This is a cute little story about a medical condition I stumbled across when doing Dissertation research. I am not an expert on said medical condition so things mentioned in this story may not be accurate. When I did a little dig, I thought it sounded very familiar to some traits Buck has and thus, this baby was born!

This also features Buddie, so if you are not comfortable with M/M relationship, move on. Thank you.

Bobby and Athena found themselves following the sound of hushed whispers as they headed up to the loft. Bobby was just about to start a 12 hour shift and needed to hand over with the B-Shift before allowing them to head home, and Athena wanted lunch before his shift so offered to drop him off. Bobby frowned when he saw Buck with his back to the stairs, everyone crowded around him. The kid had two days off and, although he would find himself here anyway to spend time with the team, it was unusual for him to not wait for the A-Shift to clock in.

"Buck?" The pair could have laughed at the startled look on everyone's faces as Buck spun on the spot, his eyes wide.

"Bobby? Athena? Wait, what time is it?"

"Almost 3pm. What are you doing here?"

"I covered Allens shift, he called me like an hour before he was due to clock in with food poisoning so I came in for him." Bobby and Athena noticed how Buck held something behind his back, and everyone around him also seemed to be hiding something, under their t-shirts and under paper on the table.

"What are you hiding?" Bobby crept closer to Buck, the man visible sweating as everyone around the table dispersed, Buck whispering something about 'traitors'. Bobby reached behind him and grabbed what was in his hand, frowning as he held up a clear bag with cookies inside. "Cookies? Why are you hiding cookies?" He opened the bag and the smell trickled up his nose, Athena coming closer, also investigating the cookies. Bobby's eyes widening. "Are these- Buck, how did you get this recipe?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The dumb look did not suit Buck, Athena snatching one and taking a bite, her eyes mimicking Bobby's. Buck looked around in panic when Eddie, Chimney and Hen came up the stairs, Eddie struggling to hold his laugh in.

"I told you they would find out eventually."

"How did you get this recipe? I have it locked up in a safe, nobody has access to it except me." Athena's hands went to her hips accusingly, Buck trembling under her stare.

"I swear I did not steal it. I promise."

"Well then, how did you get it?" Bobby pressed, slightly upset that Buck had practically perfected Athena's great-grandmothers cookie recipe and he had never even seen her bake them, let alone been allowed to know what ingredients were needed to bake them.

"You have to promise you won't be mad." Chimney and Hen laughed, Buck's genuine fear hysterically considering Athena wasn't actually his mother and couldn't punish him, but he treated her as if she could. "I need a promise." Sighing heavily, Athena held up her pinky, Buck linking it with a slight nod before retreating. He watched Eddie sneak a cookie off the table, his boyfriends eyes on him teasingly. He was thoroughly enjoying this and Buck would get him back. "Okay. After the bombing, when I was still in recovery, you invited me around for dinner. Now, I got to your house a little early and I let myself in, which I know I shouldn't have, but I could smell your lasagne all the way outside and I was so excited. I could hear you in the kitchen and I was sneaking up against the wall to scare you when I heard you mumbling to yourself. You do this thing, before you make something, and you like, read all the ingredients out and then tell yourself what you are going to do, in a little sing songy voice. I've heard you do it a million times when making food and was trying to figure out what you were making when I realised you were making the cookies! Now, you know I love your cookies, so much, and I was just curious as to what the secret ingredient was so I stopped and listened- massive surprise by the way what I found out you put in them. I let you get started so I didn't break your flow and then I pretended to come in and you told me to wait on the sofa because you were doing something. I promise, I never intended on using the recipe but then, during the lawsuit, I was so lonely and sad and I just wanted one of your cookies so badly but I knew if I had called you for some, you would have been mad, so I made them myself." Everyone, besides Eddie who continued munching on the cookie happily, stood in shock at Buck's story, Athena's mouth agape as she struggled to find the words to respond.

"I- you- I don't-" She looked at Bobby who shared a similar face to her own. "I don't believe you." It was Buck's turn for his jaw to drop, his hands trembling as he looked to Eddie for support, but he was still happily staring at the cookie in his hand.

"I am telling the truth! I swear, I wouldn't lie to you!"

"You can't expect me to believe you would remember that recipe after hearing me say it outloud one time! These cookies are perfect, down to the-" Buck interrupted her, holding his hands up defensively.

"Down to the half of a half a pinch of the secret ingredient! Which, let me tell you, was so hard to perfect because my hands are a lot bigger than yours." Athena slammed her mouth shut again, unsure how on earth Buck would have been able to perfect this recipe, a recipe that has been in her family for four generations, that nobody outside of her, her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother, had seen. Buck was twitching at the uncomfortable silence that had fallen amongst them, the only sound being Eddie licking his fingers clean with a hum. Buck made a mental reminder to make up the sofa for him to sleep on for the next week as punishment for not helping him. Finally, Eddie stood back up, wrapping his arm around Buck's waist playfully.

"What do you expect, Buck has Hyperthymesia." Everyone turned to Eddie as he had grown a head, Buck included who slid out from his arm, stepping to the side.

"I have what now?" The insult in Buck's tone made Eddie laugh, the man rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Hyperthymesia." He said it so nonchalant, like he was telling everyone Buck had eyes and a nose.

"I have never heard that word before in my entire life. What does it even mean?" Chimney interrupted Eddie before he could respond, holding up his phone from behind Bobby, having googled it the second the word left Eddie's mouth.

"Hyperthymesia, also known as HSAM, is a condition that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail. It says here that only 62 people have ever been diagnosed with it, how can you be so sure he has it?" Everyone looked back to Eddie, his face unnervingly calm.

"The official way to diagnose someone with Hyperthymesia is for them to get an MRI, but there are also these really complex memory tests that doctors perform called autobiographical memory assessments that test a person's ability to recall specific events and facts from their earlier life. I gathered a tonne of material to use from Maddie and when Buck was doing the weirdest of activities, I would ask him to recall random things, which he would, down to the date and sometimes even the time. I would also ask him to recall a number that I told him to remember, but would do it months after I had initially asked him. I looked all this up not long after I started working here. It works only with things like sound and smells, and not so much written text, which is why people with Hyperthymesia usually do really badly in education. Plus, certain memories appear with the strangest of triggers meaning sometimes they zone out and get lost in their own thoughts." Buck swallowed nervously as Eddie spoke, shaking his head with flushed cheeks. Everyone else, however, nodded slowly as everything about Buck slowly started to make sense. The part of his brain that held all the random facts he would blurt out wasn't just a part of his brain, it was his entire brain. Athena couldn't even be mad anymore, but as quickly as she was amazed, she was soon concerned at the uncomfortable expression on Buck's face. She went to speak up, but Eddie beat her to it, his hand reaching for Buck's, him squeezing it as he spoke. "I never said anything because I know your parents made out like you were stupid and a waste of space growing up, instead of just seeing that really, you were just extra special and needed a different form of education. I know full well that you probably would have been a doctor or an astronaut at NASA if you had been guided in your learning, which is why I pushed to get Christopher into the school he is attending now, because I didn't want him to ever feel like he wasn't just as smart as everyone else, because he didn't have to correct guidance. Plus, he loves that his Buck has the brain the size of Jupiter, because he, and I, wouldn't have you any other way." Buck's eyes filled with unshed tears as he looked away, squeezing Eddie's hand back. Everyone was stood in awe, Bobby and Athena sharing a look, Hen and Chimney leaning against each other with the heart eyes that Hen would always use to describe the way Eddie looks at Buck. The two were so in love it was mind blowing.

"So, you're like, super smart?" Chimney finally spoke up, Hen hitting the side of his head making him wince, Buck giggling slightly. He looked up through his eyelashes at Athena.

"So, are you not mad?"

"How can I be? You make my own family recipe better than I do." With a laugh, she held out her arms, Buck falling into her happily, Bobby rubbing his back. He couldn't believe with all the attention he gives Buck, he had never even thought to look into his incredible brain, but for Eddie to have been the one to discover it, only shows how much the man truly loves Buck.

"I do have one more question." Bobby stated, Buck looking up with a worried glance, Bobby holding up the clear bag that held more cookies playfully, a smirk on his face.

"How did you end up becoming a cookie dealer with the B-Shift team?" Laughing, he ruffled his hair nervously, looking around at the few abandoned take out containers on the table, some of the B-Shift unable to grab them as they sprinted off in a rush.

"When Rodriguez broke his leg, I thought some cookies would cheer him up so I dropped some off at the hospital. A few people got wind of them and I was grilled while covering one of his shifts. I told them I could bring them in once in a while, but nobody from A-Shift could find out because I couldn't have you stumbling across me with them. So, whenever I covered someones shift or picked up an extra one, I would bring them in for everyone. Captain Morgan won his sons school bake-off with a batch the other month." Eddie made his way to Buck again and nestled himself into his side, head resting on his chest.

"Ah, my boyfriend, the thief, the cookie dealer, the American Mary Berry." Everyone laughed, Hen rubbing Buck's shoulder before snatching a cookie off Bobby, Chimney making a beeline for one on the table, Athena leaning into Bobby with a shake of the head.

"Hey! Mary Berry is a legend and you cannot tell me otherwise!"