#brasscacti

When Buck starts to pull away, Eddie makes a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat, freeing a hand to grab at the front of Buck’s shirt. 

“Hey— where are you going?” It’s only as Eddie asks the question that he realizes Buck is freshly showered and already dressed for the day. “Why are you dressed? I thought you were off today.” 

Buck looks down at himself, patting his hands over his chest like he forgot what he was wearing. When he looks up at Eddie, there’s an odd expression on his face, almost contrite. He scrubs a hand over his face and then it’s gone. Eddie blinks, trying to decipher what just happened. 

“I uh— I have to go grocery shopping.” Buck rubs at the back of his neck, avoiding Eddie’s gaze. 

Glancing at the clock on his bedside, Eddie scrunches his brows in confusion. “You have to go grocery shopping at 8am on a Tuesday?” 

“Yeah, I forgot to go after work and there’s nothing to eat in the fridge.” 

Eddie frowns, disappointed. He had been looking forward to having Buck all to himself this morning. There had even been the hope that he would be able to coax Buck into staying with him in bed. 

A pained expression crosses over Buck’s face as a begging tone creeps into his voice,  “Babe, please don’t pout.” 

Eddie huffs. He is not pouting, he’s not…he is, but that’s beside the point. He is injured and laid up in bed and his boyfriend who he has barely gotten the chance to see between his shifts is abandoning him for the grocery store. 

“I’ll be quick, I promise. Just the essentials!” 

Snorting, Eddie tries to hide his response in his mug of coffee as he takes a sip. All the years that Eddie has known Buck, he has never known him to be quick in the grocery store. 

“Buck, you don’t need to go grocery shopping right now, come back to bed— you look tired,” Eddie tries to reason with his boyfriend, a pang of concern lancing through his chest when he notices truly how exhausted Buck looks. 

There’s a tired slump to his shoulders and dark purple bruises stamped under each eye. Now that Eddie’s mind isn’t so clouded with the combination of pain and fatigue from his injury and pain medication, he can see that Buck has been running himself ragged. 

Sighing, Buck looks like he wants to argue, but he sinks down to sit on the edge of the mattress. His weight makes the mattress dip and gravity pulls Eddie towards him. 

“I didn’t make Chris any lunch,” Buck whispers to the floor, eyes trained on his feet and face grim like he’s admitting to a great sin.  

“What?” Eddie asks, confused. 

“We didn’t have any food in the fridge because I forgot to go shopping, so I couldn’t pack him lunch.” Buck still won’t look at Eddie. 

Eddie can’t figure out why Buck looks so guilt stricken over this. “Did you give him money for the school lunch?”

“Of course I did!” Buck sounds offended that Eddie would even suggest he didn’t.  

With a wince and a grunt, Eddie manages to stretch out enough to place his mug on the nightstand before he reaches out for Buck. “Baby, I don’t understand what the big deal is. You made sure Chris has food, that’s good.” 

“Yeah but— you always pack him a lunch. He was upset he didn’t have it today.” Buck twists his hands together. 

“Buck, one school lunch will not kill him, he’ll survive.” 

Biting his lip, Buck finally looks up at Eddie. “I know, but I still feel bad.” 

As much as Eddie can with his limited mobility, he pulls Buck in close to plant a kiss against the soft baby hairs at his temple. “I know you do, baby. But grocery shopping can wait.” 

Still chewing on his lip, Buck seems to have an internal battle with himself before he stands up from the bed. For a moment, Eddie feels hurt that Buck is still going to leave despite Eddie asking him to stay, but Buck just stands long enough to shimmy out of his jeans before he’s making his way around the bed to his side. 

Eddie lifts up the blankets and Buck easily slots himself into the space, one arm looping around Eddie’s waist as he shoves his face into his pillow. Eddie smiles, content to pet through Buck’s curls with the arm that doesn’t tug on his still healing ribs. A few moments pass in comfortable silence and Eddie is toying with the idea of trying to get some more sleep as well when next to him Buck sighs a big mournful sound.   

“Do you think Chris will stay mad at me?” Buck asks, looking up at Eddie with his big sad eyes. 

“...You might want to get those popsicles he likes when you go grocery shopping, later,” Eddie suggests, emphasizing that Buck should not immediately go fulfill the task. To get his point across he possessively curls a fist in Buck’s shirt to keep him from leaping out of bed like Eddie knows he wants to do. 

Christopher really has no idea how tightly he has Buck wound around his finger. It’s something that Eddie thinks maybe should be kept under wraps, or there’s going to be a lot of popsicles in their future. 

“Fine, I’ll go later,” Buck retorts, words already soft around the corners with sleep as he sags further against his pillow. Eddie thinks he’s fallen asleep, but Buck pipes up again, “Don’t forget your coffee— gonna get cold.” 

Eddie laughs, nothing more than a soft huff of air as he waits for what Buck has to say next. But the only thing that leaves his lips is a soft snore.