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Chimney has just finished clearing off the dining table when the doorbell rings. He spares a moment to be charmed that Buck and Eddie haven’t just let themselves in like they normally do when they come over for game night – but then again, this is something of a special occasion.
It’s not the first game night at the Buckley-Han household that Eddie’s been invited to, but it is the first couples’ game night where it will be just the four of them and he’s attending as Buck’s boyfriend. Personally, Chimney doesn’t really feel like there’s much of a difference now that Buck and Eddie have finally taken that leap, but when he opens the door to greet them, Eddie looks like he’s going to throw up.
“What’s Eddie’s deal?” Chimney asks Buck as they unload the takeout that Buck picked up on the way over in the kitchen, while Eddie and Maddie set up the first board game in the living room.
Buck scoffs. “He’s nervous about meeting Maddie.”
“He’s known Maddie for years.”
“Yeah, but he thinks she’s going to give him the shovel talk or something since we’re dating now.”
Chimney almost laughs, but then he remembers the murderous look Maddie gave him the other night when he made a move for the last spring roll. For such a petite woman, Maddie can be incredibly intimidating when she needs to be, and if – god forbid – Eddie did somehow break Buck’s heart, Chimney imagines he’d be helping Maddie hide the body.
They eat dinner at the dining room table. Chimney and Maddie sit next to each other, across from Buck and Eddie. From the way both Buck and Eddie are only eating with one hand, Chimney has a sneaking suspicion that they’re holding hands under the table. Gradually, Eddie relaxes when it becomes apparent that Maddie isn’t planning on threatening him (at least in front of everyone, anyway). It’s a nice, calm, pleasant meal, but Chimney knows that as soon as they start the game portion of game night, all that adult sophistication will go right out the window.
After they finish their food, everyone refills their wine and relocates to the living room. They sit on the floor and gather around the coffee table to set up Settlers of Catan – the game both Maddie and Buck insisted on playing tonight. Chimney hadn’t been familiar with the game before he started dating Maddie, but apparently it was a staple in the Buckley household growing up.
Unfortunately, that means both Maddie and Buck get extremely competitive when playing it. Something about childhood scores to settle.
At least Chimney has Eddie here to commiserate with him this time.
They start the game, and as usual, Maddie and Buck almost exclusively try to screw with each other. Buck places roads and settlements less in strategic positions and more to thwart Maddie’s expansion attempts, and Maddie refuses to trade resources with Buck even if the trade would also benefit her. Them focusing on each other means, however, that Chimney is free to build the longest road and collect victory point cards with minimal interference.
Buck moves the robber to one of Maddie’s most productive tiles and Maddie jumps to her feet, storming around the living room in frustration while Buck cackles obnoxiously. When she’s calmed down, she drops back to the floor next to Chimney, a few strands of her hair stuck to her face. Chimney hardly has to think about reaching out to gently brush the strands off Maddie’s forehead and tuck them back behind her ear. Maddie shoots him a grateful smile.
“Eddie,” Buck whispers – or, well, Chimney thinks he’s trying to whisper, but Buck’s at that stage of tipsy where he’s lost control of his volume. “How come you never do that for me?”
Eddie looks up from where he’s been scrutinizing his resource cards. “Do what for you?” he asks.
“That.” Buck gesticulates wildly towards Chimney and Maddie, nearly knocking his wine over in the process; Eddie just manages to pull the glass to safety. “Brush my hair behind my ears.”
“Um.” Eddie looks pointedly at Buck’s hair, cropped close on the sides of his head by his ears. “Babe, I think your hair is a bit too short for that.”
Despite the logic of Eddie’s argument, Buck full-on pouts. Eddie’s eyes widen in alarm, and he cuts a quick glance to Maddie, like he’s expecting her to berate him for upsetting her beloved baby brother. Instead, Maddie grins gleefully at Buck and tilts into his personal space.
“Yeah, Buck,” Maddie teases, “how’s Eddie supposed to do anything with this?”
She punctuates the end of her sentence by shoving both of her hands into Buck’s hair, ruffling it ruthlessly and dislodging Buck’s curls from their carefully-gelled style.
“Maddie!” Buck shrieks, shrill and loud enough that Chimney’s glad Jee-Yun is spending the night with Anne and John.
Buck pitches backwards, trying to squirm away from Maddie’s assault, but she just climbs on top of him and pushes him to the ground. They start to wrestle like kids and Buck’s giraffe legs kick out recklessly, connecting with the table and sending some of the settlements and roads scattering across the game map. Chimney sighs, long-suffering, and picks up his drink so another errant kick won’t have wine splashing everywhere.
It’s honestly kind of impressive that even though Buck is a foot taller and significantly heavier than Maddie, he’s getting absolutely destroyed by his sister. Although… Chimney knows that even if Buck is often the biggest guy in the room, he never uses his size to threaten or intimidate. Of course Buck would let himself be subdued, even if it means sacrificing his hairstyle to the cause.
Eddie watches them struggle with an adoring smile on his face that Chimney really wants to sneak a picture of to send to Hen. After a couple more game nights with squabbling siblings, the charm will wear off.
Eventually Maddie decides she’s tormented Buck enough and clambers off of him, returning to where she was sitting on the floor. Buck pushes himself back upright, his face flushed, and Chimney can’t help but snort at how dishevelled the poor guy looks now.
“If you’re done acting like children…” Chimney says lightly, righting the game pieces that have been knocked over. “I believe I was winning.”
Predictably, Maddie accuses him of cheating. (He’s not, thank you very much; Maddie is just a sore loser.) While she begins to argue with him about which intersection her city was on, Chimney watches Buck and Eddie out of the corner of his eye. He’s known Buck long enough that he can tell Buck’s sulking about his hair being messed up is just for show – the bratty little brother trying to gain sympathy points.
“You okay?” Eddie asks gently.
Buck slides his eyes away from Maddie trying to dispute that the robber was on another tile. Under Eddie’s affectionate gaze, Buck brightens like a flower in the sunshine. “Yeah,” he says, smiling. “Hazards of being the younger sibling.”
Buck tries to flatten out his messy hair but doesn’t make much progress – Maddie really did a number on him. Rolling his eyes fondly, Eddie scoots closer. Without needing to be told, Buck tilts his head down to give Eddie easier access. Eddie slides his fingers into Buck’s hair, smoothing the wild curls that have broken free from the gel with such tender care that Chimney feels the need to look away.
He makes eye contact with Maddie, who’s stopped trying to sneak an extra settlement onto the board to watch her brother. Buck and Eddie don’t seem to be aware they’re the centre of attention, too wrapped up in each other and their own little world. Chimney and Maddie share a private smile. He still remembers what it was like at the beginning of their relationship, when everything else that wasn’t Maddie would just melt away into background noise. Their love has settled into something more steady and sure over the years. While he’ll always be a little in awe of the fact that Maddie chose him, loves him, he no longer has those feelings of giddy disbelief rooted in self-loathing. They’ve been through enough together that he never has to doubt or question their commitment to each other.
Eddie does finally manage to tame Buck’s hair into something a little less ridiculous. One of his hands drifts down to cup the side of Buck’s face, thumb stroking gently at the corner of Buck’s mouth, and Buck tips forward to kiss Eddie sweetly on the lips.
“Thanks, baby,” Buck breathes.
At Chimney’s side, Maddie lets out a noise somewhere between a dreamy sigh and a snort of laughter.
Eddie stiffens, finally seeming to remember that he and Buck aren’t the only ones in the living room. His face goes red as he slowly turns to face Chimney and Maddie, offering them an apologetic smile. Buck, meanwhile, is completely unabashed, grinning smugly as he leans against Eddie.
“It’s your go, Eddie,” Chimney says.
Eddie steadfastly ignores Buck draped all over him and rolls the dice. Once they’ve all collected their resources, Eddie looks at his hand again. (Chimney elects to ignore the fact that Eddie’s showing Buck his cards, because Buck is so wine-drunk that he’s not really much of a threat at this point.)
“Does anyone want to trade two grain for one brick?” Eddie asks.
Predictably, Maddie doesn’t accept the trade, even though she’s grain-poor and wants to build another city. Chimney is about to counter Eddie’s offer when Buck kisses Eddie’s cheek wetly and lunges for his own cards. “I’ll trade with you, babe.”
Maddie looks pointedly at Chimney. “How come you don’t accept all my trades and call me babe?” she jokes.
“Because I want to lord my victory over you,” Chimney says.
“Oh, I’ll lord something over Eddie later,” Buck says with a leer as they swap cards.
If possible, Eddie’s face gets even redder.