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911 and 911 Lone Star Halloween Fest 2020
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Published:
2020-10-30
Words:
1,679
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
24
Kudos:
156
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20
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1,025

Love and a Haunted House

Summary:

Buck’s never been to a haunted house for fun, only to deal with emergency calls with the 118. So when Josh offers to right that wrong, he couldn't be happier.
But it’s not like it’s a date, is it?

Notes:

Written for the 9-1-1 Halloween Fest on tumblr.

Thank you marciaelena for the beta and the support! All remaining mistakes are mine, English is not my first language.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“Sir,” the woman says, holding out her phone to Buck. “Would you mind thanking the nice man on the phone before hanging up? He really helped me not panic too much.”

Buck nods and grabs the phone. “Firefighter Buckley here. We’re taking Sonia to the hospital but she wanted to-” he’s cut off by the voice at the other end of the line.

“Buck! Hi, it’s Josh here.”

“Oh! Hey, Josh, hi!” Buck says, painfully aware that he’s already said hi three times to Josh. He’d really love to know why sometimes his social skills just fail him, though right now he’s mostly just happy to hear a friendly voice after a night of going from one emergency to another to save strangers from themselves. Halloween and a full moon on the same night is really hard for first responders.

“Hey,” Josh repeats. There’s a second of silence before Buck hears him clear his throat and speak again. “Tell Sonia I’m glad things turned out well. Haunted houses are in the Top Ten places we get calls from on Halloween so she has nothing to be ashamed of.”

Buck turns towards Sonia. “Josh says he’s happy you’re going to be okay.” The woman nods and smiles as Chim works on her arm, and Buck turns his attention back to Josh. “I’m not surprised,” Buck says. “Right now I’d need both hands to count the hazards I’m seeing around me. In one single room.”

“It must suck, being a firefighter, always aware of the dangers around, never having genuine fun.”

“Maybe? I don’t know, I’ve never been to a haunted house for fun.”

“Never?”

Buck can’t decipher if Josh’s tone is mocking or judging, or just a little sad on his behalf.

“That needs to be corrected. Maybe with someone who doesn’t see danger everywhere, for balance?”

“Good idea,” Buck says. “And would you happen to know anyone who...” He grins, waiting for Josh to answer.

“I might, yeah,” Josh says in a sing-song tone. “Want me to introduce you?”

Buck huffs, his heart beating loudly in his chest, a wide stupid grin on his face.

“I mean, if you want, of course,” Josh adds, and Buck realizes he hasn’t given an answer. “It’s me, by the way, I meant I can show you the wonders of haunted houses.”

“Oh, you meant you?” Buck jokes. “You’re telling me that you, the dispatcher who hears the exact same horrible stories before we, the responders, even get there, don’t see danger everywhere?

“Nope, I don’t,” Josh says, and Buck can hear the smile in his voice. “It’s a gift, don’t question it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Is that a challenge, Buckley? Damn, you and your sister really are made of the same wood.”

Buck snorts. “I have nothing to say in my defense.”

“Challenge accepted, then. I’ll call you later to set the date?”

The date. Buck knows that Josh only means it as the time and place to meet and he shouldn’t read more into it, but a tiny voice in his head wishes date meant date, for real. Romantic date. Cheesy, cliché, first date in a haunted house, where he could be his strong protective self and maybe impress the guy he’s been crushing on for way too long now. Way too long without even trying to do anything about it.

“I’ll be waiting for your call,” Buck says, instantly regretting his enamored tone. He feels like a teenager who’s never had a date before, it’s pathetic. But before he can rectify and add something more mature, Chim calls him from the ambulance where he’s already sitting next to Sonia, waving to make it clear that the team’s ready to leave the scene.

“Gotta go,” Buck says. “Sorry, we’re going back to the station.”

“And this woman needs her phone back, Buckley,” Chim tells him when he hops in beside him. “If you’re done flirting.”

Buck hangs up bluntly, hoping Josh didn’t hear that last part. “I wasn’t flirting, I was being polite with one of our fellow coworkers.”

“Right.”

“Yes, ‘right’,” Buck repeats to make a point. He’s aware that Chim can probably see right through him, but he doesn’t care. He has a date with Josh, that’s what matters. Even if it’s just a ‘friends going out for Halloween’ date, it’s still a nice evening with a guy he likes. Maybe if he’s lucky that could lead to something more.

*

That Friday, Buck drives straight from the firehouse to the fun fair. He’s spent the past three days worrying about every single detail of that non-date, changed his mind ten times about his outfit and repeated to himself at least a hundred times ‘it’s not a date, don’t keep your hopes up, Buckley’. Still, he’s more nervous than ever.

Josh looks like he always does, smiling, rocking that casual jeans and shirt combo and unlike Buck, not fidgeting his fingers. Which makes sense, since it’s definitely not a date.

They wander around the fair for a while before stopping in front of the haunted house and Buck’s not sure what they’ve been talking about, his mind too busy focusing on not looking nervous.

*

“Nothing has scared you so far, are you too focused on listing all the fire hazards and code violations as we go?” Josh asks.

They’ve walked through several rooms and hallways, met a zombie bride, a priest with an axe stuck through his skull, and seemingly twin sisters spitting blood and chanting in unison, and none of that really impressed Buck. He shakes his head no and smiles. “They’re all a bit predictable,” he says. “But it’s fun,” he adds.

The truth is, he’s been enjoying walking around and taking with Josh too much to pay attention to the entertainment happening around them.

Josh pushes a white door and they move on into the next room. “Let’s see if the next part can change that, then,” he says, always smiling. “It’d be sad if you left without being scared at least a little.”

Buck smiles back and follows him. There, the light is bright, the opposite of all the other rooms they’ve walked through so far, and Buck has to close his eyes for a moment to give them time to adjust. By the time he opens them again, he’s alone and surrounded by mirrored panels from floor to ceiling, and Josh is nowhere to be seen.

“Josh?” he calls, but no one answers.

Around him, hundreds of reflections of himself are staring back at him. One seems farther than the others so he slowly moves towards it and sees the entrance of what seems to be a labyrinth.

“Hey, Josh? Am I supposed to do this alone?”

He doesn't want to do this alone. Doesn’t want to face his dozen selves as he inevitably bumps into mirrors and fails to find the exit. This is way less fun than movies make it seem to be.

“So is this what’s supposed to finally scare me?” he asks, his voice low, more talking to himself. If Josh left him behind on purpose, he’s not sure he wants to give him the satisfaction of freaking out.

There’s no sound other than his own voice and the screeching of the floor as he starts walking, hands up to avoid colliding with walls. After a few turns he finds himself by the entrance again, and his heart starts beating faster as fear rises.

He feels trapped. Trapped and alone. He should be used to the feeling by now, after all he has almost thirty years of practice behind him. He always ends up like this, left behind, with himself and no exit in sight.

He closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing, slowing it down, forcing his body to calm down so his mind can follow. Hoping the right path will suddenly appear in front of him.

Instead he hears footsteps coming closer, then he feels a hand curl around his, gentle and warm.

“Could it be that you’re scared, Firefighter Buckley?” Josh says.

Buck slowly opens his eyes, expecting Josh to mock him, the tall muscular guy who’s afraid of his own reflection. But Josh is standing right next to him, smiling, and Buck only sees kindness and concern on his face.

“Yeah,” Buck says with a sigh. “I felt lost for a moment there.”

“No one likes feeling lost.”

Buck shakes his head. “I’m fine now that you’re here,” he says. If his heart is still beating a little too fast, it’s only because Josh hasn’t let go of his hand yet.

“I never thought I’d be the one doing the rescuing,” Josh says.

“You’re going to tell Maddie, aren’t you?”

“Maybe.” Josh grins. “I didn’t mean to leave you behind, by the way. I got blinded by the lights and when I turned around, I was alone and already far along inside the maze, I’m not even sure how.”

Buck feels a weight being lifted off his chest, and he lets out a breath of relief. Josh didn’t leave him on purpose. Not to scare him, not to abandon him. He got lost, just like Buck. “But you came back for me.”

Josh frowns. “Of course I did.”

Buck feels Josh’s thumb caressing his own. It’s gentle and slow and reassuring, and Buck never wants this to end, so he leans in, pausing for a second to make sure Josh understands his intention. And when he smiles at Buck, Buck closes the distance between their lips, pressing their mouths together in a soft kiss.

All around them, the mirrors display their image in thousands of reflections, and one simple kiss turns into an infinite amount of kisses. As many kisses as Buck hopes he and Josh can share in the future. At least once they figure out how to get out of this shiny labyrinth.

The path out feels less scary as they hold hands and kiss every two minutes. Because sometimes it takes being lost to find yourself precisely where you’re supposed to be.

Notes:

Thank you for reading! You can find it on tumblr there.
Kudos, emoji and comments keep me going ♥