Word Count: 2,831
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with 911, Fox, or anything else related to that particular universe.
Eddie had imagined many possible scenarios for celebrating the removal of Buck's cast. They all tended to involve leaving Chris with Abuela, popping some champagne, exchanging kisses, and maybe leading to a whole lot more that didn't involve a lot of sleeping.
He hadn't considered that Buck might get his cast off while Eddie had a shift and then be so excited by the prospect of moving with more freedom of just a knee brace that he'd plan his own event which involved going to Maddie's for a Family Game Night. Which also included Chim. And that Chim had invited his best friend, Hen, and her wife, Karen over too.
Eddie almost considered picking up his phone and dialling Walker or Nicholls to see if they wanted to join just so he didn't feel so outnumbered.
Chris ended up at Athena and Bobby's for a sleepover with Harry, May, and Karen and Hen's son, Denny. Chris had been thrilled by the possibility of staying at Athena's and spending time with the boys, who were a little older than him and therefore that made them cool. Eddie was slightly less thrilled that his quiet night in had turned into a raucous night out, but he couldn't really find it in him to begrudge the evening when Buck was smiling more and laughing freer than he had in a month as they started on Charades, and then moved to Taboo, and then Trivial Pursuit. Eddie was impressed at the array of games Maddie had stacked by the coffee table and wondered if this was something he was going to have to get used to participating in more often.
"I don't have the money for that," Karen complained as she counted out her remaining money in Monopoly and chewed her bottom lip while staring at the required rent.
"I'll cover you," Hen said, passing some coloured paper money to Karen.
"You can't do that! That's cheating!" Chim protested.
"It's a spouse helping a spouse. We have a marriage based on sharing assets," Hen said smugly, eyebrows arched in a challenge that Chim seemed willing to take.
"This isn't couples Monopoly!"
"Says who?" Karen said, passing her collected notes to Maddie who had been playing banker.
Which was how an individualistic game of Monopoly devolved into a couples game, with Buck and Eddie, Chim and Maddie, and Hen and Karen supporting each other in the buying and selling of properties and houses and hotels. There was a lot of laughter, and a few calls about cheating, and he couldn't resist rubbing a hand against Buck's knee in an effort to be reassuring and supportive of whatever sibling spat was going on.
Monopoly was traded for Cards Against Humanity and then Eddie began to realise just how depraved the minds were of Buck, his sister, and those in the 118. It wasn't a game he'd played before – Game Nights weren't exactly something he'd ever done with his team – and he struggled to grasp that the most absurd white cards, which often didn't make sense when paired with the black cards, were the most popular and drew the most laughs. It seemed contradictory and he too-often chose cards that matched the situation because, he insisted, the answers needed to make sense. Buck tried explaining to him, several times, how the ridiculous cards were funniest and, with a group of weirdos, he should play those.
"Buckley. You're cleaning the board. Who are you calling a weirdo?" Chim said as he pondered which white card he wanted to submit in response to Maddie's black card.
"I clearly understand you're all nuts," Buck shrugged, picking up a fresh white card from the pile to replace the one he'd just given to Maddie and snorting when he read it.
Eddie couldn't help but look at him, wondering what dastardly combination he'd make next.
In the end, Buck did end up winning but it was a narrow victory over Hen. Eddie expected her delighted, cackling laugh to be seared into his memory for months given the way she reacted to so many of the cards that were played.
The hours grew late and it was approaching eleven when Karen said something about work the next day, so she and Hen departed and, not long after, so did Eddie and Buck.
"That was fun," Buck said, his eyes shining as he used a single crutch to support his weight on the hobble to the car.
"You only say that because you won," Eddie teased and Buck grinned.
"Is that jealousy, I hear?"
"Jealousy?" Eddie tugged Buck towards him, pressing a kiss to his lips that extinguished the look of amusement and replaced it with something darker with desire. "What's there to be jealous of about a card game?"
He left Buck standing there, pouting, as he climbed into his truck and tried to pretend as though he hadn't just tried to kiss Buck senseless in ways that left Eddie's pulse pounding through his veins. After a long moment, Buck seemed to restart and he joined Eddie in the car, fingers tapping against his knees.
"So. We have the house to ourselves, right? You're picking Chris up tomorrow?"
"Now you're starting to understand why I wanted to leave an hour or two ago," Eddie said, attempting to cover his smirk at the audible way Buck's breathing hitched by putting the truck in reverse to escape Maddie and Chim's driveway. "After all, didn't you want to check whether your Mark was just as sensitive as before?"
He could feel how antsy Buck was beside him the entire trip home. He squirmed in his seat, fingers clearly balled in his lap whenever Eddie glanced towards them at traffic lights, and it was an effort to keep driving when he was sorely tempted to pull over and start groping under Buck's shirt. He wondered how much of his desire was radiated into Buck, because he certainly felt faint tingles of it through the Mark.
He helped Buck out of the car and into the house, ever the gentleman when someone could be walking down the street and spot them, but he wasted less time once the door was shut and locked to press Buck into the wall and start kissing him. Buck groaned against him, fingers already untucking Eddie's shirt from his pants and starting on some of the buttons, as Eddie cradled his jaw and licked into his mouth. It was like their first time all over again, the frenetic energy returning. Fingers fumbled at buttons and zippers, and Eddie almost lifted Buck into his arms to carry him to his bedroom if Buck hadn't swatted his hands away and insisted he could walk. Or, well, hobble a little easier.
Once Buck was sprawled against the mattress, his knee brace removed and his pale skin pinked already with an excited flush, Eddie could only take a moment to smile reverently at the image in front of him where those dark briefs hid nothing of his erection before he clambered onto the bed. Buck's hands lifted to his chest, skimming over his sides and then up his back to hold him close. He stroked his knuckles against Buck's cheek, feeling happy to have him for such a long stretch of uninterrupted hours. Yet there was still a clear glimmer of uncertainty in Buck's eyes.
"Hey." He pressed a softer kiss to Buck's lips, his concern slowing his desperation as he bracketed his arms around Buck's head. "You want to find out?"
Buck's eyes darted towards the ceiling, his unsteady heart rate clear in the twitch of his pulse in his neck. "No…" But his tone indicated his indecision and a moment later he shrugged. "I can't avoid it forever."
"We don't have to-"
"Eddie, I'm afraid," Buck said steadily, more steadily than Eddie felt as he watched the man beneath him spin through an array of emotions before seeming to resolve himself to the situation, "but I- I can't let fear rule me. Not about this. I know your Mark is the same and I- I know I still feel the same. Whatever it feels like, whatever it looks like, I- I know that's the truth."
Eddie brushed a kiss to Buck's lips, tracing the seam of his lips with the point of his tongue. Buck trembled beneath him, mouth parting around a gasp that Eddie used to his advantage to slide his tongue over Buck's. The longer the kiss lasted, the more Buck seemed to sink into bed. When Eddie was satisfied he had stolen away as much of Buck's anxiety as he could, he pulled away and gazed into the depths of Buck's blue eyes.
"Okay?"
Buck visibly swallowed and then gave a small nod. With the house to themselves, Eddie was in no rush to add to Buck's potential hysteria by discovering the Mark might have somehow changed dramatically. He started with another kiss to Buck's mouth that was far more chaste, then kissed each cheek, the tip of his nose, his chin. He started a line down the side of Buck's neck and then drifted across his collarbone with gentle kisses. By the time he started drawing his tongue across the half-curl of a cloud at his shoulder and the overlapping circle/square/triangle on his pec, Buck was practically squirming beneath him.
"Eddie…" Buck grumbled with an adorable scrunch of his nose, one of his hands moving higher to grip the back of Eddie's neck and tug warningly at some of the strands of his hair.
"What? Something wrong?" he teased, winking in response to the glowering expression that Buck adopted.
"I'd forgotten how much you take your time when you can," Buck muttered and Eddie could only grin and continue his journey of rediscovering Buck's body with his mouth and the occasional errant touch. He bypassed Buck's tight navy-blue briefs, where he was clearly straining against the confines of the fabric, and kissed a path down his leg until he got to Buck's knee.
"You ready?" Eddie said and even though Buck looked anything but ready he still nodded and scrunched his eyes shut. Eddie wasn't sure he blamed him when all he'd done was try to ensure he felt comfortable in surely some of the most uncomfortable of circumstances.
"Do your worst," Buck mumbled as Eddie shifted lower still. He tapped Buck's hip and he rolled over to expose the back of his knee.
It felt wrong to feel such a sense of relief when he knew Buck had been so afraid but it flowed through him anyway. There were a pair of circular reddish-pink scars across the fleshy part at the back of his knee where the bullet had passed through his ligament and narrowly avoided shattering into the bones of his leg. The scars were clearly still healing, but Buck would rarely, if ever, see them because of the awkward positioning. The two circles almost made for an amusing contrast with the array of small stripes across his arms and torso, but Eddie would never voice that when he knew Buck had his insecurities about all the Marks.
Most reassuringly, the only thing he really cared about right that second, was the inch of half-half colour and shade, a neat stripe contrasting with pale skin. It remained untouched between the two circles, though whether that was good luck or the surgeon's realisation Eddie would never know.
"Beautiful," he murmured, brushing his thumb over the Mark. Buck's muscles stiffened, a low moan into the pillow beneath him at the touch, and Eddie rolled his bottom lip between his teeth and pressed a little firmer.
"Eddie… Please…"
"It's fine, Ev." He dragged his thumb around the two circles of scars, feeling Buck tremble beneath him, before moving over the Mark again. "You were shot near it but not shot through it. It's… It's okay."
"You… Y-You're sure?" Buck's voice wavered and Eddie wished there were so many more things he could do or say that would provide the reassurance he knew Buck craved.
"Promise." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the Mark, drawing a louder moan from Buck which led to a broader smile stretching over his face. He settled on the side of Buck, allowing him the space to roll back over and meet his eyes. "You're okay, Buck. We're okay."
There was a sparkle of tears in those blue eyes that hadn't been there before. He lifted his hand, trailed fingertips over the curve of Buck's cheekbone, around the birthmark above his eyebrow. He wanted to soak away the fear thrumming through Buck's entire system like a sponge and then twist it into a drain so it didn't exist anymore.
"I was so afraid it would be...destroyed somehow," Buck whispered, a tear spilling down his cheek.
"I know, but it's okay."
Buck shook his head slightly into Eddie's palm. "I know you… I know that you wanted to be together tonight, but I...was afraid."
Eddie's eyes narrowed, brain ticking over Buck's words and the facial expression that suggested he' was nervous about the confession. "You… Are you saying you set up Family Game Night?"
"Not...exactly?"
But Eddie was starting to suspect that was exactly what had happened, and he couldn't be mad about it. Not when he knew that Buck had been upset and stressed for a month. Not when he knew that if he'd discovered the Mark had been damaged, he wasn't sure how they would have spent the rest of the night. Eddie had been stupid to have elaborate plans for a good outcome which meant he hadn't considered any of the potential bad outcomes.
In the span of a heartbeat and a breath, his enthusiasm to spend an evening alone with Buck deflated. Maybe he'd take advantage of a morning without curious eyes and excitement for breakfast instead.
"C'mere," he said, opening his arms. Buck bit his lip, looking uncertain, until Eddie twitched an eyebrow at him. Buck relented, shifting in the small gap to cuddle into Eddie's chest, allowing Eddie to settle his palms across the wings of his shoulder blades and lower back. "We're okay, Buck," he said, like a promise, as he nosed at Buck's cheek and pressed a kiss against the skin.
Buck nodded, and finally, finally some of that tension that Eddie had been able to feel for a month within the muscles of Buck's back started to unspool, a damp sniffle that made him tighten his grip and push another kiss to his forehead.
His night might not have gone as expected but he thought that was probably for the best. Nothing was more important than ensuring Buck felt soothed and accepting that their relationship was just as alive and strong as ever and Eddie wasn't going anywhere.
"We need officers at the back alley exits, here and here," Eddie explained, pointing at the maps of the surrounding areas of their targeted location. The sprawling compound was a series of interconnected houses and apartments with an untold number of civilians nestled amid a hive of cartel members and suspected drug labs. Information gleaned from interviews and deals with the DA after the successful capture of Martinez a few weeks ago had been thoroughly cross-referenced to identify a new series of targets across the city. It was hard to believe they were still chasing down all the leads associated with this guy more than a month since it had started. Eddie was about ready to shut the book on him because every time they talked about Martinez, he thought about being interrupted by the call to the bar.
"We need teams to converge here," Walker continued, drawing a series of arrows leading towards a building slightly off-centre and forcing Eddie's attention back to the present. Drone flyovers indicated it was the central hub of activity at all hours of the day and night, a distribution centre for the neighbourhood and surrounding districts. "Patrol will cover the right and left doors and windows. Bravo will breach from the rear to push towards us at the front to take down the runners."
Marshall nodded, gesturing to his team to memorise their positioning in the grand scheme of the maps. Athena pursed her lips, tapping at a stairwell that was nearly impossible to cover. Eddie, Walker and Marshall had already discussed it, deciding it was simply too exposed and gave away their approach. They already knew it could lead to an unknown number scurrying across to the apartment block to the west. From there, it would be easy to leap onto lower roofs and escape to street level.
"We'll have eyes in the sky and surrounding patrols to intercept," Eddie explained, because it wasn't a perfect solution but it was the best they had under the circumstances. "Cameras in the area can also help capture images to track down any we might miss."
Athena cast a withering look at him. "Don't miss."
~TBC~