WELCOME TO THE UNIVERSE

anon911andbuddie:

Evan “Buck” Buckley loved being the vigilante hero known as The Flash. Sure it meant he was up most nights fighting crime, but it was worth it to help people. His life had real meaning ever since the night the local lab exploded and people started getting powers. Buck’s powers gave him a rush. He loved running, feeling the speed force crackle around him as he stopped criminals before they could do much harm. He was enjoying being a metahuman. Sure, saving the city, sometimes the world from other metahumans was exhausting, but he enjoyed it. 

One of the big issues he had was one particularly criminal that went Captain Cold. The first time he encountered Captain Cold and his cold gun had been a shock to the system. The blast stopped him in his tracks and made his breathe catch in his lungs and sent him stumbling to the ground. That was a surprise, but what really changed him was when Cold walked over with a wicked grin. Cold pulled his goggles up to give the partially frozen Flash a once over. Buck could hear shouting, but he had no idea what any of the voices were saying. All he saw was dark eyes that seemed to light up with the victory. Buck could feel the shivers shaking his frame as the cold seemed to register through his system. The biting cold kept him on the ground as Cold stood over him. It felt like they just stared at each other for ages. It wasn’t until a hand clapped on Cold’s shoulder and told him it was time to go. With a single shot from the cold gun to freeze Buck’s leg to the ground. Cold grinned.

“See you around, Red.” 

Their encounters continued like that until their paths happen to cross outside of the suits. Buck had let his sister finally drag him away from his work, and his hero business, and convinced him to relax. She’d dragged him to a park. One they used to meet up at when neither of them had anything better to do. Buck hadn’t been out in public to just spend time doing nothing since he’d gotten his powers. So dropping his guard was proving to be difficult. He couldn’t fight the instinct to constantly look around. He had to remind himself to do so at “human speed”. His sister had thankfully stopped giving him a hard time for failing to maintain eye contact like a decent human being. For some reason, he just kept catching the attention of one man at the park. The man looked familiar, but Buck couldn’t quite place his face. He was there with a boy with crutches. That was when Buck saw it. The boy was clearly excited to be there and hadn’t been paying as much attention as he should have. As soon as it started, it was all in slow motion to Buck. The edge of the crutch caught on a rock as the boy rushed around the park with other children his age. Buck didn’t even think. He’d flashed over, keeping the boy from falling, and returned to his spot by his sister without anyone seeing him. A slight crackling of the speed force was the only sign that anything had happened. Maddie just rolled her eyes and brushed the hair out of her face that the speedster’s actions had blown around. When Buck looked over at the boy again, the man was beside him and was clearly trying to figure out what had just happened. A moment later his gaze snapped up to Buck’s. Something about the look in the man’s eyes made something inside Buck twist. He knows. 

“Time to go.” Buck said standing up from the park bench the siblings had been sitting on.

“What?” Maddie looked up as he took a hold of her arm and pulled her to her feet. “Ow, Buck, watch it.” 

“Sorry,” he dropped her arm like it burned him. “But Mads we gotta go.” He glanced over his shoulder to see the man approaching him. “I’ll uh…call you later.” With that Buck started to leave the park. He ignored his sister calling after him as he fought the urge to run. He kept a swift human pace until he ducked around the park’s restrooms and took off when no one was looking. 

The next time Buck saw Cold, everything changed. As Cold’s crew went about gathering what they could from the jewelry store, he waited. Ignoring his crew’s questions. The crew might be there for the goods, but not him. 

“Just get it done and get out of here.” Cold shouted.

“And you?” His partner asked, she stepped up beside him. Tugging her own goggles up, her heat gun at her side.

He looked at her and the way her gaze was filled with pure challenge. “Just make sure they don’t screw it up, Lena.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

“Or you could leave it all and just walk away,” Buck said after he stopped a few feet away from them in full Flash gear.

“Or you can suck on this,” Lena said, pointing the heat gun and taking a shot at him. Buck just dodged the blast.

“Knock it off!” Cold shouted. “Stick to the plan.”

“Your plan is stupid,” she said, but disappeared further into the store to follow orders.

“Not sure I like your friend,” Buck said.

“She’s not too fond of you either,” Cold shrugged.

“Fair,” Buck nodded. 

Cold stepped closer. “Why did you help my son?” He asked.

“I…uh,” Buck stammered. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” He lied.

“It had to be you,” Cold said. “No one else is that fast.“ 

“Well, I mean, we don’t know that for sure,” Buck said, earning a bark of laughter from the other man. The speedster felt something flutter in his chest. 

“No, it was you.” Cold smirked. “I’d recognize those baby blues of yours anywhere.” Buck grimaced. “See? I knew it was you.” The man took a step closer to the speedster. “Had that same look in your eyes at the park that you did when I froze you the first time.” Buck froze. “You ran from me,” Cold added. “Not this time.“ 

Buck felt the blast before his brain registered it, he was still processing the fact Cold had figured him out. Buck tried to move but his foot was frozen in place. 

“Now answer me.” Cold said. 

“Fine. I didn’t even really think about it, it’s instinct,” Buck said.

“Riiight. Instinct,” Cold shook his head. “No one is that good for no reason.”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Buck said. Cold laughed.

“Right and wrong are not that simple,” Cold stated.

“It is to me,” Buck narrowed his gaze. 

“It’s adorable that you could be that naive,” Cold sighed.

“TIME’S UP!” Cold’s partner shouted. “MOVE YOUR ASS COLD!” 

Cold shakes his head. “See you, around.”

12 months later…

Buck dropped down on the couch with a huff.

“Can you guys at least not aim for the same spot?” Buck said as he glared at the ceiling. 

“That guy’s store is insured for more than what we took,” Cold said as he leaned against the back of the couch, just in Buck’s line of sight. “Besides, he refuses to even provide benefits to his workers. That’s just criminal.”

“Says the criminal,” Buck grumbled.

Cold laughed. “Vigilante is just a fancy word for criminal, and you know it.”

“Not the same, Eddie.” Buck sighed.

“Adorably naive, as always,” Eddie leaned down and kissed Buck. “But fine, I’ll tell Lena to stop trying to melt your left boot. She’s not exactly the best at following orders.”

“Yeah, it isn’t even the same boot as last time,” Buck glared. Eddie chuckled. “The constant cold to hot cycles are killing the suit faster than the speed force. One of these days I might lose a foot, or at least a few toes.”

“Fine,” Eddie shrugged. “But it was hard enough convincing Lena to not aim for the head.”

“She melts another set of tires on a cop car and Athena’s going to start thinking you guys are making it personal. I may be faster than a bullet, but I’d rather take another hit from the collider than deal with an angry Athena.” 

“Got nothing against her specifically,” Eddie started.

“Just cops in general,” Buck sighed. “I know.”

Eddie was about to argue when the door opened and his son smiled at them. “Hi Dad, Bucky,” the boy smiled as he made his way to sit on the couch by Buck. Lena closed the door behind him, set the boy’s bag down, glared momentarily at Buck and headed towards the basement stairs. Eddie rolled his eyes at her attitude as he moved his son’s crutches aside to sit beside him.

Buck ignored the glare and turned to look at the boy. “Hey, Buddy.”

“Have a good day at school?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t think Lena liked my drawing,” the boy frowned.

“Why do you say that Christopher?” Buck asked.

“She groaned when she saw it,” Christopher replied. 

“Can we see it?” Eddie asked.

“Sure, it’s in my backpack,” Christopher pointed towards the door. Eddie looked up at Buck with a smirk. Buck shook his head but got up and grabbed the backpack. Smiling at Christopher as he handed the boy his bag. He looked up at Eddie’s cocky grin. Buck couldn’t help but roll his eyes. They both looked back at Christopher when he pulled a folded paper out of his backpack. It was a drawing of the Flash. Little lightning bolts around him. Buck smiled. 

“Wow, that’s a really good drawing,” Buck said when Christopher handed it to him. 

“Really?” Christopher asked, his eyes filled with pride. 

“It is, right Eddie?” Buck asked, holding up the drawing for Eddie to see. 

“It is. Even got that crazy lightning in it,” Eddie nodded. 

“Speed force,” Buck corrected. 

“Oh so you’re the Flash expert now?” Eddie grinned. 

“I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two,” Buck stated. 

“Cuz you work with the investigators?” Christopher asked.

“Yeah, Evan, where does your expertise come for?” Eddie asked, sending Buck a challenging look. 

Buck ignored Eddie, and answered Christopher. “Yeah, Chris. It is because I work with them.” He smiled at the boy. “I think this is so good it belongs on the fridge.” Buck grinned as he walked over and hung the drawing up with a magnet. He smiled at it as he did.

“Lena will love that,” Eddie said as he stepped up behind Buck. 

“Not my fault Flash is his hero,” Buck grinned.

“Yeah, he really has a flawed judge of character,” Eddie said pulling the fridge open to grab a couple of beers. He handed one to Buck despite the fact it wouldn’t really do anything for him. It was more a sign that he wanted to just hang out and relax with the other man. That he wanted him to stick around.  

“Says the guy that uses heists as foreplay,” Buck smirked as he opened the beer. 

“What can I say, your ass looks fantastic in that suit. Win or lose, you’re still mine when it’s over,” Eddie shrugged. His deadpan expression shifting as he laughed at the way Buck choked on his drink. Buck sped over to the sink to try and cough up the beer. Eddie glanced over to make sure Christopher’s attention was fully on whatever TV show he’d found to watch. “Not usually what you choke on, but I’ll count it as a win,” Eddie smirked.

“You are ridiculous,” Buck groaned. 

“You still love me,” Eddie grinned.

“Unfortunately for you, the feeling is mutual,” Buck said as he grinned.

“For once you aren’t wrong,” Eddie nodded.

“I’m always right,” Buck stated.

“And still adorably naive,” Eddie laughed as he leaned over and kissed Buck.

Thanks for reading! - Scarlet 📕