Down Bad (Buck x Eddie)

Prologue

Song: The Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco
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Evan "Buck" Buckley
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Everyday I've put my life on the line to save other people and until recently, I had never gotten as close to death as I had the day after my twenty-fourth birthday.

Nearly four months ago, I had been minding my business and going about my day as if it was no different than the ones before. My sister had just arrived in town for work and it felt like an average day.

Except it wasn't just an average day. It was the day that put me out of working for nearly four months.

I can still taste the burning smoke at the back of my throat, feel the immense heat from the fire against my body. I'm lucky to have even survived, but I did. Somehow.

I enter through the large, opened door and am welcomed to business as usual, as if nothing had ever happened.

Just the way I wanted it. I approach my normal locker space which remains untouched, the exact way I had left it four months ago. Except for the fact that the space next to mine, which was once unoccupied, has now been taken over by someone else's things.

What the hell?

Things have changed in the time that I've been gone, I can feel it in the air.

"Who the hell are you?"

I turn and standing a couple of feet away is a guy slightly shorter than me with cropped brown hair and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He's got a five-o-clock shadow. Looks like he hasn't slept in days.

"Who are you?" The question bounces back with less of a cocky tone than the new guy is giving to me.

"I asked first. You new here? I can show you to the captain's office." He replies and he moves to his locker next to mine.

As if he heard captain, our captain, Bobby Nash, approaches.

"Ah. I see you two are finally meeting." He looks between me and the other guy, "Buck. This is Eddie Diaz. He's a new recruit from Texas."

"Buck? Like a deer?" Eddie laughs and I clench my jaw to resist the temptation of punching him in his perfect face.

"No, like Buckley. It's a nickname," I reply and turn to face him, "What kind of name is Eddie? Edward, Eduardo?"

He crosses his arms again, "I could ask you the same thing. Who names the kid Buckley?"

"Last name. First names Evan. How long has he been here?" I turn to ask the captain.

"Eddie joined us about two weeks ago. Until you're fully back to where you were before the accident, you two will be partners."

Oh good god.
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I missed writing on Wattpad so much! Just so everyone's aware, I am also publishing this simultaneously on Archive of Our Own under a similar username readerlife23!

Anyway, I'll introduce more characters in the next chapter!

I hope you all enjoyed this one :)