Eddie makes it to work with seconds to spare. It's a miracle he even made it on time at all. He knows he has either Ash or Carly (probably Carly) to thank for setting the alarm on his phone at some point last night. But on the other hand, he's positive at least one of them was partially responsible for the hangover he has this morning as well (probably Ash). He has a vague memory of Carly forcing him to drink glasses of water at some point last night. She's a good friend and he definitely owes her one. His hangover could be way worse this morning.
The pounding in Eddie's head has at least subsided into a dull thump by now. His temples are no longer throbbing every time he moves and he can take his sunglasses off inside. Either Ash or Carly had left a bottle of Advil and a few bottles of Gatorade on the kitchen counter for him to find this morning. It could have been Sophia or her husband but they'd fallen asleep before any of them, so he doubted it.
He is definitely begging for a quiet morning but knows better than to say this out loud.
Yesterday was supposed to be a low key house warming party for Sophia and her husband. Just a few close friends and select family over for some food, yard games and a tour of the new house. A kid friendly party. Christopher spent the majority of it playing in the sprinklers and then building Lego towers with Mari's kids in the basement.
But that was before Carly started telling a hilarious story about one of the kindergarteners in her class.
Before Jordan started saying that he didn't like kids and never wanted to have any.
Before Eddie tersely reminded him that Christopher existed and was right downstairs at this very moment.
Before Eddie pulled Jordan into the kitchen for a heated discussion that included Jordan telling Eddie to "fucking pick a side already" and ended with Eddie breaking up with him and the few remaining party guests doing a horrendous job of pretending they hadn't been listening to every word of it.
That was before Ash pulled out shot glasses and Sophia unearthed a brand new bottle of tequila.
That was right about the time Mari offered to take Christopher to her house for a cousin sleepover and bring him to Isabel's for dinner the next night. His cousin was a damn saint.
It was all downhill from there. And now he's paying for it.
"Rough night?" Asks Chim, taking in Eddie's disheveled hair, bleary eyes and rumpled clothes. Eddie can't tell if it's a joke or if Chim's asking out of concern. Hell, it's probably both. Eddie knows he looks worse than the rest of the team, even though they're sixteen hours into their shift and he's only working a short eight hour shift today (only because one of the B shift guys needed some extra cash and picked up the first part of his shift so Eddie could spend some time with his out of town friends).
Eddie grunts out a response and heads to the locker room to change into his uniform. Thank god he leaves a duffle bag for work in the backseat of his car at all times.
By the time he's done changing, Buck is handing him a cup of coffee just the way he likes it and Bobby is forcing a plate of scrambled eggs into his hands and Hen is forcing him to have a seat. His stomach churns at the idea of food right now, but he knows better than to argue with Bobby so he forces down a few bites.
He knows he'll be in for a lecture from Bobby about professionalism and the irresponsibility of coming to work hungover. He just hopes Bobby is kind enough to wait a few hours until his headache is completely gone, just in case there's yelling. Whenever the lecture comes, Eddie knows he'll tuck his tail between his legs, apologize and promise that this won't happen again.
The lecture comes sooner rather than later. Bobby covers the main points quickly and Eddie is appropriately contrite. But Bobby holds him back for another minute. "Everything okay?" He asks, concern taking the place of irritation.
"I'll be fine," Eddie assures him. It's not quite an answer to the question, but Bobby lets it slide.
"Can you work today?"
"Wouldn't be here if I couldn't," Eddie immediately responds. The next few hours will be rough, but he can work. He'll be a little bit worse for the wear by the end of shift, but he'll survive.
It doesn't take long for the first call to come through. And the calls don't stop coming. They're mostly calls with minor injuries with the exception of a warehouse fire that takes most of the morning and early afternoon to contain. Eddie doesn't even realize his hangover is gone until they manage to get a small window of downtime back at the station and Bobby shoves a bowl of chili into his hands and he devours it. He immediately goes back to the kitchen for seconds in case they get another call. Buck follows him with the same idea.
"Feeling better?"
"Tons," replies Eddie, ladling more chili into both of their bowls.
"You uh, wanna talk about what's bothering you?"
"I'm fine," insists Eddie.
"Right, because people who are totally fine show up to work hungover. That's something you do all time." Buck raises an eyebrow and fixes a skeptical look at Eddie. He starts to get a little uncomfortable when Buck doesn't break eye contact.
"I broke up with Jordan yesterday."
"Shit. That sucks. I thought we were finally gonna get to meet her. What happened?"
Eddie hesitates before answering, trying to choose his words carefully. He buys himself a few more seconds by shoveling more chili into his mouth.
The thing is, he wants to talk to his best friend about this. He wants to tell Buck that he and Jordan broke up because Jordan doesn't want kids. Buck will get it immediately and reassure Eddie that he made the right choice to end the relationship. (And probably be a little bit indignant on Christopher's behalf, too). There are just certain details he's not quite ready to share just yet. Not this way. Not here, not now. Not when he might not get the time to explain why he didn't come out sooner. When he tells Buck, he wants to be deliberate about it. Not just something he slips into a conversation like it's something Buck should have known all along. That's never how he's envisioned this particular conversation going. And lately he's been envisioning this conversation with Buck a lot more frequently.
"We had a fight that made it obvious we wanted different things." Eddie knows it's vague and he can tell Buck has a million follow up questions on the tip of his tongue but he doesn't get the chance to ask any of them. The station's alarm cuts off anything Buck is going to say. They both quickly shove the remaining bites of chili into their mouths, drop their dishes on the counter and race to get their turnout gear on as quickly as possible.
They're all bone tired by the time they make it back to the station and see the next shift ready to take over. The apartment complex fire kept them busy for the rest of their shift and more. They all grab showers and change back into their street clothes. Eddie takes his time, letting the hot water wash over him to remove all the dirt and grime from the day. There are healing properties in a hot shower. While he's changing back into his jeans and t-shirt, the alarms start blaring once again and he breathes a sigh of relief that the next shift has this covered.
Eddie is one of the last to emerge from the locker room. The rest of the team is still there, spread out around the table and sipping cups of coffee. Getting up to go home takes energy that none of them have yet. Buck hands Eddie a cup of coffee for the second time that day. He's grateful that his best friend knows exactly what he needs right now. He still has to make it through family dinner at his Abuela's house so the more caffeine coursing through his veins, the better. Bobby's talking about the barbecue he and Athena are hosting the following weekend and reminding them to bring their families.
"Should we bring anything?" Chim offers. "Maddie's been on a baking spree lately."
"Tell Maddie we'll love anything she bakes, but Athena won't ever turn down anything with chocolate in it," Bobby answers.
"Denny's really looking forward to it," Hen comments.
"Christopher too," adds Eddie. "He's been talking about it all week."
"He keeps claiming he's going to eat ten hamburgers," says Buck, punctuating his contribution with some chuckles. Hen nods in understanding and Eddie has a feeling Denny's making the same outrageous claims. He wouldn't be surprised if the boys have a bet going about who can eat the most.
"God, you'd think I never feed him," Eddie jokes.
"With your questionable cooking skills, sometimes I wonder," Buck fires back. Eddie flips him off.
"Well, Abuela's cooking tonight so I'm off the hook. You wanna come for dinner? Mari's kids keep asking when Uncle Buck is going to come play with them again."
"Nope! No no no. Not tonight," Chimney declares. "Maddie and I called dibs on Uncle Buck. It's date night and Buck owes us some babysitting." Eddie is positive that Buck actually volunteered to babysit his niece and that he doesn't actually "owe" his sister anything.
"Is this your first time leaving Jee Yun with a babysitter?" Asks Bobby.
"Yeah, and Maddie is still not completely sold on the idea. She only agreed because Buck is the one babysitting."
"Seriously?" Hen chuckles. "Buck?"
"Hey now! I'm right here!" Buck protests. Eddie catches a quick flash of annoyance in Buck's eyes and he's pretty sure Hen's comment cuts him a little deeper than he lets on.
"Makes sense to me. Buck is exactly who you want looking after your kid in an emergency." Eddie immediately defends his best friend. After all, he knows this better than any of them, and they all know it too. He shoots Hen a look that practically dares her to contradict him.
"You're right. That wasn't fair, Buck." Buck nods and accepts the apology. He also shoots a grateful look in Eddie's direction.
"We should go before Maddie changes her mind again," declares Chim, grabbing his duffle bag and heading out, barely pausing to see if Buck is following him.
"Right behind you," calls Buck, flipping his key ring around his fingers and following his almost brother-in-law to the parking lot. "See you guys later. Eddie, tell Mari's kids I'll make it to dinner next week," Buck calls over his shoulder on his way out the door. He's out of sight before Eddie can say anything back.
And then it was just Eddie, Bobby and Hen left around the table. Christopher was still with Mari and she was bringing him to Abuela's that night so Eddie finally had some time to sit and breathe. He could finally enjoy the calm before he needed to be at his Abuela's house for dinner too. He loved his family, but they were definitely loud and boisterous and he wasn't sure how much of that he could take after the busy shift today. He was exhausted and hoped tonight would be an early night for them. He was counting on the fact that Christopher would be exhausted after the sleepover and a whole day of playing with Mari's boys so he would crash as soon as they got home.
He's not sure how long he zones out for, but when he checks back in, Bobby is asking him a question.
"- Jordan to the barbecue? We'd love to finally meet her."
Eddie shakes his head. "Definitely not. We broke up yesterday."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Bobby offers and Eddie is pretty sure that the hangover this morning is starting to make more sense to him now.
"What happened?" Hen asks softly, reaching out to put a comforting hand over one of his. "It seemed like you two were getting serious."
"We had a fight. A big one."
"One fight doesn't mean it's the end the relationship."
"This one was. Jordan made it clear he never wants kids and I have Christopher. He comes first so it wasn't a hard choice to make." Eddie shrugs. Yeah, the breakup sucks right now but he knows he made the right choice.
A split second later he notices that both Hen and Bobby are staring at him in surprise and he has no idea what's wrong with them and oh fuck he replays what he just said about his breakup and fuck. His eyes get wide with panic as he realizes exactly what just happened. And by the looks on Hen's and Bobby's faces, they definitely caught his pronoun slip.
"I…I have to go." Eddie stands up so quickly, he upends his chair and it crashes to the ground behind him. He's lucky he doesn't trip over it. He fumbles to grab his duffle bag and dig out his car keys while rushing out the door. It's not graceful or subtle and he's pretty sure he's just made things more awkward.
He doesn't give a shit.
The last thing he hears is Bobby and Hen calling after him to wait and to come back and talk to them. He ignores them. His phone chimes with a text from Hen telling him that it's okay. That it doesn't matter. He ignores that too.
Right now, all he cares about is getting the fuck out of there.
Originally posted to AO3 under the same name.
Please let me know what you think!