Chapter Text
“Ready when you are, cowboy,” Eddie tosses the keys to their shiny new rental, that is neither shiny nor new, up and down in his hand. The body half hunched over their luggage on the curb responds with a groan and stands up to his full height. If Eddie didn't know any better he would assume Buck was hungover. He had dark bruises under his eyes and a perpetually pinched expression on his face. “C'mon buddy, time to go home.”
“I'm coming.” Buck grouses while Eddie loads the car.
“Alright, where are we going?” Eddie defers to his navigator. He adjusts the seat and then his mirrors and then the air flow. The radio would have to wait until they at least cleared Nashville city center so he could focus on navigating the traffic.
“I don't know?” Buck is sat in the passenger seat with his big wet eyes.
“If I'm gonna drive us all the way home, you're gonna have to pull out a map and tell me how to get there.”
“Oh. Right.” Buck pulls out his phone and starts typing
“I miss using paper maps.” Eddie is still holding a very reasonable grudge against automated navigation from his time Ubering.
“Yeah, well they don't tell you when you've gone off course. I spent a lot of time asking for directions when I was traveling on my own. I actually didn't even make it where I was going half the time, I just made it work wherever I ended up.”
“I would prefer if we actually made it home to my kid.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Buck waves him off and starts the navigation. “Okay, take the next left out of here and then follow the signs for the freeway entrance. Should just be half a mile up.”
“Aye aye,” Eddie puts the car in drive.
…
The rearview mirror is drooping again. Buck sighs when Eddie reaches up to adjust it again.
“What?”
“Just leave it alone.”
“I need to be able to see, Buck.”
“You need to stop fiddling and just drive.”
“I'm not fiddling, I'm fixing it.”
“Whatever.” Buck drops his head against the window and closes his eyes again. He spent most of the first few hours sleeping after they made it to the interstate. It's good, he needs it. It looks mostly peaceful, which is a big improvement over the twitching and mumbling mess he had been last night even after Eddie had coaxed him back to sleep.
Eddie is actually trying not to think too hard about last night though.
The radio mumbles, barely audible with how low the volume is. Eddie is occupying his time by playing the license plate game with himself and losing terribly. Apparently there's not a lot of people from out of state traveling in Arkansas and he's relying solely on semis. He has the surrounding states and Alaska somehow, but not much else.
…
Eventually he has to pull off for gas which has Buck jolting up in his seat.
“Just getting gas,” Eddie wants to reach out a hand to smooth the rumpled mess that is his best friend, but he grips tighter on the wheel instead. Buck rubs at his eyes and sits up a little straighter.
“You want anything?” Buck offers as he unbuckles.
“Sunflower seeds and a coffee.”
“Flavor?”
“Plain.”
“Boring.”
Eddie fills the tank and tosses a handful of trash in the bin. He's washing the windshield by the time Buck makes it back out of the shoddy little convenience store. His arms are full of snacks and he's got a coffee cup in each hand.
“I can drive for a while if you want.”
The truth is Eddie wouldn't mind a break, but he doesn't like the way Buck's eyes are still bloodshot from the night before. Eddie can handle it. He's already sliding into the driver's seat again.
“Nah, I'm good.”
Buck just shrugs.
…
“If you could be any kind of animal, what would you be?” Buck kicks his socked feet up on the dashboard. Eddie swats at his knee, but Buck doesn’t budge.
“I don’t know, Buck.”
“I think I’d want to be an otter. Or like one of those bats that live really deep in those cool caves. Or maybe a dolphin. Or a giant squid. Or a tiger. Or a gila monster.”
“What? Why?”
“Gila monsters are venomous. Wouldn’t it be cool to have venom?”
“You’re so weird.”
“I think you would make a good armadillo.”
“I don’t want to be an armadillo, I just want to be Eddie.”
He doesn’t want Buck to be a giant squid either. He wants him to be Buck.
“Get your feet off the dash, you know that’s unsafe.”
Buck sticks his tongue out and scoots back up until he’s sitting upright. He shifts to rest his arm on the center console and Eddie resists the urge to reach down and tangle their hands together. He thinks about the way he traced his fingers along each of Buck’s vertebrae just that morning. He keeps both hands on the wheel.
…
“Man, I cannot wait to get home. I'm gonna sleep for a week.” Eddie rolls his shoulders. The scrubby landscape flies by out the window.
“We have a shift on Tuesday.” Buck says, ever the contrarian.
“Fine, I'll sleep until Tuesday.”
“What about Chris?”
“Easy, all he needs these days is pizza and wifi.”
“That's not good for him.”
“Fine, I'll leave him with you.”
“He'd get bored of me too fast.”
“What?” Eddie turns towards Buck and tries to meet his eye, but Buck is looking firmly out the window. “No he wouldn't. He loves hanging out with you.”
“I'm not cool anymore.”
“Buck, you're his favorite person, that's crazy.”
“Yeah, sure I am.”
…
“Are we going the right way?” Buck asks after another mile of road that looks the same as all the miles before.
“There's only one road, how could we be going the wrong way?”
“Dunno.”
“You're the navigator anyways, you tell me.”
“No service.”
“You didn't download it or anything? We haven't had service for most of the drive.”
“There's only one road.” Buck tosses back.
…
“That place was weird.” Eddie gets back into the driver's seat that is probably permanently shaped to his ass at this point.
“It was fine, Eddie.”
“People kept staring at you, it was creepy.”
“What, are you jealous?”
“Fuck off,” Eddie throws back instead of lying.
“It was just a small town, they tend to be like that with outsiders, but as long as you don't cause trouble, they'll be friendly.”
“I don't know, it seemed weird. They all turned around to look at us at the same time when we walked in. It was like some kind of horror movie.”
“Quit being dramatic and drive.”
…
“You really think Chris doesn't like hanging out with you?”
Buck gave a long suffering sigh from where he was pretending to be asleep.
“I don't know, he's getting older. He doesn't need a babysitter anymore.”
“Right.” A babysitter. The guy who has been helping raise his kid for nearly a decade and now he's just the babysitter. Not like he's listed on any legally binding documents regarding that kid or anything. “Because you're just the babysitter.”
“C'mon, Eddie, you have to admit things are different now.” And that's rich coming from him, but whatever. “He's growing up. He grew half a foot while he was gone.”
“I know how old my son is. But, he's still a kid. He still needs you.” Buck doesn't understand. He never seems to understand anymore.
Buck doesn't respond right away. He stews in the silence for a while, clenching and unclenching his fist.
He adjusts the rearview mirror. Again. He's just about ready to rip it off and toss it out the window at this point, but it's dark out and they're in the middle of nowhere and Eddie is barely managing to pay attention to the road. Maybe he should just pull over so he and Buck can get out and really fight it out.
“You weren't even planning on coming back.” Buck starts talking low, controlled, but his breathing picks up as he gets going. “You want me to be– I don't even know– but then you, both of you, just pack up and leave. And I'm supposed to what? Live in your house? Call you every day? Pretend that the giant hole you left behind isn’t there? Wait around even though– you didn't even want to come back! Even after– you were still planning on leaving again!”
“Buck,” Eddie growls.
A flash of blinding headlights light up behind them, glancing off the mirror and blinding Eddie briefly. He swears and swerves a bit before righting the wheel.
“Where the fuck did they come from? Jesus.”
It's the only other car Eddie has seen for miles. It's like it just materialized right behind them. Probably pulled off a side road Eddie didn't notice, but God did they have to be tailing so close behind them?
Eddie's head is spinning. He needs to explain–
The truck pulls closer. Nudges up against their bumper. Eddie speeds up.
“What the fuck?”
The truck follows. Eddie is not going to outrun anyone in this shitty car, but he's done enough backroad dirt racing to try. He just doesn't understand why–
“Eddie!”
The whole world tilts, slowly at first and then all at once in a sickening whip that throws Eddie's head forward and–