Chapter Text
Buck was in a hell of his own making.
Not that he could blame anyone but himself. He really should have backed off. Tommy had probably tried letting him down easy. And Buck should have read the room and accepted that friendship was all he’d get with Tommy. Only he’d wanted more, he’d wanted so much more, and now, he stood in front of a reality where he would have nothing.
But he couldn’t handle that. He didn’t think he could continue his life without Tommy in it. If nothing else, he would take friendship. If Tommy was still willing to offer Buck that after everything that had happened.
Buck gave it a couple of days just so he could give Tommy space. It also gave him the opportunity to put his apology plan into motion. Whenever he had a moment free at home, he had his laptop open and tried his best to learn how to make baked Alaska.
Tommy had mentioned the dessert before when they were at a restaurant, and how much he loved it but rarely got to indulge in it. Buck hadn’t ever had it, and when he found out what it was, he felt a little in over his head, but he was determined to succeed. If nothing else, Tommy had a dessert he hadn’t had in a long time.
Buck tried his best. He started off learning the sponge cake base, and if he did say so himself, he got that under control pretty quickly. He moved on to meringue and that was a whole lot harder. Mostly because there were so many different variants. French was apparently the easiest to make, but Italian was one that was apparently commonly used in baked Alaska. He tried his hand at several different variants.
The ice cream was almost the easiest part. When he started his attempts at assembling the different layers, he used store-bought ice cream, but he had an ice cream machine that he had used many times before. The hardest part was getting the layers right, it turned out.
In the end, after he had bombarded his friends with the results of his practice runs, he finally reached a point where he was happy with his creation. Where he felt like this was a worthy apology gift.
He had Eddie check in with Tommy to find out when he’d be home, and Eddie did the spy work with no complaints, seemingly guilty for what had transpired between Buck and Tommy as if any of that was his fault. He sent the answer to Buck via text, and wished him good luck, and so, Buck was off.
The garage door to Tommy’s home was slightly open when Buck arrived, and he could hear the music playing. Just as Tommy had told Eddie, he was home and working on a couple projects.
Buck hesitated when he got out of the car, his baked Alaska balanced on one hand. Should he enter through the garage? He had done that a couple of times while he and Tommy were hanging out and it had never been a problem, but now, Buck wasn’t sure whether he was still allowed that special treatment. But he also didn’t want to ring the doorbell or knock, because he knew that Tommy only very rarely heard that when he was in the garage.
In the end, Buck decided to bite the bullet and get this over with. He ducked under the garage door inside, finding Tommy standing by his workbench. His hands were clean, so whatever he had done on his car that he had told Eddie about was done.
Buck scuffed the sole of his shoe against the floor on purpose to catch Tommy’s attention. Tommy’s head jerked up and to the side, and his eyes widened when he saw Buck coming closer. He seemed to freeze for just a moment.
Buck tried for a reassuring smile. “I come in peace,” he offered. “And I brought you something.”
Tommy looked confused. His eyes flicked between Buck and the tinfoil covered plate he was holding. “What?” he asked.
Buck lifted the plate a bit higher. “A peace offering,” he said. “For how I behaved. We-uh, we should probably bring it inside before it melts.”
Tommy didn’t stop looking confused, but there was something different on his face as he nodded and waved Buck to follow him into the house. Maybe something like hope? But Buck wasn’t sure how that would make sense. Tommy stopped by the door to press the button to close the garage door, and Buck had to smile. Tommy had told him the story of Odin and the racoon.
Buck put the plate down on the kitchen counter once he reached the kitchen, and Tommy regarded it with curiosity. Buck watched him take off the tinfoil with bated breath. He hoped Tommy would like it. What if Tommy thought this was stupid? It in no way made up for what Buck had done-
Only Tommy’s face relaxed into something like wonder. He looked up at Buck. “You made baked Alaska?” he asked, his voice soft. Those were the first words he’d spoken since Buck had entered the garage.
Buck felt his face heat up and he sheepishly brought a hand to the back of his neck. “Uh-yeah, yeah, y-you-uh, you mentioned you never got to have them, so I-uh, I thought that’d you’d- you know, like it.”
Tommy’s eyes were bright. “I love it,” he breathed. “God, Evan, no-one’s ever done something like that for me.”
“You-uh, you wanna try it?” Buck asked. “I hope I remembered your favorite flavors right.”
The dessert wasn’t that large since Buck didn’t want Tommy to get sick on the surplus of sugar. Still, Tommy didn’t stop looking at Buck like he had done something special and incredible, and Buck had the cautious hope that his friendship with Tommy wasn’t ruined just yet.
Tommy shoved the first forkful into his mouth, and Buck’s brain took a dive through his body when the next thing that came out of Tommy was an appreciative moan.
“You made this?” he asked, going for another bite. “On your own?”
“After a lot of trial and error, yeah,” Buck said, trying to wave it off. “I wanted to do something nice for you after everything.”
Tommy quirked an eyebrow. “After everything?”
Okay, so they were doing this. Buck swallowed down the lump in his throat and took a deep breath after. He could do this. Tommy at the very least didn’t seem angry, and he had obviously appreciated what Buck had made for him.
“Because of the other night. Because of the way I behaved. I wanted to apologize.”
Tommy looked confused again. He put the fork down. “You have nothing to apologize for, Evan.”
Buck shook his head. “No, uh, no, I do. Please.” When Tommy didn’t speak further, Buck continued. “I-I’m sorry for- for coming on too strong. I should have accepted that you didn’t- didn’t want to.”
Tommy turned around to face Buck fully, a furrow between his eyebrows like he was stumped by what Buck had just said.
“You came onto me?” he asked.
Now, it was Buck’s turn to be stumped. “Y-yeah?” he said. “I’ve been doing that the whole time? I’ve taken you out on so many dates now, and I’m sorry for not taking the hint.”
Tommy’s face speed ran through different expressions. His eyes flickered left and right, and he looked for a moment like he had a revelation. Then, he met Buck’s eyes and there was something vulnerable there. Something almost- almost scared.
“You’re straight,” Tommy said, two words Buck had never expected and didn’t exactly know how to react to.
Because, what? No, he wasn’t. And he had never said that, either, he would have remembered accidentally saying something like that. And he wouldn’t have said it, even accidentally, because it would have ruined his chances with Tommy.
Buck found his voice to stutter out, “I-I’m bi?”
Tommy- Tommy looked devastated. He moved closer, an aborted movement, and raised his arm but didn’t try to touch Buck.
“Howie told me you’re straight,” he said, an almost desperate tone to his voice. “Hen told me you’re straight.”
Buck’s mouth dropped open, his mind racing to put everything that happened into context. Both he and Tommy stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment as both of them seemed to come to the same conclusion.
“I’m bi,” Buck said again.
“You’re bi,” Tommy echoed, looking almost shellshocked. “And you- you’ve been asking me out?”
Buck nodded. “All the time. Tommy, ever since we met, I tried-” He halted.
Tommy shook his head minutely. “God, if I’d known …” His mouth pressed tightly together. “I thought I could trust Hen, at least. I asked them because I- I wanted to see whether I could- but Howie was so sure, and then Hen backed him up, and I thought I was imagining things.”
“So, you- you were interested in me?” Buck asked.
“Evan,” Tommy said, sounding a little exasperated. “Of course I’m interested in you! I just didn’t think you wanted anything with me.”
“I did,” Buck protested, and then continued, “I do!”
Tommy shook his head in disbelief. He looked at Buck, something like realization or clarity spreading out over his face. “So, all of these things, the- the pictures and the grinding and everything-”
“I was trying to get your attention,” Buck confirmed. “All the time. I just wanted you, and you gotta tell me you want me back, because it’s kinda exhaust-”
Buck didn’t finish his sentence. Two fingers found their spot underneath his chin and brought him in, and the rest of his words were muffled, swallowed by a soft mouth slotting in with his. For a moment, Buck was too shocked to move. He’d been waiting for this for so long, and now that it happened- he couldn’t just freeze up. He moved into Tommy, brought a hand to his shoulder, and returned the kiss, opened his mouth slightly.
Tommy followed, pulled him in tighter, closer, and Buck wrapped both of his arms around his neck so he could pull him down, keep him there, keep him from pulling back. Only it seemed like that was the last thing Tommy wanted to do. He held tight onto Buck, and when they moved into each other, his mouth opened wider on a gasp. Buck didn’t wait, let his tongue slip out of his mouth and into Tommy’s.
Tommy made a sound, something surprised that turned into an appreciative hum. It lit a fire in Buck’s stomach, and he was gripped by the need to hear more. He wanted to hear what else he could get out of Tommy, and what it would take. His mouth tasted sweet from the baked Alaska.
Finally, they had to move apart. Buck was breathing hard, and so was Tommy. His breath hit his open, spit-slick mouth, and he wanted nothing more than to haul him in and kiss him again, fit his mouth on him and keep him there. But Tommy avoided him, playfully nudging their noses together, and kept him in place by his grip on Buck’s waist. God, he was so fucking strong.
“Was that okay?” Tommy asked, breathless.
Of all the things he could have asked. But Buck also knew where he was coming from. It made so much sense - Tommy had thought he was straight. So, all along, he hadn’t known how to properly read Buck’s behavior, and so, he couldn’t have responded to it accordingly.
“More than,” Buck breathed. “So much more than okay, Tommy, oh God.”
He half-leaned forward, mouth parted, trying to fall into Tommy and kiss him again, kiss him over and over and never stop. He’d wanted this for so long. It was everything he had wanted and more. But Tommy denied him that once again.
“Tommy,” he whined, dragging the vowel in the end out.
In return, Tommy huffed out a soft laugh. “Evan,” he returned, much less whiny. “Don’t you think we should talk about this?”
“We’ve done nothing but talk!” Buck protested. “I don’t wanna talk, Tommy, I want you, I want you so bad, you have no idea …”
“Nah, I think I do. Evan, please. Just a moment.”
Now, it was Buck’s turn to huff. But he did as asked, and loosened his arms from around Tommy. When Tommy dropped his hands from his hips, Buck stepped back instead of trying to get another kiss in.
They looked at each other for a moment. Buck took in Tommy’s wide pupils and how his mouth was a little redder than usual. There was a slight blush on his cheeks, and Buck wanted to see more.
“So,” he said. “That convince you I’m not straight?”
Tommy groaned and turned away from him, and Buck laughed, following behind him. He wanted to be close, felt like he and Tommy were two magnets pulling each other in.
“Hey, I asked trusted friends of yours. I don’t think it’s my fault that they don’t know anything about you.”
“But you didn’t question it at all? Even when I was grinding on you?”
Tommy shrugged. “I mean, I questioned it all the time. But Howie was so sure, and he said that’s just how you are, so I couldn’t be sure what was out of the ordinary for you.”
“It was out of the ordinary. I don’t grind on my friends.”
“What, am I not your friend?” Tommy asked, deadpan delivery and everything.
Buck hit him in the shoulder. “You know you’re more than that! I want you so bad, all the time, you can’t be just a friend.”
Tommy had a soft smile on his face. “I want you, too. All the time.”
A strangled noise clawed its way out of Buck’s throat. “Please, let me kiss you again.”
His eyes got caught on the movement of Tommy’s Adam’s apple when he swallowed. He didn’t wait for him to find something else they would need to talk about, pulled him in with a hand on the back of his head, and kissed him. He moved forward and into Tommy when his arm came up around Buck’s waist until they were pressed tightly together, and Buck could feel a faint hint of the heat of Tommy’s body through their clothes.
This time, there was little playing around, and Tommy was quick to slip him some tongue, and that was exactly what Buck had wanted. He grabbed Tommy by the hip and pulled him in, rolling his body in one continuous wave against Tommy’s front.
Pressing harder into him, Tommy started moving Buck backwards until he hit the counter. Both of Tommy’s hands came to grab his waist, and Buck didn’t have time to realize what was happening before it had already happened and Tommy had picked him up and sat him down on the counter without separating their mouths.
Buck put one hand on the marble countertop to steady himself, pushed his other hand up to bury his fingers in Tommy’s hair. He tightened his grip, pulled him in tighter, tried to bury himself deeper in Tommy’s open mouth. He spread his legs when Tommy put one of his hands on the inside of his knee to accommodate Tommy’s bulk between his thighs. He pulled one leg up, tried to hook it over Tommy’s hip, but it slid down until Tommy gripped it and held it up, hauled himself closer to line their bodies up perfectly.
Buck gasped. His bottom lip caught on Tommy’s top one, and his mouth streaked along Tommy’s cheek bone and to his jaw. He brought his teeth to the sharp angle, scraped them along the stubble, stuck his tongue out to taste the skin.
Tommy’s breath hit the side of his neck. Buck pushed himself closer, more into Tommy, and nudged him a bit so his mouth came closer to his skin. He took the hint, and pressed heated kisses against Buck’s neck. Took the skin between his teeth and bit down gently, then a bit harder when Buck groaned encouragingly.
With his other hand still in Tommy’s hair, Buck loosened his hand on the counter to bring it to the front and start one-handedly fumbling with Tommy’s belt. Tommy dropped Buck’s leg and brought both hands to his waist, pushing first his finger, and then one large hand under Buck’s shirt, moving it up so he could run touches up his spine. And Buck had been dying to finally get Tommy’s hands on his skin, it was like everything he hoped it’d be.
Buck finally got the clasp open, but before he could do anything like get the button open and stick his hand down Tommy’s pants, Tommy suddenly wrenched himself away from him, leaving Buck out of breath and flushed on the counter.
“Wha-” he started in protest, but his words got lost when he saw why Tommy had let him go.
With one hand, he had scooped the massive body of his cat off of the counter. His long body hung loosely from Tommy’s hand buried in the thick black fur of his chest. Odin meowed at him, as if protesting.
“What’re you doing, you little bastard?” Tommy cooed at him. “That’s not for you. No, that’s all mine, you little stupid dumb fuck.”
“Don’t be mean!” Buck said, scandalized.
Tommy laughed, kissed Odin’s forehead, and dropped him back to the floor. “As if that asshole doesn’t try to kill me with his eye every single day.” He turned to the counter, where the plate with the baked Alaska still stood. “We should probably slow down a bit.”
Buck didn’t want to slow down at all, but he took a deep breath and nodded. Their emotions were heightened, and there was a lot of confusion they still had to work through. Buck couldn’t believe Chim and Hen would do this to him, tell the man of his dreams that he was- was fucking straight. He hadn’t been in months!
He climbed off of the counter. His skin tingled where Tommy had touched him. He felt light, almost floaty, from that kiss. It must have been what true freedom felt like.
Tommy grabbed the plate and fork, then reached back to take Buck’s hand with a smile. He pulled him along, and Buck followed.
He pulled him into the living room. Buck sat down next to Tommy on the couch, watched him balance the plate on his legs.
“You’re gonna eat that while we talk?” he asked.
Tommy shrugged. “It’s gonna melt.” He looked at Buck, his head tilted slightly to the side. “You have no idea how much this means to me, do you.”
Buck blushed a little. “It’s not a big deal,” he tried to wave off. “Anyone could have made this.”
There was a fond look in Tommy’s eyes, and Buck only now realized how much Tommy had hidden before. “Yeah, you don’t have a clue.” He leaned in to plant another soft kiss on Buck’s mouth. “Share it with me?”
With a laugh, Buck scooted closer. “What, you’ll insult your own cat for trying to eat this but you’ll actually share it with me?”
“I’m not trying to date my cat, Evan,” Tommy retorted with an eyeroll. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he’d get sick if I gave him this, and then, he’d puke all over my kitchen floor.”
Buck pulled his legs up and crossed them, leaning a little closer to Tommy again. Tommy held out his fork for Buck, and Buck took the offered bite. And he’d had a bit of the other attempts he had made, but for the most part, he’d made the rest of his family eat them or given them away whenever he had the chance, but he had to say, he understood why Tommy liked these things so much.
They shared the baked Alaska, and talked a little bit. Mostly about when Buck found out his sexuality. Once Tommy put the empty plate and the fork on the couch table, Buck moved closer, and kissed Tommy again, his mouth sweet and sticky, and a bit cold. Buck sighed and leaned in more, raised one hand to put it on Tommy’s cheek. He was quickly growing obsessed with the way Tommy opened his mouth so readily under Buck.
Once they pulled apart, Buck looked into Tommy’s face, at that expression of something like wonder. Maybe relief. Buck had to kiss him again, that beautiful mouth, still half-open and shiny with Buck’s own saliva. Tommy’s hand was a comforting weight on Buck’s waist.
“How long?” Tommy asked quietly when they separated again.
“Hm?” Buck hummed in return, ready to just ignore all attempts at talking. He had Tommy. He had him now, there was no way he was letting him get away.
But Tommy seemed adamant on that talking. He put his hands on Buck’s shoulders and pushed him back a little bit. “How long have you tried-”
He trailed off, as if unsure how to put it. How long had Buck tried seducing him? How long had he wanted him? Way too long.
“Since the day I met you,” Buck said instead. “You just- you threw in with us. You,” and a grin appeared on his face, “even made fake mouth static at the fire chief.”
Tommy laughed softly. “I’m renowned for my fake mouth static,” he said with a grin, and Buck rolled his eyes which Tommy caught with an affronted, “Hey!”
Buck laughed and continued, “I thought you were so cool. ’s why I asked for the tour. I wanted to scope you out. Get to know you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Tommy’s eyes were firmly focused on Buck’s face, those unbelievable storm-blue eyes, framed by thick, dark eyelashes, with the hint of those wrinkles that deepened when he smiled … God, how Buck had wanted them on him. How he had begged for them to be on him. He felt whole with Tommy’s attention on him, rested in a way he rarely did. This was all he’d wanted.
“I can’t remember wanting someone this much,” Buck started, trailing his fingers down the side of Tommy’s neck. “I’ve been with many people. Women, mostly, and men since this year, but- God, Tommy, you make me crazy.”
“Makes two of us,” Tommy admitted in return, hands again on Buck’s waist. He pulled him closer, and Buck moved, swung his leg over Tommy’s thighs so he could straddle him.
He could feel the way Tommy’s breath picked up a little. His mouth was just slightly open, and his breath gently hit the skin of Buck’s throat. A hint of what was to come.
“So, we’re on the same page, right? You-you want me, I want you. And you-” He paused for a moment, remembering something that Tommy had said in the kitchen. “You wanna date me.”
Tommy quirked an eyebrow at him. “If you tell me you only want a one time thing-”
“No, no, no,” Buck denied immediately. “Definitely not. I want-” He took a breath. “I want to be with you.”
The smile that broke out over Tommy’s face made Buck’s heart skip a beat. It was unreal, the effect this man had on him. It was amazing. Buck raised his hands to the back of Tommy’s head and brought him in closer.
“Okay,” Tommy murmured, eyes half-open and mouth the same. They were so close. “Okay, great.”
He moved his head up a little, closer to Buck. His nose nudged against Buck’s cheek, and he followed the silent request, finally letting his mouth find Tommy’s again. He didn’t bother keeping the little sound down that escaped him along with his exhale. Tommy should know how much he affected him. Buck wanted to show him everything, and he hoped that Tommy would return the favor. He also wanted to see everything from Tommy, after all.
They kissed over and over, and Buck explored Tommy’s mouth as much as he could. Tommy pushed his hands up Buck’s back under his shirt again.
They moved from their position without separating until they were on their sides, pressed up against one another. Their legs were tangled together, Tommy’s hands still moving along Buck’s back. Buck had one of his hands on Tommy’s jaw, and the other one shoved under the front of his shirt, tracing the lines of his abs and the trail of hair leading down from his belly button, slowly inching his way up and down.
Their kisses were slow, unhurried, syrupy. Buck could have probably stayed like that forever, but he shifted his weight a little bit, and his leg slipped further between Tommy’s, and his thigh nudged up against Tommy’s crotch and- oh. He remembered how the shape of Tommy’s hardening cock felt against his backside, and now, he felt its heat on his thigh, and he was gripped by hunger.
He wanted.
And now, he could take. So, he deepened the next kiss more, bringing his tongue further into it, making it wet and hot, and brought the hand he’d had under Tommy’s shirt down to where his belt was still undone. He’d never re-buckled it when they had moved from the kitchen to the living room.
Buck had to take his hands off of Tommy for a moment to deal with his jeans, and he hated not having that skin contact, so he made quick work of it. One of his hands got shoved under the shirt again, the other past the elastic waistband of Tommy’s boxers.
Tommy gasped against Buck’s mouth, and Buck leaned into him, didn’t allow him to move away from him. His fingers brushed through the hair curling at the base of Tommy’s dick before wrapping around it. It felt thick and heavy in Buck’s hand and he groaned softly, slowly starting to stroke it in the confines of Tommy’s shorts.
“Evan,” Tommy murmured into his mouth, sounding a little more strained, definitely breathless. “Come on, I have a bed.”
Reluctantly, Buck pulled his hand out of Tommy’s pants. He took a moment to look at his face, took in the blush on his cheeks, and his kiss-red lips, and his wide and dark pupils. He looked good, so fucking good. With some flailing, Buck got off of the couch, and Tommy rightened himself up into a sitting position before he followed, standing up.
It brought him right back into Buck’s space, and he planted another kiss on Buck’s mouth. Buck would have gladly gone back to what they had done before, but Tommy put a hand on his back and moved him, started guiding him away from the couch and up the stairs.
Once they were in the bedroom, they closed the door behind them, because Tommy was very particular about not letting Odin into the room – he tries to eat everything in that room, Evan, I’m not ready for that vet bill.
Tommy took his shirt by the collar and pulled it over his head, and Buck took a moment to stare. He’d seen Tommy shirtless before, and he’d stared before, but now, he was allowed to. And he could touch. Which he did, putting a hand on Tommy’s abdomen and pushing it up to squeeze one of his pecs. Tommy huffed out a chuckle.
“Come on,” he encouraged, tugging on the bottom of Buck’s shirt. “You, too.”
They divested themselves of their clothes one item after the other, dropping them on the floor as they made their way to the bed, Buck walking backwards, pressing kiss after kiss against Tommy’s mouth.
When they reached the bed, Buck sat down on the edge, and Tommy planted one knee on the mattress, leaning down so they could stay close. Buck sucked on Tommy’s bottom lip for a moment, then dragged his teeth along it as he let it go. He didn’t allow them to be parted for longer than a breath, diving right back in.
Pressure on his shoulders made Buck use his hands on the mattress to push himself up and back, following the direction Tommy was guiding him into until he was at the top end of the bed. He lowered himself back, head and shoulders resting on the pillows, and Tommy came down with him. He couldn’t have done anything else, because Buck’s hand was firmly placed in the back of his neck to keep them connected.
Tommy’s solid weight settled on top of him and pressed him down into the mattress. Buck moved his legs, spread them a little bit so Tommy could fit between them, and oh fuck, there was a slight stretch in the tendons of Buck’s hips to accommodate Tommy’s broad body, and Buck was obsessed with that. He moved a little bit to get comfortable, wrapped his arms around Tommy’s waist, and pulled him in tight.
Their cocks brushed together, and Buck pulled out of the kiss on a moan. Tommy took the opportunity to mouth at Buck’s jaw again, and slowly trail his teeth to his throat. Buck gasped and tipped his chin back, allowing Tommy more space. He’d wanted Tommy’s teeth in his skin for so long. He brought a hand up to the back of Tommy’s head and pushed him down, made him put more pressure on him. Tommy understood, and bit down harder, moved down to suck and bite bruises into the skin of Buck’s collarbones, low enough that a shirt would hide it.
On the one hand, very thoughtful of Tommy. On the other, Buck wanted nothing more than to be marked by him, visibly so.
Tommy moved down Buck’s chest and between his pecs, got his open mouth and tongue all over him.
“Tommy,” Buck breathed, and then again, because he finally could, over and over, “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.”
The hands on his body gripped him tighter, ran over his skin and groped at his muscles, and Buck readily moved into them as Tommy made his way down, down, down, leaving trails of spit behind that cooled in the open air. Tommy bit the soft give of the skin of his abdomen, and Buck moaned softly, felt his dick twitch, and precum drip onto his stomach.
One of his hands moved to the top of Tommy’s head, threading through his hair, and for a moment, he was lost, imagining what Tommy’s hot mouth would feel like wrapped around his cock, swallowing him down, and then, he thought about the reverse – what Tommy’s dick would feel like in Buck’s mouth, whether he’d fill him up like he imagined, and that desire suddenly came back with a frenzy.
So, Buck planted his feet and pulled Tommy back up with the hand in his hair, and Tommy hissed at the pull, but before Buck could apologize, the hiss turned into a bit of a moan.
“You like that?” Buck asked, rough and delighted. “You like getting your hair pulled?”
Tommy leaned into the grip, as if to lessen it slightly, but he didn’t look like he was trying to get out of it. “Sometimes,” he said, a little out of breath. “And only at the roots.”
Which was what Buck did for the most part. He tightened his grip again and released slightly, and he watched Tommy’s eyelashes flutter for a moment. Buck surged up to kiss him, he needed to or he would die. Tommy dropped down to brace against the mattress on one elbow and brought his other hand down to Buck’s thigh, hiking his leg up a little. He lined them up and rolled his hips, grinding his cock into Buck’s, and built up a steady rhythm.
Buck moved into him, with him for a moment. He loved having Tommy’s massive frame push him into the mattress, loved to feel the power shifting under his skin. None of the men he’d been with before were like Tommy, but even if they had been, nothing could take this special, wonderous feeling out of this.
Tommy buried a soft moan against Buck’s bottom lip, and Buck finally decided to move. He needed more of these sounds, louder ones, too. With his free hand, he took Tommy’s that was holding his leg by the knee, and brought it up by their heads. Tommy hummed and threaded their fingers together, and for a moment, Buck took it in. Then, he hooked his leg around Tommy’s hip and turned them over so he could sit up straddling Tommy’s lap.
“Fuck,” Tommy breathed.
A smirk pulled up the corner of Buck’s mouth. He pushed a quick, hard kiss down on Tommy’s mouth, then moved to drag his teeth down his chin, took a moment to dig them into the cleft. “Yeah?” he asked, still smiling.
Tommy’s hands moved up and down his back, over his arms, and to his ass, feeling him up with a strong, sure grip.
Eyes closed, Buck moved down, did the same routine that Tommy had given him before, made his way down Tommy’s body with his mouth, his hands coming up to touch him wherever his mouth wasn’t.
His fingers brushed against a rough patch of skin on the side of Tommy’s ribcage, and he opened his eyes again, moved his mouth there to trace the scar tissue. The skin jumped under his attention.
“How’d you get this?” he asked.
“Shrapnel. A factory exploded,” Tommy said, bringing a hand there to pull the skin taut. His fingertips brushed through Buck’s spit, making them a bit shiny with it, and he would actually love those in his mouth.
But more than that, he wanted something else, so he pressed a couple more kisses to the scar before he continued his way down again.
Buck stopped once he reached Tommy’s stomach, running the tip of his nose along his happy trail. He opened his mouth, bit down on the skin, leaned his head to the side and looked up at Tommy, who was watching him with dark eyes.
“Can I suck you off?” he asked, but continued before Tommy could answer, “Please, lemme suck you off, I’ve been dying for this.”
“Oh?” Tommy asked mildly and reached down to take Buck’s jaw into his hand. His thumb reached up and caught on Buck’s bottom lip, dragging it down a little. “You want something in that pretty mouth of yours?”
Fuck, yeah. Buck nodded, rubbing his cheek against Tommy’s skin. “Lemme see,” he said, pressing his mouth to Tommy’s skin again. “Lemme do it, please, I’ve wanted you for so long.”
Tommy’s thumb dipped into Buck’s mouth, curled over his lower row of teeth, and pulled his jaw down. Buck stared up at him, mouth held open. Drool collected underneath his tongue.
“Go ahead, then,” he said, letting go of Buck’s jaw. He shifted, moved up so he could half sit up against the pillows.
As if Buck needed to hear more than this. He moved to lie down between Tommy’s legs, his hands finding their place on his thighs. His thumb brushed against a thick scar reaching down from one of his hipbones to the crease of his thigh.
“Helicopter crash,” Tommy said before Buck could ask. “I’ll tell you about that sometime. As for now,” Tommy nudged Buck’s shoulder with his knee. “There was something you wanted to do, wasn’t there?”
Buck grinned, and threw a wink up at Tommy. He moved down, his hands moving up Tommy’s thighs to frame his groin, and he moved his head back a little so he could just- well, look at Tommy’s cock for a bit. Because holy shit, was Buck into men, and into Tommy, most of all. Tommy’s dick was long and thick, flushed dark, wet at the tip already, and with prominent veins running up.
He leaned down, open mouthed, and trailed his lips from root to tip, then followed the same way back with his tongue. He paid some more attention to the tip, licked off the precum slowly flowing out, and stayed there, tongue out, just to taste Tommy’s skin and feel the heat of his flesh.
Tommy sighed, and brought a hand down to brush through Buck’s hair. His thumb stroked a line over Buck’s eyebrow and up his forehead. They held eye-contact for a moment, but then, Buck closed his eyes and went back to dragging his mouth down the length of Tommy’s cock.
He brought one hand in, curled his fingers around his balls as if to test their weight, got his mouth to the soft, sensitive skin, too. Then, he moved the flat of his tongue up to the tip again and wrapped his lips around it, sucking for only a moment before he dropped down.
Tommy’s cock was bigger than the ones Buck had taken before. He’d say he’d gotten pretty good at sucking dick, but yeah, this immediately felt different. The stretch on his jaw was different, and so was the feeling of fullness in his mouth, and fuck, Buck loved it.
He went down, maybe a little bit too quick, and had to pull back with a soft cough and a gag when the head of Tommy’s dick hit the back of his mouth.
Gentle fingers stroked through his curls. “Careful, baby,” Tommy said in a hushed tone.
Buck streaked his lips down the side of Tommy’s cock, got his hand around it to spread his spit all over the soft, hot skin. He moved sucking kisses up back to the head, pressed his tongue down on the slit, and let out a little moan at the taste of precum.
“You being a tease on purpose or …” Tommy asked, trailing off with a raised eyebrow.
“Impatient, are we?” Buck said, his voice a textbook definition of a tease. He kissed around the head of Tommy’s dick, but made no move to take it back into his mouth.
Thick fingers carded through his hair. Tommy rubbed his thumb over the roots of his curls falling over his forehead. Buck buried an open-mouthed half-smile against Tommy’s cock.
“I just want to be close to you,” Tommy whispered, and it turned out that he could play, too. His words were enough to break through whatever control Buck had held on to drag this out.
Buck wrapped his mouth around the head and dropped down as far as he could go for now, flicking his tongue against the underside, let his hand work the rest. He stayed there for a moment, let more drool run down Tommy’s shaft, collected it with his hand to spread it down.
He moved back up, sucked leisurely on the tip, and built himself a rhythm alternating between going down, and paying attention to the head. He bobbed his head up and down, tried to go farther down on every turn. Since he’d met Tommy, he hadn’t been with anyone else, so he assumed he’d have to get used to this anyway, even if Tommy was a bit smaller.
Thank God he wasn’t, though, because Buck found he fucking adored that weight on his tongue. He’d thought he liked the way a dick filled out his mouth before, but that had nothing on this. He was pretty sure he’d be content just lying there and keeping Tommy’s cock in his mouth for a while – and wasn’t that a thought. Maybe he could bring it up to Tommy sometime.
For now, he sucked on what he had in his mouth, jerked what he couldn’t fit with his hand, and tried to get the rest in, too. He pulled off, dropped a glob of spit down Tommy’s cock, and swallowed him down again, bringing his tongue in as much as he could.
Tommy made these soft sounds, and shifted his hips minutely under Buck, and Buck didn’t hold down his own moans at that. One of his hands was still on Tommy’s thigh, and he felt the muscle flex under him.
Buck breathed through his nose and dropped lower, pushed past his gag reflex until he could take Tommy into his throat, until his nose hit the hair at the base of Tommy’s dick. He swallowed several times, but spit still ran out of his mouth and down on Tommy’s skin.
He could only hold that for a couple of seconds before he had to go back up, and he pulled off gasping for air, jerking Tommy off while he caught his breath.
Tommy’s hand was still in Buck’s hair, petting through it as if soothing him. His breath was fast and heavy, and there was a nice blush on his cheeks. Buck swirled his tongue around the head of his cock and took it in to suck on it again.
“You’re real pretty like that, you know that?” Tommy asked, voice soft and deep, and Buck moaned, muffled by the cock in his mouth. He moved back into a rhythm. “I knew you would, fucking knew you’d look amazing with your mouth stuffed full.”
Another muffled groan left Buck, and he closed his eyes. He moved his hips and legs a bit so he could get traction against the mattress to grind against it. He realized he’d already left a wet spot on the fabric.
“Getting a bit keyed-up, baby?” Tommy asked, and Buck would gladly curl up in that tone of his voice forever, smooth and dark like red wine. “Want to keep going like this? Suck me off, and I’ll return the favor? Or we could do something else. Up to you.”
Up to him. And while yes, Buck loved giving head, any kind of head, and any other day he’d probably be more than happy and satisfied with this, he wanted more. Right now. He’d been waiting for so long.
Buck hauled himself up Tommy’s body and kissed him, his lips still wet with spit and precum. Tommy didn’t seem to have a problem with that, got his tongue in Buck’s mouth immediately, and Buck groaned. In the back of his head, he was grateful Tommy wasn’t one of those people that shied away from kissing after giving head. It was all part of it, after all.
Tommy held him close by the back of his head to keep him in the kiss, and Buck moved into him, got their legs slotted together. With a roll of his hips, his dripping wet cock nudged against Tommy’s still spit-slick one. Tommy reached one large hand down between them and gripped both their cocks, pressed them together, and Buck groaned a drawn-out breath into Tommy’s mouth. He could feel the smirk pulling at Tommy’s lips.
He wanted to move away a bit and look down, look at his cock pressed against Tommy’s, and Tommy’s hand around them, because it already felt so good, it probably looked good, too.
But Tommy’s hand didn’t budge, and Buck stayed where he was, mouth to mouth, breathing heavily against Tommy. He wanted so much, he wanted to kiss and take and give, he wanted- he wanted.
“Tommy,” he gasped against Tommy’s open mouth. “Tommy.”
“Hah?” Tommy got out in reply, more a breath or a moan than an answer.
“Tommy, where’s your lube?”
With that, Tommy let go of Buck, and while Buck wanted nothing more than to go back to kiss him, grind on him, touch him all over, what he wanted more was to move this along. He wanted Tommy in all ways possible, but right now, he wanted him inside.
“Bedside table, middle drawer,” Tommy directed him.
“Middle drawer?”
Tommy shrugged. “Nobody ever looks into the middle drawer. I had an unfortunate situation one time in my old apartment of someone snooping in the top drawer and taking a joyride on my bed.”
“What!?” Buck shook his head. “Never mind, forget that for now. But you’re telling me that story later.” He paused. “But it’s not this bed, right?”
Tommy huffed out a soft chuckle. “I burned that bed. Illegally, so don’t tell anyone.” He looked so fucking good with that half-smirk pulling on his mouth.
Buck laughed and kissed Tommy, then returned to the task at hand. He moved up and clambered over Tommy, dropped down on his stomach to reach out and rummage around the drawer. Tommy moved, shifted to kneel on the mattress. He dropped his head to Buck’s back, kissed his spine between his shoulder blades. His hands moved down Buck’s sides to cup his ass.
It made Buck halt in his movement. Tommy’s thumb slipped down his crack and pulled his cheek to the side, exposing his ass to the air.
“Look at that,” Tommy said with a soft groan underlying his words. “Cute little hole. Would love-” He trailed off and Buck heard him shift.
Buck’s fingers had stopped moving, but he realized they hit something cool and cylindrical. He grabbed the bottle of lube, dropped it on the mattress, and looked over his shoulder. Tommy was looking at him, eyes dark, as he moved down between Buck’s legs.
“Would love to get my mouth on that,” Tommy continued his thought.
At that, Buck’s brain rearranged itself for a moment. He blinked. Nothing had ever sounded better to him than that. He nodded frantically.
“He-hell yeah, yeah,” Buck got out, voice caught and rough.
Tommy lowered himself down to his elbows, and Buck pulled one leg up to give him more space. Tommy’s hands went for his thighs first, running up from the back of his knee to the crease of his ass. For a moment, Tommy’s fingers slid down to trace along the scars left by the ladder truck incident. He knew of the story, because Buck had told him a couple weeks ago. Tommy had looked at him with soft eyes and said, “I’m glad you made it through that.” There had been an undertone of something, something Buck hadn’t been able to understand. He might very well understand now.
A moment later, Tommy’s hand moved back up Buck’s leg with purposeful pressure, and he leaned in to suck a kiss into the inside of Buck’s thigh.
“Anybody ever tell you your legs are unreal?” Tommy asked him.
Buck actually took a moment to think about it. He was aware that he had really long legs. He didn’t remember someone being especially into that, though.
“That doing something for you?” he asked.
“Mhm,” Tommy hummed, putting more kisses and bites on Buck’s skin. “Like you wouldn’t believe.” He nuzzled against the crease, his hands coming up to spread Buck’s ass cheeks. “You have no idea how many times I thought about these wrapped around me.”
“Yeah?” Buck asked, moving his hips a bit. “Get to it, then. Maybe I’ll make your dreams come true.”
“Sounds great, baby.”
No further words were spoken. Tommy got his mouth to Buck’s ass and pressed a closed-mouthed kiss to the pucker. It was weirdly chaste for the place. The next kiss was the same, but the next one was hardly a kiss at all, as Tommy went in tongue first. Buck sighed at the wet, soft texture and dropped his head down on folded arms.
That seemed to be the exact right thing to do, because Tommy muffled a pleased sound and rewarded Buck with more heavy licks against his hole that was quickly growing wet with Tommy’s spit. Tommy pulled back and blew a gentle breath against Buck’s damp skin, and Buck felt his hole clench. The chuckle coming from Tommy sounded dark and rich, and Buck lifted himself up to his knees just a little bit.
Tommy took the hint easily, put his hands on Buck’s waist to press him back down, and got his mouth back to Buck’s ass. Mouth open and tongue out, unafraid to press close and closer and moan right against his skin, and Buck really hit the fucking jackpot. With past partners, when he had finally gotten to the point of rimming – because none of them had offered that up at their first tumble – none of them had been this into it.
And Tommy was so very clearly into it, the way he was trying to get closer, the way he was unrelenting in his attention, the way he sucked kiss after kiss against Buck’s rim, the way he encouraged Buck moving his hips a little and grind back against him.
Under the continuous attention of Tommy’s mouth and tongue, Buck felt himself relax more and more, and he knew what was coming, and yet, he still wasn’t quite prepared for the feeling of the pointed tip of Tommy’s tongue wiggling past the tight muscle of his hole.
He groaned and shifted, lifted his ass a bit to push back on Tommy and encourage him to do more. Tommy pulled back for a moment, then put his mouth back around Buck’s hole to suck long and hard for a moment, then press several tongue-filled kisses against him.
Buck was about to start begging a little, but Tommy brought a hand between his cheeks and used his thumb to pull on Buck’s rim. Tommy got his tongue back on it, and then past it, further this time, and Buck moaned louder this time.
Tommy pulled out again, licked a thick stripe over Buck’s hole, then went back in. He repeated that a couple of times until Buck whined. With a chuckle, Tommy pushed his tongue inside and kept it like there, tongue-fucked Buck just like he’d wanted.
With his mouth open against the mattress, Buck barely noticed how much he was drooling until he swallowed. There was a damp patch under him, but he couldn’t really care. He opened his mouth again, helpless against the moans and sighs tumbling out.
“Fuck, Tommy,” he whispered, voice tight, “oh, oh, fuck- please, Tommy, Tommy.” He wouldn’t get sick of saying Tommy’s name, of the way his own mouth shaped the word, of the way the tip of his tongue pressed firmly against the root of his upper front teeth to make the first sound.
For a moment, he remembered what Tommy had said – I just want to be close to you. Buck felt so close to him in ways he couldn’t describe, but he wanted more. Wanted to be closer. Wanted to share something.
He grabbed the lube half-wedged under his chest and grimaced at the red indent it had left in his skin. He reached down, poking Tommy’s forehead with the bottom of the bottle. Tommy looked up, startled, but then pulled away a little and took the bottle.
He raised his eyebrows at Buck and wiggled the bottle in the air. “You want something in particular?” he asked.
“I want you to fuck me,” Buck said. “I want you inside me. So you better get me ready.”
“Bossy,” Tommy commented with a smile, but he dutifully flipped the bottle over and put some on his fingers. He slid them down Buck’s crack and to his hole, rubbing his fingers over the rim before he dipped down to press another wet kiss there.
Buck wiggled his ass side to side. “Is my ass gonna taste like strawberries now?”
Tommy’s laugh came out as something more like a snort which should not be attractive, but it sort of was. “Nah, it’s flavorless.”
“Really?” Buck looked over his shoulder.
“I don’t like how synthetic they are.” Tommy looked up at him for a moment, but his eyes kept flicking down to where his fingers were teasing circles around Buck’s hole.
Buck laughed, “You’re eating my ass and worried about artificial lube flavors?”
Tommy bit his ass cheek in retaliation. “That has nothing to do with it.”
Dropping his head back down, Buck decided he wasn’t going to question that. Actually, it was sort of endearing. “I think it’s cute,” he said.
As a reward, he got Tommy’s mouth back, as well as the first finger easily sliding past his wet rim, all the way in until the bottom joint. It was only one finger, but Tommy’s fingers were big and long, and Buck had so many ideas for the future and all the different ways Tommy could make him come with his mouth and hands only.
Soon enough, Buck was rocking his hips back against Tommy’s finger and face, and a second finger joined quickly. The stretch was a little more noticeable this time, and Tommy leaned up and away, taking his fingers out to spit against Buck’s hole. He rubbed his fingertips through it, then pushed his fingers back in, scissoring them apart almost immediately.
Buck had felt and seen Tommy’s dick, still had a slight ache in his jaw, he knew how big it was, he knew he needed a bit of prep, but he was starting to get impatient. He wanted it right now, because he’d wanted it for so fucking long now.
They could have been doing this for months now. They had to make up for a lot of lost time.
“Tommy,” Buck moaned and pushed his ass back, moving up to his knees. “Gimme one more, come on, please.”
He didn’t need to ask further. Tommy gave him a third finger, and yeah, that was it, that was nice. Buck loved the feeling of fullness, loved the stretch on his rim, loved knowing what would come after this.
All the while, Tommy ignored his prostate, and Buck wondered if he should start begging for it, when suddenly, Tommy nailed it right then and there, and Buck’s already slightly open mouth dropped entirely to let out a strangled moan. Tommy kept the pressure up, then suddenly relented and pulled his fingers out.
Buck let out a groan and slowly let his knees slide to drop himself flat on the mattress again.
Tommy ran his hands up and down the backs of his legs, a nice pressure behind his hands. They were so strong, and so large, and Buck wanted to be held by them forever.
He started turning over, and Tommy sat back to help him move onto his back. Tommy knelt between his bent legs, now sliding his hands along the front. His face was flushed, and there was sweat collecting on his body, accentuating the valley between his pecs and the lines of his abs and the hint of his ribs, his eyes were so dark and big, and his cock was hanging hard and heavy between his legs. He looked like everything Buck had ever wanted.
“Come here,” Buck said, reaching his hands out.
Tommy let himself tip forward, catching himself with one hand on the mattress, while he fit his other one around the back of Buck’s neck. He pulled him in, and Buck went willingly, opening his mouth to accept the kiss and invite Tommy’s tongue in. He tasted of the lube, a little bit, and it wasn’t that bad.
Buck wrapped his arms around Tommy’s back and pulled him down until Tommy collapsed against him, his broad body pressing Buck’s legs apart. Kissing him, Buck got his hands all over his back to grab at the dips and rises of his muscles, his thighs caging in Tommy’s hips.
A hand pushed between Buck’s shoulder blade and the mattress, and he shifted so Tommy could wrap both arms under him and pick him up slightly. His chest pressed tightly against Tommy’s, and for a moment, he wondered if Tommy could feel his racing heartbeat like this.
“You said something about wanting me inside you?” Tommy moved away enough to speak, but stayed close enough that his lips brushed Buck’s as he spoke.
Buck tipped his head back a little bit, eyelids sliding to half-mast. “Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
With a nod, Buck said, “Gimme.”
It startled a laugh out of Tommy, a sound so bright and lovely. And Buck was the one who got it out of him. He couldn’t help the proud smile.
Tommy kissed him again for a moment, then lifted himself up to his knees. Buck whined a little, and Tommy shushed him with a smile. Buck kept the pout down but barely, and settled for running his hands up and down Tommy’s chest.
After a bit of rummaging around the rumpled sheets, Tommy found the lube again, and flipped the cap open. Buck settled himself back, rearranged the pillows behind him a little to get comfortable. He watched with rapt attention as Tommy coated his dick, and Buck felt saliva pool in his mouth at the sight.
He watched Tommy nudge his legs a bit further apart with a knee to situate himself comfortably between them. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed one of the pillows Buck wasn’t lying on – and why did Tommy have so many fucking pillows, anyway? – to put it under Buck’s hips. Buck squirmed a little to get comfortable.
“Okay?” Tommy asked.
Buck nodded, leaning back again. “Yeah,” he said, blinking lazily up at Tommy. “You look so fucking good.”
With a soft groan, Tommy dropped forward, catching himself on his arm. “That’s my line,” he rasped, and before Buck could say something about that, Tommy covered his mouth with his.
Buck kissed him back, teasing his tongue at the corner of Tommy’s mouth, until he had to pause because he felt something slick at his hole. He pulled away, and pushed against Tommy’s chest to make him lean back a little so he could see better. He wanted to watch.
Tommy had a hand around himself to place the head of his dick right at Buck’s rim. Buck felt his stretched hole clench and relax. He was almost shaking with anticipation. Tommy met his eyes and then, slowly, started putting pressure on it to move forward. Buck’s hand flew between their bodies, and he placed it on his own taint, framing his hole with his pointer and middle finger, feeling Tommy’s cock brush the insides of his fingers. He’d seen this same move from women he’d been with in the past, and he hoped it made Tommy feel the same fire that Buck had felt back then.
It was a slow and steady push, an appropriate pace, even though Buck wished Tommy would go faster. But the push against his rim was enough to tell him that this would be unlike anything Buck had taken before, and he felt warm in his chest at Tommy’s care.
When, after what felt like eternity, the head finally popped past the ring of muscle, Buck gasped out, “Oh, fuck,” and snapped his free hand up to grip Tommy’s biceps tightly. His mouth was open, moving around like forming words, but for a moment, he couldn’t get his voice to work.
Tommy took his hand away from his cock to brace against the mattress. “You good there, Evan?” he asked gently.
Buck nodded almost frantically. He managed to gasp in a deep breath and got out, rough and breathless, “So- y-yeah, so go-ood, you’re so fucking big.” He whispered that last part, squeezing his eyes shut. “I love it, Tommy, this is-” He took a deep breath and relaxed his hand a little, bringing his fingernails out of Tommy’s skin. “O-oh, fuck.”
Tommy leaned down, and pushed his hips forward a little bit. His lips grazed against Buck’s open ones, and Buck flicked his tongue out to tease his bottom lip. Tommy chuckled softly and took the invitation, leaning down to kiss Buck deeply. Buck gentled the hand on Tommy’s arm to stroke down so he could thread their fingers together. Tommy took that as the encouragement it was and pushed forward, slow and steady, spreading Buck’s body to make room for himself.
They continued kissing, trading spit, and Buck couldn’t keep these little whimpering sounds down. His body struggled a little to accommodate the stretch, but it was a pleasant, satisfying sort of ache. Buck had never felt this full in his life, felt as if Tommy was reaching places no-one else had before, soothed spots Buck hadn’t known needed soothing.
Finally, Tommy bottomed out, and Buck let out a deep, long groan. He looked up at Tommy, mouth open and a strip of spit running out of the corner of his mouth, and fuck, he couldn’t remember anyone ever making him drool on their cock like this.
He swallowed and gripped the back of Tommy’s head to pull him into a hungry kiss. Tommy rocked into the kiss, and his body rocked into Buck’s, gently at first, not really moving out but pressing in. Buck’s legs twitched, and he pulled them up to bracket Tommy’s hips again. One of Tommy’s hands immediately went back to the back of Buck’s thigh right above the back of his knee as if that spot was magnetic and guided Buck’s leg to half wrap around him. His knee hooked over the crest of Tommy’s pelvis, and Tommy ran his hand up and down the whole length of Buck’s thigh and calf.
Buck flexed his hips a little against Tommy’s, and he clenched down around the thick cock inside of him. Minutely rocking into Tommy, he tested the waters, and found himself breathless from this alone. Tommy’s dick was just so big, filling Buck out so perfectly, it probably only had to shift a little to hit Buck’s spot just right.
Tommy bit Buck’s bottom lip. Moving back, he looked into Buck’s eyes. Buck couldn’t look away, even if he wanted to, too enraptured by those dark blue eyes, even darker now from Tommy’s pupils dilated large and fat. Their breath mingled, both of them not bothering to close their mouths. Soon enough, they would be locked in with each other again, and someone’s tongue would be past the other’s teeth.
On the next attempt, Tommy pulled out slightly and pushed back, a little less gently this time. Buck moaned, louder than before. Tommy repeated the controlled movement a couple of times over, and then again, but this time, he started pulling out a little more beforehand.
He pulled back about halfway, and Buck clenched around him as if to keep him inside. As if Tommy was going anywhere. When Tommy thrust forward, he was less careful, harder and more unerring, and Buck could not keep the words down. It’s not like he tried.
There was a dark, enticing thing in his eyes that reminded Buck of a night spent at his table with wine and good food, and Buck dropping some of his inhibitions to see how Tommy would react. This thought, this game Buck was trying to play back then lived in the back of his head, and it finally clawed its way to the front and down to Buck’s vocal cords.
Tommy thrust back to fully seat himself in Buck, and it felt like there was a tiny little bit more of a stretch, and Tommy pressed his leg tightly to his side, and Buck groaned, “Oh, oh shit, daddy.”
It made Tommy pause for a moment, a soft groan escaping him. He pressed inside harder, just a little bit, and it made Buck gasp for breath like he was drowning.
“You’re everything I ever dreamed of,” he said, his voice deep and rough, like a growl, and repeated what he’d done, thrusting into Buck a little harder.
Buck moaned, eyelids fluttering. “Tommy …”
Tommy clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “That’s not what you just called me.” He leaned down to Buck’s ear, teased its shell with his teeth, and whispered to him, low and gravely and perfect, “Come on, Evan, you wouldn’t want to make your daddy beg now, would you?”
There was something to be said about the words daddy and beg in the same sentence, and Buck’s brain damn near short-circuited. Tommy pulled back, looked down to him, and the side of his mouth pulled up for a flash of his teeth, making him look smug and beautiful, and Buck had to kiss him.
Had to kiss him, and, with a soft smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, breathe, “Daddy,” into Tommy’s mouth.
He was rewarded by another deep thrust, and a soft, “That’s it, baby, that’s exactly what I want.”
Buck’s smile grew bigger, and he leaned up to go into a kiss tongue-first. Every single one of Tommy’s responses was amazing, whether that be with tongue or teeth or something else. Tommy rolled his body into Buck’s again, and Buck moaned into the kiss, continued to do so as Tommy built up an easy rhythm.
It felt good, so fucking good. It was slow, for now, and not as hard as Buck could take, or as he wanted, but he also understood that Tommy was being mindful and trying to help Buck get used to it. So, Buck laid back for a moment and just took it in, that feeling of fullness, the stretch, the way Tommy was grinding so deep Buck felt it behind his ribcage.
Hands running up and down Tommy’s sides, Buck dug his fingernails into Tommy’s skin at a thrust going even deeper, going just a little bit harder.
“Like that,” Buck moaned. “More like that.” He shifted, tried pulling Tommy in more with his leg still hooked around him. “Just- just more, please.”
Tommy pressed in harder. “You want me to do more?” he asked. “Yeah? You want daddy to give it to you?”
“Fuck yeah.” Buck ran his teeth along the edge of Tommy’s jaw. “Yeah, I want daddy to give it to me. Won’t you?”
With a groan, Tommy planted a firm kiss on Buck’s mouth, and went to give him exactly what he had asked for. He pulled out, almost all the way, and Buck tried to relax, tried not to clench too hard around him, but his body was trying its best to keep Tommy inside. Then, Tommy slammed forward, and punched a choked out, “Daddy,” out of Buck. Buck’s eyes got caught on the smirk that put on Tommy’s face, and made sure to do it again when Tommy repeated the movement, hard and fast. Over and over again, spurring Tommy on, asking him for more, and Tommy delivered.
Thrust after thrust, harder and faster, until it was exactly what Buck wanted, feeling Tommy’s powerful body against him, inside of him, pushing deeper and deeper, and making Buck feel complete and soothed and intact, filled almost to the brim like never before.
Buck noticed Tommy loosening his hands from his body, and he whined, tried to grab for him, but Tommy simply took his wrists and moved his hands over his head, pressing them down into the pillows. His hands slid up, taking Buck’s, pushing his fingers into the spaces between Buck’s. He lowered himself, braced on his forearms. Buck wrapped both legs around Tommy, just as he had promised before, and Tommy leaned down to bury his face in Buck’s throat to mouth at his skin, bite at it, suck on it, and Buck moaned, hoped Tommy would keep going until there was a trail of hickeys on him.
He clenched his fingers against Tommy’s. Tommy kissed him, long and hard, pushed Buck’s head back a little. Buck rubbed his thumbs over Tommy’s hands as best as he could, shifted his shoulders against the pillows. He flexed just a bit, just to test Tommy’s strength, and moaned appreciatively when Tommy put more into his grip, pushing Buck deeper into the mattress.
There was an inherent resistance to Tommy’s body, simply from the strength and bulk that came from working a physically taxing job, and Buck was quickly growing addicted to the feeling of being with someone who matched him in size and power. And power there was, behind every movement of Tommy’s body, behind every time Tommy’s hips hit the back of Buck’s thighs. He was making Buck’s body make space for him, and Buck did so more than readily, and he wanted to see what else Tommy could do to him.
“Daddy,” he breathed against Tommy’s mouth.
Tommy hummed in reply, dragging his lips against Buck’s, and then down his jaw. He let go of Buck’s hands and got up to his knees a bit, shifted his position, and on the next push inside, the head of his cock found Buck’s prostate. Buck moaned and his legs twitched, knees moving closer to Tommy’s sides, and Tommy repeated the movement, brushing Buck’s prostate the whole way on the stroke inside.
“Oh God,” Buck gasped, “Oh God, daddy, fuck me, fuck me, like- fuck, daddy.”
He couldn’t form the full sentence. He didn’t have to. Tommy looked down at him with a light in his eyes that was strangely soft for how he was moving, how he was playing Buck’s body and making his brain leak out of his ears. Tommy hooked Buck’s knees over his elbows, wrapped large hands around his thighs, and held him tight, pulling him back into every thrust, every aimed hit against his prostate.
With a twitch of his hips, Buck tested Tommy’s grip and found it strong and steady, wonderful, but with enough give to allow Buck to move away if he so wished. He didn’t. Instead, he used that to push even closer, encourage Tommy to hold him tight and pull him in, slam him back down on his cock every single thrust.
Buck tipped his head back. He hoped Tommy’s grip was strong enough to leave marks. He hoped tomorrow, there would be finger-shaped bruises, dark and beautiful against his skin, he hoped he’d have a visual reminder, something he could press his fingers into, something that would let him feel that ache.
Tommy leaned down a little, kissed him for only a moment, a kiss that was more just a sharing of breath and a tease of a wet tongue dipping into his mouth, before he pulled back to suck the spot under Buck’s jaw. Buck brought one hand up to his back, dug his fingernails in, and curled the fingers of his other hand into Tommy’s hair to push him closer, keep him there. He wanted marks. He wanted to be marked all over. He wanted to see it later, and tomorrow, and for days to come, he wanted to be changed. He wanted to feel it every time he moved, every step he took. He wanted Tommy to build himself a place inside of him, find a place inside Buck where he belonged so Buck could carry him with him at all times.
Buck’s mouth was almost permanently open. He only closed it to swallow down the spit collecting, and his voice was only muffled when Tommy kissed him. Even then, it didn’t do much, because Buck was unashamed of it, of the whimpers and moans that Tommy pulled out of him. He wanted to show him what he did to him. He wanted him to hear it, every half-formed thought, every word he couldn’t quite get out.
There had been times he’d felt self-conscious over how loud he could get, how he liked to talk, but not here. Tommy saw him, seemed to devour him with his eyes, and encouraged every sound from him. Responded so wonderfully to Buck, followed his every request.
And Tommy didn’t hold his own voice back, either. There was a constant string of encouragement coming from him, praising Buck for his reaction, telling him how hot and pretty he was, and Buck soaked it all up. That, and Tommy’s moans and groans and sighs, the way his breath was going heavy, the growl lying under his voice like a promise.
He was so close to Buck. Buck was so close to him. It was more than the sex, it was more than having Tommy’s cock inside of him, hitting his prostate on every thrust, making pleasure spike up his spine like lightning. Tommy was touching him all over – there were hands in his hands, hands on his waist, hands holding his legs. And those eyes on him, the entire time, like he was all Tommy could see. Like he was all Tommy wanted to see.
He finally had him, Buck realized, and it did something to him. To finally have him like this, it soothed the desperate fire burning in Buck’s chest since the day he met Tommy. He had wanted Tommy, wanted to have him in all the ways possible, and now, he did. Tommy belonged to him, right here and now, his attention and his body were all Buck’s. Maybe Buck would feel bad about his line of thought once this was over and his head wasn’t filled with pleasure and ecstasy, but here, so close to Tommy, it felt like peace. Like this was how it had always been meant to be. He’d thought before that Tommy had been made for him, his edges fitting in so well with Buck’s. And now, he got to see it and realize he’d been right.
Tommy was his.
Buck surged up at the thought, gripped by an animalistic need to get his teeth into Tommy, into his throat, not to tear but to stay there and have Tommy carry the imprint on his skin. He bit at him, sucked on the skin at the base of his neck, pulled blood to the surface, and felt himself soothed by the way Tommy was groaning at it.
With one hand on his shoulder, Tommy suddenly pushed Buck down, and his next thrust was hard, so hard Buck thought his brain rattled in his skull. Or what was left of it.
He gasped, the heat that had collected in his lower belly slowly rising up through his veins, collecting in his chest around the place where his heart was beating so hard, so fast, as if trying to knock its imprint into the back of his sternum.
“I’m so close,” he whispered, hadn’t even truly realized it until he spoke it out loud. “God, daddy, I’m so close, I’m gonna come …” He trailed off, his words turning into a string of moans as Tommy, somehow, sped up, hitting Buck’s prostate with unreal precision.
Buck’s legs started trembling where they still tried to hold onto Tommy. Tommy let one arm go, and Buck’s leg slid down his back, and Buck whined, tried to bring his leg back around, but he had trouble finding hold on the sweat-slick skin of Tommy’s back. Only when he hooked his ankles together did he feel settled again, and used his hold to pull Tommy into himself. Tommy pushed his free arm under Buck’s lower back, right below where the pillow was still lying bunched up, and picked Buck’s lower half up a little for a different angle.
And what a lovely fucking angle it was. There was still that constant stimulation of his prostate, a new strength behind Tommy’s thrusts, and Buck was holding on by a thread.
Tommy leaned in closer. Sweat was running down from his brow. His voice was quiet, but Buck heard him loud and clear over the sound of his heavy breathing, over the thrum of his own pulse in his ears. “Tell daddy what you want.”
What an ask, because Buck wanted so much. He wanted everything. He wanted to be here forever, he wanted it to never end, but he wanted to come, and he wanted Tommy to come, and he wanted to meet him there and be connected to him in that moment, share it with him, because he knew it would be unlike anything he had ever felt before. He wanted to be close. He wanted Tommy all over him.
“Touch me,” he finally put his thoughts into words, sounding almost torn out of his chest. “Touch my dick, please, daddy, I want your hand on me.”
Tommy smiled and gave him a short kiss. His arm stayed under Buck, but the one that was holding onto his leg loosened. He pressed it against Buck’s bent knee, pushing his leg tighter against his side.
“Keep them there,” he murmured. “I want you just like this.”
Buck swallowed and moaned softly, pressing his thighs tightly to Tommy. The sigh that left Tommy, slightly colored by his voice, sounded like pure satisfaction. Every sound from Tommy was wonderful, and Buck wanted something from him, a specific sound spoken in Tommy’s voice.
“Daddy,” he started, groaning softly as Tommy’s hand closed around his neglected cock, dripping wet from precum nonstop flowing out the slit. “Please, daddy, say my name.”
Tommy looked startled for a moment, as if he was fully unprepared for that request. But he had to know that he was the only person who called him Evan, and Buck was so obsessed with the way he said it, the way his voice wrapped gently around the syllables. No-one had ever spoken his name like that, without all of that weight, without all of that history. He was just Evan to Tommy, and he loved it. He’d never heard someone moan his name before, and he knew he would never want anyone but Tommy to do so.
Tommy caught himself and, with a soft smile that did not match the hard rhythm his hips had fallen into, gave Buck exactly what he’d asked for.
“Evan,” he said on half a whisper, half a moan. “Evan, thatta boy, you’re doing so well for daddy, just what I wanted. Everything I ever wanted.”
His large hand fit so perfectly around Buck’s cock, and he matched the speed of his own hips, the slide tight and smooth. Buck tightened his legs around Tommy, pulled him in, pushed himself against him to meet him on every stroke inside, and he felt his thighs tremble from the onslaught of pleasure. He was close, so close, and from the way Tommy’s breath was going harder and his hair was curling at his temples from the sweat, he assumed he was not far behind.
“You, too, daddy,” Buck moaned, tipping his head back, but he kept his eyes open and on Tommy. He didn’t want to look away. He wanted to see everything.
Tommy kissed him for a moment, barely long enough for Buck to kiss him back, and leaned back, sat almost all the way up. Buck was caught between wanting to close his eyes at that constant pleasure burning inside of him, and wanting to look at Tommy forever, at every dip and valley of his body in front of him, at the way his arm moved to jerk Buck off.
There was that smile again, that half-thing showing off a flash of teeth. Tommy probably didn’t even know how beautiful he was to Buck right then and there, didn’t know what Buck would do for him. He could ask whatever, and Buck would move heaven and earth to make it happen.
As it was, Tommy let out a deep, almost dreamy sigh. “I knew you’d look perfect like this, you’re so beautiful, baby, so fucking hot.” He leaned down again, his hips and hand never faltering. Buck moaned, and as he tipped his head back into the pillows a little, his open lips brushed Tommy’s. He brought both of his hands up to cup Tommy’s face. “I wanna see more. I want you to show me more. Come for me, Evan, come for daddy.”
It was all Buck needed. A rough thrust against his prostate, the upwards twist of Tommy’s wrist, and his voice kicked Buck over the edge, and he came with a cry, shot all over his quivering belly and Tommy’s hands, one streak even going up as far as his chest.
He saw stars, or something, or maybe that was just the light reflected in Tommy’s eyes. His vision narrowed down, and he lost the sense of his body as Tommy worked him through his orgasm. He felt light, like he was floating, but Tommy’s strong arm around him held him tight and close, tethered him, not to earth but to Tommy. He stopped breathing for a moment, and then his breath crashed back into him like a tidal wave, and he felt his ribcage expand to try and take in as much air as he could. His fingers and his toes and the fucking tips of his ears were tingling. His tongue felt too big for his mouth, and spit was dripping out of the corner of his lips.
Buck was babbling, he realized, moaning, “Tommy,” and, “Daddy,” over and over, but he didn’t try to stop himself, because Tommy was there, whispering, “Lemme hear it, baby, let me hear.”
And Buck did. Didn’t try to muffle himself like he would have with partners before. He pulled Tommy close, put his fingernails into his skin to keep him there, put his mouth close to his ear, and moaned and whimpered to him.
“Now you,” he breathed, still gasping for breath, clenching and unclenching around Tommy’s cock. He was still coming, hadn’t come down yet, partly thanks to Tommy not slowing down. He was milking Buck for everything he was worth, and Buck was starting to see white sparks in front of his eyes. In a few moments, everything would turn to just the other side of too much, and Tommy would stop, but before that, Buck wanted to see him unravel in the same way.
Tommy’s chest was heaving now, and Buck only realized now how tightly Tommy had been holding onto his self-control. Buck moved into him, pushed back as much as he could, used his shivering legs still around Tommy’s waist to bring him in harder, closer. Tommy held him close, and buried his face in Buck’s throat. His breath, hot and damp, hit the dip of Buck’s collarbone.
“That’s it, daddy,” Buck murmured, burying his nose in the hair at Tommy’s temple. There were some silver flecks there, Buck realized, and that got him so hot that his almost spent dick twitched in Tommy’s hand. “Take what you need. You were so good to me, so fucking good.” Buck moaned at the continued pressure on his prostate, at the continued stretch on his rim. They were moving into overstimulation at this point, and soon, Buck wouldn’t be able to take it anymore. He could come more than once, but this had felt monumental. He didn’t have any more in him.
Tommy muffled words against Buck’s throat, and no, that wouldn’t do. Buck brought both hands up and buried them in Tommy’s hair, and pulled his head back by tightening his fingers on his roots. Tommy moved into it, tipping his head back. His mouth was open, his eyes half-closed.
“Don’t you wanna feel good, too?” Buck asked in a low voice.
“Already do,” Tommy groaned softly. “You’re so good, baby, feel so fucking good.”
“Yeah?” Buck clenched down, just to hear Tommy groan again. “Come on, daddy, I’ve wanted this for so long, haven’t you?”
“So much, baby.”
He leaned in, brushed his mouth over Tommy’s chin and up to teasingly flick his tongue against his bottom lip. “Then give it to me. Give it to me, you know I can take it, daddy. I wanna take it.” He breathed his request into Tommy’s mouth, “I want to see you come for me.”
One, two more powerful thrusts, and Tommy let out a long, gravely moan and his hips stilled, pressed up right against Buck’s prostate which made his legs kick out a little bit. He felt that wetness spreading inside of him, the heat, and Tommy grinded his hips forward minutely. His eyelids were fluttering, and his mouth was wet and open, and he tipped his head back a little bit, the line of his throat and Adam’s apple absolutely tantalizing. Buck leaned in to gently bring his teeth to it.
Tommy’s arms gave out and he collapsed on top of Buck, forcing him back down and into the pillows. He stilled, only his breath moving his back under Buck’s hands, and Buck stroked along the length of his spine. His spent cock was caught between them, and he could feel Tommy slowly softening inside of him. His legs slid down from around Tommy’s waist.
He nudged his nose against the corner of Tommy’s eye, and Tommy moved up a little bit, just enough so he could lean in and kiss Buck. Again, and again, their lips dragging each other into a lazy dance, tongue and teeth coming in in soft, playful nibbles and teasing licks.
They lay together for a bit, and Tommy moved to kiss all over Buck’s cheek and forehead, into his hair and over his birthmark, the bridge of his nose, and everywhere he could reach. Buck smiled and huffed out sounds almost like giggles under the attention.
He wrapped his arms tighter around Tommy’s back, pulled him down, and Tommy went, nuzzled under his jaw, and moved a little to get closer. Buck got his legs up again to cage Tommy in again, and held him with his body.
They stayed like that for a while. Buck didn’t know how long. At some point, Tommy carefully pulled out and Buck grimaced against the feeling, his hole sensitive and a little sore. Tommy didn’t go anywhere after, just dropped himself on top of Buck again, bringing one of his hands up to stroke up Buck’s arm and thread their fingers together. He brought them close to his face and dropped a kiss on Buck’s knuckles. Buck smiled and hugged Tommy as close as he physically could.
Their eyes met, and Buck swallowed down the first words that came to his mind. His brain was still dealing with the hormones from a breathtaking orgasm, and his first instinct was to profess his love. He wasn’t in love yet. He was still getting there. His heart felt full and there was a different joy inside of him, now. He felt so settled with Tommy in his arms.
“We gotta do that again,” he said, finally, voice a little rough.
Tommy hummed, dropped a kiss to the spot between Buck’s collarbones. “Good news, baby, we got a lot of time ahead of us.”
Buck let out a sigh. “We could’ve been doing this for so long,” he lamented.
“Better don’t think about that, or we’ll drive ourselves crazy.” Tommy nuzzled his nose into the edge of Buck’s jaw. “You never told me you’re bi.”
Buck nodded, then shrugged. “I didn’t even think about that,” he admitted. “I also didn’t think anybody was telling you I was straight, so I didn’t think I’d have to set anything right.” He poked a finger into Tommy’s side. “You could have asked me, too.”
“I didn’t think I had to,” Tommy protested. “I thought I could trust the intel I had.”
“Yeah, you know, I would have believed them, too.”
Tommy dropped several kisses on Buck’s chest. Buck ran his fingers through his hair, winding loosened curls around a finger.
“So, you’ve been trying to date me for a while now.” Tommy said, looking contemplative. Buck wondered if he was going through all of the little moments they had shared in the last couple of months.
“Yeah. I didn’t know what to make of you. You just- it felt like you were doing this hot and cold kinda thing.” Buck shrugged.
“Why didn’t you just straight up ask me on a date? You never used that word.”
Buck felt heat rise to his cheeks. “I was-uh, I was worried I was moving too fast for you. And if I tried pushing, you’d tell me off.”
Tommy tilted his head. There was such a soft, earnest look on his face. “Don’t have to worry about that, baby,” he said and leaned in for another kiss.
Buck hummed into it and pushed his body a bit up and into Tommy. They broke apart, but stayed like that, eyes closed and noses brushing.
“I want you to be mine,” Buck whispered between them.
“I already am,” Tommy returned, full of conviction, but his voice so tender, like a caress.
Surging up to kiss him, Buck turned them over on the mattress, pushing Tommy down. A chuckle got muffled against Buck’s mouth and large hands held him, touched him all over again. It didn’t feel sexual this time, just like Tommy was touching for the sake of it, because he wanted to feel all of Buck at once.
Their kisses flowed into nothing, into Buck lying down on top of Tommy and keeping his mouth on the corner of Tommy’s with gentle pressure. When he spoke, Buck felt the movement under his lips.
“Think we should shower, don’t you?”
And honestly? Buck wasn’t sure whether he wanted to wash Tommy off of him just yet. He knew their cum would dry crusty and itchy on his skin, but still. He’d felt so- so absolute with Tommy just then. But Tommy pushed at his shoulder and made him move off of him. Buck suddenly felt cold without Tommy close-by. He didn’t bother keeping the pout off of his lips.
Tommy gave him a smile and held out a hand. “Come on,” he said, then continued with a teasing lilt in his voice, “You won’t leave me alone already, right?”
Buck huffed and moved out of the bed. Once his feet hit the ground and he stood up, he realized how wobbly he was. Tommy held him by one hand and put the other one on his back. Buck leaned into him for a moment and kissed his shoulder.
He didn’t protest further when Tommy brought him with him to the bathroom. They got into the shower, the air heating up quickly with steam, and they stood under the shower head together, just letting the water rain down on their embrace.
Droplets of water got caught in Tommy’s dark lashes. Buck still couldn’t believe how beautiful he was. And now, he finally had him, could hold him, could kiss him all he wanted. He did, pressing kiss after kiss to Tommy’s lips. Tommy looked content in a way Buck didn’t remember him ever being.
After some time spent under the warm water in each other’s spaces, they finally took care of the rest. At this point, with how much they had hung out at each other’s places, Buck had his shampoo at Tommy’s place. He’d gotten the boyfriend treatment before ever becoming his boyfriend.
Buck ran spread fingers up and down Tommy’s soapy skin. He found him for another kiss, water dripping from his hair and down the tip of his nose.
They climbed out of the shower at one point, and Buck shivered. He didn’t normally get cold quickly, but leaving the intimate, warm place under the shower and stepping out into the unheated room caused goosebumps to break out over his skin. Tommy wrapped a towel around him and rubbed his hands over his arms to keep him warm.
They moved back to Tommy’s bedroom to get dressed. Just in loungewear, and Buck already knew the familiar look of sweats and a cutoff top on Tommy, but he let himself look again. Tommy was letting his hair air-dry, and his curls were soft and springy without any product. Buck felt a tender smile pull on his mouth, and he didn’t fight it. Tommy was so fucking pretty.
Buck had his own clothes at Tommy’s, and he put on his own underwear and sweatpants, but he asked to wear one of Tommy’s shirts. He got a soft, worn t-shirt, old enough that whatever had been printed on the front had long-since been washed off. The fabric had once probably been black, but had turned into a dark gray.
They got back down to the main room where Odin was lying curled up on a chair next to the couch that Tommy had put there specifically for Odin. No-one sat in that chair except the cat. Apparently, Odin liked lying on the thing when Tommy watched romcoms.
They got to the couch, and Buck waited until Tommy sat down. Tommy took his hand, looked up at him with expectant eyes, and Buck planted a knee next to him. He pushed him down with a hand on his shoulder to make Tommy lie down. He climbed right on top of him, letting out a pleased hum as he settled. Tommy kissed the top of his head.
Buck threw a look over at Odin. The cat was looking back at him, his single eye trained on him. Buck stuck his tongue out at him.
“He’s all mine now,” he said with a grin.
“Don’t start fighting with my cat, Evan.” But Tommy put his hands down on the small of Buck’s back to hold him.
They stayed on the couch, cuddling for a while longer. At one point, Tommy got up to find his phone so they could order take out. Neither of them was in a mood to cook.
Buck took the time to look for his phone – still in the pocket of his jeans, discarded on the floor of Tommy’s bedroom. He unlocked it as he walked down the stairs again, and found a text from Eddie asking how it was going. Buck felt the smirk pulling at his mouth. There were so many ways he could answer this, and all of them would make Eddie regret being alive. He decided against that. Eddie had helped him, after all. He hadn’t always been helpful, but at least he hadn’t told Tommy Buck was straight!
Still, Buck sent him a text saying, If you ask Tommy to hang out today or tomorrow, I’ll kill you. And then, Thank you.
He put his phone on the couch table and waited for Tommy who came wandering back inside from the garage, having left his phone on his work table. He dropped to sit on the couch, and Buck glued himself to his side immediately.
They got Thai. Ate their food on the couch out of the take out containers and chased Odin off when he jumped on the back of the couch to try and steal something.
“First my baked Alaska, now this,” Tommy playfully chided Odin with a shake of his head. “You’d think I don’t spend a fortune every month to get you the best food there is.”
“Maybe you spoil him too much,” Buck said with a chuckle.
Tommy scratched Odin behind his ears, then picked him up to set him back on the floor. It was endearing to watch him shower Odin in affection. It was clear to see how much he loved him, and how much the cat loved him in return. “He deserves it. He was a shelter cat, you know. Had been there for three years before I got him. He lost his eye young and people just didn’t want him. Don’t get it, really. He’s learned how to deal with his depth perception and he’s a sweetheart. A bit of a dick, too.”
“Like you?” Buck threw Tommy a shit-eating grin.
With an affronted look on his face, Tommy kicked Buck’s shin. Then, he laughed and shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Did you name him?” Buck asked, watching Odin as he got back to his chair and started washing his face. Tommy had given him little tidbits about Odin’s greatest hits – mostly about how many times he ran into walls the first couple of weeks he spent at Tommy’s – but there were a couple of things Tommy had kept close.
Now, Tommy was more than willing to share. “Yeah. The shelter didn’t have a name to record. His previous owners locked him out of the house, and the neighbors brought him in. He wasn’t chipped. They called him Choco.”
“And you named him after Norse mythology.”
Tommy shrugged. “Well, he only has one eye. Black like a raven. And he’s a Norwegian, as if I could have named him anything else.”
Buck had to kiss him. When he leaned back, Tommy was looking at him all sweet and gentle, and Buck felt as if his heart had grown wings.
He could barely believe all that had transpired. But Tommy was his now. The most incredible man Buck had ever met. Who was strong and gentle, but also whip-crack smart and a bit of a bitch, and hotter than anybody should be. And he was a fucking nerd.
I’ll love you some day, Buck thought. He couldn’t wait.
They put the empty containers on the table to throw away later, and Buck put himself back right against Tommy’s side. Lying side by side, with Buck’s head resting on Tommy’s chest and Tommy’s arm around his shoulders, they fell into easy silence.
Buck ran his hand up and down the length of Tommy’s lower arm. Tommy’s mouth was resting on Buck’s forehead, and he shifted every now and again to press a soft kiss to Buck’s skin.
“I’ve wanted this for so long,” Buck mumbled between them.
He could feel the smile on Tommy’s lips. “You’ve been cuddling me the whole time.”
“Yeah, but nothing happened! Not even that morning, when you had a dream about me.” God, if Buck could have gotten fucked into the mattress since that day …
“Wait, you were awake?” Tommy asked.
Buck froze. Oh. Tommy had thought he’d been asleep then. That actually made sense. “Y-yeah. Uh, I woke up and I noticed-” He flicked his eyes down to Tommy’s crotch. “A-and, well-uh, I-I may have- may have gotten into it a bit.”
Tommy’s mouth dropped. Then, he grabbed Buck by the waist and dug his fingers into his sides, making Buck squirm and giggle, trying to get away. “You little shit!” he exclaimed. “I thought I’d done some terrible violation of our friendship, and here you were, the instigator!”
Before Buck could spiral and start feeling horrible about that, Tommy grabbed both sides of his face and pulled him into a kiss. They fell back onto the couch in a heap of laughter. Buck stroked a hand up Tommy’s chest until he let it rest on his pecs. Squeezed a little, and smiled at the huff of laughter Tommy blew into his hair.
“It wasn’t a violation, just so you know,” Buck said, angling his face up to catch Tommy’s eyes. “I was really into it.”
There was something on Tommy’s face, something like relief, like he was letting an old pain go. “You know, that does actually mean a lot.”
They continued that thread, recounted things that had happened that had left one or the other confused and unsure. Things really would have been so much easier if one of them had simply opened his mouth and fucking used his words, but just as Buck had been worried or scared of rejection, Tommy had been in the very same boat. Both of them seemed to be carrying similar flavors of trauma that shaped their actions, and while they didn’t get into that just yet, Buck knew it was only a matter of time until it would come back up again. Also because they agreed to keep communication flowing. Something like this, some weird misunderstanding would never happen again.
Buck recounted his thirst traps, and Tommy admitted that he’d jerked off to one or two of them in a moment of weakness – mostly when he was tipsy and his hold on his self-control wasn’t as tight as it could be. Buck told him about the hoodie he had stolen from him, and Tommy gently tugged on his hair in retaliation.
Then, they moved to a more serious topic – the reason why the hell they had even found themselves in this strange situation. It came up because Tommy recounted the medal ceremony – they both agreed that they’d had a couple of fantasies involving dress blues and medals – and told Buck about a conversation between him, Hen, and Karen that Buck had not known about.
Now he did. And he was pissed off.
He almost jumped off of Tommy’s chest if not for his hands holding him down. “Hold on, they implied that you’d- and after I threw myself at you!? Where’s that protection for you!? I can’t believe this!”
“Evan, it’s okay,” Tommy said, trying to soothe Buck, but Buck was too riled up.
“No, it’s not.” He looked Tommy in the eyes. “It wasn’t okay.”
“Okay, it wasn’t,” Tommy conceded. “But they were just worried about you. They were looking out for you, and I’m glad you have friends like that.”
Buck sighed. “Sure. I’m happy they care about me and all that, but they should know what saying that would mean to you. Queer men already get stamped as predators from others, that was completely uncalled for!”
There was something on Tommy’s face, a pinch of his mouth, and Buck knew he’d hit the bullseye. Tommy had been deeply hurt by what Hen and Karen had said, and he’d moved on from it, but he’d probably carried that with him the entire time. Buck cupped his face.
“You didn’t do anything I didn’t want from you. If anything, I should apologize for pushing.”
“No. You didn’t push. I wanted you all along. If nobody had told me you were straight, I would have seen it as flirting.”
“Even if I were straight,” Buck contemplated, “I can still make my own decisions. I appreciate that they looked out for me, but I’m an adult. I don’t need people trying to fight battles for me behind my back.” He picked up Tommy’s hand. “And no-one looked out for you?”
Tommy shook his head. “Howie did. He was worried, I think. Warned me. But he let me make my own choices.”
It soothed something in Buck. At least Tommy hadn’t been fully alone. But the mention of Chimney reminded Buck that he was the one who had thrown them into this situation, and he felt the urge to find his brother-in-law and strangle him a little bit.
“I don’t really get it,” Buck said. “Why would they tell you I’m straight? Were they, like, fucking with us?”
With his head tilting to the side, Tommy seemed to think that over. “I don’t know. I mean, Hen’s a shark when it comes to bets, but I don’t think they’d go so far over a bet.”
“Right,” Buck agreed. “None of this makes sense. They met my ex and everything.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Tommy promised. “For now, I just want you to myself for a bit.”
Buck sighed and let Tommy pull him into a kiss again. “I like the sound of that,” he murmured, and leaned in to kiss him again.
When it came down to it, their day wasn’t that different from the others they had spent together. But now, the yearning in Buck’s chest had been replaced with something soft and gentle, a deep-seated joy he couldn’t put into words.
They spend the rest of the day glued to each other’s side. At one point, Tommy went back to the garage to get back to work on the thing he’d wanted to do, and Buck sat on his work table to watch him and stay close. Tommy had a soft little smile on his face the whole time, and showed Buck what he was working on, explaining every detail he asked about to him.
Tommy worked a bit slower than he probably would have otherwise, but every now and then, Buck would get Tommy between his legs and kiss him a bit, or a lot. A sure fire way to get Tommy to indulge a bit was to wrap his legs around his waist, Buck realized quickly. He was quickly growing used to the feeling of Tommy’s hand sliding under his thigh just above the back of his knee. Tommy seemed to really like that spot.
At one point, as Tommy was focused on his work and Buck was just watching him, Buck’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He dug it out, looking at the caller ID. It was Eddie, and Buck accepted the call immediately.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.
“This an okay time to call?” Eddie asked instead of returning the greeting. “Because if you picked up while you two were …” He trailed off, and Buck could imagine the hand-wavy gesture Eddie was making, “I’m gonna kill you.”
Buck laughed. “Nah, it’s a good time. We’re dressed and everything.” When Tommy looked up with a questioning glance, Buck mouthed “Eddie” at him. Tommy nodded and went back to it.
“So, everything worked out?”
“Yeah,” Buck said softly. “Yeah, we- we got it. Big misunderstanding, actually.”
“Oh? What was there to misunderstand?”
“You’d be surprised.” Buck shook his head. “I’ll tell you everything later, and man, I have so much to tell you.”
Eddie’s laugh sounded a bit scared. “Do I even want to know?”
“Oh, trust me, you do. You’re gonna laugh at me.” Buck had to chuckle himself. “Thanks for checking in, man.”
“Hey, no problem. I also wanted to ask whether I’m cool to hang out with Tommy this weekend, there’s this thing we were talking about-”
Buck interrupted him with a laugh. Pretending to think about it, he finally huffed, “Fine, I think I can leave him out of my sight for one afternoon.”
They said their goodbyes, and Tommy came back over to Buck to stand between his legs, hands on his waist. They shared a short kiss.
“Everything good?” he asked.
“Hmm,” Buck hummed, dipping back in for another kiss. “Wanted to check in. And ask whether you were free this weekend.”
Tommy raised his eyebrows. “You’re gonna schedule all of my hangouts now?”
Bringing his hands up Tommy’s sides, Buck teased, “I mean, yeah. I want you all to myself, too.”
A soft kiss landed on the corner of his mouth, and he tilted his head to slide his lips against Tommy’s. He didn’t think there was anything else in the world that he would rather be doing. He just wanted to stay here and kiss Tommy for the rest of the day, and if the way Tommy was holding the back of Buck’s head with his large hand, he would assume that Tommy was feeling the exact same thing.
They spent the rest of the day together, never far away, always close enough to be touching in some form. Buck didn’t bother to go home at all that day. He went to sleep at Tommy’s place, back in Tommy’s bed after they changed the sheets together, and snuggled up right to him. He could do that now, finally, and Tommy wrapped his arms tightly around him under the blankets.
Buck woke up still wrapped up in Tommy, and decided there was no way in hell he was moving. Tommy was still asleep, by the looks of it, and neither of them had a shift until way later in the day. So, he nuzzled a bit against Tommy’s chest, closed his eyes, and sunk back into the foggy, comfortable space of the in-between of sleep and wakefulness.
It wasn’t until maybe two hours later that they were both actually awake, and then, neither of them was really in a hurry to get up. They rather spent the time making out in that timeless, honey-thick space where nothing was there except for them.
At one point, they were interrupted by Odin who came to the door to scream. Tommy’s laugh got muffled by Buck’s tongue in his mouth, but they both crawled out of bed and got ready in the bathroom while Odin impatiently rubbed himself against Tommy’s legs. Buck looked at the scene, the massive cat with his fluffy tail raised pressing his whole body weight against Tommy’s calves while yelling at Tommy over and over.
Odin still didn’t really care for Buck, but he didn’t hiss or bat at him. He didn’t seek Buck out, and Buck didn’t try to touch him, but Odin could at least exist in the same small space with Buck without trying to claw open his feet or something. Tommy had told Buck the story of an ex that Odin had absolutely hated. Tommy had immediately broken up with that man.
“If a cat hates you on sight, there’s bad vibes there,” he had reasoned while holding Odin in his arms like a baby, and Buck was more than glad that Odin had always tolerated his presence.
Buck started taking care of breakfast while Tommy fed Odin. He heard the happy sound Odin made, after which Tommy came to his side to wrap an arm around his waist and kiss his cheek.
“Your guy happy with his fancy food?” Buck asked.
“Mhm,” Tommy nodded. “Nothing but the best for a fancy cat.”
Buck snorted and shook his head. “How do you even know his breed? You said the shelter didn’t have any records of him.”
Tommy shrugged. “In the shelter, they classified him as a Maine Coon, but he’s got some really specific characteristics for Norwegian forest cats. I don’t know if he’s purebred – as purebred as cats can be – but he’s as close as it can get.”
Buck would be honest – he didn’t really know the difference. But he knew what topic he could research later after breakfast.
There was a smile on Buck’s face. Tommy looked at him, tilting his head. “What?” he asked.
“It’s so cute, how you are with Odin.” It really was. The first time Tommy had introduced Buck to Odin, he’d called him his little buddy and Buck could not explain why that made his insides feel soft and squishy.
“Well,” Tommy said with a shrug, looking away. “For a while, he was literally the only company I had. Before I bought this place, I lived in my car for a while.”
“What?”
“Yeah. My boyfriend- we were living together and talking about engagement, and he decided suddenly that he didn’t actually want anything of that. And I didn’t have anywhere to go, so- yeah, my car. Once I got here, I just didn’t want to be alone. And I’d wanted a cat since I was a kid, but my dad hates them. I went to the shelter, and he was so miserable, just a sad little ball lying in a corner, and I had to get him out of there.”
Odin had finished his food and started winding around Tommy’s legs, rubbing his head against his knee and purring as if he knew what Tommy was talking about. Buck’s heart was melting. He could imagine Tommy, a bit younger and so lonely, taking in this cat who was the same, left behind and alone.
Buck turned so he could wrap both arms around Tommy’s waist and pull him into a tight hug. Odin didn’t even protest, stayed right where he was, his tail brushing against Buck’s legs. Maybe he was warming up to Buck sooner rather than later.
They had breakfast. Sat around for a while. They went out for a walk and grabbed lunch at a cute little café, and Buck couldn’t stop staring at Tommy in the rays of the midday sun. Tommy’s hand was on the table, and Buck reached out to put his hand on top because he could finally do that. Tommy smiled at him, bright and crinkly, and encased Buck’s hand with his other one as well.
They held hands as they made their way back to Tommy’s home, and with a giddy feeling in his stomach, Buck swung their arms between them which got a laugh out of Tommy. Buck grinned at him, bright and maybe a little foolish, and squeezed his hand.
Back at home, they got to the couch already kissing, and Buck put a throw pillow on the floor to kneel on so he could suck Tommy off. Tommy leaned back, put his hand in Buck’s hair, and gave him a couple of tips to make taking his cock easier. By the end of it, Buck still couldn’t keep him down for more than a couple of seconds, but his reaction got less and less severe. Tommy came down his throat with a groan of his name, and after, he pulled Buck up and into his lap, chest to back, and jerked him off with slow, steady pulls. His free hand snuck under Buck’s shirt to pinch at his nipple, and he was biting and sucking on a spot right under the bolt of Buck’s jaw where a hickey had already been placed. It would truly be enormous later on, and Buck couldn’t wait to look in the mirror and see it.
What Buck really wanted to do was stay with Tommy and keep exploring his body and his reactions and every little thing he didn’t know about him just yet, but they both had to go to work. They got dressed together, and Buck really had to hold his self-control with both hands to not bend Tommy over the next available surface and fuck him.
Later, he told himself, he’d have time. There was time for quickies in the future, for now, he wanted to be able to take his time with Tommy.
Tommy kissed him goodbye through the window of his Jeep. There was that sweet look in his eyes again, and Buck was going to count down the minutes of his shift until he could see Tommy again.
“Come over after your shift?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah,” Buck confirmed with a smile. “See you later.”
Arriving at his shift, Buck only barely got out of the locker room before he was ambushed by Eddie. Eddie had never been this invested in his dating life, but he’d also never been close friends with any of Buck’s previous partners. And since Chris had left to go to Texas, Eddie did a lot of moping, so Buck wouldn’t mention anything. He was glad that there was something that Eddie was invested in, even if it was his dating life.
“So?” he asked. “Can I stop being your personal spy now?”
Buck laughed. “Yeah. He’s my boyfriend now.”
“Happy for you, man. About damn time you find a good guy to date and not some weird dickhead.”
Buck tilted his head to the side. While he’d had a couple of hook-ups with men and maybe some casual relationships, the only one he had seriously dated was Johnny, the brother of Natalia’s best friend, a very surfer-dude-esque guy. Was Eddie talking about him?
“You didn’t like Johnny?” Because that was news to Buck. Sure, Eddie and Johnny hadn’t been friends, but he hadn’t thought anything of it.
“I didn’t dislike him,” Eddie said. “I just don’t think he was the right guy for you. He was kind of pretentious, and I didn’t think he’d really get our job. And I was right.”
“And you think Tommy is the right guy for me?” Just saying it made Buck’s heart feel light and fluttery. His ears felt a little hotter than they did a second ago.
“Yeah.” Eddie knocked a fist into his shoulder. “Now, tell me. You said it was a misunderstanding.”
“Yeah,” Buck said. “It’s really strange. Chim and Hen told him I’m straight.”
“What!?” Eddie didn’t look like he had expected that, and Buck whole-heartedly agreed. “I never wanna hear anything about me cock-blocking you ever again, okay. There’s no way in hell I could ever be that bad!”
Buck rolled his eyes. “Okay, you weren’t as bad as people lying to the man of my dreams, the bar isn’t that high.”
“Did you talk to them about it?”
“Not yet.” Buck contemplated. “I will. I kinda wanna fuck with them, though.”
Eddie laughed. “Hey, if you need help …”
Buck thought about it for a moment. “Actually, you know what, yeah. There’s something I could use your help for.”
-----------------------------------------
What followed were days of absolute bliss. Every minute they could, they spent together, mostly at Tommy’s place. On Saturday, Tommy spent some time with Eddie, and Buck went to visit Maddie to tell her the good news. He had to listen to a lecture from her, because she had been under the impression that they had been dating all along. He also made her promise not to tell Chimney, and then told her about the meddling her husband had done.
If there was one thing Buck could count on, it was that Maddie was in his corner. There was a spark in her eyes when he told her he wanted to get Chim and Hen back for that a little bit.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
The plan took on form quickly and easily. Maddie agreed to host a little get-together at her place. After Bobby was out of the hospital, they agreed, because Buck wanted him there, too. He texted Tommy about it, and he was on board with it.
He’d been reluctant at first, but at the end, he agreed with Buck – while they definitely loved and appreciated their friends and understood they had just wanted to protect them, they did not really appreciate them inserting themselves in their private life for no reason. Buck still didn’t understand what to make of the behavior, but he’d get to the bottom of it.
He met up with Tommy at his place. They made dinner together, flirted over glasses of red wine, and disappeared with laughter on their lips in the bedroom. It was like that night only a little while ago when Buck had invited Tommy to go out with them. This was how that night had been supposed to end, how it would have ended if they’d done things just a little bit differently.
It didn’t matter anymore. They had gotten it, in the end.
And now, they had so much time and so many opportunities to make up for lost time. Buck couldn’t remember feeling this horny before, and he’d self-diagnosed as a sex addict. But whenever they were apart, there was a buzz under his skin, thoughts in his head about what they could be doing, would be doing the next time they saw each other again. He couldn’t stop thinking about Tommy. When they were together, he needed to be touching him or be close to him. Whenever he could, he’d kiss him, and that lead to more, because Tommy met him at every step he took.
Made for me, made for me, made for me, ran in a loop over and over in Buck’s head, at all times, whether they were sitting on the couch doing different things, Buck was researching while Tommy was painting, they were cooking or hiking or Tommy was riding him or fucking him or, or, or.
They talked a lot, too, between rounds of sex. Tommy told Buck about his father and his mother, of that helicopter crash that took him out of the army, of that ex that had kicked him out to the streets. Buck, in turn, told him about his parents, and his travels, and his probie year. There were so many things to find out, to figure out, and they finally had the time.
A little while later, they were all at Maddie’s. Eddie had grabbed Tommy from Buck’s side immediately to show him something about their MMA thing or whatever. Buck stayed close to Maddie and carried Jee on his hip to give her a little break.
Chimney didn’t stop staring at Buck, and if Buck had to guess, it was probably because of another massive hickey Tommy had sucked into the hollow of his throat. There was not a single day Buck spent without some sort of mark on his neck, and he loved it. Only he’d felt the scrutinizing gazes of Chimney and Hen at work the whole time as they tried to figure out who his new paramour was.
Buck stayed tight-lipped. Eddie did a poor job of hiding grins, but he held out against their attempts to get it out of him. Bobby knew, but he wasn’t at work yet, and Buck had sworn him to secrecy.
They were sitting around wherever they could – Bobby, Athena, Hen and Karen, Chimney, Maddie. Tommy was on the floor with Jee-Yun because she’d seen him doodle on a napkin and asked him to draw something for her, so now, Buck’s gentle giant of a boyfriend was carefully drawing a unicorn on the back of Jee’s hand.
Maddie stood at the table, but when he caught her eye, she smiled at him. He grinned back at her, didn’t bother to hide how much he loved to see Tommy spend time with his niece.
His phone pinged, and he checked it for the expected text from Eddie. Eddie had quoted some excuse to come a little later, but in actuality, Buck had asked him to pick something up from the loft that he’d left in the fridge. Or rather, two somethings.
Buck had become an adept baker, if he did say so himself, but his skills in decoration still had a long way to go. Luckily, his boyfriend was a hidden artist who could work surprisingly well with piping bags of frosting. Buck would never tire of seeing those big, steady hands deal with finesse work, whether it be painting or flying a helicopter or, apparently, cake decorating.
With a quick nod at Tommy, Buck left the room to meet Eddie out front and help him with the containers. Tommy followed him soon after having sent Jee off to run to her dad.
“Can’t believe that they’re getting cake for all this. What do I get for my spying?” Eddie grumbled as he climbed out of his car.
Buck laughed, opening the trunk. “Well, we were gonna make you something.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, you even get to make requests,” Tommy said, taking one of the cakes from Buck.
Eddie hissed in triumph. Tommy smiled at Buck and raised a hand to put his fingers under Buck’s jaw and tip his head back so he could take a better look at the hickey he had left behind. There was a soft smirk playing on his mouth, and if Eddie wasn’t literal inches from him, Buck would push Tommy against the car to love on him a little bit.
They brought the cakes in. Buck continued to make moon eyes at Tommy. Eddie kept any comments to himself, thank God. Maddie noticed the three of them at the door and got the others to sit down at the table. Tommy snuck a quick peek under the tinfoil covering the cake he was carrying to make sure he was giving the right one to the right person, and then placed it down in front of Chimney. Buck did the same for Hen.
“Wha-” Chim said, eyebrows furrowed.
“A little something,” Buck said, crossing his arms. “To really encompass my feelings these last couple of weeks.”
That obviously did nothing to help with their confusion, so Eddie stepped in and pulled the tinfoil off of each plate, revealing two frosted, two-layer cakes with a message carefully hand-piped across the top.
Buck had come up with them. He’d tried to push down the hurt, telling himself that they probably thought they had good reasons for their actions. Still, he got a little petty with the writing.
Chimney’s said, Worst ally ever with a little heart, while Hen’s was #1 in gay on gay violence.
Silence took over the room for a moment after the cakes were revealed, then there were a lot of exclamations, sputtering, and Eddie started laughing his ass off. Tommy looked over at Buck, a bright grin taking over his face, and Buck didn’t hide his own.
“What the- why!?” Chimney asked.
“As if you don’t know,” Tommy said with a huff.
“I don’t! And I’m pretty sure Hen doesn’t, either.”
Buck sighed and put his hands on the table, eyes flitting between his friends. “Why did you tell Tommy I’m straight? Were you, like, pissed off at me? Did you have a bet going? We're really trying to make sense of it.”
Chimney’s mouth dropped open, but he said nothing. Hen looked between Buck and Chimney, then over to Tommy, with wide eyes.
Karen leaned in close to Hen’s ear, whispering, “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about!”
“You- you are?” Chimney finally found his words. “You’re straight, that’s why I told Tommy that.”
“I’m not, though.”
Tommy put a warm hand on Buck’s back, soothingly stroking it up and down his spine. Buck smiled at him and leaned into him a little bit. He was glad he didn’t have to do this whole thing on his own.
“We’re just trying to make sense of it all,” Tommy said, a calm, strong presence next to Buck. “We really don’t understand.”
Finally, Hen found her words, throwing an accusing glance at Buck. “You never said anything!”
“Yes, I did?” Buck said. He remembered the day he’d come out.
“No, I think I’d remember if you’d said that you weren’t straight!”
Apparently not, Buck thought but didn’t say.
“Well, maybe I didn’t say “I’m bisexual” in those words because I was still figuring things out then, but I didn’t think I had to with everything else.”
“Everything?” Chim threw in. “I don’t remember you ever saying something about your sexuality.”
Bobby suddenly had an expression like realization on his face. “Oh, the phone call!”
“What?” came from several different people at once.
“I think while you were telling us this, there was this scam call that Hen got, and I think you two,” pointing at Hen and Chim, “were …”
“Ah, yeah, right,” Eddie said, nodding his head. “You were trying to waste that guy’s time!”
Vaguely, Buck remembered something about Hen and Chim turning a bit rowdy on a phone call, but he hadn’t realized that they had been so distracted they had completely tuned out what Buck had been trying to tell them. After telling them it was important to him and everything.
“So, you didn’t listen,” Buck said, connecting the dots. “This is not on me, you weren’t paying attention! But after that, how come neither of you ever- you know, got it?”
“There wasn’t much to get,” Chim said. “You don’t really telegraph your sexuality.”
“No, but I told you about my date, I told you his name!”
Hen said, not quite meeting Buck’s eyes, “It could have been a woman.”
Buck wondered whether he looked as unimpressed as he felt. “Johnny,” he said. “Fucking Johnny could be a woman.”
“We live in LA, it’s possible!” Hen defended herself.
“More possible than me dating a man?” Buck shook his head. “Never mind that. But you met him! Didn’t it click that I was dating someone named Johnny, and a Johnny was picking me up from work? He came by a couple of times before we broke up! Hell, Bobby made a joke about me returning to old habits when he caught us making out between the trucks.”
Chim and Hen weren’t looking at Buck anymore. Slowly, their eyes flitted over to Tommy who was still holding Buck against his side. He noticed, and shrugged.
“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m having the time of my life.” Tommy shook his head. “Listen, it was just a misunderstanding, but I think you’ll understand why we’re a bit hurt by all that.”
“And another thing!” Buck threw in, throwing a look at Hen and Karen. “You really made him feel bad about being friends with me despite being attracted to me – while I was trying to fuck him the whole time!” Thank God Jee had left the room to play, Buck really didn’t want to be the one who had taught his niece that word.
“Evan, it’s okay,” Tommy said gently.
“Tommy,” Buck returned, leaving no room for arguments. Let me protect you. He turned back to his friends. “I love you guys. I know you were looking out for me. But I don’t appreciate the meddling. I know what I’m doing, okay?”
They were looking at them. Chim started shaking his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it,” he muttered.
Yeah, me neither, Buck thought but didn’t say. He wanted this whole thing to be over.
There was a moment of silence. Nobody spoke, people were just looking from one to the next. Buck leaned heavier into Tommy’s side, and Tommy wrapped his arm fully around his waist in response.
Then, one after the other, Hen and Chim apologized. They explained their reasoning, and it was what Buck had expected – they wanted to make sure that Buck was safe, and Chimney didn’t want to see one of his oldest friends get his heart broken because he fell in love with someone who wouldn’t return it. And Buck understood that, appreciated it too, but all this outside meddling had done was mess them up.
Hugs and words were shared, and Buck finally felt something settle. The uncertainty he had felt since he’d found out about what they’d told Tommy finally left him, and when everything was said and done, Hen and Chimney were good sports, able to laugh about their personalized cakes.
They shared them with the rest of them, even though Buck told them that technically, they could just take them and eat them themselves.
They moved on from the weird moment quickly, and the air was filled with conversation and laughter. Buck stuck close to Tommy’s side, only moving a little away to accept a plate for each of them. He took the moment to drive one last point home.
“And for the future,” he said, leaning on the table to look at his family. “And this goes for everyone. Stay out of my relationship!”
The others took it with humor, and agreed with easy smiles and teasing words. But Buck felt like they understood what he had meant with it.
What he and Tommy did was up to them. The way things were moving right now, the way Buck was feeling right now, and the way they were learning more and more things about each other every day, it looked good. Like there was stability and permanence in the future.
Buck looked to Tommy who was already looking back at him with a smile so pretty it lit up his eyes. Buck leaned in for a kiss, just for a moment, and leaned back into him. Tommy tilted his head to slightly lean it against Buck’s.
Yeah, they had a lot of time ahead of themselves. Much to learn, much to see. Buck couldn’t wait to fall in love with Tommy, because deep down, he already knew it would be the last time he’d do so.
Right then and there, and perhaps for the rest of his life, Buck was in heaven.