Work Text:
It’s not easy coming up with ways to tell your best friend of eight years that you’re in love with him.
Buck was still in the planning phase, in fact, when he and Eddie got stuck in a house fire.
Well, stuck is a loose term, because Buck was actually stuck—his ankle pinned by a fallen beam that was too heavy for Eddie to lift alone—and Eddie refused to leave his side. His slight dizziness from getting clipped by the same beam probably didn’t help.
Now, did Buck want Eddie to get amnesia? No. But, just a little spell of amnesia wouldn’t have hurt him. Just enough memory loss to make him forget how Buck had desperately grabbed his hand and said, ‘I’m in love with you, now get the fuck out of here.’
Eddie, naturally, hadn’t gotten the fuck out of there. Instead, Eddie grabbed Buck’s dirty, sweaty face and kissed him. He whispered, ‘I love you too, so I’m staying,’ after he pulled away—their faces still inches apart.
The team came to save them a couple moments later, Harry, Ravi, and Eddie lifting the beam while Chim and Hen pulled Buck out.
Is Buck glad that he lived? Yes. Does he regret telling Eddie that he’s in love with him? No, not exactly. He just wishes that he had gotten the courage under different circumstances. Not by thinking he was about to die. Not when he and Eddie would be laid up in the hospital for a day and half with a sprained ankle and concussion, respectfully, and a couple bruised ribs between them.
It hasn’t diminished their growing relationship in any way—Eddie’s already called Buck his boyfriend at least a dozen times, they make out on the couch while Chris is at school and Theo is napping. They haven’t quite made it to sex yet, because one of them usually ends up gasping in pain, and not in a fun way.
So, for all intents and purposes, Buck and Eddie are in love and in a relationship. But Buck still feels like there’s something missing.
A romantic love confession. After all they’ve been through, all the years and repressed emotions and feelings, it’s the least they deserve. They should’ve gotten a nice dinner date, flowers, candles, some sort of romance.
Just because Buck wasn’t able to plan a proper first love confession, doesn’t mean he isn’t able to plan a second. Unfortunately for Buck, he and Eddie are too injured to travel very far. Buck still has a brace on his right foot, and Eddie’s not allowed to drive until his concussion is cleared.
The fact that Chris and Eddie had already moved in months before they got injured, was certainly a blessing, now it just makes it a little bit harder for Buck to plan anything without Eddie noticing.
So Buck has to settle for an early lunch on the back porch, hastily put together while Eddie’s still napping with Theo. Buck had purposely kept Eddie up late last night just to increase the chances of him falling asleep while putting Theo down for his midday nap.
He wasn’t sure how long he would have to cook, so Buck just made a simple pasta dish. They can have some of Theo’s frozen yogurt sticks for dessert. It’s not the most romantic set up ever, with the candles Buck’s lit at least three times but keep getting put out by the wind, and the flowers he may have borrowed from the neighbors lawn.
But it's the best Buck could pull together on short notice. He could have waited until they were both healed, but life tends to be hectic for them, and unfortunately for Buck, he’s very impatient.
Buck’s just about to get up and head inside so he can shake Eddie awake—which will probably put him in a pissy mood, but he’ll have to deal—when the back door slides open.
Eddie steps out, his eyes squinting against the sun and his hair a complete mess. One of his sweatpant legs is pushed halfway up his leg.
Buck grins just at the sight of him, chest getting tight. There’s just something about Eddie looking so…domestic that makes his heart race. He crosses the patio and presses a quick kiss to Eddie’s cheek before enveloping him in a hug.
Eddie’s arms link around his back, and he yawns into Buck’s neck. “What’s this?”
Buck takes a step back, and looks at the table. One of the candles has fallen over, unlit, thankfully, the flowers are tilting dangerously from the mug Buck shoved them in, and bugs are already beginning to gather around the lidded pot of pasta. “Lunch.”
“Lunch?” Eddie says, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Seems fancier than our usual lunches.”
Their lunches, all their meals, really, are much simpler. Typically ending in a thousand dishes in the sink, a mess across the kitchen and the table, and two kids lying their butts on the couch while Buck and Eddie clean up.
“I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Eddie, and I—”
“Why’re you quoting Little Women at me right now?” Eddie interrupts.
Buck huffs. He didn’t exactly plan out what he was going to say, but he had a loose idea, and it certainly wasn’t Little Women. “I— I’m not quoting Little Women.”
“Yes, you are,” Eddie insists.
“No, I’m not! I’m telling you I’m in love with you!”
“Yeah, by quoting Little Women!” Eddie exclaims. “Jo and Laurie in the field? ‘I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo, and I waited and I never complained.’ That’s Little Women, dude.”
“I— Fuck,” Buck mutters. “That is Little Women. ‘’Cause I figured you’d love me, Jo.’ Shit. Well, we just watched it, I had it on my mind!”
They watched it just last night. Buck should’ve planned a better speech so he wouldn’t end up stealing from Little Women. He hates plagiarism.
"Clearly!"
"Sorry!" Buck yells sarcastically with no real anger behind it, "I'm so sorry, Eddie, that I wanted a romantic love confession but I was just copying Little Women. Sorry! Let me try again."
Eddie crosses his arms. “Go ahead.”
Buck puts his hands on his hips as he thinks. He stares down at the ground, then huffs and looks up to the sky. Eddie watches him with a skeptical look on his face. “Okay.” Buck claps his hands together and straightens his posture. “Got it. I love, I love, I love you.”
Eddie’s mouth drops half open. “Are you joking?”
“No, I love you!”
“You just did Pride and Prejudice!”
“No!” Buck cries desperately. He didn’t, did he? They watched that two days ago, so he shouldn’t still have that on his mind. The one time Buck’s memory actually serves him right and lets him remember things that happened more than twelve hours ago.
“Yes! ‘You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you.’”
Buck runs an exacerbated hand over his face. “Why do you know every love confession ever?”
“Two!” Eddie shouts. “I know two very popular love confessions, and clearly you also know them!”
“They’re good movies!”
Eddie smiles. “Great movies.”
Buck’s face drops and he sends an incredulous look Eddie’s way. Now is not the time for smiles and laughter and jokes. Buck has officially ruined a second love confession. “Are you laughing at me?”
"No," Eddie laughs.
"Stop laughing at me, Eddie,” Buck whines, “it's not funny!"
"It's a little funny."
Buck pouts. He just wanted one love confession to go right. Just one. Is it really that hard?
Buck turns and goes to sit at the table, plopping down with a sad little noise.
“Aw, baby,” Eddie coos softly. He follows him across the patio and sits on his lap. Buck’s hands automatically settle on his upper thighs. “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to give you a love confession.”
Eddie’s mouth twitches, but he doesn’t smile. Fully, at least. “We had one of those already, remember?”
“A romantic love confession. It was supposed to be nice, not in some burning building. You deserved a nice love confession.”
Eddie presses a soft kiss to Buck’s birthmark, thumb rubbing back and forth across his cheek. “So give me one. Just because you aren’t running through the airport, or in the rain, doesn’t make it worth any less.”
“The airport,” Buck says, amazed, but not exactly surprised, that he didn’t think of that. “Do you think—”
“Buck.”
Buck shakes his head. He shouldn’t drive all the way to the airport just to send Eddie inside then chase after him five minutes later. TSA would probably take issue with that, along with the fact that neither of them would have a flight, and the abandoned car certainly wouldn’t help their case.
He squeezes his eyes shut “Romantic love confession, got it… One romantic love confession coming right up.”
“Don’t overthink it.”
“Ugh,” Buck groans. “That’s impossible.”
“You could start by opening your eyes.”
Buck opens his eyes, just to find Eddie watching him intently. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Stare. You look too expectant. How am I supposed to work under these pressures?”
“Buck,” Eddie says warningly.
“Right, yes. Okay. Eddie, I love you. I love your hair, I love the way you dress, I love your face. I love your ass.” Eddie smacks him lightly in the side of the head. Buck laughs. “I love when you hit me. I love how much you care about your job, about other people. I love your son, I love—I loved your house, but I love our house more. I just— I love you. More than anything.”
“But not Chris and Theo,” Eddie finishes.
“Exactly.” Buck nods. “I love you more than anything, except for our kids, who I actually love more than anything.”
Eddie beams, eyes slightly wet with tears. He leans down to kiss him, then presses a couple more across his lower face and jaw. “That was a good love confession, bud. Romantic and nice. Thank you. Was it up to your standards?”
"Mm," Buck huffs. He would still like some more pizzazz. Fireworks, a mariachi band, a thousand candles and roses.
"Besides," Eddie says, hand reaching up to brush through Buck's hair. "Third time's the charm."