#cop!eddie

It wasn’t hard to find which house was Mack’s. Not only was it decorated with an obscene amount of balloons, but the music and voices could be heard from a few houses away.

Buck walked around the side of the house and into the backyard where people were gathered.

Mack’s partner Jim had really gone all out with decor, catering, and a DJ. Buck tried to fly under the radar for a few minutes. He grabbed himself a beer from the hosted bar, making sure to drop a generous cash tip in the glass out of solidarity as a former bartender himself. He sipped the beer while he walked around the perimeter.

He wasn’t scanning the crowd to find Tommy. He was looking for the birthday boy, of course, so he could say hi.

As good luck (or bad luck, depending) would have it, he spotted them both, together. They were in a small group of people, talking and laughing.

Tommy looked good, like he always did. He was wearing a tank top and shorts and, by Buck’s assessment, had put on 10.6 lbs of muscle since the last time he saw him. Rough calculation.

Tommy’s eyes crinkled when he laughed, chatting away, easy and relaxed.

It took Buck a second to register that his name had been called. In fact, he hadn’t noticed at all, except that Tommy started looking around and spotted him. When their eyes met, Buck’s stomach somersaulted with nerves.

Then he noticed the one shouting his name and waving him down was Mack, the birthday boy himself.

Tommy’s laid back posture tightened as Buck came closer, but he kept up his smile, even if it faded a little from his eyes.

“Buck how are you?!” Mack asked exuberantly, throwing himself at Buck to give him a loose limbed hug.

“Sorry, he got a head start on all of us,” Jim said, pulling Mack back and giving Buck a friendly smile.

“It’s my birthday, excuse the fuck outta me for having a mimosa at breakfast.”

“Three,” Jim told Buck in a stage whisper.

“Well you only turn 40 once,” Mack said.

“Didn’t…didn’t you turn 40 last year?” Buck asked, glancing over at Tommy.

Buck distinctly remembered Mack’s birthday last year because he and Tommy had snuck out to a rooftop garden and made out. Buck had humped Tommy’s thigh until he came in his pants. There was undoubtedly security camera footage of it somewhere.

“This would be Mack’s fourth 40th birthday,” Tommy said, glancing at Buck with a hint of a smile.

Buck wondered if Tommy was remembering last year too.

“I don’t know what any of you are talking about,” Mack said, waving his hands. “Excuse me, I need to go make the rounds.”

Jim offered Mack his arm and off they went, leaving Buck and Tommy alone.

“So…” Tommy said, glancing around before he looked at Buck. “How are you, Evan?”

“I’m good,” Buck nodded, busying himself with taking a drink of his beer. “Getting used to the new normal.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said, shifting his weight. “Listen, I’m sorry we haven’t talked, I just didn’t really know how to reach out after the funeral and-”

“It’s okay,” Buck said, cutting him off. “There was a lot going on. Don’t worry about it.”

Tommy nodded, reading Buck well enough to know he didn’t want to talk about it.

“So how’s everything else? You still bunking at Eddie’s?”

Buck winced inwardly. Eddie was a touchy subject between them, not that he needed to be. “No, actually,” Buck said, watching Tommy closely. “He and Chris are back from Texas and I’ve got my own place now.”

“Ah,” Tommy said, shoving his hands into his pockets. Buck tried not to notice the size of his biceps but he was only human. Tommy caught him looking and grinned a little bit. “So Eddie’s back at the station then?”

“No. He reapplied and he’s waiting to hear, but he said he might be going another direction? He’s been kind of quiet about it but I saw him looking at the L.A.P.D. police academy on his phone a couple months ago.”

“A cop?” Tommy laughed and raised his eyebrows.

“Why not?” Buck said defensively.

“Nothing,” Tommy said, holding up his hands in surrender.

Wise. They did not need to argue about Eddie again.

They stood for a few seconds, neither of them speaking, the music from the DJ pulsing between them. It reminded Buck of the times they’d gone out to clubs together, bodies crushed tightly on the dance floor, sweating and making out.

Buck cleared his throat.

“I uh…I wasn’t sure about coming tonight,” he said, moving a little closer. “I know these are all your friends, n-not mine. But Jim and Mack invited me…”

“It’s alright, Evan,” Tommy said. “I’m glad you’re here. Maybe we can talk for a little bit? It’s quieter inside-”

“L.A.P.D.,” a familiar male voice shouted. The DJ abruptly cut the music.

Buck turned to see a police officer walking out of the house’s french doors and onto the patio. The gait of his walk was familiar, as was the tattoo on his forearm.

“Is that Eddie?” Tommy said from beside him.

The officer whipped off his reflective sunglasses and looked around the backyard.

It was absolutely, 100%, Eddie Diaz.

“We’ve gotten a few noise complaints,” Eddie said, looking around, all business. “Where are the homeowners?”

“Oh my god…” Buck said under his breath.

“This is our house,” Jim said, stepping forward with Mack beside him. “Is there a problem?”

“You,” Eddie said, pointing at Mack sternly. “I’m gonna need you to have a seat.”

Jim brought a chair over quickly and Mack sat down in it with wide eyes.

“Can you tell me what the reason is for all this noise?” Eddie asked.

“It’s…it’s my birthday.”

“Is that so,” Eddie said, leaning forward, narrowing his eyes.

Mack nodded nervously.

Eddie’s face curved into a wicked grin. “That’s good news, because I have a little something for you.”

What the hell was he doing?

Suddenly, the DJ started playing Bad Boys, the theme from the Cops TV show. Buck tensed, sure it was going to piss off Eddie. Instead, Eddie took a step back, then tore his shirt open.

“Happy Birthday, big guy,” Eddie said, then started rolling his hips.

Buck stared, stunned, while Tommy cackled beside him.

“Oh my god, did you know about this?” Tommy asked, doubled over with laughter.

“No, I had no idea…” Buck said, watching while Eddie swung his shirt around over his head and tossed it aside, then pulled out a pair of feathery cuffs and used them to cuff Mack’s wrist to the chair.

Tommy bumped into Buck’s side while he laughed.

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?” Buck frowned.

“Babe, just enjoy it,” Tommy said, not seeming to notice that he called Buck ‘babe’ the way he’d used to. “He’s doing a great job. I didn’t know he could move like that.”

“He uh…he used to be a ballroom dancer,” Buck said, eyebrow raising as Eddie turned around, his ass right up close to Mack, then tore his pants clean off, leaving him in a tiny navy blue…thong?

“Doesn’t look like a waltz to me,” Tommy smirked while Eddie worked his ass all over Mack’s lap.

Buck tilted his head to the side while he watched Eddie do his thing. The crowd was loving it, and Eddie seemed to be having fun. Buck was still a little hurt Eddie hadn’t told him this is what he was doing, but his own amusement about it was starting to win.

“Y’know, a firefighter costume would have been the obvious way to go,” Buck observed.

“Nah, this is perfect,” Tommy grinned.

Buck turned and looked at Tommy, raising his eyebrows with a smirk. “You seem to be enjoying this a bit much.”

“I’m being supportive,” Tommy shrugged, his grin not fading a bit. “It’s what friends do,” he said, then fished his wallet out of his back pocket. “I wonder if I have any singles…”

“Jesus, Tommy,” Buck laughed and pushed him to put his wallet away, leaning into him. They locked eyes and smiled at each other.

As the song came to a close, the backyard erupted into cheers, applause, and whistling. Eddie waved and smiled as he scanned the crowd, then he stopped as his eyes landed on Buck and Tommy. His face paled and he quickly gathered up his clothes, and retreated into the house.

“C’mon,” Tommy said, taking hold of Buck’s hand to weave through everyone to get to the front. Buck noticed that Eddie had dropped the fuzzy cuffs, so he picked them up before he and Tommy went into the house.

Tommy led them into a hallway where the bathroom was slightly ajar, then he used a finger to push it the rest of the way open.

Eddie was standing there in a pair of basketball shorts and tee shirt, stuffing his uniform into a duffel bag. He looked over at them and his face turned dark red.

“You dropped these,” Buck grinned, cuffs dangling from his finger.

Eddie glared at him, then snatched the cuffs and shoved them into his duffel.

“What the hell are you two doing here,” Eddie said, then looked between them. “Wait, are you back together?”

“N-no, we ran into-” Buck started.

“Don’t try to change the subject, Officer,” Tommy grinned.

“Oh my god I hate you so much,” Eddie muttered.

Tommy chuckled.

“So is this what you’re doing for work now?” Buck asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Eddie said, tugging a package of makeup wipes out of his bag and using them to wipe as much body glitter as he could off of his face, arms, and neck. “This and Uber, though the tips for stripping are a hell of a lot better.”

“Well you certainly earned them,” Tommy said.

Buck gave him a look.

“It’s just until things clear up with L.A.F.D. and I can come back to the 118,” Eddie said, dropping two used makeup wipes into the garbage can.

“I think it’s great,” Buck said loyally.

Eddie relaxed a little. “Yeah?”

Buck nodded, then nudged Tommy in the ribs so he’d nod too.

“You got another gig or do you wanna hang out? There’s some great food,” Tommy said, and Buck looked at him with a soft smile, because that was such a sweet offer.

“No Thanks. I’m gonna go shower off the rest of this glitter before I get it on everything I own, then Chris and I are gonna have a movie night,” he said, looking between them. “Plus, I think you guys probably want to catch up on your own.”

Buck looked over at Tommy and smiled. “Yeah.”

Eddie zipped up his duffel and walked up to them, pointing at each of them in turn. “You tell anyone about this and I will kill you. Understand? I can make it look like an accident.”

“I won’t tell a soul,” Buck said seriously.

Eddie pushed past them, then quickly left the house. Buck and Tommy looked at each other for a few seconds, then burst into laughter.

“This is not at all how I expected tonight to go,” Buck said.

“Night’s still young,” Tommy grinned, then held his hand out in offering. “Wanna get out of here and grab a bite to eat? Catch up?”

“I’d love that,” Buck said, putting his hand into Tommy’s.