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Eddie grumbled as he circled the same few blocks, looking for parking that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Finally he gave up and pulled into the nearest parking garage.
He really didn’t know why he and Buck couldn’t have grabbed coffee closer to either of their neighborhoods. Or even just at one of their houses. Eddie’s Mr. Coffee had been serving him just fine for the last ten years. Buck always claimed it tasted burnt, as if he could tell through all that milk and sugar. Buck had one of those fancy machines at his place that used little pods, plus a milk frother thing. That was always fine with Eddie. He wasn’t picky about coffee.
But Buck had said this place had the best caramel brown sugar oatmilk lattes in the city. And he’d been trying to reverse engineer and figure out what it was about their orange cranberry scones he wasn’t getting quite right when he made them at home.
Eddie walked up to the place and was halfway to the door when he spotted Buck waving at him from one of the outdoor tables, shaded by an umbrella.
“Hey, lemme grab my coffee and I’ll be right back,” Eddie called over to him.
Buck gestured to the cup in front of the empty seat across from him. “I got it.”
Eddie settled into his seat and watched while Buck sniffed at a scone, brow furrowed in concentration.
“I wonder if they use buttermilk…” Buck said, mostly to himself.
“You could always ask.”
Buck gave Eddie a look like that was a ridiculous suggestion.
Eddie picked up his coffee and took a swig. Hot, black coffee, one Sweet n Low, exactly how he liked it. It was good too, nice and smooth, not bitter. Buck set down the scone for now and took a sip of his own drink - something iced with lots of milk and Eddie was pretty sure that was a caramel drizzle around the inside of the cup.
“Parking was a bitch,” Eddie said, sitting back in his chair before he crossed his legs. “Where did you park?”
“Oh, I got a ride,” Buck shrugged. “I didn’t really think a-about parking.”
Eddie took another swig of his coffee, then Buck slid a scone across to him. “Try this and tell me why it’s better than mine.”
Eddie was doubtful this scone would be better than Buck’s. He was definitely a big fan of Buck’s baking. He was glad the baking hadn’t stopped once Buck and Tommy got back together. In fact, it got even better. Every time Eddie went to Buck’s place he had some new thing he was trying out - his new mixer, his new convection oven.
If Eddie had the capacity to worry about a credit score besides his own, he’d worry about Buck’s. He’d looked up Buck’s new mixer right after he got it, because it was some weird brand he’d never heard of called Ankarsrum. That thing cost $800. For a mixer!
Eddie dutifully took a bite of the scone. It was definitely good, the orange flavor was bright and the cranberry was tart.
“I don’t know, I like yours better. Yours don’t have as many cranberries.”
“S-so I should add more cranberries?”
Eddie shrugged. “I said I liked yours better.”
Buck picked up his phone and made a note while Eddie shoved another bite of scone into his mouth. Buck got distracted by something on his phone, his lips curving into a specific smile.
“Text from Tommy?” Eddie asked before popping the last of the scone into his mouth.
“Uh..yeah..” Buck said sheepishly. “We’re gonna go shopping for a fridge later.”
Eddie’s brows rose. “A fridge huh? To share? You gonna move in together?”
“N-no,” Buck said, playing with the straw in his drink. “I mean, we’ve…we’ve talked about it. Maybe we’ll have a more serious talk w-when it’s time for me to extend or end the lease on my place. I mean, I want to but…we know how that went last time I-I asked so…”
Eddie nodded in acknowledgement. “Though it’s different for you guys this time, right? You’ve said so yourself.”
A smile crept back onto Buck’s face. The Tommy Smile. “It is.”
Eddie couldn’t help his smile too. He was so damn happy for Buck. “So, who is the fridge for?”
“Me,” Buck said. “Tommy said he wanted to uh…to get me a new one. So I’m gonna stick the old one in the garage until I move out.” Buck shifted gears into excitement, scrolling and tapping on his phone. “You wanna see the one I’m probably gonna get? It’s awesome.”
Eddie picked up Buck’s phone after he slid it across the table. He didn’t really have strong opinions about fridges but this one was nice. Multiple freezer drawers, a clear front. He scrolled down to look at the specs, curious about the size, when his eyes landed on the price.
“Sixteen thousand dollars?!” Eddie practically shouted.
“What?” Buck reached out for his phone. “Really?”
Buck looked at his phone screen in surprise, but not quite as much shock as Eddie was feeling.
“Why’d you pick it? Didn’t you look at the price?”
“No,” Buck admitted, putting the phone back down. “Tommy said he’d get me a fridge, then sent me a link to this Sub-Zero brand. The one he suggested is a smaller version of the one he has at his house.”
“So you’re letting Tommy buy you a $16,000 fridge?” Eddie asked incredulously.
“He wants to,” Buck shrugged again. “I didn’t know it cost that much but it should be fine.’
“Should be fine?! Buck that’s like two months salary!”
Eddie didn’t really give much thought to how much money the people in his life made. He supposed a pilot would be making more than he was. But that was…a lot.
“It’s fine,” Buck repeated, waving a hand.
“How is it fine? He win the lottery or something?”
“No, of course not.” Buck laughed. “It’s just his inheritance.”
Buck said it like it was a totally normal thing that was common knowledge. Eddie just blinked at him from behind his sunglasses.
“Inheritance from what?”
“Oh uh…well…his family is pretty well off. O-on his mom’s side. I don’t really know from what, though. It goes like, way back. And then his grandfather made a lot of good investments so it got even b-bigger.”
“Wait so…so Tommy’s rich?”
“Yeah. I thought you knew that.”
“And you just let him spend a bunch of money on you?”
Buck gave him an odd look. “I don’t see why not? H-he likes to take me shopping for clothes and shoes and stuff. He likes getting me b-baking stuff. He pays for dates…What’s the big deal?”
Eddie struggled to find words. “Doesn’t it bother you? Like, don’t you want to pay for your own stuff? Isn’t it kind of…”
“Kind of what?” Buck challenged.
Eddie wanted to say emasculating but he paused. He’d had to check himself in the last several years to look past his upbringing and the ideas of what the man was supposed to do and what the woman was supposed to do. He understood, of course, that wasn’t the way it had to be and that same sex couples didn’t fall into categories like that. But as much as he challenged it in himself it was still his default.
But, gender roles aside, he didn’t think his own pride would allow for his partner to pay for things like that.
Eddie took a minute to think about how to put his thoughts into words. “I guess it would feel uneven to me.”
“I could see that,” Buck said, taking another sip of his coffee. “But it doesn’t feel that way to me. He has the money, h-he wants to spend it how he wants to spend it. It makes him happy and it’s not a big deal. Like, think about all the stuff I bake you. You never b-bring me anything back.”
“Because you like doing it…” Eddie said, letting it all sink in. He sighed. “Okay fine. It just…I think it would be hard for me.’
“It’s easier than you think,” Buck grinned. “In fact, you’ve been doing it pretty well.”
“Wait, what?” Eddie asked, confused. “What do you mean?”
“Tommy literally flew you to Vegas for that big fight.”
“Yeah but he said his friend got him the tickets,” Eddie argued.
“No, his friend found the tickets. Tommy still had to pay for them. It probably wasn’t cheap if the fight was sold out, right?”
Eddie’s stomach tightened a little. He hadn’t really thought about it. Tommy had just taken care of it.
“Okay…”
“A-and that part you needed for the Chevelle? Whatever it was uh…it was some hard to find thing but Tommy found it?”
Eddie cringed. He’d been looking for that part for a long time but all the listings he could find were way too expensive. Tommy had told him he knew a guy and…oh and Tommy hadn’t even let him pay him back.
Eddie raked his fingers through his hair. He felt a little nauseous about it all, like he’d somehow been taking advantage without knowing it.
“And just know, every time I pick up the tab, it’s really Tommy. Hell, he handed me cash this morning before I left his place so I could buy our coffee,” Buck grinned, seeming amused by Eddie’s discomfort. “I always thought you knew.”
Eddie looked down at the mostly-finished coffee in his hand, letting it all sink in. “Well, now I feel like I should offer to pay him back for every-”
“Don’t,” Buck said firmly. “I think it would make him kind of…kind of sad. He’s had people get weird about it before. He likes being able to do this stuff.”
Eddie sighed, then drank the last of his coffee. He didn’t really fully understand it but he could respect it.
“Fine,” he said, a little dramatically. “I guess I’ll let my best friend’s sugar daddy pay for everything.”
Buck threw a bit of scone at Eddie and it hit him in the shoulder, then fell into his lap.
“He’s not my sugar daddy,” Buck protested, then added with a little grin. “But I’d let him if he wanted to be.”
Eddie laughed, brushing the crumbs off himself. “Think you could ever just…not work? I don’t think you have it in you, bud. You’d still work.”
Not that he wanted to bring up the lawsuit (not the best era of their friendship) but Buck had had the chance to get a pretty big payout and all he’d wanted was to come back to his job. He loved it that much.
“Of course I’d stay at the 118,” Buck said easily. “I mean, Tommy definitely doesn’t need to work but he still does it because he loves it.”
They chatted a while longer until a familiar man approached their table with a big, crinkly eyed smile.
“Hey,” Tommy said, tossing a little head nod at Eddie before he turned toward Buck. His smile shifted into something softer and sweeter, then he leaned down and gave Buck a kiss. “Hey,” he said with a much different tone.
Eddie looked at Tommy, studying him. He was still the same guy Eddie had known before - friendly, funny, sarcastic, and very very soft for Evan Buckley.
“You mind if I steal him?” Tommy asked Eddie, his hand casually resting on Buck’s shoulder, thumb stroking his neck. “We’ve got fridges to look at.”
Eddie held his hands open. “Steal away. You kids have fun.”
“We will,” Buck said. He reached for his empty cup and the little bag the scones had come in, but Tommy snatched them before he had a chance.
“Take care, man,” Tommy said to Eddie before he made for the nearest trash can.
“Later,” Eddie called after him, then grinned at Buck. “Send me pics of the new fridge, alright?”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later,” Buck said, absolutely beaming.
Buck jogged over to catch up with Tommy, who put a hand on the small of Buck’s back as they walked up to a black towncar. Buck turned back and waved at Eddie before he climbed in.
Even if he was still coming to grips with what he now knew about Tommy, Eddie smiled, warmth filling his chest at seeing his best friend so well cared for, like he deserved to be.