Title: The New Flow
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Not Maddie Friendly
Fandom: 9-1-1
Relationships: Eddie Diaz/Evan Buckley
Tags: 6.12-Recovery Episode Tag, Season 6 Spoilers, Getting Together
Summary: Eddie's not sure what's changed after Buck was pulled out of his medically induced coma, but he liked it.
Word Count: 2,309
Beta: Grammarly

Eddie wasn't sure what to think of Buck not letting himself inside the house, but then he took in that the man looked like he had fled in a hurry, which sometimes meant he had forgotten his keys. The way Buck had been upon arrival told Eddie that Buck was pretty much at the end of his rope.

Now that he looked at Buck asleep on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, Eddie sighed. He cheers'd himself before he took a drink and walked over to settle Buck in for a good nap.

Maddie's heart was in the right place, but she was taking it too far. No one wanted Buck to feel like he had been abandoned again as he had after the main period of his leg getting better and especially after the embolism. This was vastly different, though, because Buck was different, and now it seemed like Maddie had gone overboard. There was a big difference between what Maddie had gone through that had made her flee everyone she loved and what Buck was going through.

Eddie worked on getting Buck's shoes off because no matter how much Buck drank, he wasn't going home alone. Here at least, Eddie could be a buffer. Eddie also snagged his phone and set it to silent before bringing it with him into the kitchen to work on a few things that were needed for the meals for the next week.

There would be a fight between the Buckley siblings, and Eddie wasn't sure what the fallout would be. This Buck that came out of the medically induced coma that lasted too long for all their liking seemed like he was a lot different than the Buck who went into it. It wasn't just the whole nearly dying thing, either.

Eddie snagged the list of stuff that Chris wanted for lunch for the week. Some things could be prepped ahead of time, others not. There were five lunch boxes bought by Buck for Chris when Chris loved the one that Buck had brought his lunch in one time to an impromptu picnic for the three of them in the park. Eddie wasn't sure that at some point Buck wasn't going to just take over everything to do with Chris' lunch at school, and that was okay with Eddie.

The sound of Buck moving around made Eddie feel a little better a while later. He knew that Buck needed more sleep, but there was only so much he would get sitting as he had been.

Eddie looked up when Buck came into the kitchen, looking like shit still.

"So what are you going to do about Maddie?" Eddie asked when it seemed like Buck had run out of things to ask about getting shot and how he dealt with it all.

"I don't know. I know that her heart is in the right place and that she's worried about what she had gone through with her PPD and then the untreated issue that the PPD turned out to be. But I just have no clue how to tell her she needs to step back without pissing her off."

"Maybe that shouldn't be your issue."

"What?"

"Look, we all know that I have issues with my mother. Pop and I are doing better, but he's learned to stop pushing my mother's agenda on things, or I will go away. You need your sister to do what you want when it comes to your boundaries. They are yours, and you need to push them."

Buck shrugged, but Eddie let it go for now. He didn't want to make Buck upset with everything and have him get stubborn about it all.

"What are you making?"

"Chris' lunches for the next few days." Eddie waved at what Chris had written out for his meals for the week.

"He wants extra snacks? Specific extra snacks? Does he have a crush on someone?"

"I haven't been able to wheedle it out of him yet." Eddie smiled and held out a stick of carrot to Buck for him to eat.

Buck munched on it, looking like he was at least thinking a little bit about what Eddie brought up.

---

Eddie let himself into Buck's place, wanting a place to escape himself. He had cleaned and done so much other stuff around the house that he wasn't sure there was anything left except for things he didn't have the spoons for. Which was why he was at Buck's. He didn't have to think about his work waiting at home if he wasn't at home.

"Maddie, that is not what I said at all. Listen to what I am saying. I can take care of myself. Grocery delivery is a thing, and I know it well. I've done it a lot. I did it before this. You didn't ask me if I needed help, and that's the point I'm trying to make. You wanted me to rest, which is why you brought all of the food around. You wanted me to rest, so you made sure that every single time I laid down to rest, someone was coming over to the loft. I had to escape to Eddie's to sleep. I had to leave my home to go somewhere else to sleep."

"I was trying to help."

"And I love that you want to help me, but you have to ask me what kind of help I want or need. You just assumed I wouldn't ask for it if needed. You treated me like a child."

"You never asked before."

"I have. I just don't ask you. I ask others for help that fits what I need. I go to Eddie because as much as we are partners at work, we are partners outside of it. Between him and Chris, I am set for things to do. Even when I couldn't use my cell phone for those days, Chris came over, and we played games. Abuela and Pepa made sure I had food so that I didn't have to eat out of those two days only since it was just thrust on me very quickly with no planning. It wasn't like I could just go out and eat or order food. I had to be careful as hell. You didn't seem to care too much around that."

"I have a life."

"I understand that, and I have one as well, and you pushed too much without asking me what I needed. That's my biggest issue, Maddie. You don't ask. You expect me to do what you want and to be where you leave me. Or where you last thought I was."

Eddie knocked on the door, figuring he should tell him he was there. "Hey, Buck."

Buck appeared from the stairs area with a smile on his face.

"Eddie, did we have plans?" Buck looked really happy to see him, so Eddie stepped fully into the loft and waved at Maddie when she came from the living room area.

"No, I just needed to escape house adulting hell. I thought we could head out and get lunch together, but if you have other plans, that's okay." Eddie slipped his keys into his pocket.

"No, I had nothing else; I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do."

"And he's allowed to just come in and do stuff?" Maddie asked.

"He asked. He knows he's welcome over here at any point in time without asking."

"And I'm not?"

"Well, he doesn't come in and tell me what I should be doing. Or pushing his wants over mine when I'm an adult that can make his own decisions. If I had refused to give you an answer or you thought that I was hurting myself with what I was doing, there is a case to be made to make me talk about it."

"I was so alone," Maddie said.

"Yes, and I know you had issues, but you chose that. You told me that you wanted time as a family to get used to the changes of having Jee-Yun around. You told me no all the time, and I wish I had pushed as maybe you could have been found to have your medical diagnosis earlier. We were raised by the same parents, but we have different issues, so you cannot treat me like you are getting a second chance to not run away because it was all you felt like you had."

Eddie really felt like he needed to be anywhere but where he was, but neither of them asked him to leave, nor did they stop.

"I know. I wanted to make sure, but this really isn't the same, is it?"

"No, it's not. So please ask. My issues were not around not asking for help or any of that. It was around the fact that my doctor just kept on ordering tests, and while she explained some of them, she wasn't answering the questions I was asking or giving me more information. I Googled some of them. It just gave a lot of things that they could be looking for and that there was nothing to worry about other than the more extreme stuff."

"You haven't let me go to any appointments with you."

"No, because the last time I did that, you were pushing me to not get what I needed to return to work. You were pushing me to leave the job I love."

"And that was wrong. I know that."

"So that trust is going to take time to rebuild. That you aren't pushing yourself into this is good."

Maddie stepped forward and hugged Buck. Buck hugged her back, and Eddie could see that last little bit of issue he had with Maddie going away at that moment.

Buck was all about going with the flow, but he knew sometimes there were rough patches in the water.

"I hope you have a good day and don't do too much," Maddie said as she pulled out of the hug.

"With Naggy Eddie here? Doubt it. I'll be good."

"He'll be good, or I won't bring Chris around to see him after he gets out of school."

"That's mean," Buck said with a pout on his lips.

Maddie laughed and gathered up her things to head out. She looked back at Buck just once before heading out the door.

Buck dropped down onto the stairs and looked worn out.

"Let's go and see this couch."

"It's a good one. Mom knows how to pick one. It's big enough for me to sleep on, and it does pull out into a bed. For naps, I just don't do that."

"I know you said you didn't mind your mom getting you the couch."

"She fusses. It's part of the only way she knows how to show me she loves me. I think she does, but she's messed up, even now. I'll take what I can get, but I don't need her love. I don't need anything from her. I have the people I need in my life already, every single day. There is a lot I'm still unpacking from the dream I had while in the coma, but I know that I figured out the family I have is all I need."

"Chris said you were talking to him about family a little bit. He didn't tell me much more than that."

"No, he's good at keeping secrets he knows he doesn't need to talk about."

"He promised me that you weren't hurting and it was safe to not talk about the things he talked to you about, just like you do for him. I don't worry about you and him. You two take care of each other really well."

Buck started to blush, and Eddie wanted to see what kind of reaction he would get if he stepped up closer to Buck. Eddie laid down the things he had brought with him and dropped his phone onto the kitchen counter. Buck didn't move at all; it was nice to see him not moving away from him. He wanted to see how it felt to kiss Buck, and he had for a while, but before now, it never seemed like it was something Buck might want. Now it seemed like there was something that was pulling at Buck as much as it pulled at Eddie for this.

"So, cowboy," Buck said as Eddie stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"What about it?"

"You've never said that to me before."

"No, I haven't." Eddie leaned on the railing, hovering a little closer to Buck than he would normally do. "Did you like it?"

"I did. Did you like it?"

"I did." Eddie leaned a little more, and this time, Buck met him head-on, closing the gap and pressing their mouths together.

Buck grabbed Eddie's shirt but didn't haul him closer or do anything to stop Eddie from pulling away when the kiss ended. He still held onto the shirt, but he didn't move.

"Good?" Eddie asked.

"Of course. Fishing for compliments is not something I expected you to do."

"Well, you usually aren't silent unless you love or really dislike something. I couldn't tell which it was. So, yes, I had to ask."

Buck stood up, making it seem like he was towering over Eddie for the few seconds it took him to get down onto the floor. Then buck proceeded to back Eddie toward the living room area.

"Let's see what you think when we go in here and make out, huh?"

Eddie laughed, but he didn't fight it. He could go with the flow on this. They had time to talk about it later once the first rush of emotions was taken care of by making out like teenagers on a couch.

9-1-1: Fan Fiction: The New Flow

The End