Chapter Text
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to LA traffic,” Maddie sighs, dropping her hands from her steering wheel with her foot heavy on the brake. “Thank you for coming with me. I’m sure my last-minute vendor appointments were not high on your list of things to do on your day off.”
Truthfully, it’s the only thing on Buck’s list of things to do on his day off. Tommy’s working an overnight and Eddie’s got an afternoon of doctor appointments for Christopher, so riding shotgun as his sister finalizes the details of her wedding was kind of a no-brainer.
“Have you talked to Mom and Dad?”
She glances over at him and taps the brake, as the traffic rolls. “Not really. The last time I spoke to them it was to get their flight info. Why, have you?”
“No, I—no, just wondering," he shrugs. He can feel the way her eyes stay on him, cataloging his face until the car in front of them moves again. Turning away to watch neighboring cars as they roll past his passenger window, he stops himself from joking about how much easier LA traffic is when you have lights and sirens. They stay quiet for a bit, the radio a lower murmur between them like white noise.
“Do you think it’s weird that Tommy calls me Evan?” He asks abruptly, interrupting the quiet.
“He does?”
“Yeah, is that weird?”
“Do you think it’s weird?”
“I don’t know. I mean, no one else does except Mom and Dad.”
It’s not like Evan is a dead name or anything (he knows what that means because he’s an ally after all) but sometimes it feels like the name of a stranger. Evan is the name on his credit card bills, his lease agreement, and his W2. Evan is the name he gets called when something serious is happening, like waking up in a hospital bed, or his first appointment with a new therapist, or when his best friend tells him he’s trusted enough, integral enough, to be his son’s legal guardian.
But it’s not like this thing with Tommy is something serious. Not that he’s not serious about it, it’s just not a serious subject. It’s good, he likes spending time with him; he’s interesting and fun and seemingly so sure of every part of himself.
“I definitely didn’t introduce myself as ‘Evan’…”
“It sounds like it might bother you.” Maddie prompts, smiling easily from the driver’s seat.
“Nobody calls me that,” he adds, picking at the worn seam of his jeans. People who know him call him Buck. Calling him Evan is like calling Eddie Edmundo, which Buck realizes, Ana did for a brief moment. He remembers thinking it was strange; wrong even. Does Eddie think it’s strange that Tommy calls him Evan?
“Maybe it’s kind of sweet?” Maddie interrupts the thought. “Unless you don’t like it.”
“I don’t think it bothers me?”
“Okay?”
“Evan just feels like a different person sometimes. Like I’m Buck and Evan is the guy dating Tommy.”
“So it’s official?”
“Not really the point," he argues, despite the flush rising on his cheeks.
“But?”
“It’s not like he’s my boyfriend, Maddie. “
“But?”
“But I did invite him to the wedding.”
She bites her cheek to stop herself from smiling. “So you invited a stranger to my wedding.”
“Come on, I was shooting my shot,” he laughs, swatting at her playfully. “And it was kind of last minute so who knows if he can even get the day but—”
“Is that why you’re asking about Mom and Dad?”
“I don’t know why I’m asking anything.”
“You want to know what I think?”
“Sure,” he sighs, lulling his head against the window.
“I think maybe you’re looking for an issue.”
“With Tommy?”
Maddie nods, glancing at him quickly. “The issues will come, you don’t need to go looking for them.”
“Great advice from someone getting married next week,” he laughs again.
“The issues are easier to deal with when you have something worth fighting for. So relax, get to know him but if Tommy calling you Evan bothers you, tell him.”
Maybe he is looking for an issue. Maybe this thing with Tommy is too easy, although he feels kind of insane even thinking that. This man is cool and kind and thinks he's ‘adorable’ yet here Buck is, looking for a problem.
Maybe he's not as ready as he thought he was...