Monday: Blanket, movie night, "I've got you"
(Warning for nightmare ❤️)
It was an interesting set of events to say the least. Maddie was gone for an overnight 'girl's trip' while Jee and Robert were staying the night with their grandparents.
Chimney had the whole house to himself. Atleast, he did. Until a movie night changed that.
After stepping back into living area, he chucked one of the blankets he had at the familiar blonde haired firefighter. "Here."
It took a second for Buck to tug the fabric off his head, popping all of his frazzled curls up with them. He gave his brother-in-law a glare.
"Don't mention it." Chimney plopped down beside him. "Okay so if we start now, we should be finished with all of them by 3 pm tomorrow."
A groan left the younger firefighter while he plopped his head back.
"Come on. It's a right of passage." Chimeny hit play. "Everyone has to sit through the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings at some point."
"Why don't we just watch one tonight and finish the rest later?"
"Because we have an entire uninterrupted evening with nowhere to go tomorrow." Chim snagged a handful of popcorn before settling back. "Might as well knock them all out once."
"Come on." The dark haired paramedic nudged his brother-in-law. "Biblo and Frodo will have you captured in no time."
With a final huff, Buck finally lifted his head enough to see the title screen. And lifted his hand enough to snatch up some of the popcorn before Chimney ate it all.
He hated to admit it, but the more he watched, the more he got into it. Normally, sitting through movies was difficult. It was hard to follow along without feeling like he had seen the whole plot somewhere else before. This one just instantly had his attention.
And he hated how upset he was when it ended. "What?"
Then he felt the smirk. Of course he had said that out loud.
Buck grumbled, sinking further into his seat. "Just play the second movie."
Without looking away, Chimney grabbed the remote. "Glad you asked."
Buck made a face, grabbing one of the throw pillows to smack his brother-in-law in the face with it. It was worth the return smack he got.
However, it wasn't long before they were once more sucked back into the Hobbit journey. Both of them fell silent as they watched the action unfold, broken up by the occasional random facts Chimney felt the need to add.
"Did you know that neither of these were written as a trilogy?"
Buck's brows furrowed together. "Isn't The Lord of the Rings sold as trilogy?"
"Because of marketing." Chim popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth. "Made it easier to sell."
"Hm." Buck's attention drifted back to the screen. "Interesting."
"Good thing we're watching the extended version."
". . . There's another version?"
"Yeah. The wrong one and the right one."
"Why is it the right one?"
Chimney motioned to the screen. "Watch and you'll see."
Buck answered with a huff.
This went back and forth for hours as they went from one movie to the next.
And once they were done with The Hobbit, they moved over to The Lord of the Rings to do the same process all over again.
Buck squinted at the screen. "So is Frodo Bilbo's son?"
"No." Chimney finished yawning. "Bilbo never married. Frodo's his nephew."
"Then why does he get the ring?"
"There's a few things at play, but basically he's Bilbo's favorite family member."
Buck shrugged and yawned this time. "Guess that's makes sense."
The two then settled back, but it was getting harder to stay awake.
By the time they reached the second Lord of the Rings movie, Chimney's facts started coming less and Buck's questions were few.
To keep himself up, Chimey kept blinking hard and opening his eyes wide. Their shift had made them start the movies later than he wanted and now they were both starting to doze.
So the black haired paramedic forced his eyes open again. "Did you know . . .?"
Buck cracked his eyes open, waiting for the yawn to finish.
Chimney shook his head. "Sorry. Did you know . . . that . . . what was I saying again?"
A second later, Buck's eyes slipped back shut. "Don't know."
Chimney's own eyes closed with a small hum. "Maybe we . . . should . . .?"
And with that, both of them slipped off to sleep.
When Chimney woke back up, he had no idea how late it was. All he knew is he was in his darkened living room with a half eaten popcorn bowl at his feet.
He blinked again then shifted his eyes around. His body had slipped off the couch back and onto Buck's back. It was surprisingly more comfortable than he thought, but why was he awake?
That's when the back he was resting on shifted, a stream of frantic murmuring following.
Chimney yanked himself up. He got a good look at the younger firefighter in the dim moonlight. Buck was still asleep, but he didn't look peaceful.
He was curled on his side away from Chim. His shoulders were hunched up to his ears while his facial features were heavily pinched. Again, he let out a stream of murmurs that were extremely frantic and definitely louder than before.
It made the paramedic grab the blonde's arm to give him a gentle shake. "Buck . . . Buck."
With a sharp intake of breath, Buck shot up. His eyes and face going wide.
"Hey." Chim gave him another shake to ground him. "You okay?"
"Y-yeah," Buck choked out.
The trembling under the paramedic's arm said otherwise. "You sure?"
"Yeah . . . I-I think so?"
Meanwhile, Buck plopped back down with a little huff. "Forget it."
"Well then how am I supposed to forget it?" The paramedic asked, not being able to stop the sarcastic tone that slipped out.
"Just . . . do!" Buck yanked his arm away then snatched up the throw pillow from earlier to hug to his chest. "Go back to sleep."
After a once over, the paramedic went back to his brother-in-law's arm. "Nope."
Chimney tugged again. "Get over here."
That pulled a scowl out of the blonde as he yanked his arm away. "I am not cuddling you."
"You can cuddle the pillow for all I care." Chimney pulled again. "Just get over here."
A frustrated 'hmp' answered the paramedic before Buck's weight crashed into his chest. "Fine."
After getting his breath back, Chim flicked the younger's forehead.
In response, Buck hit one of his arms before it was tightly gripping the pillow. He then shifted into a more comfortable spot, a scowl still on his face.
Chimney didn't say anything at first. He let the blonde settle then got his arm around his shoulders. "You want to talk about it?"
The paramedic shrugged. "That's fine."
"Don't apologize." Chim fished the remote back out of the blanket. "Want to go back to sleep or take your mind off of it?"
Buck curled up a little tighter. "Can you restart the movie?"
Chimney did. "Frodo and friends have your attention now?"
"Admit it. I was right, and your whining was all for nothing."
"Sure sounded like it to me." The older paramedic motioned to the screen. "Now shut up. The movie's starting."
"We've seen this part already."
"Shhh." The older paramedic covered the younger's mouth with his hand. "Let's watch it again."
The blonde scowled then shoved his hand away. "You get to talk."
"That's because I'm the expert."
"In what? Useless trivia?"
"It's not useless." The older paramedic pointed to the screen. "Now shush."
With an eye roll that was almost audible, Buck finally turned his attention back to the action. No way he would admit Chimney had been right about something . . . but he was really enjoying these movies. There was just something comforting and nostalgic about them. And he hadn't even seen them before.
Also something he would never admit, but he loved the position he 'subtly' shifted into. The older paramedic's muffled heartbeat was now thrumming in one ear while the movie played in the other. It drowned out the lingering echoes from his nightmare, filling his soul with that same comforting feeling.
But again, he would never ever admit it to Chim. The older paramedic would never let him live it down without a good deal of teasing.
So he stayed quiet to watch the action unfold on screen, ignoring the comforting feeling of being close to the man he considered to be an older brother.
And he was determined to stay awake this time. No matter how warm he felt.
No matter how heavy his eyelids started to feel.
For a second time that night, Buck startled awake.
"Hey." A hand rubbed up and down his back. "You're okay. I've got you."
The exhaustion tugged on him again, even as he tried to keep alert. His eyes blinked open and closed several times.
Then Chim started humming. It was a low tune that rumbled into Buck's ear, soothing his tired muscles further. It took his tired mind a moment to recognize the Misty Mountain song from the first Hobbit movie and even longer for him to realize it was actually lulling him to sleep. The last thing he wanted to do.
"I've got you. You're save with me," Chim assured again before going back to humming.
Buck's eyes fell shut and refused to open. All he managed to murmur out was a "Thanks bro."
There was a pause followed by a gentle shoulder squeeze. "Love you too."
Then Buck slipped off to sleep for good.
