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“No way,” May hides her face behind her glass, taking a long sip of wine. Buck is pretty sure he can hear the grin in her voice, though, which is just rude.
“I definitely can,” he shoots back, sounding petulant even to himself.
Maddie giggles, and Buck swivels his head to narrow his eyes at her. “You too!?” he turns to Harry, who’s snickering behind his palm. Traitors, all of them. “C’mon, Harry, you believe I can do it, right?”
Harry shrugs a shoulder, a sparkle in his eye that’s all Athena. “I don’t know, man,” he says. “I’ve been in Florida for a while, maybe you’ve lost your touch since then.”
Buck splutters to the sound of giggles. “But- I-” he makes a broad gesture up and down his body. “I’m obviously stronger than I was before you left!”
“Hm, I remember you being taller, though.”
“That’s because you had a growth spurt!”
May sets her glass down with a firm thunk, the remaining wine in the glass sloshing dangerously close to the rim. “Prove it, then.”
Buck narrows his eyes at her, standing up and stretching his arms in front of him, knuckles cracking. “Oh, I will.”
He takes one step towards her, then another, and he can see her cool expression falter slightly, her lips twitching in either nervousness or a bout of giggles. He ignores it, and darts forward the last few steps to grab her waist, hefting her in a smooth swing over one shoulder. She squeaks, hair tickling his neck as she starts hiccuping with giggles.
Buck turns towards Harry next, who puts his hands up with a look of alarm on his face. “Wait, I didn’t think you were seriou-” his words are cut off when Buck grabs his waist, frowning in concentration as he stands up, pausing for a moment before lift, swing, slinging Harry onto his back, where he instinctively wraps his limbs around Buck’s neck and waist like a koala.
“Hey, Harry,” May says from around his stomach.
Harry snorts. “Hey, May.”
Maddie narrows her eyes at him. “Don’t you dare,” she says. When Buck just walks towards her, she bares her teeth. “Buck, I just had two glasses of wine. Do not put me over your shoulder like-”
“A firefighter?” Buck grins at her, baring his teeth back, in the way only little brothers are authorized to do.
“Just let him, Maddie,” May sighs. “It’s actually kind of nice. Like a long stretch.”
“Join us,” Harry says, deadpan, and Maddie barely has time to put her glass back on the table before Buck has an arm around her, letting out a puff of air as he puts her over his other shoulder.
Admittedly, it takes him a second to unbend his legs, carefully juggling the weight of three people as he stands up straight. But he does, is the point.
“You’re crazy,” Harry says, laughing. There’s a note of awe in his voice, though, and Buck can’t help the fissure of pride he takes in it.
Buck grins smugly. “I told you I could carry all of you!”
May groans. “Do we even weigh anything to you?”
“You, specifically, are about as heavy as a handful of grapes.”
It’s only kind of true, and he feels the ache in his muscles as he takes a few steps to make a point. Okay, fine, he can acknowledge where his limits are. He takes a staggered step forward, then another. “Ready for the landing?”
“Wait-”
“What are-”
“Evan Buckley-”
A cacophony of shrieks and giggles fill the room as Buck flings all four of them onto the sofa, landing in a pile of limbs and long hair. May slaps his shoulder, Maddie elbows him, Harry’s knees dig uncomfortably into his sides as he tries to keep holding on, and Buck feels like sunlight given shape, laughing and surrounded by family.