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Buck loves downtime at the firehouse. Being able to hangout and talk with his family is part of why he loves his job so much.
“I just never thought about putting stuff in my helmet!” Buck says. “I keep my wedding ring on a chain and pictures in my locker, it isn’t like I’m not sentimental.”
They’ve been discussing this video trend in which spouses of firefighters ask to see what’s in their helmets. Apparently, everyone has something shoved in the top lining of their helmet except for Buck.
“I bet Eddie has things in his helmet,” Hen comments.
“And I bet none of them are Buck,” Ravi sighs, shaking his head.
Buck throws a pillow at him, which he skillfully dodges.
“Let’s find out.” Buck turns around on the couch towards the kitchen, where Eddie is pouring himself coffee. “Eddie!” he calls, and Eddie looks over instantly, wearing a huge grin. Buck waves him over.
“Hi,” Eddie says, leaning down and dropping a quick kiss to Buck’s lips. “What can I do for you?”
“You don’t keep anything stuffed in your helmet, do you?”
“Of course I do.”
“So it’s really just me?” Buck poses to the whole room.
“Just you, Buck,” Hen confirms.
“Guess I’ll get some pictures.” Buck looks up at Eddie. “So what’s in yours?”
Eddie silently hands Buck his coffee mug, then hustles downstairs.
“Wanna bet it’s like fifty pictures of Buck and Christopher?” Ravi asks Hen.
Hen makes a show of considering such a bet while Buck huffs and rolls his eyes, pretending to be mortally offended at the suggestion. Secretly, he hopes that’s exactly what’s in Eddie’s helmet.
“Eddie Diaz is a complex man,” Hen muses. “I’ll bet there’s at least one non-Buck-and-Chris thing in that helmet.”
“You’re on.” Ravi extends a hand and they shake on it.
When Eddie comes back a moment later, he steps over the back of the couch to sit instead of walking around, bouncing Buck a little bit as he flops down on the cushions.
“Okay! I assume you guys made a bet or something while I was gone,” Eddie says, adjusting the helmet in his lap.
“Not me!” Buck announces, throwing an arm around Eddie’s shoulders. “Just those two traitors over there.”
“First of all, no one likes a tattle tale. Second of all, we’re literally married.” Eddie pats Buck’s thigh. “You don’t have to try so hard.” He plants a big kiss on Buck’s cheek, complete with a loud ‘mwah!’.
Buck sinks back into the couch, a huge smile on his face. He loves being the center of Eddie’s attention, but more than that, he loves when other people are reminded that he’s the center of Eddie’s attention.
“Third of all,” Eddie continues. “There aren’t just a million pictures of Buck in here.”
“It’s a more complex bet than that,” Ravi assures him.
Eddie looks like he doesn’t believe that for a second but lets it slide.
There is actual excitement bubbling in Buck’s stomach. In all the videos he watched, every firefighter had such sweet mementos in their helmet. And now Buck gets to play the surprised husband as Eddie shows what memories he deems important enough to keep close by as he runs into burning buildings.
“Okay, so, first I have this picture.” Eddie passes around a wallet sized photo of himself, Buck, and Chris that has to be a decade old. It’s of the three of them at the zoo, looking like a proper family when Buck had known Eddie and Chris for barely six months.
“Aww, they’re so cute at that age,” Hen says, passing the photo to Ravi.
“Yeah,” Eddie agrees. “I wish he could’ve stayed seven forever.”
“I meant Buck. He used to be adorable! What happened?”
Affronted, Buck crosses his arms and scoffs.
“Hey!” Eddie turns his head and looks at Buck like he’s insane.
Buck gives Eddie a pointed look and motions to Hen. There’s no way he didn’t hear what she said! And speaking of Eddie, shouldn’t he be falling over himself to remind Buck how cute he is?!
“So just because Hen made a joke at your expense, I have to suffer?” Eddie asks.
How is he—oh. Pfft, fine.
Buck puts his arm back around Eddie’s shoulders, from which he’d unjustly removed it.
“That better?”
“Yeah, thank you.” Eddie gives Buck another kiss for his trouble. “I think you’re still very cute, don’t worry.”
“You hear that?” Buck says to Hen. “Still very cute.”
“I’m shocked,” she responds sarcastically.
The next thing Eddie pulls out of his helmet is another photo. A strip of photos to be exact, from their first date. The top picture is of the two of them making goofy faces, the second is Eddie kissing Buck on the cheek, the third is of Eddie smiling and Buck looking shocked, and the fourth is of them kissing for the first time. Buck kind of wants to cry that Eddie keeps that in his helmet so that it’s always with him. Which seems silly when Eddie is his husband, but that’s so sweet. Eddie is so sweet. Sometimes Buck can’t believe this is his life.
“Okay, even I have to admit, you guys are pretty cute,” Ravi mentions.
“What you don’t see is right after that,” Eddie says, leaning into Buck, “when the attendant came over and asked us not to return to the photobooth again.”
“Oh, I didn’t need to know–“
“Nothing like that!” Buck hurriedly adds. “We were just kissing!”
“Aggressively. On top of one another,” Eddie adds.
Buck remembers that afternoon so vividly. Eddie had pulled him into the photobooth, insisting they needed photos to commemorate finally getting together. Then he went and sprung their first kiss on Buck and, well, was Buck supposed to stop at just one? No. That’s unreasonable. So Buck had pulled Eddie in and kissed him through endless joyful giggles. But the photobooth had barely been big enough for two smaller adults, let alone men of Buck and Eddie’s size. While they’d been, uh, letting the dam break, the booth must have been knocking around a little bit, because the curtain tore back and a very unimpressed twenty-something told them with strained politeness that it was time to leave.
“I’m impressed you guys got midway through your first date before kissing,” Hen comments with a laugh.
“This was not midway,” Buck replies. “This was the first, like, ten minutes. Derailed the whole rest of the day.”
The original plan for Buck and Eddie’s first date was this: 1. Take a walk out in the sunshine and get used to being in each other’s space as more than best friends. 2. Go out for an early dinner and talk like they didn’t already know everything about one another. 3. Move to a bar where they could grab a few beers and play pool, because keeping the best friend element while still being flirty was a must. 4. Buck spends the whole date working up the courage to kiss Eddie by the time Eddie takes him home.
Of course, Eddie hadn’t known about that last part at the time. Buck told him about it later, in bed, after they’d blown (no pun intended) way past the concept of a respectful first kiss.
“That’s it for pictures, but…” Eddie trails off as he pulls out something small attached to a piece of duct tape. “I had to tape this inside so I didn’t lose it.”
Eddie peels off the duct tape and holds up a tiny, silver cufflink.
“Dude, I’ve been looking for that!” Buck exclaims, snatching it from Eddie’s hand to examine it.
Sure enough, it’s one of Buck’s cufflinks that he thought he’d somehow lost. Their bedroom has been turned upside down several times in search of this cufflink. They have attended more than one event in the past couple of years, at all of which Buck’s cuffs were unlinked, because of his husband’s thievery.
“It’s like having a little piece of you with me no matter what.”
Buck huffs, but it’s forced.
“Oh, so you don’t want me to remember our wedding?” Eddie asks.
“Is your wedding ring not enough?!”
Eddie thinks about it, but Buck is certain that’s just for show because the conclusion he comes to is “No.”
“And me? Your literal husband? Who you live and work with?”
“If I could shrink you down and keep you in my helmet, I would do that.”
“Don’t be cute right now,” Buck complains. “I’m mad at you.”
He’s not mad at all though, because that’s very romantic. When they get home tomorrow morning, Buck is going to make sure Eddie knows just how romantic. Or maybe later on the roof? No, they really shouldn’t. Eight months isn’t long enough for everyone to forget the last time Buck dragged Eddie to the roof with less than innocent intentions. Nobody even saw anything! But the alarm had interrupted them and the back of the engine is very tight quarters and Eddie blushes at the best of times. Never mind that they’d both looked like they’d been getting into it. But it wasn’t Buck’s fault! It had been the anniversary of the first time Buck made Eddie lemon bars! Or was it the first time they napped together? Buck doesn’t remember, he’d have to check their shared calendar. But it had been important nonetheless!
Ravi makes a big show of dryheaving. “I take it back, you guys are insufferable.”
“You think you and May aren’t insufferable to watch?” Eddie counters. “Face it, we’re all the same.”
“Karen disagrees, she thinks you two are at the far end of the scale,” Hen informs them, looking down at her phone.
“Tell Karen we’ll settle that at wine night.”
“I can choose to be worse,” Buck announces. “You don’t know what it’s like when we’re alone.”
“Alright, settle down, tiger.” Eddie reaches up and pats Buck on the cheek. “I think we’re only allowed to scar our friends at work once a year. Back to the helmet.”
Buck will not be commenting on being handled at work, even playfully.
“There’s only one more thing,” Eddie says, digging down into his helmet. “It’s probably the most important—”
Their wedding photo? Chris’ baby pictures? One of the post-it notes Buck leaves for him around the house? A drawing Chris made when he was little? That family Christmas card they did last year in matching pajamas as a joke?
“—this label from a bag of Takis.”
Buck stares. Hen stares. Ravi stares.
Eddie blinks. “What?”
“Takis,” Buck says.
“Yes.”
“That’s the most important thing in your helmet?”
“Gotta keep the stuff that matters close at hand,” Eddie reasons with a shrug.
A few more moments pass in silence. No elaboration comes.
Buck is proud to say he’s very secure in his relationship, so it doesn’t bother him much that his cufflink from their wedding is lower on the tier list than a cut up bag of Takis. He doesn’t care, he’s just confused. Of all the foods Eddie loves, Takis wouldn’t have been in the top ten guesses of wrappers he kept in his helmet. Buck thinks maybe he could’ve chosen one of those custom labels he got Buck to wrap his baked goods in, but whatever.
“You’re mad,” Eddie says with a smile.
“I’m not mad,” Buck replies.
“He’s mad,” Ravi chimes in.
“He’s mad,” Hen echoes.
“I’m not mad!” Buck insists. “Would I do this if I was mad?!” He grabs Eddie’s jaw to hold him still and plants a kiss on his lips.
“Yes,” Hen and Ravi say in unison.
Eddie looks at him with a lopsided smile and big, beautiful, brown eyes. “Yes,” he says softly.
With a ring on his finger and nothing to prove, Buck sinks back in his seat and sulks. He doesn’t mind being easily readable to Eddie, but sometimes it would be nice if the whole room didn’t know him so well. He needs to get new friends with no knowledge of him and Eddie pre-relationship.
“Pay up, Ravi,” Hen says, holding out her hand. “Takis have nothing to do with anything.”
“Wait!” Ravi turns to Eddie. “Why do you have Takis in your helmet?”
“Oh, Chris made me try them and now they’re my go-to snack.”
“Hah, I win!” Ravi exclaims. “That’s Chris related! Pay up.”
Hen rolls her eyes and stands. “Fine, my wallet is downstairs.” She and Ravi walk towards the staircase. “You disappoint me, Eddie,” she calls over her shoulder.
“Happy to help,” he calls back.
When they’re alone, Buck toys with the cufflink in his hand. He leans into Eddie’s side and sighs loudly, refusing to make eye contact. He wasn’t kidding earlier—he can be worse. Truthfully, this isn’t a big deal, but when they’re alone, Buck likes to play house. He will always react to things off the cuff, but Eddie will always find it endearing. This is a game they play, where Buck gets dramatic and Eddie kisses him about it.
“Buck.”
He sighs again, turning himself as far away from Eddie as he dares without breaking any of the contact.
“Sweetheart, aren’t you a little old to be pretending I hurt your feelings?”
“Aren’t you a little old to find it cute?” Buck retorts.
Eddie reaches around and turns Buck back as much as he can. “Nah, never,” he says, kissing Buck sweetly. Buck gets two more kisses, then three, and on and on until he has completely turned around and even thrown a leg over Eddie’s lap.
“You know I don’t love Takis more than you, Buck.”
“I know,” Buck replies, leaning in for yet another kiss. He’s earned it. His husband loves Takis more than him. “It’s just funny how you said it was the most important– mmph!”
Somehow, Buck ends up on his back with Eddie leaning over him, both of them giggling as Eddie covers Buck’s entire face with kisses. It quickly turns sweet and slow, not quite making out but not trading single kisses either. Somewhere in the back of Buck’s mind, he has the sense to know they’re on a couch in the loft, but he tends to ignore things like that where Eddie is concerned.
“You gonna put some stuff in your helmet now?” Eddie asks between kisses.
Buck opens his mouth to reply with something snarky, but he never gets the chance.
“Diaz! Buckley!”
Chimney’s voice pops their romantic bubble instantaneously. The two of them sit bolt upright on the couch and give their captain their undivided attention. In his peripheral vision, Buck can see how messed up Eddie’s hair is, but he doesn’t dare reach out to fix it.
“Guys! C’mon! You’ve got six hours left!”
“Sorry, Cap,” Buck mumbles.
“Won’t happen again,” Eddie says resolutely.
Chim groans and rolls his eyes, muttering different complaints about how Buck and Eddie “have been married for two years” and how it’s “like working with horny teenagers.” Which isn’t really fair. They don’t actually make a habit of getting handsy at work. That time on the roof and right now are the only two exceptions (beyond the occasional peck that never seems to bother anyone).
Okay, so Buck wasn’t entirely honest. Eight months ago, the alarm had interrupted them! But… it happened to coincide with Chim coming up to the roof to get some fresh air. They hadn’t even gotten very far! But Buck supposes, if the roles had been reversed, he would not have appreciated seeing his sister and brother-in-law in a compromising position so…
“Buck,” Eddie whispers.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t wanna get put on opposite shifts for two days again.”
A shiver runs down Buck’s spine. “No, me neither. Should we go see what’s in Chim’s helmet?”
“Let’s do it.”
Buck and Eddie take off down the stairs, laughing as Chim yells “Don’t touch my helmet!” behind them.