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Eddie was driving through the dark, having the time of his life with Buck. They were singing along to the radio when he got blinded by a bright light from behind them. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, then squinted them open again. Turning down the radio and looking in the rearview mirror, he tried to see what blinded them in the first place.
Buck turned around, furrowing his eyebrows at what he saw. "What the hell?", Buck whispered, obviously confused. A truck crept closer and closer behind them, blinding them with an absurd amount of headlights.
A sense of foreboding set in and Eddie turned to look from the rearview mirror to Buck and back to the road in front of them. Furrowing his eyebrows, he considered. Should he speed up or try to find a spot to get off this road he shared with whoever was behind them. But there was nowhere else to go. Eddie stepped on the gas in the hopes the truck behind them would let up.
No luck. The truck kept coming closer and closer. He turned to Buck in concern. Nothing about this situation felt right and the idea of putting Buck in danger made him sick. If it was only him in the car that would be fine. Eddie could deal with his life being in danger. But Buck looking at him anxiously, fear slowly running through his body, that wasn’t something he wanted to see at all.
Why wouldn’t the truck just pass them by? They were the only ones on this endless road. Eddie was about to press down on the gas some more when the silence exploded with a bang. He felt a shudder go through their car. One hand shot out to grab Buck and with the other he tried to keep the car on the road. One moment, they were on the road and the next they were airborne. In a second, everything went dark.
Eddie could hear a groan from his right and slowly blinked his eyes open. It was dark. Darker than it should be in LA. No, wait, he wasn’t in LA. He was on the road with Buck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to see but pitch black darkness.
Eddie let out a pained moan when he started to become aware of his body. His lungs felt crushed and his head throbbed. Were they upside down? Something wet dripped onto the ground. Another pained groan sounded from his right. He turned his head and saw Buck. Buck, who was fighting unconsciousness but couldn’t fully escape its grasps. Buck, who was upside down, too.
"Buck.", Eddie rasped out in concern. He wanted to call for him, grab his shoulder and shake it so he would open his eyes and look at him. But something told Eddie to be quiet. Or should he call out for help? No, something made them crash and all he knows is that Buck isn’t safe here. They both aren’t safe here.
"Buck!", he whispered, his voice sounding more alarmed than his training should have allowed. But this was Buck next to him. Buck who was clearly hurt and all Eddie knows is that Buck needs to be safe.
Eddie felt the adrenaline rushing through his body and exploded with movement, ripping his seatbelt off while bracing for the inevitable crash. He tried to soften his fall with his arms, ignoring the pain ripping through his right shoulder.
Once he got in a good breath, he turned onto his side, grabbing for Buck, who didn’t stir beyond pained groans every now and again. With trembling fingers he felt along Buck‘s head and across his forehead then slowly down his cheekbones, jaw and neck. His hands came away wet with blood but Buck felt warm and alive and Eddie almost fainted with the rush of knowing he could still save him.
"Buck, I need you to open your eyes. Please, come on, just open your eyes and we can get out of here. I promise.", Eddie began whispering to him. He kept close to Buck, still feeling a sense of foreboding that something dangerous was out there.
All of a sudden Eddie‘s breath stuttered to a halt. He could hear footsteps coming closer in the dark. "Fuck. Fuck!", Eddie swore under his breath. He fought with Buck‘s seatbelt and tried to soften his fall with his own body. It knocked the air out of his lungs but the only thing that mattered was having Buck in his grasp. Buck‘s back to Eddie‘s chest and Eddie‘s arms surrounding him.
The sound of steps kept coming closer and closer. Eddie felt lightheaded, panic setting in again, not knowing how to keep Buck safe from danger when they were so exposed out there.
"Buck, please, open your eyes man. I can’t protect you like this, god knows I’ll try but I don’t think I can. Please, please, come on!", Eddie pleaded into Buck’s ear. The panic made his breath come out faster and faster. He gripped Buck as tight as he could. Maybe whoever was out there wouldn’t be able to take Buck from him then. If Eddie clung to him as tightly as he could, maybe they wouldn’t be able to hurt Buck.
The steps got louder. Eddie couldn’t help but let out a panicked sob. Looking at Buck from this close, he started to steel himself. Okay, this is it. No problem. He would go out fighting. No problem at all, if it gave Buck a chance to be safe.
Eddie started to fumble for his pockets. Grabbing what he was looking for, he took in a breath and looked at Buck one more time. God, Buck was everything to him. Burning the image of Buck into his mind, he turned to his door with determination.
Crawling out of the car, Eddie kept a death grip on his pocket knife. He‘s done dirty, close combat fights before. Feeling the urge to protect Buck added a whole new layer of resolve. Eddie would gladly go down fighting for Buck.
He bared his teeth, staring down the person approaching. He couldn’t make out any details, the truck’s headlights framing the person with a halo. Eddie faced enough demons in his life. With Buck on the line, he wouldn’t back down from fighting this one, too. With a snarl, he took a step forward.