Chapter Text
Eddie watched Buck across the way, the blonde was by the lockers showing the rest of the crew the pictures from Maddie’s wedding, Eddie looked up as he heard several people make a very loud collective aww sound. Probably from when Chimney and Maddie had their first dance, even with Chimney having serval injuries it still was nice, Eddie is sure that is what the picture is. He went back to doing his gear check when an even louder sound of actual cooing disrupted him this time, he looked up to see Buck honest to god blushing and Hen playfully punching his shoulder. He must of looked a moment to long because the second he made eye contact with Ravi, he saw the younger man leave the group behind and come to him.
“Hey man” Ravi said as he approached Eddie, hands in pockets, and a cautious smile
“Oh hey, Ravi. Eddie sputtered, suddenly interested in ensuring their turn-out coats were in good condition.
Ravi took a breath and stepped toward him, making it very hard for Eddie not to look up.
“Look I just wanted to say I know how hard this must be for you.” The younger man said.
“Um, checking the gear?” Eddie asked
Ravi rolled his eyes and let out a small laugh, but then his face shifted, a look of genuine caring that made Eddie wonder what was happening.
“I just want you to know, that I’m here for you. When I broke up with my girlfriend last year, it was really tough, not to mention I didn’t need to see her every day at work,”
“Ravi I don’t know-”
“I mean it’s one thing to invite him to the wedding but to kiss him in front of you,” Ravi said the last part in a whisper as his eyes made their way over to Buck
Eddie raised an eyebrow
“Ravi-” he tried to interrupt but the younger man did not let Eddie finish his sentence
“It’s just not right, I think it's great you guys are trying to be friends still, very mature, just wanted to let you know if you ever need anyone to talk to I am here for…”
“Ravi!” Eddie finally yelled, looking around, realizing some eyes were on him
“Huh?” Ravi said eyebrow quirking
Eddie took a step towards the probie.
“What the hell are you talking about? He finally asked
Ravi looked taken aback and was now the one giving Eddie a confused glance
“You and Buck, and your break up, and his new boyfriend”
Eddie looked around to see if anyone was recording because surely this was a prank, Ravi did not just come to him to comfort him about a breakup between him and Buck.
“What? Me and Buck didn’t break up?”Eddie said,
Ravi’s eyes grew large “Oh! Sorry um didn’t know you guys were open like that, you know they really say monogamy is going out of style anyway and..”
Eddie’s face turned beat red as he grabbed the younger man by the arm pushing him into a corner where no one could see or hear.
“Ravi! We didn’t break up cause we were never dating, how?... what?... why did you think that?”
Ravi looked Eddie up and down a sheepish expression on his face,
“I just thought,” Ravi said shrugging his shoulders “No one told me, It was just obvious, I mean you guys of course had to keep it professional here, but you were always talking about the things you did and your trips with Christopher, I swear I even heard somebody mention he was in you will,”
All those things were true Eddie thought, but they were all reasonable things friends did, none of it was out of the ordinary, there were millions of friendships just like theirs,Hen and Chimney were that close and no one thought they were dating.
Eddie combed his fingers through his hair and took a breath “That’s cause we are Friends, family, I am dating Marisol, we have even talked about her, you met her a few weeks ago?”
Rvaie looked like he was wracking his brain “I thought that was Christopher’s babysitter,
Eddie rolled his eyes “Babysitter?” he nearly screamed.
Ravi slowly started to walk away. “So this is really awkward, um I am going to find somewhere to be that’s not here”
Eddie's shoulders relaxed as he saw that the younger guy seemed not only embarrassed but maybe even a little bit scared.
“It’s okay relax,” Eddie told him taking a few steps back, the younger man backed away and started to head back to the lockers
“Wait” Eddie said, Ravi turned back around quickly “By the way Buck and Tommy there not boyfriends, last I heard they are just seeing eachother in a very casual way, ”
“Um okay” Ravi said, he gave a smile and a nod and quickly ran off
“So now you have all the correct facts,” Eddie yelled after him.
The shift ended in an uneventful way, with no calls for a full 2 hours, Eddie was content but Buck was crawling out of his skin, as soon as Eddie offered a movie and pizza night with Chris, Buck jumped at the opportunity.
“You are not going to believe what Ravi said to me today?” Eddie said as Buck got in the passenger side of his truck.
Buck put his seatbelt on and turned the radio on“If it’s about his theories on UFO’s you should actually hear him out.”
Eddie rolled his eyes and started the engine “He thought we were dating.”
Buck sat there for a moment,
“Well actually” Eddie added as he pulled out to the highway “He thought we broke up because he thought we were together and he saw you kiss Tommy at the wedding”
Buck let out a breath and a little laugh “Um wow, well Ravi, must think I am a completely terrible person then”
Eddie smiled,
“Don’t worry, I set the record straight,”
“Did you know?” Buck said teasing Eddie’s wording.
Eddied rolled his eyes “He even thought that now you and Tommy were boyfriends, made sure he new that was casual too”
Eddie saw Buck shift in his seat.
“Well I wouldn’t say casual, we're dating just taking it slow.” Buck said
“You said last week, you were both allowed to see other people,” Eddie said quickly, and maybe a little defensively.
Buck gave an awkward laugh “I.. yeah, but we're trying to make it work with eachother, he just wants to give me space to figure some things out, and I dont want him to be tied down to me while I do that, but we are together”
Eddie took in what Buck said, not quite sure why the news made him feel so strongly. He must of not said anything for a while because Buck cleared his throat.
“That’s, that is still okay right?” Buck asked voice quiet, unsure
It just took a quick glance at Buck for Eddie to know what he was really asking.
“Jesus Buck” Eddie said quickly wasting to reassure his friend . “of course I just didn’t know it was still like that, now I do. I think it's great Tommy is a good guy, you deserve a good guy or girl or person, it’s all.. good”
“Good,” Buck said,
There was a silence after and Eddie couldn't tell if it was an awkward one or not. He also couldn't tell why he felt on the verge of tears, his best friend was happy, he was in a relationship. So why did Buck telling him this make everything feel so awful? They drove in silence until Eddie pulled up to the house.
Buck wasted jumping out of the the truck and practically running to the front door “Okay I am going to give Christopher and run for his money at Mario Cart, remember to tell the pizza place extra cheese this time.” He called to Eddie, already making his way inside the house with his key.
Eddie took a second and followed him into the house, hoping whatever he was feeling went away soon.