Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Buck remembers getting his first concussion as a kid. 

Funny enough, it hadn’t been from climbing a tree, jumping off fences, or doing stupid stunts. It had been a rare, minor event. A pocket of happy memory that lives in his brain, safely tucked away.

His parents took him and Maddie on a small vacation. Any trip out of the house with his sister and parents? It was the best thing ever. His Dad’s side of the family, Buck’s uncle, had successfully convinced his brother to visit his ranch. The family was having a get-together, and it had been a while since they last saw each other. 

Buck was convinced his dad would say no, but shockingly, he considered it. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for his dad to convince his mom to agree.

The unfortunate moment was when the other kids took turns riding the horses on the small ranch. It had been Buck’s turn, his first time, and the kids wanted to mess with him. Spook him a little. Buck tried to get them to stop, as the horse didn’t like it, but the other kids unfortunately spooked the horse, causing it to take off, and Buck fell off and hit his head pretty hard.

He doesn’t remember much after that. He doesn’t remember the whole thing, just up until he got to the ranch, and everything after was a blur. Maddie had seen, heard, and recounted everything to him.

His mom, of course, wanted to blame it on him, saying it was his fault, but Maddie defended him, saying he wouldn’t do something stupid to animals like that.

His mom actually thought about it for a moment, about Buck’s love for animals. Birds, cats, dogs, lizards. Any living thing.

His mom sighed. “No more horse rides.”

Buck remembers pouting but agreed. They still didn’t bring him to a hospital, as one of the family members was a doctor and checked him out—concussion, for sure.

His next concussion wasn’t til his motorcycle accident. Not during high school when he was in football, funny enough. It's a sport known for its players getting those often.

So yeah, he’s had his fair share, especially when he started as a firefighter. All of them have had concussions on the job. A bonk to the head and they recover just fine. Buck has had plenty of them to prove the point.

But this time is different. 

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“We’re at a baseball game, and the announcer walking up the stairs had a heart attack; he fell over and knocked some people down the stairs on his way down.”

“Don't worry, we have help on the way.”

The 118 responds to a call at a college baseball game. An announcer had a sudden cardiac event going up the stairs, fell back, and knocked a few others down. The game resumes when someone replaces the man as they arrive on the scene. Hen and Chim treated the announcer and went to the paramedic unit. The man’s mood is jolly, even when experiencing chest pains.

Ever since he returned from the lightning incident, he could tell they were…hovering over him now and then. Bobby needs his help cooking, which Buck is happy to do. He remembers hearing Chim joking, saying he can practically see his puppy ears perk up and tail wagging when Bobby calls him for assistance. Buck rolls his eyes and throws a cheese cube at Chim, which the man catches and pops in his mouth.

They were on their way back from checking everyone out; thankfully, it hadn’t been a lot of steps. It's just bruising and scraping. 

“Did you know that the New York Giants had a lucky cat? In 1916, a stray cat ran onto the field during a New York Giants game. Pitcher Rube Benton took the cat to safety in the dugout, and it soon became the unofficial mascot of the cat, named “Schlitzie,” and was thought to bring good luck for several years as the Giants won the National League pennant on the year they found him,” Buck says.

“I thought you didn’t like sports?” Eddie asks, bemused.

“Hey! I like some,” Buck declares. “I hate basketball, though.”

"What? What's wrong with basketball?" Eddie jerks his head back in shock.

Buck threw his hands in the air. "Look, I tried it only because coaches hounded me my entire school life to try out. I suck at it. Not every tall person will automatically be good at basketball. Every school year. I remember one time this dude just picked me up and carried me to the gym, man." Eddie snorts, and it devolves into giggling. "It's not funny! The other coaches heard, and several times, I had been promptly carried to Track, Volleyball, and then Football," Buck whined. "It was embarrassing. Despite my protesting, they just handed me off to the other older student."

"Is your school active?" Bobby tilted his head. "They sound like bloodhounds searching for new meat."

"Yeah, they're crazy about sports. They try and recruit really early. I joined Track one school year and then joined Football the next," Buck grumbles. "Football was okay. I was tight end. The competing team one time did the whole kidnapping routine as a way to sabotage and win."

"What?" Bobby gives Buck a concerned look. 

"What like the mascot?" Eddie asks. 

"Yeah! They take the mascot. The guy who usually wears our mascot outfit was running late, and they were doing a photoshoot. He was almost the same size as me but really skinny. So I ended up wearing it to fill in, got kidnapped, and trapped in a closet. I managed to get free when they were taking me out the closet to show off, stole their lucky guinea pig, and then got back to my team--who, by the way, was panicking cause I disappeared, then ended up winning." Buck says smugly. 

Bobby and Eddie both stared at Buck in slight horror. 

"They kidnapped you??" Eddie says.

"Not really? It was a home game. Mainly got taken to their locker room and tied up in a closet," Buck says. 

Bobby stops. "Buck, kid, did you consent to being taken?" 

Buck makes a face. "No, of course not."

Bobby places a hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. "That's kidnapping," the man says and pats his shoulder and starts to walk away. "What happened with the guinea pig?"

Buck stops to think about that. He hadn't thought of it that way. No wonder his counselors were asking if he was okay after that. "Uh, I gave it back. Their quarterback was sobbing 'cause it was his lucky charm and pet."

"That's how you ended up winning." Eddie realizes. 

Buck winces. He remembers returning the little guy back to the team. Half the team glared at him, while their coach was reprimanding the other half. "Yeah. I felt bad, and I promised him I wouldn't say anything about it at the time. They also apologized. They didn't know I wasn't the usual dude that wore the costume."

"Bet you anything. If it was a pet cat, you'd probably keep it," Eddie jabs an elbow at Buck's side. 

"I wish I could. I'd sob as I returned the cat to them. But see! Proof lucky animals work!" Buck spins at Bobby, grinning from ear to ear.

Bobby laughs. “If this is your way of trying to convince me to get a cat for the firehouse, I’m gonna have to turn you down. Ritchie on B shift is allergic,” Bobby says, shaking his head with amusement.

“Cogswell on B is allergic, but she has four cats,” Buck points out triumphantly.

“Besides, I thought firehouses are supposed to get dogs, like Dalmatians?” Eddie says, entirely confused.

“Yeah, and no offense to dogs. I love them, but Cats are so independent. If you set them up with a few things like their food, water, a bed, and a litter box, they chill and do whatever they want,” Buck says. “Apparently, I don’t have to pay a deposit to have a cat. Pretty sure the owners are cat people.”

“Thinking of getting a cat?”

“Adopt, don’t shop. People go for kittens, but some senior cats look so sweet and lonely,” Buck sighs. "They just want to relax and be loved."

"Sounds like someone we know, ow!" Chim hisses when Hen jabs him.

Bobby laughs. “You’ve been looking already, haven’t you?”

Buck's face flushes a little. “W-well, maybe? I thought it'd be nice and, you know, not so lonely to come back to the loft, too."

“What am I, chopped liver?” Eddie pouts. “Buck, you know what they say about cats; can’t always get one most of the time. They get lonely. They need a friend.” 

Buck’s eyes lit up. “So you’re saying I need to get two cats?” he says, glancing from Eddie to Bobby, who shakes his head.

“Buck--no.”

It happens quickly. One second, Buck talks about the types of cats and his love for black cats with Bobby, while Eddie smiles as he listens to what Buck is saying. They were almost off the field's perimeter when a sharp crack and someone shouted in horror. 

Buck hears a whistling sound before feeling excruciating pain in his head, his vision slowly turning black, and he sees the ground coming closer to his face before he passes out.

“Buck!”

His head swims when he comes to. He tries to move around but feels a firm grip on his legs. He groans and is immediately hit with a wave of nausea that he swallows down. The nausea rolls up, and he gags and gurgles as everything in his stomach decides to migrate up and out of his mouth. Someone carefully turns him on his side as he pukes. He hears a gentle shush, a warm hand rubbing his back in circular motions.

“Get it all out, kid, we got ya,” he hears someone say.

He doesn't know what's happening. Just that his stomach is evacuating north. When he thinks he’s done vomiting, his stomach lurches, and round two starts again.

He groans in pain as his stomach lurches, muscles contracting and squeezing.

“Dispatch this is Capt-----sh. I need anoth----se ball field--” He can’t catch what’s being said, choosing to try and stop throwing up.

It’s successful, and the puking stops. 

He blinks, tears falling from his eyes as he pants.

He--

What was going on?

His expression must have alerted someone as he's moved carefully away from the puddle of vomit and laid him on his back. He blinks slowly, but nothing is clicking in his brain. His head swims, words, and thoughts entering his mind but quickly dispersing. He blinks hard, seeing spots, double vision, and blurry figures moving around. He sees someone approaching him, a hand on his cheek. He feels a thumb rub carefully back and forth gently. 

Again, nothing is making sense. It should. He knows it should. It’s on the tip of his tongue, like, duh, it’s obvious, but then that fizzles out before his brain can comprehend or understand.

“--uck?”

He blinks slowly, hoping his brain can assume the position and return to working order. Slowly, things came flowing back into his brain. His vision gets a little better, but things are still dizzy and spinny.

First of all, his head fucking hurts. 

Second, the man in front of him looks incredibly fucking pretty.

The man blinks in shock, and his face turns red seconds later. Aww, he blushes pretty, too.

“Buck?”

The voice sounds familiar. He stares long, trying to catalog the other older man’s face. Shit--uh.

“---uuuhh?” he slurs. He furrows his brows, confused as to why he's slurring his words. 

“Sorry, kiddo, I need to see your eyes,” the man apologizes, and before he can make sense of what that means, he feels like the sun is being blasted in his retinas. He slams his eyes shut, whimpering at the sudden betrayal. 

“Shit, cap, that’s not good--”

“Dispatch, ETA on the unit? I have a firefighter down, Grade II concussion, unconscious for four minutes, pupils are different sizes.”

“Are they experiencing any memory loss?”

“What’s your name?” the pretty man asks.

He blinks slowly. His head feels like someone is dripping honey inside. It feels slow, and his eyes are growing tired. He feels a slight pat on his cheek.

"Hey, hey, no sleeping," the man says with panic. "Come on; I need your name."

He thinks for a moment and winces when he lightly shakes his head.

“Hey, that’s okay. Can you tell me what the year is?”

He blinks.

“N-no.”

“State we’re in?”

“N-no.”

"Year?"

He squeezes his eyes, but another pat to his cheek stirs him awake.

The pretty man smiles. “No sleeping, now. What about your sister's name?”

He squeezes his eyes shut. The pain in his head hurts too much to think correctly.

“Do…you know who I am…?”

He opens his eyes. And cries. 

"I don't."

The man smiles sadly.

“Long-term memory is not good, along with his short-term.”

“We have a unit arriving in two minutes--”

He hears the sirens.

“I hear them, thank you.”

Everything is slowly coming back to him. He feels himself coming to the hospital when they are nearly there. He’s unsure what’s going on, but he’s on a gurney, strapped down with a C-Collar on. He groans, blinking as he tries to move his head.

“Whoa, whoa, Buck, don’t worry. You got nailed hard by a baseball. Got a bad concussion, kid. We’re taking you to the hospital, where everyone else will meet up.”

"O-okay," Buck groans. 

"Don't worry, we're right here. Just a--uh, tight squeeze."

"We squeezed five back here before; this is fine, Eddie."

It doesn’t take long until they pull up, and he gets wheeled inside. Hen and Chim were already outside as they were wheeling him in. He wants to wave everyone off but promptly pukes over some poor nurse's shoes. 

“ ‘mm ‘owwy--” Buck could barely get out when someone shoved a bowl before him to puke in.

“He was struck in the head with a baseball. Grade II concussion, unconscious for four minutes, pupils are different sizes,” Bobby informs as he’s walking in, Eddie trailing after him. “Vomited two times before the paramedic unit arrived. Experiencing both long-term memory loss and short-term. I think it was coming back to him a little on the ride here.” 

The nurse nods before glancing at Buck. “Alright, dude, come with us so you can continue to puke in a somewhat comfortable bed, and we can monitor you for your impending seizure with how hard you got pelted with that ball,” a tired male nurse drones. 

Eddie’s eyebrows raise. He glances at the nurse’s nametag. The young man’s name is Kaleb. He's in a mismatched, ill patterned scrubs. His top had cats all over it, while the bottom had rainbow zebra stripes.

The nurse blinks. “This is my third set of scrubs I had to change out of.”

“...okay…?”

“In two hours,” Kaleb drones. "They ran out, and I had to borrow from my co-workers."

“Let the man do his job, Eddie!” Hen smacks Eddie on the back. “Quit judging the man.”

“Don’t worry. Also, someone can sit with him if they want to,” Kaleb shrugs.

“I--”

“--cannot. Carla needed off early today, remember? I will. Maddie will drag us here later anyways,” Chim chimes in.

Eddie’s shoulders drop. 

“Right.

“I’ll keep you updated. With photos .”

“I am not updating them on this with photos,” Chim mutters as he steps back and watches the nurses work. He knew it was going to happen. With how Bobby described it and even managed to find a video on social media, Buck having a seizure is highly possible. Chim could tell there was a bit of a delay, but the slurring went away after a while, and his apparent temporary amnesia improved.

The brain is an odd thing. Buck's memory is very short-term, but he can recall trivia facts of all things. This amuses Chim to no end because Buck goes back to his cat topic. 

“D-Did you know a hospital had a cat named Oscar? Who could predict death? He’d go in a room and chill on their bed, and every person he’s visited passed away.”

Chim makes a face. “That's very eerie. I don’t like dogs, and now I’m going to be scared of cats too.”

“C-cats and dogs make great therapy animals. Volunteers bring their pets to brighten up patients m-mood,” Buck sighs. He closes his eyes briefly, almost falling asleep before his body jerks awake. He stares around confusingly, glancing at the IV in his hand.

“Chim?”

Chim glances up from his phone. “Yeah?” he responds, watching Buck turn his arm around confusingly.

“Why am I in the hospital?”

Chim smiles. “We were responding to a call at a baseball field. We were leaving, and you got struck by a ball.”

The blonde blinks slowly. “Oh,” Buck says. “Did you know that Pitchers can throw a baseball at over one hundred miles an hour?”

Chim visibly winces. “Yeah…I found that out the hard way. It goes incredibly faster when the batter hits it, too.”

“...is that why my head hurts?” Buck raises his hand to touch the side of his head, but Chimney's disapproving noise discourages him. “Is it that bad? What happened?”

Chim can be patient all day. It squeezes his heart to see Buck with the lost look on his face and in pain.

“You got hit by a baseball during a call.”

“Oh. Where’s Eddie?”

“Carla’s off, and Eddie needed to get Chris,” Chim answers.

Buck blinks slowly. “Oh...right.” Chim tilts his head questioningly, watching Buck shrug. He hisses when he moves his head the wrong way. 

Chim observes Buck blinking hard as if he were trying to will something away. “You feeling okay there, Buck?”

Buck’s sudden silence alerts the man. Chim had been doing his job for a while. Experienced seizures setting in later scenes. He snapped his head up, feeling his heart drop when Buck’s body stiffened. His back was arched from the bed. Buck started to thrash and broken noises he didn’t want to hear from Buck--

The alarm went off, and the nurses came in shockingly quick to tend to Buck. Kaleb, the nurse from before, slid in before the others. As apathetic as he sounded, the man was vigilant and kept a proper eye out for Buck, as he said.

“Hurry and flip him; he’s already frothing,” Kaleb says, voice clipped. “I told you to monitor him closely, and when any codes go off, you need to get up and go. ”

“I-I’m sorry--”

Kaleb dismisses the new nurse. “Just remember next time,”

“S-should we give him anything?”

“No, wait until it passes. Time it, and if it’s longer than five minutes, we’ll push lorazepam via IV,” he says. “Where the fuck is Chelsea. I sent her with CAT scans earlier--”

“I think she got stuck helping someone else out on another--”

“JEsus cHRist,”

“Lemme guess, everyone else is pretty new and fresh out of school, and you’re the highest seniority nurse on shift tonight?” Chim asks. 

“Is it obvious? Someone is supposed to come in a few more hours. Would have been fine if someone didn’t say the forbidden word.” Kaleb snaps his eyes at a nurse cowering in the corner. 

Chim gapes. “Someone said the no-no word? Aw man, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you!” the man shouts. “Someone that gets it!”

Unfortunately, Buck’s seizure doesn't stop after five minutes, so watching them push the medication in and finally seeing Buck’s seizure stop in time for Maddie to text him that she was finally there. They change Buck into cleaner clothes and new bed sheets when Maddie finally rushes in.

It's excellent timing. Chimney really didn’t want Maddie to see her brother like that. In all the years he’s worked with Buck and the concussions, he has never seen Buck so bad it causes him to have a seizure.

“How is he?” Maddie breathes heavily. She drops her stuff at a chair beside Chim before quickly going to Buck’s side. 

“He just had a seizure. He’s doing okay now, and they’re waiting for a CT scan.

“What?” She says, shocked. “A seizure? H-how hard --”

“Pretty hard. Grade II concussion. There's a video already surging around on social media. The batter hit the ball and sent it soaring. It was quick. One second, I heard him chattering away, and the next second, I heard--” Chim stops. “--he just fell to the ground. Bobby caught him in time.”

“A baseball?” she asks. 

“Yeah. Hen and I were on a separate call, while Bobby and the others went on a different call. We met up at a baseball game; the announcer had a heart attack going up the stairs and fell back, knocking others down behind him. After accessing everyone, Hen and I took him back to the paramedic unit while Bobby, Eddie, and Buck were behind us when it happened.”

Maddie sighs, breath shaky. “Oh, Buck,” she whispers. “I just want to stick him in a bubble.”

“I’m pretty sure Bobby will fight bubble rights with you,” Chim jokes, earning a wet chuckle from Maddie. He sees the concerned look on her face, chewing on her lip and carefully moving strands of Buck’s hair out of his face. “Hey, I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’ll come with us for a little while so we can keep an eye on him.”

Maddie wetly chuckles. “He’ll fight tooth and nail.”

“And we have a secret little weapon,” Chimney’s eyes twinkle. 

Buck slowly recovers.

He did have another seizure when they were setting him up for a CT scan.

Luckily, he didn’t have any more seizures after that one. Chim and Maddie were surprised when the scans came back; the doctor informed everyone the following morning that he had no fracture—just some swelling that would go down after a few weeks. Surprisingly, there had been no brain bleed. The doctors, lab tech, and nurses look in awe at Buck’s CT scans. For a baseball to go that fast without any fracture or internal bleeding? That man had to have a guardian angel. 

“He’s got one hell of a hard head,” the doctor immediately says when she enters the room. 

“Tell me about it.” Maddie, Bobby, and Eddie all say at the same time.

“Alright, surprisingly, your scans came back clear. No bleeding, no fracture. There is some swelling, but nothing serious enough for surgery. We’ll prescribe him medication to help with the swelling, which should go down within a week. I’m going to go ahead and give him some oxygen to help reduce it as well. It’s strongly encouraged to stay with someone in the meantime. Keep his head elevated. He’ll most likely still have symptoms, from headaches to confusion, to memory loss, nausea, vomiting.”

“Are there any other symptoms we need to look out for more?” Eddie asks. The doctor gives them a sympathetic smile.

“Everyone is different. I’ve had others have vision problems, breathing problems, inability to walk or even have difficulty speaking. Seizures will also be a possibility. I recommend that he be off work until we do another check-up scan after he finishes his medication. Normally, having you come back for a check-up scan wouldn’t be necessary, but I feel better if you did.”

“Right, don’t worry, we’ll make sure he’ll go,” Maddie says. She takes a deep breath and mentally reviews what the doctor said.

The doctor peers at Buck, who had been quiet for the entire duration. 

“How are we feeling today, Mr. Buckley?” the doctor asks. Buck doesn’t respond, choosing to blink slowly and picking at his blanket. “Mr. Buckley?”

“Buck?” Bobby says gently, going over to pat him on the shoulder. This causes Buck to jump and look up.

“Huh?” Buck finally looks at the doctor. “Oh.”

The doctor smiles softly. “Hello, Mr. Buckley. How are we feeling today?”

“I’m…okay? My head hurts,” Buck reaches up to touch the wound on the side of his head, but Bobby holds his hand down to stop him. 

An alarm goes off, causing the doctor to sigh. “That’s me. I need to go. Hang tight, and your nurse will be in shortly.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“No problem; I hope you feel better, Mr. Buckley.”

Buck looks up, surprised. “Oh, hey, doctor.”

Bobby sighs, giving Buck a comforting pat on his back.

“Don’t worry. It's common for his memory to be iffy with something traumatic. Feel free to call if you have any further questions.” They watch as the doctor hurries, going down the hall and disappearing around the corner. 

That’s when Maddie, Bobby, and Eddie are at an impasse. They all want to take Buck home, of course. They just wanted to ensure he would be okay for a few days.

“You have no useable guest room, and he can’t sleep on the couch. He needs to de-stress. He’ll want to dote on his niece, but she’s too young to know Buck can’t play with her.” Bobby points out. Maddie glares at the older man.

Bobby: 1

Maddie: 0

Eddie: 0

“May and Harry are also at home. I know Harry plays his games loudly, and May and him shout at each other often. You’re also captain, and calls have been hectic, so I doubt they’ll let you off to look after him,” she points out.

Bobby: 1

Maddie: 1

Eddie: 0

“My wife?”

“--Is working on a huge case, and Athena can’t destress while caring for him even if she wanted to.” Eddie also pointed out, “Sorry, cap. I’m taking him with me.” That was when Bobby and Maddie turned to stare at Eddie.

Bobby: 1

Maddie: 1

Eddie: 1

“You have Chris, and Buck will always drop everything for him,” Bobby said.

“He also does a lot of house chores because he practically lives there anyways,” Maddie said. 

Bobby: 2

Maddie: 2

Eddie: 1

“Chris is getting older. If he’s playing games, he wears headphones in his room, but he understands when Buck is hurt or sick not to bother him as much. I also have Carla looking after him, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind Buck’s company. Chores are already done anyways.”

Bobby: 2

Maddie: 2

Eddie: 2

“Guys, I’ll be okay--” Buck shut his mouth quickly when his sister, Eddie, and Bobby, whip their heads and give him a look. “Right. Shutting up now.” 

Bobby turns to Eddie. “He always cooks for you and Chris,” the man counters.

Eddie smirks. “Not If my Abuela and you cook meals in advance. He hates wasting food, so he won’t be able to cook.” Bobby tilts his head at that. That he can do.

Bobby: 2

Maddie: 2

Eddie: 3

“Breakfast?”

“Hey, I’ve been getting better. Breakfast is easy. I can handle that much,” Eddie defends.

“Well, you have no guest room,” Maddie says.

“And I have a bed?” Eddie says with confusion. “Where do you guys think he was going to sleep?”

“On the couch like usual?” Chim says.

“That was only when he was too tired to get to the bed, and I was too tired to drag him there.” Eddie rolls his eyes as if it was obvious. “I’m not a monster that makes him sleep on the couch.”

The room went quiet. Everyone stares at Eddie, who blinks. Eddie, confused, glances behind him and then back to everyone staring at him.

“What?” Eddie says. 

“So he sleeps in your bed?” Bobby asks.

“Yeah?”

“See, he can’t stay with you. He’d feel guilty for booting you out of your bed,” Maddie grins. 

Eddie glances at the two with confusion. “Who said I was sleeping on the couch?” he shakes his head. “It’s a big bed.”

Hen gives Eddie a look. “So…you’re sharing…the bed…together?”

Eddie sighs and rolls his eyes. He nods and smiles, though with an attitude. “ Yes, that’s what sharing implies, guys. I don’t get what’s so confusing about it.”

“Oh, god. I need some wine after this,” Hen mutters. “I’m telling my wife. They’re too damn dense.”

Buck lays there, spaced out during the entire exchange. He glances up at Chim standing beside him.  “Chim…?”

“Yeah, Buckaroo?” Chim grins at him.

“Whats…going on?” Buck asks, and that makes Chim’s heart squeeze. For someone so big, he never looked so small.

“You just got a little bonk on the head. Eddie’s going to take you back to his house to look after you til you’re a little better,” Chim says. “How are you doing?”

“A little…lost? My head hurts,” Buck squeezes his eyes shut.

“I know, bud. The doc is gonna give you some medicine to make you feel better.”

“I’m gonna…” Buck says slowly before nodding off and falling asleep. 

Chim pats Buck. “We got you, don’t worry.”

Eddie’s not sure what wakes him up. Just the thought that something…doesn’t seem right.

A feeling.

He yawns, dragging his fingers around his eyes to clear the gunk out. He blinks, peering over to the empty, cold spot that no longer had a certain tall, blonde man occupying. He frowns, looking at the door now ajar, cold air drafting inside his room.

“Buck?” he sleepily slurs out. He yawns again, dragging himself out of bed and out of his room, glancing to the left, down the hall. Nothing.

Before heading to the kitchen, he checks on his son, who is sleeping soundly. The small light above the range is on, and a pot of water is boiling on the stove. He frowns, checking the water, which is nearly evaporated. He turns it off, takes it off the heat, and spots the mug with a tea bag next to the stove.

And spots another mug with another tea bag on the table.

And another in the microwave when something told him to check inside it.

“Buck?” Eddie calls out, though careful not to be too loud and wake his son up. He steps out of the kitchen and into his living area. The TV is on, and another mug of tea sits on the table. “He actually made a cup this time,” Eddie mutters. He turns the TV off, takes the cup of tea, and returns to the kitchen to set it on the counter when he notices the back door to his backyard is cracked open. Concerned, he walks outside to see Buck sitting on a stool, nursing another cup of tea. “Buck?”

Buck startles, sloshing his tea and hissing at the pain. Eddie winces.

“Buck, what are you doing out here?” Eddie asks, concerned. 

Buck’s face pinch. “Uh, I--” the man looks away in shame as if he was caught doing something wrong. “I don’t know...”

Eddie’s expression softens. He carefully takes the cup from Buck’s hand and tugs the man up. Buck follows, not having any other choice. The two enter, Eddie tugging Buck’s arm to the sink. He sets the mug on the other side of the sink, then turns on the cold faucet and runs the blonde’s hand under the cold water.

Eddie could feel Buck wobbling back and forth. “Come on, lean against the counter,” he says, patting the edge next to him. It takes a moment before Buck's hand holds the edge of the counter next to Eddie, and Buck cages Eddie against the counter, causing the man to make an audible oof as the blonde leans against Eddie. He can feel his face right now as his best friend curls around him. No matter what, Buck is constantly radiating heat. It makes Eddie curl in when they share a bed, as Eddie is always cold. 

Feeling Buck's body plaster over him? Eddie is fine, just fine. He's slouched already against the sink, not standing upright, but Buck is. So, the man was able to rest his chin on top of Eddie’s head.

“Eddie…?” Buck’s voice quivers. “I-I don’t--”

Eddie turns the water off, turning and cupping Buck’s face with his hands. “Hey, hey, everything is going to be alright. You just got hit really bad with a baseball. You’re gonna stay here for a while til your next check-up. They said your memory will be a bit iffy.”

“It hurts .”

“I know. They gave us medicine to help reduce the swelling. Everything is going to be alright. I’m going to take care of you, okay?”

But Buck shakes his head. “No, Eddie. It hurt waking up and not remembering who you were for a second,” Buck whispers, eyes tearing up as he looks down at Eddie. “I can’t--I can’t believe I just forgot. I thought this was another hook up--a-and I quietly got out of bed and I forgot Chris--” Buck sobs out. “How could I forget him?”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hate you for that If that’s what you think. You’re going to be ok, I promise,” Eddie says, wrapping his arms around the man and rocking him. He stands up taller and presses a gentle kiss to the birthmark on Buck’s eyebrow. “Now, let's go back to bed.”

Buck nods. When the two turn to leave, Buck notices the collection of cups of tea. “Why are there so many cups of tea?” Buck asks, entirely confused. 

Eddie chuckles. “Tea party. Now off we go.”

Buck had been staying with them for a bit now. It’s been great, though nobody seemed to tell Chris that Buck started to fall asleep often randomly.

They had both been sitting at the table, Buck helping him with his school project by cutting and gluing down photos on construction paper. Chris hears a thud and raises his head. He glances over to the man--and yup, Buck’s soft snoring calms him down.

Man down.

He's out.

The first time it happened, he outright panicked and shook Buck awake. That had startled the man well, as he had fallen off the couch and knocked some things over on the coffee table. Needless to say, after the second time it happened, he’s sure just to let him sleep and wake up on his own.

He can tell when it starts to happen, so Chris grabs his phone and starts recording. He’s quiet, and he makes sure Buck doesn’t catch on. 

He manages to trick Buck into sitting down for a moment next to him when Buck is standing or doing something in the kitchen, and he starts to wobble. So he lies, beckoning him over to the couch and wanting to show him something on TikTok. It works, and after a moment, Buck passes out on the sofa safely and soundly. He makes sure to record the whole exchange on his laptop. He always hears from Hen, when he’s playing games with Denny, that it’s important for patients to record specific episodes so the doctor can better see what’s going on.

He thinks his dad isn’t entirely aware of what’s going on, but it’s dad. He and Buck are best friends, and his dad is protective of the people he cares about. If something is going on with Buck, he’d know.

He apparently had a throwdown with Maddie and Bobby about who got to take Buck home; Dad was cheerful when he got home cause he won in the end. 

‘Maybe Dad is dumb,’ Chris thought to himself. He doesn’t do it as much around him, opting to grab coffee or tea to stay up, but he later finds his dad hiding anything with excessive caffeine away. When Chris asked why, his Dad said they were worried about how Buck’s heart would take the excessive caffeine after the lightning.

His heart did stop.

Yeah, no caffeine.

Chris stares at Buck worryingly. The times he sleeps are random. From an hour to a few hours, Buck gets sore from sleeping slumped over on a table. So Chris lets him nap for around forty minutes before softly calling out his name and carefully nudging him awake. It works the best as he slowly snaps out of it.

Buck rubs his eyes and apologizes for falling asleep like that. Chris shrugs and says it's okay, but also takes a photo of the picture intended to be glued to the poster, which was now glued to his forehead. He laughs.

He finally asks his dad one day when Buck is at a check-up with Maddie. “Hey, Dad?”

His dad had been in the middle of laundry. He glances at him before speaking. “Yeah, mijo?”

“Why is Buck always tired?”

His dad pauses what he’s doing. His face is pinched. “What do you mean by that, Mijo?”

“He sleeps. All the time.” Chris whines. 

His dad smiles. “Well, he went through a lot, especially after the lightning. He got hit in the head pretty good, so his body is just trying to heal. The best way for a body to heal itself is through sleeping.”

“But in the middle of helping me with my project?” His dad raises an eyebrow at that. Chris knows it's an expression for him to continue, so he does. “We’re supposed to create a fake invention and make this presentation. He was helping me glue stuff to the board when he, I don’t know, passed out.”

His dad’s face scrunched in confusion. “Like passed out, passed out? As in, he fainted?”

“He does his little wobbly thing and then drops his head and falls asleep. It happened several times. I was just…I don’t know. Curious? You didn’t know?” Chris decides to pull out the video of Buck at the table, helping him with the project when it happens.

His dad gets worried. He rewatches the video multiple times. 

“If you swipe to the left, there’s more,” Chris says, surprising his dad. His dad listens, and the more he watches, the more he gets worried.

“Christopher, how long has this been happening?” he shrugs. “Since you brought him home from the hospital.”

“What?” his dad says incredulously.

“It’s why he started drinking more coffee and tea. He was trying to stay awake, but since you hid them, it happened more and more,” Chris tells his dad. 

His dad sits there, confused. “He never mentioned anything to me,” His dad says.

Chris rolls his eyes. “It’s Buck, Dad. It’s part of the reason why I never said anything. I didn’t want him to start hiding it.” His dad hands him back his phone. His dad knew he was right. Buck liked to hide things from people if he ever had an issue. “Please don’t say anything?”

“Mijo, this looks serious.”

“I-I know. And you can say something if it gets serious…” Chris mumbles, twiddling with the hem of his shirt.

He didn’t want Buck to get annoyed at him. The last thing Chris wanted was to be annoying to Buck. He didn’t want to seem like he was ratting him out, either.

“Look, I won’t say anything right away. I’ll keep a closer eye on him, okay? In the meantime, don’t delete these,” his dad says. “And thank you. For looking out for Buck.”

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“We need help! We’re in a mud pit, and we can’t get out, and it’s starting to rain real hard, and we’re freaking out! Please send someone quick!”

“Calm down, help is on the way.”

It had been nearly a month since the incident with the baseball, aside from Buck’s memory slip, getting lost in the house and especially when he’s out in public. (Eddie nearly had a panic attack at the grocery store. He turns his back to Buck for one second! And poof! Buck waddles off somewhere.) 

There had been a moment when Eddie dropped Buck off at Bobby’s because he had to take Chris to an appointment, and he didn’t want to tire Buck out. Athena had told Eddie later that Buck made Bobby cry cause he called his captain, Dad. Buck was hungry and wanted pancakes, but his brain fog and being in a different house confused him. But seeing the father figure in his life stand there settling Buck into the couch, he whined and asked, “Dad, can you make pancakes.” 

Bobby indeed made pancakes. He dropped his load of laundry, marched right into the kitchen, and made Buck's favorite. Eddie received a photo of Bobby standing with a stack of pancakes on a plate he held and Buck cave manning his stack and shoving them in his mouth. Buck later, Athena reports, proceeded to pass out in a spare bedroom.

As days pass, Buck is improving a lot. Buck starts to get agitated as he can’t return to work until he gets a clean bill of health from the doctors. When he finally does, he's ecstatic. He’s bouncing up and down with a massive smile on his face as he nearly skips into the firehouse and up the stairs, shoving the papers at Bobby, who looks at Buck fondly, listening to him go on and on about how the scan went and what the doctor said.

“He’s been playing memory games. I'm happy to say he’s been having no problem lately, Cap,” Hen says.

And if Buck had a tail and ears, the tail would wag with anticipation, ears perked up as he stood tall and smiley, waiting for Bobby’s approval. 

And damn, Bobby can’t tease him. It’s been nearly a month since.

“Fine.”

“Yes!”

“Starting next week! I already have this week's schedule filled,” Bobby says, causing Buck to hug the man. “Now come on. Lunch is nearly done. You can help.”

And the first several shifts, it was as if nothing had happened. A few were apprehensive, fearing that Buck would get his spells again, but nothing happened. 

This day, in particular, cloudy as it can be, the call ended up being nearly five or six hours long. Several people decided to dig a large hole and fill it with water to make a pool, but then, you know, dirt and water make mud. 

And then it started to rain, and people began to freak out.

Several people were stuck in a mud pit, trying to climb but failing. It was like a scene from Poltergeist, except there were no dead skeletons.

“Did you know that in the movie Poltergeist, they used real human skeletons in the swimming pool scene? They said it was too complicated and expensive to try and get fake ones. Replica didn’t exist back then. Tobe Hooper had previously done the same in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974. JoBeth Williams, the actress, wasn’t told til after the scene was finished. ”

Eddie, Hen, and Chim freeze. Glancing down, they spot several people stuck in the mud pit.

“That’s disturbing,” Chim comments. 

“I didn’t want to know that.” Hen makes a face. “Where the hell did they get human skeletons?”

“From Carolina Biological. A medical and science supply company that sold human skeletons mainly for use in medical schools back in the 1980s. JoBeth Williams spent four or five days shooting in that mud pit, screaming for scenes. After they finished, the actress and the crew were told the truth,” Buck rattles off with a huge smile. He doesn't notice Hen and Chim inching away.

“C’mon guys. As if anything like that would happen here. It’s a pretty new neighborhood, in the nice lavish part of the neighborhood,” Eddie tries to say.

“Have you seen Poltergeist?” Chim raises his eyebrow. “That’s literally the setting of the movie.”

Eddie shrugs. “I’m sure Buck hasn’t either.”

Buck jerks his head in indignation. “Hey, I have! During my probie days, with my roommates--”

“Guys!” Buck jumps at Bobby’s voice suddenly behind him, and thanks to the already wet and slanted ground, he ends up slipping and taking Chim down the mud pit with him. Chim grabs the nearest thing, Eddie’s ankle, and drags the man down as well.

Hen is smart enough to dodge and back up, and Bobby winces, looking abashed. 

“Sorry guys…” Bobby apologizes to the radio.

“Aren’t you guys supposed to save us?” one person had the gall to say. Eddie whips his head around, spitting mud out and anger fuming in his eyes.

“And whose bright idea was to make a huge mud pit on a downslope?!”

The guy shrinks. “...right…my bad.”

Eddie wipes the mud off his face, flinging it off his fingers. “I’m really starting to hate mud,”

“Well, at least you’re on top of the ground and not under it, Mud boy,” Chim says, trying to lighten the mood. He grins when Eddie whips his head to Chim, annoyed. 

“Shut up, Rebar," Eddie snaps, causing Chim to smirks. Eddie lightly shoves at Chim, causing the man to laugh.

Buck groans as he gets up. He glances at Eddie and Chim, and damn. Covered from head to toe in mud. “At least our pores are gonna look great,” he spits out mud and shifts from where he’s sitting. He makes a grossed-out expression. He’s pretty sure mud got in his pants.

Getting them out is challenging, as everyone's hands are covered in mud, and everything is too slick. Running a rope down the slope is impossible since it’s still raining. Nobody could use the rope to climb up, as everyone’s foot sinks into the mud as they try to climb up. Bobby is frustrated for sure. His firetruck got stuck in the mud for hours, and nearly all of his crew members were also stuck in the pit. When he finally manages to get the truck on solid ground, he ties a long rope and tells people to hold on to it as he gives Hen the signal to floor it. Finally, they manage to pull them all out. The rain then starts to pick up, downpouring. It causes a girl to slip off, and Buck instinctively lets go of the rope to catch her. They both tumble to the bottom of the pit again. Buck curses, landing partially on a rock, but cushions the girl’s fall.

“Buck?!” Eddie shouts in concern, popping his head to look off the side.

“I-I’m fine!” Buck responds. He checks on the girl, who stirs and moans in pain.

“Shit--” she spat to the side, causing Buck to panic when he saw blood.

“Are you okay?” Buck asks.

“Bit my lip real good. I’ll be fine,” she blinks, realizing where she is, and blushes when she finally notices she's sitting on top of him. “Shoot, I’m so sorry.” She says, scrambling to get off of him. She flinches when she tries to get up and hisses in pain.

“Here, just--” Buck maneuvers both of them so he carries her in his arms. The water starts to pool quickly, and things aren't looking good.

“Uh, sir!” the girl shouts as she smacks his back. Buck glances at her and glances at where she is pointing--shit!

Buck tries to scramble out of the way when the ground above them starts to give. His feet are stuck, and he has no choice. "Hold your breath!" He ducks under just before it makes an impact. 

“Back up! Back up, there’s a mudslide!” Bobby orders, ushering everyone to get back as soon as possible. "Buck!"

“Buck?!” Eddie shouts. He looks down, not seeing Buck at all. He panics, seeing the fresh ground landing where Buck had just been. "No, no--Buck!" he shouts, but the rain drowns their voices.

“Buck, report!” Bobby shouts. His heart settles when Buck pops back up with the girl, spitting mud to the side and inhaling. He looks up, letting the rain wash the mud from his face. He's entirely covered in mud. 

Buck spits mud out, glancing down at the girl, trying to scrub the mud from her face. “I’m fine! Hurry and get us out, please?!” Buck shouts. 

“We’re working on it!”

The girl starts to shiver, and Buck holds her close. “Hey, things will be alright,” he assures her.

“Thanks for not leaving me by myself.”

“Of course. I’ll keep you safe,” Buck promises. 

“How are you not freezing?” The girl asks.

“I am. I’m also imagining myself in a hot tub later and that this is just the pre-pore cleaning before soaking,” Buck says, shivering slightly. “Trying not to think about it.”

“Ok, we’re throwing the rope and harness down! You know what to do!” Chim shouts. 

Buck sits the girl down and quickly puts on the harness. He picks her back up, adjusting her so she's holding on like a koala. She carefully wraps her arms around his neck and legs around his torso so she won’t hurt her ankle. As long as he held onto the girl-- “shit, wait! I think I see someone down here!” Buck shouts. He unclips himself quickly and checks on the figure he spotted floating, knocked out. He couldn’t see much, but the little peek of red caught his eye.

“Buck, hurry it up!”

“Ok!” He doesn't have enough time, but he manages to wrap an arm around the person’s stomach, swim back to the rope, and clips himself back onto the rope. Holding onto both people tightly, Buck shouts to pull him up. It's over rather quickly. The rope drags him until he's far away from the mud pit. 

The pulling stops. Buck shakes his head. He sets the unconscious body to the side while he pats the girl who still holds on and assures her everything is okay now. “Are you ok?” Buck asks the girl. “Anything hurt?”

“Thank you!” she says, untangling herself and flinching at her ankle. “I think I messed my ankle up.”

“You’re welcome. Let’s get you checked out, ok? You’re still shivering pretty badly,” Buck says. He got up, handing her over to Eddie. Buck nods to Eddie, flashing him a smile. Eddie simply stares at Buck, nodding. He looks as if he wants to say something but turns before Buck can ask. 

Buck stops as he glances down at the red-hooded person next to him. Shit, shit. 

He hoped she didn’t inhale any water or mud. Buck flips the body over and shouts in panic.

He downright screams, and he’s sure he hit some high notes. Eddie jumps, startled at his partner's scream. He whips his head over to Buck, who scrambles back from the red-hooded figure he drugs up with the girl.

“Buck?! What, what?!” Eddie ran over to him. Chim and Bobby had run over when they heard Buck scream like a girl.

“Oh, whoa,” Chim gapes as he approaches the red-hooded figure. “Uh, Cap? We’ve gotta a problem,” Chim glances at Bobby, who is confused. He makes a face as he approaches and pulls the hair away from the...body's face. “She’s dead. For a while now,” Chim says grimly.

“This is 118 to dispatch. We’re going to need LAPD over at our location. We found a dead body,” Bobby reports

“A really dead body,” Chim says.

“Chimney.”

“Sorry.”

The ride back is quiet. They had quickly jumped into the truck, Bobby doing his best to crank the heat up. Everyone is wrapped in blankets, but that doesn’t do much. Everyone is still shivering from being in the rain and mud for hours. Buck more, after being in the pool longer and nearly drowning.

Buck winces, feeling mud in places he didn’t want to feel.

"The fact that they found out there was an old grave and that the body Buck 'saved' had been one of the bodies buried," Chim shudders. 

"Some rich asshole built a whole new block on top of an old graveyard and only moved the tombstones," Hen drones. "Then you three fall in the pool, Buck falls in again and nearly drowns after the mudslide, and then a body pops up." Hen looks at them. "Sound familiar?"

Eddie looks at them with exasperation. "Oh, come on, it's just a coincidence." 

"That's a little too on the nose, Eds," Buck says somberly. "I really hope the family takes action. Imagine being left behind like that."

"Or imagine someone thinking they're visiting someone they love, and it turns out they're not there," Hen says.

Buck listens to the three, talking back and forth. His hearing gets muffled, and he attempts to blink, the sudden heavy feeling creeping up on his eyes. He’s exhausted. All of his energy left his body. He’s not surprised after spending hours being stuck in a mud pit and too many people freaking out and trying to get out. 

It feels like blood is rushing through his ears. His eyes threatened to shut. He feels the sudden exhaustion, the heavy drag of slumber yanking at him.

They’re on their way back to the firehouse. They’ll be off rotation for a few hours to give them time to scrub all the mud out and scrub themselves clean and warm up. So Buck closes his eyes for a quick nap. He nudges his knee at Eddie. “Hey, wake me when we get there?”

Eddie opens his mouth, about to say something, but pauses when he sees the sudden exhaustion in Buck’s face. 

“Yeah, I got you,” Eddie nudges him back. Buck grunts, relaxing as he falls asleep.

Buck jumps as he feels Eddie shake him awake. His breath hitches, caught in his throat in mild panic as he looks around confusingly.

“Whoa, whoa! Buck, It’s me!” Eddie says. “You fell asleep, remember? We just made it back. C’mon, let's hit the showers.”

Buck blinks, rubbing the sleep awake from his eyes. It lingers, creeping up on him as he showers. His body is sluggish. He feels heavy and has to fight to remember what he is about to do next. 

Right.

Shower. Clean.

Buck sits on the bench, hands trembling and trying to grab stuff out of his bag, mainly for his hair, but he can't find the energy to care. 

Curly, it is. 

He huffs as he strips, making his way into the shower. He doesn't realize he's leaning on the wall until Eddie places a hand on the back of his neck.

"Come on, wouldn't want you to turn pruney," Eddie says gently. He nudges at Buck, and all Buck wants to do is curl up into Eddie right now. He lets out a long sigh, blinking slowly as he nods and starts to wash the mud off him slowly.

He takes too long, he realizes. Eddie must have taken pity as he starts to scrub at his back, getting the mud caked on out. Buck nearly moans when he feels Eddie's fingers dig into his scalp and wash his hair for him.

"Eddie--" he sighs, nearly slurring out.

"Almost done. Then you can rest, okay?" Buck whines but starts to finish washing the rest of his body. 

He thinks he hears something as he sticks his hand down between his ass. "Stupid mud," he mutters.

After they're both finished, Eddie drags him out and dries him off. Buck's body starts to feel like lead. He should feel embarrassed, perhaps later when he realizes his best friend helped shower him and put his clothes on for him.

"Alright, Buck. Think you can drag yourself to the nearest available flat object to sleep on?" Eddie's voice warms his ears. It feels like a warm blanket around Buck. He snaps his eyes open when Eddie shakes him awake. 

"Hmm--" Buck responds, weakly standing up. He drags himself to where everyone else is, finally. Eddie walks over to the kitchen, probably finding something to snack on, and ends up chatting with Bobby. He sees Hen in a chair and Chim on the sofa.

Sofa.

Buck steers himself towards it, plopping down and not caring about the grunt of pain when his body is knocked into Chim’s. His arm was thrown across Chim’s lap, head shoved to his brother-in-law’s side as he nestled his head and let his eyelids pull down, letting his body go limp and only giving a grunt back because that's all the energy he can muster as a response to Chim. He can’t even hear what the man is saying. Everything sounds like mush.

“Buck, the bunks are open. A nice mattress and pillows and a blanket. A dark room.” Chim says. 

“Fffaarr,” he says breathlessly. “J-jjuust a min--” he grunts again and finally passes out.

Chim blinks, suddenly having his lap nearly occupied.

“Wow, he didn’t even have enough energy to do his hair as quickly as usual,” Chim says, running his fingers through the man’s semi-wet curls. Buck makes a noise as Chim softly cards his fingers through his hair. The man curls his arm, pulling Chim closer. “Don’t worry, Buck, I’m not going anywhere,” Chim whispers, rubbing small comforting circles into the blonde’s back.

Hen cackles. Everyone knows Buck turns into an octopus when he sleeps. “I’m sending these to the group chat,” Hen grins. She knew her wife, Maddie, and Athena would enjoy the photo. They jump when Buck starts to snore lightly. 

Chim whistles. “Damn, he’s knocked out. Rather quick, to be honest. That must’ve taken a lot out of him.” Chim spots the concern on Hen’s face as she lowers her phone into her lap. “What?” he asks. 

“You don’t think…” Hen glances at Chim. “It’s a side effect from the lightning? I could tell he gets tired pretty quickly now ever since.”

“Well, he did just come back from a pretty bad concussion,” Bobby points out. “He’s had a few, and all of us did, but that was the first time it was ever that bad for him.”

The two nod. It’s true. They had never seen Buck so lost and his memory slipping that bad. He will never admit that Buck forgetting who Chim was for a split second hurt deep in his heart. 

Chim glances down at Buck. “He didn’t seem any different earlier. He was the same energetic, usual self until we all loaded back on the truck, and that's probably when all the exhaustion hit him. I know I got tired pretty quick after the rebar,” Chim pauses momentarily. “But I never experienced dying. Bouncing back from dying has got to be hard. His body’s probably trying to keep up.”

Eddie approaches, silently observing Buck and giving him a look over. Chim could see the man wanting to say something but keeping it to himself. He wants to pester but doesn’t want to push Eddie into a corner, either.

“Those three minutes and seventeen seconds and then the bad concussion he came back from? I don’t blame him for being exhausted so easily,” Eddie adds. “Just let him nap til dinner is done. Hey, at least he’s not--”

A loud snore erupted from Buck, who wrapped his arm tighter around Chim. 

“--snoring loudly.” Eddie finishes. He bites his cheek, trying hard not to laugh.

“He doesn’t drool, does he?”

Eddie shrugs. “How would I know?”

“Cause you two are besties. Don’t lie to us and say you don’t know.” Chim gives him a look. 

Eddie rolls his eyes. “He doesn’t.”

Chim sighs. He can’t help but card his fingers through his hair, eliciting a slight noise from Buck. “An adorable puppy you are,” he comments. “Well, I, for one, think someone should switch places with me. As much as I love him, I am but a small man, and my legs are going numb.”

Buck sighs, feeling fingers gently scratch his scalp. He nuzzles into the feeling, making a slight noise when the fingers stop. There was a gentle shake and a chuckle when he tightens his hold around the source of warmth in his arms.

“Thank you for your sacrifice,” Buck could hear as he slowly came to.

“I don’t think it’s a sacrifice if he’s enjoying.”

“Knock it off. You’re going to wake him up.”

“Hnnn…” Buck whines out.

“See?” a sigh. “C’mon, sleepy head. It’s time to get up.” Oh, Eddie’s voice. 

Buck’s eyes flutter open. His vision is entirely blurry. He grunts, using one arm to rub at his eyes. His other arm still curled around the warm in front of him. Buck blinks a few more times before his vision clears. “Hmm?” He grunts as he stretches his legs out, moaning as his bones pop. He sighs after his cat stretches, his body limp and lazy.

Chim snorts. “Buck, you gotta wake up. Nap time is over.”

“No,” he pouts, throwing an arm back around and possessively holding the warmth closer to him when it tries to escape. He feels fingers card through his hair again, gaining a happy noise from Buck.

“Come on, Buck, we gotta get up,” he hears Eddie chuckle.

We?

Buck opens his eyes again, finally glancing down and seeing Eddie curled up with him on the couch. “Eds?” he says sleepily. He blinks confusingly. He doesn’t remember falling asleep near the man. He lets go of Eddie, not commenting on the loss of warmth that comforted him. “Sorry.”

“You’re fine, Buck. You were out for an hour and a half. I saved a plate for you before everyone else dug in,” Eddie says as he sits up. 

“Aw, man. Nobody woke me up?” Buck says, slurring slightly. 

“Once, but you fell asleep right after.” Eddie sticks his hand out towards Buck, who blinks owlishly. Buck takes his hand and allows himself to be pulled up.

Buck yawns. 

“Food?” he blinks sleepily.

“C’mon.” Eddie beckons him over to the table.