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Tommy getting married surprised everyone for a few very simple reasons.
Reason number one: it was only a year and a half after he and Buck had broken up, or, more accurately, since Buck had been ready to move in together and Tommy had revealed that he hadn't ever been expecting them to get serious.
Reason number two: who on earth would want to marry Tommy Kinard?
Apparently, Jeff did.
Buck wasn't entirely sure who Jeff was. In his head, he was picturing a guy of about forty with a receding hairline and at least one gold filling, but maybe that was unfair. Maybe the guy had great hair and perfect teeth! Maybe the guy was ridiculously handsome and nice and generous and kind and maybe Tommy had found love before Buck ever could have done and ever would.
And wasn't that a nice thought?
In all seriousness, Buck was a little freaked out, not just because Tommy was getting married but also because he'd been invited.
He'd been invited to his ex's wedding: the same ex with whom he had slept with, fought about his best friend with and subsequently broken up with for the second time only a year ago.
It was a little bit of a shock.
With a horrifying lurch, Buck had quickly realised he couldn't go.
It wasn't for any of the reasonable reasons like prioritising his mental health and not giving Tommy the satisfaction. No, it was because Tommy had moved on enough to be getting married and Buck was still… Buck was still Buck: alone.
He did the one thing he could think of and drove to Eddie's house.
Chris was still up but he was hiding in his room that evening, playing copious amounts of video games with his friends. Eddie answered the door with a beer in hand and the TV blaring in the background, some program about basketball, which only made Buck feel sicker.
"You good?" Eddie asked, face dropping in an instant. "You didn't take anything, did you?"
It was fairly recently after Buck had been addicted to opioids and the whole thing was very raw for everyone involved. Buck missed the days when he'd show up looking like hell and Eddie would assume his favourite TV couple hadn't been confirmed or something like that.
"No, I'm clean," Buck said. "Can I come in?"
Eddie stepped aside and Buck wandered through to the couch, taking a seat and resting his head in his hands.
Eddie inhaled sharply, setting the beer down on the coffee table and sitting next to Buck. "That bad?"
Buck pulled the envelope with the invitation in it from his pocket and handed it to Eddie.
He didn't watch as Eddie scanned the words, didn't dare to breathe.
The invitation was set down on the table with a huff.
"He has some nerve," Eddie said.
"Yep."
"Marriage? Already? That's… That's crazy talk."
"Yep."
"And to invite you? "
"Yep."
Buck peered through his fingers and was confronted with Eddie staring directly at him, eyes wide and concern etched into his face.
"Are you dealing with this okay?"
Buck sighed, flopping back into the couch and throwing his hands in the air. "I don't know. I just… It feels like everything he said has been proved right. I'm not ready to settle down. I don't know what I want. I'm not good at being a half."
"Hey," Eddie said firmly. "You're great at being a half. No, scratch that, you're great at being a whole. You're great at everything."
Buck managed a weak smile. "Thanks. Anyway, it's not like I can go. I'll just be giving him the satisfaction."
Eddie hummed and there was a beat of silence before he spoke up again. "What if you didn't?"
Buck frowned. "What do you mean?"
Eddie leaned forward. "I'm saying what if you didn't give him the satisfaction? What if you proved him wrong by showing up with a date — someone you'd been dating long term."
Buck pulled a face. "Yeah, that's great and all but I haven't been dating someone long term."
"What about me?"
All the cogs in Buck's head whirred to a stop. He could physically feel them grinding to an agonisingly slow halt. "What?"
Buzzing with newfound energy, Eddie leapt up from the couch and started pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table. "I could do it. I could take a day off from work and come with you. We're best friends. It wouldn't be a big leap. We could rub it in his smug face."
"Eddie," Buck interrupted. "You're straight. He knows you're straight. I know you're straight. Everyone knows that!"
"Aha! But what if I wasn't?" Eddie said, pointing a finger up in the air. He had the presence of a military commander about to order a drone strike, all poised and ready to act whilst nearly vibrating from the anticipation. "I could start spreading the rumours now. We pretend to be a couple for — when's the wedding? — for the week and word gets out and then before you know it we're showing up to crash Tommy's wedding, arm in arm, sickeningly in love."
"I don't think it's crashing if we're invited," Buck pointed out. "I do get a plus one."
"That's great!" Eddie exclaimed. "So, are you in?"
Buck hesitated. On the one hand, it would be nice to prove Tommy wrong. On the other, Tommy had assumed he was in love with Eddie and so this would kind of be proving him right too. Buck risked a look up at Eddie, seeing the brightness in his eyes and the eagerness written into his very being and the words were out before he could stop them, "I'm in."
Eddie grinned. "Great. We should tell everyone the plan. We can't lie to our friends."
Buck winced. "Chimney's going to explode."
"Oh, relax," Eddie said. "It's just for the week. How hard can it be?"
—
"Why did you tell me this?" Chimney groaned, burying his head in his hands. He sat behind his desk, his name plate proudly glinting in the sun. Eddie and Buck had thought it better to ask him together so that he felt like he couldn't say no.
"So will you give us the day off?" Eddie asked.
Chimney groaned even louder, banging his head against the table. "Fine! Fine. But you better hope I don't get asked about your new relationship."
Buck bit back a smile. "Thanks, Cap."
Chimney sighed. "Just glad to have you back, Buck."
With their plan of action signed off on, Eddie and Buck got to work.
Their first thing to do was to tell the rest of the team. Obviously, they weren't looking forward to that but it was essential. There would be no more lying to the 118 family.
"Why would you do that?" Ravi asked, squinting at them both after they'd explained. Buck wilted a little but Eddie clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"It's for Buck. Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same."
Ravi scoffed. "Alright, I won't tell you."
"Hang on," Harry piped up. "Why does it have to be you, Eddie? Why not one of us?"
"Hen's a lesbian, Chimney's married and you're a kid," Buck pointed out.
"So why not Ravi?"
"It'll be more believable if it's us," Eddie said and Buck had to agree with him. After all, they were best friends.
"Oh my God," Hen said but she didn't elaborate further so Buck ignored her.
The second phase of their plan was acting couple-like in front of the other people in the 118. The 118, all of them, were gossipy as hell so it wouldn't be hard to get a rumour going.
They decided to do it whilst they were packing up to go back to Eddie's.
It wasn't grand but Buck was still on edge the whole shift leading up to it.
They stood at the front of the station and Eddie placed a steadying hand on Buck's arm, in view of everyone on the just ended shift and the next.
"Hey," Eddie said lowly, "we don't have to—"
"Do it," Buck said quickly. "It's okay."
Eddie nodded, though he still looked a little unsure, and pressed a kiss to Buck's cheek. Buck exhaled and smiled at Eddie. He could hear the gasps behind them but Buck didn't care. His cheek tingled with warmth. It felt nice. Was that weird?
Eddie slipped his hand into Buck's and walked them both out of the station.
"That went well," Eddie said as soon as they entered the car. "Rumours will be out there in two minutes."
"Yeah," Buck said halfheartedly, still stuck in his own thoughts.
"Was it okay?" Eddie asked, frowning.
Buck blinked himself out of his reverie. "Yeah. Yeah, it was fine. Nice, even."
Eddie smiled, nodding. "Good. Better get used to it, Buckley. People will be expecting that sort of thing."
Buck hadn't even thought of that. "Yeah, I supposed they will."
"Relax," Eddie said, turning the keys in the ignition. "It'll all be worth it to see the look on Tommy's face."
—
By the time the day of the wedding rolled around, Buck and Eddie had barely had to act out of the ordinary. A couple of cheek kisses here and a few lingering touches there and the whole thing was done and dusted. Every fire station in L.A. thought they were dating.
It was perfect.
"And you're sure you're still okay with it?" Buck found himself asking even as they pulled up outside the venue, which was a small church by the coast. "With everyone thinking that we're…"
"Yes, Buck, for the last time," Eddie said, shaking his head with a fond smile. "I'm fine. My masculinity is not as fragile as Tommy's."
Buck graced him with a small chuckle at that and nodded, determination setting over him as he got out of the car. "Alright. Here goes nothing."
The church wasn't full of lots of people like Buck had half been expecting. Instead it was small and vaguely intimate. That only made Buck's being there more odd.
Eddie slipped an arm around Buck's waist, their shoulders bumping with every step as they looked around.
It was a pretty church, at least, but the way it had been decorated was gaudy to put it politely. Everything was bright yellow or orange with ribbons everywhere and ever so slightly wilting plants attached to the ends of the pews.
Buck glanced at Eddie, who was already looking back at him with an expression that told Buck that Eddie was thinking exactly the same thing.
A little of the tension eased from Buck's shoulders at the knowledge. Eddie had his back, just like always.
As if to affirm that, Eddie squeezed Buck's hip and smiled a little lopsidedly at him. Buck was struck by how beautiful he looked in his fancy suit with his hair combed back (except for that one strand) and his eyes warm and comforting. It almost made Buck want to do something stupid like lean in and—
"We should find a seat," Eddie said, yanking Buck out of his daydream. "The ceremony starts soon."
Buck winced. "We did delay getting here until the very last second."
"Yep," Eddie said, grimacing. "Can you blame us though?"
Buck nearly laughed but he kept himself composed. "I'm going to the toilet real quick. You find us a seat."
Eddie nodded entirely too seriously for the task of getting a seat in a back church pew row. "On it."
Reluctantly, Buck stepped out of Eddie's grasp and headed for the toilets. He did what he needed to do and was washing his hands when the door opened and he came face to face with his ex. He froze.
"Evan."
Buck flinched, spurred back into movement. "Tommy." They stared at each other for a few seconds before Buck said, "What are you doing here?"
Tommy squinted at him. "It's my wedding and this is the only men's toilets."
Ah, right. That.
"Makes sense," Buck said, internally kicking himself. "Nice church you got here."
Tommy nodded slowly. "Yeah. Jeff and I thought so."
Jeff. Nothing against the guy personally — he was probably lovely — but the name made Buck want to throw up a little. He remembered why he was here with Eddie specifically — to rub his fake relationship in Tommy's face — however, right now, he didn't want to do that. He just wanted to go home.
"I'm going to go," he said, wiping his hands with a paper towel and heading towards the door, which was obstructed by Tommy. Tommy jerkily stepped aside. Before Buck could leave, he spoke up.
"I saw your RSVP. You have a plus one. Did you bring Maddie?"
Something about Tommy assuming that he hadn't found anyway (which he hadn't), made Buck's blood boil and, before he could stop himself, he was saying, "No. I came with Eddie."
Something settled in Tommy's eyes, something that Buck couldn't name. Satisfaction? Disappointment? Anger?
"Ah," Tommy said. "I, uh, hope Diaz is good to you."
That was a ridiculous thing to hope for. Of course Eddie was good to Buck. Eddie acted like it was his sole purpose in life to be good to Buck.
"Yeah," Buck said, allowing a small tinge of wistfulness to seep into his voice. "He really is."
Tommy looked surprised. "Look, Evan—"
"It's Buck," Buck interrupted. "It's always been Buck."
"Look, Buck," Tommy corrected himself, "I wasn't good to you. I treated you badly. I know I did. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"Why did you invite me?" Buck asked because he had to know.
Tommy sighed. "I—"
The door opened again and this time it was Eddie who froze, looking between Buck and Tommy carefully, like he was assessing the danger. He seemed to assess something in some way because he pushed his way past Tommy and went to kiss Buck's cheek, his hand slipping into Buck's.
"Hey, baby," Eddie said, a frown on his face. "You good?"
Tommy scoffed. "Relax, Diaz. He's all yours."
Eddie scowled, turning to Tommy. Buck squeezed Eddie's hand, silently telling him to back down.
"You want to know why I invited you?" Tommy asked, bitterness itching its way into his tone. "Because I had to know. I had to know if I really was ever going to be your last. I had to know if our fight in Diaz's kitchen was really worth it. Guess I've found out."
"What fight?" Eddie said, looking at Buck.
"It was nothing," Buck said quickly.
"The fight where I brought up him being in love with you and he denied it," Tommy spat, "because you're a renter. I knew I was an idiot for ever dating you, Buck, but this is a new low."
Eddie took a step forward, voice dropping. "An idiot? You think you were an idiot for dating him? No, you were the idiot for ever letting him go."
Tommy sneered. "Good luck to you both. You're going to need it."
Eddie nearly launched forward at that but Buck held him back as Tommy stormed out of the room.
"What a—"
"Eddie," Buck said. "Let it go. He was actually apologising before you showed up."
"He should be grovelling at your feet after what he did, after what he said."
Buck shook his head. "No. I wasn't fair to him either. I had a foot out of the door from the very beginning."
Eddie quietened, his eyes meeting Buck's cautiously. "Because you're in love with me?"
Buck could feel the tears welling up and the blood rushing through his veins. "Eddie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. It just happened and I couldn't— I couldn't stop it."
Eddie shook his head, dropping Buck's hand to reach up and cup his face. Despite himself, Buck leaned into it, closing his eyes. He braced himself for the rejection.
"Buck, I don't think there's been a day in the last eight years where I've not been hopelessly in love with you."
What?
Buck's eyes snapped open and he saw Eddie there — beautiful Eddie — with his eyes wide and wet and his lower lip trembling as he spoke.
"You're impossible not to love."
A half-laugh half-sob of relief bubbled up and out of Buck and he tugged Eddie in for a tight hug, rocking them both gently from side to side. Eddie clung back, his chest heaving against Buck's from the adrenaline.
They hugged for a while, just enjoying each other's presences, before Buck pulled back and leaned for that kiss he'd been daydreaming about for the last half hour, yes, but also for the whole of his life.