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Ravi had a day off. A real one—not a surprise shift swap or a “we just need you for a few hours” situation. The kind of day off that came around maybe once a month if the universe was feeling generous. He planned to spend it exactly how he liked: sleeping in, ordering takeout for every meal, takeout he didn’t have to share, and making a dent in the stack of books he had bought when he first moved to his new place.
So when his phone rang, and Buck’s face popped up on his screen, he had to muffle his scream in his pillow.
The last thing he expected when he showed up at the Buckely-Diaz residence was for the door to open, Eddie practically falling down the patio as he was shoved at the door. He could hear Buck yelling from the door. “Eddie’s off too. Go hang out. Keep him from deep cleaning the house. Again.”
So now Ravi was behind the wheel, watching Eddie struggle with his seatbelt as he rambled about—of all things—latex gloves.
“I’m serious,” Eddie was saying, animated in that understated way of his. “They label it ‘heavy duty,’ but then there’s at least three holes in them before I’m even done with Chris’ bathroom. It’s like false advertising. Total scam.”
Ravi let him go on for a few more seconds, nodding along without really listening. Eddie’s voice had taken on that soft, easy rhythm of someone talking just to fill the silence. Eventually, Ravi slid him a sideways look, amused and just a little exasperated.
“Can I ask something?” he said, cutting through the glove monologue.
Eddie glanced over, a bit surprised. “Yeah. What’s up?” He was fiddling with his hair now.
Ravi didn’t answer right away. The question was already on the tip of his tongue, but he took a second to ease into it. The hum of the engine filled the pause.
“Just… curious,” Ravi added quietly, his fingers drumming once on the steering wheel before going still.
“Sure?”
“You and Buck. What is that?”
“What do you mean?” Eddie isn’t smiling anymore.
“I mean,” Ravi said, trying to keep his tone casual, “you leave and he moves into your house. You FaceTimed every day while you were gone, now you live together, and he did not shut up at all about you when you were gone—”
Eddie shifts in his seat, and Ravi notes it. “—not that he does now. So what’s the deal?”
“There is no deal.” Eddie shook his head, a little too quickly. “He’s my best friend.”
Ravi let out a short breath, not quite a laugh. “He slept with Tommy because he missed you, I think that’s—”
“He what?”
Ravi freezes. The humor has been sucked out of his car. “You didn’t know about that?”
“No. What—“
Ravi blinked hard, clearly regretting ever opening his mouth. He places his palm flat on the window of his car. He looks out. There’s nowhere to run. “Uh. Hm. Actually, I think—”
“Ravi,” Eddie interrupted, voice hardening just enough to make Ravi glance at him again. “What do you think is going on with me and Buck?”
“I don’t think you wanna know,” Ravi was shaking his head now.
“Why?”
Ravi kept his eyes in front of him, like he was willing the car to start rolling. But he made no move to get out of Eddie’s-or rather Buck’s- their driveway. “Because he doesn’t want to know either.”
“Tell me.”
“Come on, man,” Ravi said, leaning back a little like the question physically weighed on him.
“Ravi.”
The way Eddie said his name made Ravi glance over, then groan softly. “Fine—but, you asked. You asked, alright?”
Eddie stares him down, and Ravi sighs. He’s a little scared. Rubbing the back of his neck, he briefly contemplates asking if he gets to phone a friend. Hen would tell him how to say it. Hen would have helped him avoid having to say anything at all.
“He’s in love with you. And—you’re harder to read, so that’s about as far as I’ve gotten.”
Eddie blinked. “Bucks not in love with me.”
He answers, fast and firm, the way you would to nip an awful rumor at the bud before it grows.
Ravis eyebrows raise. “Okay,” he says after a beat. “Sure. Buck’s not in love with you.”
“He’s not,” Eddie said again, firmer this time. There was desperation in his tone. Ravi imagines all the words he knows his friend is not saying. Don’t get my hopes up. It’s impossible. I can’t afford to imagine the impossible.
He wonders briefly if he needs to take this more seriously, but decides against it. He’s just calling how he sees it. Eddie deserves to know.
“I’m agreeing with you!”
“No, you’re not.”
Ravi let out a frustrated breath and tapped the steering wheel. “No, I’m not,” he admitted. “I have eyes, man. I’m sorry—I can’t just pretend the way you two can.”
“I’m not pretending anything.”
“Uh huh. Denial is a hell of a drug, I know. Anyways—“
“Why do you think he’s in love with me?” Eddie cut in, quieter this time, but not any less intense. Was that…hope Ravi was hearing in his voice?
He glanced at him, surprised by the shift in tone. “Uh. Because he is?”
Eddie gave him a look. Flat. Unamused. “Convincing.”
“Look, I’m not trying to convince you—just pay attention and you’ll see.”
“I always pay attention to Buck.” It was an automatic response, Ravi could tell, and from Eddie’s face, the man was realizing he was losing this battle.
Ravi gives him an unimpressed look. “Right,” he says slowly. “…I don’t know what you want from me, man. Can we just go to lunch and forget about this conversation?”
As Ravi puts the car into drive, Eddie stops him with a hand on his arm, pushing the gear shift back into park.
“Just—just one last thing,” he says, voice tight. “Did he really sleep with Tommy while I was gone?”
Ravi exhales, settling back in his seat. “He couldn’t fall asleep in your—in his house,” he begins. “He’d been staying at Maddie and Chim’s place for days before he even started asking around the station about hotels. Seriously. Apparently, moving in completely meant it was a sure thing that you and Chris weren’t coming back, and he couldn’t handle that.”
He glances over at Eddie, gauging his reaction, then continues.
“Then one day, he asks me to get drinks with him. Says he misses you. Spends the whole night talking about you. ‘Eddie this.’ ‘Eddie that.’”
Ravi pauses before putting a hand on Eddie’s forearm, fluttering his eyelashes and deepening his voice in imitation of Buck. “‘Eddie would never do anything wrong. Did you know Eddie has a silver star?’”
Eddie stares straight ahead, eyes wide and unmoving. His mouth opens slightly, but no words come. “What—I don’t—that doesn’t mean—”
But Ravi talks right over him.
“I was getting so tired of hearing stories about you and Chris, I went to get us a couple more beers—mostly to stop Buck from taking any more shots, and to wrap up the night. That’s when I saw Tommy at the bar. Brought him over so I could get out of there.”
He looks pointedly at Eddie. “According to Buck, that was the first night he could actually sleep in that place. Said hooking up with Tommy distracted him from feeling lonely now that his family was back in El Paso.”
Ravi watches the shift on Eddie’s face—his eyes darting as his thoughts race, jaw tightening, a hollow kind of hurt blooming beneath the surface. His brows draw together, uncertain whether it’s anger, guilt, or something softer rising in his chest.
“They’re not back together, Eddie,” Ravi says gently. “Buck was pretty mad about something odd Tommy said about you-“ Here, he pokes Eddie in the chest to drive his point home. “-the next morning, and Buck hasn’t talked about him since Bobby—since the day in the bio lab.”
He lowers his voice, careful now. “Certainly hasn’t mentioned him since you got back. Not that he ever stopped talking about you. Or your son.”
There’s a long pause. The kind that stretches with the weight of something unspoken.
“Listen, man. Can I give you some advice?” Ravi turns to him fully, tone kind but firm, like he’s not really asking for permission. “Call Maddie. Ask her about all this. If you’re unsure how you feel about Buck, I get it. I’m not pressuring you to tell me anything. Not assuming anything either.”
He waits a beat, lets the silence speak.
“But at least be sure there’s no question about how he feels about you.”
Eddie doesn’t respond right away. He’s staring down at his hands now, fingers twitching slightly in his lap, like he’s holding something invisible and fragile. His expression is unreadable—too many feelings crashing together, none of them fully surfacing. But his throat bobs as he swallows, and his eyes are shining just a little too much in the afternoon light.
Ravi gives him a soft pat on the shoulder, a gesture both grounding and gentle, before finally putting the car back into drive. “You feeling burgers?”