Archive of Our Own

It’s all Eddie’s fault. Even Eddie would admit to that, surely.

They’re at a fairly normal call – in fact, Hen is pretty sure they’re called to something like this at least once a year. People sometimes collapse when they’re getting a reading from a psychic, from agitation, nerves or occasionally whatever fumes said psychic saturates the air with. So, psychic shops aren’t new to them, and by the time they get to this one, the patient is already up and talking again.

“I gave him a granola bar to get his blood sugar up,” the psychic tells Hen as she walks up to them.

“Looks like it helped,” Hen says, turning to the patient. “How are you feeling, sir?”

“Okay. I’m on a juice cleanse, I think maybe it really was my blood sugar.”

Hen takes his blood pressure anyway – a little low but not alarming - and helps him get up so they can go to the ambulance and have him checked over properly.

The psychic comes with them, either because she’s genuinely worried about the guy, or (more likely, in Hen’s personal opinion) worried about getting sued. Buck, Eddie and Chimney all stay inside the shop, their expressions as they look around varying from fascinated (Buck) to apprehensive (Chimney) to whatever the hell that expression is Eddie gets every time he’s about to say something sarcastic. Hen hopes he at least waits until the psychic is out of earshot.

She drops the two of them off with John by the ambulance and then heads back inside to collect her idiot coworkers. As soon as she opens the door, she can tell she’s stepped right in the middle of an argument.

“You don’t have to believe in it, Eddie,” Chimney snaps, “but you should be respectful so the rest of us don’t get caught in the middle when whatever powers there are take their revenge on you.”

Hen’s not quite as scared of the occult as her best friend, but she’d say she has a healthy amount of respect. No need to upset any possible deities or whatever there might be, so she’s sure as hell not gonna touch anything in here. Or even make fun of it, which is clearly what Eddie has been doing, judging by the way Chim and Buck are looking at him.

“You’d be smarter to believe in it, though,” Buck points out. “If only just to be safe.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, that truly impressive one that always makes Hen want to ask if he can actually see the inside of his head. “It’s not real,” he insists, waving his hands around and indicating the shelves stocked with all kinds of magical artifacts around them, herbs and stones and pouches and bottles, “None of this is real. Who knows what kind of powder is in this thing, but it sure doesn’t have any magical powers.”

He reaches for a small blue vial and Hen moves before she can think, aware that she’s closest to Eddie. “No, Eddie, don’t-”

Eddie pulls the cork off the top of the vial just as Hen reaches him, and a dark blue dust cloud rises up between them. Hen claps a hand over her mouth and nose, scrambling backwards, and Eddie looks alarmed too, corking the vial again and putting it back on the shelf.

Buck grabs Eddie’s arm and yanks him away, patting at his chest as if to check for injuries. Hen would make fun of him for it if her heart wasn’t pounding quite as hard as it is right now.

“What the hell was that?” she asks, aware that her voice sounds slightly frantic. 

“I don’t know.” Eddie is wide eyed, rubbing under his nose. “Sorry, Hen, I didn’t think-”

“Yeah, you clearly didn’t,” Chimney says. “I’ll ask the psychic what it was, and you should both get a drug test done. Any trouble breathing, dizziness?”

Hen and Eddie both shake their heads, and they all follow Chimney out of the psychic shop like ducklings. 

Chimney explains what happened to the psychic, who looks greatly amused and peers at Eddie closely. 

“Everything happens for a reason,” she tells him. “And that is all I will say.”

“But are we in any danger?” Hen asks. “What was that powder, what if we breathed some of it in?”

“You were the closest to him?” the psychic asks, and Hen nods. “Did you make eye contact? Or touch?”

“I...I think we made eye contact?”

The psychic lets out a cackle that still sounds more amused than devious. “For you, there may not be such an obvious reason.”

“What does that mean?” Hen asks, slowly hedging towards hysteria. “What’s gonna happen?”

“You’ll see.” 

And that’s all the answer she gets before the psychic rushes back inside her shop in a flurry of fluttering shawls and clanging pearls, locking the door behind herself.

“She’s just messing with us, Hen,” Eddie says, but Buck and Chimney still look as worried as Hen feels.

“Whatever happens to us is on you.”

“I’m sorry,” Eddie repeats. “I didn’t mean to put you at risk. But nothing’s gonna happen, because magic isn’t real!”

“Maybe, but drugs very much are,” Bobby chimes up, and Hen didn’t even notice he was around to overhear them. “So you’re both going to a hospital for a thorough check.”

The promise alone makes Hen feel better, and the clean test results both her and Eddie get back finally settles her stomach. Even though Eddie kind of gloats about it, telling Chimney and Buck that he knew all along.

Buck tries glowering at him, but the relief and fondness is coming off him in waves so strong they nearly knock Hen over. Unsurprisingly, Eddie still doesn’t seem to notice – as always.

The rest of the shift passes with non-stop calls all through the night, which is a good enough distraction that by the time Hen gets home and falls into bed, she’s all but forgotten about the powder incident.

Before Hen even opens her eyes, she can tell that something is off. Her pillow smells wrong, but that’s not it – or, that’s not all. There’s just something fundamentally different. 

She opens her eyes to a sparse, unfamiliar bedroom.

She blinks, but the view doesn’t change. Hen is absolutely certain she went to sleep in her own bed this morning, and she has no idea how she could’ve ended up anywhere else. 

And then she sees the hands. Her hands? But they’re not her hands. The skin color’s all wrong, and they’re a man’s hands. 

Hen pinches herself but nothing changes, and when she lifts her hands to her face, she feels stubble on her jaw. What the fuck?

She stumbles out of bed and nearly loses her balance because everything about this body is completely different to her own, and her brain is definitely still hers. There’s no mirror in this room and she considers opening the door to find a bathroom or something, but what if she isn’t alone? She looks around, heart and thoughts racing equally, until her eyes land on the phone on the bedside table. She grabs it and it immediately unlocks with facial recognition before she can read the notifications. With single minded focus, she opens the camera app and switches to the front camera. Eddie’s face stares back at her, eyes widening.

“What-,” she starts to say, and so does Eddie. She lifts a hand to her face and the Eddie on the phone screen touches his nose. “Fuck,” Hen says heartily. “What the fuck?”

She’s still holding the phone, staring at Eddie – at her reflection? – when it rings, her own name scrolling across the screen.

“Hello?” she answers, and fuck, that’s weird, because it comes out sounding kind of like Eddie. Or, the way Eddie hears himself probably.

“Hen?” a hesitant voice asks and damn, that’s even weirder, because that’s definitely her voice.

“Eddie?” Because that’s the only possibility, isn’t it? Somehow, she’s Eddie, so Eddie must be her.

A laugh comes through the line, slightly hysteric. “What the hell happened to us?”

That question has been running through Hen’s mind on a loop, but now she actually stops to think about the answer for a moment. “You messed with that powder and now we’ve...we’ve swapped bodies!” she accuses.

“I didn’t mean to- I thought...what? But- but magic isn’t real!”

“Dude. I’m literally in your bedroom, in your body right now. Do you have any other explanation for this?”

“I...no. But- what?”

“Karen’s picking up Denny on her way from work today, can you come over so we can try to figure this out?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says, sounding as bewildered as Hen feels. “Yeah, I’ll be right over.”

As a firefighter, you get used to people of all genders being naked around you pretty quickly, but getting dressed while she’s in Eddie’s body is still awkward as hell, and using the bathroom is worse. But clearly, swapping bodies doesn’t mean said body stops working like a normal body, so there’s really nothing she can do about it. Besides, Eddie’s gonna have to do the same – so at least they’re even.

When Eddie gets there, things feel even more surreal – it’s incredibly weird to look into her own face outside of a mirror and to see herself talking, walking, moving from the outside. With the way Eddie keeps staring at her, it’s safe to say he feels the same way.

“What do we do?” Hen asks once they’ve settled down at the dining table. “It has to have been that powder, right?”

“I don’t know what else it could’ve been. Though I didn’t think anything could, so who knows? Maybe we can go by the place again and try to get that psychic to reverse whatever happened.”

“We’ve got a couple hours until school ends,” Hen shrugs. “I guess it’s our best bet. God, what are we gonna tell our families if she doesn’t reverse it?”

Eddie gets up. “Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”

The drive is mostly quiet. There are so many thoughts and questions swirling around Hen’s head, that she can’t put any of them into words. It’s probably the same for Eddie.

There’s a “closed”-sign on the door when they get to the shop, but Hen can tell from Eddie’s expression that he won’t let that stop him, even before he starts knocking. It’s interesting to see that Eddie kept his expressiveness in Hen’s body, interesting and a little worrying, because there’s no way the people who know them won’t notice something is very, very different. So this needs to work, because the thought of Eddie going home to Karen and pretending to be her makes Hen feel a bit sick. Eddie’s her friend and she’s, like, at least 90% sure he’s almost embarrassingly in love with Buck, but that’s still her wife and he doesn’t get to kiss her, not even in Hen’s body.

There’s no answer to Eddie’s knocking, but he’s clearly not about to give up, and neither is Hen.

“Hey!” she calls. “Open up!”

One of the curtains moves and Eddie and Hen exchange a look before doubling down on their efforts to get the psychic to open the door.

“I really hope no one calls the police,” Eddie mutters, still hammering against the door.

Hen does too, but before she can reply, the door finally opens a crack, the psychic blinking at them.

“Oh, it’s you.” Her eyes sweep over both of them, a grin growing on her face. “Hm, that’s interesting.”

“Please change us back,” Hen blurts out. “Whatever you did, please undo it.”

The psychic smiles indulgently. “I didn’t do anything. You-” she looks between them, then settles on Eddie in Hen’s body, “or you, actually, did this all on your own. You have to see it through and then you’ll be returned to your own body. As I said, everything happens for a reason.”

And then, she just closes the door in their faces before Hen has even started processing what she said.

“What does that mean?” Eddie whispers, and then pounds on the door again, shouting, “What does that mean?”

But the door remains closed.

Eddie and Hen sit in the car for a long time afterwards, silent.

Eventually, Hen heaves a sigh. “So, what now?”

Eddie shrugs. “We have to tell our families, don’t we? I can’t pretend in front of Karen and Denny, and I don’t want to lie to Chris either. Who knows how long this’ll last.”

“I guess there’s no point hoping we’ll wake up tomorrow and everything is normal again?”

Eddie rubs at his forehead. “I wish I knew.”

“So we just...go home, then? What about work?”

Eddie shrugs again, helplessly. “We don’t work until the day after tomorrow, maybe it’ll be over by then?”

Hen wishes she was more of an optimist and could believe that.

They drive to pick Christopher up from school first, considering Hen isn’t on the approved pick-up-list and Eddie currently looks like her, so he can’t pick his son up on his own.

Christopher is surprised that Hen is there, understandably, but his face lights up when Eddie explains what is going on. He asks a few questions he thinks only his dad can answer, almost like a password, and then claps his hands in excitement.

“That’s so cool! It’s just like a movie. Can I still call you Dad?”

Eddie laughs, but his eyebrows are drawn. “Yeah, buddy, you can. That’s still who I am, after all.”

Christopher looks like he still has a million questions, and Hen is happy to drop the two of them off at their house, aware that she’s going to have to face enough questions at home.

Telling Karen is surprisingly easy. She stares at Hen for a while after she stutters through an explanation, and then she nods.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Hen repeats. “So you believe me?”

Karen gives a half smile. “There’s still...something very you about you, even if you don’t look like yourself right now. Besides, what kind of scientist would I be if I didn’t have an open mind to the seemingly impossible?”

Hen didn’t realize how worried she’d been until just now, when Karen’s words take a metaphorical weight off her shoulders.

“Oh, thank god for you, baby.”

Karen pulls a face. “That still sounds a bit weird in Eddie’s voice. And don’t be mad, but I can’t give you more than a hug while you look like him. That’s just...no.”

Hen laughs a little, even though this whole situation actually really, really sucks. “Can’t blame you. Let’s just hope it’s all over soon.”

Denny, unsurprisingly, just thinks the whole thing is cool, just like Christopher. Also exactly like Christopher, he bombards her with questions – are just their bodies switched or their brains too? Is she sure she doesn’t have any of Eddie’s memories? 

It takes a while to convince him that she’s still exactly the same inside, and that she really has no idea how any of this works, and when Denny is satisfied and disappears to his room, Hen slumps down on the couch and sighs deeply, looking at her wife.

“This is all a mess I really didn’t want to be caught up in. I hope I wake up tomorrow and everything is back to normal.”

*

On the third morning, Eddie still wakes up forgetting everything that’s going on for a blissful second, then spending a desperately hopeful second hoping he’ll be back in his own body, before it all comes crashing down.

He’s been keeping to himself the past few days, with only Christopher as company. Texting Buck is fine, but he’s obviously had to dodge his calls and any of Buck’s attempts to make plans. He even invented a cold for Christopher to keep Buck from coming over.

I can make him soup, Buck had texted, my immune system can handle this!

Eddie’s still kind of surprised he actually managed to keep him away.

They’re due at work today, and he and Hen can’t both call in sick at the last minute just because they happen to have swapped bodies, which no one will believe them about anyway. So their only choice is to go in and hope they can do each other’s jobs well enough not to put anyone at risk. On a regular day, this shouldn’t be a problem, so Eddie closes his eyes and sends a quick prayer for a regular day. Just to be safe.

He meets Hen a few blocks away from work so they can switch cars to avoid drawing attention to what’s going on immediately.

“You know the deal, right?” Hen asks. “If either of us is out of their depth at a call, we switch, even if it gives us away.”

“Yeah, Hen, of course. We’re not risking anyone’s life.” He takes a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

They’re cutting it a bit close by the time they make it to work, and everyone else is upstairs in the loft already.

Eddie changes into his – Hen’s? – uniform as quickly as possible. He’s gotten really good at getting showered and dressed in record time over the past few days (even with bras, who knew they were this complicated to put on?), doing his best to be clinical and efficient. It still feels like an invasion of privacy, and he tries not to think about what Hen is experiencing in his body, not sure if he could still look her in the eyes after. God, they really need to switch back as soon as possible.

Upstairs, Eddie starts heading towards a smiling Buck on instinct, but then there are steps on the stairs behind him and Buck’s eyes slide away from him, his expression changing ever so slightly. Confused, Eddie looks over his shoulder and sees Hen – who Buck thinks is Eddie. Of course.

A little awkwardly, he sits down next to Chimney instead, who greets him with a smile.

“You’re later than usual.”

“Yeah, uh, traffic,” Eddie says, and fuck, how is he supposed to talk to Chimney? He somehow has to fool Hen’s best friend into thinking he’s her, and suddenly he feels like he has no idea how Hen even speaks. What do she and Chimney talk about when it’s just the two of them? Maybe they should’ve prepared for this better.

“Are you okay?” Chimney asks, turning to face Eddie with a frown. “You sound…weird.”

“I’m fine,” Eddie says, and meets Hen’s wide-eyed gaze across the room. She looks just as out of her depth as he feels.

Chimney looks suspicious. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“What would I know?” Eddie asks, genuinely confused. Internally, he curses himself for not asking Hen more questions.

Chimney tilts his head towards Buck and Hen meaningfully, which doesn’t help Eddie in the slightest. What is there to know about them? Or, well, Buck and Eddie?

“No?” he tries. “I don’t know anything you don’t.”

“Morning, guys,” Ravi says cheerfully as he appears at the top of the stairs. Eddie is grateful for the distraction and greets him back, which thankfully isn’t out of character for Hen.

However, looking away from Chimney puts Buck and Hen in his direct line of sight. Or, more specifically, the way Buck stares when Hen bends down to tie her boot, his eyes undoubtedly on Hen’s – Eddie’s – ass.

Eddie freezes, struck. That’s – he’s not imagining it, right? Buck is…checking him out?

“Hen?” Chim asks, waving his hand in front of Eddie’s face. “What’s wrong with you?”

Eddie clears his throat. “Did you see Buck…?”

“Yeah,” Chimney says. “You’re acting like that’s news, but he does this all the time. Hen? Hello?”

Eddie finally tears his eyes away from Buck who’s now smiling at Hen like nothing ever happened, trying to pull himself together. All he wants is to turn this around and around in his head until he finds out what it means, but he can’t do that while he’s trying to convince Chimney that he’s Hen, and that he’s completely normal.

“Sorry,” he manages to get out. “I don’t think I’m fully awake yet.”

“I don’t think you are, either,” Chim grumbles. “Bobby put on the coffee earlier, it should be done now.”

Eddie stands up, claps Chim on the shoulder, and walks over to the coffeemaker in the kitchen. Buck arrives there at the same time, giving him another smile. Maybe Eddie is reading too much into things right now, but he kind of thinks that it’s different from the smile Buck gives him when he’s in his own body.

“Hey, Buck,” he says. “You need coffee, too?”

“No, but Eddie does.”

Eddie raises his eyebrows. “He does?”

“Yeah,” Buck hums. “He’s…I don’t know. He says he’s fine, but I swear there’s something different about him. I can’t tell what exactly it is, but maybe coffee will help.”

“Can’t hurt,” Eddie says, feeling touched and worried at the same time. He has no idea how they’re supposed to keep this up for the whole 24 hours of the shift if Buck and Chimney have noticed that something is up within the first 10 minutes.

*

Things are okay on the first few calls of the day – two fender benders, a stuck elevator door they have to pry open, a guy unable to get off his own roof after he tried to fix a leak, all relatively easy with no especially difficult tasks for either Hen or Eddie – and Hen is starting to feel a little more relaxed. This morning, she got nervous when Buck immediately realized that something was off, but maybe they can actually pull this off.

“Hen is being weird,” Chimney says, apropos of nothing, while she’s cleaning the engine. 

“Oh?” she says, careful. “How so?”

Chim grimaces. “There’s something about the way she talks, I think? But mainly, she’s been staring at Buck all day with this really weird expression, and it’s starting to freak me out.”

Hen bites her lip, trying not to laugh. She hasn’t asked Eddie about his feelings for Buck, but she’s pretty sure anyway. Unbelievable if it’s those feelings that tell on them now.

“It’s like she’s trying to figure something out,” Chimney says thoughtfully and Hen raises her eyebrows. 

Everything happens for a reason, the psychic’s voice echoes in her mind. What if that’s the reason? What if Eddie needs to realize that there’s a chance? What if he needs to allow himself to feel this way? To let himself be happy? It’s as good an idea as any, and Hen really needs to talk to Eddie.

“This feels like something between the two of you,” she tells Chimney, who grunts in response.

“You’re no help. So Buck hasn’t said anything?”

“No,” Hen says. “Sorry.”

Chimney huffs and claps her on the shoulder. “I’ll figure it out.”

Before she can talk to Eddie, Buck finally corners her a few hours later, after they get back from another traffic accident.

“Okay, what’s going on?” he says, crossing his arms. “First, you dodge my calls and barely reply to my texts, and now you’re avoiding me too. Is Christopher even really sick?”

Inwardly, Hen curses Eddie for not mentioning any of this. What else did he text Buck about that she should know?

“He is,” she settles on saying, deciding not to say that she thinks she’s been spending plenty of time around Buck this shift. “But he was feeling better today.”

“Why didn’t you let me come over, then? Chris usually likes it when I keep him company when he’s sick. And I know you do, too, even if you won’t admit it. You both love my chicken soup, and I don’t think I’m making assumptions when I say that you like having help when your kid is sick and moody.”

Hen tries really hard to keep the incredulity off her face. She knew Buck and Christopher were close, but Buck actually helps when he’s sick? Regularly? She really needs to talk to Eddie.

“He just wasn’t up for company,” she tries. Buck’s face falls, and Hen hurries to add, “It’s nothing personal! I think he would’ve sent me away if he could.”

Buck laughs, but Hen can tell that he’s not fully convinced yet. She’s feeling increasingly out of her depth, though, so it’s probably best if she doesn’t say anything else. She has to talk to Eddie first.

*

Eddie is freaking out. He’s been doing so quietly for hours, in the back of his mind on calls and on the forefront of it when they’re not.

After he caught Buck staring at his ass, combined with Chimney’s comments, he sort of had an epiphany. He’s been watching Buck more closely all day, and he’s pretty sure – Buck spends a lot of time looking at him. And Eddie doesn’t mind that he does. In fact, he likes it. 

Which sparked a whole series of other epiphanies, so now he’s freaking out about the fact that he’s apparently been in love with his best friend for what may well be years and just. Didn’t know.

He can barely wrap his head around that, so he hasn’t even really started thinking about whether or not Buck feels the same. Maybe he just…appreciates Eddie’s body? Platonically? Eddie snorts to himself. Okay, so maybe that’s not very likely.

But still, love is…a big word. He can’t just confront Buck with that right off the bat, can he? Not even mentioning the fact that he’s currently not even inside his own body, and has no idea how to change that.

“Eddie.”

Eddie startles violently, both at the interruption and the fact that he’s being addressed by his own name for the first time all day.

It’s Hen, of course.

“Hey,” he says. “Hey, Hen.”

“We need to talk,” she says sternly, arms crossed. It’s still incredibly, incredibly weird watching himself from outside of his body. 

“Yeah,” Eddie agrees. There are so many things he needs to know before he can feel comfortable interacting with Chimney as Hen. 

“You told Buck Christopher was sick?”

“Um, yeah. I needed to say something so he’d stay away. I couldn’t see him like this.” He gestures at his, Hen’s, body. 

“Well, you should’ve told me so I’d be prepared! Now I had to see Buck’s face when I told him Christopher didn’t want to see him.”

“You told him that?” Eddie asks with horror. 

“Well, I also said he didn’t want to see anyone. Including you.”

Eddie sighs, wiping a hand across his eyes. “Now he’s definitely gonna know something is up.”

“Eddie,” Hen says. “He already knew anyway.”

“He did?”

“He knew the moment he saw me this morning. And he’s just been getting surer all day.” Eddie groans, and Hen sits down next to him. “What?”

“Well, clearly his first assumption isn’t going to be that you and I swapped bodies. So he’s probably gonna think that Chris or I didn’t want to see him, and that I’m being weird about it now.”

“Hm,” Hen makes. “Okay, we clearly have to do something about that. But I also came to tell you that I have a theory. Remember how the psychic said that everything happens for a reason?”

“…yes?”

“Well, I was talking to Chimney and he said that you’ve been watching Buck all day. So I was thinking – you’ve probably noticed a few things by now.”

Eddie almost chokes. “How do you know?”

“Know what?” Hen frowns. 

“About my- that I’m-“

“About your feelings for Buck?” Hen asks, amusement clear on her face. “Eddie. The way you put him second only to your son. The way you’ve made him family for both you and Christopher. The way you look at him, talk about him…it’s pretty obvious.”

“I didn’t even know!”

“What? ” Hen whips around to stare at him. 

“I only just realized today,” Eddie admits, feeling sheepish. In hindsight, it seems obvious to him, but to find out that it was for others, too…

“How?” Hen asks. “I mean…sorry, but how?”

Eddie shrugs. “I guess I just never considered it an option? Considered him an option.”

“Considered men in general an option?” Hen adds carefully and Eddie gives her a wry smile. 

“It’s been a busy day.”

“Oh, shit,” Hen says, squeezing his arm. “I really thought you knew. Are you okay?”

“Freaking out a little bit,” Eddie admits. “But…it makes sense, somehow. As soon as I realized, I kind of thought that this actually explains a lot.”

Hen laughs quietly. “I bet it does. Hey, if you wanna talk about any of this, I’m here, okay?”

“Thanks, Hen. But you said something about a reason?”

“Um, yes. Actually, it makes even more sense if you didn’t know. See, I was wondering if the reason for all of this is that you needed to see Buck and yourself from a different point of view. Wait – if you’re just figuring this all out. You do know that he feels the same way, don’t you?”

“I’m, uh. Working on that.” Eddie bites his lip. “You think he does?”

“He hasn’t told me and I haven’t asked him, just like I didn’t ask you, but I really do think so. And I was right about you, wasn’t I?”

Eddie hums, biting on the inside of his cheek. He wants to believe her, but there’s a part of him that keeps warning him that he’s about to ruin the best friendship he’s ever had. 

“Eddie,” Hen says, gripping his arm again. “Listen to me. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to have what you want, who you want. And what if that’s the reason this is all happening? What if the point of it all is for you to figure that out?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie says hesitantly. “You think it could?”

“Do you have any other ideas? I just thought that you probably noticed that Buck is different with you than he is with anybody else, and that’s not because he doesn’t love the rest of us. Maybe you wouldn’t have noticed that if you weren’t watching from the outside. Obviously I don’t know , but I think we should consider it an option until we can think of something else.”

“And what if you’re right? What do we do? Just…fall asleep and hope we wake up ourselves again?”

Hen shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s not enough for you to quietly realize this about yourself. Maybe you need to tell Buck.”

“What?” Eddie splutters. “I can’t just tell him!”

“Why not?”

“He’s my best friend!”

“Exactly! In the unlikely event that he doesn’t feel the same, he won’t just stop being that.”

“But what if he’s uncomfortable with it?”

“Eddie, I love you and I want you to be happy, but I’m uncomfortable right now. I’m uncomfortable in your body, and I’m uncomfortable with you being in my body. I love you, but you’re the reason we’re in this situation. So respectfully, I’d like you to try everything you can to get us out of it again. Besides, you’re worrying for nothing. Buck loves you, I’m sure of it.”

Eddie groans, burying his face in his hands. “Why did I have to touch that stupid powder?”

“I sincerely hope you learn from it,” Hen laughs. “But if I’m right about my theory, then maybe this can be a good thing after all. Clearly you needed an eye-opener, and I wouldn’t have known to do it for you.”

Eddie thinks about the way Hen said “you deserve to be happy”. That’s never really been something he’s allowed himself to think about – his own happiness. It was always secondary to other’s happiness, especially Christopher’s. And Christopher’s happiness remains the most important thing, but…if Buck was his in that way, wouldn’t that make Christopher happy too? He’s told Eddie multiple times that he wants Buck to be his real dad too, and – actually, Eddie is beginning to think that even his son was trying to tell him something. 

“Just think about it,” Hen says, nudging his side gently. “We could tell him what’s going on, and then you’ll come clean. You don’t want to be stuck like this either, do you?”

“I mean, your life isn’t so bad,” Eddie teases, grinning when Hen laughs. 

“Yeah, yeah, but my wife is mine.”

She gets that look she always gets when she talks about Karen, and Eddie wants this kind of love too. He wants it with Buck, which is somehow new and not new at all. 

When he thinks about the future, Buck is always there with him, has been for ages. And if Hen is right, then he can have it all – the future with Buck, and the love. So maybe he should risk it and tell Buck. 

If they don’t get laughed out of the firehouse for their impossible story, first. 

Eddie doesn’t believe in jinxes, or at least he tries hard not to even in the face of what might be some kind of weird magic, but of course the moment he makes his decision, the alarm goes for the first of a series of back-to-back calls. 

They don’t even make it back to the station until almost midnight, and all of them are hungry, cranky and exhausted. Stumbling up the stairs, Eddie almost falls because he’s still not fully used to Hen’s body, and when he’s not concentrating, it can be hard to keep the balance. Buck grabs him by the arm and holds him upright, and Eddie glances at him gratefully. 

“Thanks, Buck,” he murmurs, and Buck gives him a long, searching look. Eddie’s heart trips in his chest and he kind of wants to laugh, because how didn’t he notice this until he was in the wrong body?

“Come on everybody,” Bobby calls from the kitchen, “set the table, get some food and then hopefully we can all get some shut-eye before the next call.”

In a team effort, everything is done in record time, and while not everybody chooses to sit and eat, Bobby, Buck, Chim, Hen and Eddie settle around the table soon enough. 

Starving, Eddie starts shoveling food into his mouth. When he finally looks up again, Buck is staring at him from across the table. Self-consciously, Eddie slows down, but Buck doesn’t look away. 

“That’s it,” he says instead, his cutlery clattering when he puts it down on the table. He looks…unnerved, almost, and then he’s gesturing between Eddie and Hen. “You two. What the fuck is going on?”

“Buck-“ Eddie starts, then turns to look at Hen. She nods. Eddie swallows and puts his fork down too. “This is going to sound…pretty crazy. Um. Have you all noticed something?”

“You’ve been weird all day,” Chimney accuses him. 

Bobby nods, looking between them. “Something is definitely off. You’ve both been slower than usual at reacting to commands. A little hesitant sometimes, too.”

“Remember that call at the psychic shop the other day?” Hen asks. 

Chimney turns to her. “The one where you messed with that stuff? Kind of hard to forget.”

Eddie winces and Buck, who’s still looking at him, notices. His eyes narrow. 

“We both inhaled some of the powder, apparently,” Eddie says, taking a deep breath. “And it kind of…swapped us.”

Buck takes a sharp breath, but Bobby and Chimney still look confused. 

“Swapped you how?”

“I thought I was losing my mind,” Buck says, and he still hasn’t taken his eyes off Eddie. “Fuck, you’re Eddie, aren’t you?”

“What?” Chimney asks, but Eddie nods. 

“Yeah, I am. The day after that call, I woke up in Hen’s body and she in mine.” He looks at Buck. “How did you know?”

“I don’t really know,” Buck says. “There’s something very Eddie about you, somehow.”

“Actually, Karen said the same thing to me,” Hen says, giving Eddie a meaningful and unfortunately very unsubtle look. Then she turns to the others. “So you believe us?”

“I do,” Buck says immediately. Eddie gives him a small smile. 

“I knew that stuff was real,” Chimney looks a little bit delighted, “I knew it! And Buck’s right, I couldn’t put my finger on it but I knew neither of you were acting like yourselves. So yes, I believe you.”

“Cap?” Eddie asks. 

Bobby rubs at his temples tiredly. “This explains why you’re not reacting to your names as quickly. You should’ve told me, we could’ve put someone at risk.”

“Eddie and I had a deal that we wouldn’t do anything to endanger anyone for the sake of keeping up appearances,” Hen says. “We would’ve switched places.”

“This is so weird,” Chimney whispers. “Hearing you talk about Eddie from Eddie’s mouth…”

“Alright,” Bobby says. “For the rest of the shift, you’re both on your regular jobs, and responding to your own names. See if you can swap turnout coats too – only if they fit, of course. I can’t send you home but I’m not risking lives knowingly. And if you’re not back in your own bodies by the next shift, don’t come in. I’ll find someone to cover for you.”

“How are you gonna reverse this?” Buck asks worriedly. 

“We’re working on it,” Hen says. “Hopefully this will all be over soon.”

“For now, we should all try to get some sleep,” Bobby sighs. “I think we all need it.”

Hen yawns and stretches her arms over her head in agreement. Eddie is still focused on Buck, so he catches the way his eyes track the movement and the way the fabric of Eddie’s uniform stretches across his chest, shoulders and arms as she moves.

He seems to realize his mistake after a second and startles, turning to look at Eddie in wide-eyed mortification. There’s a blush rising on his face and Eddie tamps down on his smile, starting to collect their plates instead. There’s no need to embarrass Buck, but he still kind of likes that he is looking.

On the way down to the bunks, Buck makes his way to Eddie’s side and nudges him gently with his elbow. 

“So Christopher isn’t really sick, is he?”

“No,” Eddie admits. “I’m sorry for lying to you, Buck. I just didn’t know how to explain. I still thought we might switch back until today and I would never have to tell you.”

“I get it,” Buck says. “And I probably would’ve been pretty weirded out if you’d answered your phone as Hen.”

Eddie laughs quietly. “Imagine how weird it was waking up like this.”

Buck shudders. “You think you’re gonna figure it out soon?”

“Hopefully,” Eddie says. “If we’re really lucky, we’ll wake up in our own bodies in a few hours.”

Obviously, they’re not that lucky. 

“Looks like the realization alone didn’t work, at least,” Hen tells Eddie quietly while they’re hurrying to the trucks. “You have to try telling him.”

“I will,” Eddie promises, and he means it. The way Buck looked at him earlier, the way he sees him clearly enough to recognize him even in another body – he has to tell him. 

The call is a fire in an apartment block, and they’re the second station to arrive. The 127 has started evacuation on the lower floors and via ladder on the top fourth floor, where the fire originated. It seems to have spread pretty quickly, so the main goal is to get everyone out and stop the fire from spreading to the neighboring buildings. There are no flames yet on the lower floors from what they can see from the outside, but the fourth floor is completely alight. 

Bobby orders Hen and Chimney to stay by the ambulance and take care of the people with smoke inhalation and light burns, and Buck and Eddie to follow the IC’s orders and head inside to help with evacuation. 

The ladder trucks from both stations attack the fire from two sides and Buck turns to Eddie to double check his equipment the way he always does, Eddie doing the same for him. 

“Let’s do this,” Buck says, and Eddie pats his chest once, grinning at him.

“Let’s do it.”

Visibility is already pretty low inside, the smoke thick, so Buck and Eddie stick together closely. The incident commander ordered them to take the third floor and they make their way from door to door, making sure all tenants have evacuated and no one is hiding or passed out anywhere. 

They’re in the second to last apartment when there’s an ominous creak from above, and they exchange an alarmed look. Without saying a word, they pick up the pace, intent on making sure to check every last room. 

Barely a minute later, their radios crackle to life with the IC’s voice. “The structure is compromised, everyone evacuate immediately. I repeat, evacuate immediately!”

They exchange another wordless look. Through Buck’s mask, Eddie can see the same determination he feels too – no way are they leaving the last apartment unchecked.

And of course: there’s a cat in there, hissing and terrified, half under the bed. 

“Hurry,” Eddie urges as Buck drops onto this stomach to reach for the cat. He looks up at the ceiling, and he can hear the roar of the flames above them. “Buck, we have to get out of here.”

“I’ve got her,” Buck says, and that’s the moment the ceiling caves in. 

For a second, Eddie can’t see anything but smoke and fire, and his heart drops to his stomach. 

“Buck!” he yells, dropping to his knees. He thinks it was just one ceiling tile, but those things are big and heavy enough to crush someone depending on where they fall. 

Buck groans and Eddie’s hands find him a few seconds before the smoke clears just enough to see him too. He’s still on the floor, cradling the cat close, and there’s something on his legs. 

“I’m okay,” Buck says. “I don’t think anything’s broken, but I’m pinned.”

Eddie moves down his body and sees that the falling ceiling knocked over an L-shaped bookshelf. It’s the shape that saved Buck from being crushed by it, the shorter part keeping it off the ground just enough to pin him in place instead of crushing him completely. There’s debris from the ceiling on it, and Eddie pushes a burning wooden slat out of the way.

“Buckley, Diaz, come in,” Bobby’s voice comes over the radio. 

“We’re here, cap,” Eddie says. “Buck is pinned, but I can get him out.”

“Copy that, Diaz,” Bobby says, his voice tight. “Be advised the structure is extremely unstable, you need to hurry.”

“Copy that, captain.”

“Eddie,” Buck says, eyes on the hole in the ceiling above them. “The rest of this won’t hold for long, take the cat and get out of here.”

“No,” Eddie says, grunting as he tries to push the shelf up and off Buck. Whatever it’s made of, it’s heavy. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Eddie-“ 

“No,” Eddie repeats, adjusting his grip. 

“This isn’t your body,” Buck says. “What if Hen isn’t strong enough? What happens if you get hurt in her body?” What happens if you die?

“She’s strong enough,” Eddie says. Maybe it’s selfish, but he can’t leave Buck here. 

“Think about Christopher,” Buck says, a desperate note in his tone. 

“I am,” Eddie says, just as he finally finds a good grip on the damn shelf. “Now pull yourself forward as soon as you can move.”

He bends at the knees and tightens every muscle in Hen’s body, lifting with his arms, his legs, his back. The shelf groans and moves an inch, two inches, and Eddie holds it as Buck twists under it, moving away as fast as he can. 

When Eddie drops the shelf, Buck’s already in a crouching position, both hands on the cat. 

“Pretty sure my ankle’s twisted,” he says, a grimace behind his mask, and Eddie grabs him by the arm. 

“You hold the cat, I’ll hold you,” he says, breathing hard. He keys his radio. “We’re coming out, cap.”

Eddie wraps an arm around Buck’s middle and helps him keep the weight off his foot as well as he can while rushing them down the hall. 

The stairwell thankfully seems to be in better condition than the rest of the building, and they hobble downstairs like they’re in a weird three-legged race.

Above them, the building creaks and groans, but they make it out without any further collapses. Outside, a sobbing but grateful teenager takes the cat from Buck’s arms while Hen and Chimney rush towards them.

“What happened?” Chimney asks, eyes sweeping over both of them. “Are you hurt?”

“Just my ankle,” Buck says, ripping off his mask. “A shelf fell on me and I think it got twisted at a weird angle.”

“Let’s check you out,” Hen says, taking the arm that Eddie isn’t still holding onto. “Are you okay, Eddie?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “Just really grateful you’re as strong as you are.”

“What?” Hen asks as the two of them lead Buck towards the ambulance. 

“He had to lift that shelf off me,” Buck explains, rolling his eyes a little. “It was huge and heavy, but he did it, even though I told him to go.”

“Of course he didn’t leave you there,” Hen says. “And you guys know I’m a firefighter just like you, right? Of course I’m strong.”

“I don’t know if I could’ve lifted it,” Buck says. “It was hard to see through the smoke but I think it may have been marble.”

“I’m glad you both got out,” Hen tells him, helping him sit down on the back of the ambulance and then turning to give Eddie a tight hug. “Well done.”

Eddie squeezes her back, closing his eyes for a moment. His heart rate is slowly normalizing again, but his hands start shaking instead. This was way closer than he’d ever like it to be.

Hen checks Buck’s ankle and then wraps it in a stabilizing bandage while Eddie hovers nervously.

“You’re all good,” she eventually says, patting Buck’s knee and getting up. “You should sit the rest of this shift and probably the next one out, but you’ll be fine in no time.”

“Thanks, Hen,” Buck smiles, and then they’re alone.

“Eddie,” Buck starts, and Eddie crosses his arms.

“Don’t tell me to leave you behind,” he interrupts Buck. “If there’s any chance at all, I’ll never do it, and I know you wouldn’t either.”

“But Christopher-“

“Wouldn’t want me to come home without you either! Seriously, Buck, you think that would be any better for him? He loves you so much, it would kill him.”

There are tears in Buck’s eyes when he looks up. “But you’re his dad.”

“So are you,” Eddie says softly. “In every way that counts.”

Buck swallows audibly. “Eddie,” he starts, and then trails off. 

“We love you so much,” Eddie says. He reaches out and trails a careful finger down Buck’s face, along his jaw. Buck’s eyes are wide and hopeful. “ I love you. So you better believe that I’ll make sure you’re always coming home to us.”

Buck fists a hand in Eddie’s turnout coat and closes his eyes. “I really wish you were in your own body right now.”

Eddie laughs a little and drops his, Hen’s, hand from Buck’s face. “Me too.”

“I love you, too,” Buck says, and Eddie’s heart leaps all the way up into his throat again. “You know that, right?”

“I do now.”

Buck groans. “How’s that plan for getting your own body back going?”

“Pretty well, actually. Hen thinks all I needed to do was figure out that I’m in love with you and then tell you. I really hope she’s right.”

Buck lets out a startled laugh. “She does?” He hesitates before he adds, “You only just figured it out?”

“I think I may have been a little blind,” Eddie admits sheepishly. “Doesn’t mean it hasn’t been true for a long time.”

“Hen better be right,” Buck says. “I want to kiss you so bad, but only when you’re you.”

Almost against his will, Eddie licks his lips, wishing they were his own. Buck’s mouth is suddenly the only thing he can focus on. “Me, too.”

*

Buck is man behind for the last hour of the shift, but the rest of them get called out to another car crash, which gets them into overtime and means neither Hen nor Eddie get a wink of sleep. 

When they finally return to the station, Buck is still there, clearly waiting for Eddie. Hen watches the way they look at each other, all shy smiles and longing, and sends up a quick prayer that her hunch was correct. For them, and for herself, because she really wants her own body back. 

“Are you taking him home with you?” Hen quietly asks Eddie while Buck is distracted, letting Chimney check his ankle one more time. 

“Yeah,” Eddie says with a shrug, trying very hard and failing to seem casual. “No stairs at my place, you know?”

“Uh-huh,” Hen makes, grinning. “Just remember that you’re still in my body.”

Eddie makes a face. “Neither of us will forget, don’t worry.”

Hen laughs and pulls him in for a quick hug. “I really hope I’m taller than you for the last time.”

When Hen gets home, Karen is already back from dropping Denny off at school, greeting her with a hot cup of tea and a kiss on the cheek. 

“Hey, baby,” Hen says tiredly. “Sorry I’m late, we got called out to a car crash late in the shift.”

“I figured,” Karen says. “How was work in the wrong body?“

Hen sighs deeply and tells her everything, their charade, the other’s suspicion, how they told them, and her idea on how to reverse the curse. 

“So he told Buck?” Karen asks excitedly once Hen gets to the end. 

“I’m pretty sure he did after the fire or if he didn’t, he will before they go to sleep. But there was something about them at the station earlier – they know.”

“Oh, I’m so happy for them,” Karen coos, and then grins at Hen. “And for us, because I’m sure you’re right. I can’t wait to have my wife back completely.”

“Neither can I,” Hen says, drinking the last sip of her chamomile tea. She doesn’t really like it much, but nothing makes her sleepy more efficiently. She squeezes Karen’s hand. “So I’m going to bed now, hoping I’m gonna wake up myself again.”

“Sleep well,” Karen says, squeezing her fingers. “I have some work, but I’ll be crossing all the fingers I have.”

Hen laughs and kisses her cheek, then heads down the hallway to their bedroom. Time to put her theory to the test. 

Hen wakes up to a phone ringing. It takes her a second to realize that it’s not her phone, and then she sits up so quickly her vision is blurry when she opens her eyes. Still, she recognizes Eddie’s room immediately. 

“Eddie?“ she answers the phone, and Eddie’s answering laugh sounds just as breathless as she feels. She’s never been so relieved to hear his voice coming from the other end of a phone line. 

“It worked, Hen,” he says, and she laughs, endlessly relieved. “I’m in your car already, you can take it back home from mine. I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

“Aren’t you in a hurry, Diaz,” she teases, and Eddie laughs again. 

“Shut up. Karen’s waiting for you, too.”

“Drive safe,” Hen reminds him. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Bye, Hen.”

Hen hangs up and takes a moment to admire her own hands, runs them over her head and down her face. She’s never loved her body more. 

She gets dressed quickly, then spends five minutes in the bathroom looking at her own face, and then heads out to the living room. 

Buck is on the couch and looks up when she comes in, his smile softer than she’s ever seen. Then his eyes narrow. 

“…Hen?”

“It’s kind of scary how good you are at that,” Hen says. “But yeah, it’s me.”

“I just know Eddie very well,” Buck says unabashedly, then laughs and stands up to wrap her in a big hug. “Welcome back. I’m so happy you were right.”

“Your boy is almost here,” Hen tells him, “so go and brush your teeth if you haven’t yet. I know you’ve got a toothbrush here.”

Buck blushes but makes his way to the bathroom without another word. Hen shakes her head, smiling, and goes about collecting the stuff she lent Eddie while they were swapped, packing her bag less neatly than she usually would. It’s not just Eddie who’s impatient. 

Buck comes back to the living room and immediately starts pacing, making it clear that he, too, has no patience left. Hen has the distinct impression that she should get out of their hair as quickly as possible, if the tension Buck gives off has been building since last night. 

Outside, her car pulls up to the curb and Hen throws open the front door. 

“Have fun, be safe,” she calls back to Buck, whose laugh sounds a little bit nervous, and then she’s outside. 

Eddie is already halfway across the lawn, his hair in disarray the way Hen has learned it always is after he wakes up, and he barely looks at Hen when he presses the car keys into her hand. 

“Thanks, Hen,” he says, eyes on his front door. Hen looks over her shoulder and sees Buck standing there, a nervous little smile on his face. 

“Go get him,” she says, giving Eddie a little push, and walks towards her car. She drives off without looking back. 

Hen gets it – she’s impatient to kiss her wife, too, and it’s far from their first kiss. 

*

“Hi,” Buck says when Eddie reaches the door. His eyes are wide and he’s wearing sweatpants and one of Eddie’s hoodies, mismatched socks on his feet. He’s the most beautiful sight Eddie has ever seen. 

“Hi,” he says, and then, “Buck.”

Buck’s smile wobbles a little. “Eddie. You’re you.”

“I love you,” Eddie blurts out, and Buck’s eyes immediately fill with tears. Carefully, Eddie reaches out and cups Buck’s cheek, his thumb brushing the thin skin under Buck’s eye and catching the tears before they can fall. 

“It’s so good to hear you say that in your own voice,” Buck says, and then he’s smiling again, hands finding purchase in the fabric of Eddie’s shirt at his sides. “Say it again.”

“I love you,” Eddie repeats, and he does, so much he feels a little stupid with it. “I love you.”

Buck kisses the next words from his lips and Eddie slides his hand to the back of his head, his other hand pulling Buck closer by the collar. 

The kiss is soft and careful at first but Eddie wants more, wants to be as close to Buck as physically possible. He licks along the seam of Buck’s lips and tucks his hand under his sweatshirt at the same time. Buck’s skin is warm under his fingers and it’s intoxicating, Eddie wants to get closer and closer until all he can feel, hear, see and smell is Buck. 

Buck grins against his lips and Eddie licks his teeth impatiently, then nips on his lower lip.

“Calm down,” Buck laughs, as if his own hands aren’t currently working on the buttons of Eddie’s shirt. He stops, then, taking Eddie’s face between his hands and tipping his forehead against Eddie’s. “Let’s at least go inside.”

Surprised, Eddie notices that they haven’t made it across the threshold yet and laughs.

“Sorry,” he says, and Buck spins them around in an impressive move, kicking the door shut and pressing Eddie back against it immediately. 

“Don’t be,” he says, and Eddie shivers under his gaze. “And I love you, too.”

It feels the same way it did the first time he said it, but this time Eddie can kiss him for it, can feel Buck’s heart hammering against his hand when he presses it to his chest, can start to press his love into every inch of Buck’s skin so he will never, ever doubt it. 

“Come with me to pick Christopher up?” Eddie asks Buck later, tracing lazy patterns across the bare skin of his shoulders. 

Buck hums, kissing Eddie’s shoulder and the side of his neck. “‘Course I’ll come.”

“I want to tell him right away,” Eddie says, and Buck props his chin up on Eddie’s chest. “Is that okay?”

“You think he’ll be happy?” Buck asks. 

Eddie smiles. “I know he will.”

“Then yeah,” Buck says, kissing Eddie’s chin before he props himself up on an elbow so his face is hovering right above Eddie’s. “Let’s tell him.”

Eddie slides his hand up from Buck’s shoulders to his neck and pulls him into a real kiss. 

“There’s somewhere I want to stop on the way, though.”

“Where’s that?” Buck asks. 

“Get dressed and you’ll find out,” Eddie says. But first, he needs to find out what Buck’s current smile tastes like. 

The bell above the door jingles as Eddie enters the dim shop, looking around cautiously. 

“I see you’re in your own body again.” The psychic stands up from an armchair in a dark corner of the room, and Eddie tries very hard to make it seem like she didn’t startle him. 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make what happened okay,” he says, crossing his arms. “Someone could’ve gotten hurt!”

The psychic shakes her head, and the pearls she’s wearing jangle. “Oh, no. The powder may be an agent of chaos, but it’s never malicious. And didn’t it help you figure out how to get what you wanted?”

“Maybe,” Eddie admits reluctantly. “But still, we’re firefighters, and this whole…thing put people in danger.”

“I really don’t think so. The powder doesn’t always manifest in a body swap, it just always figures out exactly what’s needed to make a positive change in someone’s life, while also creating chaos. It has never endangered anyone.”

Eddie hesitates, but there’s probably no point in arguing. She’s convinced, and he doesn’t have any evidence that would prove her wrong. He doesn’t want to believe her, but he’s only been back in his own body for a few hours, so who’s to say the stupid powder can’t also know how to keep people safe?

“So what was it all for? Why Hen and me?” he asks instead. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” the psychic says. “That there’s a deeper meaning? There isn’t. The powder picked you because you were messing with it, it saw inside your heart and found something to help you with, and then it ran with it the way it does. Maximum chaos, no harm to anyone. Your friend got involved only because she had the misfortune of standing next to you while you messed with things you don’t understand.”

“But…you knew she was gonna be part of it that day,” Eddie frowns. “I remember that.”

“I’m a psychic, I had a premonition,” she shrugs nonchalantly, and her bracelets rattle. “It’s what we do.”

Eddie sighs deeply, and she lets out a laugh. 

“Look, Eddie.” He doesn’t remember telling her his name, but it’s not like this is the weirdest thing that’s happened lately. “Just accept that there are things you don’t know. I don’t have the answers either, and what do you need them for anyway? You got the man waiting in the car outside out of all of it, isn’t that enough?”

Eddie can’t help smiling as he glances through the window at Buck’s jeep. “It’s more than enough.”

“Good, then go! I don’t need you in here scaring away potential customers.”

“Just…be careful with what you let people touch,” Eddie says, pulling open the door. He looks at her one last time, her face still barely visible below all the jangling jewelry and the fringes of the shawl wrapped around her. He can’t believe what he’s about to say, but he still feels like he needs to say it. “Um. Thanks? I think? It would’ve taken me a lot longer than this to figure it out.”

“Oh, yes,” she says. “I know.”

The door falls shut behind Eddie and he shakes his head. He wanted to come here because he thought he needed answers, but maybe she’s right. Maybe he just has to admit that not everything can be explained by logic. He doesn’t like it, and he doesn’t ever want to be in a body that’s not his own again, but the whole thing did give him Buck, so he can’t find it in himself to regret any of it. 

“Everything okay?” Buck asks when Eddie climbs back into the jeep. 

“Yeah,” Eddie says, and leans over the middle console to kiss him. “I’m not smarter than before, but everything is great.”

“I hope you’re a little smarter than before,” Buck says, pulling back and grinning at him. 

Eddie furrows his brow, offended. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Buck grins, smoothing out the furrow with a soft finger that makes Eddie go cross-eyed, “I sincerely hope you’ve learned that you shouldn’t mess with magic.”

“Whatever,” Eddie shrugs nonchalantly. “Turned out pretty well for me last time.”

Buck laughs and pushes at his chest. Eddie traps his hand there, keeping it pressed to his heart. “I’m serious! It might not always be good magic.”

“Okay,” Eddie relents. “I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

Buck grins again, pulling Eddie closer by the front of his shirt. “Not all to yourself, I hope.”

“No,” Eddie mumbles against his lips. “Not all to myself.”