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Buck was feeling rather stressed out at the 118, he couldn't do anything right.
It was the little things, mostly. Hen’s clipped tone when he handed over the report, including a seemingly snide comment about Clipboard Buck, despite the fact he wasn’t even running a checklist this time.
Then Chim corrected him in front of a probie, when it wasn’t actually Buck’s fault - and when Buck tried to explain it wasn’t him, he got snapped at.
Worse of all was Eddie’s distracted silence that somehow felt heavier than actual criticism. By the time the bell rang for the end of shift, Buck's shoulders were knotted so tight he could barely turn his head.
He tried to shake it off as best he could. After all, everyone had bad weeks; why should he be so typically overdramatic? He’d just stack a few good moments on top of the bad ones and rebalance the scale. Life was good, right? The 118 was a found family kinda of vibe.
That was the plan, anyway.
By the time the shift wrapped up, Buck’s shoulders were tight with leftover adrenaline and frustration.Thankfully, his boyfriend, Tommy had texted earlier.
Ravi’s says you had a rough shift. We’re grabbing a drink after work. You in?
Buck smiled despite himself.
God yes. Please rescue me from my own brain.
The bar was warm, noisy, low-lit — the kind of place that made stress melt off in layers. Ravi was already there when Buck arrived, perched on a stool with a beer and that easy, bright smile that made everyone instantly relax.
“You look like you fought a fire and your own emotions,” Ravi said.
“Uh, well, that might be accurate, because that’s how I feel lately,” Buck replied with a fake chuckle that Ravi saw through, sliding into the seat beside him. “So, ah, Tommy’s running late?”
“Traffic,” Ravi said. “It is L.A. after all, and he can’t steal a helicopter every time you’re having a bad day.”
“Haha.” Buck mocked, “Very funny, ah, well, you’re looking good, white’s a good color on you.”
What Buck meant was the tight white shirt Ravi was wearing suited him, showing off his muscles, complimenting his skin tone, and to be fair, Ravi knew it - but he couldn’t resist a bit of teasing. “Is that a comment about my ethnicity, Buck? Because it’s 2026, those sorts of comments are unacceptable?”
“What - what, wait, no, that’s not what I meant.” Buck stuttered as he panicked, and Ravi smirked as he leaned.
“Or, is that a vulgar comment about how you and Tommy covered me in your loads last time we got together?”
Now, it was time for Ravi to put out the fire he had created because Buck had gone red with self-inflicted embarrassment and was getting dangerously close to saying something actually offensive while trying to defend himself. “Relax, Buck, I’m pulling your leg, which is not the only thing I hope to be pulling tonight,” and then he winked at Buck with a smile as Buck calmed down.
Side benefit, Buck was no longer thinking about the terrible shift, so that was a win as Ravi wrapped an arm around the older man's shoulder and pulled him in for a half-hearted cuddle at the table.
Of course, touch-starved Buck melted into the easy affection, his head tipping briefly to the side so it brushed Ravi’s shoulder, a nice, if small, moment of softness amid the week from hell. He exhaled slowly, letting the tension bleed out of his spine one vertebra at a time. Ravi knew exactly what he was doing, and damn it, Buck was grateful for it.
“So, you think Tommy’s gonna be jealous when he walks in and sees me all over you like this?” Ravi teased, fingers tracing lazy circles on Buck’s upper back.
“Ah, uh, I tend to be the jealous one,” Buck admits openly, which Ravi is already well aware of, as his hand continued to stroke Buck’s back. Buck had the biggest adjustment to the new throuple, despite being its loudest supporter. Originally, Ravi saw his role as only the cheerleader for two stupid studs to sort out their shit.
He figured he’d help them sort their shit out, maybe get laid once or twice, then bow out and let them ride into the sunset.
But then… well.
Then it became impossible to ignore a few things.
First: tag-teaming Buck was ridiculously fun. The man was so eager to please, so emotionally invested in everything he did, even when he was naked and wrecked and trembling in front of Ravi and Tommy, and that it felt like a religious experience every time they had him between them.
Second: Tommy may have looked like a cool-headed, mature man, all smarts and calm confidence, but he could worship a man with the kind of slow, reverent hunger that made Ravi ache. And having two deeply selfless men pouring that kind of attention into him? That wasn’t just flattering, hell no, it was straight up addicting.
Third: rent split three ways, no pregnancy scares, mutual therapy support built into the aftercare routine, and an emotional bond tighter than most traditional couples? Ravi wasn’t stupid. He knew a good deal when he saw one.
And finally, between friends, let’s be completely honest: Buck and Tommy were absurdly hot.
Both manly in different flavors. Buck was good intention, chaotic craziness, and puppy-dog softness, all biceps and vulnerability. Tommy was false restraint and raw power, with eyes that could undress you from across the room, and yet oddly soft as well.
Together, they were a goddamn wet dream.
And somehow, they wanted him in the middle of it all.
So, yeah. The throuple hadn’t been the plan, but now? Ravi couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. So, in the crowded bar as they waited for Tommy to finally show up, he let his fingers trail up under the hem of Buck’s shirt, just enough to draw a little shiver from him. Then he leaned in close, lips near Buck’s ear, and whispered, “Yeah, you might get jealous sometimes… but don’t worry. We’ve got plenty of ways to remind you exactly where you belong.”
Which would have been a smooth line, if not for an unexpected interruption from the rest of the 118.
“What. The hell. Am I looking at right now? Buck, you have some explaining to do”
Ravi’s blood turned to ice. He turned, slowly, to see Eddie standing at the edge of their booth like a judgmental thundercloud, which seemed a little pot, kettle, black to him given his weird affair with his dead wife dopplerganger.
Regardless, behind him were Chim and Him, both frozen mid-step, their faces caught between confusion and horror.
Chim’s eyes widened so much they looked like they might pop out of his head. “Buck, dude… what are you doing?”
Eddie didn’t say anything, but the set of his jaw and the storm behind his eyes said enough. Buck sat bolt upright, Ravi’s arm sliding off his shoulder, the warmth gone in an instant.
“Oh my God,” Hen muttered, arms folded. “You’re cheating on Tommy?”
Ravi looked between them and rolled his eyes. “Guys, relax, it’s not what you think” Also, given that Hen cheated on Karen with her ex, she could save the judgment.
Chim shot him a disbelieving look. “You’re the other guy? Buck and Tommy have been solid for months, and you swoop in like, like, what some kind of homewrecker- is this a Sliding Doors kind of situation or Forgetting Sarah Marshall kind of situation?”
The movie references went over Buck’s head, and while Ravi got them, he still feigned disappointment, “Jeez, old man, showing your age there are we?”
“Don’t distract us from the fact you’re cheating on Tommy, which is frankly disgusting.” Eddie accused rudely, “So, what, now you’re bi, you're a whore? Or is this the same old Buck who cheated on Taylor?”
The comment hit exactly how Eddie had intended it to, but before Ravi could say something, Hen spoke up.
“Although,” Hen said slowly, “Ravi might suit you better than Tommy, Tommy is fine, but he’s-”
“Uh, I would stop there,” Buck said firmly, Ravi feeling him tense next to him. While Buck was a doormat about himself, he was fiercely protective of those who mattered to him.
“Okay, whoa,” Ravi cut in, holding up his hands, though he looked halfway flattered by the adjective. “First of all, thank you, second of all, that is not what’s happening.”
Hen wasn’t buying it. “You two are all over each other, and Tommy’s not here. What are we supposed to think?”
“I dunno, maybe that we’re in a relationship?” Buck blurted out, and then immediately cringed as Chim audibly choked on air.
“What?” Eddie finally spoke, voice like gravel. “What do you mean we?”
Buck grimaced, rubbing a hand down his face. “Me. Ravi. Tommy. We are in a relationship. Together. It’s not cheating. It’s a thing. A throuple. Consensual. Fully informed. Nobody’s being cheated on.”
Hen blinked in stunned disbelief before clearing her throat. “Wait, please tell me you’re kidding, this can not be real.”
Ravi tilted his head. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”
Chim looked between them, stunned. “So you’re telling me… you, Buck, and Tommy… are…”
“A team,” Buck said, quickly. “A very well-functioning, communicative, sexually adventurous team.”
Ravi’s smirk returned like clockwork. “And trust me, you’d need a group chat and a Google Calendar just to keep up. For the old people here, those are things people who know how to use tech use.”
Eddie was not impressed, “A relationship is meant to be between two people, it’s a connection, not a Bonnie Blue gang bang bus.”
The comment landed like a slap.
Buck flinched, visibly, his breath catching hard in his throat. Ravi felt the tension return in an instant—Buck’s body going rigid beside him, the way it used to back when things were still raw, still uncertain, back when he was constantly waiting for the world to call him too much and walk away.
Ravi's arm, instinctively, tightened around him again.
Eddie, meanwhile, looked smug. Like he thought he'd finally said what needed to be said.
“What the hell, man?” Ravi’s tone dropped, quiet and sharp like the edge of a broken bottle. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to stand there and pretend you’re some moral compass when all you’ve been doing lately is twisting the knife.”
Eddie scoffed openly at Ravi’s reply. “Sorry Ravi, I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking right now.”
“No,” Buck said, voice hoarse but steady, “Ah, I’m sorry but you’re saying what you wanted to say. You’ve been off with me all week, I don’t know what I did. And while we’re at it, lets be honest, Eddie, you’re not mad I’m in a throuple, you’re mad I didn’t ask for your approval first.”
“Which, honestly, is overdue.” Ravi added proudly, “It’s time Buck learned to stop polling his life choices and just do it, and be confident in it. Buck is a thirty-three-year-old adult, he can live his life how he wants.”
The table went quiet.
Buck for once, didn’t try to smooth things over, didn’t fall into his usual rhythm of apologize, minimize, move on, which was impressive to Ravi. Normally, Buck folded under zero pressure to Eddie, Hen and Chim’s judgment.
“Uh, you know, I’ve spent years feeling like I had to earn my place in this team. Like I had to work twice as hard just to be taken seriously, only for you-” Buck stared at Chim, who looked around like ‘who me?” “-To accuse me of reckless behaviour when it was Eddie who jumped off the bridge.”
Buck took a deep breath, “And the second I finally start building something good for myself, something that actually makes me happy, you all assume the worst about me. I’m sick of it, I’m sick of being the butt of the joke”
He looked directly at Eddie. “You! You’re meant to be my best friend. I do everything in my power to help you, support you, and you think I’m some kind of a joke. A liability. You’ve always been the one I wanted to impress the most, and for what? So you can call me a whore in a bar and think that’s okay?”
Eddie’s mouth opened, then closed. No words came out.
“You did call him a whore.” Chim pointed out, “Very Easy-A vibes, exclude Buck has more tattoos than Emma Stone.”
“Well, Newsflash everbody,” Buck said, bitterly, “being in love with two people doesn’t make me broken or immoral, or a whore. It makes me lucky and loved. I finally have people who see me, love me, and treat me like I’m worth something even when I fuck up. And maybe that’s not traditional, maybe it’s not your thing, but it’s real. It’s mine. And I’m not asking your permission to be happy.”
Chim looked like he was rethinking his whole life. Hen had the grace to look ashamed before she tried to explain it, “Look, Ravi - Buck, it’s not that we so much disapprove, right guys, it’s just theres a difference between a threesome, which is something everyone should try and a meaningful connection with another person. I can’t for a second imagine sharing Karen with anyone else-”
“But don’t you see, Hen.” Buck pleaded, “That’s great, I love that for you two, I really do, but you and Karen are not Ravi, I and Tommy. We’re not asking you to join us, or become a throuple or anything like that, just to respect our choices.”
“Okay, okay, fair enough, Buck,” Chim answered, sharing a look with Hen and Eddi,e who were still fuming, “But, Ravi, you’re still young, are you sure-”
“Oh no, don’t confuse me for Buck, I’m not going to let you gaslight me.” Ravi stated coldly, “I’m a landlord in L.A., I survived childhood cancer, and I am a firefighter for the L.A.F.D. I know how to make choices, and I am extremely confident in my choice to trust my heart to these two amazing men.”
Shaking his head, Eddie had more to say, “Oh, I see, that makes sense.” He mocked, “You two were so confident and proud that you hid it from us. If we didn’t stumble across it now, when would you have told us?”
Ravi looked over at Buck, their shoulders brushing, asking non-verbally if he should say something, but Buck gave him a slight head shake before the older man spoke up. “You don’t get to attack us, call me a whore, question Ravi’s decisions, and then play the victim, not any more.”
“Or what, you’ll sue?”
There was a gasp as Hen frowned, looking disappointed at Eddie, “Eddie, that was uncalled for.”
It was then, finally, that the door to the bar opened and Tommy stepped in looking like the beast he was.
Tommy’s eyes swept the room fast, immediately finding Buck and Ravi, his eyes lightening up straight away, his smile getting wider as he saw the 118 crew, unaware of what was happening.
He crossed the bar in long strides, smiling at the table, “Hey guys, fancy meeting you all here,” Tommy said, voice low and even as he reached the table. He slid an arm around Buck’s shoulders first, then let his other hand rest on Ravi’s back, a casual move but claiming all the same, an unmistakable action. “Everything good here?”
Buck exhaled shakily, leaning into the solid warmth of Tommy’s side. “Uh, well, not exactly.”
That earned another scoff from Eddie as Tommy’s gaze flicked to Eddie, then Hen, then Chimney. He didn’t need the full recap; the tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.
Eddie broke first. “Tommy. You’re… okay about this?”
Tommy’s jaw ticked as he stared down Eddie, the slight height difference working in his favor. “About the three of us? Yeah. I’m okay with it.” His tone was flat. “After all I’m happily in it.”
“So, ah, Eddie, is Tommy a whore too? Or is it just me?” Buck asked, his voice hurt.
“Wait, what was that?” Tommy snapped; the stare-down turned into a glare-down. Next to him, Buck opened his mouth, but Ravi beat him to the punch, the younger man's tone tight and clipped as he explained. “Oh, nothing, Tommy, except just your boyfriend being called a whore in front of half the bar by the people he thought were family.”
“You said what to him?”
Eddie’s jaw tensed as he felt his cheeks heat up at being called out. “It wasn’t like that-” He tried to stammer out.
“No. No, go ahead.” Tommy’s voice didn’t rise. “Say it again. Say it in front of me, please..”
Eddie looked away. That told Tommy everything he needed to know.
“You all…” Tommy exhaled, hands bracing on the back of Buck’s chair. “You really think this is okay? To ambush Buck? To humiliate him? To drag Ravi into it and call him names like you’re in high school?”
Hen raised her hands in weak defense. “We just didn’t understand. It looked bad. We thought—”
“You assumed,” Tommy snapped, sharper now. “You didn’t ask. You didn’t come from a place of love or concern. You came at Buck with claws out, again, and I’m starting to think maybe you all like having someone to tear down when you’re feeling off.”
“Hey now, let’s back off the attacks here,” Chim said, “Buck has a history-”
“So does almost everyone at this table.” Ravi replied, “Everyone knows the ‘A’ teams rep, and Buck didn’t tell you something private and personal, that’s his choice.”
There was a moment of silence before Tommy spoke again.
“Hmm, well, I know I just got here, but I’m leaving,” Tommy said firmly. “We’re not doing this here, not in public.”
Ravi stood too, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair. “Yeah. We’re done.”
“Thanks for ruining what was meant to be a nice night out after a week from hell,” Buck added sadly.
Tommy looked to Hen last. “You know, I actually thought you’d be the one to get it. Not because you’re queer, but because you know what it feels like to have people dismiss your love. I’m disappointed in all of you.”
Hen opened her mouth before she closed it again, then she just nodded.
Chim had the decency to mutter, “Okay, right, we fucked up. I get it, it's just strange.”
Eddie said nothing, just folding his arms over his chest as he glared at them.
Tommy didn’t respond. Instead, he turned his attention back to Buck, who hadn’t moved yet.
“Hey,” Tommy said gently, his hand now sliding up to cup Buck’s jaw. “Let’s go, babe. You don’t need to stand here and bleed just to prove you’ve earned happiness.”
“What about the rest of us?” Eddie growled as Hen tried to hide her face, and Chim looked away.
“I’m sorry, I truly am.” Tommy said sincerely, “That you can’t get over your dead ex-wife that you abandoned, and then were going to divorce, I’m sorry that you’re struggling to work out who you are, but you don’t get to rip to shreds the one person who had your back.”
Buck nodded as he wrapped an arm around Tommy’s waist as they went to leave the bar, “Eddie, I have always tried to put your needs first. You have a kid, you have your PTSD, but whenever I needed you, you weren’t there. I’m done being a doormat, goodnight.”