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At this point, Buck and Eddie never called each other by name.

It had started innocently enough with Eddie calling Buck "Buck" rather than Evan and Buck calling Eddie "Eddie" rather than Edmundo. That was normal. Nicknames weren't something that raised any eyebrows — well, Buck's nickname raised a few eyebrows but mostly it was fine.

Then it had progressed as their friendship did into "buddy" and "man" and "dude". Again, that was normal. It wasn't constant, just the occasional drop of one of them during a particularly friend-like moment, like when Eddie would help Buck shower after he got injured or when Buck would stay home with Christopher and have dinner on the table when Eddie got back from a harrowing meeting with the PTA. Friend stuff.

The problem Buck stumbled upon one evening was that there was nothing that best friends called each other. They'd progressed from strangers to friends to best friends in line with nicknames to dude-bro names to… Nothing. There wasn't anything after dude-bro names. It was a disaster!

The word "man" barely encompassed what Eddie meant to him anymore. It was such a weak word of affection for what they'd become. For God's sake, Buck had lived in Eddie's (rented) house! He'd been there for eight years! They were best friends. What they called each other had to reflect that.

It was only right.

"What do you call Chim?" Buck asked Hen as she walked up the stairs. She froze and stared at him.

"Is this another one of your weird questions?" she asked slowly.

Buck paused his making of salad for the rest of the 118. He was currently wearing his favourite apron, which was one that Eddie had bought for him that had "World's Second Best Cook" written across it. It had originally been bought as a set with Bobby having the "World's Best Cook" one. Bobby wasn't here anymore but Buck maintained that he was still the second best cook as Bobby would always be the number one.

It was reflective of his relationship with his friends that Hen had asked if it was another one of his weird questions. Buck prided himself on being an inquisitive mind and asking multiple questions a day. Of course, he could always look up the answers thanks to the wonders of the internet but he liked to ask actual people first just to get their insights (okay, and maybe to lord it over them when they got an answer wrong and Buck's first instinctive answer was right).

"No," Buck said, wiping his hands on his apron. "It's a regular question. What do you call him?"

"Chimney," Hen replied, giving him a weird look.

"But that's the starting to know each other stage."

Hen raised her hands in a stop gesture. "There are stages?"

Buck honestly wasn't sure how she wasn't following this. "Yes. There's full names when you're strangers, nicknames as you get to know each other, dude-bro names when you're friends—"

"Hold up, what are dude-bro names?"

It was a wonder how Hen could save lives if she couldn't even follow this train of thought. It was pretty simple in Buck's opinion.

"You know," he said, "like calling each other man and bud."

"You mean nicknames."

"No because it's a step above nicknames."

Hen, who was still standing still at the top of the stairs, gestured wildly at him from across the room. "And what's the step above that?"

"I don't know," Buck replied. "That's why I'm asking you. Chim's your best friend so what do you call him?"

"I call him Chimney. Like a normal person."

Buck huffed. "Well, you're clearly not very good best friends then."

Hen pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. "Why are you even asking me this?"

Buck shrugged. "I just thought that Eddie and I are a step above the dude-bro names. We're best friends! There should be a stage for that."

Hen's eyes clouded over for a second before she blinked and a glint shone in them. She took a few large steps over to Buck's side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're right," she said.

Buck frowned. "About what?"

"There's a step above."

Buck's eyes widened. "I knew it!"

Hen leaned closer to him conspiratorially with a serious expression. "We don't do it in public because people just don't understand super close friendships. They don't get best friends."

Buck nodded. That made sense. People often didn't understand him and Eddie's relationship despite it being so simple. There had been all sorts of assumptions about them over the years and it was, quite frankly, annoying. They were allowed to be close without it being romantic. After all, Eddie was straight.

"We call each other terms of endearment," Hen said in low voice. "You know, like honey and sweetheart."

Buck pulled a face. "What? Isn't that a couple thing?"

Hen frowned. "No. Couples call each other husband and wife. Best friends, like the best best friends, call each other pet names."

Buck wasn't entirely sure about that. "Really?"

"Think about it," Hen said. "Think about calling Eddie a pet name. Doesn't it describe everything you feel about him?"

Buck paused for a second and thought. He thought about coming home with a call of "hi, love" and telling Eddie at the gym "looking good, baby". It did feel right. It felt like it encompassed his feelings perfectly.

Hen must have seen the thought on his face because she smiled. "Right?"

"Right," Buck said as though meaning had just been breathed into his life. "Oh my God, that actually makes sense."

"Told you," Hen said. "Just try it. It's what best friends do."

Buck nodded, biting his lip. "Thanks, Hen."

Hen winked at him. "Anything for you, Buckaroo."

—

Buck decided to put Hen's advice to the test that evening.

He and Eddie were going home together that day because Buck didn't like sleeping in his new house. Don't get him wrong, the house was great but it was big and empty and Buck had never liked big and empty.

Buck was driving because he always drove. Eddie hated doing the driving. He'd get stressed about how long it would take to get home and how bad the traffic was and how horrible at driving everybody else was being.

Buck, on the other hand, enjoyed it. He liked the feeling of the wheel beneath his hands and the steady hum of the engine.

It worked out perfectly.

"I was talking to Hen today," Buck began, gently easing them into the conversation.

"Oh yeah?" Eddie said. "Was she complaining that your salad was too bland?"

Buck rolled his eyes. "You're the only one who thinks that! I blame your Mexican taste buds."

"You love my Mexican taste buds."

"I hate them! You always order food that's ten times too spicy."

Eddie groaned. "Just because you haven't built up a tolerance, doesn't mean I can't enjoy chilli peppers."

Buck was ready to launch into a whole argument about how he had perfectly fine tolerance, thank you very much, and it was Eddie who was the one with the unreasonable tongue but then he remembered he'd had something important to say.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

Eddie's eyebrows raised. "It doesn't matter? Who are you and what have you done with Buck?"

"I'm just—" Buck sighed. "Look, I was talking to Hen earlier and I was asking her an important question."

Eddie snorted. "Were you down on one knee?"

"Would you let me get to the point?"

"If you hurry up about it."

"I was asking her," Buck pressed on, unperturbed, "about what she calls Chimney. You see there are stages to what you call someone. Like, how I don't call you Edmundo because we're past that stage."

"My mother's not."

"No, but we are. So Hen told me that she and Chimney, because they're best friends, obviously, call each other pet names."

"Pet names?" Eddie repeated. "Like Luna or Rex?"

Buck chuckled. "No, dude, not names of pets. I mean terms of endearment."

"Oh," Eddie said, taking a second to think about it. "Isn't that a relationship thing?"

Buck felt his earlier concerns validated. "That's what I said! But just think about calling me a pet name. Any pet name."

Eddie begrudgingly obliged, closing his eyes.

"Okay, now how does it feel?" Buck asked, glancing at Eddie in the passenger seat.

Eddie's eyes flicked open. "Oh my God."

"That's what I said!"

"Oh my God," Eddie repeated. "That makes so much sense."

"I know!"

"We should totally do that."

"I know!"

Buck pulled into Eddie's driveway and unbuckled his seatbelt, turning to face Eddie with a grin.

"So then, my dearest best friend, should we start doing it?"

Eddie nodded and a weight lifted off Buck's shoulders.

—

As with all things, it turned out to be harder than Buck had originally thought. It was all well and good deciding to use pet names but choosing them was a whole different ballpark.

"Baby?" Buck asked, scrolling through the websites list of affectionate names.

"Yeah, I like that," Eddie said, humming. "Not very creative though."

Buck wrinkled his nose. "Does it have to be creative?"

Eddie shook his head. "No, I guess not. Okay, then baby is on the table. What else?"

"Sweetheart?" Buck suggested, clicking another link that led him to another website.

They were sitting at the kitchen table. Chris was in his room playing video games most likely whilst Buck and Eddie went through the whole of the internet trying to find the pet names they actually liked.

"Yeah, but I don't see that as a daily use kind of thing," Eddie replied. "How about angel?"

Buck frowned. "I don't think I'm comparable to an angel. Isn't that blasphemy?"

"I don't think you're supposed to think about it that hard. Besides, you're angelic!"

"How?"

Eddie flushed a little, stumbling over his words. "Well, I… You're very… You just are! It's going on the list."

"My heart?" Buck read aloud.

"That's laying it on a bit, don't you think?"

"I don't know," Buck said. "It's pretty accurate. We're next level best friends. We're basically soulmates."

Eddie nodded. "True. Oh, mi alma gemela could be one. It means my soulmate."

Buck's eyes widened. "I hadn't even considered the Spanish pet names. This is a whole new playing field! What are some others?"

Eddie leaned back in his chair, drumming his fingers against the table and looking at the ceiling as if thoughts would descend from the sky onto him.

"Mi cielo," he said. "Cariño. Mi amor."

Buck felt his heart swelling as Eddie spoke.

"Yeah," he said, unable to keep the softness out of his voice. "Those are perfect."

Eddie smiled at him, lopsided and earnest. "Alright. We've got our pet names. Ready to put them to use, mi amor?"

"Hell yeah," Buck said. "We're about to be the greatest best friends anyone's ever been, sweetheart."

—

It was a little weird to get used to at first. Buck decided to try it the next morning when they woke up. He always woke up well before Eddie and Chris, who seemed to have an inherited Diaz trait of lying in bed until the last possible second.

Buck always made breakfast when he was at the Diaz house. Sometimes it was pancakes, sometimes it was bacon, sometimes it was eggs, sometimes it was just cereal but he always made it. Chris said even cereal tasted better when Buck was the one making it.

Eddie got up before Chris, who had been heard turning off the alarm in his room multiple times already. He stumbled into the kitchen, dark bags under his eyes and hair adorably messed up like he'd just fallen through several bushes.

"Hey," Buck said, smiling at the sight of him. There was a brief pause before Buck remembered he could let go of that weird tension in his chest and he could add on a term of affection that he'd been holding back. "How are you, baby?"

Eddie blinked at him for a second, face pure confusion, before it melted into something akin to a mixture of remembrance and fondness. "I'm good, guapo. I'll be better for some bacon in me."

Buck handed Eddie his plate of bacon, grinning. "See? We're being so natural!"

Eddie huffed a laugh. "Buck, I think it defeats the point of being natural if you mention it."

"Ah-ah," Buck chided. "I'm not Buck. I'm guapo now."

Eddie looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and an expression of pure best friendship. "You sure are. Can you go wake Chris up? I don't want my bacon to get cold."

Chris came out of bed reluctantly and Eddie and Buck took him to school before setting off for work. They were only three minutes late, which was a record for them. As they ran up the stairs, they kept bumping arms and Buck found that he liked the warmth of Eddie's body heat beside him. It was comforting to have such a great friend so close.

"Where have you two been?" Chimney asked. He was already waiting for them at the top of the stairs, arms crossed.

"Dropping Chris off at school," Eddie answered for the both of them. "Buck stayed over at mine last night."

Chimney rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

That was a weird question. Obviously it wasn't surprising that best friends would have regular sleepovers. Chimney should have understood that given how he was best friends with Hen, but then again Chimney and Hen weren't quite on the Buck and Eddie level. It was kind of sad that they didn't get to be on the Buck and Eddie level because everyone deserved an Eddie to their Buck. Buck didn't know how he'd been given one by the universe. He must have been a really good guy in a past life.

"Hey guys," Ravi piped up from across the room. "Want to join in the Mario contest, or are you too afraid to lose?"

Eddie glanced at Buck, his lips quirking up.

Buck nodded and they both leapt over the couch and grabbed their controllers.

Sadly, they didn't get to play Mario Kart for long before the first call of the day came.

They arrived on the scene just in time to see a guy who'd had part of his ear bitten off by his friend.

The group collectively sighed upon seeing the mess of blood and the guy staring in shock at the chunk of his ear on the ground.

"Eddie, Hen, what's the damage?" Chimney asked, sounding reluctant to even pose the question.

"He's fine," Eddie said upon examining the patient. "That ear's not going back on though."

"You lunatic!" the guy was shouting at his friend. "You bit me!"

"You called me a douche-bag!" the friend yelled back. "It hurt my feelings!"

"So you bit his ear off?" Hen asked, baffled.

It was a weird call but Eddie handled it really well. He managed to calm the guy down enough to get him in the back of the ambulance whilst Buck made sure that the friend didn't leave until Athena arrived and arrested them for assault.

They drove the guy to the hospital, though he seemed mostly fine, to get some stitches.

"Maybe invest in some better friends," Buck advised as he helped push the injured guy to the doors of A&E, "and a longer hair cut to hide the missing bit."

The guy dropped his head back and groaned.

Buck watched him go, jumping when he felt a hand on his shoulder and then relaxing when he realised it was only Eddie.

"You did good today, corazón," Eddie said, his hand lingering on Buck's shoulder for a second before dropping back down to his side.

Buck bit back a ridiculously wide grin. "Not so bad yourself, honey."

Yeah, it was a little weird but Buck could get used to this.

—

They kept it to themselves. It was an unspoken rule that they never said it in front of Chris or the 118. People were likely to misunderstand and besides it felt nice to have something just for the two of them. It felt special, which was fitting because their relationship was special. Buck finally felt content in knowing that something they had reflected how much Eddie meant to him.

So it became regular. Baby became peppered in most frequently but there was also the occasional Spanish pet name or the odd sweetheart and honey. They even used the more cheesy ones to wind each other up.

"Snookums, hand me the iPad, would you?"

"Cupcake, what's the weather like today?"

"What would you like for dinner, stud?"

Every time Buck said one or Eddie did, it would make them both grin at each other and that felt special too. Eddie's grins for Buck were always special and vice versa. They were reserved purely for each other.

They were at a level of best friends that Buck didn't even know was possible and it was quite possibly one of the best things that had ever happened to him.

"Hey, mi amor?" Eddie called from the kitchen.

Chris was out of the house at a friend's as he often was these days. Buck and Eddie had both done their thorough interrogation of the friend's parents and they seemed alright so Chris was staying for lunch at theirs. Eddie and Buck were due to pick him up in half an hour.

"Yeah?" Buck called back from the living room.

"I have a question!"

Buck got up from the couch, heading straight from the living room to the kitchen, where Eddie was leaning against the counter, holding his phone in one hand.

"What's up?" Buck asked. "Everything okay?"

Eddie smiled reassuringly, though Buck could see a hint of nerves behind it. "Yeah, everything's fine. My sister, Sophia, just messaged. She's in L.A this evening, stopping over before catching a flight back home in the morning, and she wanted to come over."

Buck's heart sank. He'd been looking forward to movie night with Chris and Eddie, but that didn't matter. Of course Eddie should see his sister.

"I'll get out of your hair after we pick up Chris," Buck said.

"Buck—"

"Don't worry about it, baby. We can do movie night another time."

"Buck," Eddie said, shaking his head. "I'm not kicking you out. I want you to meet her."

Buck frowned, gesturing at himself. "Me?"

Eddie laughed. "Yeah, you. Stay. We'd be lost without your cooking."

Buck tried to suppress his massive beam but failed and instead opted for ducking his head and avoiding Eddie's eyes. "Okay. Okay, I'll do that."

Eddie took a step closer, placing a hand on Buck's shoulder that made Buck look up and meet Eddie's steady look.

"You're family, sweetheart," Eddie said firmly. "It's time for you to meet the rest of them."

How could Buck ever say no to that?

—

They picked up Chris and Eddie informed him of Sophia coming over.

"Is Buck staying?" Chris asked immediately.

"Yeah, mijo," Eddie said. "Buck's staying."

Chris nodded. "Good. You'll like Tia Sophia, Buck. She's funny."

Buck was honestly a little anxious to be meeting Sophia. It felt important and he really didn't want to mess things up. He ended up changing into better clothes, making sure his hair was just the right level of curly and putting on his best apron to cook dinner.

Eddie chuckled when he saw him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to impress my sister."

Buck pulled a face. "Me? Never."

Eddie came closer, standing beside Buck so close that their shoulders bumped. "You don't have to worry. She's going to love you. We all do."

Buck blinked away the blurriness in his vision. "I love you all too."

Eddie swayed closer, leaning his head against Buck's shoulder. "I know you do, baby."

Buck felt his heart swelling and he opened his mouth to say something — though he wasn't sure what exactly — but the doorbell interrupted him.

"That'll be Sophia," Eddie said, raising his head and going to the door. Buck busied himself with checking on the oven as he heard Eddie greet his sister and the sound of Chris's crutches clacking against the floor as he rushed over to greet her too.

"So where's the famous Buck?" Sophia's voice drifted into the kitchen.

"Buck!" Chris called and Buck abandoned the oven, wiping his hands on the apron, to go out and meet Sophia.

She was beaming at him from the moment she spotted him, her eyes bright and kind.

"Hi," Buck said, sticking out a hand. "I'm Buck. You must be Sophia."

"Oh we're past that," she said, grabbing his hand and hauling him in for a hug. A little startled, Buck took a second to hug her back but he did.

Sophia pulled back, smiling still and Buck saw so much of Eddie in her face. It was a little creepy how similar they looked, but mostly endearing.

"It's so great to meet you," Buck said.

"Likewise," Sophia said. "I've heard a lot about you from the boys."

"Buck's making sausages and mashed potatoes!" Chris chipped in. "He makes the best mashed potatoes. He doesn't leave any of the skin in."

"Sorry it's not fancier," Buck said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sophia shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous. I surprised you, after all. Sausages sound great."

"They're nearly ready," Eddie said. "Soph, why don't you take your coat off and we can go eat?"

"Here, let me," Buck said, helping Sophia get her coat off and hanging it up. It was a distantly a little embarrassing how hard he was trying but he needed to make a good impression.

"What a gentleman," Sophia remarked, looking straight at Eddie with something glinting in her eyes.

Eddie looked away.

The sausages were ready and perfectly brown by the time they entered the kitchen. Sophia, Eddie and Chris sat down while Buck plated the sausages and mash and laid everything out on the table before sitting down opposite Eddie and next to Sophia.

"I trust you have embarrassing stories of Edmundo to tell me," Sophia said as she took the first bite of her sausages.

"I'll share if you will," Buck replied, laughing at Eddie's loud groan of fear. "Did you hear about the bees?"

"The bees?" Sophia repeated.

Eddie shook his head. "Absolutely not. We are not telling that story."

"Wait, what bees?" Chris said.

"I haven't told you this one?" Buck frowned. "Remember the bee-nado that happened a while back? It was on the news. Well, there was a smaller one where a bunch of bees were attacking this woman and she was in the water of her pool trying to avoid them but obviously she couldn't stay under there forever so Eddie had to get dressed in a beekeeper's outfit and wear floral perfume to have the bees attracted to him so they'd chase him and we could get the woman out."

Sophia cackled, tossing her head back.

"Traitors!" Eddie said, poking a giggling Chris's shoulder. "Traitors, the lot of you! You know, I could tell some stories about you, Buckley."

"Oh please," Sophia said. "As if you haven't told me everything about Buck already."

"I have not!" Eddie protested. "Did I tell you about the time he had to talk a naked woman off a billboard?"

"Yep," Sophia said. "In fact, you spent ten minutes telling me how great he was under pressure."

"It wasn't ten minutes," Eddie muttered but he stayed quiet after that and let Buck regale Sophia (and sometimes Chris) with more stories about their time on the job.

By the end of dinner, everyone was well-fed and laughing. Even Eddie cracked a smile at the way Buck dramatically told his stories and at the way Sophia told hers equally as exaggerated.

"And then mom walks in on Eddie in his underwear trying to shave a non-existent moustache!" Sophia finished her story, grinning widely.

"You know, a similar thing happened here only with a real moustache," Buck started but Eddie cut him off.

"Alright, you've had your fun," he said. "Time to put the dishes away."

Sophia frowned. "You make your guest wash the dishes?"

Eddie shook his head. "Buck's not a guest here. He half runs the place."

Buck tried not to let that get to his head. He failed miserably. Sophia and Chris went to play video games in the living room while Buck and Eddie washed up.

"Do you think she likes me?" Buck asked as soon as Sophia was out of earshot.

"Likes you? She thinks you're the best thing since Christopher," Eddie replied, handing Buck a freshly washed plate to dry.

Buck smiled. "Good. I think she's great. She's like you."

"What I'm hearing is you think I'm great," Eddie teased.

Buck smiled. "Of course I do, baby."

"Oh."

Buck and Eddie jolted, turning to see Sophia standing there awkwardly, stuttering over her words.

"I… I was just coming to get a glass of water," she said sheepishly. "Sorry to interrupt."

Eddie's face had turned pale.

"You weren't interrupting anything," Buck said quickly, trying to save his best friend some semblance of straightness. "We weren't… We're not…"

"It's okay," Sophia said hesitantly. "I don't care."

"Sure," Buck said weakly, "but we aren't… Eddie's straight."

Sophia looked between them, eyes darting from Buck's face to Eddie's.

"Eddie?" she said.

Buck had the distinct feeling that he'd just ruined everything.

Eddie didn't say anything. He wouldn't look Buck or Sophia in the eye, instead staring at the floor.

"Eddie?" Buck tried, reaching out to touch Eddie's shoulder. Eddie shook him off, a tight smile on his face.

"It's just a joke," he said to Sophia. "It's stupid. Forget it."

"It didn't sound like—"

"It's stupid," Eddie said again, harsher this time. "Sophia, forget it."

Concern written across her face, Sophia nodded tentatively. "Yeah. Yeah, okay, Eddie. I love you."

"Yeah," Eddie said, straightening his spine and walking out of the kitchen. "Love you too."

—

Sophia left later that evening with a long hug for Chris, a long one for Buck and an even longer one for Eddie.

"Call me if you need anything," she said, looking Eddie directly in the eyes before leaving.

"What's going on?" Chris asked, picking up on the tension as soon as the door shut.

"Nothing," Eddie said. "I'm going to bed. It's late."

Chris pulled a face. "It's only nine o'clock."

"I'm tired," Eddie answered, not bothering to say goodnight before he went to his bedroom.

Chris turned to Buck expectantly. Buck shook his head.

"Not my place, superman," he said.

Chris sighed and went to bed too. Alone on the couch, Buck called Hen.

"Hey, Buckaroo," her voice came through. "What's up?"

Buck inhaled shakily. "I think I've messed up everything."

"Whoa, it's okay," Hen said, her tone calming. "What happened?"

Buck told her everything. She listened patiently throughout the whole thing and took a second after he'd finished to suck in a breath.

"And you're sure Eddie's straight?"

Buck frowned. "What do you mean? Of course he is."

"Buck, I'm going to be honest with you," Hen said, sighing. "I don't call Chimney pet names."

"What? Why not?"

"Because best friends — and I'm not saying all best friends but most — don't feel the need to call each other terms of endearment."

Buck felt like his whole world had just been tilted on its axis. "But Eddie does and he's straight."

"Is he?"

"He has to be."

"Or else what?"

Or else… Or else Buck has been a monumental idiot.

"I need to talk to him, don't I?"

"Yep."

"Thanks, Hen. Bye, bye, bye."

He hung up and immediately got off the couch and went straight to Eddie's room, knocking gently on the door.

"Eds?"

Silence.

Then: "What do you want, Buck?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait?"

"Not really."

The door swung open and Eddie stood there, looking exhausted. "Is someone dying?"

Buck winced. "Well, you might kill me for this."

Eddie sighed and opened the door wider. "Come in."

Buck sat down on Eddie's bed, clasping his hands in his lap. Eddie stood in front of him, arms folded.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry," Buck blurted out. "I'm really sorry. I should have been more careful."

"Buck, do we have to—"

"We do. Because this was definitely not a straight thing to do on my end."

Eddie wrinkled his nose. "Well, yeah, you're bisexual."

"I know," Buck said. "And this was a very bisexual thing to do. The pet names, I mean. And possibly the last eight and a half years."

Eddie sighed again. "Look, Buck—"

"I don't want to assume," Buck said hastily, "but I don't think it was a very straight thing to do altogether."

Eddie froze, eyes widening.

"And I'm not accusing you of anything," Buck continued. "I don't want to tell you that you are certain way because I don't know you better than you know you."

"Maybe you do," Eddie said quietly.

Buck stopped, tilting his head. "Sorry?"

"Maybe you do and maybe you should."

Perplexed, Buck tilted his head even further to the side. "Sorry?"

"It's clear what you think — what everyone thinks — so maybe I just need someone to tell me. No, I think or I guess or it could be. Just tell me."

On a scale of Eddie weirdness, this was a very weird thing to ask but Buck had never been one to deny Eddie anything.

"You're queer."

Eddie stared blankly at Buck for a second. Buck was afraid to move for fear he might spook Eddie off. After a moment, Eddie sat down next to Buck, staring dead ahead.

"I think you're right."

Buck blinked. "You what?"

"No," Eddie said to himself. "No I think. You're right. I'm queer."

What on Earth was Buck supposed to say to that?

"I'm proud of you?" he said, phrasing it like a question.

Eddie chuckled. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Is this a weird peer pressure thing because you don't have to be—"

"No," Eddie interrupted. "It's not peer pressure. I just needed to hear it out loud in a way where I couldn't deny it."

Buck nodded like he got it. He wasn't sure he did.

"Tell me the other thing," Eddie said.

Buck frowned. "What other thing?"

"The reason why it's you I was being… not straight with."

"I really can't tell you that."

"Buck, you need to. Please? I need to hear someone else say it first."

Buck bit his lip, nodding. "Okay. Um, Eddie, you have a crush on me."

"You're wrong," Eddie said and Buck's heart plummeted. Of course he was wrong. It was so unbelievably presumptive of him to assume. Why would Eddie ever like him?

"Oh," he said.

Eddie let out a breath. "I don't have a crush on you. I'm in love with you."

Oh.

Buck was a little dumbfounded. Scratch that, he was definitely dumbfounded.

"Do you need me to tell you that you've got a crush on me?" Eddie asked, semi-teasingly.

Buck shook his head. "Nah, I think I worked that bit out on my own."

"And the second bit?"

"Getting to that realisation."

"Take your time."

Buck snorted. "You're such an asshole."

Eddie laughed. "Yeah. I am. I'm sorry about that."

"I don't care. You could be the biggest asshole in the world and I'd still…" Come on, Buckley. Say it. "I'd still love you."

Eddie let out a long breath of relief. "Well, that's good. Same."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Buck spoke up. "Baby?"

"Yeah, mi cielo?"

"We're really weird, aren't we?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

The next time they actually used each other's names was a sunny day in June, both of them teary eyed and holding hands so tightly that they were cutting off blood flow. The names were immediately followed by I do.