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Buck tried to remember how he had gotten here.
He was standing between two posters covered in hearts, glitter, and neon colors. The one on the right read Edvan, while the other said Buddie in uneven bubble letters. His palms itched from holding them earlier, glitter dust clinging no matter how many times he rubbed them against his jeans.
Oh, right.
Fucking K-pop Demon Hunters.
Looking back, though, it really was his fault. He’d watched it first, sprawled on the couch on his day off, too bored to care what Netflix had queued up. He hadn’t expected much, just noise to fill the room. But by the time the oversized cat appeared, he’d been hooked. Seriously, once you looked past the name, it was a damn good movie. He’d been singing “Soda Pop” for a week.
So when he and Eddie had agreed to watch the kids so Maddie, Chimney, Hen, and Karen could have a double date night, the choice felt obvious. The movie was all-ages, catchy, fun. Perfect distraction. He thought the kids would latch onto the music, maybe the fight scenes, maybe the giant cat.
And they did. Sort of.
What Buck hadn’t counted on was them falling head over heels for Rumi and Jinu.
“They’re soulmates,” Mara sighed dreamily. “We need a second movie where they get together.”
Christopher frowned. “But he died.”
“Noooo,” Mara dragged the word out. “He’s just stuck in her sword!”
“Uncle Buck, can you play the song again?”
Buck smiled and pressed replay on the YouTube video on the TV. Jee Yun was already dancing before “Soda Pop” really started.
“It’s true love,” Mara declared.
“They didn’t even kiss,” Denny objected.
“I don’t care, Rujinu is my new favorite ship.”
Eddie frowned. “Ship?”
“Ship is like… a romantic pairing people want to see together. Pretty sure it comes from relationship.” He tried to sound casual, but Eddie was looking at him like he’d grown a second head. “It’s a thing online.”
“Right.” Eddie nodded slowly. “So Rujinu is a ship?”
“Yeah. You mash the names together, Rumi plus Jinu equals Rujinu.”
Eddie was still wrapping his head around it when Mara fired off the question that detonated Buck’s entire night. “What would be your ship name if you were married?”
Buck went immediately flustered, and Eddie’s eyes grew the size of dinner plates.
“Oh, we’re not—” Eddie stammered.
“We’re not like that—” Buck blurted at the same time. Their voices tangled awkwardly, and Buck winced. Smooth. Real convincing.
“Right.” Denny snorted, leaning closer to Christopher and whispering, “History will say they were roommates.”
“What does that mean?” Eddie asked.
Buck was so thankful Eddie wasn’t chronically online.
“It’s not like that, kids, we’re not — we’re not getting married,” Buck tried to put a stop to it. He was babbling, he knew it, but couldn’t stop. “It’s not like that.”
“But if you were,” Mara pressed. “What would it be?”
“Uncle Buck, Soda Pop!” Jee cried out again.
Buck wanted to scream. He played “Soda Pop” again.
“What about Edvan?” Denny suggested, chin tilted like he’d just solved world peace.
Christopher wrinkled his nose. “That’s silly.”
“You come up with something then.”
“Wait, does it have to be just their first names?” Mara asked. “Couldn’t we use Buckley and Diaz?”
“I mean—” Denny paused, thinking. “They’re not great options either. Biaz? Duckley? Dickley? Oh my god, it sounds like dick.”
“Denny!” Eddie’s voice cracked like a whip.
Christopher burst out laughing and Buck was scandalized.
“What’s dick?” Jee piped up, tilting her head innocently.
God have mercy.
“Maddie is going to kill me,” Buck whispered.
“Boys,” Eddie said firmly. “Do not use those words in front of the girls.”
Christopher and Denny looked down sheepishly. “Sorry, Eddie.” “Sorry, Dad.”
“Okay, so clearly the surnames don’t work,” Mara chimed, mission-focused.
Christopher’s eyes lit up; you could almost see his lightbulb moment. “What about Buddie?”
“Yes!”
And that was it. The kids cheered like someone had announced free ice cream. Mara clapped, Denny whooped, Jee bounced until her socks slipped off.
Buck stood frozen, overstimulated, head buzzing. His brain felt like static. Eddie’s ears were pink. Buck wanted the floor to swallow him whole.
“What do you guys think?” Mara asked.
Buck really didn’t want to be part of this conversation.
“Uh,” Eddie blinked, cheeks flushing. “I don’t know — I think maybe Edvan was better.”
Buck raised his eyebrows, suddenly invested. “Wait, seriously? Edvan? No one even calls me Evan.”
Not anymore, at least.
“Yeah, but I don’t exactly like Buddie.”
“What’s wrong with Buddie?” Buck frowned.
Denny interrupted. “We need to have a vote.”
How was this his life?
“I don’t think—” Eddie started.
“Surely that’s not necessary—”
“We could make posters!” Mara suggested.
“Yes,” Christopher agreed. “Dad, do we still have all my crafting stuff?”
There was no stopping it now.
“Yeah, we’ve got a box in the garage,” Eddie murmured, getting up and heading outside. Buck watched him leave incredulously. C’mon, he could have lied.
“Perfect,” Christopher grinned.
“It’s going to be so good,” Mara clapped. “We’ll make posters and voting sheets, and we can get our parents to vote when they come to pick us up—”
Great. Now everyone was getting involved. Eddie returned with a box of paper, crayons, and glitter, and the kids got right down to business.
“We gotta stop this,” Buck whispered.
“Just let them be. At least they’re distracted,” Eddie said.
“Yes, but—”
“Buck, it’s fine.”
How was Eddie not bothered by this? Buck was losing his mind.
He did have a point, though: the kids were so distracted for the rest of the night that they didn’t cause trouble. The living room was a chaos of glitter and coloured paper by the time the two couples returned to pick up their kids, but they barely had a chance to say hello before being rushed to the couches.
“What is happening?” Hen asked suspiciously.
“We’re having a vote,” Mara explained.
“And what are we voting for?” Karen asked.
So that’s how Buck found himself between two posters. His nerves were frayed raw. His jeans were coated in glitter, his shirt smelled faintly of glue, and his chest felt tight from embarrassment. Every adult in the room —Maddie smirking, Chim trying not to laugh, Hen looking way too entertained— was watching him and Eddie like this was the best reality show on earth.
“So, uh,” Buck cleared his throat, words tangling in his mouth as all eyes fixed on him. “After watching K-pop Demon Hunters today, the topic of ships and ship names came up, and the kids wanted to know what Eddie and I’s ship name would be if we were married.”
“I’m sorry, how did we go from a Netflix movie to you and Eddie being married?” Chim asked.
“Not relevant,” Buck continued, embarrassment spreading through him. “Anyway. We’ve narrowed it to two names. We’ve got Edvan here on the right,” he pointed to Mara’s poster, “that’s Eddie and Evan, of course. And then we have Buddie on the left,” he pointed to Denny, “so Buck and Eddie.”
“We couldn’t decide which one was better,” Christopher explained. “So we thought we’d have a vote.”
“A vote on what the ship name for Buck and Eddie should be if they got married,” Chim repeated. “Just to clarify: is this if they got married or when they get married?”
“Chim, stop. I want to see how this plays out,” Maddie whispered, slapping her husband.
Buck was sure this was how he died. He turned to Eddie, looking for help.
“Well, uh, either way,” Eddie chimed in. “Mara has the voting sheets. You can all write down your preferences, and we can, uh, yeah, have this over with.”
Mara walked around handing out the sheets, and an awkward silence descended that made Buck want to disappear.
“So clearly Buddie is the better option,” he blurted, filling the silence. “My name comes first and—”
“Why does your name have to be first?” Eddie frowned.
“I’m not saying it has to be, but Buddie does have a better ring to it.”
“But Edvan—”
“Eddie, that sounds like medicine.”
“But Buddie sounds like buddy and I call you ‘buddy,’” he argued, and suddenly that word didn’t feel real anymore.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“I’m not calling you by our ship name. It’s weird.”
“So you agree it’s our ship name.”
“That is not what I said—”
“Boys.”
Buck and Eddie stopped their bickering and turned to a room full of giggling children and amused adults. Right. Everyone was there.
Hen stood up, clearing her throat. “After careful consideration, we have reached a decision.” Right about then Buck wanted the floor to open and swallow him. “And from now on, Buck and Eddie’s official ship name shall forever be Buddie.”
The kids erupted in applause so loud Buck’s ears rang. Jee Yun clapped until her little hands went red.
“So now we just have to wait for the wedding,” Mara said excitedly.
“Okay, what about we all call it a night? I think you kids have had enough,” Chim suggested, and Buck loved his brother-in-law so much. “We still gotta pick up Bobby.”
All three kids groaned. Buck loved babysitting, but he really needed this over. ASAP.
“Thanks for watching them — I hope it wasn’t too much trouble,” Karen said, smiling.
“You know they’re never any trouble,” Buck replied.
“Well, it does seem like they kept themselves entertained tonight,” Maddie said, a cheeky tone that made Buck cringe. “I voted for Buddie.”
“Maddie.”
Maddie giggled, and Buck knew he would never hear the end of this.
He pushed everyone out the door as fast as possible because he really couldn’t deal with this anymore, but he didn’t miss Chim whispering to Maddie, “You were right.”
“I told you,” Maddie whispered back as the door closed.
Buck sighed and took a moment to recompose himself. He headed back to the living room, still covered in scraps, glitter, and glue.
Eddie stood by the coffee table, holding up the Buddie poster. His expression was unreadable.
“I think we should frame it,” Christopher said thoughtfully.
“So I’m finally allowed to put your artwork on the fridge again?” Eddie teased.
“Ew, Dad, I’m not a little kid.”
“Framing was your idea,” Eddie shot back.
“Yeah, but just so we can preserve it until the wedding,” Christopher smiled.
“Christopher.”
Buck’s knees nearly buckled. His skin flushed hot, his chest tight with something he couldn’t name. He laughed weakly as Christopher scampered away. What the hell had today been?
Maybe it had been a fever dream.
He told himself it was just noise. Just a game the kids had gotten carried away with.
Buck’s not sure how long he stood there, trying to figure out what was real. Were they just going to clean up and not talk about it?
“You good there, buddy?” Eddie asked gently.
Buck’s mouth was dry. “Fuck, you’re so right,” he whispered before he could stop himself. “It is weird now.”
Eddie barked a laugh. “That’s what I said!”
And then he smiled, warm and unguarded, and something inside Buck cracked wide open.
He thought about it — really thought about it. He looked around for a second at the house, at the life the accidentally built together. He thought about Christopher down the hall. If he was honest, it already felt like they were married.
Well, shit.
“Eddie?”
“Yeah?”
His heart was pounding. He wondered if Eddie’s was too. “Would you—”
Would you want this? Us? Forever?
“Would you like to go on a date with me?”
Eddie smiled, and it was so bright Buck knew he was done.
“Thought you’d never ask.”