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It was the best of times, the worst of crimes. I struck a match and blew your mind.
You were drivin' the getaway car. Don't pretend it's such a mystery, think about the place where you first met me.
“See, Eddie? I told you we’d have fun!” Ravi was shouting over the music in the club, and Buck turned, the lights flashing in his eyes. He blinked, trying to adjust his gaze, but then he realized-
Eddie was missing.
“Wait, Rav! Eddie’s gone.” He grabbed onto Ravi’s arm, hauling him off the dancefloor. They were both sweaty, thick with grime and a beer that had spilled in the middle of the circle. Buck wiped his hands on his jeans, glancing around the bar. “Fuck, I knew this was going to happen. You check the rest of the floor, I’ll look in the bathroom.”
Ravi gave him a salute and waded off into the mass of people, politely asking ladies to move aside so he could get through. Buck headed to the bathroom, his mind sharpening as he stopped to stare at the line. He sighed, standing still behind the other guys. He heard a voice behind him and turned on his heel, expecting it to be Eddie, but instead, it was a random man. He pointed at Buck’s spot in the snake of men and asked, “are you in line?” Buck thought about it for a moment, and realized that he didn’t really need to be standing in line. He could run into the bathroom, ask around for Eddie, and then be out of there. The man looked like he was about to say something when Buck pointed at his spot and said, “take it” before rushing into the bathroom.
It was crawling, some people puking, others peeing in the urinals, but he didn’t see Eddie. There was a stall in the back and he knocked on the door, just for a girl’s voice to sound out, “we’re busy!” He wrinkled his nose and ran back out of the bathroom, skidding to a stop when fingers wrapped around his bicep. His arm was yanked back and he was suddenly standing in front of the man from earlier. Buck rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. When they’d agreed to go out, they had made a pact that if one of them wasn’t feeling good, they would all leave. Eddie just disappearing couldn’t be good, and he was kind of freaking out. Buck knew he wasn’t ready, this was a shit idea, and now Eddie was kidnapped, or… adultnapped and he was being held against his will in the back of a white van meanwhile a random guy was trying to drug Buck into giving him information.
“Hey, dude, do you want to grab a coffee sometime? My name’s Zane.” Zane held out a hand, which was awkward because he was still holding onto Buck’s arm. Buck ignored his hand, pulling out of his grip with a sigh.
“You wouldn’t happen to have seen a guy? Tall, brown hair, brown eyes, black shirt?” Buck was still looking over Zane’s head when the man scoffed.
“What the fuck? Find your own man, I’m done here.” Zane was gone with a roll of his eyes and Buck just hurried back into the main section of the bar. He asked the bartenders, but they only recognized him from his 1.0 days. He smiled at those people with a weak excuse for a grin. A reminder of who he used to be was really not helping him find Eddie. Which he needed to do, like, right now. Ravi shouted through the crowd when he saw Buck, and his heart fluttered with relief. Ravi had found him, thank god, but when they got closer, they realized they were both empty handed.
“I thought you had him?” Ravi whispered, and Buck just ran a hand through his curls.
“Ok, don’t panic. I can track him on Life360, we’ll find him. He probably just went home, y’know?” Buck fished his phone out of his pocket in a hurry, bypassing the face identification and punching in his password quickly. He pressed on the tracking app on the screen and watched it sparkle to life, lighting up on the map with icons. “There!” Buck shouted, pointing at Eddie’s icon. “Parking lot, c’mon!”
“Wait, dude, we don’t know what we’re walking into.” Ravi grabbed Buck and pulled him back as he said it. Buck was getting really sick of being manhandled. “Maybe I should grab, like, a water or something?”
Buck pointed at him with a smile and grabbed a five dollar bill out of his pocket, handing it to Ravi quickly. “Ok, meet us out there when you’ve got it. And Ravi!” Ravi stopped as he was running off to the bar, turning back to Buck as he screamed, “Try to make it cold!”
Ravi nodded and then continued off while Buck turned toward the doors and hurried toward them. He was trying not to run, but he couldn’t help it as his feet picked up quicker and quicker. Sometimes Eddie got triggered by loud noises and flashing lights, and that bar had been full of them. He could have had a panic attack, or he was in a flashback. Buck tried to prepare himself for what he was about to see, taking slower steps as he approached the truck. He could see Eddie in the driver’s seat, turned to the side, lying down on the seat like a little kid. Buck made sure Eddie could see his shadow in the window before he opened the passenger door and slid into the truck. The parking lot wasn’t packed, which was nice, and they were right next to a street light, so there was a soft orange in the air.
Eddie was taking little, quick breaths, then a big, long one, then repeating. Buck got down to his eyeline, pushing himself into Eddie’s gaze, and he took a deep breath. “Follow me, Eddie. In…. out…” He breathed with him like that for a few seconds until Eddie seemed to calm down. His head turned up a bit, brown hair dangling in his face, and Buck raised his eyebrows softly, a question on his face but not on his lips. He didn’t want to start hammering him with questions. Eddie could tell him what he wanted to.
“Buck, don’t date her.” He said it like he was choking on it, like he had to spit it out before it could sit on his tongue too long. Like it tasted bad. Buck just stared at him for a long time, blinking mindlessly at his best friend. Then he softened his body language, shuffled down in the seat so they were at the same height.
“Jade? It’s- I just met her. I don’t know where it’s going to go.” Buck’s eyebrows were dipped down on his forehead, worry lines running through his skin. “And I don’t have to date her, if you get a bad vibe-”
“I don’t think either of us should date someone else…” Eddie whispered, his eyes focused on the console of the car between them. Buck could barely hear him, so he scooted closer, and Eddie’s irises widened ever so slightly.
“Ok, we don’t have to date anyone. We’ll be too happy single men.” Buck didn’t know why Eddie was so worried about this, but he figured it wasn’t the worst thing ever. If Eddie wanted him to be single forever, he would do it, with only a minute amount of questions asked. Eddie was the best thing that had ever happened to him, he thought maybe he would give up everything for him if he asked.
“I don’t want us to be single.”
Buck sighed, eyes dancing along Eddie, and he frowned. “You’re gonna have to help me out here, dude. You don’t want us to be single, but you don’t want us to date anyone?” He tried to think about what that would be, like… ENM. Ethical non-monogamy. Definitely not, no matter how in love he was with Eddie. That was a no.
Eddie huffed like Buck was being so super annoying, and turned to face the door. “Like we could date each other.” But he said it so quietly that it sounded more like: “Let the mate choose its mother.”
“Uh- what did you just say?”
Eddie huffed again and sat up in his seat, grabbing the wheel and throwing a scowl at Buck. “Forget it. Where’s Ravi?”
“H-he’ll be here any minute…” Buck whispered, sinking into his seat, unsure what he did wrong. He didn’t want to press, but he had really wanted to understand what Eddie wanted. All he really wanted was for his best friend to be happy. Healthy, and happy.
Ravi appeared a moment later, passing Eddie a water bottle that he drank graciously, and then they were on the road. Ravi was still lacking some context, but Buck just passed him a look and he settled into the back seat, whispering to someone on the phone. Buck pretended he wasn’t listening, except he totally was.
“Yeah, I’ll be home in 10. No, you don’t have to wait up for me. It’s fine, I’ll be good. Ok, thanks. Yeah, I love you too. Bye.” Ravi hung up and turned back to Eddie and Buck, whose eyes were on anything except him. He sighed and rolled his eyes, gesturing to them. “What?”
“Was that your partner?” Buck asked, turning his voice so it sounded like a girl gossiping.
“Yes.”
Oh, ok, well, that was a shocker. Eddie and Buck made eye contact and then turned back to him like he was their kid who’d just gotten in trouble. Whoa, kid… that was a weird visual.
“Like, partner partner, or like… partner.” Eddie said the second ‘partner’ in a southern accent and for reasons unknown to fucking god, Buck’s dick twitched. He needed to get out of this fucking car.
“What is this an interrogation? I was told this was the getaway car, not entrapment.” Ravi made a show of pushing on his locked seatbelt like he was trapped, before unclipping it and fixing it again. The dash lit up for a moment before he settled back into his seat.
“Of course you would use words like ‘entrapment’.” Eddie muttered, and Buck turned around to him. “This is the getaway car, but we never told you where we were taking you.” He did a pretty good evil laugh and then turned back to the road, catching Eddie’s eye. He paused for a moment when he saw the melancholic look on his best friend’s face. He was about to ask him about it when Ravi yelled, “TURN LEFT HERE!” from the back and Eddie turned the wheel hard. All of their seatbelts locked and they all groaned in pain as Ravi jumped out of the car and ran off into the apartment building behind them. He waved a hand of thanks before disappearing into the lobby.
Buck and Eddie drove in silence, and Buck absently wondered where they were going. He figured they would head to Eddie’s first, so Buck could drop him and then drive his own truck back to his house, but instead, Eddie turned toward Buck’s street. Buck knew Chris was at Aunt Pepa’s, since they had been out late, but he had no clue what the purpose of going to his house was. Eddie hadn’t even been there much.
“Where are we going?” Buck asked as they passed Posie’s house. He’d met her his first day living there, when he’d brought her freshly baked sourdough and she’d introduced him to Martha, her sourdough starter. Ever since then they’d been comparing notes and having sourdough playdates. Her front porch was lit up with fairy lights, and Buck watched them as they drove into his driveway and Eddie parked. He turned off the truck and jumped out of the car, walking up Buck’s yard to his door. Buck hurried after him, confusion running through his mind like the blood in his veins. He’d been crystal sober for hours now, but he questioned for a moment. Maybe he was drunk. That was the only explanation for Eddie unlocking Buck’s door with his key and letting himself in.
“Eddie, can you tell me what the fuck is happe-”
Buck heard the door snap closed behind him as a hand pushed against his chest. He fell back against the door, curls tumbling into his face. He blinked, shaking his head, trying to get his footing as Eddie stepped between his feet. His entire body arched as Eddie’s knee pressed between his legs and then came down to rest between his knees. His mouth fell open and he stared down at Eddie, lust filling the open spots of confusion in his mind.
“Wh-”
“Marry me.” Eddie whispered, fingers running up his arms, pushing off his black shirt. Buck was still pressed against the door, but he managed to readjust so his arms weren’t pinned behind him. He reached out and put his fingers around Eddie’s wrist, holding him away for a moment so he could think clearly.
“Eddie, what are yo-” His breath was punched out of his lungs and he took an extra second to calm his breathing. He focused his eyes on Eddie, leaning forward so he could see him better. “What are you saying?”
“I want you to marry me. I want us to be together, and raise Chris together, and maybe have more kids down the line. Like, a little girl. You would be good with a daughter.” Eddie pressed his lips against Buck’s neck with the words, threatening to leave a mark as Buck made a noise in his throat.
“But you're straight.” Buck said helplessly, lost in the conversation and lost in Eddie’s eyes. They were swimming with desire, and lust, and they were so brown. Eddie just shook his head, a smile on his lips as they dropped down to his collarbone.
“I’m not, Buck. I haven't been for a long time.“ The words fell against Buck’s skin and he only just managed to hold back a wrecked groan. His fingers tightened around Eddie’s hips, which made Eddie lean forward, chasing something and when they met in the middle, hips against hips, they both whispered moans into the air.
“You want me.” It wasn’t a question, but Buck sort of thought it was. He just wanted to be sure, he just wanted Eddie to say it, that he wanted him. That he needed him. Eddie nodded, his face serious as he tucked a curl behind Buck’s ear.
“Did you miss the part when I said I wanted to have kids with you?” Eddie whispered, his mouth pressing into the corner of Buck’s. Not quite a kiss, but the promise of one, and Buck’s self-control snapped like a rubberband. He chased Eddie’s mouth and shoved his body against Eddie’s, running his tongue across his lips for entrance. Eddie’s mouth fell open a second later and Buck let himself fall recklessly in love. Buck moaned into him, and Eddie’s hips grinded against his as the door thumped behind them.
“I love you.” The words fell out of Buck’s mouth onto Eddie’s and he groaned when he heard them, pulling Buck toward the bedroom, dragging his top off as they went. Eddie was making soft sounds, his breath catching in his throat and it was driving Buck crazy.
“I love you.” Buck murmured again, shoving Eddie into the bed and dropping their mouths back together again. He was only on top of Eddie for a second before he got flipped over, and Eddie straddled his thighs. Their clothes were discarded on the floor and Buck’s eyelashes were fluttering from the contact. Every nerve in his body was on fire from Eddie, and his mind seemed to be playing an unskippable ad of Eddie moaning.
“I love you.”
For a moment Buck thought he’d said it again, but then he realized it was Eddie and he groaned again, swallowing around Eddie’s tongue in his mouth. Buck’s head fell back, and he felt Eddie’s teeth against his neck, felt Eddie’s hand around them.
“Yes.”
“I know, fuck, this is-”
“No, Eddie,” Buck dragged his face up to his so he could press a kiss to Eddie’s mouth. “Yes… I’ll marry you.”
Ridin' in a getaway car. There were sirens in the beat of your heart. No, nothin' good starts in a getaway car.