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It’s gotta be some kind of cliché to fall for the bartender at the first gay bar you’ve ever been to. Eddie knows that, and he’s spent plenty of time judging himself accordingly, but it hasn’t actually stopped him from coming back.
To be fair, he likes the bar. He likes spending his one night off from everything in his week drinking in a place where he’s starting to feel comfortable. It had been Lena’s suggestion - a gay bar that was more of a bar, and not a club at all. No dancing, no bright lights, no loud music. Just like a normal bar, except basically everyone in it was a man, including the stupidly handsome Thursday night bartender.
Eddie doesn’t know a lot about him. His name is Buck, at least that’s what he tells everyone, and he’s been bartending for a long time. He used to work in Peru before he moved to LA. Most importantly, and most embarrassingly for Eddie, he tells almost every guy that offers him a number that he’s straight.
He probably only works at a gay bar because the tips are so good - and really, Eddie can hardly blame him for that. There’s no way Buck could look the way he does and not know he’s gorgeous. He’s tall, broad-shouldered, and in fantastic shape - he clearly works out. Even beyond that, though, he’s got a smile that lights up his whole face, and a bright pink birthmark over his left eye that almost perfectly matches the color of his mouth, and Eddie definitely hasn’t spent a lot of time thinking about that.
Still, so Buck’s hot. Eddie’s a firefighter, he was a soldier, he’s seen more than his fair share of other good-looking guys who know how to take care of themselves.
The trouble really started the third or fourth time Eddie came into the bar and sat down, worn out from a long week of shifts and trying to find someone to help him out with Christopher.
“Hey, you’re back,” Buck had said, greeting him with that sun-bright grin, and Eddie had yet again been reminded why he’d started questioning his sexuality.
“Well, I get one night off a week. And tonight I could really use the drink.”
Buck’s brow had furrowed, and he got Eddie his favorite beer without even asking again what it was. “You need to talk about it? Assuming I read you right and you’re the kind of guy who talks to a bartender instead of a therapist.”
Eddie had winced theatrically. “Ouch. That obvious, huh?”
“Hey, man, you’re the one that told me you started coming here on your coworker’s advice. Feels like something you’d get from a therapist, if you had one.”
“I mean if too many people had therapists, bartenders might be out of a job, right?”
“Touché,” Buck said, leaning on the bar and tilting his head. “Maybe not me, though. So - back to my point. I don’t just get paid to look good.”
Eddie scoffed, and took a sip from his beer. “Just mostly?”
“You said it, not me,” Buck replied, grinning with his dimples on full display.
Sighing, Eddie tapped his beer bottle against the bar, looking down. “It was just a rough week. Lot of bad calls. I’m a firefighter-”
“Oh, I remember,” interrupted.
Chuckling, Eddie bit his tongue and shook his head. “Right. So - well. We lost somebody this week, and it’s just - you know, it hits hard but you have to get up again, that’s the job, but when work is tough and then I’ve got personal stuff on top of it-”
“Personal stuff?” Buck prompted. “You married or-”
Though he’d tried not to choke on his beer, Eddie had failed. Coughing, he’d thumped himself on the chest and shook his head. “No - uh. Not anymore.”
“Listen, the number of guys who come in and are - you’d be surprised.”
“I guess so,” Eddie muttered. He cleared his throat, though, and started again. “No, uh. Yeah, Shannon and I aren’t - but I was married. And we have a kid. And she-” Eddie trailed off and struggled to find the words. “She and I were separated, and then not so separated, and then she passed away. So.”
Buck’s expression twisted. “Jesus. I’m sorry, man.”
Eddie waved a hand. “It’s been a while, or - you know, I wouldn’t be here. But point being - more or less I’m all my kid’s got, so when I’m not working I wanna be there for him, and when I am working or trying to go out, figuring out childcare can be kind of a process. My abuela takes care of him a lot of the time, but - this week she fell, and I got the telling off of my life from my tía, Pepa, and that all happened while I was on a shift. We figured it out, I got to bring Christopher by the station and my Captain was nice enough about it, but - it’s killing me that I can’t figure out how to take care of my kid when I’m working. I keep trying to look for options, but it’s all so confusing.”
“There’s gotta be programs and stuff, right? I mean you’re a firefighter.” Buck asked, not missing a step.
All Eddie could do was shrug. “I look, but they’re all through the state or the county and some of them cancel each other out and some of them don’t - even if I could make sense of it, I barely have time to do the research because when I’m not at work I’m asleep, or I’m with my son. I guess I could have just stayed home tonight, but still, then I’d be home with him, and spending time with him, not ignoring him to read through a bunch of shit that’s gonna give me a headache.”
“I’m guessing this wouldn’t be a problem if he was old enough to stay home alone.”
Eddie had gone quiet for a moment, and then pulled out his phone. “I mean, he’s 7, but he’s also - he has CP, so it’s a little complicated. He’s pretty independent, he likes to do things for himself, and I want him to. I don’t give him help unless he asks for it, because I never want him to believe there’s anything I think he can’t do, I just - I wouldn’t want him to not have the help if he needs it.” Looking through his pictures of Christopher, Eddie found his favorite one and smiled down at it. He glanced up from his phone and found Buck watching him. “You wanna see a picture?”
Buck beamed. “Yeah, man. I love kids.”
He’d turned his phone around, and watched as Buck’s face transformed, his smile softening.
“God, he’s super adorable.”
“He’s the best kid in the world. I couldn’t be luckier.”
Buck’s expression had softened even more, and he’d locked eyes with Eddie again. “You’re a great dad.”
“You haven’t even seen me with him,” Eddie had replied, scoffing - but he could only hope the dim lighting in the bar had hidden the way his face warmed up.
“With the way you talk about him, I don’t need to.”
Their conversation had been interrupted there by other guys coming up to the bar, and Buck had darted away to help them - but Eddie had felt a little lighter after just their short conversation. The mild crush on Buck turned into a real problem, though, when Buck had come back around with Eddie’s second beer and a number scribbled on a napkin.
With his eyebrows raised, Eddie had held up the napkin. “You slip people other people’s numbers now?”
Buck grinned, and ducked his head. “Uh, no - well. Yeah, but - her name’s Carla. She’s a nurse, she used to work for my ex - her mom had pretty bad Alzheimer’s disease. I texted her and let her know you might be in touch. I think she might be able to help you figure something out for your son.”
“Are you serious?” Eddie asked, his eyes flicking back and forth between Buck’s face and the napkin.
“Listen, you don’t click with her and she can’t help, no harm no foul, but, I just thought-”
“Buck. It’s just- I don’t know how to thank you, man. Feels like you’re going a little above and beyond your duty as a bartender here.”
One corner of Buck’s mouth twitched up, and he shrugged. “Yeah, probably. But - you’re one of my favorite customers, and you’ve got the cutest kid I’ve ever seen so. You know.”
Eddie tried not to look as flustered as he felt, and probably failed miserably. “I don’t even tip you that well.”
“Getting to see you every week is enough of a tip, Eds.” Buck had winked at him and ducked away again - and no matter how many times that night Eddie reminded himself that Buck was doing his job, for money, he couldn’t get the words out of his head.
Carla ended up being perfect, and now she still watches Christopher pretty regularly. Eddie never talks to her about Buck, and she never really offers much beyond their original conversation about meeting through him. She’s great with Christopher, and funny and fun in her own right, and she and Pepa get along like a house on fire.
It’s been over a year since he and Buck had that conversation, and Eddie still goes to the bar pretty much every week, on Thursday. He may not know much about Buck outside of what he’s picked up in conversation, but he does know that Buck is one of the kindest people he’s ever met. He watches every week as Buck listens to people’s problems, gives away drinks, switches people discreetly over to water when they’ve had a little too much. He’s seen Buck comfort guys who got stood up, and set people up from afar, and rescue guys in the middle of a bad date.
Buck still pays attention to Eddie, too. The favorite customer thing has become a long-running joke, now. Buck brings Eddie his favorite beer without being asked, he comes over to listen to Eddie’s stories about work and he always asks about Christopher. Sometimes he even gives Eddie a book or a science kit of some kind that he thought Christopher would like, based on what Eddie has said he’s currently interested in, so - is it really Eddie’s fault if he’s in love with his bartender?
Well. Yeah. No. It’s still Eddie’s fault, because Buck is just a good person doing his job, and Eddie is a creep who could put a little more effort into talking to literally anyone else in the gay bar, including any of the dozens of men who are actually gay, but instead he had to get fixated on the straight bartender.
Eddie has had guys try to pick him up, of course he has - but he’s never been interested in the idea of a one time fun kind of thing. He wants something serious, and a lot of guys out on a Thursday night aren’t looking for that. Eddie doesn’t blame them, but it’s definitely the largest part of why he’s stayed single for so long. It’s not just Buck’s fault. Although Buck does, ironically, have a way of interrupting Eddie’s conversations with other regulars. Most of the time he’s trying to talk Eddie up and play the wingman, but he usually throws something in about Eddie being a great dad, and then the guy can’t run fast enough.
Guys send drinks over and Buck tells him all their dirty secrets, too. If nothing else, there’s no way Eddie’s going to be able to settle for less while Buck is around.
Here and there, Eddie has to miss a Thursday for an extra shift or for something Christopher-related, but usually he knows in advance, and he lets Buck know. He’s never missed more than one Thursday.
It makes him a little worried, after the incident with the well.
The shift where he gets trapped is actually a Wednesday night, so come Thursday he’s still in the hospital, shivering under blankets. The rest of his crew comes by to visit him, and he’s out of the hospital in just a few days, but he’s got at least a couple of weeks until he’s fit for work. His old wounds in his shoulder and his wrist are still aching, his muscles hurt all over from all the shivering, and he got pretty banged up in the collapse, too.
He doesn’t even try to go back to the bar until he’s cleared for work. By then, he’s missed three Thursdays in a row, all with no warning.
So of course, he goes back, finally, a little too dressed up for a regular Thursday and oddly nervous - and there’s someone else behind the bar. Eddie feels a strong urge to just turn around and leave again, but he reminds himself that he doesn’t just come here to see Buck. He comes here to keep getting comfortable with himself, and maybe even to meet someone. If he turns around and leaves again, it’s like admitting that the only reason he’s been coming here every single week for a year is just to see the straight bartender, and that’s too pathetic, even for Eddie.
He takes a seat at his usual stool, and thankfully the bartender comes right over.
“What can I get for you?”
“Just a Highland Park Easy Fruit, thanks.” He watches the guy work at the tap, then clears his throat, and horrifically says, “Doesn’t Buck usually work Thursdays?”
The guy turns around and sets Eddie’s beer down with slightly more violence than necessary. “I swear to God, if one more fucking person-”
Eddie holds both his hands up. “Okay! Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry,” the guy says, obviously genuinely, dropping his head forward into his hands. “I’m sure you mean well, it’s just - you wouldn’t believe the things people have said all night. I only agreed to take his stupid shift as a favor to Buck, and now all night- I had no idea he had his own personal regulars!”
Wincing, Eddie grabs a napkin and cleans off the counter around his glass. “Yeah, it’s uh. I think a lot of guys come here just for him. More or less. He tells everybody he’s straight, you know, but - I think people just like to look at him.”
The guy snorts, and lifts his head. “Yeah, I mean, I can’t blame them.”
Eddie laughs at that - he can’t help it. “Hey, what’s your name?”
“Josh. You?”
“I’m Eddie,” he says, sticking out his hand, only that makes Josh’s eyes go wide, and his mouth falls open, just slightly.
“You’re Eddie?”
“Last time I checked, yeah?”
“Oh God, I’m never gonna hear the end of this. Could you maybe just not tell him I said that? The - thing I said when you asked where he was.”
Frowning, Eddie picks up his glass, then puts it back down. “Wait, are you - do you actually know who I am?”
“Are you kidding me? Buck talks about you all the time.”
Eddie tries, and fails, not to get flustered. “Really? Me?”
“Eddie Diaz? Father of one Christopher Diaz? Chris is really into like, deep sea creatures right now, right?”
“How do you know this?” Eddie asks, still blinking.
“Because Buck literally won’t shut up about deep sea creatures. He goes down a research rabbit hole like, every time you tell him what your kid is learning about so then he can talk to you about it the next time you come in, or so he can give you something to give to Christopher. It would be kind of nauseating if it wasn’t so - I mean, you know Buck, he’s like a human golden retriever.”
He can’t help it - Eddie laughs, and smiles, wide. “Yeah, he is, a little bit. He’s a really good guy.”
Josh glances around for new customers, doesn’t find any, and leans over the bar towards Eddie. “So tell me - what is a straight firefighter doing in a gay bar? Were you and Buck like - friends before? Do you come here just to hang out with him? You’ve gotta give me the low-down on this.”
“I’m not-” Eddie sputters a little, and struggles, but manages, somehow, to say the words. “I’m not straight.”
Josh’s eyebrows fly up. “You’re not.”
“No? Why would I - I started coming here because I was - questioning, I guess, but I got my answer pretty quickly. Did Buck tell you I was straight?”
“No,” Josh says slowly, shaking his head. “I’ve just been trying to figure out why he wouldn’t ask you out for like a year.”
“But - Buck’s straight.”
This time, Josh laughs. “Eddie, come on. Seriously?” Eddie frowns at him, and Josh blinks back, obviously startled. “Oh my God. He just tells people that when he doesn’t want to get hit on at work. He’s bisexual. Like, really really bisexual.”
“Oh,” Eddie says, staring down at his beer.
“He never told you directly he was straight, right?”
“No.”
With that, Josh just waves at hand at Eddie like that answers all his questions.
“Okay but - if he was interested, he would have said something by now. Like you said, it’s been a year, he knows I’m not straight. He’s not the one who comes off weird if he asks for my number.”
“Guys ask Buck for his number all the time in here,” Josh says, obviously unimpressed.
“Yeah, and they’re usually creeps! I don’t want to be that guy. And he’s never - I mean you made the point, he buys gifts for my son. He’s had an in to give me his number like a thousand times. The nurse who watches my kid is friends with Buck - if he wanted to see me outside of this place, he could, in a heartbeat. He doesn’t want to.” Eddie can’t help it, but he sounds as miserable as he feels by the time he wraps up his stupid little speech. He groans, and drops his head forward against his arm, where it’s resting on the bar.
“Eddie, he obviously cares about you.”
“I’m - I’ve been coming here for a year, and I have never left with another guy, so much as even - talked with another guy for more than ten minutes. And that whole time I thought he was straight and I still - I’m pathetic.”
“Hey. Why don’t we trade this beer for something stronger, huh? And I’ll find out the next time Buck’s on shift.”
Eddie’s heart rises up in his throat and he shakes his head. “No, I - I’ve been telling myself for ages I needed to get over it. I haven’t been here in three weeks-”
“Oh that explains so much.”
In spite of his mood, Eddie lifts his head up and glances at Josh. “Why did he - is that why he traded shifts?”
“Not exactly,” Josh says with a shrug. “But he did sort of mention when he had to skip out that he thought maybe you weren’t coming back.”
“I got hurt at work,” Eddie says, his voice a little hoarse. He clears his throat, and takes a sip of his beer. “I - got trapped in a well collapse.”
“Oh, God, that was you?” Eddie raises his eyebrows. “I saw it on TV and - well, okay, and my best friend works at 9-1-1 Dispatch. Buck’s sister, Maddie.”
Eddie scoffs, and takes another long sip of his beer. “He never even told me he had a sister.”
Josh frowns. “Buck’s - not very good at talking about himself. I think maybe it’s one of the reasons he got into bartending. He likes fixing other people’s problems, but he’s better at ignoring his own.”
At that, Eddie’s heart twists in his chest. “Would you - tell him I came tonight? Just - tell him so he knows I’m not dead, I guess, and that I didn’t just - stop showing up without saying anything. I didn’t have a way to get in touch with him, since we’ve never exchanged numbers, and I-”
“If you want I can text him right now,” Josh suggests, pulling out his phone. “I mean - technically I’m not supposed to be using my phone while I’m on shift, but - you’d better not get me fired for this.”
Eddie laughs, some of the weight lifting off his shoulders. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
So Eddie tries to help Josh hide the fact that he’s texting, leaning over the bar, and then he goes back to drinking his beer.
Josh gets a response almost immediately, his phone buzzing against the bar. He snorts at what he sees on his phone, and turns it around so Eddie can see. “He doesn’t believe me,” Josh says.
“So take a picture,” Eddie tells him - and he smiles, holding up his beer and raising his eyebrows at the camera. Josh sends it - and this time, there’s no response for a full minute or two.
Then, when the phone lights up, Eddie can see the notification: don’t let him leave!!!!
It makes Eddie snort out a laugh, but his heart rate picks up instantly. “He’s probably just got something for Christopher that he couldn’t give me while I was gone.”
“Maybe,” Josh says, taking his phone back and sliding it into his pocket.
Finally, though, a couple of guys come up to the bar, and Josh ducks away to get their drinks. Eddie’s left on his own for the first time since he got there, and he abruptly feels awkward. It feels strange to be in here without Buck, and without any kind of buffer. He pulls out his phone, and starts flipping through all the pictures of Christopher he’s taken to show to Buck. Pictures with the books Buck has given him, pictures at the museums Buck has recommended. He thinks about how every single time, he had wished he just had Buck’s number to send the picture to him, but he hadn’t known how to ask.
Then - almost like the hair on the back of Eddie’s neck stands up, he feels something, and looks up - and Buck is there. He’s standing right inside the doorway, looking a little like he’d run all the way to the bar, and that’s ridiculous but - he’s breathless, and flushed, and his hair is a mess. Instead of his usual bartending clothes, he’s got on a hoodie and sweatpants, and Eddie - Eddie has exactly the kind of thoughts he’s been trying to ignore for a year.
Buck’s face lights up in a grin, and he rushes over. “Eddie-”
Eddie doesn’t let him get any further before he reaches out and grabs him by the shoulders, pulling him into a hug. He wraps an arm tight around Buck and pats him on the back, even though Buck is tense under his touch. Just before he decides to pull back, though, Buck’s arm wraps around his back, and then his head tilts, so he can rest his cheek against Eddie’s collar, his curls brushing against Eddie’s temple, where their heads bump together.
“Eddie. Hey,” Buck says, still breathless.
“I missed you,” Eddie tells him, honestly.
“I - I missed you, too,” Buck says back.
They haven’t pulled apart yet - but that’s about when something hits Eddie in the back of the head, and someone who is possibly Josh shouts, “Get a room!”
Eddie, who has absolutely watched his fair share of couples make out in this bar, flips off anyone who may be looking behind Buck’s back. Buck just laughs, burying his face against Eddie’s shoulder.
“They’re never gonna let up ‘til we get out of here,” Buck says. “Not - not that I meant that like, let’s get out of here, just-”
“Let’s get out of here,” Eddie says, offering Buck his hand.
Buck flushes, pink all across his cheeks, and takes Eddie’s hand. “Hey Josh, put Eddie’s drink on my tab!”
“You owe me!” Josh calls after them - but they’re already halfway out the door.
It’s quiet, on the street outside the bar - and you can’t see the stars in LA, not for all the light pollution, which Eddie still can’t quite get used to, but there’s moonlight and street light to see by. Buck still looks a little rumpled, and pink in the face, and he’s smiling shyly, ducking his head every time he catches Eddie looking over at him.
They’re still holding hands.
“So I guess I should - explain why I went MIA for three weeks.”
“You don’t have to,” Buck says, so earnest it makes Eddie’s teeth ache, just a little.
“No, I - I just want you to know, I got hurt at work. I got caught in a well collapse-”
“Fuck,” Buck says quietly, and his hand spasms in Eddie’s. “I saw that on the news, and I had - I got just the worst feeling that it was you. You never even told me your station number, I just-” Shaking his head, Buck stops walking, just for a moment. “I texted Carla, and she said you were fine, and I didn’t want to - push for anything else. It seems silly, now, but - we had this boundary that I only got to see you at the bar-”
“Why?” Eddie asks, turning to Buck.
“Well cause you-” Buck stumbles over his words, glancing at Eddie’s face and then away again. “You never texted me. I figured - because of Chris, right? I’m just - a bartender you see once a week, and you - I mean, it makes sense, that you don’t want me around him-”
“Buck, whoa,” Eddie says, reaching out to place his hands on Buck’s shoulders. “Buck, what are you talking about? I don’t even have your number.”
Buck frowns at him, his brow furrowing, adorably confused. “Uh - yeah you do. I put it in your phone. The same night I gave you Carla’s number.”
Eddie blinks at Buck, and then looks down at his own pocket. “You - you gave me her number on a napkin. And then later-”
“Later, it got smudged on the bar, so you told me to just put it in your phone, because you trusted me. So I put her number in, and then I put my number in, just in case.”
Letting go of Buck’s shoulders, Eddie pulls out his phone and scrolls through his contacts. Sure enough, right there, under B - there’s Buck. “Jesus fucking Christ,” Eddie says out loud, mildly.
“Um,” Buck says. “I thought - at first I thought maybe things went badly with Carla, but then - you brought me a bunch of your abuela’s tamales and told me how great she was, and - I thought okay, he’s just setting up some boundaries, and then you - you never texted me. But you just - didn’t notice?”
“I didn’t-” Eddie trails off, and looks back up to meet Buck’s eyes. “I kept wishing I had your number, to send you those pictures of Chris, whenever I gave him your gifts, but I kept thinking it would be weird to ask you for it, since - you were working, and I was - not.”
For one long moment, they just stand there on the sidewalk, staring at each other.
Then, Buck starts to laugh - and Eddie’s helpless to do anything other than laugh with him.
“Oh God, Maddie’s never gonna let me hear the end of this,” Buck groans through his laughter, almost doubled over.
“Maddie’s your sister, right?” Eddie asks, in between breathless little chuckles.
Lifting his head back up, Buck beams at Eddie. “Yeah. Did Josh tell you that?”
Eddie nods. “I want - could we go get some food? And you could just - tell me about yourself. Anything you want.”
There’s a moment of quiet, where Buck looks at Eddie like he’s waiting for the punchline, and Eddie thinks nervously about taking it back, but he waits it out instead.
“I’d love that,” Buck says, finally.
“And - not to be presumptuous or anything but - I’d also really like you to meet Christopher. Maybe Saturday we could go to that aquarium you mentioned? I haven’t had a chance to take him, since I got hurt.”
Buck blinks at Eddie rapidly, his eyelashes fluttering, and Eddie can see the way his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows nervously. “Eddie. Are you sure?”
“Buck,” Eddie starts, stepping in close again. He places a hand on Buck’s shoulder, his thumb fitting nicely into the dip of Buck’s collarbone. “You’ve done more for Christopher than some of his literal family has. Josh told me you research the things he’s interested in, and you talk about them for weeks. You gave me the article about that adaptive skateboarding equipment. There is no one I can imagine who I’d be happier to introduce him to than you.”
“Eddie,” Buck says, quietly overwhelmed, and Eddie can see when he blinks again that his eyes have gone glassy.
“Besides - I’ve been coming to that bar every Thursday for over a year just to see you. I think it’s probably time I introduced you to my son.”
Buck’s grin takes on a more familiar edge, then. “Just to see me?”
“Just to see you,” Eddie repeats, squeezing gently at Buck’s shoulder. He glances down at Buck’s mouth, hardly able to stop himself, and he watches as Buck’s tongue darts out to wet his lower lip - and then watches as Buck bites down on his lip.
“Eddie,” Buck says, so softly it’s nearly a whisper.
Eddie’s eyes snap up to meet Buck’s, and Buck’s eyes are shining like he’s smiling, all crinkled up at the corners. They’ve both leaned in closer, Eddie without realizing, and their faces are only inches apart.
“So Josh told me tonight you’re not straight-”
That makes Buck’s snort, and it should be unattractive, by all accounts, but his eyes squinch up further, and his nose wrinkles, and Eddie’s utterly endeared by every moment of it, all up close.
“Yeah, no. I’m super not straight - but,” Buck ducks his head in closer, and brushes his nose against Eddie’s as he tilts his head to the side, getting a better angle, “I guess if you wanted to test that theory, you could kiss me.”
“Yeah?” Eddie says - but he doesn’t let Buck say anything else before he leans in to press their lips together.
The kiss isn’t rushed or hurried at all. Instead, Buck lingers deliberately with every motion of his lips, kissing Eddie like he’s savoring it, and like he never wants to pull away. He brushes his plush lower lip against Eddie’s mouth, then presses in closer to open their mouths together, parting Eddie’s lips beneath his own. Eddie brushes his tongue against Buck’s lips and Buck meets it with his own, pushing his tongue against Eddie’s, just sliding them together.
Buck bites at his lower lip, and nudges in so close that their noses bump a little, and then licks into Eddie’s mouth again, cradling the back of Eddie’s head as he does it. Eddie drags his teeth over Buck’s tongue, and feels Buck shudder against him, and finally they both pull back just enough to pant into each other’s mouths.
“Fuck, Eddie.”
Eddie laughs, and rubs his hands over Buck’s ribs. “We’re on the sidewalk, Buck.”
“I forgot what planet we were on,” Buck says, following it with a laugh. He rolls his forehead against Eddie’s, then nudges his nose over against Eddie’s temple, and follows that with a kiss. “I think I could have forgotten my own name, until you just said it again.”
“Well let’s go see what you remember over some late night breakfast, huh?” Eddie asks, reaching down to grab Buck’s hand again. “My treat, after all the discounted drinks, and the gifts for my son.”
“Kiss me like that again, and I’ll go wherever you want.”
“Dangerous, making promises like that,” Eddie warns, pulling a stumbling Buck along beside him. “Before long I’m gonna be taking you home for weekly Disney movie night.”
“Eddie,” Buck says, the quiet thrill audible in his voice. “Eddie, you can’t just say things like that.”
“Too bad,” Eddie tells him, throwing a grin over his shoulder, and finding a matching one on Buck’s face. “I’ve got a year’s worth of unsaid thoughts in here to make up for.”
Buck’s smile grows even wider, and as he walks along beside Eddie, he moves in closer, and bumps their shoulders together. Just like that, they’re on their way to their first date - the first of what Eddie hopes will be at least a thousand.