Chapter Text
When Buck wakes up, he can still taste the cranberries in the back of his throat. Whoever thought Cosmopolitanisms were a good idea - is about to get a strongly worded email as to why they’re not.
Buck thinks it was probably Chimney, or Ravi’s suggestion last night. They won’t appreciate an email. Maybe he could send it to whoever the fuck invented the drink to begin with. He can do a deep dive later. Despite the groans and eye rolls he receives whenever he spits out facts about something, he knows everyone secretly loves his fun facts.
He takes inventory of his body. It feels heavy. It’s the only way to describe it. Heavy with that feeling when you’ve had too much to drink the night before and not enough water.
He usually hates having a hangover; that's why he doesn’t usually drink, but last night was the exception. One of the guys on the B crew is getting married. Louis, and he’d invited them to his stag party in Las Vegas. Initially Buck thought it was a little weird, they aren’t exactly close with Louis, they’ve worked together for years and he likes him enough - but he figured he wasn’t about to turn down a night of drinking and celebrating, no matter how weird it probably was. Not when Chim, Ravi and Eddie were all going to be there.
It would be a night to remember.
And it was a night to remember. Buck was sure of it. Even if he can’t really remember any of it.
He can remember arriving in Vegas with the guys, checking into their hotel rooms and then meeting Louis and a few of his friends at the bar. Louis had seemed excited while extremely nervous, and it clicked then that Louis probably doesn’t have that many friends. Buck was determined to make the night a memorable one for him.
From there, he’s sure it was memorable but it gets hazy for him specifically.
He can remember a lot of drinks, beer to start with but he thinks Chim might have ordered a cocktail as a joke, and well they are as delicious as they look. They’d had dinner at a fancy steak place and gambled a bit, before ending up at some random club and drinking. A lot. He can remember flashes of the night, the overflow of drinks and dancing to the Spice Girls with the guys. Letting loose of literally all inhibitions and not giving a shit at how ridiculous he looked.
He remembers Chimney getting sloppy and loud, and Ravi getting as clumsy as a baby deer when he was drunk.
Mainly though, he remembers Eddie.
Eddie who lets go when he drinks.
During the day, Eddie keeps himself tense and stoic, like he’s afraid to show emotions. They leak out, of course they do. Buck has known him long enough, and he thinks well enough, for the peaks of emotion to slip. Especially when Christopher is around or Buck says something intentionally stupid. Fragments of smiles. Fond eye rolls. The occasional flush on his cheeks that Buck would never say he likes. Snippets of emotions leak through, but mostly he keeps himself army trained. Stock and standard.
Buck not so secretly loves when Eddie drinks because the other man gets touchy and emotional. He's not afraid to smile. He lets go. He smiles and laughs openly, freely. He gets touchy like if he’s not touching another person he might fall over and die. Buck loves it. Loves indulging in Eddies ticks. They don’t often get drunk, but Buck noticed it when he started spending some nights at his house and how after a few beers he’ll relax more. Smile more often. Even, on rare occasions, fall asleep on the couch with his leg pressed against Bucks. Buck knows what a show of trust that is, that Eddie feels safe enough to let his walls completely down around Buck. He knows how important that is.
It’s a nice feeling, to be trusted so deeply. And Buck relishes in the fact that Eddie looks lighter afterwards, more relaxed.
Really, he’s just being a good friend.
He recalls back to last night, piecing Eddie in his memories. A very drunk, slurred and happy Eddie. One who draped himself uncaringly over Bucks back and smiled, nuzzling his face into the crock of Bucks neck while wrapped around him. How he would grab Bucks hand and drag him to the bar for more drinks, a bit giddy with silliness. One who would sling an arm around his shoulders and just laugh, eyes all crinkled up and small giggles letting loose. Uncaring and happy Eddie is one of his favorites by far.
The memory feels warm and safe despite the dehydration and headache forming behind his eyes.
It takes him a moment to sit up and blink, taking in his surroundings when he realizes he is in bed. The curtains were left open in a drunken haze - Buck can barely remember coming back to the room let alone remembering to shut the curtains - when he takes stock that a body is next to him.
Unsurprising, it’s Eddie.
He’s laying on his stomach, head smashed into his pillow and arms clasping around it, cuddling it close. The blanket has fallen down where it shows the man's exposed torso, and Buck can see the diverts in his back.
He looks peaceful, and Buck doesn’t want to wake him.
Buck watches him for a moment, the steady rhythm of his breathing. It's not weird, them sharing a bed. They have loads of times at Eddie's house when his couch isn’t great for his leg pain. They’ve usually been pretty exhausted and on the verge of passing out, and they’ve never really spoken about it. But it’s never been weird.
It’s not weird now, not really. It is weird that Buck can’t remember why Eddie is in his bed, especially when he has his own perfectly good one in the next room. But in Eddie's touchy drunken phase, they likely merged together. Buck knows that Eddie would never say it aloud, but he craves closeness.
Sometimes Buck thinks of him as a timid cat, trying to find a warm patch in the sun without giving anything away.
Buck likes to think he can be the non judgemental sun for whenever Eddie needs it.
Buck sits up quietly, trying not to disturb Eddie and unlocks his phone, squinting at the light. He immediately goes to social media to see if he posted anything daming, but luckily there's nothing up. Nor from anyone else. That's a good sign.
Next he checks his camera roll. There is more evidence there, but at least it's private. He flicks through some photos he took of Louis and Ravi at the bar, and a few of the guys he doesn’t remember their names but talked to a lot. The pictures get more ridiculous as the night goes on, but mainly they get more specific.
Mainly Eddie.
Eddie chugging a beer. Eddie making a stupid face. A selfie with Eddie. Eddie dancing. Another selfie. The photos get more blurry and ridiculous as the night progresses, until the last one is at what looks like a chapel? A stupid selfie where they’re grinning drunkenly into the camera. Buck can’t make much out, except it does look sort of like a chapel in the background.
He can’t for the life of him think why they would have been at one though. That's odd.
Eddie makes a noise next to him. A cute snuffling sound and shuffles his head to the other side. A grown man shouldn't be adorable, but Buck won't deny he is.
Buck can see his messed up and matted hair. He has a weird urge to run his fingers through it. Feel the soft strands against his palm.
He doesn’t of course, because sharing a bed might not be that weird but caressing the other person might be crossing that line. It's then he notices his hand. His left hand specifically, where there's a band on his ring finger.
Buck holds it up and inspects it closely. Huh. Now, that is weird.
It’s a gold band. It doesn’t look expensive, but honestly Buck doesn’t know much about jewelry. He couldn’t tell you how much something cost by looking at it.
He shuffles through his memories from last night, but nothing seems to come back. It’s all still a hazy fog of drinks and tequila and getting low to Lil Jon. He reckons his thighs will probably hurt when he tries to walk.
His phone dings and he checks it.
Ravi - Coming down to breakfast love birds?
Buck’s forehead creases as he frowns. Lovebirds?
That's not necessarily weird; often the team makes fun of their codependence with easy jabs and eye rolls, but it is new.
Buck shakes his head trying to clear it and decides he needs a shower, then he can deal with Ravi. Quietly he stands, trying not to wake Eddie up as he makes his way to the shower. As predicted, his thighs burn. Who said dancing wasn’t a proper workout? At least he can skip leg day this week.
The shower makes him feel marginally better, although still queasy and seedy. But that's likely to last until he’s had some food and probably a proper night's rest. He changes into some soft sweats he brought with him and an old hoodie. The forethought to bring comfortable clothes when he knew he’d be hungover. Points to past Buck.
He enters the room quietly, wary that Eddie still might be asleep - but the other man is sitting up in bed squinting at his phone and frowning. The blankets are pooled around his hips and abdomen is on full display. Buck takes it in, appreciating the lengths Eddie goes to look after himself before he spots the frown situated on the older man's face. He’s frowning into his phone, clearly trying to piece together last night.
Buck feels straight out of a Katy Perry song - but he knows they had a good night. Who can regret straight up fun.
“Sleeping beauty awakens.” Buck puts on a big show of grinning cheekily at the other man when his head snaps up and looks like a deer caught in headlights. He obviously had been so preoccupied with his phone that he didn’t even hear him come in. When they make eye contact Buck can’t help but look concerned.
Eddie looks more than sick and far more than hungover. He looked worried.
“You okay?” Buck asks, striding over to Eddie quickly and sitting on the edge of the bed. He rests a hand on Eddie's knee through the covers and feels instant warmth. When Buck squeezes Eddie squirms at the touch and frowns at him; rather cutely in Buck's opinion. But he won't say that to anyone, he can keep that to himself.
“What happened last night?” Eddie asks, more tentatively than Buck is used to. It melts away some of Buck's instant fears that Eddie woke up to bad news or that he potentially remembers last night that they committed some kind of felony together. But still, Buck can’t help but look at the man closely, scanning him for signs that something is wrong, like he might have gotten injured last night and not said anything.
For whatever reason Buck's mind always goes to the worst case scenario with Eddie - probably because he’s learnt over the years that while Eddie trusts him 100 percent, the man can’t ask for help if his life depended on it.
He’s a tightly locked book, rarely opening or exposing weakness. Buck has to pick and pry and demand Eddie let him help. He knows it's something he's working on with Frank - but years of repressed emotions and military training has it hard to unlearn. Buck is more perceptive than people give him credit for though and he’s learning to read Eddie well.
If Eddie has trouble opening up, that's okay. Buck can filter beneath the cracks for both of them.
“We got very, very drunk.” Buck laughs, patting Eddie's knee through the covers and squeezing again, watching Eddie squirm again, before standing. “We had a good night though. I think.”
He waits for Eddie to roll his eyes or remind him of something stupid he did last night. Instead, Eddie just stares at him calculating. Like he’s trying to piece together something. Buck is not sure if he finds what he’s looking for, but he doesn’t break eye contact. “You think?” The older man swallows nervously.
Buck shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t remember much. We drank a lot. What do you remember?”
Eddie swallows loudly again and Buck watches as he looks back down at his phone, avoiding eye contact. “Everythings a bit of a blur.”
Facinatedly, Buck watches as the tips of Eddie's ears turn red. It's a clear tell that he’s not telling the whole truth, but he decides not to push it. Whatever it is, has the other man worked up enough for Buck to be a little worried. Maybe his hangover is worse than Bucks, maybe he's feeling quite ill.
“Well Ravi and Chim are all down for breakfast, so have a shower and let's go.”
At the mention of food Eddie grimaces. “How could you possibly be thinking about food right now?”
Buck shrugs as Eddie slowly makes his way out of bed, grimacing as he does so. “I can always eat. And you need fluids.”
Eddie makes a face at him, one that Buck is reminded of Christopher when he doesn’t want to eat his vegetables. They’re shockingly similar.
Well, Buck doesn’t care. If Eddie won’t take care of himself Buck is here to do it for him.
Buck sits on his phone wasting time while Eddie showers. Eventually coming out with wet hair, looking soft in his own gray hoodie and worn jeans. He is unusually quiet as they make their way down to the buffet.
He must be more hungover than Buck originally thought.
Buck makes a mental note to stop at the little store attached to the hotel and get some gatorade.
“You alright?” Buck asks, bumping his shoulder into Eddies as they walk down the stairs. Eddie has his hands stuffed into his pockets and is hunching into himself. He lacks his usual confident demeanor he’s carried himself with since they met.
Eddie snaps up to look at him, clearly deep into thought.
“Yeah, fine. Don’t worry about it.” Eddie mumbles.
Buck frowns. He’s going to worry about it.