Work Text:
Only You (The Platters)
Only you can make this world seem right
Only you can make the darkness bright
Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do
And fill my heart with love for only you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The park that’s hosting the outdoor movie showing is a half-hour drive from Eddie’s house. Well, really, his house. No, that isn’t right, either. Their house. That’s what it is now. It’s only been two weeks since Eddie and Chris moved back from El Paso, so Buck’s still trying to wrap his brain around that new reality. Sharing a house with his best friend. His partner. And, as of yesterday at six eighteen in the morning, his future husband.
Glancing at Eddie, Buck can’t help the stupid grin he knows is on his face. Future husband might be exaggerating considering it had actually been a first kiss while they’d been washing the breakfast dishes. Buck’s left arm currently has three small bruises on it from where he’s pinched himself since Eddie leaned over and kissed him, just needing a reminder this is real and not a daydream brought on by unrequited love for his straight best friend.
“You’re staring,” Eddie says, catching Buck’s gaze and smirking even as his cheeks are dusted with light pink blush. “See something you like, bud?”
“Maybe,” Buck says, adding a bit of a flirty tone to his voice because that’s something he can do now without worrying about making things weird between them. “Always have found it difficult not to stare at beautiful things, ya know?”
“Smooth,” Eddie murmurs, ducking his head in a way that is distractingly sexy because it makes that strand of hair fall across his forehead and shows off the curve of his neck and jawline. “I don’t put out on the first date, but A for effort.”
Buck huffs a laugh, feeling the nerves in his gut start to loosen when he sees the smile on Eddie’s pretty lips. Jesus, how had it taken him so long to recognize that his feelings for Eddie meant more than just being friends when he’s always been so attuned to him, not even needing words to know what he’s thinking or wants. He doesn’t need to be nervous tonight because this is Eddie.
Eddie’s already his—has been since they shook hands after removing a grenade from some old man’s leg years ago. They took the long way around to reach this moment, had some detours and a few bumps in the road, but they’ve finally reached the destination they’ve been headed from the first time they met. Eddie might not believe in fate or any kind of mystical shit, but Buck believes enough for the both of them. He knows that there isn’t a world out there where he doesn’t love Eddie Diaz, no alternate reality where their souls don’t find each other eventually, no universe where they aren’t in love.
If Buck exists, he loves Eddie. Whatever version, whatever time, it’s always them. It’s just a fact of life, like needing oxygen to breathe or the earth orbiting the sun. It’s why Eddie’s kiss yesterday felt like coming home, like settling into a puzzle that’s finally complete, like finding peace amidst a world of chaos. There’s no reason to be nervous just because this is their first official date. Even if the date is horrible, if a sudden thunderstorm rains out the movie or Eddie doesn’t like the restaurant Buck booked reservations at for later, it’s going to be okay because it’s them.
“Hey, the light finally turned green,” Eddie says, the knuckles of his left hand lightly pressing into Buck’s right thigh. A car horn blares behind them, emphasizing his point, and Buck hits the accelerator with more force than intended. His truck lurches forward, making Eddie laugh. “Stop freaking out. It’s just me.”
“Just you, like you’re not the love of my fucking life,” Buck says, rolling his eyes as he changes lanes. The obnoxious car behind him speeds past only to get stuck behind a delivery van. Buck resists the urge to flip the driver off as he drives past because he’s a mature adult on an important first date with his future husband. Glancing over at Eddie, he can’t help but grin at the slightly dazed expression on that gorgeous face. “Who’s freaking out now, bud?”
“I’m not freaking out,” Eddie says, blinking a few times even as he squeezes Buck’s upper thigh tight enough to probably leave a bruise.
Buck shivers, a rush of arousal and something else flushing through him at the thought of Eddie marking him. That’s new. Something he’ll think about more in depth later. He drops his right hand off the steering wheel, resting it on top of Eddie’s hand. “I figured it was pretty obvious how I feel about you, Eddie. I mean, I told you I want to marry you after you kissed me breathless in the kitchen.”
“You were talking way too much to have been breathless,” Eddie points out, but Buck sees his lips curving into a smug smile at the reminder of that kiss. When Eddie slowly starts moving his thumb back and forth across Buck’s inner thigh, he laces their fingers together and shifts their joined hands away from the more sensitive parts of his anatomy.
“Stop that,” Buck scolds, flipping his blinker on so he can make a turn. “You don’t put out on the first date, remember? No sexy teasing to try to distract me.”
“Maybe I’m rethinking that rule,” Eddie says, snorting when Buck grips his hand tighter. “Besides, it’s hardly our first date, is it? We’ve been on dozens of them even if we were both too stupid to realize at the time.”
“I don’t think the others count when we were both straight dudes hanging out with our bestie,” Buck points out. “No kissing means it wasn’t technically a date anyway.”
“You’ve always been bi, Buck. Just like I’ve always been queer,” Eddie says, casually stroking Buck’s palm with his thumb. “That’s always been part of us even if we didn’t know it. I mean, I didn’t go out to retrospectively romantic dinners and movies with my high school best friend. I did that kind of thing with Shannon. Sorry it took me so long to figure it out. We could have been doing this years ago.”
“I didn’t even know about myself years ago, Eddie. Besides, things happen for reasons we don’t understand but that the universe feels are necessary. Maybe if it happened earlier, we wouldn’t be the men we are today, and we might not have made it work,” Buck says, shrugging a shoulder when Eddie makes a disgruntled noise at the mention of the universe. “I’m not asking you to believe in it, baby. I’ll believe enough for the both of us.”
“Baby, huh?” Eddie says slowly, his cheeks a rosy shade of pink when Buck looks at him. He huffs and rolls his eyes but can’t stop smiling, which makes Buck feel like he’s done something good. “Stop smirking like that, dumbass. You look ridiculous.”
“Nuh uh.” Buck winks at him. “You think I’m hot and sexy and you wanna kiss me and hold me and love me forever. You want to marry me and have babies with me and grow old with me. You think I forgot everything you said last night? I’m gonna remember that until I’m dead and even beyond because I’ll haunt your gorgeous ass until you die and we can live out our ghostly afterlives together.”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts. And, even if there were, I might die first,” Eddie points out, squeezing Buck’s hand. “Then I’d be the one haunting you, and you know that I’d do everything in my ghostly power to keep your ass alive for as long as possible. Which would probably get me in trouble with the hypothetical ghost authorities for being a bad haunter.”
Another horn blares as Buck cuts across two lanes of traffic, but he doesn’t really hear it because his heart is beating so loudly that he can’t hear anything else. Buck pulls into the parking lot of the Arco on the corner and stops his truck by the air pump. Turning in his seat, he stares at Eddie, who looks back at him curiously.
“This isn’t our destination, is it?” Eddie asks, his brow rising in a sexy way. Like everything he does is just hot and sexy and Buck kind of wants to rip his chest open so he can burrow inside and become a part of him, always there by his heart with his ribs caged around him, and, okay, yeah, that’s definitely more weird than romantic but he can’t really explain his love any better than that.
“Yeah, Eddie. You kissed me and made my most wished upon dreams come true, so I had to bring you to Arco for our first date,” Buck says as seriously as possible. “They have a sale on their hot dogs. Means I can afford to buy you a large Dr. Pepper to satisfy your heathen Texas taste buds.”
“Dr. Pepper is better than Pepsi and Coke, and you know it,” Eddie says, immediately defending his pop of choice just like Buck knows he would. With a pout that has him barely resisting the urge to kiss, Eddie looks at him. “Now who’s trying to be distracting?”
“It’s your fault.” Buck squeezes, Eddie’s fingers wrapped around his own, feeling almost small and dainty when surrounded by Eddie’s large, strong hand. “You said you’d haunt me, Eddie. How am I supposed to keep driving and be a charming first date when you’re promising to haunt me if you die first?”
“Not our first date,” Eddie murmurs even as he smiles, cheeks flushing brighter, his lips full and tempting and glistening with spit when he quickly drags his tongue over them. “So me haunting you gets to you, huh?”
“Yeah. Well, no, because I don’t even want to think about living in a world without you beside me,” Buck says, “but you knowing that I believe in that shit even if you don’t, and you indulging me gets to me. I guess.”
“Marry me,” Eddie says suddenly, blinking a few times before he tilts his head in the stubborn way that means he’s ready to argue if needed.
“I asked you first,” Buck points out, grinning when Eddie rolls his eyes. “It counts, so don’t even try to deny it, baby.”
“I’m not asking, Buck,” Eddie says, the firm tone and confident smile a killer combination that should be illegal. “And it doesn’t count, by the way. You muttering that we should get married while you’re nuzzling my crotch in our kitchen isn’t asking me to marry you, you know?”
“Well, excuse me for being distracted in that moment by your huge—“ The rest of his words are muffled against Eddie’s right palm as he leans over and covers Buck’s mouth. Eddie’s laughing, and he looks so gorgeous that Buck forgets what they’re even talking about.
“Nope, you aren’t going to start talking sexy in the parking lot of a damn Arco,” Eddie says, squeezing his hand as his hair falls across his forehead. “Especially not when it’s still light outside and someone might see us. My indulgence of your exhibition kink is going to have some limits, bud.”
Buck licks Eddie’s palm, laughing when he pulls his hand away. “Now who’s talking about sexy stuff again? Because I’m not hearing indulgence and kink coming out of these pure and innocent lips right here.” He points at his mouth. “You’re the one having dirty thoughts, Eddie.”
“Pure and innocent, my ass,” Eddie says. Before he can say anything else, Buck interrupts him.
“And what a beautiful ass it is. I can’t wait to get my mouth on it later,” Buck says, leering playfully.
“Can we just forget whatever you have planned and grab some takeout from that Indian-Thai fusion place we’ve been wanting to try and go home instead?” Eddie asks, giving Buck a deliberate once over that has his heart racing. “Chris won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon, so we have hours to indulge ourselves.”
“I thought you didn’t put out on a first date, Eddie,” Buck teases, leaning across the seat to kiss the corner of Eddie’s mouth. “We need to get back to the whole getting married thing, though. Are you serious?”
“I’m always a sure thing where you’re concerned, Buck,” Eddie admits, his breath warm against Buck’s lips. “And, yeah, I’m serious. I want to marry you. Raise a family with you. Grow old together. You’re it for me, Evan Buckley. Seems silly to wait when we both feel it.”
“It’s always been you, Eddie. Only you,” Buck whispers before moving his head, pressing his lips against Eddie’s mouth. “I love you.” The words are a soft sigh of admission against Eddie’s lips, and he almost feels like he’s confessing only this isn’t a secret. The world can know how much he loves Eddie because it isn’t something to keep hidden. Not anymore.
Eddie’s right hand moves behind his head, long fingers gripping his hair as the kiss deepens. They kiss in the Arco parking lot until their lips are tingling and swollen, reluctantly pulling apart. Buck bumps his nose against Eddie’s and rests their foreheads together. “I love you,” Eddie whispers, his voice steady and confident, leaving no doubt to how he feels.
They breathe together, their heartbeats syncing together like they’re two parts of the same soul. Whether it’s fate or destiny or something they’ve built themselves over the years or an odd combination of everything, this is their truth. They belong together. Partners in every sense of the word. Buck slowly smiles, bumping their noses together again. “Okay, yeah, let’s do it. Let’s get married.”