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They’re in Eddie’s attic, cleaning and sorting through boxes from Eddie and Christopher’s original move to L.A., and the most recent one. It's been a couple hours of focused working, with some chit chat here and there, switching between music and the comforting silence of being in the presence of good company.
Eddie has moved onto sweeping the gathered dust away, Buck going through the last of the boxes that have made their home up here.
There’s something reassuring about having Buck here with him to go through this place, even though there's nothing monumental up here, but Buck knows him so entirely that he can trust nothing will be thrown out or donated that he wouldn’t have okay’ed himself.
Or maybe it's just Buck that’s reassuring in general. He’s always had Eddie’s back, at work and outside of it, is incredible with Chris, and is really the best company Eddie could ever need or ask for.
“Hey Eddie?” He hears Buck say from behind him, breaking Eddie out of his thoughts. He turns, and there, down on one knee in the middle of his dust caked attic, is Evan Buckley, with a ring.
“Yes. Yes absolutely.” Eddie gets out before he can even really think about all the logistics of what he is saying.
Buck’s face falters for a second, his questioning look from before turning to something more confused, before looking down at the ring. His face does something weird then, a look that Eddie can’t describe even after 7 years of knowing him, then looks back up at him.
“What?”
“Yes, I'll marry you.” Eddie says, nodding, a grin spreading on his face.
There’s a second of shock before Buck starts beaming. He stands, and Eddie is already moving into his space, broom clattering behind him, cupping Buck’s face and kissing him deeply. Buck immediately returns the kiss and suddenly the only thoughts in Eddie’s head are of how right this feels. He can’t fathom how he’s never thought to do this before. Kissing Buck is perfect. He was put on this earth to kiss him. It’s a fact. The Earth is round. The sky is blue. And Eddie is meant to be kissing Buck.
He pulls away and they both smile at the other, Buck reaching for Eddie’s hand to slide the ring on. It fits perfectly. And something in him has a pang of recognition but it's washed away by Buck’s lips meeting his again. It’s passionate, and it feels like home, and Eddie knows he is going to love getting to do this for the rest of his life.
When they calm down enough to finally resume cleaning, Eddie physically cannot keep the smile off of his face. And it seems, neither can Buck.
Their steady rhythm in cleaning is comforting, but Buck breaks the silence again at some point.
“Does this mean I’m not moving out anymore?” His voice sounds unsure, but hopeful.
Eddie pauses mid sweep, snorting. “I sure hope so, it would suck to have to move you out, then back in once we get married.”
Buck nods, smiling again. “Okay, yeah fair point.”
They lapse into silence again, both focusing on their respective cleaning tasks, and Eddie smiles to himself, plans for the future already swirling in his head
~~~Time Jump~~~
Buck hands Paige into Maddie’s awaiting arms, kissing his daughter on the head as he does.
“Now you be good for Auntie Maddie, okay? No more glitter explosions unless she lets you and you're already outside,” he tells her, receiving an enthusiastic nod in return.
“Okay, Dada, I promise.”
Buck grins at his daughter, then looks to his sister. “Thank you again for watching her tonight, Mads. With Christopher away at college we haven’t had anyone to watch her, and we're trying not to bombard you all with our kid. I owe you one.”
Maddie scoffs, but is still smiling down at her niece. “No you don't, Evan. You babysat for me more times than I can count, and besides, I know how much energy four year olds have, you two deserve a night off to hang out with friends. How is Chris enjoying college anyways?”
Buck smiles. “He’s really loving it. Found a great group of friends and everything. We miss him a ton though."
“Oh I'm sure, Jee’s college days are approaching way too fast.” Maddie agrees.
“Definitely,” Buck says, nodding. “Okay Paige, Papa and I will see you tomorrow, I love you.”
“Love you too, Dada.” Paige says, before leaning to look around her dad towards their car, and waves at Eddie in the passenger seat. “Bye Papa, love you!”
Eddie waves from the window. “Love you Paige, have fun tonight!”
Buck smiles at Maddie and his daughter, then walks back to the car, getting in and turning on the engine.
As they pull away from the house, they wave at Maddie and Paige until they reach the corner.
“Ready?” He asks Eddie.
“Ready.” Eddie says, nodding.
~~~
A few hours later and they both have had arguably too much to drink. Really all of them have. Eddie had roped them all into playing Quarters, so naturally Buck has had a lot of shots, with Ravi and Chim nearly matching him. Hen was doing the best besides Eddie, making her the most sober. It would have been Eddie as the most coherent, functioning member, but he was drinking for Bobby’s turns… and Bobby wasn’t playing well either.
None of them were anywhere near sober(sans Bobby), which is how they ended up playing two truths and a lie, and Buck is determined to win, which is extraordinarily hard when you’re playing with people who know you really well.
And somewhere after his 3rd beer and in between his 5th and 6th shot, Buck can’t seem to remember why his biggest secret is still a secret. So, he plays the Ace up his sleeve.
“Okay okay guys. I’ve got mine.”
Hen rolls her eyes, “You said that the last 3 times, Buck, but okay, lets see what you’ve got.”
The whole table is looking at him expectantly, and he can’t stop grinning as he rehearses in his head one last time. Here goes nothing.
“My Horse’s name was Bojack when I worked on the Ranch. I proposed to Eddie without knowing. And I’ve never broken my left leg.” Buck says this confidently, trying to tamp down on his drunk giggles as the table all rolls their eyes.
Eddie laughs. “Your horse's name was Bojack, you talk about him all the time.”
“Really, Buck? Is that the best you can do? You’ve obviously broken your leg, you were hobbling for weeks.” Chim scoffs, grinning at him. “Take another shot, brother.”
“Yeah, man,” Ravi chimes in. “I wasn’t even at the 118 when your leg got crushed but that one I still know. And you were always in love with Eddie, even during my probie year, there’s no way the second one is true.”
Buck is still grinning, his drunken showing more than they thought it would.
“C’mon Buck, shot time, you definitely knew what you were doing when you proposed, you had been all over him for years.” Hen says, sliding one over to him.
Then Bobby cuts in. Bobby who has been silent since Buck started talking. “Guys. Buck’s left leg was crushed under the truck, not his right. So he has broken his left leg. That one is the lie.”
Buck nods, grinning at Bobby, as silence falls over the table. “Yup. You guys were thinking I broke my right leg, because it was mirrored for you. But I did break my left leg.”
“Wait.” Chim says, his mouth falling open. “That means you…”
Buck feels Eddie stiffen beside him as he realizes the extent of the statement.
“You didn’t know you proposed?!” Ravi gasps. “How?!”
Buck looks at Eddie, who is staring at him with wide eyes, lips slightly parted in shock. “You didn’t know…?”
Buck gives a small shake of his head and laughs. “No!”
“Weren’t you at home,” Hen starts, and everyone looks to her. “and you dropped to your knee and Eddie said yes before you could even…” she trails off, eyes suddenly wide with understanding. The table is dead silent, and it somehow drowns out the sounds of the bar.
“You never actually asked.” Eddie says quietly.
Buck looks back at him, eyes softening.
“Nope.”
“I just assumed…”
Buck smiles softly. “Yeah.”
“Huh,” Eddie breathes out. “And you just… went with it?”
“Well yeah,” Buck says easily. “You were so excited and honestly, my feelings for you had been getting out of hand. And then you were kissing me and everything clicked. And you were so confident about it that I had no doubts. I couldn’t imagine breaking your heart like that when you were so excited.”
Eddie’s face twists, and Buck can see the self doubt before he even opens his mouth. “And no, Eds. We have not been married for five and a half years with a four year old daughter just because I was too scared to tell you I wasn't actually proposing. I wanted it and have loved every single second of our life together.”
Eddie breathes a sigh of relief, slumping back in his chair.
“Okay, good. You’re an idiot you know?” He says to Buck with a laugh. “I can’t believe i married an idiot.”
Their friends seem to snap out of their shock then, all joining in to laugh.
“Wait a sec.” Ravi's voice cuts through. Everyone’s heads turn to look at him. “If you weren’t trying to propose, where'd you get the ring from?”
Buck starts to respond, but it's Eddie who replies, voice carrying a tone of understanding. “We were cleaning out the attic… going through boxes and stuff. Some family stuff I'd brought with me from Texas when I came back…”
“Yup,” Buck cuts in. “I found a ring in one of the boxes I was looking through, and was going to ask Eddie about whose it was and what we should do with it. But I had been kneeling and… well, you all know what happened.”
Eddie laughs again. “I can’t believe I just assumed you were proposing. Like there were no other thoughts in my head.”
“Nope,” Buck agrees, smiling. “And I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
“Me neither.”
It’s Chim who speaks up next, his entire being emitting exuding excitement.
“Wait! That means our betting pool was wrong this whole time! Technically Eddie made the first move, not Buck!”
The whole table stares at him.
“Hen didn’t win!” Chim exclaims. “I DID!”