buck is doing his whole "i'm baking becuse i want to call him" thing but for eddie. becuse it's like 4 am in texas right now and buck KNOWS eddie is probably sleeping but he misses eddie and they haven't talked on the phone for like 2 weeks becuse they are on oppistes firehouse scedules (eddie's on shift when buck's off and vice versa) and buck keeps thinking of calling him at in-oppurtune times. and he obvpusly doesn't want to bother eddie a ton, like, he doesn't want to be super needy (even though he IS needy for eddie). and so he bakes.
and it's super late, and he's had a shit day, and he misses eddie and it HURTS like a cracked tooth. and so he decidceds to make some cookies. He has some cookie dough in the fridge, (that he made not to bake but to EAT SADLY in it's un-baked form) and he rolls them out into balls and places them on a tray. This is the same cookie recipie for the ones he baked for eddie before eddie left, and that just makes him want to call again. he feels like all hus bones are lead, hes barely stumbling through the very simple steps, limbs tired. and just as he puts his cookies into the oven, his wrist accedntly touches the oven door.
"Motherfucker!" buck exlaims as he pulls it away. He shuts the oven door, hit's start on the timer, and them promptly bursts into tears. it's one of those "everything is going wrong and today is a terrible horrible no good very bad day" type cry. it's childish and simple.
just then, his phone rings. He jumps when he relizes that it's eddie's ring tone- scrambling to pick it up. To just hear his voice. It's a little pathetic, Buck thinks. like everything else about tonight.
"Hey buck, i didn't wake you, did i?" eddie's voice comes through the phone. A new wave of tears wells up in buck's eyes.
"...hey eddie." Buck snuffles.
"Are you okay???" eddie's asked, overwhelmingly alarmed.
"I just burned myself," Buck says. "i'm gonna be fine. it just hurts." His phone buzzes again, eddie requesting a face time call. He accepts it.
"Lemme see." eddie insists, and buck does just that, flipping the camera and showing eddie the burn on his wrist. "Okay, it's not bad. probably a first degree burn. It's going to be okay buck." and... fuck.
the thing is, buck is also a firefighter. He knew the burn was superficial. He knew that he was going to be fine. Eddie didn't have to tell him that... but he did. From anyone else, Buck might actualy take offense. But he knew that eddie wasn't being condesending. Eddie was reassuring buck, like he always did becuse he cared about buck. and from eddie, it did actualy make buck feel better, honestly. His words were like a soothing balm for buck's soul. (FUCK, he's so gone for this man. If eddie never wanted him buck might actualy stop dating forever. No one can take care of him like eddie can, and it wouldn't be fair to any other partner buck might have, considering how he would always be eddie's.)
"Do you still have that first aid kit in the house?" Eddie asks.
"Mhm." Buck says. He sniffles again, but he's not realy crying anymore.
"Okay, good. Go get it." Eddie tells him, in that calm dad tone he always uses, and buck feels safe. They go on like that, eddie telling him what to do and genuintly reassuring him, buck following instructions and letting eddie's prescense wash over himself.
when they are finaly done, and buck is all bandaged up and eating the cookies he went through so much trouble for, he finaly gets it in his head to ask, "Uh... eddie? what were you calling for in the first place? isn't it super late in texas?"
Eddie pulls a face, like he doesn't like the anser, like he's tasted something rotten. "I had a feeling that something bad was happening to you. something in my chest. I was hyping myself up to face you laughing at me, but when you picked up you were crying, so..."
"You had a feeling?" Buck says, a little smile creeping onto his face. "or was it maybe.... a premnition?"
eddie groaned. "Don't do that to me buck. or i'll call you every hour of every day at any twinge of anxiety that you are doing something stupid or reckless."
"I wouldn't mind..." Buck says, and it comes off way more soft than he ment it. "i've kinda missed you, eddie. any exuse to get to talk to you is a win in my books."
"I missed you too, buck."
(they eventualy get a system going where eddie will just text buck 🔮 (becuse he's getting a premnition) and buck will respond back with whatever he's doing and a reassurance that he's okay. sometimes selfies. about a month in, buck is the one to text eddie a 🔮? and ever since then it's a mutual check up between them. even when eddie and chris come back to LA, they keep the system going, and it just becomes another thing about buck-and-eddie.)
