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“I have bad news.”
Buck looked up from the line of barbecue sauces - who needed this many varieties anyway - to find Eddie looking at him with a grave expression.
“What happened?”
“They don’t have your favorite pop-tarts. You have to make do with the plain ones.”
Buck considered whacking Eddie on the head with a bottle of sauce. “Jackass! I was honestly terrified for a second. Don’t pull something like this in our line of work!”
“I know you are very serious about your pop-tarts.”
Buck took the package from Eddie with an eye-roll. “I am not. But you must help me out here because I feel lost. How can there be so many kinds of barbecue sauces?”
“Welcome to Texas, Buck.”
Buck was in El Paso for the weekend to help relocate the Diaz boys back to LA. There were some serious conversations, some shouting and crying, but they managed to come to an agreement.
Eddie offered to do a big barbecue as their farewell party, and they went shopping for it.
The bell above the door jingled and they saw two guys walking in. Buck was quick to focus back on the variety of sauces, but Eddie kept staring at the newcomers.
“What?” Buck asked, following Eddie’s line of sight.
“I think that’s President Claremont’s son,” Eddie whispered to Buck. “You know, the one with the sex scandal a couple of years ago.
“Oh, yeah I remember. But why are we whispering?”
“I don’t want them to hear. I can’t believe he is here. Alex is such a Texan icon… he managed to turn the state blue for the first time. Even my parents voted for his mother, and they had been Republicans all their lives.”
Buck smiled at Eddie. “You are so star-struck right now. Why don’t you go and say hello?”
“Are you out of your mind? And look like a crazy fan?”
“I don’t know how to break it for you, but you are acting like a crazy fan right now. If you don’t, I will.”
Before Eddie could stop him, Buck walked up to the couple with his trademark smile.
“Hi, sorry for disturbing you two, but my friend over there is a huge fan,” he looked back at Eddie who tried to murder him with his eyes. “Just wanted to say hello. Evan Buckley, long-term registered Democrat.”
Alex grinned at him, hand already outstretched in welcome. “Happy to hear that. Alex Claremont-Diaz. Does your friend have a name?”
Eddie walked over reluctantly, his ears red from embarrassment.
“Sorry about Buck, he has no manners. I didn’t want to disturb you. Ehm, I’m Eddie. Eddie Diaz.”
“Diaz?” Alex’s eyes lit up. “Are you from around here, Eddie?”
“Grew up in El Paso, yes. We live in LA now, but we are here to… ehm, visit my family.”
The blonde guy next to Alex cleared his throat and Alex immediately turned to him.
“Sorry, baby. This is Henry, my boyfriend.”
“Henry Fox,” he said curtly. “Alex, we should go.”
“Oh, right, sorry. We are visiting my old high-school friend who just moved here with his boyfriend. And Liam sent us to do a quick grocery run, so we probably should get back to them. Anyway, it was good to meet you two.”
Alex gave them a wave and they were off to the back of the store.
“That guy talks even more than me,” Buck noted with a grin. “Come on, we probably should head back too. They are probably wondering where we are.”
“Dad, did you invite the entire neighborhood?” Eddie asked as their backyard started to fill with people. “I don’t think we bought this much food.”
“You’ve been gone too long, mijo. You don’t have a barbecue without inviting your neighbors. It’s bad manners. And don’t worry about the food, no one comes empty-handed. Now get me the first plate, it’s almost ready to go on the grill.”
As Eddie helped his father put the first batch of meat on the grill, Buck and Christopher were standing by the gate greeting people and taking the plates and bowls they brought with them.
“Is it always like this?” Buck asked Chris, who grinned at him.
“This is your first Texan barbecue? It’s amazing how you have known us for ages and you never went to one. It’s awesome!”
Buck smiled at the little boy, - who was starting to become a young man with eyes so much like his father. Buck was glad they would be back in LA together soon. It wasn’t the same without Christopher. Buck needed his whole family back together: Maddie, Chim, Jee-Yun, Eddie and Chris. They were his everything.
A loud noise pulled him from his thoughts. “No shit! What are the chances?”
To his utmost surprise, Buck saw the guys from the grocery store walking in, accompanied by two other boys roughly their age.
Buck was speechless for a minute or so, - which wasn’t a common occurrence for him. “What are you doing here?” He managed to say as he got over the initial shock.
Alex gestured towards the boys they came with. “Liam and Spencer just moved in down the road so we came over. We brought Helados!”
“You are the best!” Chris gleefully took the ice cream and went to find the ice box.
“Well, come on in, then,” Buck smiled. “Eddie will lose his mind. He is manning the grill with his father.”
After a quick round of introduction from the newcomers, Buck found them all something to drink and they all sat down.
Alex was clearly in his element in chatting up new people, but his boyfriend looked more closed off and rather uncomfortable. Buck knew that he was some kind of English royalty, but he never had any interest in those kinds of things.
He tried to engage him in the conversation nevertheless, but he seemed content just sipping his drink quietly.
“So you are living in LA, right? How long are you staying in El Paso?” Alex asked with his right hand casually on his boyfriend’s thigh.
“ We are moving Eddie's son, Chris, back to LA with us. He was living with his grandparents for a while.”
Alex looked from Buck to Eddie and back to Buck, the unspoken question clear on his face.
“His son? I… I’m sorry I kinda assumed… I know it’s not my place being a relative stranger…”
Buck grinned into his beer bottle. People had assumed they were Chris’s parents since day one. And they… they kinda weren’t wrong.
“It’s complicated. Eddie and I have been best friends for 7 years now. We are finally beyond that, but let me tell you it was a wild ride.”
Alex laughed, looking at Henry. “Wild ride you say? Did you cause an international incident at a Royal Wedding? Did you have an international sex scandal in the middle of an electoral race?”
Henry shook his head, but he couldn’t hide a fond smile. “Our circumstances are not exactly common, love. Do keep that in mind.”
“It might not be like that, but we did circle each other for quite a long time. Looking back, we might have been a little oblivious.”
“At least you didn’t think you hated your man for so long,” Alex said with a grin.
“No, that lasted for a day, I think,” Buck chuckled. “Eds, look who I found!” He yelled in Eddie’s direction. “Leave the meat be, and come join us!”
“That’s not what you said to me last night,” Alex stage-whispered to Henry, who turned a shade of pink.
“Honestly, Alex I can’t ever take you anywhere public,” Henry scolded him. “What will these people think of us?”
“Believe me, I’m a firefighter, I have seen and heard it all.”
Eddie appeared at the table, slightly confused but smiling. “That’s a surprise.”
“Come, we are sharing stories of being oblivious idiots. Anything to add?”
“I’m too sober for this.”
“We can help with that.”
After successfully locating a couple of beers for all of them, Eddie joined them at the table.
The unrelenting Texan Sun was beaming down on them, and as they finished their drinks, they could definitely feel the alcohol.
“If we are on the topic of obliviousness… did you make out and jerk off with your best friend and still think you were straight?” Liam asked in a hushed voice, glaring at Alex.
“Umm… actually…,” Eddie quickly turned red and kept staring at the bottle in his hand.
“See?? I’m not the only one!” Alex cheered, patting Eddie on the back.
“Alex, please behave,” Henry gave his boyfriend a stern look. “I’m sorry for him. He is unfit for polite company.”
“Hey! I’m not the one that brought it up! This is unjust prosecution! I’m being oppressed!”
“You, my love had too much to drink,” Henry said simply, plucking the beer out of his hand. “No more until you ate something.”
“Bossy,” Alex grumbled. “Are yours this bossy too?” He turned back to Buck.
“Only if I want him to,” Buck winked and Alex fist-bumped him.
Henry and Eddie shared a look and then took a long drink in perfect unison.