Summary: "You look exactly the same," Eddie says with tears in his eyes. "How is that even possible?"
"I don't know," Buck says, his thumb swiping across Eddie's knuckles. "I don't understand it."
He may be the same, but looking at Eddie, Buck can see the years on him. His hair is a bit different, the creases by the corners of his eyes just a bit deeper. There's a new scar on his right hand that Buck hasn't seen before.
He'd know these hands blind, but it takes him a moment to notice it still. His fingers brush over it once, and then again before he actually looks down and sees the thin golden band wrapped around Eddie's ring finger. Then he just—stares at it, stupidly, for a second. Before Eddie pulls his hands back, and leaves Buck's hanging empty in the space between them.
omg pls #31 “anyone ever told you you’ve got the prettiest eyes in the world” 💙 If it sparks 💙
sorry love, i got a little carried away with this one 🙈
caught up in a blue haze
rated: g | words: 4.3k | read on ao3
summary:
When Eddie looked up to meet the patient, he nearly dropped his clipboard, two pools of ocean blues looking up to him through tear-stained lashes.
The man was cradling his right arm close to him, Eddie spying the awkward and jagged look of it, noting that it was no doubt broken.
What Eddie had expected to see was a douchey frat guy already high on painkillers, though what he saw instead was someone who looked hurt, scared. There was a brokenness laced within his baby blues.
“I—I’m sorry.”
The guy didn’t introduce himself, didn’t ask how long it was going to take, when he could get pills, or even how bad it looked. Eddie had an urge to wrap the guy in his arms and never let go.
Stepping a little closer, Eddie looked the guy over carefully.
“Hey it’s ok, I’m here to help you.”
—or—
Nurse Eddie meets a hurt and fragile Buck
tagging squad below, just lmk if you wanna be added or removed <3
Jumping on the bandwagon. Let's hit Buck with a car 😂
He doesn't even have to think about it. Chimney needs him, and the bike is right there. He doesn't even realise he's grabbed it until the voices rise behind him, shouting his name as he pumps his feet against the pedals.
In the distance he can see the headlights as the car screeches around a corner, and he hops the curb, racing across the grass to cut them off at the next street.
"Stop!"
He breaks hard, skidding to a stop on the bitumen his hands raised as if he can push the car back with sheer willpower alone.
It's not enough.
Buck sees it all in the space between heartbeats. The car's going too fast, he's too close. It's not going to stop in time.
The headlights dip, the brakes squealing and time slows.
Between one moment and the next, he's airborne, his stomach clenching at the sudden weightlessness.
He hits the ground with a thud that rattles every bone in his body and shakes free the breath he'd been holding.
The next breath stutters in his chest overwhelmed by the fire that burns up his side.
Sound washes back in– the shrill whine of sirens and the muffled demands for someone to get out of the vehicle.
Buck frowns, his face stinging with the movement. He's not in a vehicle. He's staring up at the sky, dark with clouds and flashes of red and blue.
"—uck."
He turns towards the voice.
"Hey, don't move." Eddie's face swims into view above him. "Buck, don't move."
But he has to, he needs to know.
"Chim? Is he—?"
"He's fine. You stopped the car." Eddie's mouth pulls down into a frown. "That was the stupidest thing you've ever done." His voice shakes, but his hands are steady as they help strip him out of his heavy turnouts.
"— had to do something," Buck mumbles, as the fire spreads burning so hot he barely feels anything at all. "He's my brother."
"Buck. Hey. Eyes open."
"—had to— help—"
***
When he surfaces, it's to softly spoken words. They wash over him, indistinct but familiar and comforting.
"—so much trouble—"
He shifts, testing out the limits of his body. There's pain, but it's muted, sitting right on the edge of not quite but almost too much.
"—might actually wrap you up in cotton wool this time. I think I might help them—"
"Chim?" The name sticks in his throat, catching on raw edges.
"I'm right here."
Buck opens his eyes, blinking against the harsh fluorescent light.
"Hey." Chim leans forward in his chair, wincing when it pulls on his IV. "Maddie's going to be so pissed. I only just convinced her to go home."
"What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
Buck shakes his head, rolling against the pillow.
"You tried to stop a car with your body," Chim tells him, leaning back in his chair. "And I guess it worked." He cracks a grin. "Though I'm not sure I ever want to repeat the experience of watching you fly over a bonnet."
"You're okay?" Buck asks, his eyes drifting towards the IV stand beside Chim's chair.
"Yeah, bumps and bruises." Chimney scratches at the tape on the back of his hand. "They were just keeping me for observation. I should be going home tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Yeah, your little stunt was last night." Chimney leans forward again, bracing his hands on the edge of the bed. "I made Maddie go home, but I think Eddie might still be around here. Your doctor's making him wait until visiting hours begin."
"But not you?"
Chimney grins. "I'm not a visitor," he says, holding up his hand with its plastic bracelet. "Those rules don't apply to me."
Buck huffs a soft laugh, wincing when the movement jars his ribs. He brings a hand up to press against his side, as if that will hold everything inside.
"So what's the damage?" Buck can feel the pulse of his heartbeat through his skin.
"Four broken ribs, a lacerated spleen and a lifetime of emotional scarring for those of us who had to watch," Chim says dryly. "For someone who got hit by a car, I think you were the one who suffered the least. You got to sleep through it all while we were waiting to hear if you were going to make it."
Buck hesitates, dragging his lip between his teeth. "I'm not sorry," he says, catching Chimney's haze. "I'd do it again. If it meant saving you."
Chimney sighs, deflating against his chair. "Yeah, I know." He reaches forward, gripping Buck's free hand. "We've gotta work on these self preservation skills of yours, Buck." He gives the hand a squeeze and lets it go. "Now, should we put Eddie out of his misery and call him in?"
Written for the 911holidaygiftexchange 2022 for @starlingbite . Prompt buddie + hurt!buck. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks to @paranoidbean for organising everyone
Reach For Me and I'll Reach For You 8.7k teen
It shouldn’t be so easy, Eddie thinks blinking up at the ceiling, to recognise that you’ve been involved in an explosion. You really have to think about what kind of life you’ve lead if there’s no shock just a kind of numb acceptance that the ache in your body and the ringing in your ears is because something just blew up.
A quick check reveals all his limbs are still where he left them, and nothing is leaking too much. He groans as he tries to move and then he remembers he hadn’t been alone.
Buck.
He curses under his breath, a combination of pain as he moves and worry about his partner.
That worry only intensifies as he scans their surroundings. He can’t see him anywhere, Buck was right next to him and Eddie thinks he probably took the worst of the blast that sent them flying.
He calls out and gets nothing back, calling again gets the same result and tightens his chest, his worry ratcheting up into something that would be called fear if he wasn’t clamping down firmly on his feelings.
“Buck!”
The third shout makes something shift in the rubble ahead of him, moving forward he recognises the familiar outline of a body in a turnout jacket. It’s mostly covered by dust and debris but recognisable now as his missing partner. The rubble shifts again.
“Buck.” That's the fourth time he’s said his name and this time it's on a breath of sheer relief. At least he’s moving, he can work with that.
He clears the way as fast as he can. He needs to check Buck’s ok; get them moving, get them out. He has no idea what exploded or why and more importantly if there’ll be any more blasts.
They’re on their own, higher up than everyone else and have further to go to get out of this mess.
His radio crackles and Bobby’s distorted voice come through.
“Diaz , Buckley…” the rest is lost to static.
He clicks his radio, hoping Bobby will hear him,
“Here Cap. I’m ok, Buck’s hurt, not sure how bad.” He runs his hand over Buck’s head as he talks, but before he can check further Buck gasps and tries to sit up. He’s not particularly successful but it’s a good sign. Eddie holds him down, radio forgotten.
“Woah, hold on, take a minute.”
“Eddie?” Buck sounds confused, but he settles under Eddie’s hand trusting him completely.
“Are you hurt?”
Buck blinks a few time trying to focus before he says “head hurts but think I’m ok.”
Eddie takes him at his word and helps him up slowly. Buck wobbles but a hand on his shoulder is all he needs to steady him.
“You good?” Eddie peers into Buck’s eyes to check, he looks a little unfocused but he nods. Eddie’s not convinced but he’s up and he seems ok, Hen and Chim can check him properly when they’re out. He hasn’t got time to do it now, they need to get moving.
Eddie takes the lead through the darkness, it’s a little hard to see with just their torches but he manages and Buck follows closely. Neither of them turn around so the pool of blood left behind goes unnoticed.
Ok so it isn’t talked about a lot but I think the writers forget that Buck got his leg crushed by a ladder truck!!!! Like as a fellow leg being shattered and metal rods survivor I know for a fact that when there is any change in weather he has to take an extra minute to warm his leg up. How are we just ignoring this fact especially when it would make for a fantastic trope!?! Since I really don’t see it written about a lot I will give you some *realistic* facts/conditions that Buck is most definitely experiencing.
When it rains Buck’s bones hurt a lot, and not in the I’ll just ignore it till it gets better, it’s more like I’m only really going to get up when I have to use the bathroom type of hurt
His leg often swells up especially if he so much as trips the wrong way
He can tell it’s about to rain because his leg hurts
On a really bad day he will wear those expensive compression socks that go to your knee
Having dozens of braces and compression socks
Having Motrin In. Every. Single. Bag. To the point that Eddie, Chim, Hen, Maddie, Bobby, and Athena keep some on them
Having a leg pillow to help him elevate his leg.
Heating packs & Ice packs for daysssss
His surgical scars itch like hell, especially the one on his knee that one likes to be stubborn
Constantly feeling mentally exhausted because he has to actually think about how he is walking so that way he doesn’t walk funny
Being emotionally exhausted on a really bad day when you can’t even stand on your tip toes
So. Much. PT.
Relearning how to do basic techniques because I know for a fact he has some type of mobility issue
Retraining muscle groups
Having bad days were he just sits and cries for a while because his leg just hurts for no reason
Feel free to use this information in any way just please tag me in it
1) I also think that Eddie leaving the team is something temporary, as he thinks what he has to do to balance his life. Although Chris doesn't want to think about Eddie dying, I'm not sure he wants his father to stop being a firefighter (I guess in the next part of the season we will see Chris thoughts about the whole thing). What I think that will make Eddie come back (after some deliveration and talking to people, theraphy and those things)? Buck getting hurt at work.
2) Yes, Buck getting hurt, because that's the kind of drama I like (with the comfort, of course). Eddie thinking that's his fault because he wasn't there to watch his back (and if I'm feel like being evil, Ravi feeling guilty too because he was with Buck when it happened, despite just being an accident). Random scenario: as the show doesn't want to repeat how the 118 get hurt, I'm thinking about Buck talking with someone on a ledge, trying to commit suicide (and I think it's fitting because...)
3) (... Buck's state of mind lately). Maybe Buck talks with the person and their feelings reflect sometimes the way Buck think's (except the desire of dying... maybe?). Then there's some kind of accident and the person falls, Buck manages to catch them but he falls (on top of some vehicle, because I don't want to kill or break Buck... too much). After this there's some angst, a lot of comfort and Eddie comes back, and everything is great again.
Hi hon! Thank you for sending your thoughts, this one goes out to all whump lovers, right? ;) If the show did go with your scenario, it would also parallel in a sense the first time Buck lost a vic, in ep 102. I def think it'll be tough on Eddie to experience this kind of helplessness, where he can't be there to save Buck. But yeah, I think it will have to go with other elements too, like you said, of Eddie talking to Chris and actually taking care of his own mental health. The Buck!whump and Eddie racing to save/be there for Buck, and Buck getting to see that, someone coming back for him, that would be the icing on top!
Thank you again, hope you're doing great! xoxox
To anyone else who sent me an ask, I am going through all of them, thank you so much for your patience! If you wanna check whether I've replied to yours yet, you can have a look at my ask tag. xoxox
Content Warnings: Disassociation (detailed), Negative Self Talk (brief), Non Consensual Kissing (detailed), Non Consensual Touching (detailed), Past Rape/Non-Con (mentioned)
@whumptober-archive
Also posted on ao3 here.
Buck hated these days. The days were it was his job to stay behind and clean everything. While it didn’t happen that often anymore, now that him and the rest of the 118 had mostly put the lawsuit behind them.
Still, he hated the crushing loneliness that threatened to overtake him when he was left alone. The fear that when they left, they would leave him behind for good this time. Sighing, Buck decided he should probably shake himself out of his thoughts and decided he might as well take out the trash to the dumpsters out back.
He had just finished putting the bag into the dumpster when he sensed someone standing behind him. Turning around he said, “Hello. Can I help-” before cutting himself off, realizing who it was.
“Hello Buck.” The words were cheerful but the tone was dark and menacing. It made him nervous.
“Dr. Wells?”
“Not anymore. You lost me my job and my license.” Buck was staring to feel slight panic. The woman in front of him was angry, and she was angry at him.
“That wasn’t my fault.” She inched closer to him until Buck was backed against the wall, fear flashing in his eyes. He suddenly remembered the exact feelings he had last time they interacted, not the fake ones he convinced himself he felt, but the raw terror and powerlessness he felt.
“Stop playing around Buck. You were a sex addict. You still are. You brought up being Facebook friends. You had sex with me. Not the other way around. Of course I lost my job because of you. It’s all your fault. Everything is always your fault Buck .”
With each added word, Buck felt himself sinking lower and lower to the ground, attempting to push as far back into the wall as was physically possible.
“Just remember. You caused every bad thing that ever happened to you.” She caressed his face with her hand, her long nails scratching his face as he whimpered beneath her.
“Please don’t.” They words were lacking the power he wished they had, the power that he felt being taken from him as she moved closer and closer to him.
She leaned down to kiss him and he whimpered again, praying to anything and anyone that would hear him to make it stop. Idly, he wondered if the 118 was back yet and if anyone even noticed he was gone if they were.
All he felt was the searing heat of the kiss, a burning that felt more akin to hot coals in his mouth, rather than the firework feeling people usually talked about. He felt violated and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He should be able to stop it. Why wasn’t he stopping it? Maybe she was right. Maybe he was still a sex addict. Maybe he was Buck 1.0 all over again. Maybe he was never not the reckless kid who lived for sex. Maybe that was all he was.
He lost track of the time that passed as she continued kissing him and running her hands all over him. He felt oddly detached from his body and hardly felt the wet tears on his face anymore or the constant whimpering sound he was making.
He vaguely registered the sound of footsteps approaching as he felt her pulling away. He heard voices overlapping as he continued to stare off at a specific point off in the distance.
“Get away from him.”
“Bobby call Athena, she might be able to help.”
Time must have passed because suddenly there was a person kneeling beside him and Buck flinched away.
“Hey, it’s alright Buck. It’s just me. It’s Eddie. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“...Eddie?” Buck’s voice sounded hoarse and raspy even to his own ears and it made him want to flinch away again.
“Do you think you can get up and walk with me Buck?” He shook his head. “Can I touch you so I can guide you inside?” He hesitantly nodded, mentally bracing himself for Eddie’s touch.
Buck watched, detached, as he was led to the couch, Eddie’s arms firmly on his so he didn’t collapse like he so desperately wanted to. Hen and Chimney came up the stairwell shortly after, updating them on what had happened.
“Bobby just called Athena, she’s on the way.”
“Why did you do that?” Buck asked, speaking the first full, coherent sentence since they had found him in the alleyway.
“I figured she could help with the legal side of things in case you want to press charges.” Bobby said as he climbed up the stairway to the lounge area where Buck was currently latching onto Eddie for dear life.
When Athena arrived, she helpfully laid it all out for him, without getting too caught up in emotion. “Unfortunately, because it was just non consensual kissing and touching, we cannot take her to court. However, what we can do is file a restraining order that will keep her from getting near you.”
Buck nodded, “Yeah… yeah that sounds good. I want to do that.” They got to work on the paper work while Bobby was cooking dinner and the rest of the 118 was lounging around, providing comfort to Buck in the fact that they were there and they weren’t leaving him this time.
He’s been waiting all week for this. He’s taken extra shifts, slept in the bunk room instead of going home, and has made sure he’s been able to have 48 consecutive hours free for the first time in three months. It’s all he can do to not completely annoy Hen, which means that’s all he’s currently doing. Pacing, jumping up and down, tapping his fingers on the railing of the second floor – he has just an untapped amount of energy, nowhere to put it, and unfortunately that means it’s spilling over in the one slow moment the 118 has had all day.
“I swear to god Buck, I love you like a brother, but we’re gonna have a Cain and Abel moment if you don’t calm down.” Hen groans, running her hands down her face.
