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They liked Tommy. It was strange because Buck hadn’t expected them to. Of course, with it being Tommy, it shouldn’t have been that surprising because Buck had yet to meet someone that didn’t like him. Buck had, of course, expected his association with Tommy to be enough to make his parents disapprove. Somehow, though, he’d been wrong. Margaret and Phillip Buckley liked Tommy Kinard even if maybe they still didn’t quite like Buck.
“That looks like it’s going well,” Maddie said, smiling at him.
“I know. I guess I didn’t think it would.”
She nodded in understanding. He remembered how nervous she’d been when she introduced Chimney to them. Chim was still convinced that they only tolerated him because he was better than her first husband and because through him they had gotten a grandchild. Buck thought otherwise.
His parents wouldn’t have gone out of their way to help Chim and Maddie with getting their house and then later with the wedding if they didn’t approve.
“Buck, you know they’ve been trying. This is what that looks like.”
Buck nodded. It was a good thing. It was just that he still remembered how shocked his mom in particular had been when Buck brought Tommy to the hospital room where Maddie and Chim got married. No one in that room could have mistaken that he and Tommy had been making out and Buck had just been so excited about Tommy actually showing up that he hadn’t cared if the soot left on his face gave it all away. He’d worried for a split second that his parents might be upset, but they just didn’t comment on it then or later.
Even when Buck saw them right before their flight back out to Pennsylvania, they didn’t say a thing and so Buck figured that it would go just like everything else. Ignored. He was used to it, and more often than not it was better that way.
Maybe it was that he and Tommy had lasted past the five month mark, or that the few times Buck talked to his parents he slipped up and mentioned Tommy. And then, when Tommy asked him to move in, Buck had sent them his new address sometime after he’d already settled into Tommy’s house.
He hadn’t expected them to send them a housewarming gift in the form of a very complicated coffee machine that Buck was still getting the hang of. So, maybe that should have been telling, except that Buck had never told them he was moving in with Tommy. With his parents it was always just better to give as little detail as possible.
When Jee-Yun’s birthday came around, it wasn’t a surprise that they would come for the party, and neither of them had reacted or said anything when Buck arrived with Tommy. That should have been telling for Buck. They greeted Tommy politely and that was kind of it. Until the party was ending and his mom approached him while he was helping put away leftovers in Maddie’s kitchen.
“Evan,” she said and Buck was trying to be graceful. He was trying not to be difficult, but he hated when she used his first name.
“Mom, it’s—”
“Buck,” she said and he could hear the disapproval.
“Yes, mom?” He asked and didn’t turn to look at her. Instead he continued to slip things into tupperware.
“We were wondering if we could have a family dinner before your father and I go back to Pennsylvania. You can bring your…your…you can bring Tommy. We’d, uh, we’d like to meet him properly.”
Buck froze and he turned to look at her directly. “Uh, you want to meet him? He’s here.”
She fixed him with a look that actually reminded him of Maddie.
“I won’t say it was a surprise to find out my son is dating men now, but I can see — we can both see — that this is different. You actually mention him in our very few phone calls which is more than you’ve ever done before. So, how about it?”
“Uh…sure,” Buck said.
His mom smiled at him and she touched his shoulder. “I’ll have Maddie figure out when everyone is available.”
Buck nodded.
He’d been nervous leading up to the dinner. Tommy had thought it was cute that he was worried about his parents, but then Buck had never really explained why his relationship with his parents was so frayed. He still probably wouldn’t understand considering how Margaret and Phillip Buckley actually seemed to like Tommy. They seemed to approve of him.
“Is it weird how much more they seem to like Tommy than me?” Chim asked.
“They like you more than me so does that help?” Buck asked.
Chim just grinned. “I’ll take it.”
“Either way, I think Jee has all of us beat,” Buck said.
“On that you’re right.”
Buck watched them for a little longer and it shouldn’t have shocked him that Tommy was managing to make conversation with them.
—
It wasn’t a lie to say that he’d been nervous when Evan mentioned his parents requesting Tommy at the family dinner. Tommy didn’t know much about Evan’s parents aside from Evan’s comment about Bobby being like a father to him. Considering his own issues with his parents, Tommy had sort of just assumed that it wasn’t a good relationship all around.
The first time he was anywhere near them, he hadn’t even been introduced to them and he and Evan had left pretty quickly after cake. He’d felt a little bad about it after, but Buck had told him everyone understood how tired he was.
After that, he only ever heard about them when Evan mentioned his mom calling or emailing him. It happened maybe once or twice a month and he was aware that the conversations were never very long. A whole month after Evan moved in, they received a large box from them containing a coffee machine that had too many knobs, buttons, and options.
“I told them I moved,” Evan admitted. “I guess this was their response. Mom never liked the loft she she’s probably thrilled I’m not there anymore.”
The next time he encountered them it was Jee-Yun’s birthday. He and Evan arrived a little late because Evan waited for him to get home from his shift. Evan’s dad had made a point of it to comment on it in a way that felt like an admonishment.
“Sorry,” Evan said. “Had to wait for Tommy to get home from work.”
They were saved from further questioning when Jee saw them and ran towards them, first receiving a kiss and hug from Evan, but squirming away from him to get to Tommy and demanding that he pick her up.
Jee-Yun was giggly and red faced and happy. She babbled at him about cake and the pinata and only let herself be extricated from him when her father appeared with a little pointy hat and immediately she was pointing at Tommy.
“But why aren’t you wearing one?”
“You wear it!” Jee said and Tommy didn’t think he could ever say no to her. “Uncle Tommy, please!”
“Alright. Alright.”
Once the hat was on, Chim smirking at him and wearing his own hat, Jee wanted to be back down on the ground. Evan reached up and fixed the hat.
“It’s cute,” he said and grinned.
A cough alerted them to Evan’s parents still being there.
“Oh. Sorry,” Evan said. “Mom, dad, this is Tommy. My boyfriend.”
“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.” Tommy offered and then was saved by Eddie calling his name.
Evan got his own hat a few moments later and out on the patio they found that they were not the only ones that had been cajoled into the colorful birthday hats. Jee just had that kind of influence.
He didn’t think it had happened on purpose but he didn’t interact with the Buckleys again that night. Instead he stayed close to Evan and they didn’t approach. Sometimes he even felt their eyes on him, but it was strange because Tommy knew when eyes were on him because of who he was, he knew the disdain and the disgust that some people felt. From Evan’s parents he found confusion and curiosity. He had no idea what to make of it.
So, when Evan mentioned the family dinner, Tommy hadn’t really known it was because he’d been invited. Not just that, requested. It didn’t help that Evan was trying not to show that he was anxious about the whole thing too.
“They’re good people,” Evan said on the way over. “Just…they weren’t great parents. That’s all.”
Tommy didn’t know what to make of that except that of course his own parents were horrible people in his eyes and he couldn’t even exactly say that they had been good parents to him. Between the homophobia and the way that they had always treated him like a burden neither of them wanted to deal with, there wasn’t much to redeem them. It hadn’t been surprising to Tommy when he found out that neither of them had ever wanted to have kids.
Evan’s parents were different. Awkward around Evan like they were walking on eggshells and didn’t know quite what to say to him. They seemed perfectly fine with Maddie and Chim. They loved Jee-Yun clearly, though that wasn’t a hard feat. Tommy hadn’t known her long but he knew that he had the biggest soft spot for her especially once she started calling him uncle Tommy.
With Tommy, Evan’s parents were at first polite and then they warmed up to him. As it turned out, Phillip was pretty quick witted and interested in Tommy’s work as a pilot. Margaret was a bit harder to read, and he could tell that she was assessing him. Somehow, Tommy felt warmed by it.
It was when the topic of his own family came up, that Tommy felt his guard go up.
“I, uh, I don’t really have any family,” he told them. “They’re, uh, they’re alive but they’re not a part of my life.”
“May I ask why?” Mrs. Buckley said and she looked so genuinely concerned that he decided to be truthful.
“They didn’t want to have a gay son,” Tommy settled on. “That was a big reason.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mr. Buckley said.
Tommy hadn’t expected that. “Thank you.”
“If it means anything coming from us, you’ve done very well for yourself. When Buck mentions you, he’s singing your praises. He never talks about anyone he’s dating, at least not with us. It’s different with you, it’s why we wanted to meet you officially. I hope you stick around.”
“I hope so too.”
—
At the end of the night, his mom actually hugged Tommy. His dad pat Tommy on the back.
“He’s a good one, Buck,” his mom said. “I’m glad you found each other.”
It shouldn’t have had that much meaning coming from his mom, but it wasn’t that they accepted it, as much as that they saw just how amazing Tommy was all on their own.
“Me too. He’s the best thing to ever happen to me,” Buck said and for some reason he followed it up with, “I think I’m going to marry him one day.”
Buck didn’t expect to see his mom wiping her eyes, or how she smiled at him with something like pride. Things might never be quite perfect between them, but there was something to be said for how they were trying.