pairing of your choice, season 3 buck decides three near deaths in six months is enough for him and he'll make the most of this fire marshal gig
FIRE MARSHAL BUCK HARASSING THE EVERLOVING SHIT OUT OF CAPTAIN SALVATORE DELUCA LET'S FUCKIN GOOOOO.
1. Sal meets the new fire marshal and is like what's up with this pretty boy and it turns out this pretty boy is a fucking psychological warfare master with a clipboard because what do you mean the oxygen tanks weren't properly secured? He checked them himself on his last shift! Except it turns out the kid is right, so Sal calls an all hands with the other shift captains which turns into an all hands with the entire station to go over every single violation and no, he doesn't care whose fault it is, it better not happen again.
2. Except Sal is also there after a clear case of arson, and the fire marshal is already on the scene. He watches the way this kid systemically goes through everything and flags shit up that Sal hadn't even caught yet. Someone was trapped in the house when it went up, and she's in the burn unit. Fire Marshal Buckley--call him Buck? That's not a name--is still there when Sal has to leave. When Sal's called up later to testify in court over the case, which turns out to be a case of domestic abuse, Buck gives the most aggressively thorough testimony he's ever seen from an expert witness. When asked, Buck says that guys like that shouldn't get away with hurting people who just wanted someone to trust and be loved by.
3. Sal is also there to disagree with Buck about another case of suspected arson, because he knows what he saw in there, dammit. And Buck is so fucking stubborn and such a cocky little wunderkind and christ, he owes Nash an apology. Buck shows up at the 122 with a basket of apology muffins when it turns out Sal was right and he was wrong, and he almost fucked up an entire investigation because he thought he knew better. He made the muffins himself, they're not great, but Sal acts like it's good just so the kid smiles. Then he invites him to stick around while he makes lunch. He doesn't do official "family dinners" the way the 118 does, but he does make enough carbonara for a small army. He's pretty sure Buck takes notes the whole time he's cooking and asks if the kid ever just relaxes. And Buck blinks at him and says, "I am relaxed. I like cooking. Does it have to be pancetta?" And while they eat, Sal finds out what Buck went through that turned him into a fire marshal instead of a firefighter, and he shoves extra pasta into the kid's bowl and digs out his emergency stash of ice cream from behind the freezer burned vegetables that have been in there as a relic of a pre-9/11 society and he listens.
4. There's a fundraiser gala thing to upgrade the burn unit facilities at a hospital, and Sal shows up and sees Buck in a suit and brings him a beer. They're both really uncomfortable but it's for a good cause and Simpson's making them. Sal asks Buck for a dance, and Buck gets skittish about it at first until Sal starts quietly telling him gossip about all the LAFD brass that are in attendance. He's known most of them forever, he used to be a union steward until he trained up a kid at his house to take over for him, and firefighters are notoriously bad at keeping secrets when they're in the local badge and ladder. And they all think Sal's a man's man, so they'll let it slip when they cheat on their wives or whatever. Buck says he does give man's man vibes, and Sal grins and says, "Yeah, just maybe not the way you think. You look real nice in that suit, by the way."
5. Buck shows up at the 122, and Sal is like are you fucking kidding me, we cannot possibly be due for another inspection. So he drags Buck into his office, and Buck cuts him off mid-diatribe to let him know he just didn't have Sal's number, so he went to the one place he knew to find him. He asks Sal if he wanted to go out to dinner, and Sal's like okay then why do you have the fucking clipboard. And Buck reveals his pros and cons list of why Sal should say yes (pro: Buck has been told he's a good kisser, he understands Sal's career is important to him and that it means he can't be around a lot; cons: Buck figured out he might be into guys about two business days ago so that could be a turn off, he only knows how to do anything with a guy in theory, he's kind of clingy), and Sal kisses him and tells him to stop talking for once in his life so Sal can say yes.
