Work Text:
Tommy doesn't know it now, but next year he'll be surrounded by people he's lucky enough to call family. He'll have reached out to Howie and Eddie again after not speaking to them for months, and next year before the clock strikes midnight on 31st December 2025, Tommy will be toasting their good health.
Buck doesn't know it, but next year he'll look across the room and see Tommy laughing with their friends and a smile will leap to his face. He'll be so ridiculously happy, but he'll be secure enough that he won't be waiting for the other shoe to drop. He'll revel in the happiness. He'll watch Tommy and Maddie raise their glasses and rush to Tommy's side to ring in the new year with him.
Neither of them know it now, but they'll toast each other quietly, out in Tommy's backyard whilst the party continues inside. They'll say that 2026 will be the year they move in together; make it official. They'll kiss softly and passionately, tenderly, and 2024's heartbreak will be nothing but a distant memory. It'll be buried beneath the work they've done on themselves and with each other to become secure, to build a foundation upon which to start a life together.
They don't know it now. But all it'll take is for them both to be brave enough to text the other a 'Happy New Year' when the clock strikes to ring in 2025.