TRAIN WRECK,

in which, eddie diaz meets the other buckley brother and finds he just cannot stay away.

"and you want to talk about how dangerous our jobs are?"

THE BUCKLEY SIBLINGS

It would be a lie to claim memories of his childhood were ones he fondly looked back upon because he didn't. Truth was, he barely thought of his younger years at all, pushing the bitter reminder that he was never enough in his Mother's eye to the back of his mind. The only aspect of his youth he clung to was the other children he shared the time with.

His sister. His brother. Maddie and Buck.

Though he hadn't heard from Maddie in a few years, and he'd not seen her since she'd asked her brothers to walk her down the aisle together, Nathan Buckley shared a City with his younger brother. It had been his detective sibling that Buck had eventually landed at the door of whilst training to become a firefighter of the LAFD after running away.

It was as if the brothers were boys again. Having shared a home for a while, staying up until late hours without realising the clock ticked by, and trying to make up for the time lost since Nathan had left at the age of seventeen.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The heat of the coffee warming his fingertips as he held the cup burnt a little when he tightened his grip, shook from his mind when the room gained another presence. Athena Grant took off her shades, having not long arrived and knowing something was the matter if the detective was in this staff room and not his own department's.

"Just reconnecting," Nathan tilted his cup her way in greeting, leaning back in the chair and removing his gaze from her as she grabbed her own drink. "How's May?"

If he caught the way the Field Sergeant froze for the briefest of moments, which Athena knew he would, he did not speak on it. His concern was not overbearing, rather just making itself known.

Pushing the lid down until the four little clicks were heard, Athena turned around and tilted her head at the detective that she'd once recommended across. She'd known him since he was a fresh twenty-one year old being placed into the academy.

"She's doing better," Athena responds, a tight-knit smile on her lips as she rolled over the thought of her daughter's past state. Of the terror that had lit her veins and remained rooted ever since. "She's been a bit of a homebody since. Perhaps a visit from Uncle Nathan will cheer both May and Harry up, hmm? They miss Robin."

Rubbing his fingers across the back of his neck and taking a stand, Nathan shot her a gentle smile at the mention of his own daughter. "I'm off after Saturday morning. We can arrange something when I pick her up from her Moms," The near empty cup is thrown into the specific bin, "If you need anything, let me know."

"I will do. Oh and —" He stopped walking and placed his hand against the doorway, raising an eyebrow at the sudden expression washing over Athena's face. "That brother of yours is nothing but trouble, ain't he?"

That brother of yours.

Something equally as troublesome lit up on Nathan's lips as he gave a shit-eating grin. "What's Buck done now?"

"Aside from getting on my last nerve?" Athena's finger moved as if drawing in the air, narrowing her gaze. "But now I look at you, I see that troubling resemblance is shared, detective Buckley."

"All in the good sake genes," Nathan jokingly gave with a last laugh before disappearing from the big staff room altogether and beginning his journey to his department. Intelligence Unit in the LAPD.

It wasn't a hassle having Buck be known in his line of work. Nathan preferred it that way, strangely enough, able to keep tabs on his kid brother at least when he got next to no life updates from his older sister. Not that he didn't try. Nathan had wanted to shove his hand down the phoneline and strangle Doug on the other side the last time he had spoken with Maddie.

One day at a time, Maddie would tell him during the days he had sat alone and cried as a boy.

One day at a time, Nathan had told her when she had rang him and sat in silence.

And the day came that Maddie Buckley ran all the way to LA, right to her younger brothers. Where they finally became three again.

Then he met Eddie Diaz.

Who knew how much could change in such little time?

( cast )

jesse lee soffer as nathan buckley.
summer fontana as young!robin buckley

— november, 2024

( note )

— all gifs made for this fic are by katescarter ! credit to cass <3

this fic starts from season two, episode one. it won't go episode to episode to save confusion, as nathan is police and not lafd, but it follows episode plots canonically.

i am so excited to get this up and running! this is an eddie fic and buck has an interest later on for those who were wondering and asking me about it on tiktok. i am not replacing bucks importance or his scenes because i am running so hard on buddie and i am hopeful its made canon this season but there isn't a burn between them in this fic for obvious reasons (nathan).

i really hope you enjoy this as much as i will writing it! so excited. let me know your thoughts so far! i know it wasn't much of an introduction, but i gave up trying to muster one up i felt confident enough with as i don't write them on ao3.