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“They have to break up.” Is the first thing Karen says when they get home, Hen herding Denny and Mara through the door and to the bathroom to brush their teeth and get ready for bed.
“Sorry, what?” Hen watches as her wife starts to stomp around the living room, fluffing pillows and rearranging photographs like she does whenever she feels particularly passionate — or in this case, highly displeased — about something.
She whips around, staring at Hen with a crazed look in her eyes, “Buck and Tommy. Did you not see them? Did you not hear how he talked?”
Karen pitches her voice higher, “Oh, I have a medal, oh I’m Tommy and I can’t take a conversation seriously and I still haven’t apologized for being a fucking racist misogynistic freak —“
Hen tries her best to stifle her laugh, she really does, because she gets that this is Buck’s first queer relationship and lord knows that she’s made a lot of romantic mistakes in her lifetime but she loves her wife and, well. She’s a hundred percent right.
So instead she lets herself burst out into the laughter that she had been suppressing since they first had their conversation with Tommy and he started blabbering innuendos about how he was letting Buck set the pace like it made him a saint.
Karen has the audacity to look indignant, like she suspects Hen is laughing at her and not with her. It takes all of three seconds before she’s joining in on the amusement, the two of them falling back on the couch in hysterics.
“Oh my god,” Hen coughs out through chuckles, “That’s exactly what he sounded like. And his face?”
Karen wipes a tear, “His face ! He thought — He thought he was doing something there. Like him being sarcastic in the most unfunny way possible was a win for the gays.”
“Ah yes, sassing the lesbians who are genuinely concerned for their friend,” Hen snarks, “Give him a Nobel Peace prize. Put him on Ellen. In fact, they’d get along better than he gets on with us.”
“Annoying white gay and annoying white lesbian, match made in heaven.”
The two of them come down from the humor high, facing each other on the couch as the reality of the situation dawns on them.
“So Buck is … dating him. Like, actually.” Hen blinks.
“And we’re going to have to pretend to like him at every family dinner until they inevitably break up.” Karen follows the train of thought, slumping back into the couch. “Oh god.”
Hen groans, “Not again . I can still remember the first time Taylor came over to Bobby and Athena’s. I get hives just thinking about the tension that filled the room every time she made eye contact with Eddie or Athena, and Buck didn’t even notice.” The large jealousy shaped elephant in the room as to why exactly Eddie had been so concerned over Taylor was left unaddressed as the conversation pushed on.
“Well,” Karen presses her lips together into a straight line, thinking something over in her head, “I mean, I don’t, I’m not saying that we should break them up, but … does Buck know?”
“Know what? That Tommy’s an asshole? He’s probably blinded by the possibility of love, you know how Buck gets. Perpetual heart eyes.”
She shakes her head, “No, no, I’m talking about how he was when Gerrard was captain. The things he said to you and Chimney. That feels like something he should know, right?”
Hen took a deep breath, furrowing her eyebrows, “No, he doesn’t know. But I just, I feel weird mentioning it to him now that they’re dating. It’s like I’m preying on their downfall, sabotaging their relationship.”
“It’s not your fault that Tommy chose to behave the way he did. And you know that Buck would always choose you and Chimney over him.”
“That’s the problem though,” She frowns, “If I told him, he’d break up with Tommy right away. I wouldn’t feel right about it.”
Karen hums, “But it wouldn’t be you breaking them up. It would be Buck making a decision based on what he believes in. And if we know the behavior Tommy was capable of then ..” She trails off, unsure.
“Then who knows what he’s capable of now.” Hen finishes.
“When we were talking, he didn’t sound very serious about their relationship. He kept dodging the question.”
“But what if he’s changed? What if he’s better and we’re just,” Hen shrugs, “Biased? Doesn’t he deserve a second chance?”
Karen shook her head, “We gave him the chance to prove himself and apologize and he chose not to take it. He doesn’t feel sorry for shit and, frankly, even if he did, I really wouldn’t care. You’re my wife and Chimney’s our best friend, I’m not forgiving anything. And Buck doesn’t deserve to be with a guy like that.”
Hen looked down at her lap, her hands clasped together between her legs. She knew that Karen had a point, and she was just as concerned about Buck’s relationship with Tommy, but …
“I think we should sit on it. Just for now. Then I’ll try to bring it up with Buck whenever the time seems right.”
“Okay,” Karen nods, smiling gently at Hen. She reached over, taking her hands into her own. “That sounds good.”
“And we’ll see where it goes from there.”
“‘Where it goes from there’? You mean Buck finally leaving that man in the dirt?”
“ Karen .” She scolded light-heartedly, giggling as she smacked her wife’s arm.
“What? Good riddance.”
Hen shook her head, fondly gazing into Karen’s eyes, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles.
“You know …” Karen started, leaning in closer, “We’ve spent so long talking about stupid Tommy and his stupid medal that we haven’t had any time to talk about you and your stupid medal.”
“Wow, stupid? I can’t believe this. My own wife is slandering me and my accomplishments.”
Hen playfully backed away, Karen following, “I’m not . Actually, I think it’s pretty hot. My wife with a Medal of Valor.” She pressed a kiss on Hen’s cheek, trailing down along her jaw and neck, “This calls for a more thorough celebration.”
“Hm,” Hen sighed pleasantly, lifting her chin to give Karen further access, “Like another dinner?”
“I think you could be my dinner.” Karen winked.
Hen grabbed Karen’s head, lifting her up to press their lips together, scratching along the back of her ear, “I like the sound of that. Come on, let’s go to our room.”
“You don’t want to stay on the couch?”
“ Karen .”
“Sorry, sorry.” The two of them pulled away, keeping their hands together as they raced to their bedroom, shushing each other as they passed by Denny and Mara’s rooms.
Buck and Tommy’s relationship might be doomed for failure — Thank god — but they could still relish in their own.