So... I haven’t actually been active in... any fandom in years, and this is the first time I write anything in close to a decade, but I have fallen in love with 9-1-1 and head over heels with Buddie, and this little (2700 words) one-shot wouldn’t leave me alone. Who knows, maybe it’ll be another decade before I write anything again!
Title: Crazy Alex
Summary: Just another day in L.A. An accident, a rescue, Buck comes out (accidentally?) and everything involves a crazy ex, because of course Buck 1.0 would have one.
9-1-1, what is your emergency?
It was just another Los Angeles day for the 118. A call had arrived early in the morning, a car crash that had caused a pile-up on the 110.
"LAFD, coming through, please", the voice of captain Nash could be heard over the crowd, as the squad made their way through the cars under the smoldering California sun.
"What do we have, Cap?” asked Hen, walking closely to Chimney, both looking around for injured civilians.
"Male, early thirties, still conscious. Apparently he hit the wheel with his head"
"Airbag?" asked Chimney, as they got closer to the car where an injured man was moaning in pain, blood on his forehead.
"Didn't open" Bobby answered, turning around to his team.
"Well, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen" Chim replied, as Hen got closer to the driver's window and gave three knocks to call for the man's attention.
"Sir, what is your name?"
"A - Alex. My name is Alex"
"Alex, listen. Everything is going to be okay, we'll get you out of there".
"My head. It hurts real bad"
Hen gave a try to the passenger's door, but it wouldn't budge. She looked at Bobby and shook her head slightly, giving him to understand that they would need more help with the car.
"All right," Bobby began, taking charge, "Chimney, make the rounds, check for others that might be injured," at this, Chimney nodded, quickly replying "Sure, Cap", and left the scene.
"Eddie, Buck," he called on the radio to the other two firefighters that had stayed behind, trying to help release traffic, "I need you here with the jaws of life"
"Coming, Cap" could be heard as the answer.
______________________________________________________________
"I'm just saying, you need to let it go, man," Buck trailed after Eddie, continuing an argument that had started in truck. The older man was making his way through the cars, very decidedly not looking at Buck.
"I can't just let it go, Buck. You can't expect me to be okay with... that. After I specifically asked you not to!"
"Seriously? C'mon Eddie, it was just one time." Buck was saying as he ran to catch up with his friend, trying to see his expression as they spoke.
"One time is all it takes."
"It was for fun"
"Yeah?" Eddie said, turning his face to the side to better see the shit-eating grin on Buck's face "Well, the next time Christopher decides to start singing that song at 11 pm, I'm sending him to your place. I tried so hard to avoid Frozen, man, I swear to God..." he trailed off as they reached the scene. It was a man with a bump in his head, a piece of cake considering some of the things they had both seen, but Eddie turned around to see Buck turn as white as a sheet in record time.
"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked, their earlier mock argument forgotten as he got closer to his friend. Eddie's earnest voice shook Buck off his stupor, and he smiled, not too convincingly.
"Yeah, yeah, everything's okay, just... can you take this from here? I'll... check if Chim needs some help, you know, it seems you guys got this" Buck answered, as he started quickly retreating from the scene.
"Buck..."
"I'll explain later!" he yelled, already two cars away from them.
Shaking his head, Eddie turned around and got to work, prying open the door from the car. Once free to enter the vehicle, Hen quickly stabilized the man's neck and checked him for concussion.
"Is you vision blurred, Alex? Do you feel any nausea?" she asked, after checking his eyes with her lantern.
"No, no, it just hurts, my head. Hey, firefighter... Wilson is it?" the man, Alex, said as he read her tag, "the firefighter that just left... was it Evan Buckley, by any chance?"
"Um..." she said, turning to look at Eddie. For his part, Buck's reaction was starting to cause some suspicion, but before he could say anything, Hen answered,
"Yeah, that was him. You know him?"
"Oh, yeah," Alex smiled, talking as they got him out of the car, "we are old friends. But I haven't seen him in such a long time! It's too bad he couldn't stay to catch up."
"Well, we are pretty swamped, Alex," Eddie replied, "he has to keep working. We'll... tell him you said hi."
Privately, Eddie figured if Buck had wanted to catch up with this guy, he wouldn't have run as if he had a hellhound on his tail. There was definitely a story there, and, he resolved, one he would pry out of his friend the moment they got back to the firehouse.
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The reckoning was not to be, however. After the pile-up, they received a call about a mansion burning down in Beverly Hills, which came with a newly separated couple blaming each other for the fire, and the woman demanding they went back in the house for her jewels. After that, came a children birthday party gone wrong, with the kids attacking the clown who then fell on top of the table with the cake, breaking the table and getting stabbed by a piece of wood. Finally, two golfers had accused each other of cheating, and one had tried to run over the other with the golf car, missing him and falling on the artificial lake in the course.
Safe to say, by the time they all got back to the firehouse, they were exhausted. All they wanted to do was have some dinner and rest until the next emergency, or until their shift ended, whatever came first. The Alex guy was out of Eddie's mind as they all sat around, ready to try Bobby's next gourmet dish. That is, until they heard a voice calling from below.
"Hello? Is anybody here?"
Everyone at the table looked at each other, half curious and half annoyed their dinner had been interrupted. Bobby left the table and leaned over the railing. Standing in the middle of the station was Alex, the guy from the car accident.
"Can we help you?" Bobby asked.
"Hi, Captain. I'm Alex... you guys rescued me this morning?"
"Yes, I remember you," was the captain's reply, with a small smile on his face and merriment obvious in his tone to those who knew him.
"I was looking for Evan? Evan Buckley? I saw him on the scene today, and I asked around and they said he worked at the 118?"
At this, Bobby heard a whispered Bobby, no! coming from Buck, who had all but hidden behind the table. He was crossing his arms in the air, mouthing no repeatedly. Bobby raised his eyebrow questioning, but Buck only made a gesture with his hands to signify he would explain later. Taking pity on him, Captain Nash turned around to answer the man.
"I'm sorry Alex, but Buck is not here at the moment. Can I deliver a message for him?"
Alex looked visibly deflated, but only a moment later he looked up and smiled brightly.
"No, that's okay! I'll just drop by later! Thank you, Captain Nash! Have a good night"
Bobby stared as Alex turned around and left the station, and then, he went back to the table, arms crossed around his chest, an amused look on his face as he stared down at Buck, still hidden behind the table.
"Explain"
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Buck was sitting in the couch, looking at his team as they sat around him, expecting the explanation he had promised them for after they finished their dinner. Eddie and Bobby were sitting at each side of him, while Hen and Chimney had sat in front of them. No one spoke until Hen said impatiently.
"Well?!"
All Buck did was look at all of them, one by one, reading their faces until he finally said,
"Oh, c'mon guys, I thought you had made the connection already."
No one answered him.
"Really? No one?" he said, unbelieving.
"What connection, Buckaroo?" Chimney replied, still not understanding what the young man was talking about.
"Guys, that was Alex!" he exclaimed, "Crazy Alex? I'm sure I told you that story"
"No, wait," Hen said, after a second, shaking her head as if trying to bring back the memory, "I remember that story, Crazy Alex... but wasn't that a crazy ex that texted you every hour and wanted you to meet her parents after you hooked up twice? And told you she loved you chasing after you, after you literally ran away, with your pants around your ankles?"
"Yeah!" Buck exclaimed, happy someone had gotten it. "Except it was his parents, but yeah, that was Crazy Alex!"
The four of them just stared at Buck. For a moment, the firehouse was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was Eddie who broke the silence.
"But... that was a guy."
"Um... yeah..." Buck replied, not understanding Eddie's surprise.
"Whoa, wait wait wait wait," Chimney exclaimed, standing up, "Buck, are you telling us you are bi?"
"Sure, but... you guys knew that already, didn't you?"
"What?! No, we didn't know that, Buck!" Hen yelled, at the same time Chim said in a low voice "Wow, so many things are starting to make sense now". For their part, Eddie and Bobby looked at each other, stunned.
"But, how could you not know? I talked about guys I dated before! Alex? Charlie? Hot Nicky? You have to remember that one!"
"Do you really not see where the confusion might have come from, man?" Chimney asked, sitting down again.
Buck thought about it for a while, replaying the names in his head,
"Oh... yeah...but... there were pronouns! Weren't there?" He said, confused. Hen shook her head, one part amused and a lot exasperated.
"Well... Bobby knew!" Buck said, pointing at his captain with an expectant look on his face. Bobby shook his head, "I had no idea, Buck."
"Seriously? Cap, you told me off for flirting with a guy on one of our calls!"
"When?"
"Tapeworm guy, with the thing coming out of his...?"
"Wait, that was flirting?" Bobby interrupted, thoroughly entertained, "You were discussing healthy food and comparing body mass index!"
Hen snorted, "Seriously, you did that? Yeah, Cap, that was peak gay flirting right there"
"Wait a minute" Eddie said, interjecting, "you flirted with a guy with a tapeworm coming out of his ass?"
"He was hot!" Buck defended himself, "and I flirted with him before we saw the tapeworm" Buck paused and looked around him, looking a bit lost and a lot confused, "Wait a minute... did I just... accidentally come out to you guys?"
At this, they all laughed, and Hen got up and hugged her friend, still smiling while saying "Yes you did, Buckaroo. And we love you and we are proud of you."
"You know," said Buck, once Hen had let him go, staring at Chimney, "I'm surprised Maddie never said anything to you."
"She must have assumed I knew. And, believe it or not, we don't really talk a lot about you Buck." Chimney said, laughing while avoiding the chips Buck started throwing at him.
"So, what do we do about this Alex guy?" said Eddie at last once everyone had settled down, "is there any danger, Buck?"
"Want me to let Athena know, kid?" Bobby added.
At this, Buck just shook his head. "No, there is really no need. He is just, you know, the usual crazy, not psycho crazy. Once he realizes I'm ignoring him, he'll go away. Trust me, I tried talking to the guy before. Makes it worse."
They all looked at each other, unconvinced.
"As long as you know what you are doing, Buck."
______________________________________________________________
Crazy Alex showed up at the firehouse the next day, thankfully when they were on a call, and did not show up again for the next three days, so everyone thought perhaps he had understood the unspoken rejection. It was a Friday night, and the shift was just ending. Bobby and Hen were heading out to their homes, to have dinner with their respective families. Meanwhile, Buck was leaving to pick up Christopher. He had offered for babysitting duty, as Eddie had picked up a few extra hours that week.
"Thanks again for this, Buck", Eddie told him, as Buck was heading for his car.
"Hey, you know I adore Chris. I love spending time with the little guy, and I promise, no Disney movies with catchy songs."
"I appreciate that more than you know" Eddie replied, clapping Buck in the shoulder. "Have fun, and text me if you need anything."
"I will, and I'll have more fun than you! You are stuck with Chimney for a couple more hours" Buck added in a loud voice, pointing at Chimney who was looking at them from the upper floor, and who made a rude gesture with his hand in answer.
"Bye, man." Eddie waved, and waited until Buck's car was out of sight before going back inside with Chimney, who was picking up some extra hours himself (he wouldn't tell anyone what he needed the money for, but they all had a bet going on that it was for a special and expensive ring).
It was turning out to be a very quiet evening. Most of the firefighters were in their bunks, snacking, or otherwise distracted. Chimney and Eddie were playing Mario Kart when they heard it, a voice from the floor below, like the last time.
"Hello? Anybody in?"
Not believing their ears, both men looked out to see Crazy Alex (they could not think about him as just Alex anymore), looking up with a smile on his face.
"He really doesn't give up, does he?" Chim muttered.
"Someone needs to put a stop to this," Eddie said, turning around and leaving the railing.
"I agree, but you heard Buck, he says talking with him will make it worse"
Eddie stared down, thinking, until he said, "Maybe it doesn't need to be Buck the one to talk to him. I know this kind of guy, that think if someone is available it's free game. I got this". And then he went down the stairs, ignoring the whispered "Eddie!" from Chimney.
Walking down with his best Army posture, Eddie slowly approached Crazy Alex, making sure to keep his arms crossed and his face as unfriendly as possible.
"Can I help you?"
Crazy Alex, who was not as tall nor as built as Eddie, looked up to the man, visibly intimidated.
"I was looking for Evan?"
At this, Eddie took a step closer, invading the other man's space.
"Buck is not here. He's home, looking after our son after a long shift." At this, Alex's eyes widened.
"You know," Eddie continued, somehow managing to make himself look taller, "my husband, he's told me all about you. You wouldn't leave him alone for months after he told you he wasn't interested. You better take a hint, man, because I don't like people messing with my family, got it?"
Alex gulped, "Uh, sure man, listen... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes..."
"If you had, you would have wished you had stayed on that car we saved you from".
"I should..." And without finishing the sentence, Crazy Alex turned and practically run out of the station. Eddie turned around with a smile, to see Chimney who had gone down the stairs and was on the other side of the floor, looking at him with a smirk on his face.
"Was that too much?"
"I don't know, but I think it worked," Chimney said, still smirking, "don't think he'll be showing his face around here again".
Eddie started to walk back, intent on going upstairs again, when Chimney said,
"So, your husband? I'm not saying it was a bad idea," he added, raising his hands in defense "just... curious."
"It worked," Eddie said, already reaching the ladder and walking up, "and also, I think it's best if this stays between us"
"Oh, I don't know," Chimney added with a laugh, yelling after him, "I think it's a great story to tell the guys later, don't you think?"
Eddie didn't stop, just kept going upstairs as he said,
"They'll never find your body, Chim!"
