Chapter Text
Buck shows up at Eddie’s place unannounced early on the second morning since Christopher has left for camp.
At least half the time when he comes over it’s without specific plans, but this morning, it’s clear that Buck does have specific plans, he just didn’t tell Eddie about them.
Eddie is sitting aimlessly at the kitchen table, trying to convince himself to at least put away his dishes from breakfast, when Buck bursts in and (Eddie is aware of how cliched that is) immediately brightens up his so far very gray morning.
“Eddie,” he calls instead of a hello, and he hears him kicking off his shoes by the door, “it’s me! Are you dressed?”
Eddie snorts. “You think I have a habit of walking around naked when I’m home alone?”
Buck’s face is pink when he rounds the corner to the kitchen. “No, uh, I’m– I meant dressed to leave the house.”
Eddie looks down at the ratty old gym shorts he slept in. “Uh. No, why?”
“Well, then go get dressed,” Buck orders him instead of answering the question. He waves at the dishes and adds, “I’ve got this.”
“Get dressed for what?” Eddie asks
“Just put on something comfortable that you’re okay with being seen in in public.” Buck starts gathering Eddie’s dirty dishes, completely ignoring Eddie’s confusion. “I’m not answering any questions until we’re in the car.”
Ten minutes later, Eddie is dressed and ready, and Buck’s waiting in the living room for him, Eddie’s duffle bag on the couch next to him.
“When did you pack that?” he asks, and Buck gives him a sunny smile and a shrug.
“The other day.”
“Where are we going? For how long? And what about work? How long have you been planning this?”
“I knew you’d just sit around and mope while Chris is away,” Buck says, getting up and grabbing Eddie’s duffle. “Come on, I’ll tell you the rest in the car.”
It turns out that Buck has planned a whole road trip for them.
“Just a few days,” he says. “I talked to Bobby, and we both have plenty of PTO, so I figured, why not distract ourselves a little bit while Christopher is at camp?” He glances at Eddie for a moment before focusing back on the road. “We’re going hiking for a few days, one state park after another. And then we’re in San Diego for two nights, just to relax. Or at least I hope it’ll be relaxing – I got us this really nice hotel with a wellness center, but we’re gonna have to share a room.”
“That’s fine,” Eddie says, and desperately hopes it’s true. They shared Buck’s bed for weeks during the pandemic, but that was before Eddie realized that he’s very, very attracted to his best friend. “We’ve shared plenty of times.”
“Yeah, but after four nights of sharing a motel room with me, you might want your own space back.”
Eddie kind of wants to tell him he never wants space from him, but he catches himself just in time.
There are a lot of close calls like that over the next few days: thoughtless words that come too close to a confession, sleepily cuddling closer in a motel room that accidentally didn’t book them into a twin room, staring at Buck for too long when he takes his shirt off while hiking. Buck does almost all of the driving and Eddie spends too much time watching him rather than the landscape flashing by, the long stretches of road not nearly as fascinating as Buck’s face while he talks, his one-handed gestures, his smile, the way he sometimes laughs with his whole body.
“Hey, did I tell you I wanted to take you to Channel Islands National Park?” Buck asks on an especially empty road somewhere between the desert and San Diego. “It’s super inaccessible so I figured it wasn’t something we could do with Christopher anyway, but you can only get there by boat and everything’s limited so they say you should start planning like six months ahead of time. I’ve had this planned for a while, but not for that long.”
“No, you didn’t tell me,” Eddie says, and it comes out sounding just as weak as he feels.
“Oh yeah, you probably know it – they’re these islands off Santa Barbara where you’re not even allowed to bike, you have to do everything on foot. But we could’ve hiked there and camped, and then gotten a nice hotel in Santa Barbara if we wanted. They’re beautiful, apparently, but I wouldn’t want Chris to feel left out.”
“No,” Eddie agrees, something that feels a bit like laughter rising up in his chest. He can’t believe Buck is real sometimes, that there’s someone with all that love in his heart, and that he gives it to Eddie and his son so freely. “It sounds great, though.”
“Yeah, so maybe we can go next year when he’s at camp. Do you think he’ll be less mad if he’s doing something cool at the same time?”
“I don’t think he’ll be mad at us at all,” Eddie says. “If there’s nothing to do but hike–”
“There’s whale watching too, and all sorts of other animals,” Buck interrupts. “I think I could make it cool for him, too, if only there was a way for him to get around comfortably.”
“I’m sure you could.” Eddie’s mouth is dry, and he wipes his sweaty palms on the shorts he’s wearing. “Pull over.”
Buck glances at him, confused. “What?”
Eddie takes a breath. “Just– when you can do it safely, please pull over.”
Buck gives him a look that’s equal parts confused and worried. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Eddie says, even though his heart feels like it’s trying to beat right out of his chest.
“Okay.” Buck sounds like he doesn’t fully believe him, but he doesn’t ask again until he’s pulled over at a tiny rest stop that’s nothing but a parking spot and a trash can a minute later. “What’s going on?”
“Sorry, I didn’t– I didn’t mean to make you worry,” Eddie starts. He wipes his hands again. “I just– I didn’t want to say this while you were driving, but I also can’t not say it any longer–”
“Say what?” Buck asks when Eddie pauses to take a deep breath.
“Oh, god,” Eddie mutters, and then turns to face Buck, makes himself look him in the eye. “I love you. I have for a long time, and it’s been getting harder and harder not to tell you, so. I guess I’m telling you.”
Buck’s eyes widen, and he starts trying to unclip his seatbelt. The worry and confusion melt from his face and turn into something that Eddie very much hopes is happiness, and then asks, “Wait, just to be sure, you mean–?”
“I’m in love with you,” Eddie clarifies, Buck’s seatbelt finally clicks open, and he launches himself across the middle console to grab Eddie’s face with both hands.
“I’m in love with you too,” he says, and then his mouth is on Eddie’s and he doesn’t think about anything else for a few minutes.
Buck exhales a breathless laugh against his lips and pulls back just enough to talk but leaning his forehead against Eddie’s instead. “God, Eddie, what the fuck? When you said to pull over I thought– I don’t know what I thought, but it wasn’t this.”
“Sorry,” Eddie says, nudging Buck’s nose with his own. “It’s just– you love us so much, and I love you so much and I just couldn’t wait a minute longer to tell you.”
“Well, now I’m kind of glad you asked me to pull over first.” He leans in for one way too short kiss. “I would’ve crashed the car.”
“Safety first,” Eddie says, but he’s not really focused on talking anymore.
“This is good timing,” Buck keeps talking, and he only grins at the noise of protest Eddie makes when he leans back to look at him. “First of all, this way I can take you on a date in a city rather than in some remote mountain place.”
“Sounds good,” Eddie says, and he’s distracted by Buck’s immensely kissable mouth, but he still wants to know, “And secondly?”
Buck grins wider and tugs Eddie closer with a gentle hand on the back of his neck. “The fancy hotel in San Diego didn’t have any twin rooms.”