
Does Eddie think that Firefighter Duck would prefer grape juice or orange juice? Oatmeal cookies or chocolate chips? Pancakes or waffles? Cheerios or Rice Krispies? Would he want to go to the zoo with them?
Eddie has to laugh at the dual images of Firefighter Duck in his mind, the one that comes with the name, a literal duck wearing turnouts and a helmet, and the one that his brain conjures up using the description that Chris gave the day he “met” Duck, of a tall, buff firefighter, with curly hair. Eddie’s mind fills in the missing spots in the image with hair the colour of teddy bear fur, long legs, plush pink lips, and a strong nose. He’s pretty sure that sometimes he wishes just as hard as Chris does that Duck were real.
It’s gotten to the point where Firefighter Duck comes up so much that even Shannon and Tia Pepa ask Eddie about it, but he has no clue what to say. They all know that Chris has an overactive imagination, and it’s so far harmless, so they decide to just let it go for now.
The only part of it that strikes Eddie as strange is that Christopher never talks about Firefighter Duck as if he’s there with them, never interacting with his imaginary friend directly. It’s all about hypothetical future situations where Chris gets to hang out with him, but kid’s minds are mysterious places, so Eddie doesn’t think too hard about it.
Eventually, though, Chris starts asking Eddie if they can call Firefighter Duck, telling him that Duck said that if at all possible, it should be an adult who gets in contact with him and the other firefighters. At first, Eddie tries telling Chris that they shouldn’t bother Firefighter Duck while he’s working, but Chris keeps insisting, so Eddie plays along, grabbing his cellphone and asking Chris what Firefighter Duck’s phone number is.
“His phone number is 911,” Chris replies, confidently, and waits for Eddie to dial.
Eddie pretends to punch in the numbers, then greets the silence on the other end of the line with a request to please speak with Firefighter Duck. He thinks he’s doing a pretty good job of pretending, but clearly, there’s no fooling Chris, who tries to insist that Eddie actually call 911.
“Christopher, we can’t actually call 911, that’s only for emergencies, so it’s a crime to call when you’re not really in trouble. I know that it’s been fun to talk about Firefighter Buck, and that he’s been a great friend to you, but we can’t actually call him, I’m sorry.” Eddie tries for a firm but kind tone, but Chris isn’t having it.
Immediately, there are tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “But Dad, he told me that if we called 911, they would call him and the other firefighters and they would come to us. He wouldn’t lie to me, would he? You said when you care about someone, you don’t lie to them. Do you think Duck doesn’t care about me?”
This is breaking Eddie’s heart, but he can’t give in. “No, of course not, Mijo. I’m sure Duck cares about you a lot, but he’s imaginary, and calling 911 is a very real thing. We can’t mix those up.”
Christopher crosses his arms over his chest, sticking his lower lip out in a frankly adorable little pout. “Firefighter Duck is not imaginary, dad. He’s real, I met him at the firehouse, and I want to call and talk to him!”
That’s not going to happen, so Eddie gives him some time to himself to cool down and then offers to take him for ice cream instead, promising that they’ll try to find another way to contact Duck. That pacifies his son for the time being, and they have a nice time at the ice cream parlour, Chris making an absolute mess of his face with his bubble gum flavoured ice cream.
Chris doesn’t mention calling Duck again over the coming day, so Eddie thinks he’s thankfully forgotten about it, until he’s in the kitchen on a Saturday morning, making eggs and toast for breakfast. Christopher’s in his bedroom, playing, and Eddie can hear snatches of conversation that he’s having with himself, probably talking to Firefighter Duck. It’s a nice, peaceful morning, until Eddie hears a knock on the front door.
He has no clue who it can be, it’s barely even 8am, and they don’t even really know anyone around here yet. Thinking that maybe it’s an over eager Jehovah’s Witness or a neighbour kid who kicked a ball into the yard, he turns the pan for the eggs off and goes to answer it.
The last person he expects to see when he opens the door is a police officer.
Once Eddie gets over his speechlessness, he greets her. “Uh, hello, officer, how can I help you?”
She introduces herself as Sergeant Athena Grant, and tells him that she’s come to check in, as they’ve received multiple calls from a phone number tied to his address, all from a child looking to speak with a Firefighter Duck.
To say that Eddie is mortified would be the understatement of the century. He’s sure Sergeant Grant can feel the heat radiating off his bright red cheeks from the other side of the doorframe. “I am so sorry, Sergeant, it was my son Christopher. He’s seven, and his class went to visit a fire station a couple of weeks ago for a fire safety talk and tour, and he came back with a new imaginary friend, he calls him Firefighter Duck, he’s obsessed with him and is convinced that Firefighter Duck told him that if he calls 911, he can talk to him.”
He opens the door further and waves the Sergeant inside. Removing her sunglasses, she fixes him with a terrifying look. “Does Christopher know it’s a crime to call 911 when it’s not an emergency?”
Eddie nods. “I tried to tell him no, but he must have taken my cellphone while I was making breakfast.”
Thankfully, Sergeant Grant laughs softly at that. “I’ve got two of my own, they’re older now, but when they were his age, and they’d get something like that in their head, it could be hard to talk them out of it. Can you bring Christopher out here so he and I can talk?”
Eddie goes to Christopher’s room, and after a short discussion between the two of them, during which Chris returns Eddie’s cellphone and admits that he knows what he did was wrong, he returns to the living room, Christopher in tow.
Eddie brings Sergeant Grant a cup of coffee from the pot that he’d started before this whole mess began and then continues cooking breakfast while she talks to Chris. Christopher is properly chastened by the time the Sergeant stands up to leave, apologizing profusely like the polite little boy that he is.
He sees Sergeant Grant to the door, and as she’s about to leave, she turns and asks, “What firehouse was it that Christopher went to visit?”
It’s only then that Eddie realizes he has no clue. He tells her as much.
“No problem,” she replies. “I was just wondering. My husband is the captain at one of the stations, the 118. They give a lot of school tours. I thought maybe that could have been the one.”
Eddie freezes momentarily. Oh god, no, what the fuck are the chances? The 118 is the station that Eddie just last week decided to accept a job at. He’d been going back and forth between the 118 and station 6, but had spoken with Captain Nash himself, and liked the sound of their family like atmosphere and dedication to giving probationary officers a great experience. Eddie could use a bit more family in his life, and Captain Nash had been so warm and friendly on the phone, it had ultimately tipped the scales in their favour, and he’d decided to go with them. He was actually due to go into the station on Monday afternoon to fill out some paperwork.
He decides not to tell Sergeant Grant any of this. What if she told her husband and he let Eddie go before he even started because Eddie apparently can’t control his kid or get him to respect basic rules like not calling 911 in a non-emergency? Could he do that?
Instead, he just waves at her as she walks away, returning to her car.
He decides that the conversation with Sergeant Grant was punishment enough for Christopher, so after he elicits another promise not to make any more unwarranted calls to 911, Eddie serves them both breakfast and they move on with their day.
***
Ever since Bobby mysteriously said that he thinks Buck and the new probie will be good for each other the other day, Buck hasn’t been able to stop thinking about what he might have meant. In an effort to be less nosy, he hasn’t pried, but it has left Buck excited to meet this Eddie.
Bobby told him that Eddie would be coming in Monday to sign paperwork, so that morning, Buck puts extra care into his appearance, shaving and taking the time to make sure that his curls sit just right, even if there’s a good chance that his hair will get smushed by his helmet before he even gets to see the guy. It’s a q-word morning at the station, so Buck takes advantage of his newfound knowledge of how to make Bobby’s snickerdoodles and makes a batch to welcome Eddie with.
Just before Eddie’s set to arrive, Bobby comes out of his office and tells Buck that Eddie will be bringing his seven year old son with him, due to a family emergency, and asks that Buck show the kid around while he and Eddie meet in his office.
“No problem, Cap,” Buck smiles as he plates the cookies.
Moments later, Chimney comes up to the loft and says that the new probie is here to see him. Buck walks to the edge of the loft and peers down into the bay below, getting a glimpse of possibly the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen, a little boy by his side, who appears to be, if Buck’s eyesight is as good as he thinks it is, that adorable kid Christopher that was at the station a couple of weeks ago for a tour. No fucking way. What are the chances?
***
Eddie hates that the first impression his coworkers are going to have of him is that he’s a guy who can’t even get his life together enough to have someone to watch his son while he fills out official paperwork for his new job, but his Tia and Shannon are both working, and yesterday, his Abuela fell and broke her hip, so he really doesn’t have any other choice than to bring Christopher.
At least Captain Nash is nice about it when Eddie calls and asks if he’s ok to bring him, telling him that it’s not a problem, he can even have one of the firefighters show Christopher around while they meet. While Eddie believes Christopher’s had enough of fire station tours for the time being, he just thanks Captain Nash and otherwise keeps his mouth shut.
Now, a man named Chimney has gone to get Captain Nash, and Eddie and Christopher stand waiting in the truck bay. It’s mostly silent down here, so it’s especially noticeable when Christopher practically screams “Firefighter Duck! It’s you!”
Eddie’s eyes snap up from their place on the floor to find a man walking down the stairs from a lofted area above, and Jesus Christ, he’s real, Firefighter Duck is a real person. Christopher didn’t make him up at all, and he wasn’t exaggerating when he said that man was tall and muscular. Eddie goes a little weak in the knees and his heartrate picks up just at the sight of him.
Well, if it isn’t my new friend Christopher!” the man, Duck, apparently, calls back as he approaches them. Stopping right in front of Chris, he kneels down, so he’s not towering over him so outrageously. “What are you doing here?”
“My dad is going to work here!” Chris grins. “He says that he has to sign papers, and I was going to stay with my Abuela, but she broke her hip and she’s in the hospital, and my Tia and my mom are working, so I had to come with him, because my dad likes boys now, but he doesn’t have a boyfriend who can watch me yet, and we’re new in town and don’t know anyone else. He told me if I’m quiet and well behaved, someone will show me around here, but I was already here and know what it’s like, so can I just hang out with you instead, Duck?”
Eddie’s face is on fire, he knows it, can feel the heat radiating off his own cheeks. He’s going to have to have a talk with Chris about sharing information with strangers, because now, the hottest man on earth knows far too much about Eddie for his comfort. He’s a professional at a new job, though, so when Duck stands, Eddie just gives him a sheepish smile and introduces himself.
“Nice to meet you, Eddie,” the man grins, his eyes sparkling with mirth as he takes Eddie’s hand and shakes it. Eddie feels a tingle up his spine and butterflies taking flight in his stomach as their palms meet. “I’m your new partner, Evan Buckley, but everyone around here just calls me Buck. Or Duck, if they’d prefer,” he adds with a wink.
And oh, his name is Buck, as in short for Buckley. That makes a lot more sense than Duck, honestly. He laughs, retuning Buck’s grin. “Nice to meet you too, Firefighter Buck.”
With that, Bobby joins them and whisks Eddie off to his office, and Buck takes Chris up to the loft, promising cookies.
***
One night, in the not too distant future, over beers on Eddie’s couch, Buck, in a burst of bravery, will kiss Eddie, and Eddie will kiss him back. They’ll spend the rest of the night exploring each other, whispering words of praise and affection into each other’s lips.
Their friends and family will tease them about how sickingly in love with each other they are, but the ribbing will roll like water off a duck’s back, because it’s true, they are sickingly in love with each other, and they’re not afraid to show the world.
Buck will move in with Eddie, and their little family of three will turn Eddie’s house into a cozy place that they can call home, full of laughter and love, Chris’s toys and homework scattered around the living room, containers in the kitchen always full of Buck’s baking.
They’ll host BBQs and holiday get togethers, family dinners, and birthday parties for their son. They won’t be able to remember a time that they weren’t the most important people in each other’s lives, partners in every sense of the word.
At their wedding, Bobby and Athena will tell the story of Firefighter Duck and his friend Christopher, and everyone will laugh, even though they’ve heard it a million times before, because they’ll never get sick of hearing about such a large part of what brought the two of them together.
But neither of them know that yet, in the wake of their very first meeting. For now, they’re both just happy with the sense that they’ve met someone who will always have their back.