(silly spec fic for 9x11 based on the bachelor auction, 1650 words)
“Ravi.”
Ravi heard Buck hiss his name, but before he could react, he was being yanked into the laundry room hallway.
“Ow,” Ravi complained, rubbing at his arm. “What the hell, Buck?”
“Did you know about this?” Buck asked, waving a paper in front of him.
“About what?” Ravi groused, grabbing the paper so he could actually read it. “118 Firehouse Bachelor Auction, yada yada, representatives from different houses, list… of… participants…” he trailed off, looking at Buck in shock. “I had no idea, I swear. I would have told you.”
“Am I cursed again?” Buck demanded. “How does this keep happening to me?” He started pacing. “Oh god, what if the curse never went away, just the boils? What if I’ve been cursed this whole time?”
“Okay, first of all, curses aren’t real,” Ravi reminded him. “Secondly, okay, what, we hide you at the back of the room? Problem solved. Harry and I are in charge of the visiting firefighters, Chim is doing the introductions, you don’t have to see him if you don’t want to.”
Buck gave him a look. “Ravi. Not the issue here.”
“Then what is?”
“Is it weird if I bid on my ex?”
Ravi stared at him, then turned back down the hall. “I’m not doing this with you.”
“Rav, come on man,” Buck called after him.
“Make a decision for yourself!” Ravi called without turning back. He saw Harry in the gym and headed over. “Probie, coffee run, let’s go.”
“Huh, what?” Harry put down his weights. “Uh, is Cap cool with that?”
“Trust me,” Ravi lowered his voice, “we want to get out of here right now. I’ll drive.”
“Okay.” Harry was confused, but dutifully followed Ravi out of the firehouse as Ravi texted Chim to tell him where they were headed.
“No,” Ravi said threateningly, holding Buck’s coffee cup above the floor drain. “Ask me again and I’m dumping it out.”
Buck scowled and snatched the coffee, heading up to the loft.
“Do I want to know?” Harry asked quietly.
“You do not.”
Ravi watched Buck carefully the day of the auction, noticing how his fidgeting ramped up as it got closer and closer to the time people would be arriving. He sighed, knowing what he was about to do would go against his cardinal rule of not getting involved.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing Buck’s elbow and dragging him to the bathroom. “This is about as private as we’re going to get, you have one minute. Go.”
“Do you think that two thousand dollars is going to be enough to win the auction because it was all I could get my hands on right now and I don’t want someone else to outbid me,” Buck burst out. “Also I’m a little worried he’s going to hate me for doing it but I think I’ll hate myself more if I don’t.”
Ravi sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Okay, I’m already covering one bid, but I can spot you up to five if you need it, although frankly if you get outbid at that point just ask him out like you’re a normal person.”
“Really?” Buck unleashed the full Buckley sad eyes on him.
“Really,” Ravi confirmed. “And, though I can’t say I know what the guy is thinking, I don’t think it’s actually possible for him to hate you.”
Buck started to smile.
“Aaaand that’s a minute, okay bye,” Ravi said, rushing back into the main room and almost bumping into May. “Oh, sorry!”
“No worries,” May laughed. “Why are you running?”
“Buck. Relationship questions,” Ravi said quickly. “Let’s go find other people so he can't corner us to ask anything else.”
“Okay.” May’s voice was bemused but she accepted it without question, following Ravi up to the loft where Hen and Harry were sitting with Karen and the kids.
Ravi mentally deemed it a big enough group to ward off any questions, and grabbed some drinks from the after auction refreshment table for himself and May before sitting down.
“What had you two fleeing upstairs?” Karen asked.
“Someone wanted relationship advice,” Ravi said darkly.
Hen laughed. “From you, Ravi? When was the last time you were even on a date?”
“Hey,” Ravi protested without heat. “Just because I don’t feel the need to air my entire life at the station doesn’t mean I’m single.”
“Oh really?” Karen latched on. “So you are seeing someone then?”
“I-I’m—” Ravi spluttered. “That’s not important.”
“Oooh,” Denny and Harry chorused.
“Shut up, probie,” Ravi reddened. “Or you’re on dish duty until graduation.”
“Heard you’re filling in a last minute bachelor slot,” Hen said. “Is said someone going to be here to bid on you?”
“I’ve got it covered,” Ravi said.
“Oh, he’s got it covered,” Karen said slyly to Hen.
Hen looked at Ravi appraisingly. “You realize that means we’ll find out who it is?”
Ravi shrugged. “She’s okay with it.”
Ravi applauded politely with the other bachelors as Eddie went for five hundred dollars; he smiled sheepishly and left the stage to join Alex as his winning bidder. Ravi tried to keep his smirk hidden; that steak dinner was all his. He didn’t mind taking Eddie for a sucker’s bet, especially when Eddie had been so confident he’d go for the higher price.
He had a few bachelors before it was his turn, and he risked a peek down the line at Tommy. Tommy looked relaxed enough, but Ravi suspected it was just an act. Being part of a bachelor auction when the audience was almost exclusively female couldn’t be something he was actually looking forward to.
The bachelor ahead of him stepped down to meet his winning bidder, and Harry motioned him forward, hiding his smirk from the audience. Ravi kept smiling, knowing what the end result of his bid would be.
“Next up, we have Ravi Panikkar from our very own firehouse,” Chimney announced. “He’s been with the department for five years, and likes pina coladas and long walks on the beach.”
“That is not what I wrote on my introduction,” Ravi hissed from the corner of his mouth.
“Starting the bidding at ten dollars!” Chimney called, his smirk letting Ravi know he’d heard him.
“Ten dollars!” Hen called. Ravi bowed dramatically in her direction.
“Twenty!” Karen called. “What, he’s a fun dinner guest,” she said when Hen looked at her.
“Forty!” Someone near the back of the room called. Ravi peered out to see a young blonde woman with a purple dress on, and gave her a small wave.
“Forty, do we have fifty?” Chimney called to the audience.
“Fifty!” A brunette called out.
“Fifty, do we have sixty?”
“One hundred!”
“One hundred to — the lovely woman in the red dress,” Chimney stuttered. Ravi smiled and waved to May, who waved back.
“Two hundred!” The blonde called.
“Two fifty!” The brunette jumped back in.
Chimney pointed at her. “Two fifty, going once, going—”
“Five fifty!” May stood up calmly.
“Five— five fifty,” Chimney quickly recovered. “Going once, going twice, SOLD! To the woman in the red dress.”
Ravi blew May a kiss.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Chimney muttered, covering the microphone.
It was Ravi’s turn to smirk. “Athena already knows, so we’re good.” He hopped down and made his way across the room to May, kissing her cheek and taking the empty seat next to her.
“What did Chimney say to you?” She whispered.
“Just tried to intimidate me a little bit,” Ravi whispered back. “Nothing serious.”
“Good,” she squeezed his hand under the table. “How long do you think we have to wait to collect on that dinner from Eddie? We are all dressed up today anyways.”
“I love the way you think,” Ravi told her. “Hen and Karen are staring, by the way.”
May looked towards their table and waved at them. “They’re definitely inviting us over before they leave today.”
“Yup. I’m sure they have a list of questions that would put your mother to shame.”
“I think they share, actually,” May mused. “They all enjoy being nosy. Hey, what was going on with Buck earlier?”
Ravi nodded to where Tommy stood in line, waiting his turn. “Ethics debate.”
“Oh my god,” May said. “Is he going to —?”
Ravi nodded.
“Oh boy,” May sighed.
“I think it’ll be okay.”
“And next we have Tommy Kinard, a firefighter pilot with Harbour station, yes that’s right folks, a pilot,” Chimney declared enthusiastically, “with a fondness for craft beer and monster truck rallies. Shall we start the bidding at twenty dollars? Yes that’s ten dollars higher, but again, pilot!”
“Twenty!” The blonde who’d bid on Ravi called. Tommy gave her a small, polite smile.
“Five hundred!” Buck’s voice boomed from the very back of the room.
Tommy’s head jerked towards him in shock.
“Five hundred, going once—”
“Sold, Howie,” Tommy said firmly, reaching across Chimney to smack the gavel. He was off the makeshift stage and across the station to Buck practically before Ravi could blink, grabbing Buck by the hand and pulling him outside. Buck threw Ravi a wide smile over his shoulder before he disappeared into the sunlight.
“See?” Ravi said, only a little smugly. “Everything’s fine.”
“He says foolishly, before he has to deal with my pseudo-aunts and my little brother,” May teased.
Ravi tightened his grip on her hand slightly. “Maybe we follow their lead and make a run for it?”
“You’ll be fine,” May assured him.
“I’m not the only one that’s been keeping secrets from them,” Ravi pointed out.
May grimaced. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“If you want to run, I’ll run.” Ravi said.
“You’re a firefighter, this can’t possibly be scarier than running into a burning building.”
“You were a 9-1-1 dispatcher, I’m sure you’ve dealt with worse.”
They covertly surveyed the others.
“Okay, if I do this,” May tugged on her earlobe, “we make a break for it.”
"I recall you promising me a dance." Bucktommy for the sentences game 🫶🙂↕️
yeah the five sentences thing fully went out of the window for this one.
"I recall you promising me a dance," Tommy says, and Buck has to laugh.
"That was a long time ago," he says, but when Tommy just stays where he is, one hand outstretched, Buck reaches out and lets himself be pulled to his feet.
The dancefloor has been packed all night but it's a little quieter now - the newlyweds are swaying in each other's arms, exchanging whispers, and they might as well be all alone for the attention they're giving anyone else, a few other couples are tucked together, Nash is running wild like he has been all day - and it makes it easy for Tommy to pull Buck in close with a hand on his lower back, a more careful, more formal hold than Buck thinks he's ever experienced before.
They've been friends a long time now, longer than they ever dated, and Buck would be lying if he said he didn't still sometimes wonder - did they miss their shot? Will they get another one? Is it enough to be in each other's lives, whatever that looks like?
"It was a beautiful ceremony," Tommy says.
"Yeah," Buck agrees, glancing over to where May is whispering in Ravi's ear. "You always cry at weddings?"
Tommy laughs and admits, "Literally always."
Buck looks at him - he has more grey in his hair now. Laughter and sorrow have carved more lines into his face. He still makes Buck's breath catch in his throat. He still makes Buck feel tongue-tied. He's a better dancer than Buck realized, moving them easily across the floor, even attempting a dip that has Buck clutching at him and laughing.
All too soon, one song fades into the next and Tommy comes to a stop, giving Buck a small, wistful smile.
"I'm glad we got to dance at a wedding," he says.
"One more," Buck requests as Etta sings At last, my love has come along.
"Of course," Tommy says, and guides him back in. Buck settles his palm flat on Tommy's broad chest to feel his heart beating.
"They look happy," he says, when their slow turn puts May and Ravi back into his eyeline. "It took them a little while but they look so happy."
"Yeah," Tommy says. "You think those crazy kids'll make it?"
Buck sways closer, close enough that he can feel the graze of Tommy's stubble against his cheek for the first time in years.
