#buddiemas

“So, what is it you’re baking right now?” Eddie finds himself asking while Buck moves around his kitchen without a thought. If you had told Eddie a year ago that Buck would feel absolutely at home in Eddie’s kitchen, he would’ve tilted his head at you in thought, not quite wanting to believe it, but hopeful nonetheless that it was a true statement. And now that he and Buck had been dating for almost a year, something that surprised Eddie way more than he wanted to admit, watching Buck inside of his home - inside of their home, if Eddie was being honest, gave Eddie goosebumps that he would never ignore. Seeing Buck’s confidence, his real confidence, not what he put on for everyone else in their lives, it made warmth surge through him.

Seeing Buck in his kitchen though? That brought on a whole new ball game, Eddie thought with a small smile as Buck continued to move around in his kitchen, grabbing ingredients Eddie didn’t even know he had, and figured Buck had bought at one point when Eddie wasn’t completely paying attention.

“They’re called Caramel Chip Squares,” Buck says after a few minutes, voice soft, and Eddie looks up to his boyfriend with a soft hum as Buck begins combining ingredients into a large bowl before stirring them together a whisk, his sleeves rolled up in a way that has his muscles bulging and Eddie secretly drooling over them, something Buck can clearly see him doing by the smirk on his face after a few minutes.

“You know I’m not going to stop,” Eddie says after a few minutes, smiling when Buck lets out a chuckle as he continues to stir before the oven timer lets out a beeping noise to let them know it’s done.

“Can you get that for me?” Buck asks and Eddie stands up from the stool he’s been sitting on for the past little while, taking the oven mitts that are hanging from the side before opening the oven, completely salivating at the smell coming from inside. All day Buck has been cooking and baking, testing out the different recipes he had stocked from an old time ‘family’ cookbook, a cookbook that had actually come from one of his more favorite nannies growing up, giving samples to Eddie to test and try and make sure everything tasted alright.

Eddie didn’t mind, especially when everything came out absolutely delicious, but he was starting to get full, even as the food he was currently removing made its way through his nostrils, the scent too indescribable for Eddie to even think about.

“Remind me why you’re cooking and baking everything now,” Eddie finds himself asking Buck with a small smirk, placing the current dish on the counter before he sits back down on one of the stools, his eyebrow arching when Buck turns to look at him with a small scowl. Eddie does his best to not chuckle at his boyfriend’s look, and knows Buck has explained it to him more than once, but Eddie absolutely enjoys seeing how passionate Buck is when it comes to food.

“Because I haven’t cooked or baked these dishes since I was growing up, and I want to make sure everything is up to par,” Buck replies after a few minutes, arching his eyebrow when Eddie only hums in response. When Eddie had found out that Buck used to cook and bake when he was younger, he had been pleasantly surprised, though confused, because Bobby had been given him lessons on cooking for more than a few months now and Buck -- Buck had blushed when Eddie had brought it up, something that Eddie couldn’t help but find endearing and a little confusing.

With more prodding, Buck had admitted that he hadn’t cooked or baked in years, and while he knew a lot of the basics, he had forgotten even more, and had asked Bobby for help, acting like he sucked at cooking in general. Bobby had agreed and Buck had gotten a refresher course - though eventually, Buck had stopped asking Bobby for help, feeling a little guilty that he hadn’t been completely truthful with Bobby about why he needed lessons.

Eddie had found that adorable, had told Buck so with a fond roll of his eyes, and remembered how he had shown Buck just how adorable he found it. But it was still something Buck didn’t like talking about, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

“Babe, we both know everything is actually going to be good,” Eddie says after a few minutes, leaning forward on the counter so that Buck could get a good look at him, waiting until Buck looks into his eyes and bites his lip before nodding.

“Why are you really nervous about this?” Eddie asks, because he knows that Buck wouldn’t be cooking and baking like this ahead of time unless he was truly nervous, knows that Buck doesn’t like wasting food, doesn’t like - well, a lot of things. Buck sets everything down before taking a deep breath.

“I guess, I’m nervous because none of the team actually know what I’m capable of,” Buck whispers and Eddie can feel something inside of him drop at the low cadence to his boyfriend’s voice, moving off of the stool quickly before heading towards Buck, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and just holding him for a few minutes, one of his hands ending up in Buck’s hair, running his fingers through it to try and comfort his boyfriend.

“Hey, no matter what, the team will always love you, you know that right?” Eddie whispers, waiting for Buck to nod against his chest, something in him relaxing when Buck eventually does before Eddie pulls away a little bit.

“It’s okay to be nervous. You’re going to be sharing a part of yourself that you’ve only really shared with Maddie, Chris and me. You have no idea how the team is going to respond to that, even though the dinner is still a couple of weeks away,” Eddie teases lightly, fingers running along Buck’s jawline before he smiles lightly.

“But no matter what, they’re going to love the food, and love you, and be proud of you,” Eddie adds, ignoring the hum Buck responds with, doing his best not to focus on the way Buck mouths at his neck, heat coursing through him as he pulls away completely.

“Let’s finish baking, and then we can continue that plan,” Eddie teases, heading towards the bowl with the caramel chip cake before turning towards Buck.

The next morning, Buck found a green bag with red tissue paper.  Inside, he found a box of hot chocolate mix and a cheap Christmas movie Buck was sure he had seen in one of those five dollar bins at the store.  Just like the day before, Buck also found another note.  “Nothing beats Eddie’s abuela’s hot chocolate, but this will do.  From, your Secret Santa.”

The third gift was another gift card, this one to one of Buck’s favorite restaurants.  And just like the other two gifts, there was also a note attached to the gift card.  “You do so much for everyone else.  Do something for you.  From, your Secret Santa.”

Each day, Buck found another meaningful gift, each accompanied by a note signed by his secret santa.  They were all sweet gifts, and Buck was beginning to think he knew who his secret santa was, but that all changed one night.

That night, Christopher had the cheap movie on while Buck was making some hot chocolate from the mix he had gotten from his secret santa.  On the counter sat the pizza gift card they had used for dinner that night.  

“Whoa!” Eddie said as he entered the kitchen and saw Buck using the store bought hot chocolate mix.  “Why aren’t you using the recipe that Abuela taught you?  There’s nothing that even comes close to it!”

Buck laughed.  “My secret santa bought this,” Buck explained.  “Might as well use it.  It’s at least the best of the store bought stuff.  You do know that before you, I used this stuff all the time, and the cheap stuff with the mini marshmallows already in the packet.”

Eddie clapped a hand onto his chest as he teased Buck.  “Man, you’re killing me here.”  He looked down at the counter and saw the used gift card.  “Was dinner on your secret santa, too?”

“Yep.  Not sure how they knew that was the pizza place we use the most often, but I’m not complaining.”

“They probably just googled pizza places near our address,” Eddie guessed.  “The movie was courtesy of my secret santa too.  There’s been a note with each gift too, but all of them have been typed.  Whoever it is, is seriously overestimating my ability to recognize someone’s handwriting.”

Eddie laughed.  “Well, I can’t complain if we keep having nights like this.  I’m pretty sure my secret santa is Bobby.  I keep getting grocery store gift cards and recipes.”

Buck laughed loudly.  “Sounds like him.”

Finally, it was Christmas Eve.  It was the night of the station party and the secret santa reveal.  

“Okay, Everyone,” Bobby began as soon as everyone was finished eating.  “I guess the best way to do this would be to start with whoever has the oldest member of the team and work our way down.  Oldest to youngest.”

Buck groaned.  “Aw, come on, Cap.  I’m last?”

Athena smirked knowingly.  “Maybe we’re just saving the best for last.”

Buck leaned back in his chair, knowing better than to argue with Athena.  

Everyone watched as Chimney stood and gave Bobby a cookbook by his favorite TV chef and a ticket to see him cook live.  Eddie had gotten tickets to one of those wine and dine cooking classes from Bobby.  Hen got a gift card for her and Karen to have a date night as well as an offer to keep Denny for the night from Buck.  Chimney got a six pack of beer and a visa gift card from Hen.

Buck looked over in shock at Eddie once everyone else’s gifts had been given out.  “You’re my secret santa?  But how?  We ride together!”  

Eddie blushed.  “I may have hidden all your gifts in my gym bag and conned Hen and Athena into helping me get them into your locker.”

“I thought it was you at first,” Buck admitted, “but then you freaked out on the hot chocolate.”

“I had to.  I knew you were figuring it out.  That’s also why I typed all of the notes.”

“Because I do know your handwriting.”

Eddie smiled.  “Yep.”

“So what’s my present?” Buck asked, smiling back.

Eddie produced a small box wrapped in candy cane striped paper.  Buck carefully pulled away the paper to find a box with a note taped on top.

“Buck,” the note read, this time handwritten.  “When Hen suggested to do secret santa, I had the perfect idea.  I talked to Athena who rigged it so that I got you.  The past year and a half with you as not only my best friend, but also my boyfriend and support system, has been the best year and a half of my life.  So, I may have gone way over the budget for this reveal gift, but I think it’s certainly worth the upgrade if you agree.  From, your Secret Santa and hopefully your fiancé.”

As Buck finished reading the note, he gasped, unshed tears forming in his eyes.  Without saying a word, Eddie reached for the box, taking it from Buck, and moving from his chair down onto one knee.  

“Evan Buckley,” Eddie said, voice shaking with nerves.  “Will you marry me?”

Buck smiled down at his boyfriend and nodded.  “Yes,” he whispered.

Eddie quickly slid the ring onto Buck’s finger.  He stood, pulling Buck up with him and pulled Buck into a quick, passionate kiss.  

“I was going to do that on Christmas,” Buck admitted as he pulled away.

Eddie chuckled.  “I know.  I saw the box in your drawer and I may have peeked.  If you look, that is actually the same one.  We’ll match.”

Buck turned to look at his coworkers-turned-family.  “You guys were in on this?”

Without missing a beat, the entire station answered, “Yep.”