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The bar is packed. It gets like that after a huge televised save. Buck had another news clip to his name and he was making sure everybody in their usual spot knew it was him. As far as Eddie knew, he hadn't paid for a single drink that night. Eddie, and certainly Buck, had lost track of how many that was.
Buck is plastered, his face stained red. Between that and the dim lights of the bar, Eddie can't pick out his birthmark or the distinct pink color of his lips. Not that Eddie is staring.
Eddie isn't as drunk as Buck.
Buck nudges his shoulder and points at the bar. No, not the bar, but a woman. Her long dark hair shines under the red and blue lights. At first she's looking away from them, but then her face is in profile. Long straight nose, lips as plush and perky as Buck's. She gathers her hair over her shoulder before waving at them, thin fingers dancing through the light. Eddie's face squishes into a grimace.
"You should go talk to her!" Buck yells.
Eddie opens his mouth —
"And don't say you don't want to bother her!"
Well, he doesn't. Yeah, she's pretty but she's a little too pretty with a face like a Greek statue, strong even with the distance.
"Okay, I don't want to." Eddie finds himself yelling louder than he expects.
Buck stops just before responding, his mouth hanging open. His pokes at his bottom lip with his tongue and very quickly the gaping expression turns into a smirk.
"Fine," he says. "I'll go talk to her." He straightens his shoulders. "Come with me."
Eddie chuckles to hide the…something clawing in his chest. He dives into his entirely too sugary drink and simply says, "No."
Buck falls. "Please?" he whines.
Eddie doesn't want to watch Buck flirt with Aphrodite. The clawing starts to burrow deeper into his sternum until he's frowning.
That doesn't stop Buck from pouting.
"Eddie. Be my wingman."
No.
But…Buck's dipping his head down and fluttering his stupid eyelashes over his large blue eyes. His sweat drenched hair curls over his forehead.
Eddie sucks aggressively on his straw until he's drained his drink. Right at the bottom, the sugar turns to straight tequila that burns.
The slight smile is what does it. The corners of Buck's lips twitch upwards and Eddie's rolling his eyes.
Of course Buck gloats, pumping his fist before offering it to Eddie. He rolls his eyes but reciprocates.
He follows Buck to the bar where he sidles up to Aphrodite. Eddie orders a much tamer beer and prepares to grit his teeth as Buck successfully picks up this gorgeous woman.
"Hi."
Aphrodite casts Eddie a glance, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Hi." She says.
"I'm Buck."
That's when Eddie's beer shows up and he tries to tune out. He tries to turn Buck's voice into a droning buzz in order to lessen the knives scoring his chest. But Buck pulls him in, like he has his own gravitational force. Eddie leans towards him, listening to every word shared between the two deities.
"I'm Rachel. Is that you on the news?" She gently waves her hand towards the TV, now playing a different segment.
"Yeah. I'm a firefighter."
"Is your friend a firefighter, too?"
Buck nods. Now he's leaning on the bar with one arm and gesticulating with the other. "That's Eddie."
"Buck and Eddie." She whistles. "Or is it Eddie and Buck?" There's a gap between her front teeth and she runs her tongue between them as she smiles. Her and Buck are probably good at making out, the way they are always prodding with their tongues.
"It's, uh, Buck and Eddie."
Her berry-painted smile is pulling Buck in, close enough that they aren't yelling as loud. He could probably smell her perfume over the miasma of hops and liquor. It's probably something earthy, to go with her jewel tone blouse and long flowing skirt. Could she smell Buck's cologne? Was she breathing in the artificial ocean and driftwood that wafts off of him? Eddie's own ability to has been failing ever since they came to the bar.
Her bracelets jingle as she places her head in her hand.
"Do you always need Eddie to help you flirt with a girl?" She teases. Her slender hand comes to rest on Buck's forearm.
"Everybody needs a wingman."
Eddie expects Rachel to laugh and tell Buck that a man like him doesn't need a wingman. She won't call him gorgeous yet. Buck looks like the type to get a big head from a compliment.
Instead she says, "I think you both do just fine."
"Well, we're still single, so maybe we do."
This Rachel does laugh at. "And you're hoping that after tonight that won't be true?"
Buck shrugs, "Hey, I'm just talking to a pretty woman."
She laughs again, this time leaning in and squinting her eyes so they can both see her glittery eyeshadow.
"So, Buck," Rachel taps a lacquered nail against his arm, "How exactly are you going to get me to come home with you?"
He holds a finger up between them. Eddie can't see his smile, but he knows it well enough for it to pop into his head as soon as he starts speaking. His face heats.
"Whoa, I didn't say that."
"You don't want me to come home with you?"
"I also didn't say that."
Eddie doesn't want to be here, standing behind Buck as he successfully flirts with a pretty girl. He wants to be back at their table, watching as Buck smiles around his straw and staring at the sweat that drips down his face. He wants to play a game of quarters and shake his head every time Buck slaps the table, like he isn't endeared by it. Really, he wants to pile into a too small Uber where they'll go home, both too drunk and tired to make it past the living room. They'll crash on the couch and wake up with stiff bodies. But Eddie's skin will linger with Buck's warmth and his clothes will reek of his cologne.
Eddie sniffs and there is only beer.
"You didn't answer my question." Rachel purrs. "How are you going to take me home?"
"I could start by buying you a drink."
"'Start', good choice. I'll have a paloma."
Of course the first drink Buck buys is for a woman. Christ, Eddie's going to need another beer, not that Buck is offering.
The two make some more idle chitchat where Rachel tells Buck that she's a vet tech, saying "I'm actually more of a hero than you."
"I don't disagree." His laugh rings out. Eddie knows how his eyes crinkle when he does. Rachel has to appreciate that.
"You have pets?"
"No. But I was this close to fostering a Beagle."
That damn dog. Eddie just barely resists rolling his eyes.
Someone bumps into him, pushing him into Buck. Before he knows it, a strong hand is bracing his shoulder, warmth like the sun bleeding into his skin through his shirt. Both Buck and Rachel are looking at him.
"You okay?" He asks.
"I'm okay."
Rachel's eyes are a dark color, black in the low light of the bar. Her irises seem to swallow her sclera as she squints at Eddie, a small smile on her lips. She reminds Eddie of a fox with her lined eyes. And Eddie's the mouse. She takes a sip of her paloma.
"You know, Buck," she bites her bottom lip, "If you want to take me home, I have an idea of what you can do."
Buck's hand stays on Eddie's shoulder even as he turns to look at Rachel. Fingers flex and press into his skin.
Her eyes flick between them. "Why don't you two kiss?"
Eddie chokes on his drink, beer and bile ripping through his throat. Buck's hand slaps against his back but it does nothing to dislodge the liquid.
"We're just friends." Buck says, his voice pitched upwards.
"I know. Eddie and Buck. Buck and Eddie."
Buck is quiet at that but Eddie's chest burns from where alcohol hits the gouges in ribs.
"I kiss my girlfriends all the time." She prompts.
Buck looks at Eddie, mouth agape, tongue poking his bottom bottom lip, pink and plush, coated in sugar and liquor. He sucks it between his teeth before it pops back out. When Eddie pulls his gaze away, it's up to see Buck's eyes on his own lips. Buck shakes his head and pulls his hand away from Eddie. It still hovers between them but Eddie's back is cold. His heart thumps, thumps, thumps against his ribs and his mind dizzies with the alcohol. Buck won't stop moving his lips, practically begging Eddie to look at them. To imagine the irritated heat that comes from being pinched between his teeth and their softness as they press against…
Press against Eddie.
His breaths are so shallow, but he can't pause his thoughts long enough to focus on correcting them. Now that Rachel has said it, he can't stop picturing Buck's lips pressed against his own. Shame races across his cheeks, hot and itchy. But behind it there is a stirring, right in his stomach. Like a string that he's managed to unravel enough to find its source, and that source is Buck. The spot where Buck had caught him blazes with life and suddenly, it's not enough that they sleep on the same couch together when all this is done.
"Look, Rachel—"
Eddie interrupts," Let's do it."
And it's selfish, so selfish, to say he'll kiss Buck. And knowing after this he'll go home with Rachel instead of him isn't punishment enough for what he's about to do. He deserves a public flogging for becoming so weak, for letting his jealously of someone else kissing his best friend consume him.
Buck blinks multiple times in quick succession. Then he's doing that…thing again, where he ducks his head and looks at Eddie with really wide eyes. And he actually licks his lips.
"Really?" And Eddie has to be imagining the uptick in his voice, borderline incredulous joy. Surely he's just happy that he gets to go home with a pretty woman.
Eddie pushes his beer away and straightens. This close, their height difference is exaggerated, enough that he has to look up at Buck.
Buck stands stiffly and he picks at a loose thread in his jeans. His eyes flit around, maybe searching for something in Eddie's face, an excuse or a protest. If Buck wants one, he won't find it.
But then his shoulders relax and he looks away, a smile twitching on his face. "Okay, sure. Let's do this."
Eddie's heart leaps into his throat before crashing back down to his feet, like it's been lost on a roller coaster. His breath is caught in his lungs as he waits for what's next. Who leans in first?
Turns out it's Buck. He keeps his arms at his sides so Eddie does the same. Does he close his eyes? No, the kiss will be too short, just a peck really. Buck couldn't want more than that when he'll have Rachel.
But there is still enough to sear this moment in Eddie's mind and that soothes some of the hurt the temporary measure of this arrangement causes. Buck's breath ghosts across his face. They're close enough that Eddie can taste the sting of his cologne. He knows where the scent will be strongest — in the hollow of his throat, at the soft pulse points of his wrists. Buck always does three spritz, even though Hen tells him that he only needs two. And Buck's laugh, because he's giggling, smile stretched wide. The music of it burrows into his ears.
Eddie feels like he's standing on a precipice and if Buck pulls back, he'll go careening into nothingness.
Then their lips are touching. A small cynical part of his brain expects it to be like kissing a board, flat and dull. Afterall, Buck's only doing this to impress a girl. But it's so much more than he dreamed of because, yes, he's dreamed of this. He's dreamed of kissing Buck.
There's a second where Eddie can feel the hesitation between them but then Buck melts. He's knows Rachel's been forgotten when Buck cups the back of his head, threading his fingers through his hair. It's permission enough for Eddie to slide his hands up Buck's neck to hold his jaw. The warmth of him is explosive. It's electricity where they touch but Buck is so gentle. His other hand comes to rest on Eddie's hip, ever so slightly pulling him forward until they are flush against each other. Their hearts beat in tandem, healing the scores of jealousy in his breast.
Eddie closes his eyes and just lets himself sink into the kiss in a way he's never done before.
Despite this, he is still a bit surprised when Buck's tongue swipes against his lips. That surprise lasts a second before Eddie is opening his mouth and letting Buck in. They are really doing this.
Buck's grip tightens in his hair, twisting just so in order for their noses to better slot together. Their skin is softened by sweat and heat. It feels like they'll melt into each other, becoming inseparable.
When their tongues dance together, it's sour and sweet. Eddie takes his time memorizing the shape of Buck's mouth, the feel of his tongue as it swirls around Eddie's, the plushness of his unfairly full lips, and the way he huffs these little laughs, like he can't believe this is happening.
He doesn't know when the kiss goes from finally to starving, only that their teeth clack together. They only pull back enough to course correct before they're coming back together. Buck's hand leaves his hip and travels up to the back of Eddie's neck. He's pushing up into him, pressing his leg firmly into Eddie's. His hand flies to Buck's thigh to stabilize him before he even falters.
Pain returns to Eddie's chest, this time sweet breathlessness. He'd have to break this kiss in order to breathe and that is not happening because their are stars in Eddie's eyes and he's going to drink in this night sky forever.
Buck gasps, pulling away first, but he only leaves an inch between them. They both pant into each other's mouths. Somehow that makes Eddie's heart flutter more than the kiss itself.
Eddie glances over Buck's shoulder and sees an empty spot where Rachel was. He can't help but laugh as satisfaction sparks within him.
"What?" Buck asks, turning around.
"I think your date bailed on you."
Buck shrugs. "No he didn't."
He fists a hand in Eddie's shirt and pulls him into a bruising kiss. He dips and Eddie has to lean forward to kiss him back.
Buck is definitely coming home with him tonight.