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One thing about Buck is that he loves spending time with his niece and nephew. It’s not just something he feels he has to say out of some kind of familial obligation, he genuinely enjoys their company and enjoys playing with them and looking after them. They’re two of his favourite people, after all.
Right now, he’s sitting crosslegged on the floor at the Han household, having a princess themed tea party with Jee.
Jee is dressed in a full Elsa costume and as soon as Buck had arrived earlier, she’d insisted that Buck is to be Anna but that he’s ‘too big for my Anna costume’ so Buck had to settle with Jee’s plastic Anna tiara sitting on top of his head as well as an old shawl that matched the colour of one of Anna’s outfits.
She had also made Buck change baby Nash into an Olaf costume to make it more obvious that Buck is Anna. Pretty sound logic, if you ask Buck.
‘Cheers, Uncle Buck!’ Jee exclaims excitedly, lifting her plastic tea cup up to clink against Buck’s own cup.
Buck grins at Jee, mirroring her action before lifting the cup to his mouth to take a sip of imaginary tea.
Jee lets out a squeak and Buck freezes and when he looks over at her, she’s staring at him with wide eyes and a horrified expression.
‘What’s wrong, princess?’ he asks, cocking his head to the side slightly.
‘You have to blow on your tea first before you drink it,’ she explains slowly, her tone as horrified as the expression on her face and Buck really can’t decide if she’s more like Maddie or Chim at this moment.
‘Right! Of course, I’m sorry,’ he says, moving the cup away slightly and blowing exaggeratedly before sticking his pinky finger out and taking a loud slurping sip.
The horrified expression leaves Jee’s face and she immediately starts giggling which causes Nash to start giggling too and soon all three of them are laughing together and Buck feels like his heart is about to burst out of his chest.
‘Uncle Buck?’ Jee asks, once they’ve all calmed down and her attention shifts back to the tea party.
‘Yeah, sweetie?’
‘Can I wear my Elsa dress to yours and Uncle Eddie’s wedding?’
In what is possibly his least proudest moment, Buck chokes on his tea. On his invisible, not really there because they’re having a pretend tea party, tea.
Jee’s eyes widen as she watches him and Buck coughs and hits his fist onto his chest a couple of times before smiling at her weakly.
‘Can y-you repeat the question please, Jee?’ he asks, because he assumes he blacked out for a second and misheard what she’d asked.
‘When you and Uncle Eddie get married, can I wear my Elsa dress?’ Jee asks, watching him with an expression that is definitely Maddie but with a tone that is definitely Chim.
Buck blinks once. And then a second time as his mouth opens and closes and no words come out. He blinks one more time in some sort of effort to force his brain to start working again before he freaks out his niece (Nash doesn’t seem to care about the crisis Buck is going through, paying more attention to trying to grab things off the table from where he sits on Buck’s lap).
‘Jee, Uncle Eddie and I aren’t getting married. H-he’s my best friend-’ Buck starts.
‘Mommy and daddy are best friends,’ Jee informs him as she pours herself more tea. ‘So you can marry your best friend.’
Buck opens his mouth to respond but again, nothing comes out.
‘I heard mommy and daddy talking about it,’ Jee continues, seemingly uninterested in whatever fish-like impression Buck’s face is making.
‘Wh-what did you hear mommy and daddy talking about?’ Buck asks, trying to keep his voice light and casual considering he’s in a conversation with a child who does not need to deal with whatever is apparently unraveling within Buck’s brain right now.
‘Daddy said that your and Uncle Eddie’s wedding will happen when Nash is going to college,’ Jee responds. ‘But mommy said I think it’ll be sooner than you think.’
Buck’s eyes widen as he tries to process what Jee is telling him. Maddie and Chim gossip about him and Eddie?! What was there to even discuss?? As if responding to him, Buck hears Maddie’s voice in his head telling him it wouldn’t be so crazy.
‘It wouldn’t be so crazy…’ Buck mumbles, sort of breathlessly.
‘Huh?’ Jee asks, tilting her head to the side questioningly in a move that reminds Buck so much of himself that he can’t help but smile, despite certain feelings that are causing his heart to beat way faster than is medically safe.
Buck clears his throat, ‘Is that a conversation that you should’ve been listening to?’ he asks.
‘We were watching Tangled and they were talking so loud,’ Jee complains.
Buck nods slowly but the sound of the doorbell cuts in before he can ask any more questions.
‘I’ll be right back, Jee. Can you pour me some more tea please?’ Buck asks, standing up and shifting Nash around so he can hold him properly before leaning down to kiss the top of Jee’s head and heading towards the front door.
‘What do you think, Nash? Do you think I should get married to Uncle Eddie?’ Buck mumbles, wishing his heart would stop beating so damn fast any time “marry” and “Eddie” are put together in a sentence. Albeit, it’s been like - five minutes but that’s besides the point. This is huge, life-altering information that Buck can’t process right now because he’s babysitting and he wants to be present with his niece and nephew and not think about whatever feelings he may (or may not!) have for-
‘Eddie?!’ Buck’s eyes widen as he opens the door to reveal his best friend standing at the front door, grinning at Buck, a tote bag on his shoulder and his, frankly obscene, arms out on display thanks to the (incredibly slutty) tank top he’s wearing.
‘Don’t look so happy to see me, bud, I can leave if you want,’ Eddie jokes but Buck knows Eddie and he can see the quick flash of uncertainty pass over his face.
‘No!’ Buck answers quickly, causing baby Nash to look up at him in surprise. ‘Sorry, no, of course you don’t have to go. I just- I wasn’t expecting you?’
The grin reappears on Eddie’s face and Buck feels himself visibly relax and the damn traitorous heart of his beating faster again.
‘I had a free day so I thought I’d see if you wanted company while babysitting and it’s hot out so I bought popsicles,’ Eddie says casually (as though this wasn’t so ridiculously thoughtful that Buck was seconds away from dropping to one knee to propose which is… okay. He’s speedrunning this feelings crisis, apparently). Eddie wiggles the tote bag in front of Buck and takes Nash from his arms in exchange for the tote bag, moving past Buck into the house.
Buck stands frozen to the spot for a second but before he can say or do anything, he feels a hand - Eddie’s hand - on his shoulder.
‘I like the tiara, bud,’ Eddie says in a tone that’s so fond that Buck is considering running out of the house and leaving the country. ‘But it’s crooked,’ he informs Buck before reaching up and adjusting Buck’s tiara.
‘Much better,’ Eddie grins, his hand dropping slowly from Buck’s head and accidentally brushing against Buck’s jaw. Buck definitely does not jump at the contact and Eddie definitely does not give him a look that Buck can’t decipher.
‘Uncle Eddie!!’ Jee exclaims, running and launching herself straight at Eddie’s legs.
‘Hello to the prettiest princess in the world!’ Eddie responds, crouching down to Jee’s height and giving her a one armed hug, whilst balancing Nash effortlessly in the other arm.
Buck might die.
‘Uncle Buck is a pretty princess too,’ Jee whispers.
‘He is,’ Eddie agrees, nodding solemnly.
Buck is definitely going to die.
‘But you’re the prettiest,’ Eddie continues, unaware of the fact that he just murdered his so-called best friend.
Eddie stands up and Jee takes him by the hand, leading him towards the tea party.
‘You joining us?’ Eddie asks, turning his head to look at Buck over his shoulder.
And what else is Buck expected to do except follow Eddie?
The tea party is abandoned in favour of eating popsicles and Buck uses one of Chim’s jackets to cover Jee from the neck down whilst she eats, like a backwards cape, so nothing spills onto her dress.
‘Uncle Eddie, can I make you into a princess for our princess tea party?’ Jee asks sweetly, once their popsicles are finished.
‘He certainly has the doe eyes for it,’ Buck mumbles, only realising he’d said that out loud and not in his head when he looks up and sees Eddie looking at him questioningly. Eddie’s cheeks are flushed a pretty (pretty?!) shade of pink and Buck wonders if they should move the tea party outside if Eddie’s feeling too warm in the house…
‘I- I just meant… your eyes. They’re… big! And doe-like. Like a Disney princess,’ Buck explains.
Eddie ducks his head and refocuses his attention onto Jee, which Buck is grateful for because he’s pretty sure his cheeks are pink now and it has nothing to do with the heat.
‘Of course you can,’ Eddie responds. ‘But which princess am I going to be?’ he asks.
Jee’s eyebrows knit together in concentration as she hums and taps one of her fingers against her chin.
‘Rapunzel!’ she announces excitedly. ‘You’re too big for my Rapunzel dress but you can wear my Rapunzel crown and you can wear my Pascal on your shoulder and we can go look in my dress up box like Uncle Buck did!’ Jee stands up as she talks, grabbing Eddie by the hand and dragging him in the direction of her room.
Buck watches after them dumbfoundedly as Jee talks animatedly to Eddie and Eddie gives her his undivided attention. Cue Buck’s traitorous heart thundering out of his chest again.
He busies himself playing with Nash so that his brain doesn’t have a chance to spiral.
Five minutes later, Buck hears hushed whispering and the very distinct sound of Jee-Yun’s giggles from behind him.
‘Ta-Da!’ Jee proclaims.
Buck grins and turns around and it’s probably a good thing he’s not drinking any tea - pretend or real - at this moment because he would definitely choke.
Eddie’s wearing Jee’s Rapunzel tiara and has a Pascal the chameleon plush sitting on his shoulder. He also has a lilac coloured shawl draped across his shoulders as well as… make-up on his face. Definitely not make-up done by a small child either. Properly done make-up that looks… really fucking good.
Buck’s mouth hangs open and he’s fairly certain his brain has gone offline and he is painfully aware that he needs to say something.
‘We found some old make-up in the dress up box,’ Eddie starts to explain, shrugging and ducking his head, his cheeks flushing pink again. ‘I used to do the same for my sisters when they were younger and I thought it would be fun. I only did a bit for Jee because I couldn’t say no to her but you’re not saying anything, so does it look bad because it’s been a while since I-’
‘You look amazing!’ Buck cuts in. He cringes inwardly at the loudness and enthusiasm in his words, but he couldn’t let another second pass with Eddie thinking he didn’t look good or that he did something wrong. ‘It looks amazing, I mean. On both of you. You did a good job, Eddie.’
Eddie looks up at Buck and beams as though Buck had just solved world peace. He needs to stop looking at Buck like that, though, unless he wants Buck’s heart to beat so much that it catapults out of his chest.
‘Can Uncle Eddie do your make-up too?’ Jee asks excitedly.
‘Yeah, I want some too!’ Buck grins at Jee and holds out his hand for her to take, twirling her around. ‘Yours looks the best,’ he whispers conspiratorially to her.
Jee smiles proudly at him before sitting next to him and looking up at Eddie expectantly.
Eddie kneels down in front of Buck and shifts towards him until there’s a few inches of space between them.
‘Close your eyes, bud,’ he murmurs softly and Buck’s eyes immediately flutter close.
Buck feels Eddie’s warm breath against his skin and from this close, Eddie can probably hear Buck’s heartbeat. Buck’s body immediately tenses and he instinctively holds his breath.
‘All done,’ Eddie whispers a few minutes later and Buck’s eyes open to Eddie staring at him. For a moment all Buck can hear is his blood pulsing in his ears because Eddie looks incredible and he’s staring at Buck with an expression so fond that all Buck wants to do is lean forward and kiss him.
The thought slams into him like a freight train and Buck flinches, instinctively moving back to put some distance between him and Eddie before he does something reckless.
‘How do I look?’ Buck asks weakly, turning to face Jee, smiling widely at her.
‘Pretty!’ Jee proclaims.
Buck can feel Eddie’s gaze on him still and he knows that Eddie knows something is wrong.
‘Shall we carry on with our tea party?’ Buck asks.
Jee shakes her head in response before standing up. ‘No, we’re gonna play a new game now!’
‘Oh yeah?’ Eddie asks, his attention thankfully leaving Buck and turning to Jee instead. ‘What are we playing now?’
‘It’s a secret,’ Jee giggles, running towards her bedroom. ‘Stay here!’ she shouts as she leaves the four of them (Buck, Eddie, Nash and Buck’s loud heartbeat which has now become it’s own separate entity) alone.
Buck can feel Eddie turn to look at him again and he knows Eddie is about to ask him if he’s okay so he jumps up and picks Nash up before he gets the chance.
‘It’s nearly time for your nap, buddy,’ Buck says softly. ‘Let’s get you to your room, yeah?’
‘I’ll be back,’ Buck tells Eddie without turning to look at him, which he feels bad about but is honestly for the best right now.
By the time Buck gets Nash settled for his nap and quietly leaves the room, Jee and Eddie are standing next to each other in the living room, grinning at Buck.
‘What have you two been up to?’ Buck asks suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.
‘Jee told me what our next game is and we’ve been setting up in the backyard,’ Eddie informs him.
‘C’mon, Uncle Buck,’ Jee says, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the back door.
Buck grabs the baby monitor as Jee drags him and Eddie with both of her hands outside.
He tries to catch Eddie’s gaze to find out what’s going on but Eddie is… he’s avoiding looking at Buck.
Before Buck can think about why that is, they reach the backyard and Buck’s mouth falls open when he sees it.
A long white cloth lies on the grass with flower petals sprinkled over it and the garden chairs are pulled up on either side of the aisle with Jee’s playhouse moved to the top of the cloth with the chairs facing it. If Buck didn’t know any better, this set up looks like a-
‘We're playing weddings!’ Jee announces proudly.
‘We-weddings?’ Buck repeats, wondering how the neighbours would react if he jumped over the fence and hid in their house.
‘Yup! Rapunzel and Anna are getting married,’ Jee continues, unaware of her Uncle’s internal spiral.
‘I must’ve missed that part in Frozen 2,’ Buck rasps. He can feel Eddie staring at him and Buck feels himself squirm under the heat of Eddie’s gaze, hoping the blush creeping up his face can be explained away by the sun.
Jee bursts into laughter and she shakes her head.
‘Silly Uncle Buck, we’re pretending,’ she tells him, pulling him and Eddie to the edge of the cloth before dropping their hands and running to her playhouse. She gets in and then sticks her head out of the large window.
‘Uncle Eddie! Music!!’ Jee instructs and Eddie clears his throat, shifting next to Buck.
Buck risks a sideways glance at him and sees Eddie pulling his phone out of his pocket, tapping away on it and suddenly the wedding march starts playing. Buck inhales sharply and Eddie’s head snaps up, as though he’s programmed to respond to every little sound Buck makes.
Dragging his eyes away from Eddie isn’t something Buck is able to do easily so it’s no surprise that he can’t look away quickly enough before Eddie’s eyes find his own. The sun behind Eddie’s head basks him in a golden light, causing his eyes to sparkle and Buck’s heart flutters in response.
‘Let’s get married, bud,’ Eddie says, his tone so happy and the smile on his face so bright that if Buck wasn’t currently having a I think I’m in love with my best friend crisis, he’d tease him with a ‘Aw, you that happy to be fake marrying me, Eddie?’ remark. Which would just make Eddie shake his head in that fond way he does but that same smile would be on his face and Buck would preen under his gaze.
Okay so maybe it’s not a I think I’m in love with my best friend crisis and more I’m definitely in love with my best friend. My straight best friend. Who is extremely happy to be fake marrying me because it’s a game and he’s keeping Jee happy and his heart definitely isn’t doing somersaults at the words “lets get married, bud” the way Buck’s is.
‘Y-yeah!’ Buck responds, his voice squeakier than he intended. He clears his throat and plasters a grin on his face. ‘Let's get fake married.’
Eddie starts to walk down the aisle and Buck feels frozen to the spot, his mouth drying and his heart thumping loudly as he watches what is possibly one of the most beautiful sights he’s witnessed.
Eddie turns back to look at him, holding his hand out for Buck.
‘Gonna leave me waiting on our wedding day, Buckley?’
‘I would never,’ Buck answers quickly, slipping his hand into Eddie’s waiting hand without thinking.
Eddie beams at him and squeezes his hand as they walk down the aisle towards Jee grinning excitedly at them from the inside of her playhouse.
It’s a good thing this isn’t Buck and Eddie’s real wedding (not that there will be a real wedding one day. Eddie’s straight.) because Buck’s pretty sure he blacks out for most of the ceremony. Not that he can be blamed, though. His sweet little niece is officiating and the love of his life is watching Buck like Buck hung the moon and stars.
‘Rapunzel and Anna are married!’ Jee declares happily.
Wow, so Buck did miss the entire wedding ceremony. Does that make him a terrible Uncle?
‘Now the princesses have to kiss!’ Jee continues.
Buck’s eyes widen in horror. There absolutely cannot be a kiss.
‘Wow, don’t look so repulsed at the idea of kissing me,’ Eddie jokes.
Buck goes to respond but before he can even think of anything to say, Eddie is leaning forward and pressing his lips against Buck’s.
It’s barely a kiss. It’s a brush of lips against lips at best. A grazing. A ghost of a touch.
And yet, it’s the best kiss Buck has ever had and probably will ever have. Because it’s Eddie. It can barely qualify as a kiss but Buck knows he’ll spend the rest of his life chasing that feeling and never finding it again because nobody else will ever be Eddie.
‘Wow,’ Eddie murmurs.
Buck’s head snaps up when he hears that.
What does wow mean?
Probably that Buck’s lips were drier than a desert. Or that Buck was stiff as a board. Or that kissing Buck was a top 10 worst experience for Eddie or-
‘Well, well, what’s going on here?’ Maddie’s voice cuts through Buck’s spiral and he’s never been more grateful for the interruption.
‘Mama, we had a princess tea party and Uncle Buck and Uncle Eddie got married!’ Jee says excitedly, bounding out of the playhouse to hug Maddie.
‘Rapunzel and Anna got married,’ Buck corrects as he feels Maddie watching him knowingly.
‘Here I was thinking you’d gotten my child ordained online so that you two could get married,’ Maddie responds, raising her eyebrows at him. ‘You make a very beautiful married couple, though. Or, should I say, Rapunzel and Anna do.’
Buck shoots Maddie a look that he hopes conveys I am going through a crisis here, please don’t even joke about Eddie and I being a couple or being married because all of these feelings are trying to burst out of me and I don’t want to explode all over your garden and traumatise your child.
Judging by the way Maddie is grinning at him, the message is not received.
‘Did you have fun with Uncle Buck and Uncle Eddie?’ Maddie asks Jee.
‘Yeah! And Uncle Eddie said I can wear my Elsa dress to their real wedding,’ Jee tells her.
Jee carries on telling Maddie about their day as Maddie grabs the baby monitor from Buck’s hand - where he remains frozen to the spot - and the pair of them walk back into the house. Buck’s fairly certain Maddie said something to him when she walked past but, not for the first time that day, his brain has decided to stop working and all he can hear is ‘Uncle Eddie said I can wear my Elsa dress to their real wedding’.
‘Buck?’ Eddie says softly, cutting through the noise in Buck’s brain.
Buck blinks and when his eyes open again, he sees Eddie watching him carefully, his forehead creased in concern.
‘You okay, bud?’ Eddie asks, his hand automatically finding its way to Buck’s shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. Eddie’s thumb presses softly against the skin of Buck’s neck, tracing soothing circles on his pulse point.
‘You told Jee she could wear the Elsa dress to our wedding,’ Buck blurts out.
‘I did,’ Eddie confirms, his voice faltering slightly as he speaks.
‘We’re not getting married though-’
‘Not yet,’ Eddie cuts in.
‘Not yet?’ Buck repeats, gaping at Eddie. ‘What does that mean?’
Eddie shrugs casually, dropping his gaze from Buck’s face and staring at a patch of grass between their feet.
‘It means we’re not getting married yet.’
‘That cleared things up.’ Buck deadpans.
Eddie rolls his eyes but does nothing to hide the smile tugging at his lips that absolutely does not have any impact on Buck’s heart.
‘We’re not getting married anytime soon but one day, maybe. If you wanted to.’
At this point if someone had told Buck that he’s having another coma dream, he wouldn’t be surprised.
One day?? If Buck wanted to??
‘Eddie, we’re best friends,’ Buck says, when he manages to get his brain working again.
‘We are,’ Eddie confirms, his smile widening as he looks up at Buck again.
‘So that’s not something best friends just do! You don’t just get platonically married!’
‘Firstly, I’m sure that’s something people might do and secondly, I never said I wanted to marry you platonically.’
‘Okay, well, technically you never said you wanted to marry me, you said if I wanted to,’ Buck replies.
‘Well, yeah, I didn’t want to assume that you’d just want to marry me, too, that would be conceited. But you’re right, I’m sorry, I should’ve been clearer. I do want to marry you,’ Eddie explains, his eyes shining brightly as he beams at Buck.
‘F-for tax purposes?’
‘Nope.’
‘For not testifying against each other in court in case one of us commits a crime?’
‘Also no,’ Eddie answers. ‘I think you’re forgetting the number one reason people tend to get married, bud.’
‘That one doesn’t apply to a straight man wanting to marry his best friend in a bro way!’ Buck protests.
Eddie blinks at him before scrunching his nose in disgust.
‘Please don’t call yourself my “bro” again otherwise it’ll make what you were doing in my dream last week extremely inappropriate.’
‘Eddie… what?!’ Buck gapes at him.
‘We can talk about that later when we’re not at risk of Jee overhearing,’ Eddie replies.
‘Th-that’s not what I meant!’
‘Oh,’ Eddie says, blinking at him like Buck is the one that’s not making sense here. ‘What did you mean then?’
‘You want to marry me, your best friend, in a way that’s not platonic or for tax or crime related reasons and you also had a dream about me that was possibly explicit-’
‘Definitely explicit,’ Eddie cuts in.
Buck makes a strangled sort of sound that he doesn’t think he’s ever heard any human make.
‘Definitely explicit,’ he corrects weakly. ‘Am I up to speed now?’
‘I’m also gay so you should probably stop calling me a straight man,’ Eddie adds.
Buck softens as he looks at Eddie shifting nervously on the spot and he immediately pulls him into a hug.
‘Thank you for telling me. I’m so proud of you.’ Buck tells him softly.
They pull apart but only slightly as Eddie’s hands stay firmly on either side of Buck’s waist and Buck’s own hands rest on Eddie’s shoulders.
‘So you wanna have a final guess about why I might want to marry you?’ Eddie asks.
Buck feels his heart racing and lets out a shaky breath.
‘Or maybe I should just tell you,’ Eddie murmurs, moving one of his hands from Buck’s waist to Buck’s face, his thumb brushing softly against Buck’s jaw.
Buck nods at him wordlessly.
‘I want to marry you because I love you, Buck. I want to marry you because I’m in love with you. I want to spend the rest of our lives waking up in bed next to you and I want you by my side for every mundane thing like brushing my teeth and for every big moment like when Chris graduates high school. I want to grow old with you and I want to hold your hand every single day. I want to kiss you and hold you and I want to carry the weight on your shoulders with you. I want every single one of your dilemmas to become our dilemmas and I want us to have each other’s backs as husbands.’
Buck might just hear those words on loop for the rest of his life.
‘Yes,’ Buck says breathlessly, not bothering to blink away the tears in his eyes.
‘Yes?’ Eddie repeats.
‘Yes, I’ll marry you. Yes I want all of that too. I want to carry your weights with you and I want you,’ Buck clarifies.
Eddie grins at him, leaning in to close the small gap between them.
‘That wasn’t my official proposal, by the way. The real thing would be much more romantic-’ Eddie starts.
‘Eddie, that was the most romantic thing to happen to anyone ever,’ Buck cuts in.
‘I don’t even have a ring on me!’
‘We’ll go ring shopping tomorrow,’ Buck replies, leaning forward and pressing his lips teasingly against Eddie’s, mirroring their kiss from before.
‘Buck, you can’t just kiss me and expect me to give in to you,’ Eddie says but judging by how breathless he sounds, Buck can tell that it’s not a fight Eddie’s winning.
‘Oh, yeah? What if I kiss you again and call you my fiancé?’ Buck grins, not giving Eddie a chance to respond before leaning in and kissing him once more.
‘This conversation isn’t over,’ Eddie mumbles against his lips.
‘Sure it is. Fiancé,’ Buck whispers.
Eddie groans and Buck crashes his lips against Eddie’s again, happily swallowing the sound.
‘We need to go home now,’ Eddie mumbles when they finally pull away.
‘Oh yeah? Want to get me home so you can tell me all about that dream of yours?’ Buck teases, wiggling his eyebrows.
‘More like I want to re-enact every moment of it,’ Eddie whispers, grinning as he walks away, leaving Buck frozen to the spot in a stunned silence.
‘Gonna leave me waiting, fiancé?’ Eddie asks, leaning over his shoulder to look at Buck with a smile on his face.
‘I would never,’ Buck says, echoing his words from earlier, reaching out to take Eddie’s outstretched hand.