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Eddie can pinpoint the exact moment he realises that maybe they all should've minded their own business and just let Buck call Tommy. Regardless of who dumped whom and whose fault it was and what went down exactly. It's New Year's Eve, the only winter holiday this year that the entire 118 family is off work. They're celebrating together at the Han house and Eddie tries to soak up the atmosphere. He's supposed to move to El Paso in only a few weeks and who knows how many 118 barbecues he'll get to attend after that.
Everyone's having a good time. Bobby seems almost relieved that he's not hosting for once and is animatedly chatting away with Karen and Mrs Lee. Athena and Hen are on their second glass of red and laughing loudly. Maddie is sitting with them too, her hand suspiciously not holding onto a wine glass. The kids are watching a movie in the living room, Mulan or maybe Merida? Eddie can't keep up with all the Disney Princesses. He, Chimney and Mr Lee are standing around the grill and Buck- Buck is technically there too. He seems distracted though, his thoughts a thousand miles away.
When Eddie met Buck and the guy was still so god damn hung up on Abby he thought it was an outlier that should not have been counted. Your first serious relationship will do that to you, it's difficult to let go of something so special. Eddie would know. But with every relationship afterwards it only took Buck a couple of weeks at most to bounce back after the break-up. Eddie assumed it would be more of the same when Tommy plucked the cord. Sure, Buck was mopy and baked like a madman, but that wasn't going to last forever, right? Right. But then Thanksgiving came and went, November turned into December, the Christmas Holidays passed by, the new year was rapidly approaching and nothing changed. Sure, Buck toned down the baking spree a little bit, but they were still collectively waiting for the "bouncing back" part. Buck had almost obsessively planned the New Year's Eve party instead. He had figured out a menu, made a playlist, offered his bartending skills, taken care of the shopping. Chimney was ready to hold an intervention when Buck whipped out a clipboard while they were discussing drinks. Only Hen's "be nice to him, he needs this" stopped him from hiding the offending object away in the ambulance.
Here and now though, standing in the middle of their get-together and everything going quite perfectly so far, Buck looks anything but happy or even content. He laughs weakly at Chimney's movie reference (Eddie is almost certain that Buck does not know what "we're gonna need a bigger grill" is even pertaining to) and nods along when Eddie recalls an anecdote from a few years ago. But then he's checking his phone again and frowning. A few seconds later his hands twitch like he wants to check again before he starts fidgeting with a napkin instead. He's restless and anxious and everything Eddie hoped he wouldn't be surrounded by the warmth and love of his family.
A few minutes before midnight they all gather in the garden to watch the fireworks. The kids have all fallen asleep in front of the movie, so they decide to skip lighting any themselves and just enjoy the show. With only 30 seconds left on the timer all the couples are holding each other close. Athena is tugged in closely under Bobby's shoulder, Hen and Karen are sitting so close on a bench that Karen is basically in her wife's lap, Chimney is hugging a giggling Maddie from behind and the Lees are holding hands while Anne rests here head on her husband's shoulder.
Eddie smiles sadly. He knows that being on his own, working through his issues is where he needs to be right now, but he still misses having a partner like this. Nonetheless, he couldn't be more happy for his friends. He looks over to Buck, expecting him to be in a similar bitter-sweet mood, but his best friend is once again on his phone. Tommy has been gone for almost two months, it's maybe the last time in a long while that they're all going to be together like this and normally Buck would be excited and relishing in this feeling of family and togetherness. But instead he's once again checking his texts.
That's when it really hits Eddie that something is wrong. A chorus of "HAPPY NEW YEAR"s erupts around him and thousands of fireworks are going off over LA, but Eddie is looking at his best friend who is staring at his phone and he thinks that maybe they were wrong to talk Buck out of contacting Tommy. Oh well. It's a new year. Time for a new tactic.