Work Text:
“If I didn’t know any better I would say you were setting us up,” Josh said.
They were having a poker night at Chimney’s apartment and Maddie was winning by a landslide.
“I like you way too much to set you up with my brother,” Maddie responded.
“Hey now!” Buck didn’t know why he was so offended. It’s not like he swung that way, but they were both single and Josh was an attractive, fun guy. As was Buck. What’s not to set up?
Then Chimney and Maddie started harping on his dating life and he and Josh bonded over being single in the abysmal LA dating scene. It was nice.
“I still can’t believe Maddie said she would never set us up,” Buck said and he and Josh were leaving.
“Well, either I’d have to be a woman or you’d have to like men for that to work,” Josh pointed out.
“I have nothing against guys,” Buck said, “I’ll even check out a guy’s ass every once in a while, but that’s normal.”
Josh gave him a strange look, “And when you… ‘check out a guy’s ass’ what are you thinking about?”
Buck shrugged, “I don’t know. I wonder what their work out routine is. Think about how it would fit in my hands. What it would be like to squeeze it.”
Josh choked on nothing, “I don’t think you’re as straight as you think you are.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can I try something?”
Buck nodded and then Josh was moving closer. He stopped right before they were touching- waiting for Buck to pull away- and when he didn’t he connected their lips.
It wasn’t the best kiss in the world and it wasn’t the worst. They had both had a lot of wine that night and he could taste it on Josh’s lips. But even though it wasn’t a remarkable kiss by normal standards, Buck could feel his heart and brain both skipping a beat. The world exploded around him. Because kissing a guy? It was nice. It felt good .
Josh pulled away before Buck was ready for the kiss to end, “So, are you straight?”
“Nuh uh,” And then Buck was pulling him in for another kiss.
They went home together that night. They made out and exchanged hand jobs, but didn’t go farther than that. Buck had never had another guy’s dick in his hand before, but it wasn’t much different than his own and based on Josh’s moans and gasps, he did a good job.
They fell asleep tangled together and Buck woke up in a curious mood and woke Josh up with a morning blow job.
As they were each getting ready for their shifts, they talked about what this was.
“So… what is this?” Buck asked.
“Well, to be honest I don’t think he would work as a couple,” Josh said and Buck let out a sigh of relief.
“We’re on the same page on that,” Buck admitted, “But I did have fun last night.”
“Me too.”
“So, where does that leave us?” Buck asked, “Friends with benefits?”
Josh kissed him, “I like that idea. When we’re both single, we can call each other up for a fun time.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Buck really wanted to go another round, but if they did then they would be late for work. Buck did end up being late because they had been at Josh’s apartment and Buck wasn’t used to the commute from there.
They hooked up a few more times until Buck and Taylor got together. They would still see each other sometimes at 118 BBQs as he was considered a part of the extended family. It was kind of weird how not weird things were between them.
Nobody knew that they had been friends with benefits before Taylor came back into the picture. He hadn’t even told anyone he was bi. There was just… no reason to come out. He’d introduce a boyfriend just as casually as he would a girlfriend. He didn’t feel the need for the big conversations. He knew his family loved him.
Things with Taylor went south- he knew it was heading that direction for a while, but it still hurt when it happened.
Being single again, he wanted to call up Josh. But Josh had started dating the guy who installed the fire suppression system at dispatch. He was happy for his friend- Josh deserved a man who would treat him right.
So he lived that bought of singleness alone. And it was alright. He decided to spend that time trying to find the secret of happiness and living a year of yes. It was going pretty well- he was helping his friends have a baby. It was great.
Then the lightning came.
Everyone was treating him with kid gloves. Buck hated it.
“I brought sudoku!” Josh said when Buck answered the door. He groaned, but let the man in.
“Maddie roped you into the babysitting club, too?” Buck asked.
“It’s not like I had anything better to do,” Josh admitted, “While you were in a coma, I was getting dumped.”
“Sounds like we could both use some stress relief,” Buck offered.
“Buck. It’s been years since we’ve done that. And you’re recovering from a lightning strike ! You need to take it easy.”
“So go easy on me,” Buck smirked as he moved his hand along Josh’s side and pulled the man close, “I’m not so easily breakable. And I need to feel something .”
It was a bad idea. They both knew it was. But they both needed it. It was like their first time- making out and hand jobs. But it felt so good. It was what he had been craving.
But after Josh left, the rotating door of visitors continued, so he ended up at Eddie’s house to avoid them. It was the only place he could truly be alone.
And then he met Natalia and she was nice enough. They dated for a few months, but she kept bringing up the fact that he died. He wanted to move on from that and she couldn’t move past it, so they broke up.
Things at work had been hectic, so he and Josh arranged to meet up after one of Buck’s shifts. It had been too long for both of them.
But instead of leaving when his shift ended, he ended up stealing a helicopter and flying into a hurricane in international waters. He didn’t even have a chance to text Josh. But all thoughts of Josh left when he met him .
Tommy Kinard was… well he was like a walking wet dream. Buck didn’t think he had a competency kink, but seeing that man land them on a capsized cruise ship in the middle of the ocean did something for him. As did the fake mouth static. This guy was just so cool .
Afterwards he got Tommy’s number from Chimney and arranged a tour of harbor station. He thought he detected some flirting, but couldn’t tell for sure. So he asked Tommy out for a beer. Maybe it would be easier to parse out there.
But Tommy flew away with Eddie and Buck ended up at Hen and Karen’s with a bottle of wine.
“Buck, what are you-”
Buck pushed past Hen, “Do you know a lot about Tommy? Like, are you two close?”
“Um,” She exchanged a look with Karen who had just come out of the kitchen, “We were friends when he was at the 118. He was at mine and Karen’s wedding and would watch Denny sometimes. We’d go out to drink after shift together.”
“Great! So you know him!”
“We fell out of touch after he transferred stations.”
Karen brough them three glasses for the wine and they all sat down.
“But you would know if-” Buck stopped himself. Did he want to go there right away? He took a big gulp of wine.
“She’d know what, Buck?” Karen asked.
“Does he… has he ever dated a guy before?” Buck finally had the courage to ask.
Karen did a spit take and Hen looked more shocked than he had ever seen her.
“I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that,” Hen admitted.
“Well, I was trying to feel him out, you know?” Buck explained, “But he’s just so hard to read! He has that deadpan sense of humor. And I love it. But it makes it really hard to tell if he’s flirting.”
“I didn’t know you would… want to flirt with him,” Karen said.
Buck sighed, “I hadn’t been hiding it, but not advertising either? Josh and I have hooked up a few times.”
“That’s… That’s great, Buck,” Hen said, “Thank you for trusting us.”
“I just… is this just a hopeless crush on Tommy or do I have a chance?” Buck asked.
“I’m texting you info about karaoke trivia at a local bar,” Hen said.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It’s a gay bar,” Hen said, “Just go and see who you run into.”
Buck thought this was Hen’s way of letting him down easy- giving him a casual place to potentially meet someone who would like him back.
Karaoke trivia came and Buck almost didn’t go. All he wanted to do was wallow. But he got his ass in gear and decided to go. He even texted Josh who agreed to meet him there. At least he’d have either a wingman or a hookup to help him through the night.
He and Josh met in the parking lot and walked in together. They started getting a drink at the bar and then looked around for a table. Then Buck’s eyes landed on Eddie and Tommy?
He gestured to Josh for him to look and he confirmed it was indeed Tommy and Eddie. They went over to their table.
“Didn’t think I’d see you guys here,” Buck said honestly.
“Buck!” Eddie smiled.
Tommy looked like he was trying to catch his breath, “Evan. Hi.”
“And Josh!” Josh said.
“Mind if we join you?” Buck asked.
They did join their table. They had about ten minutes before trivia started. Was this why Hen sent him here? Did she know Tommy would be here? And why was Eddie at a gay bar?
“So are you two here together?” Tommy asked.
Both Buck and Josh shook their heads.
“We talked about it a few years ago, but decided we would be a disaster couple,” Buck explained.
“Wait, what?” Eddie asked.
“I’m bi,” Buck said, “Never really felt the need to come out because I knew you all would treat a boyfriend the same as a girlfriend. It just didn’t seem like a big thing.”
“You’re-” Tommy said.
“Yeah,” Buck nodded, “And you?”
“Gay. And single,” Tommy added.
Buck smiled, “Good.”
Tommy returned his smile.
“I think we just became the third and fourth wheel,” Josh said to Eddie.
“I still owe you that beer,” Buck said.
“Yeah you do. I’m not drinking beer tonight.”
“Looks like we’ll have to see each other again, then,” Buck couldn’t believe this was actually happening, “And you promised me flying lessons.”
“Guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
“Gag,” Josh said, “I’m glad you guys figured this out, but I’m here to win trivia.”
“Me too,” Eddie chimed in.
That night, Buck didn’t go home with Josh, he went home with Tommy. And it felt good. It felt right .
When he told that story at the firehouse, Chimney was shocked.
“Wait, are you saying Maddie and I did set you up with Josh?” Chimney asked, “Does she know that?”
Buck just laughed. He and Josh had some fun and he was grateful to his friend. But he was so much happier now with Tommy in his life.