Chapter Text
The phone vibrates on the counter incessantly. Buck wants nothing more than to ignore it. Let them give up and just try Maddie. It’s like they know… they know when to call him so that every word hits harder and sticks to him. He looks down at the phone, the vibration moving it slightly towards him. Three missed calls and over a dozen messages. He scrolls down and hovers over Maddie’s contact, hesitating. He stands and looks around the loft, Tommy’s words still fresh in his mind. Believe me I didn’t see it coming either. He stands, the chair scrapping on the floor as he moves toward his room. He pulls out a sweater and looks around, there’s nothing in here that belongs to Tommy. Not a single shirt, no stray socks, nothing to suggest the man had ever spent the night. He feels something caught in his throat, a quiet anger.
“He didn’t even try…”
Before he knows it, there is a case of his and Eddie’s preferred beer in his hand while his other knocks. Music is playing from inside the house when Eddie opens the door, without a word, Buck brings out a beer, hands it to Eddie, and steps inside. Neither of them say a word until the six pack is empty, a light buzz taking over the room.
“You gonna tell me what happened?” Eddie turns his body to face Buck.
“Only if you explain,” Buck takes in Eddie’s outfit for the first time since getting here. The popped collar, flushed cheeks, the clean shaven…“you shaved off the stash?”
Eddie smiles and shrugs.
“Just wasn’t me anymore.”
“And the —”
“The outfit?”
Buck covers his mouth as he hiccups. Eddie sits up, smoothing the fabric of his shirt and attempting to fix the collar. Buck pulls Eddie’s hand away, popping the collar back up for him. His fingers linger there, warm against the nape of Eddie’s neck.
“Looks better the way you had it.”
Eddie stares at him as Buck drags his own hands back. Eddie blinks and lets out a breath.
“I was dancing.”
Buck’s face lights up, suddenly he’s sitting up, his phone falling onto the floor in front of them.
“Really?”
“The Risky Business dance.”
“The what?”
“Risky Business? Tom Cruise? Buck, come on. I’ve definitely made you watch this movie before.”
“The one were he slides on the floor right?”
“Yeah.” Eddie flushes as Buck’s smile grows wider. Buck can’t remember the last time Eddie’s looked this relaxed, this happy. I wish I could keep that smile on his face. “I did the whole thing, I think I’m sweating… Buck?”
Buck snaps out of his daze.
“Hm?”
Buck’s phone starts to vibrate again. Eddie looks down at it and then at Buck.
“Avoiding the parents?”
Buck groans and picks up the phone, locking it and putting it between them on the couch.
“She has impeccable timing.”
“Why?”
“Calls started a few hours ago, I have god knows how many messages. I’m sure they just want to figure out what to do for the holidays but I don’t wanna listen to her tell me she was right. I don’t wanna hear her or my dad complain about why I don’t have a family yet or how I fucked up yet another relationship.”
Eddie furrows his brow.
“What are you talking about?”
“He broke up with me.”
“He’s an idiot.”
“He was Abby’s fiancé. We were at dinner and he started talking about how she dated a himbo half her age after he broke things off..”
“Why is that woman fucking everywhere?” Eddie mutters.
“She wasn’t that bad.”
Eddie scoffs, rolling his eyes. He grabs the beer bottles from the floor and stalks toward the kitchen, Buck’s eyes following him.
“I know, she was going through it. Doesn’t excuse her stringing you along.”
He opens the fridge, grabbing two more beers, popping the cap off each. He walks back and offers one of them to Buck.
“You really don’t like her do you?”
“I don’t like anyone that messes with you,” Buck takes the beer, their fingers brushing as he softly smiles up at Eddie. Eddie shakes his head and moves to sit next to him. “Whatever, that’s not the point. What else happened with Tommy?“
Buck tilts his head back onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling.
“I went to get advice from Maddie.”
“As you do.”
“And Josh told me that I should be understanding, something about it being harder to come out back then —“
“He is ancient.”
“He’s not,” Buck tries. Eddie lifts his eyebrow and starts laughing, “Eds stop, he’s only —“
“Old enough to be your father?”
“Ew.”
“You dated him.” Eddie takes a swig of beer. Buck groans. “Why is he out here judging Abby for dating you anyway if he did the same thing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re not even a himbo.”
“What?”
Eddie raise his brow at him. A small smirk forming on his lips as Buck stares back at him.
“He called you a himbo, but isn’t that when a man is hot but stupid?”
“Yeah? How do you —”
“Buck, come on, you deep dive into topics for fun and god knows you’ve helped Chris with enough of his projects to prove you’re smart as hell and think on your feet. You’re one of the smartest people I know.”
Buck looks at him astounded.
“Wow, um thank you.”
Eddie takes another long drag of the beer, staring forward. He laughs low and almost to himself.
“Can’t even call him a himbo, dude’s just world’s biggest idiot.”
Buck shakes his head, his phone still going off now with calls from Maddie. Eddie sees the screen and moves to grab the phones, Buck lets him.
New messages on November 7th, 2024:
From Mom:
(4:38 pm)
Evan, answer the phone.
Maddie told us you weren’t at work.
(6:13 pm)
Honestly, how difficult is it to answer on your day off.
In any case, the holidays are coming up, Maddie wants to be in Los Angeles for Thanksgiving so we were thinking you could all come back home for Christmas.
(6:41 pm)
Your father wanted to extend the invitation to whatever partner it is you have now.
Do let us know before had, we don’t need any other surprises.
Buck holds out his had for the phone, but Eddie ignores him. He starts to type, the phone vibrating in his hands as Margaret responds.
“Eddie, what are you… are you responding?”
“Yep.”
Buck reaches across the couch for his phone, Eddie keeping it just out of his reach. Buck pulls at Eddie’s ankle, their empty beer bottle clanking onto the floor.
“Hey! I’m typing here.”
“Eds.”
“You’ll get it back in a second, hold on.” Buck watches as Eddie types away, his eyes scrunching at the phone brightness. “We’re doing Christmas in Hershey.”
“What?”
Eddie hands Buck the phone back and watches him as he reads.
To Mom:
(8:49 pm)
Let me know the dates you want us there, we’ll try and request them off.
From Mom:
The 22nd through the 26th is what Maddie said could work for you all. Something about your shift not working Christmas this year.
To Mom:
Okay, we’ll talk to Maddie and get everything set up.
From Mom:
Are you bringing anyone?
To Mom:
Yes, they’re excited to meet you.
Buck stares at his phone for a second, letting the words sink in. He turns to Eddie.
“Eds, why did you tell her I’m bringing someone?”
“Because you are.” Eddie takes a drink of his beer and reaches for the remote.
“You wanna watch something?”
Buck takes the remote and sets it next to him.
“No, what is going with you?”
Eddie shrugs at him.
“I talked to a priest.” Buck looks at Eddie expectantly, Eddie huffs and runs a hand through his hair. It falls over his face. “I went to him a few weeks back, when Chris left. I thought I could handle all this, being away from him, giving him space. It’s been eating me alive and the priest saw me today, randomly. Told me I was punishing myself, that I don’t even allow myself the option of juice over water. I laughed at him.”
Eddie stands.
“I came home and needed something. So I shaved off the stash and started playing music. I haven’t done it in ages. It felt good.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“For dancing in my underwear?”
Buck smacks him.
“For doing something for you. That doesn’t explain why —”
“I wanna get Chris back. I don’t want him to spend the holidays with my parents. I miss him,” he waits for Buck to meet his eyes, “we both miss him.”
“You think he’ll want to be in Pennsylvania, with my parents?”
“Maybe? He won’t or can’t talk to me. I don’t know. Anytime I try, it’s like they have to run to one place or another. I can’t keep parenting him from a screen, Buck. I feel like I’m losing him.”
“We’d have to figure out how to make all this comfortable for him. It’s freezing out there and I’m not about to make him feel like he can’t play in the snow with Jee.”
“Is that a yes?”
“She’s going to assume we’re dating.”
“So? Let them assume. We can just focus on Jee and Chris having fun, on how I want you to show us all of Hershey.”
“You’re… Eddie, you’re straight.”
“So were you. And it’s not like they’re going to complain if we don’t show up with soot all over our mouths.”
“Are you sure about this? I could just tell them we’re friends?”
Eddie stays silent for a moment.
“No. They don’t need the excuse to try and talk to you about the break up or make you feel bad about bringing us. If I’m there, it’s as your partner.”