Work Text:
They’re lounging in the loft, taking advantage of a q-word afternoon when Buck comes running up the stairs— Ravi doesn’t even have to look up from his phone to know it's him; the steps are being taken 2 at a time with a speed that would make him trip. Buck is the only one that’s ever in a hurry like that. He listens as Buck walks by him, probably headed to the couch that Eddie’s laying on and yep . A quick glance shows Buck now crouched near Eddie’s head.
Honestly, how has no one caught up yet?
“Hey,” Buck says, quietly enough to not startle Eddie, but not so quiet that Ravi and the others don’t hear. “I have to head home real quick, cleared it with Bobby, he’s letting me go early. I forgot the papers for later— I'll come by to pick you up after?”
To that, Eddie makes a non-committal mm noise and Ravi watches as Buck squeezes Eddie’s shoulder before he gets up, one of his knees popping so loudly it earns a snort out of Chimney.
“I’m heading out early— I have to head home real quick.”
“Oh! Buck?”
“Yeah, Hen?”
“If you’re going home, can you drop by my place and get something for me? Your loft is close-ish to my house and I forgot something this morning and well, double shift for me today so I can’t go get it.”
“Uh…”
Buck’s looking around and Ravi wonders what's going on inside his head. How’s he going to get out of this one? If Ravi remembers correctly, Buck hasn’t had the keys to his loft since a week after he and Eddie had gotten together. Buck’s loft has been someone else’s now for a few months now.
“Sure… I can… do that.”
“Great, thanks, Buckaroo, I'll text you what I need. Karen’s working from home today so she’ll let you in.”
Hm. Interesting development. So Buck wasn’t going to admit that he moved in with Eddie. Not that Ravi thought that he would — that would out their relationship to everyone and ruin everything they had been working towards.
i.e. get everyone to add more money to the betting pool, win, profit.
His phone buzzes and he looks down, sees that it’s the group chat for the bet and he looks back up, meeting Chimney’s eyes.
Chim - 3:30pm
Buck’s lying through his teeth. I can tell.
Ravi - 3:30pm
About what? He just said he’d go pick something up for hen.
Chim - 3:30pm
At the loft? Sure 👍 We all know he lives at Eddie's
Josh - 3:31pm
Wait, what? What’s going on? We know what?
Linda - 3:31pm
Josh you’re literally taking a call right now.
Josh - 3:32pm
I’m not I just hung up— apparently Buddie live together
Athena was added to the group ❤️🔥 Buddie Canon 2024 🚒👨🚒👨🚒
May - 3:32pm
Mom, did you know that buck and eddie are living together?
Athena - 3:32pm
May, I told you I didn’t want to be added to this group.
You all have too much time on your hands.
Also, what is Buddie ?
May - 3:32pm
Buck and Eddie, Mom. It’s the ship name we came up with for them.
Athena - 3:32pm
A ship? What ship?
May - 3:33pm
Nvm. So, Chim, what’s this about buck lying?
Chim - 3:34pm
He just came upstairs to tell us that he was checking out early cause he needs to go grab something at home and that he’ll be back— Cause you know, shift’s not over and he’s Eddie's ride.
Chim - 3:35pm
and then Hen asked him to go pick something up at HER place cause she lives near his loft. Yeah?
Chim - 3:35pm
BUT HE DOESN’T HAVE THE LOFT ANYMORE????
Chim - 3:35pm
SO WHY DID HE SAY HE’LL DO IT??? I bet he’s gonna do a detour just so he doesn’t have to tell us that he doesn’t live at the loft anymore. Right Maddie?
Chim - 3:36pm
@Maddie
Maddie - 3:36pm
Please keep me out of this thankkkks.
Sue - 3:37pm
I thought something more important was going on with how much my phone wouldn’t stop going off. Chimney, this is literally nothing.
Josh - 3:37pm
Wait, Sue’s in this chat too???? Since when??? How many people are we?
Athena - 3:37pm
Too many.
Athena has left the group ❤️🔥 Buddie Canon 2024 🚒👨🚒👨🚒
“She can’t just leave!” Chimney cries, exasperated, earning himself looks from everyone in the loft, including Eddie, who sits up on the couch to check. Chimney’s eyes go wide for a second and the tips of his ears go pink. “Sorry, I’m watching a show. “
Ravi 3:38pm
Nice save, Chim. Really subtle.
Chim 3:38pm
You’re not helping
Ravi - 3:38pm
I’m legit not trying to help tho tbh 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍
Karen - 3:39pm
@everyone Alright, kids, while I have you all here: I just updated the pool site. We’re now 20 participants which honestly, is getting a little bit ridiculous and creepy. Just putting it out there. You have until the end of the day to update your bets on dates as the month is coming to an end and some of you have expiring dates. Oh also please mention if you want to add any variables. I’ll email everyone as well seeing as this group chat
Oh . Maybe this is his chance to spice things up a bit. A month has already passed since they went line dancing with the whole crew, since Ravi was finally added into this cursed group chat and it’s been so much worse than he thought. He’s kept Buck and Eddie updated on the down low, not trying to get himself exposed for being a double agent of sorts, but he didn’t want to tell them everything.
There were videos in the chat, photographic ‘evidence’ of sorts, it went deep into the Buck&Eddie lore and Ravi’s kind of creeped out, if he’s honest.
There’s talks of something called The Couch Theory— which, apparently, is the fact that Buck can’t seem to find/keep a couch for his loft because the couch he belongs on is Eddie’s, which, what the fuck? It’s a couch. Why are they reading into this?
There’s theories of how Buck and Eddie always seemed to break up with their partners at about the same times, that they were orbiting around each other and just never colliding.
There’s photos of them in the fire engine or in the loft, sitting together, legs pressed close when there’s so much room around them.
It’s weird .
And Ravi’s so glad he already knows what's up.
Granted he did honestly think that Buck and Eddie had been divorced during his first few months with the 118, that Christopher was actually Buck’s kid, and not just his best friend’s kids. That maybe Shannon had only carried him because Chris did have curly hair like Buck— Ravi had just accepted that they had a different type of family dynamic.
Anyways.
He’s glad but he’s also very tired. The things he’s had to say and do over the last couple of months have made him want to go hide under Bobby’s desk again just to avoid it all. Some would argue that this isn’t comparable to Buck chasing him with a chainsaw, Ravi would respectfully disagree and say that this is worse.
He’s getting off track and the window for his opportunity to throw a wrench into the intricate cogs of his bet is closing. So he goes for it.
Ravi - 3:42
@karen I actually wanted to add to the bet?
Hen - 3:43
Add to it… how?
His eyes flick up to meet Hen’s and then back down. He opens his conversation with Buck and Eddie instead.
Ravi - 3:42
Eddie can u move ur hands just a bit so I can take a photo of ur tattoo?
Buck - 3:43
LMAO. Yes, Ravi they’re gonna hate this so much— Why won’t you merge? Just merge it’s not that hard oh shit sorry.
Ravi - 3:43
Text to speech?
Buck - 3:43
Yes.
On the couch, Eddie checks his phone and puts it down almost immediately, simply doing as Ravi asked. His hands are on his stomach now as he ‘naps’, his left hand over his right.
Chim - 3:45
Today, Ravi!!!! While the sun is up!!!!
Ravi - 3:45
Calm down daaaaamn I’m tryna do something here
Chim - 3:45
?????
Josh - 3:46
????????
<<Ravi sent a photo>>
Chim - 3:46
Ravi if you photoshopped that just to try and mess with us…
Ravi - 3:46
u can literally see Eddie's hand for urself if you get up
May - 3:47
IS THAT A RING TATTOO WHAT THE FUCK???
Athena was added to the group ❤️🔥 Buddie Canon 2024 🚒👨🚒👨🚒
May - 3:47
MOM LOOK
Athena - 3:48
No. Leave me out of this.
Athena has left the group ❤️🔥 Buddie Canon 2024 🚒👨🚒👨🚒
Karen - 3:48
So, Ravi. Where are you going with this?
Ravi - 3:49
I bet they’re engaged. I bet Buck also has a tattoo like that
May - 3:50
My own brother wtf??? didn’t even tell me
Ravi - 3:50
Huh? Eddie’s ur brother? HUH???
May - 3:51
What? NO. BUCK IS
Ravi - 3:51
BUCK IS YOUR BROTHER?!
May - 3:52
WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?
OF COURSE HE’S MY BROTHER
HE’S BOBBY’S SON
Ravi - 3:52
WHAT? BUCK IS BOBBY’S SON?????
Chim - 3:53
Ravi oh my god.
Josh - 3:54
Seriously everyone knows that
Linda - 3:54
Even I know that
Ravi - 3:55
This is cyberbullying. I feel like I'm being cyberbullied and I’m going to tell on all of you
Hen - 3:55
To who?
Chim - 3:55
*whom
Hen - 3:55
🖕
Ravi - 3:55
@bobby I'm being bullied
Karen - 3:55
Oh, honey, Bobby muted this chat the second he was included.
So, ravi bets that they’re engaged. Any takers?
Sue - 3:56
100$ that they are.
Josh - 3:56
SUE???? How invested are you????
Sue - 3:56
What? I wouldn’t be surprised— No: I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already married.
May - 3:57
My dad would kill them for not inviting anyone, tbh.
Maddie - 3:57
I would kill them first.
The conversation goes on for a bit and others place their bets regarding the possible engagement. Ravi’s satisfied with the turnout: there’s a bit more money in the pool and for some reason, three new people from the call center, as well as two cops that Athena works with.
Karen yells (writes in all caps) at them to get them to relax while she updates the website and he puts his phone on silent before he heads downstairs. His shift is almost over and he still has to take out the trash, sweep the locker room, and clean the windows of said locker room (why, why , can’t they have proper walls?)
He’s wiping down the exterior of the glass when he’s pulled from his thoughts by a warm hand on his waist, making him jump slightly. When he sees that it’s Buck, he relaxes into the touch.
“Everyone is by the trucks,” Buck whispers, and Ravi leans in a little bit. “How did it go? After you sent the photo?”
“Bro we have like, 500$ more to win. They’re insane. Even Sue from the call center added more money.”
Buck leans back, his hand sliding to the small of Ravi’s back. Sue? He mouths, not wanting the others to hear him after they’ve been so careful to manipulate them with their own ruse. Ravi nods and Buck grins. “That’s wild. Is Eddie still upstairs?”
“No clue.” He looks over his shoulder and watches as four of their coworkers avert their gazes at the same time and get back to their tasks— or pretend to, at least. He shakes his head and laughs to himself. At this point, he’s pretty sure there’s a separate chat that involves rumours about Buck and him … which is exactly what they wanted. They wanted to plant red herrings everywhere and simply cause chaos. “He was sleeping earlier, probably still is.”
“Thanks! Text us if something else pops up?”
“Course. You know I will.”
Buck pats his shoulder and a second after Buck leaves, Chimney materialises near him and grabs his arm, dragging him into the locker room, closing the door behind him. While yes, everyone can see into the locker room, it’s surprisingly soundproof.
“What the fuck was that?” The older man asks, and Ravi does his best to look convincingly ignorant as he shrugs. “No, no-no! Don’t look like that! Why was Buck… touching you?!”
“Touching me? What do you mean? He just came to ask something. Don’t say it like that, man. It’s weird.”
“Don’t deflect! He had his hand on your waist! Do you like Buck? Oh my God you like Buck. Now that I didn’t see coming.”
“Chim, I don’t like Buck, early I bet that he was engaged to Eddie, remember?”
Chimney is quiet for the next few seconds and, thinking that he’s fine to leave, Ravi takes a step to the side, only for Chimney’s hand to slam into the locker next to him, preventing him from doing so. “What if this is all a ruse?”
Sweat forms on Ravi’s back and alarms go off in his head. No . Chimney can’t have figured it out… right?
“What if you’ve been dating Buck and this whole Buddie thing is a cover up?!”
Ravi laughs— but even he knows it sounds off. “Why would I spend money against myself? Come on… Me? Dating Buck? Dating the guy that chased me with a chainsaw? Come on , man.”
Chimney pops his gum and crosses his arms over his chest. “Stockholm syndrome,” he says, like it explains everything.
“Buck’s not my type.”
“Please, Buck is everyone’s type. I would even—” He stops himself mid-sentence and glares at Ravi, pointing at him. “I’m watching you, Panikkar. We’re all watching you.”
Once he finally leaves, Ravi deflates and sits on the bench, pulling his phone out. Just like he thought, there’s about 40 new messages in the Buddie group chat— he marks it as read; there’s no way he’s catching up on all of that— and opens the one with Buck and Eddie once more. They’re coming down the main stairs now, ready to head out.
Ravi - 4:40pm
Chim just questioned me cos he thinks I'm dating buck. I fear he might be losing the plot.
Buck sends over a couple of evil laughter gifs and Eddie reacts to his message with a thumbs up emoji.
Eddie - 4:42pm
They wouldn’t stop looking at me. i don’t know how much longer I can take it.
Buck - 4:43pm
Maddie said the wedding invites will be ready to be picked up next week, maybe we could tell them at dinner on Sunday at Bobby and Athena’s?
Another thumbs up reaction and Ravi snorts. Eddie really hates texting, anything to avoid it, really.
Ravi - 4:44pm
Until then, Buck, i would suggest you try to hide your left hand as much as possible just to keep them on their toes coz they’re gonna wanna try to see if u also have a tattoo like Eddie
Buck - 4:45
omg that’s so evil
great idea
lmao
We’re heading off— got the papers to file for the marriage licence. Appointment at 5:30
🤵♂️🤵♂️💍💒❤️
Ravi - 4:45pm
see u guys later :)
—
Sunday honestly can’t come any faster.
The whole week Ravi has felt everyone’s eyes on him as soon as he was close to Buck. Buck, who made it a point to stand very close to him as well. Who didn’t hesitate to place a hand on his knee when they were sat next to each other, but who would also lean into Eddie.
The confusion at the firehouse was incredible to see and when Ravi saw his coworkers grab their phones almost all the same time to check a message, one that he didn’t get, it confirmed that there was another group chat that excluded him.
Excellent , he thought.
At least his pain and misery had some good to it.
When Sunday finally comes around, he feels a little bit nauseous. The stress of this whole ruse is getting to be a lot on him and while he’s excited for it all to be over, he’s a bit worried that they’re going to figure it out before they get their money.
They have no idea what’s coming.
He gets to Bobby and Athena’s with a few minutes to spare, carpooling with Buck because why not . He has a feeling that Buck is enjoying this ruse too much and they’re too far gone to just stop .
Buck lets himself into the house and they get a few looks from their friends that are already there— Specifically from Chimney and Maddie who then look at each other with confusion written all over their faces. Maddie truly deserves an award for her acting— she’s known about Buck and Eddie from the start and she’s also been coerced into joining their… whatever this is.
While Ravi is getting money out of it, she’s getting free babysitting days out of both Buck and Eddie (which is kind of a moot point? Buck always wants to babysit).
“Buck! Where’s Eddie?” She asks, coming over to hug her brother, and she gives Ravi a quick squeeze as well.
And Buck shrugs . “No clue. He said he’d be here at some point. I’m not his keeper, Maddie! I don’t always know where he is.”
To that, Chimney snorts and he steps forward to join them, handing a beer to both Buck and Ravi. “Now that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one. Seriously, Buckley. Where’s your better half?”
“My what?”
“Buck, come on.”
“Come on… what?”
Chimney raises his hands and balls them up into fists, shaking them slightly in front of Buck. “God! This is impossible! You’re impossible! I can’t handle this!”
“Is he okay?” Buck asks, watching as Chimney leaves and heads into the kitchen.
Maddie shrugs, “You two coming in together set him off, I think. The other group chat is really confused. Oh!” She passes them and goes to the coat hangers to grab a package out of her bag. “Your invites, they’re gorgeous, by the way. Exactly the shade of white you wanted.”
“Not too white, not too yellow?” Buck asks, his eyebrows are high on his forehead and Ravi can’t help but roll his eyes at his friend’s reaction; at how uptight he’s been about the whole thing. Eddie had told him that Maddie had had to request five different samples of their invitation to make sure that it was up to Buck’s expectations and standard. Not just any type of paper and finish would do. It had to be perfect . “Not too beige either? Maddie you know that—”
“Buck, it’s perfect, I promise.” She pats his arm and his shoulders drop a little bit. “Now go say hi to Bobby and Athena. Ravi’s gonna hang onto these until you’re ready.”
—
They’re well into the evening when Ravi gets the signal that Buck and Eddie are about to drop a bomb on their friends and family.
Everyone’s eaten, bellies full and cheeks red from laughing and drinking. It’s now or never and Ravi can’t wait for it all to be over.
“Can I get everyone’s attention, please?” Buck asks, going to stand further away in the dining room where everyone can see him. They all quiet down and Ravi grips his drink tight.
Here we go .
“I have an announcement to make,” He says, and no one says a word. Ravi notices that they’re exchanging glances but they’re quiet. “Ravi?” There are a few gasps and murmurs and Ravi gets up, grabbing the manilla envelope he’d kept with him after dinner had been over.
“Buck… what?” Chimney says, and he seems to be struggling to make a sentence, only muttering syllables that make no sense together.
Ignoring Chimney, Buck takes the envelope and Ravi promptly returns to his seat. “Thank you, Ravi. So this will come as a shock to most of you...”
“You’re not leaving the 118… are you?” Hen asks, tentatively. She looks around and Ravi can tell that they have no idea what’s coming. “Or moving away?”
Buck doesn’t answer and keeps a neutral expression. After all these months of plotting and deception, he’s not going to crack when there’s 2 minutes left.
“Buckley! Come on! Enough with the suspense already!”
“Howie,” Maddie coos, trying her best to calm her husband down.
“I have been deceiving you for the last… three—”
“Four!” Ravi calls out, “As of… yesterday…” He adds, going quiet when he notices that everyone’s looking at him.
“For the last four months,” Buck says. And again, he takes a long pause before continuing. “I… have been in a relationship. For four months.”
“WITH RAVI?!” Chimney all but yells, and Ravi’s glad he hadn’t been taking a sip of his drink. There’s chatter in the room and Buck has to yell at them to get everyone’s attention again.
“No! Not with Ravi! What’s wrong with you?! Where d’you get that idea?!”
“I— You— Him— he— The hands? The looks? You—”
“As I was saying… I’ve been in a pretty serious relationship for the last four months and it’s my pleasure to announce…” He once again pauses and takes his time with opening the envelope, reaching in to grab one of the invitations.
“That we’re getting married,” Eddie completes, getting up from his place at the table to go stand by Buck as Buck turns around the paper to show the room so they can read.
Ravi’s not sure what he had expected but the heavy silence almost makes him think he’s gone deaf. Maddie, Bobby, and Athena, having known about the secret for a while, are smiling, but the others have their jaws on the floor and Ravi thinks that someone’s dropped a glass as well.
“Wait…” Karen is the first to speak up. She puts her glass of wine down and walks over to the two men and takes the invitation to see for herself. “Is this real? Are you serious?” She looks at them, and then back down. “This is real?!”
“This is very real,” Buck replies, and he takes the rest out, handing them over to Maddie. “Pass these out? Oh, and,” he winks, holding up his left hand to reveal a small tattoo that hadn’t been there the last time they'd checked— or had tried to check, at least.
“You guys are engaged?!” Karen says again and a light seems to go off in her mind. “Wait! You’re engaged! You’ve been dating?! For how long?! When did this happen?”
Buck looks to Eddie, and reaches for his hand. “You wanna or…?”
“Since pretty much a week after Buck and Tommy broke up,” Eddie supplies. “And that’s also how long we’ve been engaged.”
“We just felt like we’ve been in some form of relationship for so long that it just made sense, you know? So I sub-led the loft and moved in— hadn’t been to my loft much anyways.”
“He came with me to pick up Chris from El Paso— he was the first we told.”
“The first?” Hen repeats. “Others know?” Everyone starts to look around and Ravi looks around as well, doing his best to play dumb. If he wants his share of the money, they can’t know that he’s been in on it.
“Guilty,” Maddie says, raising a hand. When Chimney gasps at her, she rolls her eyes. “Oh come on! He’s my brother! Of course he told me!”
“And they told me too,” Bobby says, but no one seems to question his implication.
“Why wait so long to tell us?” Karen asks, “Were you worried or…?”
“No, nothing like that,” Eddie replies. He’s now glued to Buck’s side and with how he’s looking at Buck, it makes Ravi feel all the more single, if he’s honest. “It took us so long to figure out that we were meant for each other that we just wanted to explore this new part of our relationship on our own before telling everyone.”
“And so now… we’re happy to invite you all to our wedding, which we’ll be holding next summer!”
“It’s about damn time!” Athena cheers, and a loud pop erupts from Ravi’s left, making them all jump as she starts pouring champagne for everyone.
Finally , everyone cheers and claps, all circling the couple to congratulate them. Ravi can see how misty-eyed Buck is, especially when Athena has her hands on his cheeks. He sees how Eddie has a hand around Buck’s waist and how happy his family is. He feels lighter, too, now that the secret is finally out.
—
Karen - 1:30am
Following Buck and Eddie’s story, I'm thrilled to announce that the winner of the buddy pool is…
🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Chimney - 1:32am
Karen, for the love of God, please just put us out of our misery we’ve been through so many emotions tonight
Karen- 1:32am
Ravi wins with the closest estimation to when they got together, as well as the bet that they’ve been engaged!
Carla wins with the kitchen confession and that it’s Buck that says something first.
Your winnings will be transferred by Venmo by end of week. Again this information will be sent by email but probably tomorrow cause i’m so tired.
Josh - 1:33am
I can’t believe they’re /actually/ together.
That it’s /actually/ over.
It’s the end of an era
Hen - 1:33am
FINALLY
I couldn’t take the pinning anymore oh my God.
Maddie - 1:34am
You do realise that they’re just going to be lovey-dovey now, right?
Hen - 1:34am
What? No they’re not. They’ve been together for four months and they haven’t been any different at the firehouse.
Maddie - 1:34am
Yeah, cause they’ve been hiding it and they want to be professional so Bobby doesn’t separate them into different shifts
Bobby reacted with a 👍
Maddie - 1:34am
I’ve been with them in the same environment multiple times since they got together— it’s bad, guys. It’s really bad. They’re even more Buck&Eddie.
Chimney - 1:35am
MORE?! 🤢
Maddie - 1:35am
Chimney’s making gagging noises irl and threatening to switch to B shift
Ravi - 1:36am
Hey now, no, that’s my shift! Stay out of my shift!
The messages keep going and Ravi says Buck and Eddie a few screenshots of the conversation.
He has a feeling that they’re going to act coupley on purpose just to spite their friends— they’d been doing it as a ‘joke’ for the last couple of months but now, it’ll all be true and no one will be safe.
No one.
—
He keeps his secret until after the wedding.
They’re all sitting in Bobby and Athena’s backyard (because where else would the after party be than at Buck’s pseudo parents’ house?) when Ravi finally lets the cat out of the bag. Buck and Eddie were ‘officially’ made aware of the bet regarding their relationship sometime over the holidays, when Chimney had had one too many eggnogs, so Ravi thinks that now’s the right time to tell them all— it’s just their core group now, everyone else having gone home and/or to bed. There’s a nice fire burning in the center of them all, keeping them just warm enough against the chill air of the night.
They’ve been talking about Buck and Eddie’s relationship throughout the years— How it started with Buck being jealous of Eddie, scared to be replaced, and how he’d somehow become Chris’s step-parent without even realising it. Or how Eddie trusted Buck with his life, his son, and basically anything, but had never had that trust with any other partner. Everyone was laughing— it truly was a wonder that it took them so long to figure it out.
“God, we've been going to that place for what? Like, two years? And I still remember running into you guys at the country pub last year-- I could so tell that something shifted.” Ravi takes a sip of his beer, his eyes on the fire.
“Last year like, three hours after Tommy and I broke up?” Buck says with a snort and Ravi nods. Eddie’s leaning on Buck, his eyes closed and a small smile on his lips. Both of their suit jackets are gone, ties are undone and collars open. Thankfully they don’t look as bad as after Chimney’s bachelor party.
“Something like that,” Ravi replies. “And then a week later you were together. I totally called it, by the way,” he adds, and he clings his beer with Buck’s. “You two were not dancing like regular line dancers. Too much eye contact and hands.”
“I knew something was off,” Chimney says quietly to Ravi’s right. “People don’t dance like that!”
“We did start a trend, though,” Eddie adds. “And it’s fun!”
“Mm.”
“Wait… Ravi…” To his left, Josh turns to face him. “What do you mean by ‘you totally called it’?”
“The bet, I won, remember?”
“Okay… sure… but you…” Ravi grins brightly and Josh gasps, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You did not .” Josh looks around and the rest of them seem confused as to what Josh is reacting to. “You knew?!”
To that, Ravi simply shrugs. “They weren’t exactly subtle. Also caught them making out at the pub… so that pretty much confirmed it.”
“We really weren’t,” Buck agrees.
“Wait! Did you know?!” Josh asks, now looking towards Buck and Eddie.
“That Eddie and I were together? Yes, Josh, I knew that.”
“No! That there was a bet? Oh my god ! This whole time?! Were you messing with us?”
“What? By getting people’s numbers to dance with them, or by being really close to Ravi for no reason at all? I’m just a touchy person, Josh. I’ve no clue what you’re insinuating.”
“Yeah,” Eddie chimes in, taking Buck’s beer to drink from it. “We totally didn’t think there was a bet the whole time and we definitely didn’t convince Ravi to try and infiltrate the group and get information. That would be insane. Almost as insane as having Ravi bet correctly on some things but wrong on others to make sure he wasn’t found out. Now that would be actually mad.”
“You sneaky little double agent, you,” Hen says, and she gets up to go put Ravi in a gentle headlock, making him laugh as he taps her arm. “I’m so proud of you, kid.”
“You—no, you’ve been in on it, Ravi?” Chimney groans, collapsing back in his chair, like he’s finally putting it all together. “You all lied to us—no, you conned us! Wait, how much money are you getting from the betting pool?”
Eddie chuckles. “Enough for a pretty nice honeymoon.”
“Well, I’m glad we could all help finance it!” Hen says, rolling her eyes as she raises her glass in a toast. “To Buck and Eddie—and to finally knowing the truth!”
“To Buddie!” Josh cheers, and laughter fills the backyard.
“I feel… manipulated,” Chimney says, a hand to his chest. “And bamboozled.”
“Well, thank you for helping pay for the honeymoon,” Buck says with a grin. “We really appreciate it!”
Ravi raises his drink, “And thank you for my PS5!”
“I can’t believe it was all rigged,” Josh says with a sigh. “If you two hadn’t gotten married I would request a refund.” He tsks and shakes his head slightly. “Rigged!”
“I just can’t believe it’s over. I’m tired ,” Ravi says, and he stretches out his legs. “Speaking of, I'm heading out. Congrats again to you two and to the others… Please never include me in a massive group chat ever again.”
Oh he was going to sleep well tonight. It’s the perfect ending to months of teasing, ruses, and misdirection—one they’ll all remember, and laugh about, for years to come.
He just hopes that Chimney isn’t going to try to prank him back.