Work Text:
Eddie: Hey
Buck: hey
Eddie: Home?
Buck: yeah
Eddie: I’m coming over
Buck: ok
everhbtjng ok?
Eddie: Yeah
Buck: you had lunch?
been thinking about this sandwich for days
i can make it if we’re doing lunch
like a Mediterranean pesto situation
Eddie: Coming over to tell you that I’m gay and I need u to not be weird about it
Buck: panini
oh
that was about that sandwich
did u mean to send that
Eddie: Yeah
Buck: If your friend came out to you via text, add a 🤗or ❤️to your message to represent a virtual hug.
fuck
please ignore that i
was trying to copy the emoji
i think it’s a hug
looks like jazz hands
fuck
🤗
Eddie: Did you just google what to say to me
Buck: no
yes
i did
sorry
i’m trying not to be weird but i’m overcompensating
Reassure your friend you’ll be there for them no matter what
Eddie: Great save
Really natural
What else did it say
Buck: im supposed to avoid putting the attention on myself
Eddie: Have they met you?
Buck: not allowed to ask if you’re hot for me :(
Eddie: Is that paraphrased?
Buck: unfortunately no that’s a direct quote
oh can i offer you a playful gif of someone celebrating or giving a thumbs up
Eddie: Where are you getting this from
Buck: [playful gif of someone giving a thumbs up]
imagine if i’d replied with just that
like 👍
actually would that have been better or worse
Eddie: Hard to say
Buck: How are you feeling? What has the coming out process been like for you?
Eddie: You need to close the tab
Buck: :(
wikihow and i are so glad you told us and we support you 100%!
we care about you and nothing will ever change that
oh it says step 5 is to be an ally
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Eddie: Can you be an ally if you’re bi
Isn’t that a demotion
Buck: this isn’t about me
this is about gay eddie
let me know if you ever want to discuss political and societal issues within the LGBTQ+ community
i can do that with you as an ally
ok that’s the end of the article
omg wait
there’s another article titled “How to Have a Gay Friend”
oh nvm
it’s how to find gay friends
i already have one!
🥳
🤗
❤️
eddie
where did you go
are you driving here
did you block me
do you want a panini
is it because i called you gay eddie
if you’re diving here i promise i won’t be weird in person
i really think i got it all out of my system
i read the whole wikihow three times
i memorized parts of it
oh you’re here
you’re pulling up in front of my house
you’re coming up the driveway
you’re knocking on my door
Buck pulls open the front door in an incredibly normal way, and smiles at Eddie normally.
“Hey,” he says, normal.
“Hey,” Gay Eddie replies.
Eddie, gay, stands on Buck’s porch, unmoving. It’s really throwing a wrench in this whole ‘being normal’ thing.
Eddie blinks at him from where he’s seemingly frozen to the ground outside Buck’s front door.
Buck opens the door wider. “You gonna come in?”
Eddie shakes his head. “No.”
Oh. Okay. Zero audience participation with the being-normal thing. Perfect.
“We don’t have to do paninis.”
They could go out to eat. He could make pizza. Maybe Eddie already ate. Maybe Eddie hates paninis and Buck just somehow missed that. That’s something he needs to know. He should check.
“Fuck,” Eddie groans, scrubbing his face with his hands, still glued to Buck’s doorway.
“Or we can!” Buck tries, desperate. “We can do paninis!”
Eddie sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I am trying to do this in person,” he mutters to himself. “I can do this in person.”
Oh! It’s time! It’s happening! He studied for this!
“Oh! Oh, it’s - - okay. Yeah. Yeah.” Buck straightens his shoulders and dusts off his pants. He’s ready. He’s giving off his best open and supportive aura. “I’m ready. Go for it.”
“Okay,” Eddie breathes. He nods one, two, three times. “Okay.”
“Okay!” Buck smiles, adding a thumbs-up for bonus encouragement.
He’s so fucking ready for this. No one has ever been more ready.
Eddie sucks in a breath, looks Buck in the eye, and says, “I have feelings for you.”
“Thank you so much for telling me!” Buck says, nailing it. “It’s an absolute honor being your friend.”
Eddie blinks.
Buck blinks.
He rewinds the conversation.
“Wait.” Wait, wait, wait. “What?”
“You memorized it?”
“I - - what did you say?”
“Did you say it’s an honor being my friend?”
“Okay - - no. No. Wait. No - - don’t - - don’t listen to that. Eddie. Go back to what you said. What did you say?”
Eddie isn’t laughing, but he’s not not laughing. His eyes are laughing.
“I said that I have feelings for you, and then you said it’s an honor being my friend.”
Oh, fuck. Fuck.
“Fuck. Fuck, okay. That’s - - obviously that’s not what I thought you were going to say. It didn’t say anything about this! This wasn’t covered in any of the steps!”
None of the steps! Not one! Not even a footnote!
Eddie snorts. “You got this, bud.”
“Don’t - - don’t call me bud.”
“I thought it was an absolute honor being my friend?”
Buck groans. This is - - this is not his fault. He studied! He studied for this! This was not in the syllabus! He didn’t even know this was a possibility to be an option to be on any test he could ever take ever. “I’m not - - that’s not - - fuck. Okay. Wait. I need to - -”
He shuts the door in Eddie’s face.
He’s not proud of it, but that is what he does.
He just needs a second. He needs to process. He needs to think WWWHD?
It would probably - - it would probably not suggest slamming the door in Eddie’s face, but they’re beyond that now.
And actually! You know what? Perhaps the more difficult thing to process in this moment is WikiHow’s betrayal. It has led him astray. He is woefully unprepared.
He’s taking this back into his own hands.
He takes a breath. He shakes it off.
He counts to ten.
He opens the door.
”Hello,” Eddie says.
“Are you hot for me?” Buck demands.
Eddie blinks. “It’s not how I’d choose to phrase it, but sure.”
Okay. Okay. Eddie is gay and Eddie has feelings for him and Eddie is hot for him and Eddie asked him not to be weird about it. Buck can do that. He can do that. He can.
He opens his mouth to not be weird about it and says:
“Coming out can’t be easy, but I’m so glad you trust me enough to share your true self with me.”
“Buck,” Eddie chuckles. “I’m confessing my love to you, not to wikihow.”
Oh. That is - -
Eddie is gay and Eddie has feelings for him and Eddie is hot for him and Eddie is confessing his love to him which is not the way he phrased it before and Eddie asked him not to be weird about it and Buck cannot do that. He cannot do that. He cannot.
“I need a second,” he announces, because it’s rude to slam the door in someone’s face twice without acknowledging it beforehand at least once.
“Okay.”
Buck slams the door in Eddie’s face.
He resists the urge to google what to say when your gay best friend that’s hot for you tells you they’re in love with you moments after coming out to you via text when you had never even once considered that any of those things could be possible whatsoever.
Instead, he takes stock of the facts.
Eddie is his best friend.
Eddie is gay.
Eddie is in love with him.
Eddie is his best friend.
Eddie is gay.
Eddie is in love with him.
Eddie is in love with him.
Gay Eddie, his best friend, is in love with him and patiently standing on the other side of the door Buck just slammed in his face.
Holy fuck. Buck loves him. Buck is in love with him.
Buck is in love with Eddie.
He has to tell him. He has to tell him.
He whips the door open with a theatrical flair.
“I actually am kind of hungry if you’re making paninis,” Eddie says, like he’s been standing there thinking about paninis.
Buck, whose mouth was open to declare his undying and requited love for Eddie, snaps his mouth shut.
“I - - yeah. I can make paninis,” he recovers.
“Cool,” Eddie smiles. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Buck blinks. “Um. I opened the door like that because I’m also in love with you,” he says, gesturing to the door.
Eddie bites down on a smile. “You did open it with gusto.”
“I did.”
“Definitely a flourish to it.”
“Yeah. It - - it felt like a big moment, but then you said - - the paninis. Kind of took the momentum out of it.”
“Sure,” Eddie nods. “Paninis will do that.”
It’s very strange, actually, that no romantic orchestral soundtrack swells and crescendos around them. The lights don’t dim; there’s no sunset to walk off into; it isn’t even raining. They’re in love with each other — they both just said so.
It feels gigantic. It feels life-altering. It feels like the birds should sing sweeter and the sun should shine brighter.
Instead, Eddie’s stomach grumbles.
“Should we - - I can make the paninis?”
Eddie knocks a knuckle on the open door. “Are you done shutting the door in my face?”
“Yeah. I think so. Unless you have anything else life-altering to tell me.”
“No,” Eddie shrugs. “That’s it.”
Eddie steps through the doorway and into Buck’s house like he has done a million times before. Buck closes the door behind him.
“And you’re the one who wouldn’t come inside. The doorway was not my choice,” he notes, following Eddie’s familiar path to the kitchen.
“I had to keep up the momentum,” Eddie explains, zeroing in on the tupperware of muffins on the counter and immediately helping himself to one. It’s the same as always. It’s the same.
Eddie is hungry. Buck is going to make paninis.
He moves around the kitchen, pulling ingredients out of the fridge and various cupboards.
“Okay. We need the bread. I made a sun-dried tomato hummus; it’s really good. Obviously, the pesto. Arugula. I’ll toss it with the good olive oil and that fancy salt. Roasted red peppers. How do you feel about grilled eggplant?” He asks, turning to take in Eddie’s reaction to the eggplant. Eddie is leaning in front of the sink, catching muffin crumbs in his hand, completely locked in on Buck’s laundry list of sandwich ingredients. He’s beautiful. He’s perfect. Buck loves him. “And - - holy fuck, Eddie, wait, we’re in love with each other.”
Eddie, who has just shoved the last bite of his muffin into his mouth, blinks at Buck while he chews.
“Why are you letting me list panini ingredients?!” Buck demands. “You’re - - look at you! Just standing there! Unkissed!”
Eddie swallows the last of the muffin. He dusts the muffin crumbs from his hand into the sink. “You seemed excited about the paninis. And I was hungry. I was too nervous to eat breakfast.”
Buck abandons the sandwich ingredients and heads for Eddie. He keeps moving toward him until he has him pressed up against the counter. Eddie’s hands find his waist easily, like it’s nothing.
Buck’s fingers dig into Eddie’s shoulders. “From this day forward,” he declares. “I vow to never let you go unkissed for that long ever again.”
Eddie chuckles. “You’re talking a big game for someone who hasn’t kissed me even once.”
Buck slides his palms from Eddie’s shoulders up his neck to bury his fingers in his hair. He steps impossibly closer, drags him forward and kisses him.
Kisses the shit out of him.
This moment is not poorly produced. The strings soar, the birds sing, the lighting softens. The sun sets behind them, the skies split open, cartoon love hearts hover above his head.
They’re in love with each other. It changes everything and nothing all at once.
Eventually, surely eons later, Eddie’s stomach grumbles again. Buck, using the strength of a thousand suns, pulls back. Eddie chases him. Buck stops him with a hand planted over his heaving chest.
“Sorry,” Buck breathes, equally out of breath. “My thoroughly-kissed gay best friend who I’m in mutual love with is hungry and I cannot have that, so I have to make him a sandwich.”
Eddie considers this. His eyes drop back down to Buck’s lips. “One more and then sandwich,” he barters.
Eddie is hungry, which is a concern to Buck, but Eddie also wants to be kissed, which is equally of concern to Buck. And, really, Buck is the only one who can do anything about the latter. It’s his duty. It’s his sworn, sacred oath.
He can do both. He’ll do both. It’s a sacrifice he’s willing to make.
He slides the hand on Eddie’s chest back up to his neck and tugs.
“Twist my arm,” he grins into the kiss.