Not What I Imagined

In Eddie's defense, it's been a long shift and he's really, really tired. In Buck's defense, he'd had a plan, and it definitely wasn't this.

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Written for the Buddie First Kiss Week, Day 6 prompt: With an Audience

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Buddie First Kiss Week, buddiefirstkiss, firstkiss2020, Getting Together, Sleepy Kisses, Confessions, minor Firefam, mentioned sick!Christopher, he's fine, prompt: with an audience

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"Soup's on!"

Bobby's voice rang out from upstairs and every on-duty firefighter stopped what they were doing to head up for dinner. Buck had been helping Bobby with the food as part of their ongoing cooking lessons, so he helped get the food to the table for serving as everyone filed in.

After a few moments, Bobby narrowed his eyes, confused. "Hey. Where's Diaz?"

Everyone glanced around at each other, as if that would answer the question. Even Buck was drawing a blank. Eddie was definitely on shift, so where was he?

"Oh!" Buck gasped, clapping his hands.

Eddie had been worn down since the start of shift, saying Chris had a cold and hadn't slept well last night. That meant Eddie hadn't slept well last night.

"You should have called me. I could have helped. You know. Taken shifts with you, so neither of us was tired today," Buck had insisted, wrapping an arm around Eddie's shoulders and giving him a squeeze.

With a shake of his head, Eddie had said, "Nah. I appreciate it, but it's fine. I can handle it."

"Eddie," Buck had said sternly, making sure he had Eddie's full attention. "I've got your back. Doesn't matter with what."

That had gotten a tired smile out of his friend, and Eddie had laid his hand over where Buck's was on his shoulder, causing Buck's heart rate to double. "I know. Thanks, Buck."

So Eddie had been dragging all day—though no one could tell while they were on a call. After their third call, Eddie had followed Buck and Bobby upstairs. They had gone toward the kitchen, and Eddie had—

Everyone watched as Buck half-walked, half-slid his way over to the couches. Leaning over the back of the nearest couch, Buck found Eddie fast asleep, still in his uniform. The couch was too short for him to be spread out flat, so instead he had curled up, hugging one of the pillows and resting his head on the other.

He was softer when asleep, not weighed down with the troubles of the waking world. If food wasn't involved, Buck would have let Eddie stay asleep. He obviously needed the rest.

But food was involved and Eddie needed to eat before another call came in. So Buck leaned over the back of the couch to shake Eddie's shoulder.

"Hey. Hey, Eddie. Eddie," Buck called, not super loud but not a whisper either. Eddie groaned but didn't open his eyes. "Come on, man. Dinner's ready."

Eddie huffed out a loud, put out sigh. "Okay okay," he mumbled.

He rolled over onto his back with a big yawn, the pillow he'd been holding sliding off onto the floor. Eyes still closed, his right arm flailed out to grab the back of the couch but landed on Buck's shoulder instead. That didn't stop him from using Buck to pull himself upright just like he would a piece of furniture. Buck started to grin, ready to tease Eddie for the action, except—

Then Eddie leaned that extra four inches and pressed a chaste, sleepy kiss to the corner of Buck's mouth.

"I'm coming," Eddie mumbled, his lips still pressed to Buck's skin.

Without missing a beat, Eddie slid off the couch, rubbed his hands over his face to wake up, and headed for the dining table where every other on duty team member was sitting, now in total silence. Like how Buck was stuck leaning over the back of the couch, his brain completely fried.

Had Eddie just—What was—Why had he—

No! Buck's brain screamed. There had been a plan! He was supposed to be the one to kiss Eddie first! He had a reservation at that Brazilian place Eddie liked. They were gonna eat until they were stuffed, and then take a stroll in the park a block down from the restaurant, and then Buck was gonna tell Eddie how much he and Christopher meant to him, and then they would kiss!

About halfway between the table and the couch, Eddie finally took in the silent table ahead of him, the wide-eyed stares of his coworkers, and paused. A half second passed and then his eyes went wide and he spun around to stare back at Buck with horror. The noise of his boots squeaking had Buck finally standing upright and turning around, catching sight of Eddie's expression.

That…wasn't…the positive expression Buck had been hoping for after kissing Eddie for the first time.

"Wait, so how long has this been going on, then?" Hen asked, breaking the silence.

Buck's eyes flicked from Eddie to the rest of the team and back. "Uh…We uh…We're not—"

"If you say you aren't dating after a kiss that freaking domestic, I will stab you with this fork," Chim threatened, pointing at Buck with said fork.

Eddie was still standing there facing Buck, face pale and gaunt. That was unacceptable. Buck couldn't just stand there while Eddie looked like that. With a frown, Buck strode forward, grabbed Eddie by the bicep, and herded him down the stairs and into the storage room. It was as glass as the locker room but the shelving units would give them at least a semblance of privacy.

Almost as soon as the door shut behind them, Eddie started to talk. "Buck. Buck, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"Don't say you didn't mean it," Buck interrupted, releasing Eddie's arm to turn and face him. "If you say you didn't mean it, I honestly don't know what I'll do." His voice was embarrassingly emotional but he didn't care. Buck stared directly into Eddie's eyes and did his best to convey how important this was. "Because I have been standing next to you for months daydreaming about kisses like that with you and I'm honestly not sure if I'm gonna be able to think about a single other thing for the rest of the day."

It looked like Eddie had been hit over the head with a two-by-four. His mouth hung open and his shoulders dropped, and though the lights were on upstairs it didn't look like anyone was home. After a few seconds, pink blossomed on his cheeks. His gaze cleared and then he was looking back at Buck with the same intensity Buck was giving to him.

Bolstered, Buck continued, his voice cracking, "And I know, okay, I know you feel this thing between us too. So you might not have meant to do it in front of everyone else, but don't tell me you didn't mean to do it at all, Eddie."

Eddie nodded, once, almost distractedly. Then he nodded again, sure, decisive, clenching his jaw. Buck held his breath.

"Okay," Eddie said, and his voice was quiet, like getting the words out was hard. He swallowed and his next words were stronger. "You're right. I meant it."

All the air rushed out of Buck in one great gust and he was left feeling lightheaded. Eddie had admitted it. Eddie meant to kiss him.

"I would rather not have kissed you for the first time in front of all of our coworkers," Eddie continued wryly, shaking his head. "But yeah. I've been thinking about kissing you for months too."

The building could have fallen down around them in that instant and it wouldn't have stopped the ecstatic smile that took over Buck's face. He couldn't stop it or even tone it down. Buck took a step to close the already short distance between them, lifted his hand to Eddie's cheek, and kissed him. Eddie's right hand came up to grip Buck's arm, almost as if in surprise. Buck pulled back with a grin.

"What? You think I could hold off for one more second when you're making all my dreams come true?" he teased.

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Are you always this cheesy after kissing someone?"

Buck shifted even closer, so that their chests were brushing together with every breath. Smiling, all teeth, he murmured, "Only when I really, really like them."

Eddie let out an amused breath through his nose, not quite a snort, and shook his head. His eyes darted back and forth between both of Buck's own, expression amazed. Then he bridged the final few centimeters to give Buck another kiss. And this time he didn't miss.

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fin