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It all starts because Tommy breaks up with Buck. And he was kind of an ass about it too. He didn’t even sit Buck down to have a reasonable conversation about it, just accused him of emotionally cheating on him with Eddie and called him some names he won’t repeat, and then broke up with him.
So now, Buck is in the back of his closet looking for a spare duffle bag to go and get all of the things he’d left at Tommy’s place back.
He’s been in his head for a couple days, five, to be exact. The same number of days since the break up. He doesn’t think he was emotionally cheating. Whenever he was with Tommy, he would give him 100% percent of his attention, even when Tommy couldn’t return the favor.
If anyone was inattentive in their relationship, it was Tommy.
“There you are,” Buck says, finally pulling out his blue duffle bag, the one he hasn’t used since the bachelor party.
Buck stands up and empties everything from the bag out onto his bed, grimacing when he sees the mint green suit that’s definitely had better days.
“They had Henleys in the 80s, Evan. God, he just really didn’t give a shit about me, huh? Could even wear a damn 80s band tee or anything.”
Buck carefully grabs the suit, which was in okay shape despite the liquor smell and the stains, and searched through all of the pockets to make sure he didn’t leave anything in them that could be ruined or stolen at the dry cleaners.
Only, Buck wishes that he never found anything, because what he does find makes his stomach drop.
…
Buck has been acting weird for days. Eddie can’t figure out why. Every time he tries to start a conversation with him, he scurries away like he’s frightened.
Eddie doesn’t want to think it’s because of him, but Buck isn’t running away from conversations from anyone else.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to catch your relationship curse?” Chris says when Eddie brings it up with him.
That’s another thing, Chris has been home for a week and Buck hasn’t stopped by to visit.
“I do not have a relationship curse.” Eddie counters, pointing his empty fork in Christopher’s direction.
“Could’ve fooled me.” Chris says with an attitude that in 100% teenager. “I’ll just text him that he has to be at movie night tomorrow, no excuses. He won’t say no to me. If he does, then you definitely did something wrong.”
That’s the problem, even if Eddie had done something wrong, he doesn’t have the slightest idea what it could be.
“What the hell did you do to him?” Chris asks, turning his phone towards Eddie.
“Language!”
“I’m 14!”
“Don’t care.” Eddie looks at Chris’ phone where he had texted Buck and his only response was ‘can’t this week bud, but I’ll come see you soon, promise.’
“I don’t know, I haven’t done anything, I don’t think.” Eddie sighs and tries to wrack his brain for anything he could have done to make Buck upset with him.
“Then why is he avoiding you like the plague?”
…
“And there’s no way to get this handled without the other party knowing?” Buck asks the very nice lawyer in front of him.
“Uh, no. Mr. Buckley. Getting a divorce without notifying your spouses is very illegal.” She says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“But what if he doesn’t even know he’s my spouse?”
Candace, his divorce lawyer, gives him a look.
“I didn’t even know we were married until I called for the appointment. There was this bachelor party for my brother-in-law, and way too many drinks. I think we sang karaoke and maybe, possibly, destroyed a hotel room.”
Candace clears her throat.
“Anyway, not the point. I was cleaning out my duffle bag from that night so I could go pick up my things from my ex-boyfriend house when I found that marriage certificate in the pocket of my jacket I was wearing that night. A marriage certificate that you say is very much legal.”
“And you haven’t talked to,” she glances down at the certificate. “Edmundo about this?”
“Eddie,” Buck corrects. “And no, I’ve been kind of avoiding him. Hoping that I could just get this taken care of and he’d never have to know.”
“Well, Mr. Buckley, it seems to me that you have a few things you need to discuss with your husband. You have my number, call me when you get it all figured out.”
…
Eddie gets to work early on Monday. He gave Buck the weekend to get over whatever it is that’s causing him to be so distant, but he’ll be damned if Buck doesn’t talk to him today.
“Trying to open the door with your mind?” Hen asks, walking up next to him and sipping his coffee.
“I’m waiting for Buck.”
“Don’t you two usually spend all weekend together?”
He turns to glare at her. “No, Hen, we don’t.”
“Damn, what did he do that got you all pissy?”
“He’s been avoiding me for a week, I’m going to make home talk to me today.”
“Okay, what did you do, then?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Nothing.” Eddie answers immediately. “I don’t think.”
“You better figure it out quickly, here he comes.” Hen nudges Eddie towards the door just the slightest and walks away, sipping her coffee.
Eddie’s heartbeat picks up and he runs down the stairs to catch Buck in the locker room. Luckily, or unluckily, it’s only the two of them when he gets down there.
“Are you done avoiding me?” Eddie asks, putting a hand on Buck’s locker to prevent him from opening it.
“I have been-“ Buck starts but Eddie gives him a pointed look. “Okay, I’ve been avoiding you. But, I have a valid reason.”
“Care to explain?”
“Yes, but not here. It’s…kind of a lot.”
Eddie goes from mad to concerned in less than a blink.
“Okay. Do you want to come over for dinner?”
Eddie is thankful that they have a 12 hour shift today and not 24.
“Yeah, that’ll be great.” Buck stares down at Eddie’s hand still on his locker. “Can I get dressed now?”
“Right, sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Buck smiles softly at him, and Eddie’s know that whatever it is, they’ll be okay.
…
Buck is a nervous wreck. He kind of just wishes he would have told Eddie everything that was going on when he asked this morning.
Now, he can’t focus on work over the anxiety of how to tell Eddie when they
“Buck!” He hears his name yelled and looks up to find Bobby looking at him with concern on his face. “Everything alright?”
Buck shakes his head. “No, not really.”
“Let’s go to my office to talk about it?” Bobby suggests and Buck nods, following him in.
Buck sits down but his leg is shaking so much that he stands Buck up and starts pacing.
“Okay, kid, seriously. What’s wrong?”
“Am I talking to my captain or my da- friend?” Buck can’t believe he almost slipped up and called Bobby his dad, something he’s really only done in his head.
And in a few dreams of a perfect world where he never had to endure the Buckley’s and had parents figure in Bobby and Athena. Not the point.
“I can listen as whoever you want me to.” Bobby says calmly.
“Okay, so definitely not my boss then.” Buck says and wait for the go ahead from Bobby to start talking.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Buck nods and takes a deep breath.
“Tommy broke up with me last week.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Buck,” Bobby offers, though his condolences don’t sound very sincere.
“It’s whatever, and definitely not the point of the story, just the origin of it.” Buck finally sits down.
“I was cleaning out a bag to go over there and get all the stuff I left when I found something that’s probably going to change my life forever.”
Bobby crosses his arms in that exasperated dad way that he does and Buck takes a deep breath.
“So, Eddie and I kind of got married. Four months ago. At Chimney’s bachelor party.”
Bobby doesn’t say anything, only reaches into his desk and pulls out a clipboard with a stack of paper on it.
“These are the forms you’ll need to fill out for tax purposes, a relationship disclosure for HR, and a uniform request for a name change on the back of your turnouts.”
Buck looks at Bobby with wide eyes. “Did-did you not hear me, I said I’m married. I’ve been married and didn’t know it all while I was dating Tommy.”
“Hence the forms,” Bobby says, pushing the clipboard closer to Buck.
“You said you’d listen as not my captain. I need advice.”
Buck glances between the clipboard and Bobby. “I have to figure out a way to tell Eddie and then get divorced.”
“Is that what you want?”
Buck freezes and stares at Bobby.
Does he want to get a divorce before he even really gets to experience being married? No, of course not.
But there’s no way Eddie would want to stay married to him, right?
Even though being married to Eddie sounds exactly like something he really wants.
Going to sleep and waking up next to him everyday. Driving to work, holding Eddie’s hand. Adopting a handful of kids. Getting a dog. Dancing in the kitchen even though they’re supposed to be cooking. Being so intertwined with each other that they don’t even need to speak to know what the other is thinking. Going on a date. Kissing, and more, so much more.
Holy shit.
“Pops, I-i thinks I’m in love with Eddie.”
Bobby just nods.
“Eddie isn’t going to want to stay married to me, and I don’t know if I can handle that.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because, I just realized I’m in love with him and want to be married to him.”
“No,” Bobby sighs. “Why do you say he won’t want to be married to you?”
“Uh, I’m a man?”
And, well, is that even an argument anymore. Up until a few months ago, Buck had only dated women too.
“I think that I’m going to give you the rest of the shift off. You’re clearly not in any headspace to be here, especially out on calls.”
“But-“
Bobby holds up a finger to tell him he’s not finished.
“Go home, take a shower, put on a nice outfit and fix your hair. Invite Eddie over after your shift to talk, make him his favorite meal, and then lay all your cards out on the table. I think you’ll be surprised.”
…
Eddie starts to worry when Bobby sends Buck home for the rest of the day. It’s only four hours early, but still.
“What’s wrong with Buck?” Chim asks, coming to sit beside him on the couch. “Why did Bobby send him home so early?”
Eddie shrugs and wonders if it has anything to do with why he’s been avoiding him. Knowing his luck, the answer is probably yes.
Eddie’s phone vibrates in his pocket.
Buck:
Hey, come over when you get off
Please?
Eddie:
You okay?
You took off without saying anything
Buck:
Had a convo with Bobby
He sent me home
🙄 even though I told him
I’m fine to work
Eddie:
You’re not if he sent you home
Are you going to tell me what’s going on?
Buck:
Yes
Tonight
Come over
Please? 🙏
Eddie:
I was already planning on it
You asked me this morning, remember
Buck:
Right
Okay
Eddie’s heart flutters at the idea of Buck cooking for him, another recent revelation he’s had. He is a complete sucker for when Buck takes care of him, even mundane tasks like writing groceries on a list make him mush.
“Hen, do you and Karen mind if Chris comes over tonight?” Eddie asks, putting his phone away.
“No, of course not. Denny’s been wanting to see him since he came back anyway.” Hen then grabs her phone, presumably to text Karen the plans.
“Thank,” Eddie sighs. “I’m just worried about Buck, I need to go check on him.”
Eddie drops Chris off at the Wilson’s at 7:40pm.
“Dad, you know how you promised to be honest with me if I came back?” Chris starts after the car parks.
Eddie nods.
“Did anything happen between you and Buck when I was gone?”
Eddie freezes, “what do you mean?”
“Like, romantically?” Chris clarifies. “Because I’ve been thinking that maybe it did and you didn’t want me to find out, so you broke up with him and that’s why he’s mad.”
“Chris, Buck has had a boyfriend since before you left.”
“So?”
“So no, nothing has happened between us.” And Eddie can’t help but feel his heart tighten at the idea of something never happening between them.
As far as he knows, Buck is happy with Tommy.
“But, would you want it to?” Chris pauses. “Like, with Buck, or any man. Because, I’d be okay…if you were, you know, gay.”
Eddie doesn’t deserve such a wonderful kid.
“Who knows, Buck is happy with Tommy.” He avoids answering the question.
“But if he wasn’t. If Buck was single, would you want to date him?”
Of course Eddie would. If it were up to him, he’d marry Buck so that he never had the chance to date anyone else ever again.
“Right,” Chris says, picking up from the silence what Eddie’s answer would be. “Well, just know that my thoughts shouldn't affect your decision, but I think I’d be okay with you and Buck together. Most of my friends assume you’re together anyways.”
Eddie blinks a couple of times to keep the tears at bay and just nods.
“Okay, kid, have a good time. Make sure you listen to Hen and Karen.”
“Yeah yeah.” He groans and put his backpack on his back before grabbing his crutches and getting out of the truck on his own.
That was another thing he asked for when he came back from Texas, more independence. So Eddie watches from the driveway as he walks up the porch and knocks on the door.
Karen waves to him as she lets Chris in and Eddie composes himself for a few seconds before backing out of their driveway and making his way to Buck’s apartment.
…
Buck has set and reset the table three times waiting for Eddie to show up.
He made spaghetti and breadsticks. Although, he doesn’t have the best history with bread, so he may just stick to the spaghetti.
There’s a knock on the door as he’s pouring two glasses of red wine, which come to think of it, makes this seem like a date.
Not a dinner where he has to tell his best friend that he’s actually his husband and beg him not to divorce him.
Evidently, Buck gets too into his head because the next thing he knows, Eddie is opening the door with his key.
“H-hey Eddie, uh come have a seat,” Buck even goes so far as pulling out Eddie’s chair for him.
“What is all of this?”
“Just dinner.”
“Wine, table cloth, and LED candles?” Eddie asks, looking at him with eyebrows raised. “And you shaved.”
“Oh, uh, you know how I get. I was nervous, needed something to do until you got here.”
“Uh huh.” Buck can tell Eddie knows he’s lying. “Why don't you tell me what’s wrong, so that we can eat in peace.”
Buck nods and sits in his chair, and just stares at Eddie. Every time he opens his mouth, no words come out.
“Buck, you’re really starting to scare me now.” Eddie starts, “I mean, did I do something wrong? What’s going on?”
“It might just be easier if I show you.” He gets up and walks into the kitchen to grab their marriage license out of the drawer he’d stuck it in.
He goes to hand it to Eddie but then yanks it back at the last second. “I just want to preface this by saying that Tommy broke up with me last week and I only just found out about this when I was trying to clean out my duffle bag from the bachelor party.”
Eddie furrows his brows together but nods.
Buck hands him back the marriage license and bites his thumb nervously.
“Is this-?”
“A marriage license? Yes, that’s exactly what it is.”
…
Eddie can’t stop staring between the paper in his hands and his best frie- scratch that, his husband, in front of him.
“This is legal?”
“Yep. I had a lawyer check it out. 100% a legal marriage.”
“So, we’re…me and you-“ Eddie is confused, he doesn’t remember even telling Buck he was gay, let alone asking him to marry him. Or that that was something he thought about constantly.
No, Eddie has kept that shit on lockdown. In an envelope, inside a safe, locked inside an apocalypse bunker, inside Alcatraz.
“Eddie, I really need you to say something more coherent.” Buck is in front of him now, looking at him with those wide blue eyes that would bring a saint to sin.
And honestly, what can Eddie say? Buck isn’t dating Tommy anymore, Eddie hadn't planned on dating anyone ever again. And Chris would be okay with it, according to their conversation earlier.
The only con there could be, would be Buck not loving him back, which would be devastating. Eddie would get over it eventually, maybe, but he doesn’t think he could ever watch Buck in love with someone else again, not since he came to the realization that he wants him for himself.
“I don’t want to get divorced.” Is what Eddie lands on.
“O-okay.” Buck nods. “Would we stay married…platonically?”
Eddie thinks for a second, but Buck is already rambling into his next thought.
“Because, you know, I’m not a woman. So, like, that could be an issue for you.”
“No, no issue here.” Eddie says, only realizing that he has still yet to say the words to Buck.
“N-no?” Buck stutters over his words.
“You not being a woman is the exact opposite of a problem.” Eddie doesn’t know why he just doesn’t say the words.
“So a solution?”
“Yes, a solution to the question of why all of my past relationships have failed or felt in-genuine.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re trying to say?”
Eddie chuckles half heartedly, “I’m gay, Buck. So gay.”
“Right.” Buck says, half in a daze. “I mean, shit. I’m proud of you, and thank you for telling me.”
“Well, you’re my husband, it’d be kind of weird if I didn’t.”
Buck cracks a smile and Eddie knows that they’re going to be okay.
…
Three hours later, Eddie still hadn’t answered Buck’s question.
“So, what do you want out of this marriage?” Buck had grabbed a clipboard, ready to do anything to make this marriage work.
They were both a bottle deep into wine though, which is what got them into this situation in the first place.
“A date night at least twice a month.” Eddie says, sipping his 5th? glass. Buck agrees and writes it down.
“Open honestly about everything,” Buck say, jotting down his thoughts without Eddie agreeing. “Even the scary things. I don’t want to go a week avoiding you again.”
Eddie agrees. “We should probably look at buying a bigger house.”
“Why?” Buck asks, adjusting on the couch to stretch his leg out, causing Eddie to shift closer to him, almost sitting in his lap at this point.
“Well, I figure the kids and dog will need a bigger back yard to play in.” Eddie finishes his glass and goes to pour another one when he realizes that the bottle is empty.
“Kids? You want to have kids with me?” Buck asks, hope blooming more and more in his chest.
“Of course, Buck.” Eddie grabs the clipboard out of Buck’s and takes them on his own, squeezing them tightly. “Just because we may not remember how it started, I want everything out of this marriage with you.”
“Everything?” Buck asks, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Uh yeah, eventually. I don’t think I’m quite there yet.”
“So, not a platonic marriage then?”
Eddie leans in even closer to Buck, resting their foreheads together, “definitely not platonic.”
Kissing Eddie is a lot different than kissing anyone he’s kissed before. They lock together almost perfectly, like they were carved from the same atom long ago, separated through time and space, waiting to meet again,
Buck can feel Eddie’s hesitancy, but knows without a doubt that Eddie feels just as strongly for him as he does for Eddie.
Eddie pulls away and takes a deep breath, “Definitely need to add that to the list.”
The next morning, Buck looks into getting out of his lease while Eddie looks through their finances to see what they can reasonably afford house wise.
“How should we tell everyone?” Eddie asks, taking a break from his computer and looking up at Buck with his glasses on, causing Buck to almost choke on the coffee that he’d just sipped.
“Bobby already knows.”
“I figured that much. Does Maddie?”
Buck shakes his head. “Just Bobby and the lawyer I went to.”
“Want to just have everyone over to the house, have a little cookout?” Eddie suggests and Buck agrees.
“Our friends are not who I’m worried about telling,” Buck says with wide eyes. “How are we supposed to tell Pepa and your Abuela?”
Eddie looks at him with wide eyes and swears under his breath.
Abuela was, thankfully, still in town after coming back with Chris. “We need to invite them over, and tell them and Chris at the same time.”
Buck agrees.
“See if they’re available today, the sooner the better, right?”
“Right.” Eddie dials the number and Buck turns to work on packing up his kitchen while Eddie confirms their dinner plans for the night.
“I’m going to send you the high end of our budget and the low end, do you want to put together a spreadsheet with our must-haves for a house?” Eddie walks over to help Buck with packing his dishes after getting off the phone.
“Have you met me? Of course I want to make a spreadsheet.” Buck chuckles and leans against the counter. “Look at us being so domestic.”
“What did your landlord say about getting out of your lease?”
“If it was almost up anyway, he just said if I broke it now, I wouldn’t get the security deposit back. But, that’s no big deal.”
“Okay, we should probably figure out a day to tell everyone else so we can have some extra hands to move all of your stuff.”
Eddie pulls Buck in by the waist, something Buck will never complain about, and kisses him gently.
Another thing Buck will never complain about.
“I’ll text everyone, see what we can throw together?” Buck suggests. “But I don’t want to worry them by saying we need to talk to them.”
“What if we guise it as a gathering to get everyone together since Chris is back?”
“But then wouldn’t announcing us being married kind of steal his thunder?” Buck asks, resting against Eddie who was still holding him around the waist, the two of them swaying softly back and forth.
“I’ll talk to Chris, you just get it organized.”
And who is Buck to turn down a planning job?
Fire fam
Buck:
Hey! Looking for a day to have
a cookout at Eddie’s since Chris is
back. When is everyone free?
Bobby:
Athena is off Saturday
Karen:
We’re free Saturday!
Maddie:
Us too!
Jee hasn’t stopped wearing the
cowboy hat Chris brought her from
Texas.
Hen:
Mara either.
She’s excited to meet him in
person.
Athena:
Need us to bring anything?
Buck:
I’ll handle the grill
If someone wants to bring
sides, drinks, and desert?
Maddie:
We’ll bring the drinks
Bobby:
I’ll make a few sides
Karen:
I guess that leaves us for dessert.
Buck:
Awesome!
Let’s say, be at Eddie’s at 2?
Buck received a varying degrees of agreement and puts his phone away.
“We’re good for Saturday,” Buck says half heartedly.
“Hey,” Eddie makes Buck look in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Open honestly about everything.
“I spent the last week avoiding you because I was afraid you’d be mad or disgusted, or…I don’t know what else.” Buck sighs. “So I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like I shouldn’t be getting everything I was just like that.”
Eddie hums before pulling Buck in for a tighter hug. “There’s no other shoe. You were nervous to tell me because you were afraid of how I’d react. Well, I know now. I think I reacted fairly, and now we’re going to work to make this marriage into something that’s going to last. Sure, it’ll get tough sometimes, but we’ve handled worse. We’re going to be just fine.”
That’s what Buck loves about Eddie, he always seems to know the right things to say to get him out of his head and calm him down.
…
Eddie can’t sit still. He’s bounding his left knee while he waits on the couch for his aunt and Abuela to show up.
“We don’t have to tell them today.” Buck says, poking his head in from the kitchen, noticing how nervous Eddie is.
“Of course we do! They’re already going to be so mad that we didn’t have a ceremony, I can’t imagine they’ll be happy if we wait any longer to tell them.”
“Is that something you would want?” Buck asks, “a ceremony? I mean, technically, there’s nothing that says we can’t have one.”
And Eddie hadn’t even thought of that.
“Maybe a reception, not a full wedding, unless that’s something you want?”
The doorbell rings, interrupting whatever Buck was planning to say.
“I’ll go get that, will you make sure Chris is ready for dinner?”
Eddie gets up off the couch and walks very, very slowly towards the door.
“Edmundo, took long enough.” Abuela says as soon as he answers the door. “Were you stuck to the couch?”
Eddie doesn’t panic, he doesn’t. But something about staring into his Abuela and Tia’s eyes makes him want to confess everything he did.
“Buck and I accidentally got married at a bachelor party.”
Eddie is definitely going to have to talk to Frank about why he keeps blurting things out like that.
“You- oh this is golden!” Chris cackles from behind him.
“Maybe we should go sit down,” Tia Pepa suggests, walking in the front door and shutting it behind her.
So that’s what they do. They all sit around the dining table while Buck serves out the food, taking the last seat beside Eddie.
“So, how does one accidentally get married?” Abuela starts.
“Lots of shots, maybe a couple of beers.” Buck answers, causing Eddie to glare at him.
“So, will you be getting divorced?” Tia asks, eyebrow raised.
“That’s not currently in the plan, no.” Eddie says, pushing his food around on his plate, not really having an appetite. “I guess I should also mention that I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I’m gay.”
“Yeah, we got that from the fact that you are married to a man.” Tia Pepa jokes.
“Pepa, when someone comes out to you, you don’t make a joke about it.” Abuela, who is taking this a lot better than Eddie thought she would, says.
“As long as this is something you both want, we will support you.”
“Gracias Abuela. Yes, we’ve talked about it a lot. This is something we both want.” Eddie says, reaching across the table and grabbing Buck’s hand.
“Thank god!” Chris says, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t have to watch y’all pretend to be in love with other people anymore. My suffering is over!”
The table bursts out laughing at the teenage antics and the weight lifts from Eddie shoulders, one step closer to being his true self.
…
The week goes by quickly. They have a 24 hour shift on Wednesday and thankfully they didn’t get caught the several times they snuck off to the roof to make out.
Bobby had told them when they signed all the paperwork that he was able to keep them on the same shift but would not condone any PDA.
Eddie told Buck about the shovel talk Bobby had given him when he got him alone later on shift.
Thursday, after taking a nap, they packed more of Buck’s loft before they had to pick Chris up from school.
Friday they went to work again like normal but one of the probies had said the q-word so they didn’t get a break until their shift was over at 7pm. No chances to sneak off and doing exactly what Bobby told them not to.
Buck wakes up early Saturday morning and untangles himself from Eddie, who is a lot more cuddly than he remembers from when they had to share during the pandemic, not that he’s complaining.
“No, come back.” Eddie mumbles, eyes still closed but making grabby hands.
“I have to go to the grocery store and get things for later.” Buck sighs, bending down to give Eddie a quick kiss.
“Five more minutes.” Eddie grips Buck’s arm and attempts to pull him back into the bed.
“Baby-“
“If you come back to bed I’ll give you a very lazy handjob.”
Buck freezes. Because they haven’t done anything remotely yet, not that Buck is expecting anything. Eddie only recently came to terms with being gay and Buck didn’t want to pressure him to do anything he didn’t want to.
“Really? Are-are you sure?” Buck asks, already rearranging things in his head to make time for a detour.
“Am I sure that I want to make out with my husband while getting each other off, uh, yeah.” Eddie opens his eyes at bats then up at Buck, not that Buck was going to need much convincing to get his hand on Eddie dick.
“Yeah, the grocery store can wait.” Buck exclaims before climbing back into the bed and then on top of Eddie.
After an orgasam each and a shower, Eddie is back in bed for a couple more hours and Buck is on the way to the grocery still feeling giddy.
His phone starts ringing over his speakers, Maddie calling, so he hits the button on his steering wheel to answer it.
“Good morning my sweet sister.”
“Oh, gross.”
“What?l
“That’s your ‘I just got laid’ voice.”
And Buck chuckles. It’s quiet in the line for a second before Maddie gasps.
“You invited us to a cookout at Eddie’s.”
“Yes.”
“You. You invited us, not Eddie.”
“I know, I was there.”
“You finally remembered!”
“Uh, yeah, uh what?” Buck is confused as he turns into the parking lot of the Trader Joe’s.
“Oh uh, remembered to break up with Tommy.” Maddie was lying. Her voice does this little high squeak on vowels when she does.
“Yeah, nearly two weeks ago now. But he broke up with me.” But Buck couldn’t be bothered to be upset about it.
Not when he could still feel Eddie’s hand wrapped around him.
“Anyway,” Maddie trails off. “I called to see if you needed me to bring anything other than drinks?”
“Uh no, I think we have everything covered.”
“Okay. And Buck, whatever is going on that you’re not telling me yet, I’m really happy for you.”
“Uh, thanks Maddie.”
“Okay, that’s all I needed. Love you.”
“Love you too, see you later.”
The phone hangs up and Buck sits in her seat for a few more seconds, trying to figure out what the hell that conversation
…
“Dad, did you really tell everyone this was a welcome home party for me?” Chris asks, helping Eddie put tablecloths on the folding tables he’d set up in the backyard.
“It can serve two purposes.” Eddie shrugs. “We had to get them over here somehow without worrying them.”
“So, where’s my banner?” Chris goads. “If this was really my party, Buck would have a banner.”
“Yep, got it right here!” Buck says, coming through the fence into the back yard.
A rolled up piece of paper in one hand, and a bouquet of flowers in the other.
“I missed you.” Buck says, snaking an arm around Eddie’s waist and pulling him into his chest, placing a quick kiss on his lips. “These are for you.”
Eddie looks down at the yellow and orange flowers in his hand, not knowing the name of them, but appreciating them either way.
“You guys are gross.” Christopher says, walking over to take the banner from Buck. “I’m going to hang this one on the fence.”
“I need to get started on the grill, are you good out here?”
“Yeah, I just need to bring all the chairs out.”
Buck nods and walks back towards where he has his jeep pulled close to the backyard, presumably to get everything out that he needs.
Eddie spends a little too long watching him walk away before he goes inside to put his flowers in some water.
A couple hours later, their back yard is filled with their family, laughing over something that Jee has said.
“Okay, I need to say something.” Chimney says, standing up from his seat to get everyone's attention.
Buck and Eddie exchange a look across their seats and Eddie shrugs.
“As much as we all love Christopher and are glad that he is back,” Chimney looks over at Chris and smiles. “Can we finally address the elephant in the room, er, backyard?”
“Chim,” Hen looks over to Chimney and shakes his head. “We said we weren’t going to say anything until they were ready.”
“Uh, what’s going on?” Buck asks, looking between Chimney and Hen.
“I think you should probably tell everyone the real reason you invited us here.” Bobby suggests to Buck and Eddie.
“Wait…do you always know the reason?” Eddie asks, looking toward people at the table that he was for sure they hadn’t told yet.
They all collectively nod. “How do you know?”
Eddie looks to Buck whose face is clearly mirroring his own confusion.
“You sent us all snaps from the chapel.” Maddie chimes in. “The next day was so hectic with trying to find Chimney that no one really thought about it.”
Eddie looks at Buck with his jaw dropped.
“So then, over the next couple of weeks when you never said anything else about it, we figured you knew what happened and you went and got it annulled.” Hen adds.
“No one thought anything more about it until you came to work and you kept avoiding Eddie. Once you had your conversation with Cap and the next day both of you were all bright and glowy, we started to put two and two together.” Chimney explains.
“Especially since it was the same time you invited us all over to celebrate Chris being back, even though he’s been back for nearly a month now.” Athena crosses her arms over her chest and sends a look toward Buck.
“Wait,” Buck stands up and backs away from the table.
“So you all knew that we got married, and didn’t think to say anything to us once you realized that we weren’t going to say anything?”
“Buck-“ Maddie starts to say something but he interrupts her.
“You saw me spiraling for an entire week and didn’t think to ask what it was about?”
“I told you we should have told them.” Hen says, looking towards Chimney.
Buck then does something Eddie doesn’t expect him to do, he busts out laughing. Like full blown, belly gut laughing.
“Eddie, we can’t even keep getting married in secret a secret.” Eddie stands up and walks over to Buck, laughing too.
“We were so stressed about telling them all week and they already knew!” Eddie wraps his arms around Bucks waist and giggles into his husband's chest.
“Everyone knew we were married but us.” Buck laughs even harder at the insanity of the whole situation.
“Oh my god!” Buck wipes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. “You all let me keep dating Tommy knowing I was married.”
Everyone joins in on the laughter this time, because really, what else were they supposed to do?
Later that night, once the backyard is cleaned up and everyone is gone, Eddie sits on the couch cuddled into Buck’s side.
“Okay, look at this one.” Buck says, turning his tablet toward Eddie.
“Four bedrooms, two baths. It’s one story, and one of the bathrooms is already fitted with handrails. The backyard is already fenced in and there’s a deck where the previous owners had an above ground pool. The kitchen’s recently been updated and it’s close to Chris’s school and the station. It’s on the higher end of our budget, but I think we could talk them down if we tell them we’re first responders.”
Eddie looks at the house that Buck is showing him and instantly falls in love, just with the pictures alone.
“That’s kind of perfect for us.” Eddie says, looking up from the tablet and up at Buck. “I love you.”
Buck smiles and bends down to pull Eddie into a kiss, “I love you, more than you’ll ever know.”