Tommy looked at what Evan was doing on his phone while waiting for his clothes to come out. He had a few other things that the firefighters had already given to him. The whole building was shut down, and everyone had to find somewhere else to stay until the gas leak was resolved. Tommy only realized what was going on when Evan called him and told him about his Halloween decorations coming to life, staring at him. Evan wasn't one to act like that, and there had been a tone in his voice that seemed really off. So, Tommy had driven over.

Evan was on oxygen, and he would be taken to the hospital to be checked out since it was figured out that he was the most affected. Or the longest affected. Once out in the fresh air and with the oxygen on his face, he had started to turn into himself. Tommy would drive to the ER so that he could take him back here to get this Jeep when he was released. Or maybe he could talk Eddie into getting the Jeep to the hospital just to be safe.

The hotel booking was a little bit hurtful, and Tommy tried to keep it to himself. Evan was the one who was homeless for a few days, maybe even a week or two, as the place was fixed up. The gas had been shut off, and there was no telling what the issue was. Still, Tommy assumed that Evan would want to stay with him or even Maddie and Chim instead of going to a hotel.

Tommy's phone rang, and he frowned as he saw the number.

"Go for Kinard," Tommy said.

"How is he?" Maddie asked.

"He's good. He's on oxygen right now and going to the ER to get checked out to make sure that there are no lasting issues. Who was that I talked to earlier?"

"Josh. Why did he say something wrong?"

"No, he was just really invested in making sure that Evan was okay."

"Yeah, Josh likes him and had been really worried about how things are going for him after coming out, but he doesn't want to step on Buck's toes. So, he just hovers from a distance and begs me for what I feel like I can give him."

Tommy laughed. He remembered Evan talking about a Josh.

"Can he talk?"

"If you can get him off his phone."

Evan looked up at Tommy, who was frowning. Tommy shook his head, and he held out the phone.

"It's for you," Tommy said.

"Hello?" Evan said after putting the phone to his ear. A second later, Evan's face lit up. He tucked the phone close with one hand and put it to sleep. "Why didn't you call me?"

Tommy turned to look around, giving Evan and Maddie as much privacy as he felt he could give them right now.

"No, no. Don't worry about it. I'm getting a hotel." Evan smiled, but the conversation cut off after a few seconds, and he looked at Tommy with what looked like fear in his eyes.

Tommy stepped closer to him, and he reached out, but Buck stood up, and the phone came down from his face.

"Evan?" Tommy asked.

"Are you mad at me?"

It took Tommy a few seconds to realize that it wasn't Maddie that Evan was talking to.

"No, darling, I'm not. Why would you think that?"

"I..." Evan inhaled through his nose, and the cannula gave him fresh oxygen.

Tommy took the phone from him and saw that the call had ended. "Evan, talk to me," Tommy said. Tommy reached out, and Evan didn't flinch as Tommy touched his face. He drew him in to press his face to Tommy's chest.

"Let's talk about this after I'm taken to the ER," Evan said.

"Of course, whatever you want."

Tommy wasn't sure what had happened on that call, but he wanted to demand that Maddie tell him what she had said.

"I love you," Evan said.

"I love you too."

---

The ER was bustling with everyone who had gone there to get checked out. They were in an open bay, and Tommy was kind of glad, as it allowed him to relax a little about hearing anyone coming close to them. Evan was asleep after the last test. Now, it was just making sure that his O2 sats stayed where they needed to be, and he would be released in the morning. Tommy leaned back in the chair and looked at Evan to see him looking at him.

Evan patted the bed.

"No, we are both too big for that."

Evan pouted at him, and he looked downright pathetic.

"Evan."

"That's not even helping me. You say my name so pretty."

"You are nowhere near where you can consent to anything."

"I'm not even talking about that. You say it like you love me all the time. Even back then."

Tommy was at the end of this rope. He stood up and lowered the side of the bed before he sat down on it so that Evan could at least cuddle his leg. Evan rolled onto his side and shifted to where he could lay his head on Tommy's thigh. His body relaxed like he had been holding back something.

"Did you want me to come and stay with you?" Evan asked.

"I was going to offer when you were out of the ER."

"That's what Maddie called about, offering to let me stay there. She was a little shocked about the whole hotel thing. I accidentally moved in with Abby. I wasn't honest with Taylor before I asked her to move in with me. I have issues with the whole moving-in thing. I didn't want to do that with you."

"Well, how about we call it a test run? If it's weird or we just aren't ready, you can go back to your place when it's ready, and we will try again later down the road. If we like it, we can keep things as they are until your lease ends. At your pace as long as you don't outpace me, remember."

Evan hummed and yawned before pressing his face into Tommy's jeans. He inhaled and exhaled. At this point, he was on room air to make sure his stats stayed where they needed to. The first blood tests had come back with high levels, but the last set had been lower, and he would have blood taken from his IV in a little while to check again. Evan started to snore softly. It was kind of adorable how much Tommy loved that sound.

The curtain opened up, and Bobby stood there, not the nurse. He had a fresh cup of coffee in one hand and what looked like something pink in the other.

"I think I remember how Buck said you take your coffee now," Bobby said as he handed it over. It was from the shop down the street. "Athena's going to bring breakfast and take me home in a little while. I drove Buck's Jeep here after getting the spare key from the station."

"Thanks. I figured that Eddie would do that."

"Eddie's at the loft with equipment and getting more clothes out of there before taking them home and washing them just to be safe."

"Yeah, I was going to wash his stuff before letting him wear it, the things that we were able to get out before."

Tommy knew that the 118 was the family he had been looking for, but he also read between the lines and realized that Evan was the start of that. It was his coming to the 118 that opened up Bobby in a way he had never been when Tommy had worked there.

Bobby set the pink drink down on the table that was off to the side where Tommy's other coffee was sitting. It had been shit coffee, so he wasn't going to miss it.

"What is that?"

"Ah, that's an herbal tea that Buck likes a lot. They make it way strong, and he likes a lot of ice. He doesn't get it that often since this is a little out of his way most evenings. I thought it would be good for him today." Bobby sat in the chair that Tommy had been in. He moved it a little, and the sound had Evan shifting a little.

"Hey, Bobby."

"Buck. How are you feeling?"

"Better now that I have a thigh to cuddle."

"As you can see, he's still a little loopy. And tired."

"So tired," Evan said.

"Well, Athena is bringing food. Tommy kept Eddie in the loop on when you expected to be out of there."

"Oh, Captain Nash, good. This one here indulges Buck too much," the nurse said as he came through the curtain.

Evan snorted, and he gripped Tommy's thigh a little before moving his arm to give access to his IV to get the blood out. "Vampire."

"Yes, that is what I am going for for Halloween. Good guess."

Tommy ran his fingers through Evan's hair and smiled down at him.

"I'll go to yours. I just need a roof over my head. I want it with you but didn't want to just expect to go to yours."

"I get it. Just sleep. You could do with more sleep to work on getting that stuff out of your system."

"I have to pee. Help me to the bathroom." Evan glared at his arm and then at the IV stand that Tommy would have to help him with.

"You know where it's at and what to look for," the nurse said.

Tommy nodded. He had helped Evan there once before because of the bag of fluids that was helping him flush things out of his system. The main flush had already happened and had been helped by a bag of weirdly colored fluids. Now, it was just the final bits and making sure that things were okay. He was pretty hopeful that things wouldn't take long once these blood results were back.

Bobby was still there when they got back, and Athena was beside him. She was in uniform, looking like she had worked a night shift. Tommy thought she would be well away from them, but maybe when Bobby was working overnight, she took some or gave others a break. Or she was chasing something. He wasn't going to ask.

"I got pretty standard stuff," Athena said as she pointed at the bag of food.

"I'm starved," Evan said.

"I figured you might."

"Oh, tea." Evan sat down on the bed and held out his hand for the tea that Bobby had brought. He sucked in a good third of it with a single sip.

"I'm glad I got more of that," Athena said.

Tommy saw it—two of them. He sat down and got his coffee. He debated taking a sip of one of Evan's teas but decided that it would be fine. He would try it another time.

"You don't have to stay," Evan said to Bobby.

"I'm staying until we get the blood test results, and then I can head home and get some sleep. Eddie said he was going to take everything to Tommy's. Does he have a key?"

"No, but he's made friends with my neighbor, who has the key, and he can get it from her. She knows she can give it to him or Evan if they want. I would tell if she wasn't allowed to."

"I can't wait to go home," Evan said.

"I can't wait to have you home as well," Tommy said.

Evan leaned into Tommy, who held him close as Bobby passed them the food so they could eat. Eating was going to help Evan get out of there faster, and then they could both sleep.

The End