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balancing on breaking branches (part 6) | 570 words

(part one) (part two) (part three) (part four) (part five)

(read the entire fic on AO3)

Buck wakes with the first light of dawn, head pillowed on Eddie’s shoulder. Their legs are tangled together, and their joined hands rest on Eddie’s stomach.

I love you, Buck thinks, and for the first time in his entire life, the idea doesn’t terrify him.

He takes a moment to luxuriate in the feeling. The rhythmic rise and fall of Eddie’s chest. The sleep warmed sheets that pool around his waist. The sunlight that kisses his shoulders and dyes Eddie’s skin golden. The love that seems to permeate every inch of his being.

Everything feels right, in a way it never has before.

Buck nuzzles against Eddie’s neck and breathes, allowing his eyes to slip closed.

He drifts, right up until he feels Eddie begin to stir beneath him. Buck opens his eyes and watches as he slowly blinks himself awake.

“G’morning,” Eddie says, sleep rough and fond.

“Good morning,” Buck replies. He must look like a lovesick fool, the way he allows his gaze to linger, but he can’t bring himself to care.

Eddie cards the fingers of his free hand lazily through Buck’s hair. “Got anywhere you need to be?” He asks, soft, almost teasing.

“Nowhere in the entire world I’d rather be than right here,” Buck answers. It’s too earnest, probably, but the smile it earns him is worth it.

I love you, he thinks again.

“Good,” Eddie says.

He lets go of Buck’s hand in favor of turning to face him, shifting Buck so that his head rests on Eddie’s bicep. His hand drifts to Buck’s rib cage, stroking lightly at the sensitive skin he finds.

Buck drags his fingertips gently across Eddie’s jaw. “Hi,” he breathes.

“Hi,” Eddie whispers. Their noses brush.

Buck was so sure, just a few days ago, that nothing would ever happen between him and Eddie. That nothing could ever happen. So sure that any chance he’d ever had was lost beneath firetrucks and forty feet of mud and the waves of a tsunami and Eddie’s body on hot blood-slick pavement. So sure that if he ever gathered the courage to kiss Eddie, it would be a kiss that cost him everything.

Now, though, they feel like an inevitability. Like everything the universe threw at them was leading them here, shaping them into the people they needed to be for this. It feels like fate.

“What are you thinking?” Eddie murmurs.

Buck takes a breath and thinks that maybe, it’s his turn to be brave. Although, he supposes, it doesn’t feel much like bravery when you’re not scared anymore.

“I’m thinking that I’d really like to kiss you,” Buck grins.

“I think I’d really like it if you did,” Eddie replies.

“Well okay then,” Buck whispers. He tilts his head just so, brushing his lips across Eddie’s in the sweetest, gentlest, and last first kiss he’ll ever have.

Eddie’s hand drifts up to Buck’s neck, cupping it and pulling him closer, deepening the kiss. Their lips slide together, and Buck thinks that this, right here, makes it all worth it.

They only break apart at the sound of shuffling from Christopher’s room.

“I promised Chris I wouldn’t let you make breakfast if I was still here,” Buck says, smiling so wide it hurts.

Eddie rests his forehead against Buck’s. “Then I guess you’ve got a promise to keep,” he says.

“I guess I do.” And maybe a few more to make.