#struckley

"What?" Jim said distractedly, confused at Buck's question.  Looking up from his own dripping cone, he glanced over at Buck, picking up on his boyfriend’s distress as soon as he saw him.   "Oh crap," he said, thinking back to how their date had been going so far.  Tossing his cone in the garbage, Jim shrugged off his leather jacket to throw it around his boyfriend's broad shoulders.  He then grabbed Buck's hand and pulled him over to a nearby bench. 

"I'm sorry Buck, I've been an awful date," Jim replied, as his phone pinged again with another notification.

"Is it work?" Buck asked, waving his free hand in the direction of his phone. 

"Kind of," Jim replied honestly.  "Now, this might sound ridiculous, but every year SWAT has a paintball tournament.  And it's a pretty big deal." He explained, rolling his eyes over the trash talk that was currently going on at HQ.  "Since Luca is still in Germany, Hondo put me in charge of our team, but now Deacon can't make it and team leads are running their own team.  I'm down two members and I can't find anyone to fill in."  Jim pulled out his phone to read his latest message, shaking his head.  "And all these messages that are coming in are officers saying they can't help us out."

Buck nodded in understanding, knowing how competitive the LAPD can be.  Reaching an arm around Jim, Buck pulled his boyfriend in closer.  "Next time, just tell me, okay?  I'd rather listen to you complaining than be worried about what is going on." Buck said honestly.  He loved learning more about the man he loved, even if it involved complaining about his teammates.

Jim let out a sigh, snuggling into his boyfriend's warmth.  "Thanks babe," Jim said, allowing himself to relax in Buck's arms.  "I'll make it up to you," he promised, thinking of all the ways he knew how to put a smile on Buck's face.  

The two of them sat in silence for a while, enjoying each others’ presence and the beautiful weather.  Then Buck turned towards Jim, unable to wait any longer.  "Your place or mine?" he asked, and Jim knew that he had been forgiven.

XXXXX

Jim’s phone rang and he was tempted to ignore it, tired off all the rejections that he had been receiving for the last couple of days.  Squinting down at the caller id and realizing that it was Buck, he promptly clicked on the answer call button.  “Hey babe, what’s up?” Jim said freely into the phone, being the only one in the kitchen at the moment.

“Hey, are you still looking for two members for your paintball tournament?” Buck asked, jumping right to the heart of the matter, since both him and Jim were still at work and you never knew when a call would come in.

“Yeah, at this point I think we might have to pull out,” Jim said, frustrated at not being able to compete.  The tournament was this evening and no one had stepped forward for their team yet.

“Well, what do you think about Eddie and I helping you guys out?  I know we’re not SWAT, but I completed SEAL training and Eddie was in the army, so we have some experience,” Buck suggested, having spoken to Eddie about it earlier on in the day.

Jim mulled Buck’s suggestion over.  He felt that Hondo would be really disappointed if 20-David didn’t even put in an appearance, but also didn’t want to be mercilessly teased if they lost horribly either.  Crossing his fingers that Buck and Eddie had more skills than what he was picturing in his head, he replied in the affirmative.  “Let’s give it a shot,” Jim said, hoping that he wasn’t going to regret this decision.  “See you here at six?  You might have to ring for me at the front.”  Buck hadn’t visited him yet at work, as Jim was still mostly in the closet at work.

“Awesome!” Buck replied eagerly, looking forward to helping out his partner.  “I gotta head out now, love you,” Buck said, hanging up quickly as a call in the background came in for 118 for a medical request.  Hoping into the truck, he nodded at Eddie.  “We’re on for paintball,” he said, grinning when Eddie reached over for a fist bump.

XXXXX

As the clock slowly approached 6PM, Buck and Eddie slid out in a hurry to head over to the SWAT headquarters.  Buck was starting to feel nervous about his idea, worried about his own ability to keep up with Jim and his team, and concerned about somehow saying something wrong and accidentally outing Jim.  The drive was over quicker than he had expected, and Buck could tell that Eddie was waiting for him to decide when to go in.  

“So you haven’t been here yet?” Eddie questioned Buck, picking up on his nervousness.

Buck shook his head.  “Jim still isn’t out yet at work,” he commented, glancing over at Eddie to make sure he understood the implications.

“But you’ve met some of his team, right?” Eddie asked, concerned about Buck.

“Just Chris so far.  She’s great, I think you will like her,” Buck said with a grin, remembering how Jim had told him that Christopher thought it was awesome that his best friend and Buck’s best friend had the same name.  “We should probably head in,” Buck said, reaching into the back to grab his duffle bag and reluctantly opening the door.  “Let’s show them that firefighters can kick some butt too,” he added with a grin.

As Jim had cautioned, there was some confusion why there were two firefighters at the front desk looking for the SWAT paintball tournament.  But Jim quickly arrived at the front with a gentle smile for Buck and a hand shake for Eddie.  ‘Thanks man,” Jim said, clasping Eddie’s hand.  “Glad you and Buck could make it.  Let’s go get you two geared up.”

XXXXX

“Damn, you two clean up pretty well,” Chris said, glancing up and down the two firefighters.  Everyone was wearing plain SWAT t-shirts with their team names across the back, along with some basic body protection.  She passed a paintball gun to Eddie and then to Buck.  Everyone also had thigh holsters, with a small side arm, similar to what they would normally wear in the field.  Chris exchanged a look with Jim, she could tell that he was affected by seeing Buck in similar gear as well; just something about those thigh holsters that upped sex appeal.

“Hey, who are these guys?” Tan asked, racing into the room.  He hadn’t expected Street to actually be able to put a team together, so he had made plans with Bonnie only to have to come racing back into work.  He had made it just in time, motioning for Street to help him clip the last couple of buckles.  

Chris glanced over at Jim and sensing that he wasn’t sure what to say, decided she would go ahead with the introductions.  “This is Eddie and Buck,” Chris said, pointing each man out, Buck giving a small wave, and then introducing Tan.  “They’re firefighters but they swear they know the end of a gun from the trigger,” she added with a small laugh, patting Eddie on the shoulder.  

Eddie nodded, grinning at Chris’s teasing as well.  “I think two tours in Afghanistan helped out as well,” Eddie quipped, looking at Buck and rolling his eyes in response.  

Tan glanced back and forth at the men, completely confused at how they ended up with two firefighters on their team.  Shrugging, he headed out after Chris, just hoping that they wouldn’t end in last place.

XXXXX

“Cheers!” Jim said, after the waitress had returned with another round of beers, and everyone clinked their beer mugs.  That had turned out much better than he thought it would.  They managed to come second for sharpshooting and came in fourth overall.  Considering two of their team had never ran with them before, that was pretty amazing.  

They were all crammed into a small booth near the back of the bar, Tan having invited Bonnie along in the celebrations.  Jim gave a little sideways look at Chris, as she and Eddie seemed to be sitting rather close together, but then just shrugged. His own shoulder was brushing against his boyfriend's, so he wasn't going to say anything. 

“Okay, okay, I have to know,” Tan said, after gulping down more beer, Bonnie’s hand in his.  “Now Eddie, I understand, but Buck - Buck where did you learn to shoot like that?”

Buck blushed, slightly embarrassed at the attention.  “After high school, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I travelled and did a bunch of odd jobs.  I tried out for SEAL training since you didn’t have to enlist, and made it through,” Buck explained with a small shrug.  “I didn’t stick with it though, it didn’t feel like a good fit for me.”

Bonnie was nodding along, listening attentively.  “So, how do you guys all know each other?” She asked, motioning to the group, knowing that Tan was curious about this as well.  She could tell by the way the other four were conversing that they were relatively known to each other.

Buck smiled, starting to tell her about the community centre that him and Jim volunteered at together when he was interrupted by Jim.  

“Buck’s my boyfriend."  

Jim had hesitated at first, not sure if he was fully ready for this step. It had been one thing to tell Chris, after all they were fellow bi-disasters.  But generally, people seem to be more accepting of bisexual women, not so much men.  And then there's the whole super masculinity of their profession that factored in as well.  But the more he thought about it, the more he knew he was ready.  So not even thinking about how he was going to say it or when, Jim just interrupted Buck mid-sentence and blurted out that Buck was his boyfriend.  And now everyone was staring at him awkwardly, while he turned as bright as a tomato, shocked at his own bluntness.

But then Buck placed his arm around Jim's shoulders, and Jim was at the receiving end of not just Buck's gorgeous grin, but matching ones on Chris, Bonnie and Eddie, and everything seemed alright again.  Tan had choked slightly on his beer, not expecting Jim to say that at all, but once he stopped coughing, he motioned for the waitress to bring a round of shots.

"To Street, may we never have to hear about your online dating disasters again!" Tan toasted with a grin, clapping Jim on the back and shaking Buck's hand.  The rest of the group followed suit, with Jim shaking his head in exasperation.  

"Okay, so I've shared my fair share of embarrassing dates -" Buck started to say when Tan interrupted him.

"Has he told you about the pool incident-"

"I didn't know she was married!" Jim said, blushing again.  ‘And wait, how did you know about that one?  I told Chris in confidence!” He glared at Chris who was stifling a chuckle on the other side of Eddie.

"Buck, here, take a look," Chris said, handing Buck her phone.  "I took some screenshots of Jim's online dating profile before I got my hands on them." She explained, dodging Jim's grabbing hands to show Buck.