"That's a rainbow of colors already," Chim said as he came up to look at what everyone else had already been looking at.

"Thanks. I know. Who knew that Chris could hit a ball that hard, right?"

Chim looked at Buck and said he didn't believe it. Buck ignored it to dig into Bobby's food. The weekend in Texas with Eddie and Tommy to visit Chris had been a good one. Tommy kept Eddie company when Buck was doing stuff with Chris and vice versa when Eddie was hanging with Chris. It was a good use of a long weekend off.

"It doesn't look like a baseball," Hen said as she reached out to touch Buck's nose.

"My nose is not broken. Eddie checked it out, and they checked me every freaking hour for the rest of the day for concussion. I was pop quizzed by Chris four different times and the one time I was too slow on answering, he called his father over."

"Why were you slow on answering?" Hen asked.

"Because Tommy had just lifted himself out of the pool in a pair of shorts that nearly fell down. I was thinking about licking him all over."

"TMI," Hen said. She wrinkled her nose but laughed when Buck stuck his tongue out at her.

"It's not my fault you asked," Buck said.

"It just really doesn't look like what a baseball hitting you on the face would look like," Hen said.

"What does it look like? Why would I lie?" Buck swallowed and then drank his milk before looking at her and then at Chim. "You think that Tommy did this?"

"Or Eddie," Hen said.

"Why would Eddie hit me? You think I'm covering up being abused by my best friend or my boyfriend?" Buck asked.

Hen shrugged, and Chim looked away from Buck, not letting Buck look him in the eye. Then, Hen and Chim had a conversation with just their faces before Hen looked at him.

"You hide who hit you the last time."

"When Chim was out of his mind? When he told Maddie, she made us talk about it, and she was fully aware of all of that."

"But you didn't tell us," Hen said.

"I was protecting Chim and myself if I'm being honest. If I had rocked in here and said that CHim had hit me, what would you have said?"

Hen looked a little upset, but the way Chim looked at her, Buck knew that Chim was backing him up on that. No one would have believed it and thought that Buck was just trying to make Chim and Maddie leaving all about him. He knew how they looked at him even to this day. It wasn't worth everything to even bring that up. So he had kept it quiet except for what he told Eddie. Bobby had been pissed when Chim had brought it up once at the station.

Chim and Buck had talked it all out on the phone before Chim and Maddie arrived back in LA with Jee-Yun in tow. It had been talked to death.

"It's a precedent; Tommy and Eddie aren't here to defend themselves either."

"What is going on?" Eddie asked.

"They think you or Tommy gave me this in anger, and I'm hiding it."

"Oh, that. Yeah, no." Eddie shook his head and pulled out his phone. He laid it down on the table and tapped the screen.

The video that Tommy had recorded on Eddie's phone of the game played as Hen and Chim stared at the screen. It took Tommy a few seconds to realize what had happened when Chris hit the ball, and Buck dropped like a rock. Tommy dropped the phone onto the bag he had been sitting beside and was there to take care of Buck while Eddie tried to calm down Chris since he had freaked out a little bit. There had been so much blood.

Chris hadn't been too traumatized when he finally realized that he hadn't killed Buck. Lunch had kind of sucked since Buck had been looking forward to barbeque and had ended up with soft things because chewing much hurt a hell of a lot. Even now, he couldn't do hard things and had to stick to softer things.

"Sorry," Hen said.

"I would never keep that kind of thing secret, not someone abusing me like that with the intention of doing it. I learned a lot from Maddie and read about it online after everything with Doug. You all would make sure that anyone I was with would never survive abusing me like that."

Chim looked less like he believed that than Hen did.

"Have you talked to Maddie about this?"

"No, I didn't talk to her about it. I promise. I would never give her that kind of news without being there in person. I just wanted to make sure. She loves Tommy so much, and we both love Eddie. I just wanted to be sure before I went to her to talk to you about it."

"Can you really see Tommy doing something like that?" Buck asked.

"No, not really. I know that we were just texting friends over the years, but he was never even a little violent, even when Gerrard would say things. He was the calm-headed one here. I am just glad that we cleared this up before we started to work for the day. Are you sure you are cleared?" Chim asked.

"Yes. I've not had a headache since the day of the accident, and I've not had any symptoms beyond chewing hurts."

"That might stay a while if it was a bone bruise." Hen got up, and she came around to give Buck a side hug of reading out to work on whatever she needed to work on.

"Are you sure we are good?" Chim asked.

"Yes, Chim. We are fine."

"At least on calls, people are going to assume you got it by doing some kind of daring rescue of kittens or babies," Eddie said as he finally sat down with his own plate of breakfast.

"You are the worst best friend. I demand that you fall on the sword of taking all of the phone numbers."

Eddie laughed, and he shoved at Buck's shoulder.

"I texted Tommy, just in case Hen and Chim did. He said he would make sure not to take any offense to them thinking that he would batter his boyfriend."

Buck laid his head down on the table, and he groaned. He knew that going to work with the bruise showing would cause issues but he hadn't seen this. Still, he wouldn't even think about trying to cover it up. He had learned that the hard way with the bruise. He wasn't sure what was going on with Hne and Chim, and they worried about him like that, but no one else had even gone there. He wondered if it was because they thought he was like Maddie in that way. He would never do it, but before Maddie had arrived in LA, Buck couldn't say that he would be able to say that. He had seen what lying about it for years, covering it up and everything had done.

The bells went off and listed the personnel who needed to head out, so Buck gave up on his food while Eddie carried his plate with him as he made his way down the stairs. It was just right at the crossover, so there was still another shift there, so it was going to be a little bit of a hassle to get them out. Eddie ditched his plate with someone who then headed up the stairs with it.

---

Buck cracked an eye open as he felt someone staring at him. He saw a rainbow dress on a girl who looked to be about seven years old. He had never seen her before. He started to sit up and found that Tommy was a heavy weight on him. He looked around to see that they were in Tommy's bedroom, and thankfully, they were both mostly dressed.

"Hi," Buck said.

"Hi. Is he awake?" the girl asked.

"No," Buck answered.

The girl pouted, turned on her heel, and left the room. Buck was confused as hell because there should be none in Tommy's place. They had set the alarm after arriving there after each of them got off shift.

"Did you wake him up?" a man asked.

"No, Uncle Tommy's still asleep, but he's got a friend who is awake, and he said that Uncle Tommy was still asleep."

"A friend?"

Buck debated closing his eyes, but he didn't as he saw a man coming to stand in the doorway with his hands on his hips. Buck had seen the guy in a picture on the mantel and then a few on Tommy's phone when Tommy had shown him people from his past. That was Lance from Tommy's military days. Lance was married to Seth, and they had a little girl who was the light of Tommy's life, but they had been in Europe since Tommy and he had gotten together. Buck had only caught ends of phone calls and a single quick one-minute video call from the girl once. Miracle was the girl's name.

"Lance?" Buck whispered.

"Ah, Evan. We will start making lunch. Rough days at work?"

"Yeah, naps were needed for both of us." Buck looked at his phone to see that their alarms would go off in about five minutes. "We would be getting up in five, so this is good enough. I'll get him awake. We showered before crashing."

Lance nodded before heading away. There was the sound of someone else talking to Miracle, so that had to be Seth. There were more people in the house than there had been for a while, and Buck wondered if Tommy knew they had been coming. They had to have alarm codes because it wasn't like they slept through the alarm going off and then being turned off in other ways.

"Hey, babe," Buck said as he shook Tommy's arm.

Tommy curled into Buck a little more and then huffed. "Don't wanna."

"I know. We are both still tired, but I bet coffee would help with that. How do you feel about that? Coffee and whatever Seth is cooking."

"Seth's food is worth going hours away for." Tommy rubbed his face on Buck's chest for a few seconds before he shifted and then lifted his head to look at Buck. "Seth's food?"

Miracle's shrill laughter came down the hall, and Tommy's face made the most adorable move. He looked like he was really confused, and then the sound of the two men laughing as well had him sitting up.

"How? What? Why?"

"Who? How?" Buck mocked a little.

Tommy gave him a look.

"I have no clue. I woke up because someone was staring at me. It was Miracle in a rainbow dress, but I didn't place her at first, not until Lance talked to her, and then he made himself known. So you didn't know they were coming either?"

"No. The last I knew, Lance still had another month before they moved back to LA. Miracle wanted to be in a school, but she didn't want to be in a European school, so Lance got a new job with the company to bring him back to LA. Seth can cook anywhere."

"Like your kitchen," Buck said.

"She saw us in bed?"

" We are at least mostly dressed. Let's get up, and you can figure out what they want and if I should stay or leave."

"Stay, always stay, Evan. They aren't going to care that you are here," Tommy said. He slipped off the side of the bed and grabbed the lounge pants he liked to wear on days they stayed home. He tossed Buck a shirt with the name Kinard on the back.

It was a new one Buck hadn't seen before. He flapped it out, saw the hole in the collar, and knew why he hadn't seen it before. It was from the station. He wasn't sure his place had ones with their names on the back like this, but this one looked older.

"Jake got them for us about three years ago. It was a joke, but everyone at the station has been using them as sleep shirts since we could just throw our gear over them and get rolling. It's all spec for the LAFD."

"So now it's my shirt?" Buck asked as he slipped it on and then waited for his pants to be thrown at him. He got those on and enjoyed the smell of the shirt. Tommy hadn't even washed it after using it for who knew how long at work. It smelled like sweat, but mostly just Tommy.

"Yes, it's your shirt. You hated how the last one started to pull on you from where your chest had gotten bigger, so this was a compromise. That hole has just gotten a lot bigger in the last two washes. I'll stick it up before the next wash, but I thought you would like it. I stole that stupid shirt that Eddie bought you as my new sleep shirt. I have to change it, but that's okay."

Buck laughed, and he hauled Tommy in for a kiss. Tommy pushed him back on the bed and climbed on top of him. The door was open, so it wasn't like anything would happen, but the kissing was great.

The bed jerking caused Buck to break the kiss to look where the movement was. He found Lance lying on the bed after looking like he had dropped onto it.

"Really?" Tommy asked.

"Just enjoying the show."

Tommy didn't even get up all the way; he just kind of hovered and looked at Lance. "Lance, this is Evan. Evan is the busybody that is Lance. Now, Lance, what did you need?"

"Miracle's about two minutes from coming in here and doing the same, and I figured I was a better stop. I saw the door open, so I knew you would never do anything that was bigger than kissing but honestly, Miracle would scream at that. She's in her boys have cooties phase of life. Well, women, too. According to her, kissing both Jimmy and Stacey goodbye was yucky."

"Good to know that we should keep the kissing in front of her to a minimum, now up so we can get up as well."

"i'm not stop[ing you." Lance grinned and just stared at Tommy.

Tommy pushed himself up and off Buck and then held his hand to pull him up.

Lance met them around the other end of the bed and held out his hand. "Lance Juniors."

"Evan Buckley.'

"Do you prefer Buck or Evan from us?" Lance asked.

"What?" Buck looked at the two of them and looked at Lance the longest.

"I heard Eddie calling you Buck during a call where Tommy let me watch him pace around on his phone when he was talking to someone. Tommy calls you Evan, and I would rather not touch on a name you don't want us saying. Miracle's going to go with whatever Tommy calls you, but Seth and I can stick to Buck if you like."

No, no, Evan is fine. I guess I never thought of it like that. I do like Evan.'

"You just really like how Tommy says it. He's smitten, you know."

"I would hope so."

Lance linked his arm with Buck's and pulled him along with him. Buck looked back at Tommy, who was smiling, and she followed along.

"Who are you?" Miracle asked as she looked at Buck when he stepped into the kitchen with Lance.

"My name is Evan. I'm Tommy's boyfriend."

"Oh, when did you get a boyfriend?" Miracle asked, her gaze moving to Tommy.

"A few months ago. I wanted you to meet him in person. I didn't realize that your father would invade my place without a single question so that he would be thrown at you."

"Eh, it's good for her," Serth said. "Hello, Evan. It's nice to meet you finally and not just listen to Tommy waxing poetic about your smile, your adorableness, your—" Weather looked down Evan's body and settled on his groin. "Other assets."

Buck reached out and snapped Tommy's arm, but he laughed, wrapped Buck in his arms, and stood holding him.

"What's for breakfast?" Tommy asked.

"Are you still on soft food, Evan?" Seth asked.

"No, I can chew better now. The bone bruising is mostly gone. Why?"

"I wanted to know if I needed to make wimpy bacon, Tommy. It's just a normal breakfast. You didn't have anything else. But I have a grocery list, and I thought Evan and I could go out later and do the shopping. I'll leave you with Miracle and Lance while I get to know the other one who has been in my kitchen."

Your kitchen?" Tommy asked. He laughed and pressed a kiss to Buck's neck before he let go.

Buck hated losing him, but then there was coffee to get, which was what Tommy was going after. Buck settled in at the island. He looked at Lance, who was heading to the fridge to get something.

Miracle got up on the stool beside Buck and looked at him. "Do you like kids?"

"Oh yeah, I love kids. My best friend has a son who is visiting his grandparents right now, but my other coworkers have kids who are all like nieces and nephews to me. They are mostly a little older than you, but I have Jee-Yun, my sister's kid. She's not too young and wouldn't be too young to play with you if you want. Then there is Mara, and I think she's kind of the perfect age. I don't know her as well as she's a new foster kid in the family."

"Can I meet them?"

"Sure. I'll make sure it happens before you go home."

"Home is here," Miracle said.

"What?" Tommy asked.

"We got out early. We are actually closing on the house between you and Miraim in the next week. This is why the invasion. If you don't want us, we can go to a hotel."

"Nah, it's fine. If Evan and I want time alone, we go to his place. Or kick you three out to his place." Tommy laughed, and Lance looked at him, clearly unhappy.

"His loft is nice. It's a bachelor pad of the highest order. I mean, there are no walls beyond what's around the bathroom. The balcony is kind of wonderful. I've been thinking of trying to get one put off my bedroom," Tommy said.

"Oh, that would be great. I do like breakfast out there sometimes, but your deck is really nice."

"Oh, he's too sweet," Lance said.

"He's not sweeter than me," Miracle said.

"Of course not, Petal," Seth said.

Buck let them all talk about things, happy when Tommy handed over a mug of coffee for him. They were good friends, the kids for friends that Buck thought that maybe Tommy didn't have outside of Miriam and Jake. Yet, it seemed that it was vastly different. Lance was a little sarcastic, and Seth seemed to be a good cook if the smells were anything. Yet, they fit together based on the way that Buck could tell when watching them.

"Why is your face all weird?" Miracle asked a little while later after they had all gotten plates of food.

"I got hit with a baseball. My best friend's kid hit the ball, and I didn't react in time to catch it after pitching the ball at him. It cracked me, and I bruised it, and it always stays longer than it should. You should have seen it a few days after it happened. It was as colorful as your dress."

"My favorite color is rainbow. It makes me happy, and that's all that matters. There is nothing that a rainbow can't make better."

"That's a good way of looking at it. I never looked at it like that. Hmm, I wonder if I can get away with saying that it's my favorite, too."

"Might be looked at differently since you are an adult," Lance said.

Buck shrugged as he never cared about that shit. He liked what he liked, and that was all he cared about. He didn't care about much of anything, really. He would rather love what he loved and tell people to mind their own business than hide it. He had worked on himself to get to that point, but that was okay, and it was good for what he wanted.

"Evan doesn't care about that kind of thing," Tommy said. He looked at Buck and smiled before digging into his food again.

"You really don't care about us staying here?" Lance asked when the meal was just about finished.

"I really don't," Tommy said.

There was silence, and it took Buck a few seconds to look around and see that Lance was looking at him. "Oh, I don't live here."

"We know, but that still doesn't mean we feel right invading. We saw how much stuff you have here. You might not live here, but you spend a lot of time here, and your feelings need to be involved here as well." Seth pointed his fork at Buck and locked eyes with him.

"I don't mind," Buck said. He looked at his empty plate and tried to think about when people actually really cared about his opinion on things like that. He realized that it was mostly Tommy and his friends. And Eddie. He was the baby of the group at the 118, outside of Ravi, but sometimes, even then, Ravi was treated better than him.

"Good. Our stuff is being shipped over, and we sold the big stuff, but the clothes, decorations, and all of that kind of stuff is coming in about three weeks. We have the clothes we need to get by. The house was being sold with all of the appliances since the family was moving into a smaller place and wanted to make sure that their stuff was newer for that reason. We can replace stuff as we go if we find that we need to," Seth said.

"You couldn't have warned a guy?" Tommy asked.

"Eh, it keeps you on your toes, and we weren't sure until two days ago that we were fully being considered for the offer on the house. We had a few other places, just not so perfectly placed."

"The street is never going to be the same."

"Evan, come and dance with me," Miracle said as she slipped off her stool. She made sure her dress was straight before she looked at Buck.

Buck looked at Lance and then Seth. Both of them nodded at him. He got up, and Tommy took his plate.

"Better you than me," Tommy said low enough that Miracle shouldn't have been able to hear it.

Buck laughed, and he followed Miracle to the living room. She went right over to the sound system and turned it on before finding whatever she was looking for on Tommy's MP3 player, which was hooked up to the thing. Thankfully, there was a Bluetooth connection that allowed Buck to hook up his phone as needed.

The music that started reminded Buck of the bubblegum pop that was massively popular when he was growing up. Miracle smiled and started to dance; it was just something where she moved to the beat of the music without a single bit of care for anything like rhythm or a beat. So Buck did the same.

After a little while, they gained an audience. Buck didn't care about them watching him because he was having fun with Miracle. Then, a song started that Buck fully remembered from growing up, along with the dance he had learned that the boyband had done during the video, and he started to do that. It was muscle memory, even after years of not doing it. It hadn't gotten him the girlfriend he wanted, but he had learned a lot about dancing from learning it.

Miracle stopped her dancing and watched him move around until he didn't pay attention to where he was and tripped over the couch. Thankfully, he landed on it and laughed when Miracle started to laugh at him. Tommy sat down beside him and pulled him close to kiss his birthmark. Tommy loved to kiss there, and Buck loved it.

"That was interesting."

"Misspent youth trying to get the attention of girls."

"Ah, that's better than maiming a best friend on the basketball court."

"I'm not sure about that. The maiming actually got me the attention of the guy I wanted. The dancing did not get me the girl I wanted." Buck leaned into Tommy and watched Seth go over to take over dancing with Miracle while Lance sat in a chair. "I like them."

"They like you. Of course, dancing with Miracle like that made them really like you. Those who indulge their daughter are the ones that they like the best. Of course, I have shown them videos of you doing tea and other things like that with Jee, so it wasn't like it was going to be an issue. Checking in with them before leaving sight with her was a good thing as well."

"I've learned a lot about things that I never would have thought about before being a firefighter, including the kind of thing that freaks out parents. Do we need to do anything right now?"

"Nope, dishes are done or in the dishwasher for later. We just need to relax and enjoy the day."

"Okay, sounds good." Buck leaned into Tommy a little bit more and smiled as he was happy. He was so damned happy.

The End