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Chris has been home for nearly six months by the time Eddie finally feels like he can breathe again. His relationship with his son isn’t perfect, but it’s good. Work has been without any major disasters, a thought he avoids acknowledging too hard just in case Buck’s superstitions prove to be true one of these days. The sun is warm on his face as he jogs around the park, the temperature not yet at the oppressive heat that August will bring. Eddie spots a colorful food cart as he winds down his jog, and he’s heading toward it without conscious thought.
The overly sweet cherry flavor of the snow-cone is a shock to his system, but a pleasant one, cooling his parched throat as he settles down on a nearby bench. Disregarding the long plastic spoon shoved inside the cup, Eddie grips the flimsy paper cup in one hand and devours the shaved ice directly, scrolling through his TikTok feed mindlessly with the other hand. By the time he gets to the end of the treat, he’s four parts into a five-part saga of some woman’s evil in-laws, and he curses as he refreshes her page and sees the final part isn’t uploaded yet.
“Hey.”
Eddie startles at the voice, looking up with a confused but pleased expression as Buck settles down onto the bench beside him. He’s wearing loose jogging shorts and a baggy blue t-shirt, along with his running shoes, but Eddie can’t help but notice he hasn’t broken even the hint of a sweat.
“How did you even find me?” Eddie laughs, smirking when Buck freezes, caught. Eddie clicks his screen dark and pockets his phone.
“Find My Friends,” Buck huffs after a moment. “You never disable it, man. You should really remember that more often.”
Eddie shrugs and turns to the side just long enough to lob the balled-up paper cup into the trashcan a few feet away, whooping with delight as it sinks in.
“I’m not worried about it,” he says, giving Buck a red-stained grin. “I like knowing you can find me.”
“Good to know, Count Dracula,” Buck laughs softly, eyeing Eddie’s cherry-smeared lips for just a moment too long.
“My mouth stained?” Eddie asks, noticing a remaining line of cherry sugar water dripping down his thumb.
Buck just nods, watching intently as Eddie brings his hand up to his mouth and licks the sweetness clean, licking his own lips unconsciously.
“Why’d you track me down?” Eddie asks innocently as he returns his hand to his lap. “You could have just called.”
“Was bored,” Buck says, shrugging. “Cleaned the loft, did all my laundry, I even folded and hung it all up after.”
“Impressive,” Eddie says, earnestly. “Folding it is the worst part.”
“Maybe I’ll get one of those folding robots,” Buck muses. “They can do it so much faster than me.”
“Yeah, until it gets bored and decides to fold you to death instead,” Eddie snorts derisively.
“They’re only like this big,” Buck laughs, gesturing with his hands. “I think I can manage to fend off a microwave sized robot even if it was evil.”
“Hmm,” Eddie says, unconvinced.
“You’re ridiculous,” Buck says, fondly.
“And you’re stupidly gorgeous,” Eddie huffs, “we all have our crosses to bear.”
He realizes what he’s said a moment too late, as he watches Buck’s face flit through every known emotion in the human spectrum, and maybe a few exclusive to those shrimp who see all the colors.
“Any chance you want to pretend I didn’t say that out loud?” Eddie asks, blaming the sugar rush for the words, and for the blush that no doubt matches his reddened lips.
Buck is silent, which in itself is alarming, and Eddie gulps apprehensively as Buck’s eyes narrow and his head tilts in thought.
“So, you usually only call me gorgeous in your head?” Buck asks, righting his own head so he can stare right into Eddie’s wide eyes.
“No,” Eddie denies, far too quickly if the smirk on Buck’s face is any indication. “Shut up, you’re hideous, actually.”
“Oh my god,” Buck says, breaking into a wide grin. “You like me!”
“You’re my best friend, asshole,” Eddie says, rolling his eyes. “Obviously I like you.”
“No, you like like me!” Buck says with a hum. “You wanna pass me a note in Math class and have me check yes or no!”
“I wouldn’t pass notes in class,” Eddie says, relaxing slightly as he realizes Buck isn’t running away. “I went to catholic school; they’d smack us with rulers if they caught us.”
“Jesus,” Buck breathes.
“Allegedly,” Eddie agrees, sardonic.
Buck laughs at the almost-joke; funny in that distant way childhood scars form, ragged and pink and forever just a little bit tender to the touch.
“We aren’t in middle school,” Buck says after a moment, gaze softening impossibly, “even if you do have kool-aid mouth.”
“Shut up,” Eddie laughs, rubbing the back of his hand against his stained mouth uselessly. “It was good.”
“You should’ve shared,” Buck pouts dramatically. “Rude.”
“I didn’t know you were coming!” Eddie defends, reaching up and cupping Buck’s face, rubbing his thumb across one flushed cheekbone. “I’ll buy you a snow-cone, whatever flavor you want.”
“Cherry looks good,” Buck says, eyes firmly on Eddie’s full lips.
“Hmm,” Eddie says, tilting Buck’s head up until he can see his eyes again. “Hey, Buck?”
“Yeah?”
Eddie smiles, a quietly pleased little thing, as his thumb stops moving.
“Do you like me? Check yes or no.”
“Duh,” Buck says, leaning into Eddie’s hand and fluttering his eyes closed for a moment.
“What was that?” Eddie teases, thinking back to Buck and clipboards and the most confusing erections of his life.
Buck snorts a laugh, not attractive in the least, but catches on, pressing a kiss against Eddie’s palm before looking at him again.
“Check.”
He grabs Eddie’s free hand in between his own and traces a checkmark onto his skin, laughing again even as Eddie moves the hand on his face to thread through his hair instead. Eddie kisses the laugh from his lips, catching the surprised gasp with his own.
Eddie tastes like ice and sugar, almost overwhelmingly so, but Buck chases the sweetness eagerly, melting back against the bench as Eddie twists and leans around him. He grips the back of the bench behind Buck’s shoulder as they kiss and kiss and kiss, holding tight with the hand not in Buck’s hair. Eddie damn near whimpers when Buck finally gently nudges them apart to take a breather.
“We cannot get arrested for public indecency,” Buck rasps, licking the transferred sweetness from his own lips. “Athena would never let us live it down.”
“It was just a kiss,” Eddie argues, pointedly not looking down at their matching tented shorts.
“That wasn’t just anything,” Buck says.
“Yeah,” Eddie agrees, the very picture of the cat with the cream.
“I parked in the garage a few blocks down,” Buck offers once they’ve calmed down and Eddie has reluctantly removed his hand from Buck’s hair.
“The dark and covered garage?” Eddie asks mischievously.
“Way in the back corner,” Buck nods, watching raptly as Eddie reaches down to his own lap and gives himself just one discreet squeeze.
“Good,” Eddie says, hopping up and offering Buck his hand. “Then what are you waiting for?”
And Buck? Buck can’t think of even one little thing. He grins widely and takes Eddie’s hand.
The End