Title: It’s Never Like the Movies
Series: The Smile in Your Eyes
Series Order: 2
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Contemporary, family
Pairing: Gen, references to past canon relationships
Rating: PG
Warnings: the prompt, natural disasters, procedural inaccuracies
Author Note: The stories in this series should stand on their own but exist in the same universe. They do reference each other a bit. If you’re confused about the references to canon events, please see the notes tab on the series page
Timeline: Occurs mid-season 8
Challenge: Just Write Create Your Own Bingo – Bad Things Happen, Prompt: Trapped
Word Count: ~2100
Summary: Buck and Christopher really can’t be trusted out and about in LA on their own. Nature will catch up to them.

It’s Never Like the Movies

“Dad’s going to be pissed.”

“Yep. And language.”

“Bucky. You’re supposed to reassure me.”

“I am absolutely reassuring you that your dad is going to be pissed.”

Christopher huffed. “How do we keep getting into these situations?”

“I don’t know, but he’s going to stop letting us out without supervision.”

“You’re the supervision.”

“It’s clearly not working.”

“Buuckyyyy.”

“That whining stopped being cute years ago.”

“Ugh.” Christopher kicked the elevator door, causing water to slosh.

“If you break a toe…”

“I’m not going to break a toe,” Chris snarked.

“You were way more fun in the last natural disaster.”

“That was like two weeks ago. I’m literally the same.”

“Okay, the first natural disaster.”

“I was eight.”

“I said what I said.” Earthquakes were about as predictable as tsunamis, and they came with even less warning.

Chris huffed a laugh, then glumly shifted his crutches through the water. “How are we getting out of here? You already dashed my hopes about a movie-style convenient access hatch.”

“Well, we sit tight a little longer and hope the emergency phone does more than buzz in our ears the next time we try it. If too much time passes, I’ll use your crutches to pry the door open.”

“And why aren’t we doing that now?”

“Because we’re on the ground floor, and the water is coming from somewhere. It’s coming in very slowly, so we’re okay for now, but if there’s a ton of water out there and I get the door open, I could risk drowning us, so I think it’s better to chill for now while we wait a little longer to see what happens. Hopefully, the water stops coming in entirely, which is a good indicator that the water has receded outside the doors.”

Chris huffed. “So we stand around in four inches of who-knows-where-it’s-been water, no cell signal, no way to contact anyone, and do absolutely nothing?”

“Well, we could play I Spy. I Spy a metal door.”

Christopher’s gaze narrowed. “You were definitely less annoying in our last natural disaster.”

“With the car on the roof?”

“The first natural disaster,” Chris clarified.

“True facts.”

Chris laughed and leaned back against the wall. “I’ve missed you.”

Buck leaned back right next to him. “Missed you too, kiddo.”

“Thanks for being all Buck and making Dad and I talk. I know I was acting like I wanted to stay in El Paso, but I really wasn’t as happy there as I made it sound.”

“Well, there’s only so much Diaz angst I can stand before I crack like an egg.”

“I’m glad you can only handle so much.” He nudged Buck with his shoulder. “Next time, hit your limit sooner, okay? I mean, maybe Dad wants to respect time and boundaries, but I’d have rather been home months ago, and Dad was being all respectful of my need to talk in my own time or whatever.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not when I wasn’t aware of the facts, and Grandma and Abuelo knew and were exploiting it!”

“But no one knew what they were doing.”

“It’s Grandma,” Chris deadpanned.

“Yeah, fair point.”

Chris sighed. “I know I was being stubborn, but I guess I really needed someone to sit me down and make me listen to what had happened. And, honestly? Dad needed the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once I got home, after I had all the details, I got all up in Dad’s grill about how weird and stalkery that lady was. I mean, what even is that? He says goodbye to her and instead of taking the damn hint, she shows up at his house with a complete makeover, including a dye job, wearing clothes like my Mom, and pretends to be my Mom…” Chris shuddered. “Dad doesn’t like to talk about where he is with his mental health journey.”

Buck snorted. “Mental health journey?”

Chris whacked him lightly with a crutch. “Shut up. The point is I know stuff. I’m aware Dad likely has some PTSD from his military service, and he’s still messed up about Mom’s death. Maybe even more than I am, and he definitely isn’t going to talk to me about it. I hear the way Grandma and Abuelo talk to him, and if they always treated him like that, well…that’s messed him up too, I think. Anyway, I think that Kim lady stepped all up in his problems and made them worse, and it makes me so angry at her that I don’t even know how to deal with it sometimes. There’s no way to get the frustration out.”

“You and your dad could really talk about Kim. There’s no reason he can’t be honest with you about her, even if he struggles to talk about your mom, and the same goes for you. You two need to lance this and get it over with. There’s no reason to let it fester and make you angry for even a second. And it’d probably be good for him to hear your perspective that you think she was being a stalker.”

“You think so?” Chris peered up at him.

“Yeah, I do think so. I don’t think you need to be taking on his problems or concerns, but that became your issue when you walked in the door, and it caused a rift between you and your dad for months that almost resulted in Eddie moving back to Texas.”

Chris shuddered.

“Also, you’re allowed to tell your dad that you think that woman behaved badly. Maybe he needs to hear that.”

Chris gave a thoughtful hum. “Yeah, maybe so.” He poked his crutch at the elevator wall. “If we get out of here without drowning, I’m definitely telling him Kim was a total stalker.”

“Square deal.”

“Can you be there?”

“You sure are demanding all the sudden.”

Chris nudged his shoulder again. “Buck!”

“You know I’ll be there if you need me to be.”

“Sometimes we just talk better when you’re there. It’s like Dad and I understand each other great until we don’t. You speak Chris and Eddie better than we do sometimes. And you smooth over the communication gaps every time we start to misunderstand each other.”

Buck tickle-pinched Chris’s side, making him squirm a little. “You mean I keep you from stomping off every time there’s a hint of a misunderstanding.”

Chris huffed a laugh and wiggled away from Buck’s fingers. “I’m not that bad.”

“You’re turning into such a typical teenager that I can barely stand it.”

“Ew. I’ll have to work on it then because who wants to be typical.”

“Right? How wretched to be like everyone else.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what’s the goal here, buddy? What are we wanting to accomplish?” Buck asked.

Chris was silent for a long time. The only sounds were from Chris idly moving one crutch through the water. “I want things to go back to when we were happy. Before Marisol, before Kim, before so many things. When we acted like a family.” He peered up at Buck. “When your smile went all the way to your eyes.”

Buck blinked in shock. “Buddy… I’m happy.”

“I don’t think you are.” Chris sighed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you and Tommy broke up.”

“Whoa, slow down. That wasn’t your problem to take on at all. Adult relationships just don’t work out sometimes.”

“Yeah, I know. I love my dad and mom, but I knew they were better not married, even if it was hard to admit, but you and Tommy seemed so happy together. You seemed better together than apart. I know I wasn’t around you together all that much, but I thought I saw that right.”

Buck opened his mouth, but couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just closed it again. After a beat, he said, “I thought we were better together too. But sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to.”

“But what happened?”

“I don’t know, Superman. Maybe I didn’t communicate well or maybe I moved too fast for him. Whatever it was, both people have to want to be in a relationship, and Tommy wanted to move on. That’s really all the discussion there is.”

“It doesn’t feel like that’s enough, though.”

“Sometimes that’s all we get.” For months, Buck had wanted to know why; he’d dissected everything he’d said and done, and he had theories, but it was all just supposition, because he’d likely never know. He’d encouraged their mutual friends to remain in contact with Tommy and not press him about what happened. To his knowledge, no one had any better idea than Buck did what had gone wrong.

Buck curled his arm around Christopher’s shoulder in a side hug that Chris leaned into. “You don’t have to worry about it, bud. Breakups are hard, but moving on from them is a part of life. I’m doing good. Having you back, and seeing you and your dad happy again, helps me a lot.”

“I just want you to be happy too,” Chris muttered.

“I am happy. Just because I’m a little melancholy sometimes that doesn’t mean my positive emotions aren’t real.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Let’s talk about happier stuff.”

“Like how Dad is never going to let us out of the house again?”

“That’s not happier. Your dad in an angst spiral is no joke. Though it’s his own fault. If he hadn’t picked up that extra half shift, he’d be trapped in here with us.”

“Right. I’ll remind him of that. He’s the one who suggested the restaurant in this hotel, so it’s really his fault.”

“I fully support the shifting of the blame,” Buck agreed.

“We have an accord.”

There was a sudden screeching metallic sound and then a banging on the outside of the elevator doors. “LAFD, call out!” could be heard.

“Does that sound like…?” Chris started.

“Yeah,” Buck sighed. “Because we’re cursed.” With a raised voice, he said, “There are two of us in here!”

There were some more bangs and then the doors were pried open, and Eddie was there along with someone else from the 133. His expression was supremely unimpressed. The water immediately began running off, so whatever had caused the initial flooding on the ground floor had been dealt with, though there were several inches of water all over.

“Hey, Eds.”

“Hey, Dad.”

“Both of you are grounded.”

“Dad!” Chris began picking his way towards Eddie, being more careful than he would normally, no doubt in deference to his father’s very delicate sensibilities.

“It’s not like we caused an earthquake.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Every time you leave the house together, something happens.”

“Not every time,” Buck protested.

“Your natural disaster count is ridiculous. You two left the house so I could have one conversation with my parents in El Paso and there was a tornado.”

“You can’t blame us for tornadoes, Dad.”

“I haven’t picked up an extra shift in months. The first time I do, you two go out to lunch, and there’s an earthquake.”

Buck sighed. “Eddie, Chris and I spend time together all the time without the Santa Anas kicking up or a coastal flood or a volcanic eruption.”

“I’m not listening to either half of this problem. Grounded. Both of you.”

“What in the world does that even look like?” the firefighter from the 133 muttered.

“Petting zoos,” Buck replied. “Because apparently they’re immune from the effects of natural disasters.” He gave Eddie a look. “Are we clear to go home now, Dad?”

“We’ll be dropping you off; I’ve already arranged it. Bobby is picking up the Jeep. I don’t want a dam to break because I left the two of you alone in the wilds of Los Angeles again.”

“Edmundo Diaz,” Buck chastised.

“Do you know of all the people in this hotel, even with the broken water pipe, the only people who got trapped were the two of you? It’s a freaking curse.”

“You don’t believe in those.”

Chris tugged on Buck’s shirt and whispered, “Maybe it is a curse.”

Buck sighed. “I’ll text Josh for the counterspell, and we can Door Dash some sage…”

“You 118 boys are weird. I’m just going to work short-handed next time.”

“Don’t be sexist,” Chris shot back. “The women under Uncle Bobby’s command are just as strange.”

The End