#implied buddie

“A toothbrush,” Eddie confirms.

“Your girlfriend broke up with you because of a toothbrush?” Ravi clarifies, he’s not the only one seeking that clarification either, Eddie can tell he beat Chim to the question only because he didn’t have his mouth full.

“Yes,” Eddie confirms (again), sounding a little more disgruntled this time about it.

Chim finally swallows his mouthful to ask, “Is this like a metaphor?”

Eddie shrugs. “I don’t know.” And he doesn’t, that’s the thing. He’s got no damn idea why a toothbrush (of all things) had Marisol breaking things off before they’d even really gotten started.

“I’m going to need more than this,” Hen says. “What kind of toothbrush?”

Exasperated, all Eddie can say is, “I don’t know - a toothbrush.”

“I mean,” Chim says thoughtfully, “did she not like the colour? Were the bristles too hard? Maybe it wasn’t about the toothbrush but the toothpaste on the brush - do you have weird toothpaste taste?”

That earns Chim a confused look from everyone but he just shrugs which Eddie finds fair because he honestly doesn’t know. “I don’t have weird toothpaste,” Eddie defends.

“I like your toothpaste,” Buck announces, dropping down into the chair beside Eddie. “Why are we talking about Eddie’s toothpaste?”

“We’re talking about Eddie’s toothbrush,” Hen clarifies and even as she does, she looks like she can’t believe that’s a sentence she’s found herself saying.

“Eddie’s toothbrush?” Buck repeats, sounding just as confused as when he thought they were talking about toothpaste.

“Not my toothbrush,” Eddie groans. “It wasn’t even mine!”

“Wait,” and this comes from Bobby who looks as though he can’t believe he’s joining in this conversation, “Marisol broke up with you because of Christopher’s toothbrush?”

“Marisol broke up with you?” Buck says, “Sorry man.”

Eddie waves off Buck’s words, he’s not all that broken up about it honestly, just genuinely stuck on how a toothbrush could possibly be reason enough to break up with someone. “No it wasn’t Chris’ toothbrush, Jesus.”

“I’m so confused,” Buck said.

“Me too,” added Ravi.

But Hen, Hen had a look on her face and there was a note in her voice he couldn’t identify as she asked, “Whose toothbrush was it?”

“Buck’s.”

And Eddie has no idea why that is suddenly explanation enough for everyone.

cuz like its just funny to tease your brother for something they did that was remotely or kinda "gay"

but also as they grew up, his sister kinda just look at him and its like 'yeah he for sure in the closet'

and when they finally met buck and see how they act together and how eddie is looking at him. they just look at each other and had that 'oh' moment

and they just knew. ofc they still love and support him, but the teasing and shit he will endure for the rest of his life 😂😂

Crop top Buck! You know he would wear one heheh I drew this for myself not just for science

chris pov | gen | 4.1k words

Christopher gets excited when he meets Dad’s new friend; Tommy. Carla picked him up from school, and just dropped him off on their foyer, already rushing to her next appointment. She kissed his head and said, “Say hi to your Dad for me. Have to go.” So, he says hi to his Dad as he keeps his eyes wary on the new person sitting at their breakfast table, waiting for him to introduce them. Or: Christopher's POV on everything that has been happening with Buck, Eddie, and Tommy. And Buck coming out to him.

~*~*~*~

The 118 always felt like a family to Buck. From the moment he started as a probie, he felt something there. Over the years, he grew from the annoying little brother that everyone reluctantly put up with to a (sometimes) respected member of the family. Hen and Chim were the siblings he always wanted, Bobby was the father he never knew he needed, and Eddie. He was the love of his life, his best friend that Buck could always count on.

Sure, there were moments that tried to shake his beliefs. The lawsuit left him estranged from his family, abandoned like his parents and Maddie had done when he was a kid. Eddie getting shot shook him and left him ungrounded. The taste of blood in his mouth didn’t lessen until Eddie was back at his house with Buck hovering like a mother hen.

The point though was that the 118 was Buck’s family.

He thought that until his whole world started fracturing. Maddie left him again after promising to never leave again. Just like she had done was a teenager, she left him despite sacred pinky promises and a family that loved her. He knew she wasn’t in the best headspace but his hurt didn’t see logic, it just saw his sister abandoning him again.

Buck tried to look after Chimney and Jee in her absence like he promised her, devotedly caring for them and for her until a sucker punch stole his devotion. He wasn’t in his loft with his friend, coworker, and future brother in law then. No, Buck was back in his childhood living room drenched in fear, cowering away from the hatred his dad threw at him. Just like back then, he couldn’t fight back. He couldn’t explain his side of things or try to protect his sister. Instead, he shrunk back from Chimney and escaped into the dissociation he adopted when his dad had hit him as a child.

Buck was already drowning when Eddie announced that he was leaving the 118, leaving Buck. He still held onto their friendship and the hope for more with both hands for as long as he could but the one-sided efforts grew exhausting. Soon, Buck stopped reaching out first and without his attempts at contact, all of his relationships that he held in such high regard were eventually extinguished. Even Eddie cast him aside. The man he’d come to love so much stopped reaching out. Sure, their shifts didn’t always coincide and Buck was probably annoying when they did get together. But that was the last straw. As soon as he lost the Diazes, something in him snapped. That was when he stopped treading water and let the waves take him.

He stopped trying to keep his family together, he stopped making plans, and taking care of himself. What was the point? All he wanted in the world was a family that would be there for him and stick around but it seemed impossible to achieve.

For once, he wanted to be the one who left first. His parents were never there, Maddie kept leaving him even when she said she never would again, and the 118 wasn’t a family after all, just as Bobby had said way back when. When he mentioned a transfer initially, Eddie had told him not to because they were a “family”.

There was no one to stop him now. So, Buck transferred to a new station across town. He uprooted his life; moved to a new apartment, established a new routine, found a new hiking spot.

But reminders of his failed attempts at a family were everywhere. He would see billboards of DV and think of how strong Maddie was to survive all those years, he’d see recipe cards at the grocery store and think of making them with Bobby, he’d see kids and think of how long it had been since he’d seen Christopher, and he’d flinch at hands moving toward him and think of Chimney.

Across town wasn’t far enough. So after six months, he transferred to Chicago. Despite loathing the cold, something in Buck missed the snow. He found the busiest station there and decided to try again. The Buckley’s weren’t a family, the 118 never was despite the facade, and the Diazes weren’t his family. But maybe he could try again at Station 51 in Chicago.

He threw all of his effort into bringing his dream to life once again, the 118 being lost as just another bad memory to him.

He didn’t hear about Eddie going back to the 118, Maddie or Chimney going back home, or Hen staying at the 118 instead of pursuing medical school. He cut his losses just as his sister had modeled for him so many times before. This time, it was Maddie and the rest of the 118 being abandoned and Buck could move on with his life in a way he never had before. Without regret.

(inspired by @bvckleydiaz post: “ someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write something where eddie and the rest are sitting around telling stories/talking about buck!! my heart needs this! 😩🥺”)

yeah my inspiration muse struck, and here we are 

(a.k.a. help I accidentally wrote a bit more than a drabble)

************************************

“Hello? Is anybody in here?”  

Eddie looked up from his locker, surprised to see an older couple making their way over from the front entrance. A quick glance around revealed nobody else on duty nearby. 

He sighed. He really didn’t want to deal with well-wishing senior citizens today. They tended to be overly nice and expected his full attention, even when he had other things to do. Usually, Eddie enjoyed the visits as a welcome break during the day, but this time he was a bundle of tightly-tensed nerves waiting to combust ever since Buck had come in that morning. 

Buck. 

Eddie lightly rested his head against the cool metal of the locker, chasing away the sudden onslaught of images from earlier, the terror that had overcome him when he’d thought his friend had... gone in the explosion. The events from earlier had affected him more than he’d let on. 

Maybe if he just stayed really still and didn’t look up again, the older couple would find someone else. 

“Excuse me?”

Or not.