Chapter Text
“You know you just have to jump, right?” Chris asks as he watches Buck click the same button on the controller a thousand times nonstop.
They were in the living room playing It Takes Two — a game for two, which consists of doing missions with your friend — the characters were a couple, the woman had blue hair and the man had brown and green hair. The level they were playing consisted of them having to jump over some pieces of glass inside a clock, it was already the fourth attempt and Buck couldn't jump in time, making them have to restart the entire level.
They were sitting on the couch next to Eddie who was sitting a little further away, playing with his cell phone. He knew how serious they both took the game and how competitive they were, he didn't want to get into that situation.
“I'm jumping!” He throws his head back in exhaustion.
“You step on one and wait for it to start disappearing before jumping to the other” Chris explains once more. “But you jump as soon as you step on it, then you stay behind and kill us both!” He looked at Buck in disbelief. Eddie's laughter could be heard next to him.
“What are you laughing at?” Buck stares at him. “Do you want to try?” He offers him the controller, and Eddie just shakes his head.
“This is your war” He closes his lips in a sarcastic smile.
Buck looks back at the game, and when he's about to start it, the TV starts flickering. “What's going on?” Chris looks at him in confusion.
The TV keeps flickering, turning on and off several times. It stays in static without making any noise.
“Buck? Are you okay? Nothing's happening” Chris looks at him worriedly this time.
He wasn't seeing what was happening? How could he not see the TV going crazy? Okay, Buck had a few beers after dinner, but not enough to make him imagine things, especially a problem with the TV. Who would imagine a problem like that? He could imagine a ghost or something that would be funny to tell in a story, but this? Totally useless. The TV stopped. He looked at the boy in front of him, who kept looking at him like he was crazy. Then he turned to Eddie. Eddie is his best friend. He's not going to think he's crazy.
“Eddie, are you seeing this?” He pointed to the TV when Eddie looked up from his phone. At first, he was unpretentious, as if he would just agree and go back to what he was doing, but his eyes fixed on the device that wasn't working.
“What the hell!” He threw his phone on the couch and got up, walking over to the TV and slapping it a few times to see if it worked. That didn't help. In fact, things got even weirder when the lights in the house started to flicker. Buck and Eddie looked at each other, scared.
“Did you pay the electricity bill?” Buck asks.
He knew this would probably piss Eddie off, his friend hates being accused of forgetting anything. Last week he forgot to buy cheese and when Buck called him out on it he went on a whole speech about how unfair it was that he was the only one doing the grocery shopping (he was the one who decided to be the only one to do it). But Buck still had to ask, why else would the light flash?
Eddie's eyes narrow and he glares at Buck angrily. He sighs before answering, "Yes, Buck, I did."
“What are you two talking about?” It's Chris's turn to get up. “Why are you guys talking about the light? Everything is fine and Dad, stop hitting the TV. The game is on. Buck just needs to press start” He looks between the two of them, who don't say anything. They just keep staring at each other like they've seen a ghost. “Did you smoke?”
Eddie turns to his son, shocked. “What do you know about smoking?” And when he was going to ask him how he couldn't see anything, everything goes back to normal.
“It's back!” Buck celebrates and smiles at the TV.
“Let's keep playing, Chris” He pats the couch a few times, calling Chris to sit next to him.
“Our conversation isn't over yet” Eddie says and kisses Chris on the forehead.
Unlike Buck, Eddie decides that the events have been enough for today and goes to his room. What had happened? Why had only Buck and him seen it? Could it be some kind of alien virus that only older people can see? Could it be something like The Society? My God, would he and Buck disappear? These were the thoughts that went through his head while he brushed his teeth, and that's when he decided that he was freaking out too much. It was probably from lack of sleep. It had to be, so he goes to bed.
It was 3 in the morning and Eddie was sleeping when he heard two knocks on the door. He turned to the right side, facing the door, he didn't know if the sound was real or just a dream. Then another knock.
“Come in” He said as he adjusted himself, his elbows resting on the bed.
“Hi” Buck said quietly, as he opened the door. He went into the room and closed it, being careful not to make any noise. “Did I wake you up?” He asked naively. It was obvious that Eddie was sleeping.
“It's okay. Did something happen?” Eddie said yawning. His eyes were worried.
“No…yes… I don't know” His voice was agitated. He walked, rubbing his hands until he reached Eddie's bed and sat down next to him. “I'm scared”
“Why?” Eddie asked, now changing his position, sitting upright on the bed. “Did you watch another horror movie alone?”
It wasn't the first time Buck had appeared in his room in the middle of the night. Every time they have some days off, they usually watch horror movies together. The week before last, they watched The Conjuring, and last week, Sinister. Even then, sometimes Buck decided he wanted to watch one alone, as if he had something to prove and that didn't work because he spent the following days scared of everything.
One day, during a call, the girl's cell phone rang and he got so scared that he broke the wrong side of the wall, which caused a big problem for the station and a big lecture from Bobby. Even Eddie got the blame, who had to listen to his captain explain how dangerous it was to let a man in his 30s watch a horror movie alone. Buck was very smart for a lot of things, but he's also a coward when it comes to ghosts.
“No, I'm scared of what happened today, aren't you? Why were we the only ones who could see it? I drank a little but not enough to hallucinate and you didn't even drink so it doesn't make sense” He sighs. “Eddie, will the same thing happen to us that happened in The Society? We're older and we're going to disappear and Chris will be alone!”
Eddie tries to contain the smile that was trying to form on his face, Buck thought the same thing Eddie had thought hours ago and it was funny to see how similar they were.
“Chris is very young, I know he is more independent now but still not enough to survive alone” He runs his hand through his hair and then his eyes widen in fear. “Oh my God, JEE YUN, Eddie, she is just a child!” Buck grabs his friend's shoulders and shakes him.
“Buck” Eddie laughs and holds Buck's hands. “Breathe” And so Buck does, taking air in through his nose and letting it out through his mouth. Eddie was still holding his hands, now resting them on the bed. “It's okay. I don't know what happened either, but it's okay. We're okay, aren't we? We're here” He smiles calmly. “And we're not in The Society. Even though i thought of it too.”
“Oh, my. Did you?” Buck looks at him surprised and happy, Eddie really was his best friend.
“I did but Los Angeles is too big of a city for that to happen, it would have to be in a smaller city” He says seriously as if it were something totally normal and viable, as if that really were a good logic.
“You're right”.
And so they continue the night talking and creating idiotic theories of what could happen until they get sleepy and they both go to sleep, Eddie in his room and Buck on the couch, of course.
Buck turns over in bed, hugging a pillow while another one is between his legs. His eyes are still closed and he has a really bad headache. Buck is sleepy, reality is still a bit distant, and it's only when he feels the warmth of the sun on his face that his eyes open and a scream escapes his mouth.
He jumps out of bed as if it had thorns, his gaze scanning the room. Who the hell did this room belong to? The curtain that was supposed to be covering the window was all dragged to the side. The sheets were white and there were four pillows. On his left side was the door and on his right was a bidet with a lamp and a cell phone.
A cell phone! Buck thinks excitedly. He can call Eddie and find out what happened. He grabs the phone and presses the button to open. It was the same one he had, an iPhone, but instead of the wallpaper being a picture of Chris and Jee Yun together, it was a picture of dogs. What the hell are those dogs? Why were they on his phone? The phone unlocks and this only makes him more confused, to unlock with his face means that Buck is still Buck, right? But why did he have dogs?
Confused, he opens the contacts app and types Eddie's name, nothing, Maddie, nothing, Bobby, nothing. His hands start to sweat, nervousness making his mouth dry, he sighs, there had to be some explanation for this, his friends are trolling him, he throws the phone on the bed and turns around, coming face to face with a mirror, he jumps back, hitting his legs on the bed.
He was the same as he is, he was Buck, with one small difference: he had a beard growing and his hair was cut on the sides. His hand runs through the hair on his face, trying to decipher how the hell he grew a beard in one night? His eyes fill with tears, he was freaking out.
Buck starts to pace back and forth, now with his face wet with tears. What had happened? Where was he? Where was Chris? My God, where was Eddie? Did he die? Was this his hell? Being alone in an ugly, poorly decorated room without his best friend and family? He takes off the shirt he was wearing and looks at himself in the mirror once more, screaming again, this time louder, when he sees his tattooed body.
“Hm, okay, that's not bad” He froze. “Why am i talking like this?” He looks at himself, his hands touching his tattoos. “And why my body is… WHY AM I BRITISH?” Buck screams to the air, looking at his tattoos again. They were already healed, there's no way they could have been done overnight. And then a very stupid thought pops into his head. Could his dick be the same? He contemplates this idea. What harm would it do if he checked? It's his body.
When he goes to pull down his shorts, his cell phone rings. He throws himself on the bed to answer it. Ryan Guzman. Who's Ryan Guzman?
“Hello?” He grimaced when heard his accent, his voice suspicious until he recognizes the voice on the other end. “Eddie?”
Eddie was calling for Chris and looking for him all over the house after waking up in a different room. It was a completely new house and there was nothing that reminded him of home. The decor was strange and no matter how much he screamed, neither Chris nor Buck appeared. When he returned to his room, he passed a mirror and well, he was Eddie.
What didn't make sense in his mind, how did he transport himself to this place? Was he kidnapped during the night and brought to a distant and different place? Was it a prank? But none of that would explain the fact that his phone had a picture of him hugging two children as a wallpaper. He never took that picture, he doesn’t know those kids.
Entering the room, he sits on the bed and picks up the phone that he had left lying around — he threw it on the bed when he got scared by the picture — he opens the phone with his Face ID.
Another strange fact is that the phone is really his since it opens with his face. He searches for Buck's name in his contacts and messages, nothing. So he decides to search for 118 fire station los angeles so he can call everyone but what comes up is a completely different station with people he has never seen.
He decides to be more direct and search for Buck’s name. Evan Buckley firefighter.
Evan "Buck" Buckley is a fictional character in the television series "9-1-1", a firefighter at Station 118. He is portrayed by the actor Oliver Stark.
His eyes widen, fictional character? Right below appears the wikipedia of Oliver Stark. He clicks on the page. Oliver Leon Jones knows as Oliver Stark is a british actor. British? He talks to this guy everyday and he’s not british! His eyes continue to scan the screen and he lets out a laugh when he reads vegan. What the hell are these people talking about? He keeps looking until he finds 911, he had already seen it written on the other pages, he works at 911? But Maddie is the one who works at dispatch.
He opens Google and types 911.
911, drama, 8 seasons.
What? He clicks on cast and gets confused when his photo appears there, but the name Ryan Guzman is the most visible, Eddie Diaz is written underneath like they always do when they show the actor and character. He wasn't stupid, he's already searched the cast of many series, but now his life was a series?
He closes Safari and goes to contacts, his fingers automatically start typing Buck, but he stops in the middle and deletes it, now writing Oliver Stark and there's the name. He calls.
“Hello?” Eddie hears the voice on the other end say.
“Buck?”
“Eddie? Oh my god is that you?” Buck says excitedly.
“Yes, it’s me, why are you talking like that?” Eddie asks confused.
“I DON'T KNOW” He can hear his friend sighing angrily. “I woke up talking like this!”
“Oh, that's right, you're British” Eddie remembers what he had read earlier, Buck is probably in Oliver’s body.
“Who is British?”
“You”
“Eddie, you've known me for 7 years, I’m not British”
“But Oliver is”
“AND WHO THE HELL IS OLIVER?”
“You”
“WHAT? Eddie, are you okay?”
“Look I can't explain everything to you over the phone but I think I know what might have happened to us, come here and I’ll explain everything to you”
“Are you in your real house or in the house you woke up in today?”
“Today, I'll send you the location and please try not to talk to anyone”
“Yes, sir” Eddie can hear Buck moving around. “I don't like talking like this” Buck hangs up the call.
As soon as Eddie hears the knocking on the door, he runs to open it and there stands a confused, British and apparently tired Buck.
“Hi” He says with his hand still on the doorknob and is surprised when Buck doesn't say anything, he just walks up to him and hugs him.
“It's so good to see you” Buck rests his chin between Eddie's shoulder and neck, his arms around his friend. “The way here was horrible” He listens to Eddie laugh. “Do you think this is funny?”
“No” He laughs again. “It’s just… you have a beard”
“Uh-huh”
“And it's tickling me”
Buck stops moving, contemplating what he was going to do, he rubs his beard more on eddie's neck who lets out a laugh, Buck continues, now rubbing his beard closer to his chin, passing by his chin and continuing to the other side of his neck, Eddie keeps laughing, shivering when the beard scrapes a little too hard but Buck doesn't stop there he moves away a little and then comes back and rubs his beard on Eddie’s cheek.
They were so close and it was messing with Eddie, the urge to laugh had already passed and now he was just laughing to try to hide his heartbeat, Buck's touch sending shivers through his body. he's sure his friend didn't even realize how intimate this position is, Buck kept rubbing his beard on his face, forehead, nose. His brain goes blank, his thoughts completely taken over by the proximity of both of them. Buck realizes that Eddie has stopped laughing and moves away.
And now it was time for him to realize how close they were, his hands holding tightly onto Eddie's shoulder. His face was all red and he assumed it was because of his beard. His eyes dropped to his friend's mouth, he was serious, swallowing hard every few seconds. Maybe Buck was overdoing it with the joke.
“Now you know what it was like to get hugs from you when you had the mustache” Buck pulls away and forces a smile. “We're even”
“Are you telling me that we are in the bodies of actors who act in 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 is basically a series of our lives?” Buck asks, leaning against the couch, his hands resting on the couch next to his thigh.
“Yes” Eddie answers, getting into the same position as Buck and laying his head back.
“And do you have any idea how we can get back?”
He looks at Buck. “Do you think that if I knew we would be here?” He arches his eyebrow.
“Yeah, okay” Buck runs his right hand over his hair, defeated. “So we are stuck”
“Yes” Eddie sighs, letting his hand go down to the couch, his little finger touching Buck's. “I'm glad I'm stuck with you though”
Buck's body shivers at the touch, hearing those words moved him. Of all people, Eddie is happy to be with him? I mean, since he got here he hasn't stopped freaking out and none of his ideas were smart like building a time machine, talking to the authorities, getting an electric shock, driving through a bridge and hoping a magic portal will appear(he should thank Mara for that idea because she made him watch Descendants many times).
What would be Eddie's reason for choosing him? He was being useless and completely crazy. Maybe he would serve as comic relief if this were a movie but since it isn't, Buck is just being Buck.
“I would choose you too, if I had to sacrifice someone I would want it to be you” Buck jokes trying to hide his nervousness.
“Idiot” Eddie says bringing his fingers even closer. What was he doing?
“No but really, i'm glad it's you” He finally tells the truth. “ If you weren't here i'd probably be laying in fetal position crying. “Buck laughs. “You're like my rock” He leans his shoulder against Eddie’s playfully.
“That’s true” Buck makes an offended face. “Do you think Chris is okay?”
“Eddie” Buck's tone of voice was affectionate, turning his body to the side so he could face his friend. “I’m sure he's fine, okay? Maddie and everyone else are still there and they're going to help him”
His eyes are focused on the coffee table as if it were very interesting. “He must be scared. If this Ryan Guzman is in my body and doesn't treat my son right, I'll kick his ass”
“The two of us” Buck holds Eddie's hand. “We'll finish him off”
He looks at Buck with a lot of affection in his eyes. His feelings have been confused for a while now and he was focused on finding out what was going on. Then they were teleported to another place, another body, but also their own. Eddie is very confused and he was trying to appear sane and calm around Buck, but inside he was freaking out. He didn't know if Chris was okay. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to go back to his son. Today is a calm day. They're all alone here. But if a friend of Ryan’s called and wanted to talk. What are they going to do? Just pretend to be those people? They don't even know what they like.
Eddie/Ryan's cell phone rings, taking them both out of their moment, the caller id was Kenneth Choi, Eddie picks up the phone
“Search 911 cast” He asks Buck.
“911 cast?” His friend looks at him confused.
“Yeah, earlier I remember reading his name, just do it”
“Okay” Buck types quickly on his phone. “CHIMNEY! HE IS CHIMNEY!”
“Hi Chimney” Eddie answers and slaps his forehead, it’s Kenneth.
“Ryan? Is everything okay? Did you start without me?”
“What? No, I-I it's just a joke”
“Uh, okay is everything okay for tonight?”
“Tonight…?” Eddie leaves the sentence hanging in the air waiting for the man on the other line to finish it.
“Yeah, we are gonna smoke”
Eddie looks at Buck scared, covering the phone's microphone with his hand. “I smoke!”
“You?” Buck looks at him confused.
“Ryan”
“Ah…”
“Sure Kenneth, everything's fine” He's thoughtful.“But Bu- Oliver is here. Is that okay?”
Buck smiles with his thumbs up encouraging Eddie.
“Oliver? Is he there? If everything's okay with him”
“Okay, I'll see you today at…6?”
“7! Are you really okay, Ryan?”
“Yes, yes, perfect, bye” Eddie hangs up the call and looks at Buck. “We’re gonna get stoned” A fake smile forms on his mouth.