Eddie doesn't show up to work for a few days and Buck doesn't want to admit that he's a little worried. Not missing Eddie because that would be obscene, it's only been four days, he doesn't miss him. He's worried which is an understandable emotion to have when Eddie hasn't given him a reason for taking this much time off.

Ever since the call they went on that ended with them removing a grenade together; they've been closer than ever. Buck can't seem to remember why he was so wary of Eddie in the first place. It's only been a few weeks and already it feels like they've been working together since the beginning.

That's why Buck feels so off-kilter without Eddie these last couple of days.

When Eddie does finally come back after four days with a tired gait and bags under his eyes. Buck excitedly follows him up the stairs as soon as he sees him.

"Hey Eds, where have you been?"

Eddie sighs pinching his nose and moving to sit at the dining table. "Hell."

Buck whistles sitting across from him, "Damn that bad, huh?"

Eddie's brows furrow. "What?"

"I mean you do look pretty hellish."

Eddie gapes then stares intently - almost suspiciously - at him before bursting into laughter.

Buck looks at Eddie weirdly. "Man, those days off turned you a little crazy."

Eddie's laughter doesn't cease and Buck starts to look around in fear that this is all some kind of practical joke and the real Eddie is going to jump out at him any minute now.

"Well, if that's what it takes to stop you from acting like a zombie, then sure." Buck mumbles.

Eddie stops and looks at Buck with a quirk of his head. "Trying to figure out where I was these last few days?" Buck realises that he's trying to fight a smile.

It's like Eddie came into the station with the literal weight of the world on his shoulders and as soon as Buck started speaking to him all that weight dropped off.

At least he seems happier, Buck chides himself.

Buck crosses his arms and looks away from him. "Maybe."

Eddie smiles delightfully like he's just been given the greatest news and leans into Buck's space.

"Did you miss me, Buckley?" Eddie asks, looking thoroughly amused.

Buck splutters. "What? No? Of course not," he stands up muttering. "How can you even say that? That's disgusting."

"Never knew you cared that much," Eddie calls after him. Buck can hear the obvious smirk on his face that he really doesn't need to turn around and see - thank you very much.

"Sometimes you make it too easy Buckeroo," Hen chuckles as he enters the kitchen obviously watching their interaction.

Buck scowls. "Shut up," and tries to steal one of the pieces of fruit from the bowl she's picking on. He pouts when she moves it away, but grins when she passes him some apple with a pat on the head.

Despite the teasing from Eddie, Buck still makes him a coffee. When he brings it over he receives a grateful smile and a soft look from Eddie.

Buck's afraid he's slowly getting in too deep and may never be able to swim to the surface.

It's a few weeks later when Buck decides to invite Eddie back to his apartment. He decided to do it spontaneously after a certain call - one where you know there was nothing you could've done, but it doesn't make it hurt any less when the inevitable happens.

All in all, he was feeling keyed up, but also in want for company. And Eddie was the best company in his opinion.

Buck feels as if he's vibrating out of his own skin, it takes him nearly two attempts to finally fit the key into the lock and swing the door open.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Buck says, then grimaces in embarrassment. He's barely known Eddie for a few weeks and he didn't want to scare him away already with his 'out there' personality as some have kindly said.

Eddie doesn't seem to be listening to Buck, his nose wrinkled and his face twisted into something unpleasant as soon as he entered the apartment.

"Why does it smell like dog in here?" Eddie asks turning to Buck with a raised eyebrow.

"What-?" Buck scrambles for an answer. "Abby doesn't have a dog?" He takes a decisive sniff of the air, but can't seem to smell whatever it is. He secretly smells himself when Eddie turns to look around.

Nope not him either.

Eddie's eyes narrow. "Abby."

Buck shuffles about. "This is her apartment," he leans across Eddie to finally close the door and tries to give him a bright smile.

"That explains it," Eddie mutters going towards the garish mint-green sofa, he glares at it in disgust before flinging himself onto it - putting his feet on the wooden coffee table and a leather-clad arm along the back of it.

Buck moves to say something about feet on Abby's coffee table, but can't seem to get his words out. "Uh-" He flushes.

Eddie raises an eyebrow at Buck's fumbling and gives a decisive pat to the empty space next to him. "Come, sit."

Buck moves towards the space instantly. "Do you want a drink?" He asks but sits down gently beside Eddie anyways.

Eddie flashes a grin, all pointed teeth. "I'm alright for now."

Buck chuckles awkwardly and tries to look anywhere other than Eddie's intense gaze. "Great, great."

Buck didn't know what to expect when he invited Eddie back here, he knows that they hadn't known each other for very long - but he's pretty sure that both of them had felt the instant connection from that night in the club. He never thought that he would see Eddie again waving the night off as something he remembers and yearns for, but knows he can never have again. Then Eddie had turned up at his place of work to be his new partner of all things, all eight-pack of him, and Buck was thrown off.

He didn't know what to make of them when they met again in the firehouse and he still doesn't know what to make of them now.

Eddie leans forward to stare at Buck intently, "Listen Buck I need to tell you something, I've been trying to figure out whether I should or not but after realising you know next to nothing…" He trails off.

Buck looks at Eddie's thoughtful face and slight grimace in confusion. "What is it?"

Eddie goes to open his mouth but before any words can come out Buck's ringtone goes off. Buck jumps from where he's involuntarily leaned even more into Eddie's space and looks over apologetically as he picks up the phone.

He holds up a finger. "I'm sorry, one second it's probably just Mad-" he trails off and his brow furrows as he stares down at the caller ID.

Answering the call he lifts it to his ear, "Abby?" He inquires incredulously moving to the bedroom to talk. He doesn't notice how Eddie immediately scowls once he hears who's on the other end of the call.

The surprise was reasonable considering that Buck hadn't heard from Abby in weeks, even though he was still staying in her apartment, he'd assumed after the long of radio silence that their relationship was pretty much over. It had taken a while for Buck to come to terms with it in the end and, even though he'll never tell him, meeting Eddie was certainly a step in the right direction.

That's why this call was really unneeded right now.

His relationship with Abby was a whirlwind and it did change him for the better at the time. No matter what his family said - a few years ago he was a menace, lashing out at everything that was put in his way, trying to be as self-destructive as he could. Until he met Abby in a call. (Despite what Maddie says about the way they met being creepy and weird.) Buck still thinks he needed his relationship with Abby to get through that time in his life when he was feeling lost and untethered.

"Hey Buck," Abby's tinny voice greets him through the phone.

He moves to sit down on the bed, back ramrod straight. "What…what… why are you calling me?" He stutters.

"I think we need to talk."

"I think we needed to talk weeks ago, Abby."

She sighs. "Maybe."

"Definitely," he retaliates.

"Look Buck-"

"What happened to your mum was awful and I understood at the time why you had to leave. But did you know when you walked through those airport doors that you were leaving for good?" He interrupts.

"Buck..." She starts.

"Did you?" He repeats. "Because a heads up would've been nice, instead of hanging onto a girlfriend who was really my ex these past couple of months."

There's a lengthy pause on the phone and Buck waits for her to say something. "I've found someone, a few weeks ago his name is Sam and…" she trails off.

Buck scoffs, of course this is what the call ends up being about. No explanation or apologies for leaving him and then ghosting him, instead she's only calling to make herself feel better.

"Why did you never say anything?"

"I didn't know how."

"So you let me think we were still in some kind of relationship when you were already moving on to someone else," he cries out.

"You don't understand, Buck," she says. "You're like a magnet drawing everyone around you in and I wanted to hold onto that."

He looks down at his phone in confusion and stands up. "What are you talking about?" He almost can't believe what's he hearing right now and wonders whether he knew the person on the other end of the line at all. "Are you saying you didn't end it properly because you didn't want anyone else to have me?"

"Well, when you put it like that," he can hear the grimace in her voice can picture the way her brows are drawn down and the way her nose always used to furrow when she didn't like what she was hearing - it happened when he was being accused of cheating because of a catfish.

He groans. "I should've listened to everyone else."

"I am sorry, Buck," and although she does sound sincere, it doesn't make Buck feel any better or give him back those past few months he spent wasting away hung up on some ghost that was never coming back.

"You have a nice life, Abby," Buck says ending the call, his thumb hovers over the button to delete her number before he decides against it throwing his phone on the bed in frustration instead.

He finds himself stuck for a while just looking around the room he's currently in. All of it is Abby. Nothing in the room was his; he never would've chosen the green colour scheme and the old-fashioned furniture.

Although it hurts that this chapter of his life has come to a conclusive end, there's also a big part of him that feels relief. Relief that now he can finally move on with nothing dragging him down or with any what-ifs lingering his head. He feels he can truly start to move on again without Abby lingering in the back of his mind like some cyst.

When Buck comes back into the room he sees that Eddie has moved from the couch and is now in the kitchen.

He's frowning standing over the kitchen counter looking intently down at Buck's unopened mail.

"Buck, what's this?" Eddie says gesturing to the pile.

Buck's face twists in confusion he's glad they're not discussing his call with Abby but puzzled about why this conversation is happening. "Uh, my mail?"

Eddie sighs, "No this letter right here," he holds up a yellow envelope with no return address on the outside.

"Oh," Buck hums in realisation coming to stand beside Eddie to look over his shoulder at it. "I don't actually know, I occasionally get them but I never normally open them if there's no return address."

Eddie flips it over his eyes taking in every inch of it, Buck wants to say something but stops himself when he sees a look of concentration wash over Eddie's face.

"How many of these have you got?"

Buck shrugs. "A few since I've been at Abby's."

Eddie's head snaps up. "Only since you've been at Abby's?" He questions.

"Well yeah, I thought it was just her junk mail at first. But when I saw there was nothing on it I just threw it away."

"And you haven't opened any of them right?" Eddie prompts.

Buck gives him a weird look. "Yeah, I haven't opened any of them. I'm not one for opening unlabelled junk."

Eddie goes back to flicking the envelope back and forth, Buck just stares at him. He's definitely distracted from thinking about his phone call with Abby. Buck wonders whether he should've made a bigger deal about the weird mail when he first got them, but then again he's never been good at looking after himself - choosing to take on the brunt of it himself rather than risk dragging others down with him. And also he tends to brush any danger to the side, it's a problem he knows.

Trust Eddie to be the one to open Buck's eyes.

"Can I have this?" Eddie asks waving the envelope in Buck's face pulling him out of his thoughts. He moves to push it away, but Eddie pulls it quickly out of Buck's reach before he can touch it.

"Sure?" Buck says questioningly.

Eddie nods tucking in into his jacket.

"What for?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head," Eddie grins tapping Buck on the nose and moving past him.

Buck goes red and then splutters, it's delayed because his mind was focusing a lot on the fact that Eddie called him pretty.

And he really liked it.

"Eddie," he whines and then frowns to himself at the sound that just came out his mouth.

Luckily Eddie chuckles, "I just want to look into it more," he says as a way of explanation.

It just makes Buck more confused.

"Why would you need to look into it more?" Buck wonders aloud. "It's probably just some marketing thing or something random."

Eddie shrugs. "I guess I'll know when I look into it more."

Buck nods that's fair, if Eddie thinks it needs to be looked into more he can understand and trust that. Honestly, he always got an uneasy feeling from those types of packages sent to him which is why he never opened them. "Are you going to tell me when you know more?"

Eddie looks over at him in surprise and then smiles, "Of course I'm going to tell you everything soon don't worry," Eddie looks serious then as if he's saying something more laced behind the words. "I promise."

"Alright," Buck whispers.

Eddie steps forward reaching out towards Buck's eye. "Birthmark," he murmurs, it's not a question more a statement and it's refreshing to not have to explain how he was born like it.

"Most people think I've been in a fight, an occasional eye herpes - that's an annoying one to explain away," Buck scoffs thinking back.

Eddie raises a brow. "Some people are stupid," he says bluntly.

Buck snorts.

Eddie moves to caress Buck's birthmark tracing the shape in soft patterns, Buck tries not to flinch but Eddie frowns noticing his discomfort.

"My parents used to say I was marked by the devil," Buck supplies.

"Sorry, not my handy work."

Buck throws his head back and laughs, a full-bodied one that causes him to emit a light glow that only Eddie can see

"I love your humour man," he chuckles.

Eddie huffs, fondly, you try and tell a guy the truth and it keeps somehow backfiring. "Wasn't joking," he mutters.

Before Buck can reply, Eddie seems to reel himself in again and takes a step back. Buck hates how he misses his warmth.

"Look, I need to go deal with something," he says looking contrite, "but I had a really good time hanging out with you."

Buck manages a small smile through his confusion. "Me too."

They both just look at one another and it's Eddie, once again, who manages to take another step back to move towards the door. Before he can reach a hand out, he turns around and determinedly walks towards Buck who steels himself for whatever Eddie is going to throw at him knowing one way or another it's going to wreck him.

What he's not expecting is to get pulled into a hug, a really gentle hug, that has Eddie caressing his sides causing him to all but melt into the other man. Eddie smells like pine needles and pumpkin spice, Buck never would have put the two together but somehow they've become his new favourite scent. His head is resting in the crook of Eddie's neck and his hands are bunched in Eddie's tee.

They stay like that much longer than a normal hug should be; Buck isn't complaining,. Eddie's swaying them softly in a way that makes Buck's eyes flutter in serenity. He's never received this kind of affection before from someone who he didn't consider family and it opens his eyes to what he was truly missing out on in the relationships he had previously. All of them are paling in comparison to Eddie Diaz.

Eddie finally pulls away, but Buck isn't as worried as he was before about Eddie leaving in a hurry. His fingers linger on Buck's sides before he eventually takes them away with one final caress and moves towards the door with a soft smile and a gleam of happiness surrounding him.

Buck doesn't think he's ever seen Eddie act or look that way and it thrills him.

Eddie turns around before leaving to say. "By the way, I really think you should get your own place."

The sound of the door shutting brings him out of his thoughts.

Buck's flustered and it's all Eddie's fault.

"Hey Pops, have you noticed anything strange recently?" Buck asks one night he's round the Grant-Nash's for their weekly family meal. Ever since Buck had moved out, everyone had missed the daily meals they'd had together as a family and so was born the Grant-Nash weekly family dinners.

Buck jumps at any chance he can to enjoy Bobby's cooking again, to tease his younger siblings, and to hear about Athena's workday. He knows that if he hadn't gone into firefighting he most likely would've been a policeman, he hangs off every word Athena says with such interest and she enjoys every second of it when it puts that kind of expression on Buck's face.

Bobby frowns over the meal he's preparing. "Strange? How do you mean?"

"I don't know," Buck hums. "Like does it not feel different almost, I feel like something's changed."

Bobby chuckles. "I thought you were over the grudge about Eddie being a part of the team."

"What it's not- I mean… I am, obviously, well I mean it's not obvious… is it?… wait not important right now," Buck stutters. "It's just, you know my uneasy feelings I used to get?"

Bobby turns to look at him his expression serious. "Yes?"

"I've just been getting them a lot recently."

"Around Eddie?"

Buck frowns shaking his head, "No, never around Eddie."

Well maybe initially when they first met in the club, because he was someone new, but after they kissed it's been nothing but warmth. He's never telling Bobby any of that though.

Bobby looks relieved. "Okay explain it to me."

"I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen or it's leading up to something bad happening."

Bobby frowns and puts down the knife that he was holding. "Buck, I think we need to talk."

Buck perks up in interest, "About what?"

"I don't really know how to explain this without messing up, I've never had to do this before. People normally just know."

Buck tilts his head, "What's going on?"

Bobby takes a breath, "Have you ever heard of-"

The shrill ring of his ringtone going off interrupts them, Buck mentally groans wondering how many times conversations are going to be cut off by something.

Buck glances down at his phone and frowns when he doesn't recognise the number. "What the hell," he mutters.

"Hello?" He says answering the call, a weird feeling washing over him as he does making him shift uncomfortably.

There's no sound on the other end just white noise and maybe hints of heavy breathing - he could be mistaken. He figures it must be a wrong number again.

"Huh? That's weird," Buck says placing his phone back down, he almost jolts when he sees a look of fear on Bobby's face.

"Who was that?" Bobby asks immediately.

"I don't know. They didn't say anything."

"Is that the first call you've got?"

"Maybe… I don't know. Bobby, what's going on?"

"Think Buck, please," he begs.

Buck tries to rack his brain back to the past couple of months, it's difficult because he was waiting on the other end of the phone for Abby the whole time and any calls he did receive that weren't hers were pushed to the back of his mind.

"I may have gotten another few these past couple of months," he says slowly really trying to think. "It just seemed like a wrong number the whole time or maybe some company?"

"Why didn't you tell us you were getting weird calls?" Bobby demands.

"Because it didn't seem that serious," Bucks says getting a little defensive. "Dad, what's going on? Why do you look so scared?"

"Because my son is getting weird phone calls and I don't know what to make of it."

"I feel like this is getting blown completely out of proportion." Buck's thoroughly confused and he feels he has been since Eddie's arrival. Not to say there weren't some things before that he seemed to not understand, but it's like Eddie coming here has emphasised everything. He's starting to reach his breaking point and just needs an explanation at this point because it seems as if there's this major secret that he's not being let in on.

He can't shake the feeling that all of it centres around him.

"We should talk to Athena," Bobby says standing up.

"Okay," Buck says quietly, moving to stand up with Bobby. "Am I in trouble?"

Bobby's eyes meet Buck's and they soften as he says, "No, of course not. I'm just worried okay, none of this is your fault." He reaches out to drag Buck into a hug.

"It's going to be okay."

Athena comes into the kitchen at that moment looking concerned at them and the obvious tension in the room.

"What's going on?" She asks.

Buck pulls away and takes a deep breath. "I keep getting these weird phone calls."

Athena's face doesn't change but her eyes glint with concern. "For how long?"

Buck shrugs. "I don't know for sure, a couple of months, ever since Maddie came back I guess."

Both Bobby and Athena look at one another.

"What do they say?"

"Nothing it's just heavy breathing or white noise, I don't know" he hastily adds. "That's why I didn't really think it was that bad, maybe it's just a wrong number."

"A wrong number doesn't keep calling you," Athena says seriously.

Buck hangs his head. "I'm sorry for not telling you guys. I honestly didn't think anything of it, I guess I was just focusing on Abby and her phone calls to notice anything suspicious." Athena and Bobby both grimace at the name, he cuts them off before they can say anything, "And I know that's no excuse for not being aware, I just…" he shrugs.

"Buck we understand what happened with Abby, it hasn't been an easy time for you right now," Athena comes forward to cup his cheek. "You have to understand that we don't blame you for this and we're not mad at you for not telling us. We're just worried, okay?"

He nods biting his lip. "I just don't get who would be calling me or why."

He's wrapped in a hug by both of them, food left forgotten on the side.

"That's what we're going to figure out."

He doesn't think to mention the letters that Eddie seemed hung up on earlier that week.

After the disaster that happened at the Grant-Nash family dinner, he really needed to take his mind off of it all.

It's why he decides to throw himself into apartment hunting, it's been a long time coming and he needs to get out of Abby's space. Also, he's starting to understand what Eddie means by the dog smell and now he can't escape it.

What he didn't realise was how hard it was, looking at a few listings has already made him feel way too overwhelmed. He's never had to do this because before he agreed to look after Abby's apartment he was staying with Bobby.

It's all very new for him.

Luckily, he has a sister who loves to get involved in his life.

"I need to find a new apartment," Buck muses.

"It's about time," Maddie declares sitting across from him in the cafe they decided to have breakfast at before both of their shifts.

Buck glares across at her. "Will you help me please?"

"Ah, so that's what this impromptu breakfast was about," Maddie says looking pleased.

Buck groans moving the breakfast on his plate around a bit with his fork, he stops immediately when he sees Maddie's raised eyebrow.

He moves the fork away from his food. "I've never had to do this before and I'm kind of freaking out," he admits.

Maddie's expression softens. "Hey, we'll find something for you. Come over tomorrow and we'll look at listings."

Buck's face shifts in concentration and he shovels some eggs into his mouth. "I can't tomorrow I promised Eddie I'd hang out."

Maddie's face lights up. "Eddie, huh?" She leans forward. "How's that been going?"

"It's been going," he shifts in his seat. "He's different."

"Different?"

"It just feels different to any relationship I've had before. I don't know how to explain it."

Maddie leans back with a smirk, "Relationship?"

Buck flushes. "I don't mean like that," he mutters.

"Do you want it to be like that?"

Buck pauses. Ever since that night in the club, he and Eddie just seem like they are continuously going up and down as if they're on some rollercoaster. One day he'll on a high and the next he's feeling the anxiety as if he's free-falling and afraid Eddie won't be there to catch him. He knows he would though. What Buck still doesn't know is where they stand at the moment. They're friends who have kissed but also can't seem to stop with the lingering touches.

Buck isn't complaining, in fact, he relishes in those soft touches that Eddie leaves him with, in the words that Eddie says to him that no one has said to him before.

From the very beginning, they were both drawn to one another.

Buck's brought back to the harsh excuse Abby used for not letting him go and in some ways he can understand her. He's been drawn into Eddie's orbit and he knows that he'd struggle to let him go even now. He has a feeling that Eddie feels the same way.

It's different because they're both drawn to one another, it's different because before it's always been one-sided - people were drawn to Buck, they chased him until they had their fill and then promptly threw him back. But he's never felt drawn to anyone, until he met Eddie.

They were complete opposites orbiting around each other and it seems like it was inevitable that they were pulled into each other's path.

"Possibly," Buck finally says. "I just don't think it's the right time yet, there still seems to be so many walls between us that we need to knock down."

Maddie nods understandably and thoughtfully.

Buck doesn't know how the conversation had moved onto Eddie but he does really need to get back into thinking about finding that new apartment.

"So…" he trails off, he knows his sister will take the hint to move the conversation away from Eddie.

"So," she grins. "How does the day after tomorrow sound? We'll look at some apartment listings together."

Buck smiles. "Sounds great."