Work Text:
The time finally comes on an otherwise unremarkable Sunday evening.
The dishwasher is nearly loaded, plates and bowls stacked neatly, Maddie's voice drifting from Jee's bedroom where she's reading a bedtime story. All told, a very peaceful evening.
Maddie's phone rings once and, like the polite and non-invasive husband that he is, Chimney ignores it.
But when both their phones start vibrating with messages—a lot of messages—at the same time Chimney's heart drops to his knees.
Hen has relapsed and is back in hospital. Eddie's leaving the state again. Bonnie has come back and kidnapped Buck for a second time. Ravi has been retroactively arrested for opening that canister in the lab.
No.
Nope.
That is trauma speaking. Nothing bad has happened. He can look at his phone and it'll all be fine.
Deep breaths. In and out.
He doesn't look at his phone.
Chimney still hasn't checked his phone, which is still vibrating with incoming messages, when Maddie returns to the kitchen, kissing him on the cheek as she passes.
"What did your phone do to deserve that glare?"
"It's been going off. Text messages."
"Okay, so open them?"
"But what if it's something bad, Maddie? I can't have any more bad news," he almost whines. In a dignified, masculine, way.
"Chimney," Maddie sighs, loudly, "The news will still be bad if you don't look at it, but if you don't look you don't know. It could be good news!"
"Yours has been ringing as well," Chimney retorts.
The smile drops from her face as she rushes to grab her own phone from the kitchen island. See! It's not just Chimney who has developed some kind of occasional phobia of his phone.
"Oh. Oh! It's not bad news." She sighs again but in relief this time, "Finally!"
Chimney scrambles for his own phone, not wanting to be out the loop now he knows it's not yet another disaster. There's so many notifications and they're all from the '118&co (personal problems)' group chat. He scrolls for what feels like forever until he reaches the top of the thread and finds the first relevant message.
It's from Eddie, which is unusual to begin with he's not usually one for starting conversations.
'Hi all, Buck and I just wanted to let you know that as of yesterday we finally got our act together. Chim, I'm sure there's paperwork we need to fill out just let us know. Cheers, Eddie.'
Quickly followed by one from Buck
'sorry mads i tried to call you first but you didn't answer!!!!!!!!!!!!'
Oh, he's definitely going to be in trouble for that. Maddie has been waiting for them to get their heads out their asses for years now, she's not going to be pleased about finding out from the group chat.
"So, good news then. Finally!"
"Yes! But I am going to kill him for not waiting 15 minutes for me to call him back! You raise a boy, you nurture and care for him, you spend years trying to get him to admit to being in love with his best friend, and then when it does happen you find out from a group chat!" Her voice filled with indignation that will fade the minute she talks to Buck.
Chimney wraps and arm around her middle and pulls her close. "You're so right, my love, we should cut him from the will immediately," he teases.
Maddie makes a quiet sort of 'hmmf' sound and pushes her shoulder into his.
"I'm going to call him."
"Be nice, they're both just excited."
"I'm always nice, Howie. But its been eight years! Eight years of pining and I find out from a group chat. It's unacceptable," she replies as she walks out onto the terrace to make her call.
Her love and support will come with a side of light teasing but she loves her brother and just wants him to be happy. Even if Chimney himself does, quietly, wish they'd got themselves together before he was Captain so the paperwork wasn't his responsibility.
When Maddie finally returns to the room he's finished with the dishwasher, and frankly, ready for bed despite it being barely past 8pm. He's getting too old for this much excitement.
"Okay, he's forgiven. I'm just happy that he's happy and Eddie makes him happy."
"Yeah, and he makes Eddie happy as well. I'm glad they've finally caught up to the rest of us."
"Me too."
And that's the end of that. They catch up on this week's Grey's Anatomy, join in the gentle ribbing in the group chat, and get ready for bed. All completely normal.
Until Chimney jolts awake in the middle of the night.
Eddie.
The memory comes flooding back in such a rush it makes Chimney's head spin. Something he hasn't thought about for nearly a decade, and for good reason!
Shit. He has to tell Maddie and he has to do it now. He has to do it now because since he's remembered that there is a secret to be kept he can't keep it!
"Maddie," he whispers, shaking her shoulder gently. "Maddie, wake up!"
She sits bolt upright.
"Is it the kids?" Panic forcing its way through the sleep lingering in her voice.
Maybe he should have figured out a more gentle, less anxiety inducing, way to wake her up but he's not really thinking straight right now, so sue him (A joke he will not make around Buck since he became captain).
"No. No. Everyone's fine, they're still asleep," he soothes.
"Oh good." Maddie sinks back into the pillows. "Wait, why did you wake me up?"
"I need to tell you something."
"And it couldn't wait until the morning?"
"No."
"Okay…" Maddie replies as she props herself up against the pillows and Chimney avoids making eye contact.
"So, you remember how I told you about when I first met Bobby it… ignited some feelings in me?"
"That's one way to put it," she replies, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
"Right. And then I met you and was entirely all in, straight away?"
"Right. Where is this going?"
"Um. So I told you I find men attractive and we joked about how the only place our taste in men crosses over is—
"is Joey Graziadei," Maddie interrupts, "I remember. I still don't know where this is going."
What Chimney says next leaves his mouth in a rush, words running into each other, "In 2018 me and Eddie watched the Dodgers win the division and we'd had a couple of beers and were just excited and we kissed, it only lasted seconds and it meant nothing and we'd only just met and I would never have kissed Eddie if I'd known I had a real chance with you and it was an accident anyway."
"Howie, slow down. You're telling me that one time, in 2018, you and Eddie kissed while tipsy and celebrating a win?" Sleep still lacing her voice.
"Yes."
Maddie's face starts going through a journey Chimney can only half follow. Curiosity and amusement followed by something more contemplative. He looks down at the comforter wanting to avoid the inevitable anger or disgust at him kissing her brother's, now, boyfriend.
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Her voice is soft, because of course it is.
"I… Well you know how Eddie and Buck are, I assumed there was a reason nothing was happening there and I didn't want to accidentally out Eddie to anyone. So, I just didn't say anything and then I forgot about it."
Maddie's laugh rings out like a bell.
"So, you are capable of keeping a secret then?"
"Huh. I guess so," he chuckles.
"I bet the next three shifts, minimum, after that were fun."
"Oh, so, so awkward," he laughs. It had been brutal, avoiding each other and flinching away when they got a bit too close. But, thankfully, it hadn't lasted too long and they were back to normal before they knew it. As though nothing ever happened. Which is probably how he was able to forget about it so completely.
"Okay, well thanks for telling me. You probably could have chosen a worse person to have your sexuality confirming kiss with. Eddie's not my type, but I can see it."
Chimney's shoulders sag with relief. It's not like he really thought Maddie would judge him, she never has before. Their relationship is strong, it's secure, they know that they're it for each other.
He's so grateful that he gets to spend his life with a woman this kind and caring (and beautiful but that's kinda irrelevant right now).
"But, you know I have to tell Buck about this, right? Oh, I can't wait to see the expression on his face when I tell him you kissed Eddie first."
He takes it all back, his wife is an agent of chaos and must be stopped.
"Maddie…. No. C'mon."
He practically leaps across the bed, but she's already reaching for her phone, probably already hitting call on Facetime. He tries desperately to wrestle her phone from her hand but she's holding it out of his reach.
"Nope, you might have been able to keep this secret but I can't. Buck deserves to know," the last sentence dripping in faux solemnity, before she breaks out into more peels of laughter.
Eventually she puts her phone down and pulls him into a kiss that's just as sweet as their first one.
"I love you, Howard Han. Even if you did kiss Eddie Diaz before you kissed me."