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Eddie … was going to die. He was going to die from spontaneous combustion. Because here he was, walking into his first day as a firefighter in LA, only to come face to face with a past that he never thought he’d see again. Except there he was. Standing there, looking at Eddie with a grumpy expression and zero recognition in his eyes. Not like Eddie. Eddie remembered everything about the guy from when they were younger. Eight years had been a long time not to see someone, but those blue eyes were exactly the same and the birthmark was almost brighter and prettier than it had been the first time he’d seen it. And, Jesus, how could Eddie not stare at those legs? They were more muscular than they had been when Eddie was 19 and Buck (because apparently he wasn’t Evan anymore) was 18.
Eddie went home after his dramatic shift, and tried to reprocess everything he knew. He may be Buck now, but he was just as cocky and confident as he had been when he was just Evan. Evan Buckley. God, he hadn’t seen the guy in forever, but Eddie hadn’t missed that he kept looking at Eddie out of the corner of his eye like he was remembering, but he just frowned and his brow got furrowed; it was so adorable Eddie had had to look away for fear of walking over and dropping a bombshell in the guy’s lap. Maybe himself, too. Definitely himself. Maybe get his mouth on that throat or birthmark again. He was stuck in memories until Christopher smiled at him. Reminding him that he’d agreed to forget Evan- Buck- whoever he was now. He and Shannon had made the agreement. And they’d stuck to it. Literally no one aside from them knew.
So Eddie got to know Buck. Got to know this beautiful man that was somehow both bashful and confident. Sexy and shy. His heart was hammering in his chest when he introduced Buck to Christopher. Because surely he saw it? Surely he noticed that Christopher didn’t look like Eddie? Except he never said anything. Just smiled as bright as the sun when Christopher giggled or laughed at something he said. Eddie was so fucked. Completely. Especially when Buck introduced him to Carla who was going to help with Chris. Buck had met Christopher and spent time with him less than a handful of times and he was already a better parent than Eddie and Shannon had been together.
Calling Shannon had been nerve racking. He was literally sweating the entire time he talked to her on the phone, knowing if they saw each other she would see right through him. Maybe she did, when they finally met up. Because they’d ended up at Eddie’s place, having frantic sex, both of them keyed up for different reasons. Shannon noticed, of course she did, but she was lonely too, and didn’t seem to mind. They made their weird arrangement work for a little while. Until she showed up to the firehouse at the toy drive. Eddie looked up as soon as she sucked in a sharp breath, handing a toy over to a smiling Buck. Her wide eyes met Eddie’s and he pulled her into the locker room, shutting the doors.
“Oh my god!” Shannon exclaimed.
“I know!” Eddie exclaimed back.
“Eddie- oh my god!” She shouted again. “Oh my god. Oh god. Jesus, Eddie, he’s right fucking there!”
“I’m aware!” Eddie shouted back, biting his lip and collecting himself so he wouldn’t shout again.
“He didn’t recognize you?” Shannon asked. “I mean, it didn’t look like he recognized me.”
“It was a week, eight years ago, Shannon.” Eddie sighed. “No, he hasn’t recognized me. Not really. I mean, sometimes I think he’s remembering, but I can’t watch him when he starts thinking about it. I physically and literally can’t.”
“He doesn’t know.” Shannon said, looking slightly horrified. “We never told him, Eddie, he doesn’t know!”
“I know!” Eddie exclaimed, but then he pursed his lips and Shannon covered her mouth. Except Eddie could tell she was smiling and trying very hard not to. “Shan, don’t. Don’t! I swear-” and then she was laughing and Eddie was smiling, giggling himself and they were laughing together like they had when they were teenagers. Swatting at each other like it was the dumbest little thing that sent them into giggle fits.
“That’s why things were different.” Shannon said, still chuckling to herself. “Why you were so worked up. You spend all day here, with him, and then have no outlet because unless we want to drop an eight year old secret in his lap, you’re pretending you don’t know him.”
“I can’t drop a secret like this.”
“Not without dropping yourself in his lap.” Shannon teased. “Been there, honey.”
“I mean, we could always tell him.” Eddie bit his lip. “At least part of it? See if we still all work together like that?”
“Then you and I would spend all of our time arguing over whose weekend it was with him.” Shannon snickered. “Is he bigger? Jesus, did you see those legs?”
“Yes.” Eddie groaned, covering his face. “Yes, I’ve seen his legs.”
“Probably remembering them wrapped around you.” Shannon snickered, holding her stomach as she laughed and Eddie groaned again. “If he doesn’t remember that week, then he must be much more experienced by now.”
“Pretty sure I got off in the shower the other day when he was telling me the different religious beliefs around Santa.” Eddie sighed. “He just talks all the damn time.”
“That hasn’t changed then.” She smiled. “Oh my god, now I’m getting worked up. Ok, I need to go, I can’t be around him and not want him in our bed. Again. Jesus, you’re a stronger person than me, Edmundo Diaz.”
“I’m not, because you’ve been helping me with this.” Eddie gestured toward the bay where Buck happened to be walking by and bending down to put toys under the tree. Eddie’s mouth went dry and Shannon sucked in a breath, grabbing his arm in a death grip. When Buck stood up, he looked over at them and offered a dorky wave and a happy smile. His biceps looked like they were going to bust out of his shirt when he waved and Shannon let out an involuntary noise, slapping her other hand over her mouth. So of course, Buck started walking toward them.
“Oh my god.” Shannon rasped.
“Jesus-” Eddie knew his face was flushed, but Shannon’s was bright red, too, when Buck poked his head in the locker room.
“You guys good? You, uh, look a little flushed.” Buck said cautiously. “Toy drive is almost done, but I know you won’t get much longer before Bobby comes to see what’s up.”
“Got it.” Eddie forced himself to smile. “Uh, Buck, this is Shannon, my ex-wife. Shannon, this is my partner, Buck.”
“Nice to meet you.” Buck smiled brightly again, reaching out to shake Shannon’s hand. “I’m getting the same weird deja vu I got with Eddie, though. Have we met before?”
“Uh, I don’t believe so.” Shannon managed to croak out. “Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll see more of each other.”
“I hope so.” Buck chuckled, winking at her and Eddie felt her nails digging into his arm. “Seriously, don’t take too long, Eds, Cap’s wanting us to get this all cleaned up before B-shift comes in.” Buck patted Eddie’s shoulder, either not hearing or ignoring the involuntary noise that Eddie let out before he was gone again.
“I want him.” Shannon whispered. “Again.”
“Me too.” Eddie agreed, watching Buck go and bend over picking up more things before squatting down to talk with a few little kids. “Yup, me too.”
Eddie managed to never say anything, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from tracking everything Buck did. Yes, he watched him work out. Yes, he let the guy boss him around during inventory. Yes, he probably was doing a terrible job at hiding that he found Buck incredibly hot. He’d had to take a break when he was with Chris and Buck at the zoo to relieve himself in a bathroom because Buck was carrying Chris on his shoulders so he could reach the giraffe’s to feed them and it was so beautiful and perfect that Eddie was hard almost instantly just seeing them together.
And then their truck was blown up. And Hen and Karen were telling Eddie to bring Chris over and even invited Shannon so they could relax while Buck was knocked out at the loft on painkillers. But Hen was on a mission. She set the kids up with toys and snacks in the backyard before making Eddie and Shannon sit at the table. Shannon kicked him in the ankle, but he flicked her hand.
“Talk.” Hen said, gesturing between them. “This is a safe space, and nothing leaves here. I promise.”
“We know Buck.” Shannon admitted.
“Me too.” Hen arched an eyebrow.
“We met him almost nine years ago.” Eddie clarified, earning a surprised look from both Hen and Karen. “He’d just run away from home and was passing through El Paso for some reason.”
“So you met when you were all teenagers.” Hen said carefully, looking between them and then glancing toward the back. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“We can’t.” Shannon sighed, reaching out and taking the drink Karen passed her, downing most of it in one go. “Look, we were teenagers. Everyone was screwing around. We wanted to do that too, we did, but we also wanted to be comfortable. To have someone who knew what they were doing.”
“Like a coach?” Hen grinned, chuckling a little.
“Not … exactly.” Eddie shifted in his seat, throwing his own drink back.
“You propositioned an 18 year old, because you thought he had more experience with sex than you did?” Karen asked curiously.
“He did.” Shannon and Eddie agreed.
“A friend said he was experienced, said she wanted her first time to just be done with and … might have paid him to hook up with her. She said it was perfect and probably actually ruined her sex life for whoever she was with after him.” Shannon nodded. “He didn’t have a cell phone, just a place where we could meet-up with him because he was on a temporary construction crew.”
“Shannon talked to him first, and we met for dinner at a diner.” Eddie continued. “Got him fed before asking if what we’d been told was true or not. So we … asked if he’d want to … with both of us.”
“Your first time having sex was a threesome with Buck.” Hen asked, slapping a hand over her mouth as she laughed when Eddie and Shannon nodded.
“It went on for a week.” Shannon sighed. “But god, what a week.”
“He’d already left the city when we … found out.” Eddie cleared his throat.
“When you found out you were having a kid, but neither of you knew who the father was because it could be either you or Buck.” Hen said, still smiling and shaking her head.
“It’s him.” Eddie and Shannon said quietly.
“We couldn’t exactly tell our parents that I got pregnant because we were having threesomes.” Shannon groaned.
“We were already in a lot of shit and being told we needed to get married to appease the church or whatever.” Eddie stated.
“It was the best solution for the time.” Shannon agreed. “We got divorced after Eddie got back from his last deployment, making it seem like it was my fault, but we knew that it was always only a temporary thing anyway.”
“Just long enough we could have the insurance.” Eddie nodded. “We didn’t really … anticipate my PTSD issues. But the VA has been helping. I think. Buck’s accident might have brought some of it back.”
“Have you told him?” Karen asked carefully. “Have you told your third, that he’s a father?”
“No.” Eddie said gently. “Buck doesn’t seem to remember us. We just wanted a little time to figure out how to talk to him about it.”
“So until you can, you two are screwing around and both thinking about him the whole time.” Hen said, snorting when Karen huffed at her.
“It’s so bad.” Shannon whined, tipping her head back.
“You already know how I am at work.” Eddie pointed at Hen. “I’m trying not to be obvious, but I also know I’m failing. He’s just … definitely grown into himself.”
“Pretty sure everyone already thinks you guys are hooking up.” Hen snorted. “But this? Definitely not what I was expecting. You should talk to him. I can promise he’ll be down to try again.”
“That’s sort of the problem.” Eddie grumbled.
“We don’t know how to share him.” Shannon agreed.
“So instead of working that out, you’re letting yourselves be sexually frustrated?” Karen asked in confusion. “Just talk to him. He’ll probably work something out for you, so you can all share time. He’s pretty organized.”
“And maybe find a way to tell him that his favorite kid in the world is actually his?” Hen suggested. “Be prepared for him to make up for the last eight years of not being in his son’s life, but other than that, you know he’ll just want you to refresh his memory.”
“We’ve considered asking if he’d be interested in reenacting how we knew him.” Shannon laughed. “But all we can think of doing is inviting him to Eddie’s while someone watches Chris and just taking him to bed with us.”
“It would work better at his place.” Eddie scrunched his face up. “He has a king-sized bed, so it would give us more room since we aren’t gangly teenagers anymore.”
“Nothing can happen until he’s healed up, anyway.” Shannon agreed. “So until he’s healed, nothing’s getting said.”
“Alright.” Hen sighed. “You can talk to us any time, either of you, if you want. We’re here, but our advice is probably going to stay the same. Sleep with him, talk to him, tell him the truth.”
“We’ll … figure it out.” Eddie grumbled.
They, in fact, did not figure it out. Not for a while. When Shannon found out she was pregnant again, they decided since Buck hadn’t been able to be there for Christopher, he was going to be there for the new kid they were having. Even if this one really was Eddie’s. Buck didn’t seem to mind being involved, actually. He was way more excited about all of it than Eddie was. Hen kept giving him looks, but Eddie … still hadn’t found a way to tell him he was technically already a dad. They kept Buck busy with a newborn baby girl, making it so he couldn’t see his parents when his sister had bombarded him with the news they were in the city since she was currently pregnant. Shannon and Eddie both stood in the way of that forced reunion. At the firehouse and at Eddie’s or Buck’s place.
Shannon and Eddie weren’t back together, but they had learned a lot about how to co-parent with Christopher, and honestly, they let Buck do the hard stuff. Not that they had to convince him, he was always there, jumping in whether they asked him for help or not. That didn’t prevent Buck from learning he was a failed savior baby. But it did give him support and something else to focus his energy on. Sure, Eddie could admit that Maddie loved her brother. But she’s the one who chose to keep a secret from him for years. For Buck’s entire life, not including the years after she’d reconnected with him. And everyone knew that Eddie was defensive for anything involving Buck. He didn’t forgive Maddie for lying to her brother, and he didn’t forgive Chimney for trying to force the reconciliation.
“You need to stop.” Eddie said firmly when he and Shannon got Buck settled in the house with the kids, heading to have their own conversation at Chimney’s place.
“You can’t tell me what to do with my brother.” Maddie argued.
“We can’t, no.” Shannon agreed. “But you didn’t see him after you abandoned him. When you sent him away at 18 with your car keys and a wish.”
“And you did?” Chimney asked defensively.
“Yes.” Eddie and Shannon said, earning them surprised looks from the other couple.
“We met Evan Buckley when he was 18 years old, working menial labor jobs, to pay for gas for wherever he was going next.” Shannon stated. “He was passing through El Paso.”
“You never mentioned that.” Chimney frowned, looking at Eddie. “He’s never said anything either.”
“Yeah?” Eddie argued. “Kinda like how if you’d only asked what happened back then he’d have answered? No one ever asked, so he didn’t answer. We knew each other for a week back then, so he doesn’t exactly remember. I can understand, to a certain level, that you love your brother, Maddie. But you didn’t see him using payphones to leave messages for people that didn’t give a shit about him enough to even answer the fucking call.”
“They cut him off and he came to terms with it by the time we met him again here in LA.” Shannon added, putting a hand on Eddie’s arm to calm him down. “And you? What you did? Without a thought about how he might be feeling, without a single care about his mental health, reopened a wound. He has accepted they hate him. Knowing what he knows now, you still want to force him to be civil just so you can have this picture perfect family? What did picture perfect get you before?”
“You love him.” Maddie said quietly, looking between them. “Both of you, you love him, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Eddie and Shannon shared a look.
“And I chose not to see.” Maddie sniffled and nodded to herself. “Right. You’re, uh, you’re right. I wanted my daughter to have her grandparents and uncles in her life. I wanted that ideal family image. I thought we could have it. I thought, after all I’d been through, that I deserved it.”
“You do deserve it.” Chimney said firmly.
“Not at the expense of my brother’s family.” Maddie agreed. “I will try not to involve him with them. I’m not going to promise, because they are all my family and I will want them to interact. They’ll need to at birthdays and holidays.”
“Fine.” Shannon accepted.
“Where is he, anyway?” Maddie asked curiously.
“Dad duty.” Eddie shrugged.
“So is he …?” Chimney frowned.
“No, this one’s all Eddie.” Shannon snorted.
“This one.” Maddie said.
“We’ll tell him.” Eddie said carefully, looking at Shannon. “We’re still … working out how to do that.”
“Buck … is …” Chimney looked like his brain stopped working.
“He doesn’t know.” Shannon reiterated. “We were all teenagers when it happened. We’ll tell him. Eventually.”
“I’m glad he has you. Both of you. All four of you.” Maddie wiped a few tears away. “Take care of my brother?”
“We will.” Eddie and Shannon nodded.
“Sorry for barging in.” Eddie apologized. “Kind of, I mean. Have a good night.”
“That could have gone worse.” Shannon sighed as they headed for the parking lot. “Two more people who know now.”
“And if we aren’t careful, Chimney will tell all of LA.” Eddie snorted. “Let’s make sure they aren’t all passed out on the couch together.”
“I dunno. I always think it’s adorable.” Shannon chuckled.
“It is, but it’s a pain in the ass to get them all into their own beds.” Eddie grinned.
More time passed after that, and Maddie actually listened and didn’t put Chimney between her and her brother. Granted, Eddie and Shannon still hadn’t told Buck anything. They kept planning to, but having a toddler and a pre-teen was exhausting. Even between the three of them. They finally got a bigger house, where the three of them could live and raise the kids together. It was a struggle finding a five bedroom place, but with three incomes, they managed alright. And then it all came to a head. Eddie got off work, having taken an extra shift since someone was out with the flu and they needed extra hands. It was going around bad that year.
“We need to talk.” Buck said, leaning in the doorway to the dining room when Eddie got home.
“Ok?” Eddie agreed curiously, taking his shoes off and looking around. He didn’t hear the kids, so they must have been playing in their rooms or something.
“Hen and Karen picked the kids up.” Buck said as if reading his mind, sliding a paper across the table. “Because a while back, you remember Connor and his wife asking about me being a sperm donor?”
“I remember.” Eddie grumbled. He hadn’t been happy about it, but Buck just snorted and smirked at him.
“Right. You’re still pissed I considered it, I know. But it made me think, right? About if there were any kids out there that I might have had a hand in without knowing it. Chris suggested we do one of those ancestry DNA things. It’s funny, though, because when our results came in,” Eddie sat down heavily, already knowing where this was going, “I’m Christopher’s biological father.”
“Yes.” Eddie sighed.
“Why don’t you break that down for me.” Buck suggested, sitting down as well. “Because I don’t know how that’s possible.”
“How about I get us some beers, call Shannon, and we … have a long overdue conversation?” Eddie suggested. “Gives me time to take a shower and her to get home. And possibly time for food to get here?”
“Only if you can promise me we’ll talk about this.” Buck crossed his arms.
“We will.” Eddie agreed. “I promise, pinky promise, even,” Eddie held his pinky out, waiting until Buck hesitantly wrapped their pinkies together, “we’ll talk.”
“Ok.” Buck nodded. Eddie stood up again and leaned over, crowding Buck against his chair and tilted his head up to look in his eyes.
“Back in a second.” Eddie said, bending down and kissing Buck. Buck sucked in a breath and fisted Eddie’s shirt in his hand. Eddie had wanted to kiss Buck for years and he was tired of holding back. When Buck opened his mouth and Eddie deepened the kiss, it took an indescribable force of will to break away rather than dropping himself in Buck’s lap. “We-” Eddie rasped, breaking the kiss, “we can’t- not yet. Conversation first. Then we’ll do that again.”
“I hope so.” Buck grumbled, pulling Eddie in for another quick kiss.
Eddie grabbed a few beers from the fridge, setting one on the table for Buck before ordering some food on his phone and sending Shannon an s.o.s. She messaged back she’d be there soon, so Eddie took a cool shower to calm his body down. When he got out, Shannon was getting there just as the food was, like he’d expected. Once they were at the table, Eddie passed over the results from the ancestry test Buck had done.
“So how do you want to start?” Shannon asked, leaning over her plate.
“You guys knew me.” Buck stated, swallowing his bite. “You both knew me when we met at the firehouse, but never said anything.”
“Didn’t know how.” Eddie shrugged. “You were 18, Buck.”
“So it was after I left Hershey.” Buck’s brow furrowed adorably as he thought.
“You were passing through El Paso.” Shannon agreed. “You hooked up with a few people. People who wanted to get their first time out of the way.”
“Yeah.” Buck tilted his head and then really looked between Eddie and Shannon. And it was like watching a puzzle piece finally slot into place. “I … I only got in with one couple. I hooked up with a few people, but … there was one couple I was with for a little while.”
“That was us.” Eddie nodded.
“The construction I was working on was done, and I didn’t have the money to stick around.” Buck said quietly. “It was … it was super hard to walk away from that one. From … you guys.”
“We didn’t have a way to contact you when you left.” Shannon said quietly. “We wanted to, so many times, but … well.”
“I didn’t have a cell phone.” Buck agreed sadly. “Your family never questioned it? How your kid didn’t actually look like either of you?”
“We got married so they wouldn’t push or wouldn’t question it once he was here.” Eddie looked at Shannon. “And we always planned to get a divorce once Chris was closer to five.”
“So I was right.” Buck looked up and met Eddie’s eyes. They were so blue and so pretty that Eddie never wanted to look away anyway. So he didn’t. He looked back and let Buck see how much he cared about him. “I recognized you. I just couldn’t place you.”
“We didn’t exactly wear clothes a lot when we were younger.” Eddie grinned.
“So you let me be involved with Evanna so much because I wasn’t able to be around for Chris.” Buck said quietly. “I didn’t know I had a son, so you gave me a daughter, named after me.”
“We did.” Shannon agreed.
“So that first Christmas, at the station-”
“We were freaking out that you were right there.” Shannon laughed, making Buck smile. “Oh my god, I had no idea how Eddie managed to work with you. You definitely filled out, in an amazing way. And Evanna only exists, being completely honest, because neither of us could get you out of our heads.”
“You could have just asked.” Buck smirked and Eddie felt his blood rush south. “I’d have been happy to recreate our first meeting.”
“We needed a little time to accept running into you again.” Shannon admitted. “And then once we had, it was like you both kept getting caught up in crap situations. So it got pushed back. Repeatedly. Chris asked me about doing this thing with you, so I figured our time had run out.”
“Did he see it?” Eddie asked curiously.
“Yup.” Buck said, still smirking at them both and definitely undressing them with his eyes.
“Is he upset?” Eddie asked, not sure he was ready for the answer.
“Nah, not really. Confused, sure, but not upset. We’ve had the past six years together. So I’ve gotten to be around him while he was able to form long term memories. You’re both explaining this to him, though.” Buck gestured between them. “But until then, maybe we can refresh my memory?”
“Absolutely.” Eddie and Shannon agreed, standing up. Buck chuckled but happily followed them to Eddie’s room. None of them lasted very long, but that didn’t stop them from resting for about an hour and going again. Taking things slow and relishing in the new sensations since they were all adults now. The sounds Buck made were definitely seared into Eddie’s brain after that. He left Shannon and Buck asleep in his bed and met Hen at the door with the kids when she brought them back. She smirked and tapped her neck, nodding toward him. Eddie shrugged, knowing he definitely had hickeys on his neck, smiling when she cracked up laughing before waving him off.
Eddie promised that he and Shannon would talk to Chris the next day once everyone was up for dinner. They were all off and had a family day planned anyway. Shannon went back to her bedroom some time during the night, so when Eddie woke up, it was just him and Buck. Eddie definitely took advantage of putting his mouth (and teeth) everywhere on Buck that he’d been wanting to for years. Buck, for his part, acted like he’d happily stay in Eddie’s bed forever if he’d let him. Once they’d gone through the shower, and gotten off together again, because now that Eddie could touch he couldn’t stop, Buck made them all breakfast. Chris took the news pretty well, though. He didn’t ask a lot of questions, but he said it was probably a good idea to put a copy of the DNA test with Eddie’s will and other documents, because that showed that Eddie’s parents had no claim to Chris whatsoever.
“So?” Hen asked with a smirk, kind of hidden by her mug, when they got into work for their next shift.
“I’m getting married!” Buck exclaimed happily. Eddie rolled his eyes but was probably smiling like an idiot.
“You aren’t even seeing anyone.” Chimney frowned. But he shifted his eyes over to Eddie.
“Semantics.” Buck waved the comment off. “I’m getting married. Bet I beat you and Maddie.”
“That’s because everyone you would invite lives here in LA.” Chimney pointed out. “Aside from Albert, I mean.”
“How’d you find out?” Hen asked curiously.
“Well,” Buck snickered, looking at Eddie who shrugged and got their coffees ready, “a while back Chris and I decided to do one of those DNA test deals. The sperm donor thing got me thinking about it, so we decided to see how many more relatives either of us had out in the world.”
“Never been curious about that myself.” Bobby said, grabbing a juice and sitting at the table with Hen. “Did you find anyone?”
“Yup.” Buck said, popping the ‘p’. “Turns out I have had a kid for a while, just didn’t know it.”
“That’s … awful. But you sound happy about it.” Bobby frowned.
“Buck’s been a dad since he was around 19, technically.” Eddie commented. Hen spit coffee out as she laughed. Chimney shrieked at getting hit. “So we sat down and had a conversation.”
“I’m missing something.” Bobby looked between Hen, Eddie, and Buck.
“Christopher is biologically Buck’s kid.” Eddie admitted. “And Shannon and I have known that the entire time.”
“I found out a few days ago.” Buck pointed out, waving his hand like the complete dork he was. The complete dork that Eddie was absolutely marrying. “Its why they named their daughter after me. I was Chris’ dad, but didn’t know, and missed out on all the early things. So Evanna was their sort of apology. But it’s all good now, because I’m getting married, and we’re having a big party.”
“So who are you marrying?” Hen asked, wiping up her mess still.
“Yeah, Eds,” Buck sidled up to him, “who am I marrying?”
“I’ll take it back.” Eddie threatened. It was a completely empty threat, but he could try to be serious.
“Liar.” Buck chuckled, “you are stuck with me. Both of you or even just you. I’m good either way.”
“Alright.” Bobby sighed. “Someone sit down and tell me what the hell I missed.”
“Buck was 18 when he was in El Paso and met Shannon and Eddie.” Hen explained. “They’d been told about a guy that was in town temporarily and would be willing to sleep with them.”
“It was one of those,” Eddie sighed, sitting down and dragging Buck down into the chair beside him, “everyone was sleeping around, but we weren’t all that comfortable just jumping into it. We were nervous and anxious and couldn’t seem to relax to actually try and enjoy it. A friend of Shannon’s said there was a guy that could talk us through it all. That he managed to make her comfortable the entire time. So we found him and sort of … kept him to ourselves for a week.”
“And that’s why you’ve been staring at Buck like you want to eat him since you met?” Bobby arched an eyebrow at him. Buck puffed up proudly, but Eddie could only smile at him. “And maybe why Buck always looked like he was confused about something when he watched you?”
“Pretty much.” Eddie said. “He didn’t really remember us, but it had been over eight years since we’d seen each other, by that point.”
“All good now.” Buck said, smiling dopily at Eddie. “I got a reenactment of when we met.”
Everyone groaned, but Eddie was pretty happy with how it all turned out. Even if it had taken more years than it should have to be open and honest about everything. The time didn’t matter. Because Buck was going to marry him and Eddie was definitely going to drop himself in Buck’s lap every chance he got moving forward. If Hen thought it was bad when Buck didn’t remember and Eddie was keeping his knowledge and hands to himself, it was going to be a lot worse now. So much worse. But in an absolutely amazing way. (For him and Buck, obviously, not anyone else having to witness them, they would be annoyed for sure.)