Chapter Text
Eddie couldn’t remember which one of them suggested playing beer pong. He thought it was probably Buck.
They’d been at the party nearly two hours, had gotten split up three times and yet always somehow managed to find each other again without even needing to try. Wherever Eddie looked, there Buck seemed to be, a drink in hand and a grin on his face. A light drizzling rain had begun to fall, and Buck’s neatly styled hair was rebelling into its natural curls. Eddie kinda really wanted to run his fingers through them. They looked incredibly soft.
Someone had set up beer pong near the firepit, and Eddie found himself in the mix of people playing, Buck so close beside him he could feel the warmth of his body radiating against his skin. Wanting to lean closer, he wasn’t quite drunk enough to dare.
They were on their third round of the game when suddenly Buck’s hand curled around his, and he tangled their fingers together, gripping hard. Glancing at him, Eddie caught a special softness to Buck’s smile as their eyes met, something sweet and bright and earnest despite the glaze of alcohol warping his features. Licking his lips, he returned the smile a little shyly and gave Buck’s hand a gentle squeeze.
If he had had the brain capacity to think about it— it had been shut down by a flood of cheap and scorching alcohol—Eddie would have thought that Buck would release his hand to keep playing the game. Instead, he clung to Eddie’s fingers and began flipping the coins with his left hand, resulting in pitiful and enduring failure. But Buck just laughed and drank and threw Eddie cheerful, beaming smiles and soft glances that grew increasingly heated with every drink he consumed.
Eddie’s chest burned. Growing steadily drunker himself, he stopped resisting and finally leaned into Buck, shoulder to shoulder, soaking up the delightful warmth of his body.
Finally letting Eddie’s hand go, Buck instead slid his arm around him and held him close.
Laughter flowed as freely as the alcohol, and Eddie was staggering when he finally left the game to relieve himself. Ducking away from the mingling crowds of people, dodging a young woman who tried to snatch his arm, he found a quiet, sheltered spot between two campus buildings and fumbled his zipper down.
He was tucking himself away when a slurring voice broke across the night, drowning out the distant chatter of the party. “There you are.”
Spinning around, Eddie’s eyes landed on Buck, standing with his weight in one hip.
Buck’s tongue darted across his lower lip, his eyes dark and heavy. “You don’t have to do that up,” he murmured, gesturing vaguely at Eddie’s flies.
Flushing, Eddie yanked the zip up anyway and began to walk towards Buck, who threw him a look filled with false woundedness. As soon as he was near, Buck grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him into a hug. Eddie’s feet slipped out beneath him, and for a moment he thought they were going to fall, but then Buck spun him, shoved him up against a wall and pinned him there.
The breath huffed out of Eddie’s lungs and he blinked a few times, gazing up at Buck.
Lips parted, Buck stared back at him. “I wanna kiss you,” he whispered.
Tipping his chin up slightly, Eddie breathed, “Go on then.”
Buck’s eyelids fluttered. “Really?”
Eddie answered with action. Curling both hands around the back of Buck’s head, he pulled him in. Planting one palm on the wall beside Eddie’s head, Buck rested the other against Eddie’s cheek, and kissed him.
Their lips met, hungry and clumsy with drink. Eddie’s heart jolted, skipped a beat, and restarted, thumping hard against his breastbone. His fingers flexed, trying to pull Buck closer.
He didn’t need to try; Buck surged against him, his body crushing Eddie into the wall. His kiss was devouring, desperate, filled with all the weeks of wanting. Startled and amazed, Eddie opened himself to Buck’s warm demanding, inviting more. It had been impossible to ignore the way Buck often looked at him, the soft desire that filled his eyes whenever their gazes met. Yet his kiss was filled with more than simple lust. There was affection there, and yearning. He pressed against Eddie, deepening the kiss quickly. Eddie met every touch with equal verve.
Groaning, Buck urged their bodies together, pushing his hips deliberately against Eddie’s. He gasped into Buck’s mouth, arching against him, wanting more.
Pulling back, Buck dragged his mouth lazily down Eddie’s neck, sucking his skin gently. “Let’s go back to the room,” he breathed, sliding his hand from the wall to Eddie’s body, pushing it purposefully down the slope of his belly, fingers curling around his waistband.
“Yeah,” Eddie agreed. “Let’s do that.”
Breath hitching, Buck leaned away from him and eyed Eddie with beery bleariness. “Really?” he asked again.
Fumbling his fingers through Buck’s belt loops, Eddie grinned. “Definitely.”
“Oh my god,” Buck gasped. Hooking one arm around Eddie’s waist, he hauled him away from the wall and together they stumbled from the long-forgotten party, and headed back to their room.
They took two wrong turns and four tries to unlock the door, but the instant they were inside, Buck shoved Eddie onto his bed and clambered over him, fitting their bodies together. When Eddie started laughing, Buck bumped their faces together then kissed him again, hard and deep. Snuggling together, they shifted on the bed until they were twisted together in drunken softness. Eddie melted into the mattress, Buck’s kiss turning increasingly lazy as the stuporific pull of too-much alcohol struck them both.
Pulling back, Buck whispered against Eddie’s skin, “I wanna touch you.”
“You can,” Eddie replied, his eyes closed, mind swimming through a whirlpool of intoxication.
“I will then,” Buck murmured, but his voice was fading. His hand palmed a slow path down Eddie’s side, settled on his hip. He yawned, blasting Eddie with a cloud of beer-stained breath. “In the morning, though.”
Wanting to protest, Eddie instead found himself curling against Buck’s side and smiling. Part of him wondered if he could change Buck’s mind, but the other part was lured by the promise of sleep.
Before Eddie could make a decision, Buck’s breathing settled into the slow, steady rhythm of slumber, his arm scooting around Eddie’s waist as he sleepily wriggled closer. He was asleep in an instant.
Pressing a kiss to the hollow of Buck’s throat, Eddie curled against him and let the spin of alcohol in his mind gently rock him to sleep, too. He knew Buck would still want him in the morning.