Chapter Text
Coffee Time was always busy at three very specific times of the day. In the morning from opening at 6am until around 9am and then 12pm to around 1pm and then after 5pm until just after 7pm. The rest of the day was full of the odd person stopping in for a quick snack or drink and they often got a few people that loitered and sat at tables by the windows with their notebooks or laptops. Buck worked the morning shift going in at 5am to get everything ready for opening and leaving just after their lunch rush and it meant that Buck was there when Mr. Perfect arrived for his usual order : two black regular, one mocha latte, one iced green tea no sugar, and a regular latte.
Mr. Perfect arrived for the lunch rush which meant that there was never any real time for idle chat. He also always placed his order online for pick up and there was never a name attached. Just the order number. Buck was always the one to fill it and as tempting as it was to add his number to one of the cups, he also had no idea if Mr. Perfect was interested in men and which of the cups in the order was his. So, he never did. Instead, he admired from afar. It felt like the easiest thing to do.
It was busier than usual on a Thursday probably due to some event happening down the street. It meant that they had people coming in and out in what seemed like a stream and Buck was getting behind on filling orders. So much so that he failed to get Mr. Perfect’s order ready before he arrived like usual.
Mr. Perfect busied himself with his phone while he waited and didn’t seem too bothered at the wait or how crowded the place was and it gave Buck a few moments to admire him. He was broad and muscular and his shirt seemed to be just a little tight on him but Buck didn’t mind the way that it helped to make his biceps look big. The logo on the corner of his chest suggested that Mr. Perfect was a firefighter but Buck wasn’t entirely sure if that was his profession. But what really captivated Buck was the way he always smiled when he was picking up his order like he genuinely meant it. His eyes crinkled and they were so warm and dark and Buck loved them. It always left him feeling a bit distracted after Mr. Perfect walked away. He had that kind of affect on Buck and Buck knew that he would never really talk to him.
“One day, I want you to form sentences and speak to him,” his coworker, Ali, said, nudging him and passing on a marked cup for the current customer in line.
“Or never,” Buck said with a sigh.
The thing was that Buck wasn’t a shy person. And he definitely wasn’t shy about flirting or about getting someone to hook up with him. At least, that was who he used to be. But ever since his girlfriend, Abby, went off on a trip to Ireland and then ghosted him, Buck just didn’t know what he wanted. He didn’t think he wanted to go back to quick hook ups and one-night stands that left him feeling used and empty and yet he also wasn’t sure if he wanted to find someone to actually date. And Mr. Perfect — if Buck even had a chance with him — he was the kind that you wanted to date and fall in love with and marry and have a family with.
When Buck had finally got around to getting Mr. Perfect’s order ready, he set it down on the pick up counter and called out his order number. Mr. Perfect looked up from his phone at once and walked over, his lips turning up into a full toothed smile. His eyes found Buck and for a second Buck wondered if he should try and talk to him but then the moment passed.
“Thank you,” Mr. Perfect said and then dropped a few dollars into the tip jar.
“Have a good day,” Buck managed before letting out a sigh.
The next day, Mr. Perfect didn’t appear at his usual time and Buck pretended to be annoyed when Ali made fun of him for it but deep down he was a little sad about it. That he looked forward to seeing the same stranger at work more than any other part of his day should have been concerning, but Buck really didn’t have much else going for him.
When the lunch rush died down Buck took off his apron and walked into the back to clock out. From the closet he grabbed his things and he walked back out. He was waving goodbye at Ali, when he saw Mr. Perfect walk in and Buck actually stopped to watch him as Ali got his order to him. Ali shrugged at Buck when she caught his eye but Buck was mostly just glad to see him.
Buck made it out the door before Mr. Perfect turned away from the counter with his order, but he lingered outside looking in through the window like a creep before he shook his head at himself and started heading towards his car. He was so utterly pathetic. Buck hadn’t made it far when he heard someone yell out. When he turned, he realized that it was Mr. Perfect.
At first Buck didn’t spot him and he couldn’t have if it wasn’t for the cup of spilled coffee that had rolled away from him. All of the drinks were spilled on him and around him and he was several feet off of the sidewalk on his back and not moving. Buck ran to his side.
“Hey! Hey!” Buck yelled as he reached him but there was no response.
Buck checked his pulse at once and let out a breath when there was one. He put his hand out by his nose to check if he was breathing and felt a few puffs of air. That was good. He was breathing and he had a pulse.
“Okay. Okay. So what next. Can you hear me?”
Buck tried shaking him a little but Mr. Perfect didn’t react. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around either so Buck fished his phone out of his pocket and he dialed 9-1-1. He was just in the middle of trying to explain what happened to the operator when Buck realized that they were on the street and that while the street had been empty for a while, a car was coming their way and not stopping. The driver couldn’t see them.
“Holy shit,” Buck said and he scrambled to his feet, grabbing Mr. Perfect by the armpits and pulling.
He was heavy and it was a bit difficult to maneuver a fully grown man but Buck was strong and somehow he managed to get him to the bike lane mere seconds before the car drove right over where Mr. Perfect had been lying. Buck let out a breath.
“Oh my god,” he said. “That...that just happened.”
Buck knew he should have felt scared but instead he felt energetic and like he could do anything at all.
“Hello! Hello, what’s happening?”
His phone was on Mr. Perfect’s chest and luckily it hadn’t fallen off while Buck was pulling him to safety. He grabbed it, then.
“Sorry. Sorry. It’s just he was on the street. I pulled him out of the way. Car was coming. He’s still not awake. I don’t—”
“Sir, an ambulance is on the way. You said he’s breathing and has a pulse?”
“Yes. Yes. Looks like maybe he hit his head.”
Having moved him meant that Mr. Perfect’s head had lolled a bit and Buck could see that there was a growing lump. Buck also noticed that Mr. Perfect’s wallet was sticking out of his pocket and he figured he should grab it and get his name. The operator had asked for it at first but Buck didn’t know it. He literally knew nothing about him.
His license was right there at the top and Buck pulled it out. His name was Andrew Diaz.
The next few minutes were a bit of a blur but he remembered being able to tell the operator Mr. Perfect’s name and age (he was 29). He followed the operator’s instructions and then waited. A few people had stopped by to ask what was going on and if they could help but there was nothing to do but wait. Buck just had to keep making sure that he was breathing.
With Mr. Perfect — Andrew — out cold, Buck could really get to look at him without the danger of awkwardness if he was caught doing it. Andrew had long eyelashes that fanned out over the top of his cheeks. His hair looked curlier up close, a bit of a wave going through it. His lips were a nice rosy pink and just a bit chapped and Buck wished more than anything to be able to kiss him. There was a slight cleft to his chin and Buck could make out laugh lines next to his eyes and by his mouth. Up close, Buck could also make out a few freckles across his nose, not easy to notice on his skin tone.
Buck almost didn’t hear the ambulance arrive due to how distracted he was especially when he noted that Andrew had a small scar on his jaw. It made Buck curious.
Buck only got up when one of the paramedics touched his shoulder so he could get out of their way. He stood back and watched with a bit of fascination as they got a collar on him and then put him on a stretcher. They seemed to do a whole number of tests before they loaded him up but even then the whole thing was rather quick.
“Is he — is he going to be okay?” Buck asked.
“Just fine,” one of them said and then, “are you coming along?”
Buck was supposed to be just a bystander, a stranger with a crush that just happened to be the only person to see Mr. Perfect splayed out on the asphalt. He was the guy that helped out because he happened to be there but the way that the paramedic was looking at him like he was supposed to be more than that.
“Uh...what hospital? I — my car is here. I can just drive there.”
Buck had no idea why he said it or why he didn’t clear up that he was no one to Andrew but the guy that made him his coffee every day. After he had the information, Buck felt weird not going to the hospital to at least find out if Andrew would be okay. Maybe he felt a little weird about going too. It was for his own peace of mind and either way, Andrew didn’t have anyone else at the moment and Buck figured he should go and be there and maybe even wait it out until his family got there. Even as he tried to rationalize it, the whole thing felt stupid.
When he arrived at the hospital almost an hour later because of traffic, he got just a little turned around but then finally found an information desk.
“Andrew Diaz. He just came in and I was — I was with him and—”
Buck spotted him then. He was on a gurney now and they were rolling him away.
“That’s...that’s him. I—”
“Honey, honey, calm down. Are you a family member or friend? I can only release information to family. Someone has probably already been tasked with informing his emergency contacts and—”
Buck tried to take a breath. He didn’t quite know why he was freaking out so much. Maybe everything was finally hitting him. “I — I saved him earlier and I just want to make sure that he’s okay because I’ve been seeing him pretty much every day for months now and he’s like this perfect guy, you know, and I was going to...I was going to marry him, I think, maybe. If I ever built up the courage to—”
“So you’re not immediate family, then,” the woman said and her tone which had been friendly and almost comforting a moment ago had gone flat.
“I — no...no, I’m not.”
“Nothing I can do, then,” she said and turned away in one fluid motion leaving Buck with an open mouth.
Buck didn’t know what to do. Did he just leave and never find out what happened to Andrew? Did he wait it out to see if his family members came in? But then that would mean explaining himself and the whole weird crush from afar thing wouldn’t go off too well. Not to mention he really didn’t know Andrew at all. He’d learned his name a little over an hour earlier. Buck was just about to turn around and leave when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned and found a nurse. Not the one from earlier. This one was younger and she smiled sweetly at him.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m Olivia and I sort of overheard you earlier. I’m sorry about her. She’s not the worst but she’s not very open minded. But if you want to see your boyfriend, I can make that happen. Or — well, will it be fiance soon?”
Buck was speechless. Words completely failed him leaving his mind blank because that wasn’t what he was expecting. Olivia smiled at him and then motioned for him to follow her and Buck didn’t hesitate. She took him down the hall and past some doors into a room where Andrew was lying prone on a hospital bed.
She pat his arm. “You can sit with him, if you want? No one will bother you. I should get back.”
Buck didn’t even think about correcting her as she stepped towards the door because he could see Andrew through the glass and even in the hospital bed in a gown and with an IV line in his hand he still looked as handsome as ever.
“And I bet today was a hard day. You’re the one that pulled him off the street too, right?” Oliva asked. “The paramedics were talking about it when they brought him in.”
“I — yeah, I did.”
“He was lucky you were with him,” Olivia said and she sighed. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.”
Buck felt maybe a little bit odd, but he still walked over to the chair next to Andrew’s bed and he sat down. He would just linger for a moment and then leave and even if the nurse said anything about him to anyone it probably wouldn’t even matter. He just wanted to get another look at Andrew. Maybe next time he saw him stop by Coffee Time, Buck might actually talk to him.
“Wish I could have met you properly,” Buck muttered. “But at least you’re going to be okay. Anyway, I should — I should go. I’m kinda being a bit delusional but I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Buck stood up and he looked at Andrew one more time.
Technically, Buck realized, he didn’t even know if Andrew would be okay. Olivia hadn’t bothered to tell him and maybe she didn’t even know. Looking at him, though, it made Buck hope that he wasn’t too badly off. His heart was a steady beat on the monitor and he was breathing on his own which had to mean something good. Not to mention that if he had been badly off he would have probably been in another place in the hospital like the ICU and not just a regular room.
Buck didn’t mean to linger as long as he did, but sitting there next to Andrew was weirdly peaceful. It was also a lot less lonely. Buck knew he’d made a mistake when he heard footsteps at the door to the room. He didn’t turn at once, hoping to find Olivia or maybe Andrew’s doctor. Instead, he found a police officer. So maybe the nurse had been wrong and someone had called security on him. It was no matter, Buck was ready to go anyway.
The woman stepped towards him. She looked like the very definition of authority. Her hand was on her belt inches from where her gun was holstered and the other she lifted towards Buck as she walked towards him.
“I heard you were responsible for helping him out,” she said and Buck took her hand and shook it.
Her grip was strong and sure. Buck would be stupid if that woman didn’t scare him just a little bit.
“I — I did, yes,” Buck said. Maybe she was just there to question him. “I didn’t — I didn’t see what happened though. Just heard him yell out and then he was on the ground.”
She nodded and made a humming noise. She wasn’t even looking at him though and instead her eyes were settled on Andrew.
“He got lucky you were there, Mr…”
“Buckley,” Buck said. “Everyone calls me Buck, though.”
She nodded. “Sergeant Grant,” she said. “But you can call me Athena. The nurse out there told me you’re Andrew’s boyfriend. I didn’t know he was dating anyone, but you saved his life so that makes you alright in my books even if he didn’t bother to fill me in on this development.”
Athena knew Andrew personally. Suddenly the hole he’d dug himself into felt like it had gotten feet deepert. But maybe if he just told the truth she wouldn’t hold it against him and he could walk out of the hospital without any trouble. Buck couldn’t lie to the police especially when the whole thing was a misunderstanding. All he’d wanted was to make sure that Andrew was okay.
“I—” his words were cut off when three people walked into the room.
They were all in uniform but they weren’t police. They were firefighters. So at least Buck had been right when he guessed that Andrew was a firefighter. It was probably how he knew Athena seeing as they were first responders and probably worked closely together. Buck had always admired first responders and seeing them rush in towards the hospital bed and crowd it checking on their friend and co-worker, it warmed his heart a little. This was what Andrew was a part of.
He went unnoticed for a moment and Buck could have snuck out if he wanted to. But he didn’t want to. Instead, he watched them. They were all in uniform but none of the gear. The woman, dark skinned with a shaved head and glasses stood by the foot of the hospital bed next to an Asian man. The two of them were talking to each other in low tones. The other firefighter was older but he had an easy air about him and an open countenance. He went to stand by Athena and it was Athena that brought attention to Buck.
“He is the one you should thank. Saved Andrew. But you guys probably already know him, he’s Andrew’s boyfriend.”
Buck could have facepalmed for not jumping in and fixing it right then and there but in that moment two more people walked into the room. An older hispanic woman followed by an even older hispanic woman.
“Whose boyfriend?” the younger of the two asked.
“Well, Andrew’s,” Athena said. “I mean, I’m out of the loop all the time but you all share everything so I figured—”
“No,” the woman firefighter said. “No, he hasn’t said anything.”
Her companion spoke up. “I think maybe he’s been seeing someone. Eddie would know.”
They were all looking at him and Buck had no idea what to do or what to say. The older woman was led to a chair by the younger and for a moment they were distracted looking at Andrew but no amount of time could give Buck an out.
“Well anyway, this is Buck,” Athena said. “This is my husband and your boyfriend’s Captain, Bobby.”
Bobby shot him a warm smile.
“That’s Henrietta but we all call her Hen. Chimney is next to her and don’t bother to ask why anyone calls him that,” Athena said with a nod at the other firefighters.
“I’m Josephina,” the younger hispanic woman said. “This is my mother Isabel. Andrew is my nephew.”
Buck looked at all of them. “Hello,” he said. “I’m Evan but everyone calls me Buck. It’s nice to meet you all. And I really — I should apologize because—”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Athena said at once.
“You really don’t. We’re a little pushy and in each other’s business but it’s okay if Andrew felt like keeping you to himself,” Hen said.
“My grandson can be a bit taciturn,” Isabel said but she smiled at Buck.
Buck had no idea how he was going to explain it to them. They were all just so nice and so welcoming and Buck still had no idea if Andrew was straight or bi or gay but all of his friends and family seemed to have no problem with it at all which gave Buck no answers. It made him panic a little, though, and he really needed to set things straight.
“Okay, but I really do need to clear something up—”
Buck had to stop when he realized that Isabel had gone white. “Is something wrong?” she asked. “Pepa, pero tu dijiste que—”
[“Pepa, but you said that—”]
“Mama, no te preocupes. Todo esta bien. Andrew va a estar bien.”
[“Mom, don’t worry. Everything is okay. Andrew is going to be okay.”]
Buck’s Spanish wasn’t exactly perfect, but he understood what they were saying without much trouble.
“The nurse didn’t tell me much,” Buck said when they all looked to him.
“He’ll be okay,” Hen said.
Isabel let out a breath and she seemed to regain her color and she smiled at him. “Thank you, Buck,” she said and there was a bit of an accent in her voice but not much. “And thank you for being there for him.”
“What happened exactly?” Bobby asked.
“I — I’m not sure. I was turned away and I heard him scream so I rushed towards him and he was on the ground passed out. Not too far from the sidewalk but kind of out of view so I had to pull him out of the way and I called 9-1-1.”
“A witness said it was a kid on a bike,” Athena said. “Avoided hitting him head on but Andrew fell. Hit his head.”
In that moment a doctor and the first nurse that Buck had seen walked in. Her eyes narrowed on him when he saw him and Buck knew he was in trouble now.
“What is he doing in here?” She asked. “He’s not supposed to be here. It’s family only and—”
“And do we look like we’re related to him,” Athena said at once. “We are his family. That includes Buck.”
Olivia came running in, then. “Anyway, he’s his fiance,” she said. “Has every right to be here, Maria. Saved his life and everything.”
Buck felt all of their eyes on him and if he had ever wanted the floor or the universe itself to swallow him whole it was in that moment.
“Well...we’re not exactly—”
“You’re engaged!” Isabel said at that same moment.
Hen was covering her mouth and Chimney’s mouth was open in shock. Athena looked a little confused and Bobby almost shared her expression. But it was Isabel that held his attention.
“I — well not exactly,” he said and he noted how Isabel just lit up.
“But he wants to ask him,” the ever so helpful nurse threw in. Olivia was going to be the death of him.
Buck could have face palmed. He was really not getting out of this unscathed.
“Well that is...I—”
Isabel was looking at him with far too much expectation.
“We’re not engaged exactly,” Buck said.
“But you want to be,” Athena said.
Buck had no idea what made him nod.