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The first time, they weren’t dating yet. Buck hadn’t planned on staying over, but Eddie insisted once the clock struck two am.
“I’ll get you something to sleep in,” he murmured, slipping from the room before Buck could politely decline. Glancing down at his tight button-down and fitted jeans as he waited for Eddie to return, Buck decided to withhold his protests, especially when Eddie returned a few moments later and tossed him a bundle of soft fabric.
“Thanks,” Buck murmured, and started unbuttoning his shirt as Eddie gave him a smile and slunk back down the hall to grab linens to make up the couch.
Peeling his arms from his shirt and shucking his jeans off, Buck shook out the clothes Eddie had lent him. Tugging on the sweats, he paused as he snatched up the top … well-worn and dark blue, it was impossibly soft beneath his palms, the fabric slithering between his fingers as he spun it carefully to find the hem.
Tugging it on, Buck passed his hands gently over his chest and belly. The cloth was fine and cosy-soft. It felt amazing against his skin and a slow flush spread up Buck’s throat as Eddie came back into the room and glanced at him, smiling again.
“This is your favourite henley,” Buck blurted as Eddie shook out some sheets and began tucking them around the couch cushions.
He shrugged lazily. “Two years ago it was. It’s a bit threadbare now.”
Buck blinked. “Then … why do you still have it?”
“It’s comfy, right?”
Patting the fabric, Buck dragged his fingers down his chest again. “Yeah,” he said. “It really is. You sure you don’t mind me borrowing it?”
Straightening up, Eddie cast a sleepy glance over him, the edge of his mouth twitching with suppressed laughter. “I insist,” he said, throwing Buck a quiet wink. “You look good in that blue.”
“Thanks.”
Ten minutes later, after a hug goodnight that lasted a few seconds longer than usual and many seconds fewer than Buck wanted, he was curled up on Eddie’s couch beneath a fluffy blanket, staring into the darkness.
He could not stop stroking his hands across the delicate softness of Eddie’s henley.
Tugging the neckline up, he huffed an eager breath … but there was no trace of Eddie’s scent in the cloth, just the lingering traces of jasmine from his fabric softener and the stain of pine from the drawer.
Sighing, Buck curled his arms around his body and let his eyes float shut.
He dreamed of Eddie.
<*-*>
The next time was almost two months later.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Buck murmured as he hovered in Eddie’s bedroom doorway. “I really don’t mind crashing on the couch.”
Smiling gently, Eddie crossed the room and hooped an arm around Buck’s waist. Pressing his face into the curve of Buck’s neck, he nuzzled him, murmuring, “You’re my boyfriend now. I want you to stay with me.”
Humming some soft noise, Buck’s arms curled around Eddie and squeezed him a little closer. “I just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable,” he whispered. “We agreed to take things slow.”
“I remember,” Eddie said lightly, laughter lacing his tone. “I was there. But I trust you, Buck. We can share a bed without it leading to sex.”
Swaying against him, Buck pressed his smile to Eddie’s ear. “What about when I tell you I love you?” he teased.
“Even then,” Eddie agreed, his lips brushing Buck’s skin. “I’m impervious to your charm.”
“Well, I know that’s not true,” Buck bragged. Carefully, he caught the curl of Eddie’s ear between his teeth and gave a gentle tug. Then he whispered, “I turn you into a puddle.”
“Yeah, but that’s secret,” Eddie sighed. “Even you’re not supposed to know that.”
“Shouldn’t’a told me then,” Buck said with a chuckle.
Eddie kissed his neck, a dozen fleeting but determined kisses, then stepped back, pulling out of Buck’s grip. “I gotta pee,” he said. “Be right back.”
“Okay.” Shifting, Buck made space for him to get through the doorway, idly watching Eddie’s arse as he moved away.
The moment the bathroom door closed, he shook his shoulders out and turned to change for bed. Stepping into the bedroom, Buck paused as a sudden thought caught him. Ignoring his overnight bag, he flicked a glance back towards the doorway then crossed the room to Eddie’s chest of drawers.
Shucking one open, he rifled through a few things, seeking the blue henley Eddie had once loaned him. He remembered its remarkable softness, the way the fabric had draped over his skin, warm and inviting where it clung to his muscles. He wanted to feel it again.
Shoving the drawer shut, Buck tried another one—this one filled with neatly folded henleys, but as he shuffled through them, Buck couldn’t find the blue one.
A disappointed sigh surged up his throat, but then … there, not the blue henley, but another one that he knew was a favourite of Eddie’s. Well worn, its smooth, pale colour was somewhere between white and cream and the fabric beckoned to him as Buck tugged it from the drawer and let the folds drop out.
Warmth swelled in his chest, a bright smile bursting across Buck’s mouth. He raised the top to his nose and took an experimental breath—no Eddie scent again, but there was the sweet jasmine and pine he remembered from last time.
As he was standing there, huffing deep, Eddie returned.
“Oh.” Buck’s tongue swept a nervous path across his lips as he turned and faced Eddie’s bemused expression. “Hi. You’re back.”
“Mhm,” Eddie hummed. A smile brightened his face. “You coming to bed, then?”
“Yeah,” Buck said, but he didn’t move.
Eyes crinkling, Eddie’s grin widened and he stepped towards Buck. Kissing him softly, his fingers found the hem of Buck’s t-shirt and tugged, lifting it up, breaking the kiss as he tugged it over his head. He whispered, “You better get changed, then.”
Teeth catching his lip to bite back a smile, Buck tugged the henley on and slowly wrapped his arms around himself, smoothing his palms across the cloth. It wasn’t quite as soft as the blue one, and it was a little more snug, but he had never felt more comfortable as he stepped out of his jeans and slid into Eddie’s bed.
<*-*>
The night suddenly seemed achingly silent as their shaking, gasping breaths settled. Eddie’s skin burned against Buck’s chest as he lingered against him, kissing him deep and desperately.
Buck never wanted this moment, this perfect moment, to end.
Mumbling against Eddie’s lips, he breathed, “I love you. Fuck, I love you.”
“Love you,” Eddie panted, his chest arching into Buck’s ribs with every puffed breath. Grasping fingers slid through the slick of sweat draping Buck’s body, biting into him as Eddie clung, trying to pull him closer.
The kiss slowed as the adrenaline seeped from Buck’s muscles, a pleasant tiredness replacing it. He kissed Eddie languorously before finally drawing away. “That was…” he whispered.
“Yeah,” Eddie agreed. “It really was.”
“Amazing,” Buck finished, even though the word was an understatement and unnecessary.
“Amazing,” Eddie echoed, stroking Buck’s spine.
“Yeah?” Buck nibbled on his lower lip. “Worth the wait?”
“Baby,” Eddie said, his voice as soft as it was serious. “Everything about you is worthy.”
Heart pattering, Buck brushed another kiss against Eddie’s lips, then happily mumbled, “You’ll make me blush.”
“Your blushes are cute,” Eddie said, shifting beneath him with a satisfied sigh.
“You’re cute,” Buck replied, then kissed Eddie again, slipping his tongue past Eddie’s soft-parted lips as the night breeze swept through the open window to dry the sweat coating their tangled bodies.
Finally, they drew apart and Eddie grunted softly. “I’m sticky,” he muttered.
“I’ll get a cloth,” Buck whispered back. “Stay right there.”
Slipping from the bed, Buck fossicked through the heap of clothes tossed carelessly onto the bedroom floor. Stepping into his boxers, he shimmied them up his hips … and then, he swiped up the forest green henley and yanked it over his head.
Slipping his arms into the sleeves, he glanced across as he heard Eddie shift in the bed. “That’s mine,” he whispered.
Covering his belly with both hands, Buck murmured, “Do you mind?”
Shaking his head slowly against the pillow, Eddie said, “Nope.”
“Good,” Buck said. Sliding his hands across the fabric, he absorbed the material softness brushing against his skin, and then he bowed his head and tugged the collar up. A breath coursed out of his lungs as an undeniable scent caught his senses. Smiling, he whispered, “Smells like you.”
Grunting again, Eddie blinked up at him. “Sweaty and gross?”
“No.” Buck gave his head a generous shake and took another breath, soaking in the twist of scent—the smoke of day-old cologne, a wash of fruity soap, the warm, undefinable aroma that was all Eddie, skin and soul. Buck smiled. “It’s heaven.”
“Weirdo,” Eddie said, stretching his limbs out lazily. For a moment, Buck’s eyes drifted over his naked shape, the dips and shadows of his body in the dim light bleeding through the window.
Chest aching, Buck almost dived right back into the bed to snuggle him. “I love you so much.”
A sweet, soft smile drifted onto Eddie’s mouth. “I know you do,” he said. “And I love you.”
Swallowing the swell of adoration threatening to spill out of him, Buck ducked his head to hide his happy grin, and slipped from the room to retrieve a cloth.
<*-*>
Scrolling through his phone, Buck passed one idle hand back and forth across his abs, relishing the soft cloth smoothing against his palm.
“Hey, so there’s something I wanna chat to you about.”
Buck’s head snapped up and a shiver of unease tickled down his spine. “Is that your way of saying ‘we need to talk’?”
Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “No. Relax.”
“Oh.” Sinking back against the headboard as a freshly-showered Eddie settled down beside him, Buck took a stabilising breath, threw his phone onto the nightstand and asked, “So … what is it?”
“It’s about this,” Eddie said, snagging his fingers in the open placket of Buck’s borrowed henley.
Confusion tightened Buck’s brow. “I … thought you didn’t mind me wearing your clothes. And in my defence, your henleys are just so perfect for sleeping in.”
“Sure,” Eddie agreed. “Except I like to wear them during the day, and this one?” He tugged the top again. “Is the only one I have left, ‘cause you sleep in them and then wear them home.”
Pouting, Buck threw Eddie his best puppy-dog eyes. “I like to keep a little piece of you with me when I go,” he said.
Giving his eyes an indulgent roll, Eddie leaned in and brushed a light kiss against Buck’s petulant lips. Grabbing for him, keen to hold him close and deepen the kiss, disappointment struck Buck’s chest as Eddie darted back too quickly.
“The issue isn’t that you take them home,” Eddie went on. “It’s that you don’t bring them back. I’m running out of clothes.”
“You’ll just have to wear more button-downs,” Buck teased brightly, but then he softened and nodded. “I can bring your henleys back.”
“Hm,” Eddie said ponderously. “I don’t know if that’s really good enough.”
Frowning, Buck shifted and gave Eddie an arch look. “Well, what else do you expect me to do?”
“Glad you asked,” Eddie said. “Because I do have a better solution.”
A pause.
Hooking one eyebrow into a curious arch, Buck said, “You wanna share it with me?”
Eddie smiled, his eyes dropping away from Buck’s for one coy moment. “I thought maybe … you could move in.”
Buck blinked. “Move in?” he repeated.
Nodding, Eddie glanced back up at him, his stare questioning and suddenly desperate.
“Here?” Buck’s brain was processing far too slowly.
“Yes,” Eddie said.
“With you and Chris?”
“Mhm.”
“And you’re just asking me so you can get all your henleys back?”
“That’s right,” Eddie teased, a grin tugging one side of his mouth.
Buck smiled too, leaning forwards. He snatched Eddie’s hands with both of his own and murmured, “Well, as long as it’s just for your henleys and no other reason … I’d love to.”
Grin pulling all the way across his mouth, Eddie squeezed Buck’s fingers and murmured, “What if it’s also ‘cause I adore you and don’t want to be apart from you?”
“Ohh,” Buck said, mischief lacing his words. “Well, I guess that’s an acceptable reason too.”
“Acceptable, huh?” Eddie raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Buck said, his voice dropping into a low purr as he moved towards Eddie, using his body to gently urge Eddie onto his back. Stretching above him, Buck gazed down at Eddie’s bright smile before leaning in to kiss him.
Arching towards him, Eddie’s fingers tangled in Buck’s hair as he deepened the kiss. Surrendering to him, Buck settled their bodies together and Eddie’s legs hooked up high, wrapped around Buck’s hips to drag him closer.
Gasping, Eddie’s head rolled back against the mattress as Buck dragged his kiss sideways, sucking gentle bruises into Eddie’s neck. Fingers curled around the hem of the coffee-dark henley Buck had lifted from Eddie’s clean laundry basket, tugged it up his back. “Take this off.”
“Yes, sir,” Buck whispered. Wriggling back, he let Eddie strip off the henley, then Eddie’s hands slid down Buck’s chest. Sighing, he shifted closer again and lipped at Eddie’s ear. “I love you,” he huffed. “And your henleys.”
Soft laughter burst between Eddie’s lips and he slid his arms around Buck’s back. “I love you too,” he whispered. “And I love you wearing my henleys. Especially the blue one.”
Buck beamed into Eddie’s neck. “That’s my favourite, too.”