Chapter 1: It Was a Mistake (Or Was It?)
Chapter Text
Chapter 1: It Was a Mistake (Or Was It?)
Buck didn’t know how he got here. He’s laying in bed, watching two of the most important people in his life sleep and he can’t help but think about all of the decisions that got him to this point. As he lays there watching them sleeping peacefully, his mind starts to drift. He starts thinking back to the first decision (or at least in his mind, it’s the first decision) that led him here. If he had changed even one tiny aspect, he might not be here. He might not be lying in bed, watching two of his favorite people sleep. How did this happen? Does he deserve this? What does he do to make sure that he gets to keep this?
Seven Months Ago
Eddie’s gone. He’s back in Texas, trying to rebuild his relationship with Chris. Buck feels empty, but he knows that this was the right decision for Eddie. He would have gone with him, if Eddie had asked, Buck would have quit the 118 and moved to Texas with him. But Eddie didn’t ask. Instead, Buck did the only thing he could think of to help. He got out of his lease at the loft and sublet Eddie’s house. Now the house is filled with boxes of his belongings and he’s sleeping on Maddie and Chim’s couch. How pathetic! He feels pathetic, he’s got a house now; not a loft, not couch surfing, or living in the Jeep, but he doesn’t sleep there. In all honesty, he goes back there as little as he can. The house depresses him; it doesn’t feel like home anymore. The smiling faces and laughter that made Eddie’s house feel like home and now, with him and Chris gone, it feels cold, empty, desolate.
Maddie told him that he should probably try to expand his circle of friends. It’s not that she doesn’t love her little brother, but she’d really like her couch back. Of course, she also wants to see him happy, and she thinks the only way that will happen (other than Eddie deciding to come back to L.A.) is if he finds new friends. Maddie’s suggestion is why he’s here. Maddie’s suggestion is why he's probably about to do something stupid. He had convinced Ravi to go out with him for a drink after shift. They went to a local badge and ladder bar and were playing quarters. Apparently, Buck had been talking non-stop about Eddie, though he didn’t see what the problem was. Ravi had gotten up to go to the bar, he wanted to switch to beer (and truth be told he was tired of hearing about Eddie and tired of playing that godforsaken game of quarters).
Ravi had only been gone a few minutes, when Buck looked up and saw Ravi walking back over with Tommy. Now Buck is sitting at the table with Tommy (Ravi having ditched him) and he can feel that he’s going to make a stupid decision.
“I was driving by your place the other day.” Tommy says matter of factly.
“Actually, you weren’t.”
“I wasn’t?”
“No, I don’t live there anymore.”
“You got a new place?”
“Yeah, I did. You, uh, you want to see it?” Buck asks flirtatiously while picking at the label of his beer bottle.
Before he knows it, he and Tommy are feverishly kissing and walking through the front door of Ed-, his house. He walks Tommy back up against the nearest wall and moves to kissing Tommy’s neck. Tommy at this moment realizes where he is.
“Is this Eddie’s place?” he asks, side-stepping Buck into the middle of the living room.
“It was. I’m, uh, I’m subletting,” Buck says, chuckling and panting, while leaning against the wall holding his belt buckle.
“Well, I love what you’ve done with the place,” Tommy says while looking around at the mess that is boxes and boxes of Buck’s stuff.
“You want me to give you a tour,” Buck asks, walking back to Tommy.
“Sure,” Tommy says, reconnecting his lips to Buck’s. They move down the hallway only separating to start removing clothing. Buck pulls Tommy to the bedroom by his undershirt.
They fall onto Buck’s bed, Buck first with Tommy on top of him. Buck’s a little buzzed from the bar, but not enough that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Tommy is just following his lead.
Buck pulls away for a moment and looks at Tommy, “I’ve missed you,” he says quietly and moves back in for another kiss. Tommy, not wanting to ruin the moment, doesn’t say anything, but, instead, kisses him back. When he does break apart from Buck a moment later, it’s only to reattach his lips to the pulse point on Buck’s neck. He lightly nibbles until he hears Buck groan. He remembered that this was always one of Buck’s sensitive spots. Upon hearing Buck’s groan, Tommy has a hard time controlling himself and bites down harder and adds suction, eliciting a much louder, guttural noise from Buck. Tommy takes his time moving from one spot on Buck’s neck to the next until he’s placing open-mouthed kisses on Buck’s collarbone and reaching for the hem of Buck’s undershirt. He pulls away for just a moment to look at Buck and then begins pulling Buck’s undershirt over his head, seeing no hesitation in Buck’s eyes. He throws the shirt behind him, paying no attention to where it lands because he can’t take his eyes off of Buck. Buck reaches out and drags him back down by the back of his neck, meeting him halfway he joins their lips together again. With this one kiss, Buck is trying to say so many things that he doesn’t think that he could actually say out loud. The kiss doesn’t stay soft and gentle for long; Tommy and Buck are both too revved up and before long their kisses turn intense and sloppy, more teeth and tongue then lips.
After several sloppy kisses, Buck moves his hands to Tommy’s waist and using all of his weight he flips them over where Tommy is on his back. Tommy looks at Buck. He doesn’t say anything, but Buck can see him thinking.
Tommy’s looking at Evan and wondering why he ever ended this. He remembers the speech he gave Evan, the whole “I’m not your last, I’m your first” bullshit. It’s not like he was Evan’s first serious relationship, he may have been his first queer relationship, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. No, the real reason was fear. He was afraid because he wasn’t him; he wasn’t the person that meant the most in Evan’s life and he wasn’t sure if ever would be and he didn’t want to play second fiddle to anyone. He shakes his head to literally try and shake the thoughts away and at the same time Evan starts placing small kisses along his jaw line, then down his throat to his Adam’s Apple. Just like he had done a few minutes ago, Evan grabs the hem of his undershirt and looks at him quickly to make sure it’s okay. Tommy nods and Evan lifts his undershirt over his head and throws it behind him.
After throwing his shirt behind him, Evan attaches himself to Tommy’s right nipple. Tommy’s always enjoyed some pain as pleasure and it seems that Evan remembers that (I mean, he should, they hadn’t broken up that long ago) and bites down on his nipple, not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough to get Tommy’s attention. Tommy hisses and lets out a quiet moan. That one, single moan seems to fuel Evan and he starts lavishing his nipple with his tongue. Evan starts pinching Tommy’s left nipple while licking his right. The pinching on his left nipple is just this side of pain. Just a little more and it would be more pain than pleasure. Evan has always known how to tow that line really well. As much as Tommy enjoys pain, he knows Evan does as well, it was one way that they both matched really well. While Evan is attacking his nipples, Tommy laces the fingers of his right hand through Evan’s thick, luscious curls and pulls just enough to make Evan whimper. That sound, a sound that he’s missed so much, goes straight to his cock. And for the first time, he realizes that he’s rock hard. Harder than he’s been in a long time, even during those months while he and Evan were dating.
Tommy noticed that the sound that Evan made seemed to break them both out of some kind of trance that they had been under. Evan sat back on his feet, staring at Tommy, and then started undoing his belt, slowly pulling it out of the loops and throwing it behind him…somewhere (that was a problem for later). As soon as his belt was gone, Evan started with his jeans first the button and then the zipper. Tommy just watched as Evan lowered the zipper and then reached into his boxers and wrapped his big, strong hand around Tommy’s hard, aching cock. He didn’t move, just gripped Tommy’s cock with a mischievous smile on his face. Tommy loved that smile, months ago when they were dating, that smile meant that he was in for a great night.
Tommy focuses back on Evan who had let go of his cock and was pulling off his jeans and boxes, still with that sly, mischievous grin on his face. It doesn’t take long before Tommy is lying under Evan completely naked with Evan straddling him. Evan starts at his collar bone and begins placing a trail of kisses down his chest, his stomach, but stops when he gets to his cock. Instead of putting his mouth where Tommy wants him to the most, he places open-mouthed kisses onto each of his hips and then moves down to the inside of his thighs. He stops. He sits up and just looks at Tommy for a minute. Neither of them have had all that much to drink, so they’re perfectly aware of what they’re doing, which makes Tommy wonder what Evan is thinking about.
Before he can think on it too much though, Evan reaches down again and starts to slowly, loosely stroke his aching member. The stroking isn’t enough to do anything more than drive Tommy crazy.
“Please…”, he hears himself whine in a tone that he’s never heard before. What is wrong with him?
“Please, what, baby? Tell me what you want.” Evan says, almost mockingly as continues to slowly stroke, squeezing every few strokes to do nothing more than make Tommy lose his mind.
“Please…more. I, fuck, Evan, need more”, he says breathily, barely able to get out the words. Evan’s light touches drive him more and more out of his mind with arousal.
“There’s a lot of things that could be considered ‘more’, baby. For instance,” he stopped stroking and bent down and licked all of the precum from the tip of his cockhead and moaned at the familiar, salty taste, “that would be considered more. Is that all you need?
Tommy just shook his head. Words, thoughts were scrambled in his head right now and his brain/mouth connection seemed to be broken. Evan just continued to look at him and had started to lightly stroke his cock again.
“Be specific, baby. What do you need? What do you want from me?” Evan says slowly, punctuating every other word with a light squeeze of his cock.
“I need you inside me,” Tommy says breathily, barely able to get the words out.
Tommy looks up and sees that Evan has gone still, all of his movements have stopped. He’s not really sure how to take this change, but it’s only a moment before Evan speaks.
“Are you sure? You’ve never wanted to bottom for me.”
Tommy knew that they had to have this conversation, that Evan wouldn’t go any further without it. He just didn’t really want to have this conversation right now. He sighed and then started, “To be honest, I always wanted to, but was always scared. I’ve only ever bottomed a few times and never really enjoyed it. I always thought it would be different with you because things were different with us, but I was still too scared. After I broke up with you, I told myself that if I ever got the chance again I would take it. So this is me taking that chance, as long as you want.”
“Shit, yeah, I want to. I, uh, I just wish you would have talked to me sooner.”
Evan doesn’t go back to touching him just yet. Instead he reaches over into the bedside table and grabs his half-full bottle of lube and a condom and throws them on the bed. Tommy recognizes the bottle immediately, it’s the brand that they both decided was the best. His heart fills a little with the thought that Evan still uses that brand. He watches as Evan gets off the bed and starts removing his clothes. The man standing before him has the most gorgeous body that he’s ever seen. Every part of him is chiseled, but still soft. He watches as Evan’s muscles move as he removes his shirt and then his pants, leaving him only in his boxers.
Evan crawls back between his legs and stops, doesn’t reach for any of the supplies or for Tommy. He looks up, like he wants to ask something, but just sits there for a moment before he does.
“How long has it been since you’ve done this?” Evan asks in the most sincere and caring tone.
“Several years, and like I said, it wasn’t a good experience.”
“Do you trust me?”
“With my life.”
“Then lay back and let me take care of you.”
Tommy watches as Evan situates himself between his legs. He hears the snick of the lube bottle as Evan opens it and he assumes that he’s pouring some on his fingers and warming it up. He feels Evan circle his rim, rubbing against the muscle, but not breaching. It feels amazing and so different than it has any other time he’s done this. He lets out a small moan and though he’s not looking at Evan, Tommy’s pretty sure that he’s smirking.
Tommy feels Evan start to push one of his fingers past the ring of muscles and he feels himself start to tense. Evan must feel it too because at the same time, Evan takes the head of his cock into his mouth and starts sucking lightly. The dual sensations allow Tommy to relax again and Evan is able to push his finger into the first knuckle. Evan stills for just a moment, allowing Tommy to adjust, while lightly sucking. Evan pushes again until his finger is all the way in, stilling again for Tommy to adjust. After a moment, he begins slowly thrusting his finger in and out of Tommy’s hole. The sensation feels like nothing Tommy has ever felt before and he can’t help but think to himself why he waited so long to do this with Evan.
After several minutes of thrusting with one finger and being sure that Tommy is loose enough, Evan pulls out his finger just enough to add a second and starts the entire process again. He pushes both fingers in up to the first knuckle and stills. While allowing Tommy to adjust, he continues with his ministrations on Tommy’s cock. He pulls back just enough to lick the slit and then takes the head back in his mouth again, sucking lightly. Just as he begins pushing his fingers in again, he takes his cock deeper in his mouth and increases his suction.
Tommy is in heaven. He’s never felt anything like this before. Above Evan, he’s a moaning, writhing mess. His hands are curled into the sheets and he’s making sounds that he’s never heard himself make before.
Evan pops off his cock and looks up at him, “You doing okay up there, baby?”
Tommy nods his head, not sure that he can put words together at the moment.
“Words, baby, words.”
“Yesss,” Tommy says through a loud, breathy moan.
Evan chuckles, takes Tommy back in his mouth and begins thrusting the two fingers in his hole at the same time. Evan begins to slow with his thrusts and begins rubbing around Tommy’s walls. It doesn’t take long for him to find what he’s looking for and he presses.
Tommy groans loudly, “Oh my god,” and almost comes on the spot. Evan must realize it because he backs off and pulls off his cock at the same time.
“Found it,” he says impishly.
Evan pulls his fingers out and Tommy hears the snick of the lube bottle again. He thought that he would be slicking his cock up this time, but just a moment later he feels Evan’s fingers again. Evan’s going to make sure that he’s ready for him by making sure that he can take three of his fingers. He slowly works his fingers into Tommy’s hole and Tommy’s pretty sure he’s already seeing stars. Evan doesn’t go as slow this time. He pushes all three fingers in until they’re bottomed out. He begins quickly thrusting them in and out while scissoring them, stretching him out. Every few thrusts, he rubs on his prostate just a bit.
“Fuck, Evan, feels so good. Don’t stop, please don’t stop.” Tommy hears himself beg, something he’s never done before. He gathers just enough energy to open his and look at Evan. Evan has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face, fully aware that he’s driving Tommy absolutely insane.
Evan continues for several more thrusts and then pulls his fingers out completely. Tommy whines, feeling empty for the first time since they started.
“I know, baby, I know. I’ve got you though, hang on,” Evan says quietly. Tommy hears the snick of the lube bottle again and looks up at Evan. He hears the rip of the condom package and watches as Evan rolls the condom up his impressive length. He watches as he pours lube on his latex covered cock and slicks himself up. He watches Evan as he tugs on his own cock a few times before he decides that he’s ready.
He lines himself up at Tommy’s hole. “Are you sure?” he asks Tommy again. Tommy starts to just nod, but he knows Evan. Evan is big on explicit consent, just like he is. He finds all the energy that he can and replies, “Yes.”
Evan starts to push in and Evan must have done a great job at getting him ready because he feels stretched and a slight burn. He tries his best to relax but he feels himself tense. Evan feels it as well and begins to lightly stoke his cock and that sensation takes over. Tommy begins to relax and the head of Evan’s cock finally pushes into his hole. Evan stops for a minute, giving Tommy a chance to adjust. He’s watching Tommy and after a second, Tommy nods his head letting Evan know to continue. Evan starts pushing in again slowly inch after inch until he’s fully sheathed. Evan’s still slowly, lightly stoking Tommy’s cock while he gives him a moment to adjust to being full of Evan.
“Evan,” he says breathily, “you can move. Please move.”
Evan doesn’t say anything, but he stops stroking Tommy’s cock and pulls out slowly until only the head of his cock is still inside. He thrusts back in and then rotates his hips grinding his cock along Tommy’s prostate. He sets a rhythm that has Tommy panting and moaning. Evan pulls out, thrusts in and grinds, repeating this pattern making sure that he’s hitting Tommy’s prostate on every other thrust.
Tommy’s never felt like this before. He can already feel his orgasm building. He feels like he’s going to erupt before he knows it. He’s always prided himself in his ability to outlast his partners, but for the first time in his life he feels ready to explode way before he’s ready.
“Tommy, baby, you feel amazing. You’re taking me so well. It’s like you’ve taken me thousands of times. I don’t know how long I’m going to last with you squeezing me like a vice grip.”
As Evan continues thrusting he leans down on his forearms and kisses Tommy. His thrusting changes because of the angle and he starts hitting Tommy’s prostate on every thrust. Tommy groans into the kiss. Soon their kisses become just two people with lips touching sharing the same air.
“Evan, Evan,” Tommy moans, “I’m so cl-close. Please…touch me.”
Evan wraps his hand around Tommy’s cock and begins stroking. It only takes about five strokes for Tommy’s vision to white out. His cock starts shooting rope after rope of pearly, white come. It lands on his abs, his chest, and a small bit gets as far as his collar bone. Evan continues thrusting and follows Tommy over the threshold after just a few thrusts, stilling deep within Tommy, moaning Tommy’s name as he finishes.
Evan stills when he’s finished and tries not to, but eventually collapses on top of Tommy. They lay still for just a moment catching their breath and bathing in each other's essences.
“How are you?” Evan asks sincerely, but cautiously.
Tommy pulls Evan for a quick kiss, “I feel fantastic, I didn’t know that it could feel like that. Thank you for taking care of me.”
Evan smiles, “Anytime.”
Evan starts to slowly sit up and pull out, leaving Tommy with an empty feeling that makes him whine. He watches Evan stand up and then head to the bathroom, he assumes to clean up. He hears the tap come on for a minute and then go back off. A minute later he sees Evan come back in with a wet, warm washcloth to clean him up with. He wipes Tommy down and then lays back down pulling the blanket over them.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted,” Evan says sleepily.
“I could sleep,” Tommy replies.
“Good, see you in the morning baby.”
“See you in the morning,” Tommy replies quietly.
Tommy falls asleep quickly, his breathing evening out and small snores filling the room. Since he fell asleep so quickly, he doesn’t notice Evan looking at him. He doesn’t see the smile on his face as he watches Tommy sleep. He also doesn’t see that smile morph into a look of confusion and wonderment. He doesn’t see Evan spiraling, and thinking to himself “What have I done?”
Chapter 2: Let's Try Again...Slowly
Summary:
Buck and Tommy have a conversation. They talk about what went wrong before and where to go from here.
Notes:
This chapter is from Buck's POV entirely. I'm still in the set up of the story. The next couple chapters are more set up and then we'll get into the major plot.
Chapter Text
Buck woke up the next morning to the sun shining through the bedroom windows, bright and golden. He smiled before opening his eyes thinking about last night. It was nice being with Tommy even though, deep down, he knew it was a mistake. Tommy didn’t want him for the long haul, he was just there last night. They were both lonely and needed someone. Even though he’d had a fantastic night, he knew it wouldn’t last and that thought took the smile off of his face.
When he opened his eyes and rolled over he expected to see Tommy still lying there. He didn’t expect to wake up alone. The other side of the bed was cold, Tommy had left awhile ago. Buck rolls over to the other side of the bed and breathes in deeply, smelling Tommy’s scent. He really has missed Tommy. Breaking up with him was harder than any other relationship he’s had ending. Buck lays there for just a minute taking in Tommy’s scent and thinking about last night.
Buck eventually gets up and walks to the bathroom to try and start waking up for the day. He uses the bathroom and washes his hands. His morning skincare routine takes a few minutes, but he makes sure he takes the time because he didn’t do his nighttime routine last night. He grabs his face wash and takes a few minutes to thoroughly wash his face. After rinsing his face, he grabs his daytime moisturizer and makes sure to massage it in the way he was taught at the store.
He’s standing in the bathroom looking in the mirror when he hears a noise coming from the kitchen. He quietly makes his way to the kitchen, wondering what in the world could be going on. Has someone broken in? Had he left the backdoor open and a raccoon got in? He wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he walked into the kitchen.
“I thought you had left.”
“Not without feeding you first,” Tommy replies as he playfully slaps Buck in the stomach.
Tommy walks back over to where he’s cooking breakfast and says, “There’s coffee.”
Buck walks over to the counter where the coffee maker sits and looks at Tommy with bewilderment, “Where did you find the coffee maker?”
Tommy looks at Buck, “In the box labeled, ‘coffee maker’.”
“Ah, you are so perceptive,” Buck replies after making his coffee and hopping up onto the counter.
Tommy walks over and stands in between Buck’s legs, “How did you sleep?”
“That was the best night I've had in this place; it was also the first night I’ve had in this place, but still.”
Tommy looks at Buck and then leans in for a quick kiss, nothing more than a brush of their lips before walking back over to breakfast.
“And don’t worry, I know last night doesn’t change anything,” Buck says looking over at Tommy.
“Why not?’
“What are you saying right now?”
“I’m saying, what are you doing Saturday?”
Buck hops off the counter and strolls over to Tommy, “You want to try this again?”
“I mean, I’m not ready to move in or anything, it looks like you aren’t either.”
“And you’re not still afraid that I’m going to break your heart?”
“Not as much, since the competition is gone.”
“Competition?”
“Never mind.”
“Wait, do you mean Eddie?
“Evan, let’s just forget it and have breakfast.”
“No, Tommy, if you want to try this again, then we need to talk about this.”
Tommy sighs, he really doesn’t think this is going to go well, but he concedes, “Fine. Breakfast is ready, let’s eat and have this conversation, if that’s what you really want.”
“Okay.”
They quietly make their plates and then sit at the kitchen table. For a few minutes, there is complete silence as they just sit there and eat. Buck knows one of them has to break the silence and since he was the one who wanted to have the conversation, he thinks it should be him.
“What did you mean that Eddie was the competition?”
“Come on, Evan. The two of you live in each other’s pockets. It’s clear that you’re in love with each other.”
“Eddie’s straight.”
Tommy scoffs, “Yeah, okay.”
“He is.”
“Fine, but that isn’t a denial that you’re in love with him.”
“So, what? You were just afraid for our entire relationship that I would just up and leave you for my straight best friend?”
“I just didn't want to be second best in your life. Well, third best really, because Eddie and Chris will always come first. The idea of being the third most important person in your life didn’t sit right with me.”
“Then what’s changed? Because even in Texas, Eddie and Chris are still important in my life.”
“Without them here in LA, I guess it won’t feel like I’m fighting them for your attention.”
“Look, Tommy, in Texas or in LA, Eddie and Chris are always going to be a part of my life and are always going to be important for me. Eddie could call me now and say that he needs me in Texas as soon as I can get there and I’m going to drop everything and show up. It’s just who I am for the people I love, I show up.”
“I know that, Evan. It’s one of your qualities that I love the most. I guess, I just overlooked sometimes.”
“That was never my intention and if I made you feel that way, I’m truly sorry. I wish that you would have talked with me about this months ago instead of ending things.”
“I tried a couple of times, but every time I started to, I was afraid of how it was going to come out. I didn’t want to sound jealous of Eddie and that I didn’t want you around him.”
“My feelings about you haven’t changed Tommy. If you want to give us another shot, I’d like to as well. But, we have to agree on a couple of things first.”
“Like what?”
“Well, first, you have to be honest with me no matter what. As much as I wish I could, I can’t read your mind.”
Tommy sighs, but looks at Evan and can see that he’s very serious, “Talking about my feelings is not something I’m good at, but I’ll try.”
“Good. Second, you have to understand that Eddie and Chris aren’t going anywhere, but that my love for them doesn’t diminish my love for you.”
Tommy just smiles a little. They had never really said that word.
“Last, I want to take this slow. Last time, we jumped into everything, including bed, pretty quickly. I want us to take the time to really get to know each other.”
“Okay, can you be more specific?”
“Like, uh, actual dates and spending time getting to know each other. Keeping the physical stuff to the bare minimum for a while.”
Tommy just looked at Evan, honestly surprised to hear this come from him, “How long is a while?”
Buck isn’t sure why, but this part of the conversation is making him nervous, and making him stammer.
He pushes the last bits of food around on his plate, “I, uh, I don’t know. I don’t really want to, uh, put a timeframe on it. I kind of, uh, want to just feel it out as we go.”
“Okay. I can do that. But back to my original question. Are you free on Saturday?”
“As long as we can agree to everything that we talked about, then, yes, I am, uh, free on Saturday.”
“Great, I’ll pick you up at 8,” Tommy said smiling.
Buck knew he was blushing, but he just smiled back. They finished eating in silence and then got up and cleaned up the kitchen together.
“I’ve got to head out, I’ve got a shift later.”
“Okay, I’ll walk you out.”
Buck and Tommy walked side-by-side to the front door.
“Wait, how are you getting to your truck?”
“The same way, we got here Evan. I ordered an Uber. They’re going to be pulling up any moment.”
Laughing, Buck said, “Oh, okay. That makes sense.”
“Uber is here,” Tommy said. “I’ll see you Saturday, Evan,” and then pressed a quick kiss to Evan’s lips. “Was that okay? I know you said physical things to a minimum.”
“Yeah, that was okay. See you Saturday.”
“Bye,” Tommy said before hurrying out the door so he didn’t keep the Uber waiting.
Buck closed the front door and then leaned back on it, closing his eyes. He just stood there for a moment thinking about everything that happened this morning. He couldn’t believe that Tommy thought of Eddie as competition.
Buck knows that he loves Eddie, of course, he loves Eddie. Eddie is his best friend. But he’s not in love with Eddie. Or at least he doesn’t think he is. Even if he was in love with Eddie, it wouldn’t matter because Eddie is straight.
Buck rakes his hands through his hair. “I think it’s finally time to unpack,” he says quietly to no one.
It took several hours, but now Buck is sitting in his (Eddie’s) living room, the entire house unpacked and set up. He had tried setting up the living room several different ways, but only one looked right. So now, he’s sitting on his couch in the exact same spot that Eddie’s couch had been in. The TV in the exact same spot that Eddie’s TV had been in. His coffee table in the exact same spot that Eddie’s had been in. It feels kind of surreal.
He’s sitting on the couch, nursing a beer and watching some documentary that had been on his Netflix queue, when he thinks about the fact that he hasn’t talked to Eddie today. They have been talking every day, normally more than once. Now it’s like 3 in the afternoon and he hasn’t talked to him.
Buck picks up his phone, unlocks it, and scrolls to Eddie’s contact. He thinks about just calling him, but decides he wants to see if so he does a video call instead. Eddie answers on the first ring.
“Buck! I was wondering if I was going to hear from you today.”
“Hey, Eddie. Sorry, I spent the day finally unpacking everything.”
“Ooh, sounds like fun,” Eddie jokes, knowing that unpacking is the least fun thing. Something that he still hasn’t even really done.
“Oh, you know it. Have you finished unpacking there yet?”
“No, not yet. I haven’t found the ‘want’ to do it.”
“I get that. How are things going with Chris.”
“Honestly, not much has changed yet. I’m supposed to go have dinner with him and my parents in a few hours. How are things with you? Has anything interesting happened?”
Buck sits there for just a minute, wondering if he should tell him about Tommy. Eddie and Tommy were friends, but Eddie kind of dropped him when they broke up. He decides that he will. Eddie’s his best friend, even if he’s not completely happy for him, he’ll still support him.
“You mean since I talked to you yesterday?” Buck asked jokingly.
“Well, yeah, you’re you, something interesting is always going on,” Eddie says laughing.
“Well, now that you mention it, something did happen. But if I tell you, you have to promise to support me even if you’re not happy.”
“Of course, I’ll support you. You’re my best friend. No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you.”
“I went out to the bar with Ravi last night. We were having a few drinks and I guess he got tired of me talking too much,” Buck didn’t mention who he was talking about. “He ran to the bar to get us a couple of beers and when he came back he wasn’t alone.”
“Who was with him?” Eddie asked with a sinking feeling that he already knew the answer.
“Tommy.”
“Really? How’d that go?” Eddie asked, trying to be supportive and not let his feelings show through. Tommy had been his friend, but he hasn’t spoken to him since he broke Buck’s heart. That was the messiest break up that Buck has ever had and he’s not sure that he can forgive Tommy.
“Well, Ravi, kind of abandoned me there with Tommy.”
“And let me guess, you took Tommy home?”
“How do you know me so well? Yes, I did. However, that’s not the surprising part, obviously.”
“So what happened? And I don’t need to know about the carnal activities.”
“Eddie! You know I don’t kiss and tell.”
Oh, whatever, Buck, you absolutely do. What was the surprising part?”
“Well, this morning, he said that he wanted to try again since the competition was gone.”
“Competition? Wait, you mean, me?”
“Yeah, I was just as surprised as you are. As it turns out, he thought that we were in love with each other and that I’d eventually leave him for you.”
“Huh. I guess from an outside perspective, our friendship could look a little concerning.” Eddie states matter-of-factly not really showing any concern of the ‘in love with each other’ part. “So what happened?”
“We sat down and we talked about everything. He talked about how he felt like he was competing with you and Chris for my attention. I told him that you and Chris will always be part of my life, no matter what. In the end, we decided to give it another go. I laid down some rules though. I told him that he’d have to be honest with me, that he’d also have to understand that you and Chris aren’t going anywhere in my life. I also told him that I wanted to go slow and hold off on physical things for a while.”
“Wow, Buck, I’m proud of you. So you and Tommy are happening again, huh?” Eddie asks, swallowing away the lump in his throat.
“Yeah, uh, we’re going to see how it goes,” Buck replies, suddenly nervous. He’s not normally nervous talking to Eddie. “We’re going out Saturday night. So, uh, dinner with your parents and Chris, huh?” He asks quickly, changing the subject.
“Yeah, mom said she wanted to make Thursday night, a weekly family dinner night. So I’m sure it’ll turn into a train wreck. Both of my sisters will be there as well. I’m excited to see Sophia and Adriana, but I just don’t think that this is going to end well.”
“Well, you know if you need to vent during or after, I’m here.”
“Yeah, I know Buck. You always are.”
They sat there for a little while longer just talking about random things. Buck talked about some of the calls they’ve been on. And Eddie talked about his interview with the captain of the firehouse in El Paso. After a couple of hours just chatting, Eddie realized what time it was.
“Shit, it’s after 6. I have to get ready and get to my parent’s house for dinner. Thanks for the call Buck.”
“Yeah, of course, call me if you need me or if you just want to debrief after dinner with your parents.”
“Will do. Bye, Buck.”
“Bye, Eddie,” Buck says and then ends the call. He puts his phone down and thinks about the beginning of the call. Eddie didn’t sound mad about Tommy, but there was something new in his voice. Something he had never heard before and it had started when Buck mentioned that Tommy thought they were in love with each other. Nothing will change though. Eddie is always going to be there for him, Buck thinks as he gets up and figures out what to do for dinner.
Chapter 3: The Dinner from Hell
Summary:
Eddie has dinner with his parents, sisters, and Chris. It goes exactly as he suspected...horribly bad.
Notes:
A second chapter this week. I'm really looking forward to getting past the set up of the story in order to get to the main plot, so here's a second chapter this week.
Chapter Text
Eddie had talked with Buck so long on the phone that now he was running late for dinner with his parents. His mom had said 7, but he knew if he didn’t show up at least 15 minutes early, his mom would chastise him for being late. He hung up with Buck at 10 after 6. The drive to his parents’ house took about 15 minutes, which meant he couldn’t leave any later than half after 6. He had just enough time to take a quick shower and get dressed.
Eddie ran to his bedroom and grabbed a pair of jeans and his favorite ocean blue Henley. He would disagree if someone said the blue was the same color as Buck’s eyes (though deep down he knew it was true). He walked over to his dresser and quickly grabbed a pair of black boxer briefs and a pair of socks. Throwing everything on the bed, he went to the bathroom and started the water. He quickly undressed, throwing his shirt, sweats, underwear, and socks in the hamper.
As he stepped under the water stream, he wished that he had time to stand there and unpack the conversation with Buck. He had told him about his night with Tommy and about the conversation that they had today. How Tommy had been, for lack of a better word, jealous of Eddie. This was so hard for Eddie to believe. Eddie and Tommy had been friends. He was happy, albeit a little confused, when Buck had started dating Tommy.
Buck’s bisexuality was new for everyone, including Buck. Though had Eddie ever thought about it, he wouldn’t have seen Buck with someone like Tommy. He would have seen him with someone like himself. Eddie’s not blind, he has eyes. He knows that Buck is a gorgeous specimen (maybe not the most straight choice of words for a man to describe his best friend, but it doesn’t make it any less true).
Eddie stood there washing his hair and body. He couldn’t think about how Buck’s eyes sparkled in the sunlight. How every time they would go to the zoo or the aquarium or even the beach that Buck would get excited like a kid at Christmas. When he would get excited like that his energy was hard to contain, kind of like a golden retriever. Eddie loved it when Buck got excited. His excitement was like sunlight and oxygen to Eddie.
Eddie missed everything about LA, but the one thing that he missed the most was Buck. He wished that Buck was by his side all of the time. He wanted to spend all of his time with Buck. He wanted to raise Chris with him and grow old with him.
Eddie stops moving in the shower and goes completely still. Whoa. These were thoughts that he’d never had before. He’d never thought about Buck like this. Standing there under the spray of the water, he realized that he was envious of Tommy. Tommy got to have Buck in a way that Eddie had never realized that he wanted.
Eddie wasn’t gay or bi though. He had never thought about another man in that way. He’d only ever thought about a life with a woman, a mother for Chris. What was going on? Could he have feelings for Buck? He thought about the captivating way that Buck looked at him with his deep, sparkling eyes that made Eddie’s stomach turn like a million butterflies floating away. He thought about the way that Buck’s hair curled just so and framed his stunning face. He thought about the birthmark that sat on his face, like a permanent blush.
Holy shit. At the very least, Eddie was attracted in some way to his best friend. Was it just his best friend though? Or was he attracted to men in general? Eddie shook his head, lost in thought. He realized that he had probably been standing in the shower too long. He quickly turned the water off and stepped out, grabbing the towel that he had sat on the sink to dry himself off. Once dry, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked to his bedroom. Picking up his phone he looked at the time real quick, 6:25. He had just enough time to get dressed and get out the door and still be early to his parents.
Eddie shucked the towel across the room, not really caring where it landed. He grabbed his boxer briefs, quickly pulling them on, followed by his jeans. He then grabbed his Henley and pulled it over his head. He walked back into the bathroom and towel dried his hair real quick and ran a hair brush quickly through it, it would dry on the way to his parents. He went back to his bedroom, sat on the bed and pulled his socks on quickly. He grabbed his phone and walked to the front door and put his shoes on. Grabbing his keys from the bowl by the door, he walked out locking the door behind him and went to get in his truck.
Once in his truck, he realized that he was pulling out of his driveway at exactly half after 6, meaning that as long as traffic wasn’t ridiculous he could get to his parents 15 minutes early just like he wanted. Traffic in El Paso wasn’t great, but it was nothing like traffic in LA. He didn’t like driving in LA, that’s why he let Buck drive the majority of the time. However, he didn’t mind driving in El Paso. He just wished he didn’t have to be here at all.
Chris was doing well here though, and he would do anything to be in his son’s life. Even if it meant coming back to the conservative, suffocating town he grew up in. LA was an extremely tolerant place. You saw people of all races, cultures, nationalities, and color in LA. For the most part, it seemed as though everyone lived and worked together peacefully. People weren’t judged (at least not openly) in LA for their sexuality or gender identity. LA was the kind of place that he wished he had been raised and the kind of place where he had been wanting to raise Chris. El Paso was the complete opposite. Ninety percent of the people that lived in El Paso were straight, conservative Christians. The other ten percent of the population pretty much kept to themselves and didn’t disclose anything personal about their lives for fear of judgment.
He had been so lost in thought about the differences between LA and El Paso he was startled to realize that he had made it to his parents house, he assumes he guided himself there on autopilot. He said a quick prayer to a god that he didn’t really believe in that this dinner would go well. He saw both of his sisters’ cars and realized that even though he’s 15 minutes early, just like he wanted to be, he’s still the last one here. “Great,” he thought to himself, walking up to the door.
He knocked on the front door and then quietly let himself in.
“Hola, mamá, papi.”
His father steps out of the kitchen, “Hola, Eddie. You’re the last one here. Your mom said dinner will be ready in about five minutes.”
“I thought mom said 7.”
“It’s close enough,” Ramon said. “Your mom and sisters are in the kitchen, go say hi.”
Eddie walks through the house to the kitchen. He looks around before he says anything and see his mom and his sisters all standing in the kitchen. His sisters each have a glass of wine in their hands while his mom is pulling a roast out of the oven. Adriana is the youngest and the shortest, having just turned 21. She’s cut her dark brown hair off to her chin and it makes her look even younger. Sophia’s hair is the longest that he’s ever seen flowing down to her lower back and just as curly as it was when they were younger. Unlike him, Sophia and Adriana, both somehow ended up with green eyes that didn’t match his brown in any way. Instead they had his mom’s eyes, both in color and shape.
It had been a while since he had seen his sisters. The last time that he had been down here for a visit, they weren’t able to get together at all, so at the very least he was excited to see them.
“Hola, mamá. Hola, hermanas,” Eddie says, getting their attention.
Adriana looks over first, laying eyes on her big brother for the first time in at least three years.
“¡Hermano mayor! ¡Qué alivio verte!” Adriana exclaims.
“Adri, it’s only been a few years and it isn’t like we haven’t video chatted.”
“I know, but it’s so great to see you in person, Eddie.”
“It’s great to see you too, Adri. How’s school going?” Eddie knew that Adri was working on a BA in Sociology. She had always been interested in the effects of societal pressure on a person and was writing her thesis on cults, though he didn’t know any specifics.
“Pretty good actually. I’ll be defending my thesis in a few weeks. I’m almost finished with the editing and then I have to double-check my sources before I stand before the board. I’m nervous, but also excited.”
“I’m glad it’s going well.” Eddie looks over to Sophia who has just been standing there watching the exchange between him and Adri. “How have you been Soph?” Eddie and Sophia don’t talk as often as him and Adri, they’ve never been as close.
“I’m good Eddie. Enjoying being home?”
I miss LA, but I’d rather be here that’s for sure,” he says quietly, only meaning it a little bit.
“Mamá, something smells good. You’ve outdone yourself today,” he says while walking over to his mom to give her a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, Eddie. Everything is just about finished. Will you go tell Chris to was up for dinner while your sisters and I get everything on the table?”
“Sure, mamá.”
Eddie walks back out the kitchen, through the living room, and into the hallway, where he stops in front of Chris’ bedroom door (which used to be his bedroom door). He takes a deep breath, and the knocks.
“Come in,” Chris says.
“Hey mijo.”
Chris looks up, “Oh, hi dad,” he says kind of expressionless.
“Your abuela says that dinner is almost ready and wants you to get washed up.”
“Ok, what are we having for dinner?”
“I’m pretty sure she made roast, potatoes, and carrots.”
“Okay, I’ll be in there in just a minute.”
“Good, mijo,” Eddie says and walks back to the dining room.
All of the food is now sitting on the table. His dad is sitting at one end of the table and his mom on the other. His sisters have sat on one side, leaving the other side for him and Chris. He moves to the seat closest to his mom because it will be easier for Chris to sit in the chair closest to his dad. No sooner than he sits down, does he hear Chris’s crutches on the floor and look up to see his son entering the room. Chris sits down and everyone just looks at each other for a moment.
His dad looks around the table and says, “Let’s say grace.” They all grab each other’s hands to hold around the table and bow their heads. Eddie hasn’t done this in years, but it's muscle memory at this point. As much as he doesn’t want to, he also knows that if he doesn’t it’ll start a huge argument, so he just goes along with it.
“Gracias, Señor, por este alimento que vamos a comer. Te agradecemos tu provisión. En el nombre de Jesús, amén,” Ramón finishes and everyone echoes, “Amén.”
They begin passing around all of the dishes and filling their plates. Eddie takes the carrots first and puts some on his and Chris’ plates, followed by the roast potatoes. His mom hands him a roll for him and one for Chris and lastly he puts some of the roast on each of their plates.
“So, Eddie, how is the new house coming along,” his mom asks.
“It’s coming. The house is a big fixer-upper but I’m up to the challenge.”
“Will you have time for all of the renovations with the new job at El Paso Fire?” His father asks not looking at him.
“Well, I went in for an interview yesterday with the captain and he said that they are actually on a hiring freeze. He wants to hire me, but can’t just yet. Luckily I have enough in my savings to live off of and be able to make the renovations right now.”
Sophia looks concerned, “So, you’re just going to work on the house, but not work right now?”
“For the time being. The captain said that these hiring freezes normally only last a couple of weeks. If it looks like it’s going to last longer than that, I’ll find something else in the meantime.”
Everyone breaks into their own conversations after that. Sophia talking to their dad and Adriana talking to their mom. Sophia was always more like dad and Adri took after mom, Eddie was always the odd one out. Instead of trying to intrude in their conversations, he decided to try and talk to Chris.
“How was school today, bud?”
“Not bad, we’re learning about DNA and blood types in Science.”
“That sounds interesting. You should call Buck, I’m sure he’d have all kinds of information for you. He told me the other day that you haven’t been returning his calls or texts. He really wants to hear from you.”
Chris lowers his voice to an almost whisper, “I don’t want to talk about Buck right now, Dad.”
“Why don’t you want to talk about Buck, Chris?”
Chris opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, Helena grabs Eddie’s attention.
“Eddie,” Helena says sternly, “We don’t talk about that man in this house.”
“Why can’t Chris and I talk about Buck? He’s been a big part of mine and Chris’ lives for the last 8 years.”
Ramon jumps in at this point, “Eddie his lifestyle is inappropriate for a young man like Chris to be around. He is an immoral abomination and so we do not allow Chris to talk about him or to him. As long as you’re in this house, you won’t talk about him either.”
Adriana, the ever curious one, “Wait, I’m confused. Who’s Buck and what kind of lifestyle does he have?”
Eddie had thrown his head in his hands while his dad had been talking. He looks up and around the table at his family. The look on Chris’ face is sheepish, like he’s sorry that he even mentioned anything. Ramon looks like he’s seething and will explode at any moment. Sophia and Adriana both have looks of curiosity and confusion on their faces. His mother is looking at him with daggers, telling him with her eyes to just drop it now.
Eddie doesn’t drop anything.
“Buck is my best friend. When Chris and I first moved to LA, he helped me find Chris’ home health aide that in turn helped us with all the bureaucracy to get Chris the services that he needed. As for his ‘lifestyle,’ I’m guessing that mom and dad are talking about the fact that he recently came out as bi and has been dating a man named Tommy.
“Wait, did Tommy and Buck get back together?”
“Christopher,” Helena exclaims, “This is not something that you need to know about. Sit there quietly or leave the table without dinner.”
Chris gets up from the table as quickly as he can. Chris is an independent kid and doesn’t need to be told what he can and can’t know. So he walks out of the dining room and to his bedroom. He’d rather go to bed without dinner then be told what information he can or can’t have about someone like Buck.
“Mom, what the hell,” Adriana practically yelled. “I don’t understand what the big deal is. Bisexuality is pretty common these days, around five percent of adults in the United States identify as bi and around nine percent of adults identify as gay. Why is it a problem that Eddie’s best friend is bi?”
“Because Adriana, it is a sin,” Ramon replies without looking up from his plate. “We don’t want that around Christopher.”
Sophia speaks up for the first time since this conversation began. “Eddie is Chris’ dad though and he has no problem with his best friend being around Chris. If Eddie was worried about Buck being around then Eddie wouldn’t let him.”
Eddie looks at both of his sisters with wonderment in his eyes. He never expected them to come to his aid. He just continues to look at them and he knows that they can tell he is saying thank you with his eyes.
“Mom, dad. Buck is a wonderful, caring person. Who he decides to sleep with or be in a relationship with, doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change who he is. He has always been there for Chris and for me. When I got trapped in the well, years ago. He never gave up, he tried to dig me out with his bare hands. When I got shot a couple years ago on a call, he rolled under a fire engine, after having been crushed by one, and pulled me to safety. Then he got me into the engine and kept me alive until we got to the hospital. When I found out that my entire unit from Afghanistan was dead and I had a meltdown, he was the one that Chris called. He dropped everything and came over and helped. He made sure that I went to therapy and that Chris was taken care of. Buck is the most genuine, loving, caring, wonderful person I have ever met and his sexuality changes nothing about who he is.”
Helena scoffs, “We don’t care Eddie. It is unnatural and a sin. While all of those things he did for you were admirable, it doesn’t change the fact that he is a deviant that shouldn’t be around children.”
“Buck’s not a deviant,” Chris screamed from the doorway. No one had noticed that he had snuck back into the dining room and had been listening. He just stood there tears streaming down his face, obviously in shock about what his grandmother had just said about Buck.
“Chris go to your room,” Ramon demanded.
“Dad,” Eddie, Sophia, and Adriana all said at the same time. Eddie knew that his sisters were going to say exactly what he was going to say.
“Dad, I think Chris is old enough to be in here for this conversation. Being around people in the LGBTQIA+ community is not new for him. His best friend in LA has two moms and several of the employees at his school belong to the community,” Eddie says trying to reason with his dad.
“Go to your room, Christopher,” Ramon says more forcefully.
Eddie sees the defeat in his eyes as Chris turns around and goes back to his room. Once Ramon is sure that Chris is gone, he speaks up.
“This is the last thing that will be said on this matter and then it is never to be brought up again. Your mother and I want Chris to have nothing to do with that man. As long as he lives in this house, and let me remind you, he asked to live here, you will not talk to him about that man or talk about that man in this house and that is final,” he said, banging his fist on the table, standing up and walking away.
Sophia and Adriana just look back and forth from Eddie to their mother, not believing that this entire conversation has been real. Eddie looks at them both before dropping his head into his hands. He knew this dinner was going to be bad, but he had no idea that it would be the dinner from hell. Not to mention, how is he supposed to tell Buck about this? He has to tell him something; he’s been wondering why Chris hasn’t been talking to him. He’s been thinking that Chris is mad at him, when that’s not the case at all.
After a few moments of silence, Helena speaks up, “Eddie, I think that you should go. You’re welcome to come to dinner next Thursday, but again no more talk about that friend of yours or we’ll ask you to leave.”
Eddie doesn’t say anything, he just stands up and walks through the living room and out the front door. He shuffles down the driveway to his truck, opens the door and gets in. As soon as he gets in, he drops his head onto his steering wheel. He sits there for a minute, just breathing, trying not to think about what just happened. Sitting there he thinks back to his thoughts in the shower, would his parents feel the same way if they knew that he was attracted to Buck, that he thought he was attracted to men in general? He still wasn’t sure about everything, but he did know that when it came to dating and having sex with women that it has always just felt like some kind of performance, something he had to do. Would his parents say all the same cruel things about him that they said about Buck?
But, then again, Eddie wasn’t even really sure about anything. He thinks that he’s attracted to Buck, but he’s not sure. He thinks that he might be attracted to men, but he’s not sure. He never thought that he’d be doubting his own sexuality in his 30s, but here he is, sitting in his truck in front of his parent’s house, wondering if he’s straight, gay, or bi. He needs a drink.
Though he grew up in El Paso, he’s never really been to a bar here before. Before the army he was too young; after the army, he had to work three jobs to take care of Chris so he had no time, and then he had been in LA.
He pulls his phone out of his pocket and pulls up Google and searches ‘bars near me’. A long list of bars come up, some inside of El Paso and some outside. He looks through the list and then clears the search. He types a new search into Google, ‘gay bars near me,’ not even sure if any will come up. While a list does come up, it’s much shorter and only one of them is actually in El Paso. He pulls up the address for the bar, called Bombarderos and enters it into his GPS and heads out.
Chapter 4: Bombarderos
Summary:
Eddie has a drink at the bar and meets someone new. He gets closer to figuring things out about his life and gets asked out on a date.
Notes:
I'm off this week for Thanksgiving in the US so I want to get a few chapters out while I have the time. Hopefully at least another two chapters to come this week.This is another chapter from Eddie's POV and we get to meet an original character.
Chapter Text
The drive to Bombarderos only takes about 15 minutes. Eddie pulls into the small parking lot, but goes all the way to the back of the lot before he finds somewhere to park. He's not sure why, but he just feels more comfortable parking in the back even though there were plenty of spots up front.
Who is he kidding? He knows exactly why he's more comfortable. He's been to gay bars before. He used to go every other week or so with Buck, Hen, and Karen. This is the first time he's been to one by himself, though. The first time he's been to one in his home town, where it could get back to his parents.
He's really still not even sure why he's here. Yes, he wanted a beer after the disastrous dinner. He could have gone to any bar for that though. There's a little voice in the back of his mind, though, telling him this is where he needs to be. That being here will help him answer some of his questions.
Eddie looks at himself for a moment in the rearview mirror before deciding that he looks okay. He grabs his phone and the keys out of the ignition and steps out of the truck. He looks around and notices that the bar is not in a very populated area of El Paso, ‘Good’, he thinks to himself. He walks up the parking lot and stands in front of the entrance. Eddie takes a deep breath and exhales as he grabs the door handle and walks into Bombarderos.
Bombarderos looks like any other bar anywhere, there’s nothing remarkably special about it. Nothing that just stands out as a gay bar. He’s been to bars in LA that really stand out, one even had male go-go dancers in cages. But this bar, you wouldn’t even know it was a gay bar unless you paid attention to the couplings, mainly same-sex.
As he walks to the bar, Eddie notices that the bar is very nondescript and he wonders if maybe that was done on purpose. There are some neon lights around the bar advertising different beers and liquors, just like you would see in any bar. You can tell that this bar has been open for some time. The tables, booths, and stools are worn but still in good shape.
Eddie walks in and looks around quickly before making his way to the bar. There’s a free stool on the end and he sits down. The bartender, a guy younger than Eddie with dark brown hair and a lanky build, sees him and signals that he’ll be with him in a minute. Eddie just sits there taking in everything around him.
“What can I get for you?” the bartender asks politely.
“Just a pale ale on tap, thanks”, Eddie replies. The bartender walks away to get Eddie’s beer but returns a moment later.
He sits the glass on a coaster in front of Eddie, “Do you want to open a tab?”
Eddie just nods and hands him his credit card. The guy walks away for just a moment to do what he needs to do. He walks back over to Eddie to ask him if needs anything else.
“Not right now, but thank you.”
“Are you new around here?” the bartender asks, seeming genuinely curious.
“This is my first time here, but I actually grew up in El Paso. Just moved back after having lived in Los Angeles for close to ten years.”
“Oh, well welcome home. Let me know if I can get anything for you.”
“I will, thanks,” Eddie replies and the bartender walks away to help other patrons.
Eddie sits there alone sipping on his beer and kind of people-watching, trying to figure out some of the questions that are rolling through his head. He notices that when he looks around at the different people, that his eyes definitely linger on the men more than they do the women. He realizes that he pays attention to the bodies of the men more than he does the women. He notices the muscles on the men and their hair and eye color whereas, with the women, he doesn’t really seem to care.
He’s about to finish his beer and get the bartender’s attention, when the bartender walks over. The bartender has a sparkly pink drink in his hand.
“Courtesy of the gentlemen at the other end of the bar. He said to tell you that, ‘men with gorgeous eyes shouldn’t drink pale ale’.”
Eddie blushes, “What kind of drink is this?”
The bartender points to the board above Eddie’s head that explains the bar’s signature cocktails, “This is a ‘Just the Tip,’ has a couple different vodkas, but it’s really good,” the bartender replies, sitting the drink down on a coaster and picking up Eddie’s beer glass.
Eddie looks up at the sign and reads the ingredients for the drink: vodka, vanilla vodka, raspberry puree, edible pink glitter and whipped cream garnished with frozen raspberry chunks and mint leaves. Eddie looks at the drink, it looks good, he’s never been much of a vodka person though. However, it would be rude to at least not try it. He picks up the glass and takes a drink. It actually tastes like heaven. It has the right amount of sweetness, but the raspberry puree gives it just a little tart as well.
He sits the drink back down and looks down at the guy at the end of the bar. He waves to say thank you, and means to look away, but he can’t. He’s immediately taken with this man. He looks familiar to him, but he can’t really figure out why. He’s got dark blond/light brown hair that has a reddish tint and it’s cut short, but is curly on the top. He’s also probably got the most beautiful blue eyes, the color of sapphires, that he’s ever seen. He’s also got a nice build and is decently muscular. Not how he or Buck are though. Now that he thinks about it, this guy looks a lot like Buck. Buck, of course the guy reminds him of Buck.
He finally looks away and he looks back to his drink and loses himself in thought. Each day that goes by, he misses Buck more and more. Deep down, he knows why. Buck is more than just his best friend. Buck is the one person that he wants to spend all of his time with. He can’t though. Buck is in LA and he’s in Texas. They’re long distance friends now. They might see each other on birthdays and holidays and then it’ll probably dwindle down to once every few years to only a phone call every once in a while. Eddie’s is completely spiraling and in his head when he hears footsteps and looks up.
When he looks up, he sees that the beautiful man from the other end of the bar has walked up to him. He doesn’t remind him of Buck as much when they’re this close together, but there is still a resemblance. Now that he's standing in front of him, Eddie can also tell that he's a few inches taller than he is.
“Hi, there, my name’s Tyler, but everyone calls me Ty. Enjoying the drink?”
“Eddie. Yeah, uh, thank you, it’s, uh, actually really good.”
“Glad to hear it. I don’t mean to be bold or presumptuous, but can I join you?”
“Yeah, sure, have a seat.”
The man, Ty he said, sits down and hasn’t taken his eye off of Eddie since he started walking over. Not that you can really tell, but just from his looks, Eddie doesn’t think that Ty grew up around here. He just doesn’t get that El Paso vibe from him. But, it’s been so long since he’s lived here that he could be completely off base. Ty is handsome in a way that anyone, straight or gay, would notice. He’s wearing a pair of stonewash blue jeans that hug him in all of the right places (Eddie did not look down, thank you very much) and a black button down, untucked, with the top few buttons unbuttoned. He looks as though he tried very hard to make it look that he hadn’t tried to look nice.
“So,” Ty begins, “I haven’t seen you around here before and I’m sure that I would have noticed.”
Blushing, Eddie shakes his head “No, you haven’t. I just moved back to El Paso from Los Angeles about a week ago. I had dinner with my parents tonight and decided I needed a drink afterward.”
“Wow, uh, I’m actually from Anaheim. I’ve been living in El Paso about 8 years or so.”
“Sounds like you just missed me then. I moved to LA about 8 years ago,” Eddie said with a quiet laugh. “I moved there because I got accepted to the LA Fire Academy. Eddie feels weirdly comfortable with Ty. It’s similar, but also different to his comfort level with Buck and even Tommy when they were hanging out regularly.
“A firefighter, huh? That definitely doesn’t surprise me, you’re definitely built like one,” Ty responds bluntly, not caring while Eddie watched him look him up and down a couple of times.
Eddie’s not used to compliments like these. No one has ever complimented him like this, not even the women that he’s dated. “Thanks again for the drink. I don’t normally drink vodka, but this has been really great.”
“It was my pleasure. I couldn’t let someone who looks the way you do sit there drinking some old beer. So Firefighter Eddie, what brings you here?”
“Here, as in the bar or here, as in El Paso?”
“Either, both.”
Eddie sits for a moment, looking at this almost stranger, wondering how much he should divulge. He knew he came to this bar for a reason, he’s trying to figure himself out. Ty honestly seems interested, whether it’s in him or just what’s beneath his clothes, Eddie’s still unsure of. The only problem, even if it really is a problem, is that Ty isn’t the only one that’s interested. Every time Ty looks him up and down like he’s undressing him with his eyes, Eddie’s long untouched dick, twitches.
He hasn’t slept with anyone since Marisol and even then, he really wasn’t into it. He likes to think it was the whole ‘nun’ thing, but he’s pretty sure, especially now, that it was the whole ‘woman’ thing.
Eddie realizes he sat there thinking too long when Ty starts to stand up.
“I’m sorry, I guess I’ve intruded. It was nice to meet you,” he says, starting to walk away.
“No, wait, you don’t have to go. I was taking a minute to put my thoughts together. This is all kind of new to me.”
“What is? Going to a bar?” Ty asks seriously.
“No, realizing that after 33 years that I think I’m attracted to men,” Eddie says quickly without thinking.
“Oh, so you’ve been to a bar before, but never a gay bar?”
“Not exactly. I’ve got a friend back in LA who recently discovered that he’s bi and so he and I and our friends Hen and Karen used to go to gay bars every couple of weeks. This is just the first time I’ve gone by myself and after realizing that I’m not interested in women. So the experience just feels different.”
Eddie’s worrying that he’s said too much. His stomach starts to turn. He doesn’t want to run Ty off. Even though this conversation hasn’t been long, he’s really enjoyed it. His stomach starts to ease a little when Ty sits back down.
Ty sits back down and faces Eddie, putting his empty glass on the bar, “I can’t say I understand how you’re feeling, I came out around 13. I can only imagine how everything has you feeling.”
“It’s definitely been a lot. I’m glad that you decided to stay. We both need another drink, what would you like?”
“Uh, thanks. I’ll have a Cowboy Nudes.”
For some reason, the name of the drink makes Eddie blush. He’s doing a lot of blushing right now. He looks up at the menu board to see the ingredients: vodka, blue curacao, white cranberry juice, and a lime wheel.
He gets the bartender’s attention and orders one for each of them. He and Ty sit in silence while the bartender makes their drinks. Only after the bartender has sat their drinks down and walks away does Eddie speak.
“So what brought you from California to El Paso?”
“Well, the story I tell most people is a job opportunity. I work in cyber security. But the truth is, I was engaged. He got a promotion that landed him in El Paso, so I moved out here with him. A year or so after we moved out here, I found out that he had been cheating on me and that was really the reason that he moved here. We split up, of course. I had a great job here so I decided to stay.”
“Wow, I’m really sorry to hear that. It couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t, but by the time we split up, I had made some really great friends so it was really worth it to stay. So you told me that you moved out to LA to join the fire academy, why move back to El Paso?”
Eddie doesn’t want to go into too much. He’s kind of starting to like Ty and doesn’t really want to scare him off. But, he also feels like there are a few things that would need to be mentioned up front.
“Well, it’s a long story, but before I get into it…let’s just say that I came out here for my 13-year-old son,” he says without looking at Ty and then slowly lifts his head to see his reaction.
To his surprise, there was no reaction. He doesn’t look confused or bewildered. He doesn’t get up and walk or even run away. He just sits there waiting for Eddie to continue, when Eddie doesn’t, he speaks, “I’m sorry, was I supposed to go away at that revelation?”
“Well having a kid can sometimes be a deal breaker even when first meeting someone. You wouldn’t be the first person to get up and walk away hearing those words.”
Ty doesn’t continue this portion of the conversation, just moving it on, “So you came here to be with your son. Why did he move back here without you?”
“That’s the long story part. I guess to make it a short story, let’s just say I made a very big, very dumb mistake and he decided he wanted to come live with my parents. I decided, after about six months, that I wasn’t going to wait for him to come home. I decided to just move back here.”
“How’s that going?”
“Well, I’m here on a Thursday night after having a dinner from hell with my parents. How do you think it’s going?” Eddie said with a laugh.
“Touche.”
They sit and talk a while longer. They talk about all kinds of different topics. Eddie tells him about being a firefighter in LA, tells him about the hiring freeze here in El Paso, he mentions Buck in passing a couple more times. Ty talks about cyber security and how until he moved to Texas he never thought anywhere could be hotter than California. Eddie eventually looks at the time and realizes that it’s after midnight. He doesn’t have anywhere to be early tomorrow morning, but he should still probably get home.
“I didn’t realize it was already late. You probably have to work in the morning, so I should probably let you leave,” he says to Ty, really not wanting the evening to end.
Ty finally looks at the time. “Wow, I didn’t realize it had gotten so late. I really should get going.”
They flag the bartender down and both close out their tabs. After receiving their cards back they walk through the bar and outside together.
Once outside they don’t part ways right away. Ty turns to Eddie and says, “Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night? I know that you’re just figuring yourself out, so we could even just come back here, the bar has a whole dinner menu.”
Eddie stands there for just a minute. He’s never been asked out on a date before. This feels like uncharted territory. He’s not sure how this works, but he also knows that he really wants to see Ty again.
“Yeah, uh, that’d be great. What time do you want to meet here?”
“How does eight sound?”
“That sounds great. I can’t wait,” Eddie says, still in a little bit of disbelief.
“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Ty replies and then turns around to start walking away. Before he gets more than even two steps away, he turns back to Eddie. He walks right up to him again, leans in, and presses a quick kiss to Eddie’s cheek.
“See you tomorrow night,” Ty says as he turns and walks away.
Eddie, blushing for the millionth time tonight, says “Can’t wait,” and then turns and starts walking toward his truck. He reaches his truck and gets in, still in a bit of shock over the night’s events. He sits back in his seat and closes his eyes. He came here really just wanting to be in an environment where he could think about his new feelings and revelations without feeling shameful. He didn’t expect to meet someone, especially someone like Ty. He seems like a really genuine and honest guy. He wants to go home and unpack tonight with Buck, but he’s not ready to tell Buck anything yet. If he has to admit it, he’s afraid to tell Buck.
He’s not really sure what he’s afraid of though. He knows Buck will be supportive, that’s just the kind of person that Buck is. No, Eddie is afraid that things would change between them. Nothing had changed when Buck came out, but he’s got this feeling deep down that something would change now.
When Eddie opens his eyes, he realizes that it’s now almost one in the morning. He had been sitting there for quite a while just thinking. It’s been almost two hours since he’s had any alcohol so he decides that he’s safe to drive home. He sits up, puts his seat belt on, puts the key in the ignition, starts the truck, and pulls out the parking space. Heading for his house (not home), he decides not to tell Buck yet about the bar. He does however have to tell Buck about the dinner at his parents, which might be even worse to talk about.
Chapter 5: It's a Date
Summary:
Eddie has his date with Ty. They have a great night and neither want it to end, so it doesn't.
Notes:
This chapter is a little longer than the others. I had more that I wanted to include in this chapter, but I also didn't want it to be too long. So the end of Ty and Eddie's date will happen at the beginning of the sixth chapter. I'm enjoying telling this story. We'll be starting the major plot of the story in probably chapter 7. I didn't think it would take this long to build up to it, but the characters had other things planned.
Next chapter should be added on Sunday.
Chapter Text
It was late. Buck knew it was later in El Paso than it was in LA. He was still expecting Eddie to call though. Eddie was supposed to have dinner with his parents tonight and that never goes well. So Buck was sure that Eddie would be calling him to vent. He was on shift tonight, but it’s a q-word shift, so he would have time to talk to Eddie. But Eddie hasn’t called.
Bobby is in his office or his personal bunk room. Chim, Hen, and Ravi are in the bunk room trying to get some sleep. Buck has been texting with Tommy off and on, who is also on shift, but he should be trying to get some sleep. Instead he is laying on one of the couches on the loft, with some movie playing in the background, wondering if Eddie is going to call him.
It’s almost midnight, when his phone rings. He picks it up from his stomach where it had been resting. The call is a video call request from Eddie, he picks it up as soon as he sees Eddie’s picture.
“I was wondering if I was going to hear from you tonight after dinner with your parents and Chris. How did it go?”
“Sorry, I’m calling so late. After dinner, I went to a bar and had a drink.”
“Went that well, huh?” Buck asked sarcastically.
“Oh, yeah, my parents were an absolute delight,” Eddie replied with just as much sarcasm.
“What happened?”
“Well, everything started out perfectly fine. I saw my sisters and we caught up a bit before dinner. We sat down at the table and my dad said Grace and then after a few minutes of talking to me about the new house everyone kind of paired off into their own conversations.”
“Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad. Not enough to go to a bar alone.”
“Oh, just wait. Dad and Sophia were talking and mom and Adriana were talking so I tried talking to Chris. I asked him about school today and amazingly enough he answered. He said that they had been learning about DNA and blood types in Science. I mentioned that he should call you because you would have all kinds of fun facts for him…”
“Oh! Did you know that chimpanzees share 98% of their DNA with humans?”
Eddie laughed, “Exactly like that. I didn’t know that, Buck. But I knew you’d have some great ones that Chris would love. I also know that you haven’t talked to him in a while so I was trying to gently push him in your direction.”
“Is that where everything went bad? Did Chris get upset with you?”
“It’s where it all went bad, but it had nothing to do with Chris. After I mentioned that he should call you, Chris said that he didn’t want to talk about you. Of course, I asked why and before he could answer, my mom interrupted the conversation and said that Chris isn’t allowed to talk to you or about you in the house.”
“Let me guess, because I’m bi,” Buck said flatly.
“Yup. The entire conversation turned into a big fight. Mom told Chris to leave the room and Dad put his foot down saying that there was to be no more talk about you in the house. Adri and Sophia stood up for you, me and Chris throughout the conversation.”
“Wow, Eddie, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. None of this is your fault. There’s nothing wrong with your sexuality, no matter what my parents say” or mine, Eddie thinks to himself.
“Well, even though dinner was a bomb, did you have a good time at the bar at least.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t bad. I had a few drinks,” Eddie didn’t mention the cocktail names “And I met someone,” Eddie said specifically avoiding gender specific pronouns. “We’re going on a date tonight.”
“That’s great, Eddie. What’s she like?”
“We talked for hours last night and I like them. I’m excited for the date tonight.”
“I’m excited for you Eddie. I’d love to hear more, but I should probably try to get some sleep. I still have about 8 hours left on shift. But if you want to call after your date, you know I’m here.”
Yeah, Buck, of course. Get some sleep. Night.”
“Night, Eddie.”
Buck ends the call and he isn’t sure why, but the thought of Eddie going out on a date puts a pit in the bottom of his stomach. He knows he should be happy for Eddie. This is the point of life, to find someone to share it with. Buck isn’t sure why, but ever since Tommy brought the idea of Eddie being competition into Buck’s head, his thoughts have been confused. But he is seeing Tommy again, and they’re taking it slow, and maybe this time it’ll work. He needs to be happy if Eddie meets someone. He will be happy that Eddie has met a woman that can make him happy. He drifts off to sleep thinking about Eddie and this mystery girl that he’s dating.
~~~
Eddie really needs to go to sleep. Instead, he’s lying awake in bed thinking. You would think that he’d be thinking about his date with Ty later, but no…he’s thinking about Buck. He’s thinking about how he didn’t tell Buck that he’s questioning his sexuality. He’s thinking about how he didn’t correct Buck when he said something about his date tonight being with a woman. He’s thinking about Buck’s blue eyes instead of Ty’s blue eyes. What is wrong with him?
Eddie’s not sure when he fell asleep, all he knows is that when he woke up the sun was shining through the curtains. He hadn’t put his blackout curtains up yet since he isn’t a firefighter right now. However, after waking up after a night drinking he thinks he needs to put them up sooner rather than later. He rolls over and picks up his phone from the night stand to check the time. He can’t believe it when he sees that it’s almost 3 in the afternoon. He slept most of the day.
Before Eddie gets out of bed, he texts Chris. Chris should be out of school soon so he won’t interrupt a class or anything.
3:02 PM
Hey bud. Just wanted to check in and see how you were after last night?
He didn’t expect a reply right away so he sat his phone back down on the night stand and pushed himself out of bed. He walked down the hallway to the bathroom to take a piss. After washing his hands, he brushed his teeth and looked at himself in the mirror. He could tell he didn’t get to sleep until late, he had some dark circles under his eyes. Hopefully they went away before his date.
His date. He has a date tonight. With Ty. With a man. Oh god, should he do this? Should he call and cancel? Wait, he didn’t get Ty’s number, he couldn’t call and cancel. He can do this. He had a great time with Ty last night. The only difference between last night and tonight is that tonight is planned. Tonight is an official date whereas last night was not. What time had he and Ty agreed to meet? Eight. They agreed to meet back at the bar at eight. He had less than five hours before he had to meet Ty.
Eddie finished brushing his teeth and washed his face. After running his fingers through his hair, he decided to wait to shower until a little closer to time to leave. As he’s walking back to his bedroom, he starts wondering if he should Uber to the bar. If he Ubers then he doesn’t have to worry about how much he drinks tonight.
Eddie picks his phone back off the nightstand and notices that he has several texts from Chris.
Chris
3:04 PM
I’m okay Dad. I wish that abuelo and abuela hadn’t
said any of that stuff about Buck.
I’ve been hearing it all summer though. About
Buck and about you.
Most of the time, I just ignore them.
Eddie takes his phone and goes to the kitchen. He grabs him a bottle of water and a banana. He sits down at the kitchen table and starts peeling his banana while he thinks about what he wants to say to Christopher. He’s definitely a little concerned what Chris means about his parents saying stuff about him.
3:10 PM
I’m glad that you’re okay. Your abuelos have
their own opinions and I’m sorry that you’ve
had to hear them all summer.
Can I ask what you mean about them saying
things about me?
3:11 PM
They talk about all of the time that you
spend time with Buck.
They’ve told me that two friends shouldn’t
spend as much time together as the two
of you.
I think that they’re hinting that they think that
you're bi or gay without coming out to say it.
3:15 PM
Huh. Well, I’m sorry that you’ve had to deal with
it this whole time.
I’ve got some things I’ve got to do. Love you bud.
3:17 PM
Love you too Dad
Eddie puts his phone down and finishes his banana. This is the best conversation that he’s had with Christopher in months. Although he’s really concerned about the things that his parents have been saying. He’s going to have to talk to Chris, and soon. He’s pretty sure that Chris will just want him to be happy. Chris won’t care who he’s with as long as that person makes him happy.
His parents, on the other hand, are going to have a fit. Even if they suspect, they’re not going to like it. He’s not quite hungover, but the dinner last night paired with the bar paired with the video call with Buck paired with the text conversation with Chris is making him feel hungover. Why is his life so complicated right now?
Eddie gets up and throws the banana peel away and grabs the water bottle. He goes to the living room and lays down on the living room couch turning on the TV for background noise. He closes his eyes and just tries to peacefully rest. His brain, though, has another idea. It won’t shut off. He thinks about everything…Chris, his parents, Ty,...Buck. For some reason, his thoughts are always leading to Buck here lately.
Eddie must have dozed off because he woke up about two hours later. He kind of startled awake, he thinks he was dreaming, but he’s not really too sure. He picks up his phone to look at the time. Almost six. He’s supposed to meet Ty in two hours. It’s a 30 minute drive from his house to the bar. He’s got to order the Uber at least 15 minutes before he wants to leave and he wants to be at least 5 minutes early. So he has to order his Uber at ten after seven, meaning that he has about an hour to get ready.
Eddie had timed everything just as he had wanted. His Uber pulled into Bombarderos five minutes before seven. He had showered and dressed pretty quickly. He wasn’t wearing anything fancy, just dark blue jeans and a light cream colored Henley. He had been nervous though, so after he showered and dressed he drank a beer before leaving. He had hoped having a little alcohol in his system would quell his nerves, but standing outside of the bar he felt even more nervous.
Just like last night, he took a deep breath and exhaled, opened the door of Bombarderos and walked in. His goal was to get to the bar earlier than Ty, but looking around he discovered that Ty obviously had the same goal. Ty was currently walking to a booth he had claimed for them with a drink in each hand. He looked good enough to eat. Did I really just think that? Ty wasn’t wearing anything fancy either. He was in light blue jeans that hugged his thighs and ass spectacularly, enough that you could see all the lines and definition. He also had on a light blue t-shirt that deepened the silver specks in dark blue eyes.
Eddie took another breath and walked over to the booth.
“Hi,” he said sheepishly wondering if he should sit or wait for Ty to say something. He didn’t have to wait long because Ty stood up and hugged him.
“I’m so glad you made it. Have a seat.”
The booth was a corner booth so instead of sitting opposite each other they both moved into the middle, Ty on Eddie’s right. He loved when people did that since he was left-handed but the only one that ever seemed to remember is Buck. They sat there in the booth with probably a foot of space between the two of them, a perfectly respectable distance.
“I got you a ‘Just the Tip’ to start the night. I hope that’s okay, I also ordered us some sliders and nachos.”
“That sounds great. Thanks for the drink. How was work today?” he asked, taking a sip of the sparkly, pink drink. It tasted heavily of raspberries tonight and was possibly even better than last night’s drink.
“Good, to be honest I was a little distracted.”
“Distracted?”
“Yeah, I, uh, kept thinking about my date tonight with a beautiful man. I couldn’t keep my head on straight. My boss actually told me to leave early.” Ty looked confident as he smirked at this all while also looking vulnerable with his pink, blushing cheeks. He looked adorable at this very moment.
“Well, being distracted isn’t very conducive to working, but I’m sure your date would be flattered,” Eddie replied, with a huge grin on his face.
“I’m sure he will be. How was your day?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“I slept most of the day. After I got home last night I called Buck, my best friend,” Eddie explained. “So I could tell him about dinner with my parents last night. We didn’t get off the phone until after 2. I passed out then and slept until 3. I texted with my son for a bit to make sure he was okay after last night and then I took a nap. Today was probably the first day in my entire life where I did absolutely nothing productive. It felt kind of good.”
“I think it’s good for the mind and soul to have days like that. I’m not sure anyone has them enough though.”
The server brought them their nachos and sliders after that and Ty ordered each of them another drink.
“What was the name of the drink you ordered?”
“It’s called a ‘Slap My Ass,’ it’s fruit punch, coconut rum, peach schnapps, and frozen tropical fruit.”
“Sounds good.”
The server brings their drinks back and picks up their empty glasses and then leaves them alone to fill in the silence.
“Your choice. I want to hear about someone that is important in your life. Tell me about Buck or your son.”
Eddie thinks for a minute. He hadn’t intended to really talk about Chris. But talking about Buck is like talking about Chris. They’re so much alike, it’s funny really.
“The funny thing is that talking about one is like talking about the other. Chris and I moved to LA when he was seven and that’s when he met Buck. Buck has been around so much that they’re a lot alike. Chris actually looks like he’s more Buck’s son than mine.”
“I don’t think I believe that. You’ve got really strong genes, I can tell. There is no way that a child of yours doesn’t look like you.”
“Oh, wait,” he says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He unlocks his phone and just shows Ty the home screen, it’s a picture of Buck and Chris. Both with their curls and their blue eyes and strong cheek bones.
“Okaaay, maybe I was wrong. That’s uncanny. He really does look like he could be Buck’s son. Oh and by the way, your best friend…he’s a really good looking guy. Does every guy in the LAFD look like the two of you.”
Eddie laughs, “Not really, my entire station was in really good shape though. We went to some firefighter games a few years ago. It’s a charity event,” Eddie explains. “The events are all based on situations you could find yourself in on the job. There’s 10 events, and my station took home 9 gold medals.”
“Wow, that’s impressive. I wish I could have seen that,” Ty says, picking up another slider. By this point they’ve eaten half of the sliders and most of the nachos. “So what’s Buck like, and by extension, Chris?”
“Buck is probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Chris too, but Chris specifically loves science and engineering. Buck’s brain comes when something interests him. He’ll go on research binges on topics that he finds interesting and by the end he knows everything there is to know on the subject.”
“Let me guess, he loves to share these facts, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he does. He’s chaotic and can be reckless, but both stem from his good heart always trying to do good for someone else. Chris has probably the biggest heart of any teenager I’ve ever known. I think that comes from having CP. He’s lived through lots of things that kids his age should never have to and it’s shaped him into the person that he is.”
“When was diagnosed with CP?” Ty asked, quietly. He was genuinely listening about Buck and Chris while sipping on his drink.
He was about a year old when he was diagnosed. I was still in the army and on my first tour in Afghanistan. My wife and I talked about all of the therapies, treatments, and surgeries that Chris would need, and without really thinking I signed up again. I thought it was the only way I could take care of Chris.”
“Is Chris’ mom still in the picture? This is the first time you’ve mentioned her.”
“Uh, no, she was killed when she was hit by a car about a year after we moved to LA.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“No, no, you didn’t. It’s still just hard to deal with sometimes.”
“I get that. Not that it’s the same thing, but I’ve had people ask me about Adam, my ex-fiance, and he’s really hard to talk about.”
“You said he had been cheating on you, so I guess it ended badly?”
“What’s worse than badly?” he laughed, dryly. They had finished the nachos and the sliders. They were also almost finished with their drinks. The server noticed all of the empty dishes and walked over.
“Can I get anything else for you?”
Eddie spoke up, before Ty could, “Could we get two more ‘Slap My Ass’ drinks, please?” He felt his face heat up as soon as he said it, the server didn’t seem to notice, but Ty did. He looked at Eddie and grinned. Eddie looked down between them momentarily and noticed that the foot of space between them that they had started with was down to just about an inch. When did that happen? When did we start scooting closer to each other?
“You know,” Ty started, “I probably shouldn’t have another drink.”
“Why? Did you drive here?”
“No, I Ubered.”
“I did too,” Eddie added, wondering what the implication of that was,” Why shouldn’t you have another drink then?”
Ty scooted closer, closing that last inch between them and lowered his voice when he spoke, it sounded gravelly, and sent a shiver down Eddie’s spine. “Because, if I have another drink, I’m going to want to take you home with me. And that’s a problem right now because my place is being renovated and I’m sleeping on a friend’s couch. We’d have an audience,” he said, grinning slyly looking at Eddie with lust filled eyes.
Eddie gulped, probably loud enough for Ty to hear. Before he could reply, the server brought back their drinks. Eddie picked his drink up and took a sip. His mouth felt as dry as the Sahara Desert after hearing Ty’s voice so low and gravelly.
Ty picked his drink up as well, but didn’t take his eyes off of Eddie the entire time.
“You know,” Eddie began nervously,” My son is still living with my parents, we could go back to my place.”
Ty didn’t say anything, he just raised his hand and got the server’s attention who came right over.
“Yes?”
“Can I close out our tab please?”
“Sure thing,” they said while walking away.
Ty looked back to Eddie with a devilish smirk, “Why don’t you go ahead and order that Uber and we can finish our drinks while we wait?”
“Yeah, I, uh, I can do that,” Eddie replied, pulling out his phone and ordering the Uber back to his house. “The car will be here in about 20 minutes,” Eddie said, his eyes lighting up when Ty smiled at him.
They both picked up their drinks to start finishing them. The server walked back over with Ty’s card in her hand. He had apparently already given it to the bartender so Eddie wouldn’t even be able to offer to help pay for anything.
“Can I help pay for anything?” he asked, quietly, already knowing what the answer would be.
“No, I asked you out. I’ll handle the tab. How long until the car gets here?”
“Uh, about 5 minutes. I guess we should finish the drinks.”
They looked at each other and picked up their glasses, tipping them to their moths and draining them quickly. After putting their glasses back down on the table, Ty spoke, “We should probably go wait outside, but first…” Ty’s sentence trailed off as he leaned in and pressed his lips to Eddie’s. His tongue swept over Eddie’s bottom lip, asking him to open. Eddie parted his lips and Ty’s tongue slid in caressing Eddie’s, deepening the kiss. Eddie slid his tongue along Ty’s and along Ty’s back teeth. Ty took Eddie’s bottom lip in between his teeth and lightly sucked. Every movement Ty made with his lips or tongue went straight to Eddie’s dick and before he knew it he was already half hard sitting there in the booth at the bar.
This had never happened before. Eddie had never gotten this aroused from just kissing. He had no idea what kind of night he was in store for, but he was excited. Ty finally pulled back, both of them panting. Eddie looked down at his phone, “Oh, uh, the car is here.”
“Let’s go then,” Ty slid out of the booth and offered Eddie his hand. Eddie took the offered hand, standing up, and walked out of the bar hand-in-hand with Ty.
Chapter 6: Oh! This is How it is Supposed to Be
Summary:
Eddie and Ty finish their date at Eddie house.
Chapter Text
Eddie and Ty were sitting comfortably together in the Uber. They were sitting close together, any closer together and one of them would be in the other’s lap. The air between them was charged. They haven’t spoken since they left the bar, but it’s not an uncomfortable silence. It reminds Eddie of his time with Buck, able to just sit together without a need to talk.
The only problem in this situation is that just sitting there is causing Eddie to be a little in his head. He knows why they’re going back to his place. He’s not not interested. He knows he likes kissing Ty, I mean when they left the bar he was already half hard from just a kiss. So he’s pretty sure that he likes kissing Ty. He’s also 100% sure that he’s attracted to men instead of women. That much is clear now.
But he’s spiraling, sitting there next to Ty on the way to his house. He doesn’t want to say he’s afraid, but he’s concerned. What if, even though he’s attracted to Ty, he realizes he’s not interested in anything physical with him. Or what if he decides he does want to fool around with Ty how far are they supposed to go? What if Ty wants to go further than he does. He hasn’t felt this out of control when it came to sex since that first time with Shannon.
He’s so inside his head, it doesn’t even register when the Uber pulls up to his house.
“Here you go,” the driver says.
It snaps Eddie out of his thoughts, “Uh, thanks. Have a good night,” he replies, getting out of the car. Ty follows him. They stand on the curb for a minute and right before Eddie starts heading toward the door, Ty goes to hold his hand. He startles a little, but relaxes when he realizes what Ty was doing. They walk up to the door hand-in-hand. At the front door, Eddie pulls his keys out of his pocket and lets them into the house.
After throwing the keys into the bowl by the door, he leads Ty to the living room. He drops Ty’s hand and gestures around, “Make yourself at home,” he says, quietly. Looking around, it’s easy to tell that he just moved in. He still really hasn’t unpacked anything. There are no decorations or rugs, just the couch, chair, coffee table, and TV. He does have a few pictures of Chris…and Buck though.
“I’m going to go grab us some water, go ahead and have a seat.” Eddie walks into the kitchen. He needs a minute for himself. He walks to the refrigerator and grabs two bottles of water. He stands there in front of the fridge for a moment, just breathing. Just like before he walked into the bar, he takes a deep breath and exhales, then walks back to the living room.
He walks over to the couch and hands Ty his bottle of water before turning and sitting his on the coffee table. When he turns back around, Ty is holding his hand out again. He takes it and before he knows it, Ty is pulling him onto his lap. He’s straddling Ty, each of his knees pressed into the couch besides Ty’s thighs. From this angle, he can really tell how beautiful Ty is.
He looks down at Ty and his eyes are blown wide again, just like they were at the bar. Ty reaches up and grabs Eddie by the back of his neck, his thumb caressing over his pulse point. They sit there just like that for what seems like an eternity, but it is likely only seconds. Ty pulls Eddie in and kisses him. This kiss is different from the one at the bar. That kiss was more exploratory. Ty is exploring his mouth with this one too, but there’s more hunger in this one, more want.
They’ve both parted their mouths and Ty’s tongue is currently in Eddie’s mouth, caressing his own tongue. Ty pulls back and just looks at Eddie for a second and then surges back in. Instead of going for his lips though, he goes for Eddie’s neck. He’s alternating between licking, biting, and sucking on Eddie’s neck. He’s pretty sure that Ty is going to leave some kind of mark, but right now Eddie doesn’t care. He can barely think.
It’s never felt like this before. He’s made out with women plenty of times, but it always just felt like a precursor to sex, something else that he had to do. This feels completely different. He can feel the want in Ty’s body by the little sounds that he’s making as he’s assaulting Eddie’s neck. Eddie has his eyes closed and he’s trying to soften the sounds that are coming out of him. He’s never been one to make a lot of noise during sex and now he knows why. He’s been having sex with the wrong people. He must go still or something, because all of a sudden Ty is pulling back.
“Eddie, are you okay?”
“Huh, what?”
“Are you okay? All of a sudden it was like you froze? Are you sure you want to be doing this?”
“Yeah, uh, I’m fine. I have a tendency to overthink things and I’ve been kind of in my head since we left the bar. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying myself immensely,” he said looking down at his jeans that are tented with his fully aroused, hard cock. “This is just the first time I’ve done anything physical with a man and I’m a little nervous.”
“It’s okay to be nervous. It’s also okay if you decide that you don’t want to do any more than this or not even this.”
“Oh, I definitely want to be doing this and probably more, I just don’t know how much more.”
“We’ll take this at your pace. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“You don’t ever have to thank me for that,” Ty looks away for a moment, before looking back at Eddie. “Can I kiss you again?”
“Yeah, yes, pl-please,” Eddie gives permission, stammering over the words.
Ty pulls Eddie back down and presses their lips lightly together. The kiss doesn’t stay light for long. Soon, they’re both opening their mouths and inviting each other in. Ty pulls Eddie’s bottom lip between his teeth and lightly sucks. Eddie almost immediately makes him wonder what Ty lips would feel like wrapped around his dick. That though makes Eddie moan loudly and throw his head back, baring his neck for Ty.
Ty takes it as an invitation and goes back to nipping and sucking at Eddie’s throat. He places open mouthed kisses down one side of Eddie’s collarbone and up the other. Ty’s hands find their way to the hem of Eddie’s shirt and Ty pulls back, “Can I take this off?”
“Only if you do too,” Eddie replies.
Ty grins and lifts Eddie’s shirt off and over his head depositing it on the floor beside them. Then does the same with his own shirt. Eddie has seen another man shirtless before. Hell, he and Buck shared a locker room at the station he had seen Buck without his shirt countless times. This was different though. He was actually allowed to look and he did. Ty was toned, not as defined as Eddie was, but still something to gawk at. His abs were well defined and his pecs were full and muscular. Eddie had the urge to just lean down and bite Ty’s pec.
For some reason, that’s exactly what he does. He doesn't bite hard, he doesn’t break skin or anything, but it’s definitely enough for Ty to feel. Ty moans, loudly. Eddie pulls back, a little surprised.
“Sorry,” Ty starts, “I probably should have warned you, I really enjoy being bitten,” he says with a smirk and lust-filled eyes. Eddie just grins and leans in to kiss Ty. Ty happily joins in and they both run their hands on every inch of exposed skin they can. Eddie runs his hands up and down Ty’s chest, while Ty is caressing Eddie’s forearms and biceps.
Eddie eventually trails his hands down to the waistband of Ty’s jeans. He pulls back from the kiss, “Can I?” he asks, not explicitly stating what he wants. Ty seems to understand though and nods his head yes.
Eddie undoes the button and then slides the zipper down. Ty lifts up just a little bit and Eddie slides the jeans down his thighs some. Ty’s sitting there in just his boxers, obviously hard. Eddie starts to place his hands on Ty’s hard cock through his boxers and just before he does, he looks up, “Is this okay?”
Y-yes, please…t-touch me.”
Ty already sounds like he’s broken and wrecked; they’ve barely done anything. It has to be the anticipation.
Eddie starts palming Ty over his boxers. He can tell he’s big. He’s probably not as big as he is, but it’s nothing to balk at. Ty has his head thrown back and is lightly moaning. Eddie takes a risk and slides Ty’s boxers down over his cock, tucking them behind his balls. Ty gasps and opens his eyes, “Is this still okay?” Eddie asks.
“Uh-huh,” is the only response that Ty is able to get out. Eddie was right, Ty is big, at least 8 inches and pretty girthy. Ty is already spurting precome, in fact the head is already pretty wet. Eddie wraps his hand around Ty’s cock and swipes his thumb over the head grabbing the pre. He begins to slide his hand down Ty’s cock, distributing the precome and making the slide easier.
He’s never done this to anyone else before so he’s just going with things he knows that he likes. On the upstroke, near the head, Eddie twists his wrist or rubs the sensitive skin just under the head. In no time, Ty is thrashing and canting his hips up into Eddie’s fist. He looks stunning, completely wrecked. And Eddie did this to him. He can definitely say that sex with a man is going to be different but he’s already enjoying it so much more.
“E-Eddie, you, oh, you gotta fuck stop.”
Eddie stills quicker than he ever has before. “Did I do something?”
“N-no, I’m just going to cum and I’m not ready to yet.”
“Oh,” Eddie says, blushing. He’s not sure why that made him blush when nothing else had.
Ty leans up and kisses Eddie. “Can I take you out?” he asks.
Eddie just enthusiastically nods his head. Ty places his hands on Eddie’s shoulders and lightly drags them down Eddie’s chest. He stops when he gets to Eddie’s nipples, he pinches them and Eddie moans, he makes a sound that he’s never heard before.
“Mmmm, sensitive, huh?”
“Guess so,” Eddie replies. Ty leans up and licks his right nipple, watching a shiver run down his spine, then he moves over to the left and receives the same response. He puts his hands back on Eddie’s chest and starts dragging them down again. When he gets to Eddie’s abs, he lightly traces them with his index finger, down, down, down until he gets to Eddie’s waistband. He looks up again at Eddie, looking for confirmation. Eddie nods his head again.
Ty undoes the button on Eddie’s jeans and then slowly, slowly pulls the zipper down. Just having the zipper pulled down helps the pressure with the pressure from Eddie’s dicks straining in his jeans. He looks down and there is a wet spot on his boxers. He’s never leaked like this before to where there is actually a wet spot. Ty looks down too, and licks his lips. Eddie sits up on his knees so Ty can pull his jeans down. He pushes them down as far as they can go with the position they’re in and then his boxers follow.
Ty just sits back and appreciates the view for a moment. Eddie is big, bigger than Ty but not by much. The head of Ty’s dicks is a pinkish color, but Eddie has darker skin than Ty so his is a darker color, but no less flushed. And he is weeping. He’s wetter than Ty was. Ty licks his lips again and pushes Eddie back down to where he’s sitting on Ty’s thighs again. Eddie expected Ty to wrap his hand around him, but instead he grabs either side of his ass, and pulls him in closer.
Eddie groans when Ty pulls him because their cocks rub against each other and the friction is probably the best thing he’s ever felt in his life. Ty grinned, so he must have heard Eddie groan. He’s been trying to keep himself quiet, but at that moment, he’s pretty sure that he hasn’t been successful. Ty leans in and presses his mouth to Eddie’s, and licks Eddie’s bottom lip, begging for him to open. Eddie obliges and before long it feels like their tongues are in a fight for dominance, both wanting to win and neither wanting to give up.
Ty pulls back and Eddie thinks that he’s going to finally wrap his hand around his cock, and he kind of does. He wraps his hand around both of their cocks together. He moves up and swipes both of their heads and grabs the precome that has already gathered there. He begins to slowly, torturously slide down both of their cocks. Eddie has never felt anything like this before. It feels almost just like jacking off but with the added sensation of more friction coming from Ty’s dick. Ty speeds up and gets to a punishing pace that quickly has them both panting and moaning.
Eddie can feel his release building in his spine, Ty doesn’t look like he’s far either. “S-so close,” Ty pants out.
“Me, too,” Eddie says more breathily than he’s ever heard himself before. He gets there before Ty, shooting white ribbons of cum over Ty’s hand. Ty doesn’t remove his hand from Eddie’s cock, instead he speeds up, picking up a punishing pace aided by the extra slick that his cum provided. Before Eddie knows it, Ty is coming too with a loud, deep, groan.
“Fuck,” Ty pants, throwing his head back against the couch.
“You can say that again,” Eddie says as he slumps against Ty on the couch. Several minutes later, Eddie gets up, kicking his jeans and boxers fully off and goes to get a towel to clean them up. Ty cleans himself up when Eddie is finished and then starts getting dressed.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Oh, I was going to get dressed and order an Uber to go home.”
“You don’t have to go. Stay, spend the night.” Eddie says, almost pleadingly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’d rather you be here after that.”
“Okay,” Ty says and follows Eddie to the bedroom.
Notes:
The timeline has been pushed back a little. I couldn't get what I wanted to in this chapter. I'm hoping that the next two chapters will be the last two chapters of set up and then after that we'll get to the main plot.
Chapter 7: Rage Ground
Summary:
Eddie and Buck talk about Eddie's date. Buck and Tommy go on their second first date.
Notes:
This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I should be able to start the main plot in chapter 8.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Eddie woke up slowly the next morning. It was early, he could tell by the way the light was shining through the windows. He really needs to get his blackout curtains hung. He lays there, on his back, eyes closed, thinking about last night. He had such a great time with Ty. The conversation was easy and fun. Ty was interesting and funny and liked listening to Eddie talk as much as he liked to talk to Eddie. The ride home in the Uber was awkward but that was just charged sexual tension that they did alleviate.
Was Ty still here? Did he sneak out in the middle of the night? Eddie realized that he hadn’t opened his eyes yet. He knew that he was still naked, they hadn’t bothered to throw on any clothes when they had made their way to Eddie’s bedroom and passed out. He slowly opened his eyes, but didn’t turn his head yet. He was scared. He wasn’t sure if he was scared that Ty would be there or that he wouldn’t. Eddie took a big, deep breath, exhaled and then turned his head. Ty was lying right next to him. Sleeping, on his back, head turned toward Eddie, softly snoring. Ty only had a light sheet thrown over his lower half. Eddie assumes that was something else that they didn’t really care about last night.
He took a moment to just really look over Ty’s body. He’s sure he looked last night, but he doesn’t think that he really took it all in. Ty’s body was a masterpiece. He wasn’t as big or bulky as him, or Buck, but he was muscular and toned. Defined. You could see all of his ab muscles and Ty’s biceps looked like they could crush fruit. Eddie let his eyes wander down, skipping over Ty’s cock for the moment, and focused on his thighs. Several weeks ago, Buck had sent him a video of some guy who had taken to crushing fruits and vegetables with his thighs. The video showed the guy using just the force of his thighs to crush a watermelon and a pumpkin. Looking at Ty’s thighs, Eddie is sure that Ty would have enough force to crush a pumpkin. The thought makes Eddie wonder about Ty’s thighs being wrapped around his head. Suddenly, not only is he looking at Ty’s sheet covered cock, but his own is starting to throb and make itself known.
Eddie can’t see a lot of definition because of the sheet, but Eddie can see something. Ty’s dick is definitely not average. He is certainly well-above average. Probably not firehouse size, though. He’s going to have to do some self-introspection later, too many of his thoughts are leading back to Buck. Eddie shakes his head, trying to rid his mind of thoughts of Buck and focus back on Ty.
He looks back down to Ty’s sheet covered dick. It’s big and thick. Holding it and stroking it last night, the feeling of Ty’s cock rubbing against his own last night is engraved in mind. It’s like he was branded with the image. Eddie slowly exhales as he reaches out and grabs the sheet, tossing it off the bed and exposing Ty in all his naked glory.
Eddie is out of his mind. He doesn’t know what he’s thinking, what he’s doing. He’s just acting on instinct. He finds himself in between Ty’s thighs, eye-level with his dick. Ty is still sleeping away, soft snores escaping while he’s in dreamland. Eddie, on the other hand, is considering. He’s considering whether he should take Ty’s cock in his hand or in his mouth. He’s had another man’s (Ty’s) dick in his hand before, he’s never had one in his mouth. He’s gotten blowjobs before, it doesn’t seem like they could really be that difficult. But if that were true, he wouldn’t be so nervous.
He decides. He’s going to go for it. He wraps his thumb and forefinger around the base of Ty’s half-hard cock and gently squeezes. He looks up at Ty who has made no movement or any sign that he’s awake. He looks back down to Ty’s dick in his hand and licks his lips. He leans forward slowly and licks the head of Ty’s pretty, pink cock, almost like a lollipop. He thinks about what he likes and that’s what he does. He takes his head in mouth and sucks lightly. He looks up at Ty and sees that he’s still asleep but that his facial features have changed. Even in his sleep, he can feel Eddie’s mouth on his dick.
Eddie continues to suck and Ty, still asleep, lets out a little breathy moan. Eddie feels that moan in his own dick. If he hadn’t been hard before he would be now. It also eggs Eddie, it gives him confidence. He swirls his tongue around the head and slowly takes more of Ty’s dick into his mouth. He stops before he hits the back of his throat and gags. He looks up at Ty, who looks like he might be starting to wake up. Eddie takes a deep breath through his nose, hollows his cheeks and starts to suck deeply.
This is what finally wakes Ty from his slumber. He opens his eyes as he moans and looks directly at Eddie. Eddie is soon drowning in the sapphire blue of Ty’s eyes. He pulls off of Ty’s dick, still holding the base, and smiles.
“Hope this okay, I couldn’t contain myself,” he says sheepishly, his face growing hot with a blush. He’s only ever gone down on women, and definitely not while they were sleeping. He’s not exactly sure of the rules or the decorum here.
“No, better way to wake up, to be quite honest. I truthfully thought I was just having a really good dream.” Ty says smiling down at Eddie, eyes filled with lust and pupils almost blown.
“I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Any pointers?”
“Just watch your teeth,” Ty replies, smirking.
“Yeah, I kind of think, that’s a given.”
He looks back up at Ty and licks a stripe up the underside of Ty’s cock right over the sensitive vein that he knows is there. Ty groans. Not a little breathy moan, a loud groan of pleasure. It fuels Eddie. He goes back to the head and licks Ty’s slit again, picking up the pearly beads of precome that have gathered there. He’s tasted his own come before, most men have. He wasn’t particularly intrigued by the taste. But Ty tastes incredible. He can’t describe it. The taste alone makes him moan. He swirls his tongue around the head again and sinks back down until Ty hits the back of his throat.
“Relax your th-throat and, uh, fuck, swallow,” Ty says, breathily, as Eddie tries to take more of him in.
Eddie follows directions well, it’s a skill he gained in the army so he does as Ty says. He’s able to take almost all of him in without gagging. What he can’t fit in his mouth he wraps his hand around and starts stroking. He matches the strokes with bobbing his head up and down on Ty’s cock. Above him, Ty is a writhing, moaning mess. He’s obviously doing better than he thought he would. He pulls up and off of his cock, grinning, and licks the slit again the taste of Ty exploding on his tongue. Ty groans again.
Eddie swirls his tongue again and sinks back down. This time he’s able to sink down a little further. Once again, he hollows his cheeks and starts bobbing his head up and down, up and down, his fists stroking in the same time as he head is bobbing.
“Oh, fuck, I’m close, I’m so close, don’t stop.”
Eddie doesn’t stop. He doubles down and goes faster, being careful to not gag himself.
“Al-almost there, p-pull off, if you don’t want to, uh, swallow,” Ty stutters, barely able to put the sentence together.
Eddie quickly decides that he wants to fully taste Ty. He pulls up a little but not off. He wants the milky, white liquid on his tongue.
No sooner that Eddie pulls up a little to make sure that Ty is sitting on his tongue, does Ty start convulsing with relief. The first strand of come hits Eddie’s tongue and he’s in heaven. His own vision whites out and an orgasm that he didn’t know he was close to overcomes him. Ty’s slightly thrusting in Eddie’s mouth, riding out his orgasm, while Eddie ruts against the bed, riding out his. Eddie feels Ty start to go soft in his mouth. He pulls off and licks any remnants of Ty’s come off of him before crawling back up the bed and lying down next to Ty.
Eddie wants to kiss Ty, but again, he’s not sure about the decorum of this. Women have never wanted to kiss him after he’s eaten them out. Ty, obviously, has no problem with kissing after head because he leans in and presses his mouth to Eddie’s. Eddie opens and Ty snakes his tongue in Eddie’s mouth and massages their tongues together. It’s not a hungry kiss, but a soft one.
“Are you sure you’ve never done that before?” Ty asks with a silly grin on his face. His face showed his pleasure.
“I’m sure, first timer here.”
“Well, it sure didn’t feel like it. Give me a minute to recover and I’ll take care of you too. I can’t wait to see if I measure up.”
“So, um, about that,” Eddie said quietly, slightly embarrassed, “Apparently, your pleasure was my pleasure. When you came on my tongue, I came.”
“Really?” Ty asked, the lust seeping back into his eyes.
Eddie just nods and looks down at his soft dick lying on his thigh.
“Came untouched from giving head. That’s so hot.” Ty said and then slammed their mouths back together.
They lied there together trading kisses and touches for what seemed like hours before falling asleep again, happily tangled together.
~~~~~
Several hours later, Eddie was sitting at his kitchen table thinking about repairs that needed to be done to the house. Ty had left about an hour ago. After their morning activities, they took a nap for a couple hours. After they got up and showered, they had a late breakfast and just talked. They didn’t have to discuss the night before they both knew that they had each wanted everything that had happened. For once, Eddie felt completely at peace after having sex. It was a new, but welcome feeling.
Eddie gets lost in his thoughts thinking about Ty. Eddie had asked Ty out again for Friday night. They were going to go to dinner. He thought that he would be panicking about another date with a man, especially being out in a place other than the bar, but he was surprisingly calm. Lost in thoughts about Ty and about things that need to be done to the house (Ty had recommended a few things and offered to help), Eddie is startled when his phone rings. Looking down at the phone, he immediately smiles and his thoughts clear out. Buck is calling, his day immediately going from fantastic to incredible.
“Hey Buck!” He says, answering the phone happily.
“Hey, Eddie. You sure seem like you’re in a good mood today. Date go well?”
“Yeah, it was pretty great.”
“Was it great or great?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Eddie replies, knowing full well what Buck is digging for.
“Come on Eddie, you’re not going to give me anything.”
“I gave you something Buck. The night went great.”
“So what’s this girl like Eddie?”
“They are a great person. Blonde hair, blues, fit, attractive. Works in cyber security. Stable. Been engaged once, but it didn’t work out because the guy was a cheater.” Eddie is being as specific as he can without being gender specific. He’s going to tell Buck, he really is, but he doesn’t want it to be a conversation on the phone. Buck, however, keeps going back to the feminine pronoun.
“She sounds wonderful, Eddie. So you’re going to see her again, I take it?”
“Yeah, we’re, uh, going out again Friday night. I wanted to go out sooner but their work hours are a little funny and weekends are just better.”
“I’m glad you met someone Eddie. I hope it works out,” Buck says, but there is something in his voice that Eddie really can’t place. He almost sounds disappointed or maybe even jealous.
Eddie decides to change the subject quickly, “I’m taking Chris to the museum tomorrow. I’m hoping that after Thursday night’s horrible dinner that maybe I can get some more time with him. And maybe, just maybe, I can get him back with me soon.”
“That’s great Eddie. What museum are you taking him to?”
“We’re going to the El Paso Museum of History. They’ve got an exhibit right now on Escaramuza. I thought he’d enjoy it.”
“Escaramuza? I’ve read about that, I think. It’s a women’s event that involves a choreographed performance with music where the horses and riders weave in and around each other, right?”
“Yeah, when I was in elementary school here, we went to a performance every year. It’s really neat to watch.”
“I bet! I’m kind of jealous of Chris right now. How long will the exhibit be there?”
“This is the last weekend but it comes back every couple months.”
“Maybe I could come out there next time the exhibit is there and we could all go?”
Eddie thought that was the best idea ever. He would love to see Buck and do all the things that they normally do. The idea of spending time with Buck, seeing his face, and just being in his space excites him. Maybe a little too much.
“We’d love that bud. I know Chris would love to see you.”
Eddie needs to change the subject though again to try and get his heart rate back under control, “What plans do you have for today?”
“I actually have to start getting ready to go soon. Tommy and I have our first date since the other night.”
Eddie had forgotten about Tommy. The excitement in his stomach went to something like dread. “Oh, I had forgotten about your conversation with Tommy. How have things been going so far.”
“It’s been okay. We’ve really only been texting, and we’ve had a couple of phone conversations. I really want us to take things slow, I don’t want things to get screwed up like they did before.”
Now Eddie feels something different. He really doesn’t want Buck spending time with Tommy. He’s not jealous though. He doesn’t want Buck to get hurt again. Buck has had a few relationships end since they’ve been friends and Tommy ended the worst.
“I think taking things slow is a good idea, Buck. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“I know Eddie. I don’t want to get hurt again either, that’s why one of my stipulations was to go slow.”
“Promise me, you’ll call if you need something or you need to talk.”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and just because I can’t be there for it, please share your location with someone. I don’t care who it is, Maddie, Chim, Bobby, Hen, anyone. Just so someone can always know where you are.”
“Eddie, what do you think is going to happen? Do you think Tommy is going to abduct me?” Buck says, laughing.
“Of course not, Buck, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Okay, okay, Eddie, I promise. Hey, I gotta go get ready. Tommy will be here in like 45 minutes.”
“Bye Buck, have fun tonight.”
“Bye, Eddie.”
~~~~~
Buck had gotten off the phone with Eddie just in time. He was finishing up his hair when he heard a knock on the door. It gave it one final look, making sure that the curls weren’t sticking up weirdly anywhere and then went to open the door.
Tommy was standing there looking as handsome as ever. They were dressed pretty similarly: jeans, t-shirt, casual shoes. Tommy had told him that they were going to have a casual, fun night.
“Hey! You look great,” Tommy said enthusiastically as he stepped in and gave Buck a quick kiss on the lips.
“Thanks, you too. Do you want a drink or do we need to get going?”
“We should probably go. Our reservation is at 8:45.”
“Sure, let’s go.” he says, grabbing his jacket and following Tommy out to his truck.
Tommy went to the passenger side door instead of the driver’s side. Buck was confused at first but then Tommy helped open the door for him. Even though he didn’t need it, Tommy also held out his hand to help Buck into the truck. It was really sweet. Buck actually blushed a little. No one had ever treated him like this, including Tommy. Tommy shut Buck’s door and then jogged around to the driver’s side and got in.
Blushing, Buck says, “Thanks for the door and the helping hand into the truck.”
“Anytime,” Tommy says, grinning and reaches over to grab Buck’s hand while he drives.
“Where, uh, where are we going?”
“Have you ever heard of Rage Ground.”
“Yeah, it’s that place where you break things, right?”
“Yup, that’s it. We’ve got a 45 minute reservation there. I thought it was something new, different that we’d enjoy. Is it okay?” he asks, glancing over and making sure that Buck isn’t disappointed.
Buck is very much not disappointed. He’s wanted to try Rage Ground, but just hasn’t gotten around to it. He’s actually surprised that it was Tommy’s idea. “No, Tommy, it’s great. I’ve been wanting to go there, but haven’t gotten a chance. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you’re happy.”
They talk the rest of the way to Rage Ground. When they walk in Tommy goes up to the receptionist to check in and is told that they’ll be called back in a few minutes.
Someone comes out to get them a few minutes later. They go into the room that has been reserved for them.
“My name is Jacob. I’m going to go over everything for you.” He hands each of them a pair of coveralls, gloves, and safety glasses. “Here is your protective equipment, go ahead and throw all of that on for me.”
Buck puts everything on pretty quickly and then looks around the room and at Jacob. Jacob is shorter than he is with long black hair and light skin. He’s not bad looking, but definitely not where Buck’s interests lie. Buck likes men who look more like Tommy or Eddie, though he never tries to think about Eddie like that. Eddie’s straight after all.
Jacob’s voice pulls Buck back to the present as he’s handing each of them a sledgehammer. “So you’ve got 45 minutes in the room. You’ve each got the recruit package, which means you’ve each got 30 bottles, 15 plates, bowls, glasses etc. I also see that you’ve each got two extra large electronics. If you need anything or get hurt, I’ll be just outside. The red light will come on when your time is up. Rage on!” Jacob exclaims, and then leaves.
“So, uh, do we just start breaking things?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the point.”
They take a few minutes to set things up the way they want them. And then just go after it. It is an amazing feeling. Being able to just destroy things, made him feel free. Their time went by way too quickly. Before he knew it a red light was coming on in the room. Buck and Tommy looked up at each other and smiled. They had both kind of been in their own worlds.
They walk out of the room together and hand back their sledges and the protective equipment. Jacob walks them back up to the front. Before they leave, Tommy stops at the receptionist. Buck stays back, but is still close enough where he can hear.
“Hi, did you have a good time?” the petite, red-haired receptionist asked in a tiny voice? She had her septum and her lip pierced and her red hair was in pigtails. She was honestly pretty cute.
“That was the most free I've felt in a long time.”
“We hear that a lot,” she said, giggling. “Can I help you with something?”
“Yes, I’d like to book the Black Light Paint Splatter for 2 in three weeks. Can we do 9 PM again?
“Definitely. What’s the name again?”
“Tommy. Tommy Kinard.”
“Alright, do you want to prepay with the card you used for tonight?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, you’re all set. I just sent you a confirmation text message. We’ll see you in three weeks.”
“Thanks so much, have a great night.”
Tommy finishes up and walks back over to Buck. “You set up another reservation?” Buck asks.
“Yeah, they also have another experience which is a Black Light Paint Splatter. You get a canvas, glow-in-the-dark paint bottles, and brushes and you make your own art. I thought it might be fun. I guess I should have asked first.”
“No, it’s great, I just didn’t expect it. Thanks,” Buck replies, smiling at Tommy.
“Anything to see you smile. Want to go grab some tacos at a taco truck nearby that I like?”
“Tacos? Anytime.”
“Great,” Tommy says, taking Buck’s hand while they walk back to his truck.
Tommy wasn’t kidding. The taco truck is very close. They order their tacos and sit at one of the picnic tables to eat. They sit eating and comfortably chatting. Even after they’re finished eating, they stay talking for a while, neither of them really wanting the night to end. Eventually, Buck starts getting tired. Tommy sees it and immediately goes to stand up. “We need to get going, I can see that you’re getting tired. Come on,” he says, holding out his hand for Buck to take.
Buck stands up and takes his hand. Tommy leads him to the truck and opens the door for him again. They drive back to South Bedford Street but they don’t get out of the truck right away.
“Did you have a good time tonight?” Tommy asks, sincerely.
“Tonight was great, Tommy. It was so much fun. Thank you.”
“You’re worth it, Evan. And if I didn’t act like it before, I’m sorry, I should have.”
“I should probably go in before I break one of my own rules,” Buck says.
“Can I walk you to the door at least?” Tommy asks.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Buck says, reaching for the handle.
“Don’t, I’ll get it,” Tommy says, jumping out of the truck real quick. Tommy jogs around the truck to Buck’s door and opens it. He holds it open and puts his hand out for Buck to grab.
Buck takes his hand and steps down out of Tommy’s truck. Tommy shuts the door, but doesn’t let go of Buck’s hand. They walk hand-in-hand up the driveway and to Buck’s door. The last time they were here like this they had gone in frenzied and had fantastic sex. That wasn’t happening tonight though. They stopped in front of the door and Buck unlocked it.
“Thanks for walking me up.”
“You’re welcome, I had a great time tonight.”
“Me too,” Buck replies, “When are you off next?”
“Tuesday, you?”
“Me too. Dinner and a movie, my treat?”
“I’d love to.”
“Great, I’ll see you Tuesday then. I need to go in before I invite you in,” Buck says, seriously. Before he steps inside though, he leans in and kisses Tommy. He keeps it slow and sweet, but more than just a peck on the lips.
They both pull back after a few seconds, already out of breath.
“Good night, Tommy.”
Night, Evan, sleep well.”
Buck smiles, steps in the door and shuts it behind. He leans back against the door and breathes. He hears Tommy’s truck starting and he closes his eyes for a minute trying to get his heart rate down. When he opens them, he takes a deep breath and goes to get ready for bed, thinking about Tommy and about wanting to talk to Eddie.
Notes:
Rage Ground is an actual rage room in Los Angeles. The recruit package and the splatter paint packages are both packages that they offer.
Chapter 8: The One Where Conversations Make Things Better
Summary:
Buck and Eddie video chat and talk about Buck's date with Tommy. Eddie and Chris go to the museum and have a heart-to-heart.
Notes:
I know this chapter was a little late. This one took some time for me to feel like it was right.
Chapter Text
Eddie wakes up on Sunday morning really nervous. He’s taking Chris to the museum today and he hasn’t spent one-on-one time with his son in months. He also wanted to talk to Buck and see how his date with Tommy went. For some reason, the thought of Buck’s date with Tommy makes him very nervous. He felt like he was just a big ball of nerves. Before getting out of bed to start moving around for the day, he decided to text Chris.
11:30 AM
Hey mijo, just checking in and making sure that
we’re still on for the museum today.
Eddie was more than a little surprised when Chris responded right away.
11:31 AM
Morning dad.
Can’t wait for the museum.
Still picking me up at 1?
Yeah, Chris. I’ll pick you up at 1. We’ll go have
lunch first and then we’ll head to the museum.
Sound good?
Yeah, dad.
Sounds great.
See you then.
Luckily that quick text exchange with Chris cleared some of Eddie’s nerves. Knowing that Chris still wanted to hang out with him helped a lot. He was really hoping that they’ll be able to have an honest conversation and make some headway in repairing everything. Eddie hopes that he’ll be able to get Chris to move back in soon. He doesn’t really have any hope that he’ll want to go back to LA, but he hopes that he’ll be able to trust him enough to at least be under the same roof again. Of course, his nerves were not completely gone because he was still curious about Buck’s date. He didn’t have to get up just yet to get ready, so instead of getting out of bed he changed from his chat with Chris to his chat with Buck.
11:35 AM
You awake?
Just like Chris, Eddie immediately saw Buck bubbling him. He was a little surprised about this for some reason though. He hadn’t expected Buck to be up already seeing as how it was just after 9:30 in LA and Buck didn’t have to be at work until 8 tonight, working a 24.
Yeah, I’m awake.
Instead of texting him back, Eddie just requested a video call. Buck picked up right away.
“Hey, Eddie.”
“Buck, I didn’t expect you to be up already since you don’t have to be at work for a while.”
“Eh, I’ve been laying here dozing when I saw your text. Figured it couldn’t hurt to take a little time out of my day to talk to you. What are you up to?”
“I’ve got a little time before I pick up Chris to go to the museum, so I thought I’d call and see how your date with Tommy went. He’s not there, is he?”
“What? No, Eddie, I told you we were holding off on physical stuff for a while.”
“Yeah, I know Buck,” Eddie says, silently glad that Tommy isn’t there, “But that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have spent the night.”
“Oh, yes it does,” Buck replies, sighing while saying it, “If he hadn’t gone home, I would have broken my own rules last night.”
“Uh, Buck, too much.”
“Don’t worry, Eddie, I’m not going to go into any detail about what I wanted to do to him,” he said laughing, the kind of laugh that Eddie knew meant Buck was smiling from ear-to-ear. “I will say that he was so different last night, Eddie. Tommy was never a bad boyfriend per se, but he was just never like over the top. Last night he was. He was completely considerate and he held my hand. We went to do something that I wanted to do, I didn’t have to talk about sports. It was an amazing night.”
“That’s great, Buck. I’m really happy for you. What did you end up doing?”
“We went to Rage Ground and then went to a taco truck and talked for a little while.”
“I remember you saying a while back that you had wanted to try Rage Ground. What was it like?”
“I had a blast Eddie. There is so much freedom in wanting to be destructive and being allowed to. Tommy even scheduled us a time in their paint splatter room in three weeks.”
“I’m glad you had a good time. It does sound like Tommy’s trying a little harder this time around,” Eddie said, trying to hide the twinge of jealousy that he started to feel.
“Yeah, it really does. I hope that things go better this time around. How do you feel about spending the day with Chris.”
“To be honest,” Eddie said, looking into Buck’s beautiful sky-blue eyes thinking that he could get lost in them if allowed. “I’m a little nervous. I want to spend some time talking to Chris about everything and I’m just not sure how it’s going to go over.”
“Chris will listen, Eddie. You’re a great dad and you’ve taught him well. He’ll listen to what you have to say and if he hasn’t already, he’ll forgive you. He understands that you’re human and that you make mistakes too.”
“I hope so, thanks Buck. Hey, I’ve got to go so I can get ready to go pick up Chris. Talk tomorrow?”
“Yeah, talk tomorrow. Have fun with Chris, Eddie and tell him that I say, hi.”
“Will do. Bye Buck,” Eddie replied, ending the video call. Eddie slowly sat up in bed and thought about his conversation with Buck. Buck was so happy with Tommy. Just as happy, if not happier, than he was in the beginning the first time around. Eddie knew he was supposed to be happy for Buck and part of him was, but there was also a part of him that just couldn’t be. He saw the look on Buck’s face while he was talking about Tommy and he wished he looked like that while talking about him.
Eddie had never really been a jealous person before. He was feeling it now though. Jealous of Tommy and what he has with Buck. Would Buck want him if he knew that Eddie was gay? If he were to tell Buck about Ty, would Buck be happy for him? Or would Buck feel the same way that he did. Each day that went by, Eddie knew that he felt something for Buck, but he was afraid to really put a name to that feeling.
Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, he picked up his phone to check the time. He had just enough time to take a shower before he needed to leave to go pick up Chris. Eddie walked over to his closet and pulled out some things to wear after his shower. He took everything into the bathroom and then turned on the shower. He waited a few minutes for the water to heat up before getting in. He stepped under the water and closed his eyes.
Without really meaning to, his thoughts went back to Buck. But this time, they went to Buck’s body. He thought about Buck’s biceps and the ways the muscles moved while he was working. He thought about Buck’s thigh muscles. Thinking about Buck’s thighs led to thinking about Buck’s ass. Before he knew it, his thoughts had trailed off to Buck’s dick. He had never thought about Buck’s cock before. Sure he had seen Buck naked, in passing, in the locker room at the station. He had never really looked though, it’s not something that you did.
He had heard the stories of the legendary Firehose though. He could imagine. And imagine he did. In his fantasy Buck’s cock, was long and hard. But it also had some girth to it. It molded and curved to his stomach. The head was flushed red and leaking. He assumed the nickname had more to do with than just length.
Eddie opened his eyes and realized that he was stroking his own dick thinking about Buck’s. This was definitely a new development, something that had never happened before. He kept thinking about Buck and kept stroking himself. Every few strokes he would squeeze his cockhead a little on the upstroke and then dig his nail in the slit. Flashes of Buck, lying in bed or on the weight bench in the station, running through his head. In both instances, Buck was flushed and sweaty. And in both instances, Buck had a look of pure pleasure on his face. Eddie came one, two, three strokes later, hard, harder than he’s come in a long time. Ropes and ropes of milky weight liquid, falling over his hand and swirling down the drain.
Eddie stands there for just a minute catching his breath and trying to not feel guilty. He just got off on thoughts of his best friend. After a few minutes, he washed his hair and soaped up his body trying to reconcile his guilt for what he had just done. He knew that he really should feel guilty, but he did. He felt like he had crossed a line. He doubted that Buck had ever thought about him while masturbating. It just felt wrong, even though it also made him see a little clearer about how he felt about Buck. It still wasn’t really ready to name the feeling, but things were definitely clearer.
~~~~~
Even with his extra-curricular activity in the shower, Eddie was able to show up right on time to pick up Chris. He walked into his parents house to wait for Chris and saw his mother right away.
“Hello, Eddie. What do you have planned for your outing with Chris today?” His mom asked. To any other person, it would sound like she was genuinely interested. But Eddie knew. Eddie knew she was just trying to find some fault.
“Hey, mom. Chris and I are going to go have lunch and then we’re going to go to the El Paso Museum of History. They’ve got an exhibit right now on Escaramuza. I think he’ll really enjoy it.”
“Mhm. Well, be sure that he’s home in time for dinner. You know it’s a school night.”
“Mom, I’m well aware that it’s a school night. I’ll have him back (he wasn’t going to call it home) in plenty of time. If I don’t think that I’ll have him back in time for dinner, I’ll let you know and I’ll make sure to feed him dinner.”
“Eddie, I would much rather you make sure that he’s back here by six for dinner.”
“Mom, he’s my son. If he wants to spend time with me, I’m going to let him.”
“Fine, Eddie, I’m not sure why you always have to make things so difficult.”
“Mom,” Eddie started, but was interrupted by Chris.
“Hey dad, are you ready to go?”
“Christopher, remember, if this gets to be too much, you can call me and I’ll come get you.”
“I’ll be out with dad, Grandma, I’ll be fine.”
“Let’s go Chris. We’ll be back later, mom.” Eddie and Chris walk out to Eddie’s truck and Eddie helps him get in.
“So are you hungry now or do you want to hit the museum first.”
“Let’s go to the taco place first. You know the one by the high school. I know it’s one of your favorites.”
“Yeah, it, uh, is Chris, but if you want something different, we can do something different.”
“No, it sounds good, let’s go there.”
So that’s where they head. They chat on the way there about nothing of real importance. Eddie tells Chris that Buck said hi. Chris asks about Buck and Eddie gives him updates. He knows that the only time they’ll be able to talk about Buck is when they’re alone together. His parents made that abundantly clear.
When they get to the taco truck, they get out and Chris immediately goes to one of the empty picnic tables. Eddie goes and orders them a variety of tacos and two horchatas to drink. He takes their drinks to the table and sits while they wait on the trays of tacos. He looks around and nothing looks different from the last time he was here. He can still see the high school in the background. From the truck, you can see the baseball diamond which was the only place in El Paso where he ever felt at home. Chris must see something flash across his face because he breaks the silence.
“Everything okay, dad?”
Before Eddie can answer, his name is called to get their food. He gets up and walks over to the pickup counter. He brings their tray of tacos over and sits back down with Chris. He separates their tacos. Chris likes the ones with the mild salsa whereas he also has the hot tomatillo salsa added to his.
“So, dad, is everything okay? You looked really off a minute ago.”
“Well, Chris, I’ve got a few things that I want to talk to you about. First, I want to apologize for everything that caused you to come out here.”
“It’s okay, dad. I don’t quite understand it all, but I know that you didn’t do it to hurt me.”
“You’re right about that Chris. It was never my intention to hurt you. To be quite honest, I only talked to Kim because she looked so much like your mother. There were, um, a lot of things that I never got to say to your mom and part of me thought that if I could say them to her, that maybe, somehow, your mom would hear and she would forgive me.”
He sat there for a moment just watching Chris. Christ sat there, taking small bites of his food contemplating what Eddie had said. Eddie took a couple bites of his own taco before he continued.
“We both know that I’m not good with emotions and feelings. This made grieving your mom really hard for me. I’m not sure that I ever really did. I had you go to therapy and I tried to talk with you about everything so that you could grieve. But I never really grieved and I think that it made me vulnerable when I saw Kim and she looked so much like her.”
“I get that dad. I wish that you would have never brought her around,” Chris said, looking directly at Eddie, opening his heart to him. Looking at Chris right then, he realized that Chris was no longer a little kid, he was a young man and Eddie needed to start treating him that way. “And I’m not going to say I understand why you needed her because I don’t. However, I do understand that you had a lot of things that were left unsaid to mom. I had some of those myself, but my therapist told me that I should write them in a journal to help me process them. That’s what I did and it helped. So I feel like you still had things you needed to say.”
“Hmm, I guess I should have gone to a therapist, maybe they would have told me the same thing and we wouldn’t have to be having this conversation,” Eddie said, with a laugh.
Chris smiled back and then went back to finishing off his tacos. “Was that all you wanted to talk about dad?”
“No, I actually had something else I wanted to tell you. We agreed months ago that I would never keep anything from you again. I don’t feel completely comfortable with this revelation just yet and you’ll be the first person I’ve told, but I don’t want to wait any longer to tell you,” he said, sighing. He had to take a few deep breaths before he could continue.
Chris spoke before he could. “Dad, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“When did you get so grown up?” Eddie asks genuinely, looking at Chris and seeing the changes in his features that make him look more and more like an adult.
“Hmmm, two weeks ago last Thursday,” Chris said, giggling. It was at that moment that Eddie saw his little boy. The little boy on the modified skateboard that Buck had made for him, the little boy that had slid down the firepole with his and Buck’s help. As sad as it made him, that Chris was growing up, he also couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Chris was going to have so many more adventures as he got older.
“I’ve done some real soul searching over the last few months and I’ve realized something about myself. It’s something that has always been there, but I felt that I wasn’t allowed to.” Eddie sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, when he opened them back up, Chris was looking at him, genuinely curious about what he’s about to say. “I’m gay,” Eddie finally spits out and looks at Chris waiting for his reaction.
Chris doesn’t really have one. He doesn’t look surprised, he doesn’t look disgusted, he just looks like Chris.
“That’s great, dad. I’m proud of you, that couldn’t have been easy on you,” he said, sincerely. “Plus, now you can stop terrorizing women,” Chris added, laughing.
“Okay, okay, funny guy. Thanks for not freaking out Chris.”
“Oh, it was never me you have to worry about. Are you going to tell Abuela and Abuelo?”
Eddie had been thinking about this and he still wasn’t sure about this. He didn’t want to hide himself from his parents, but he was worried about how they’d react. He definitely knew that if he did, he was going to wait until Chris was living with him again.
“I’m sure I will at some point, Chris. I don’t want you lying to them, if they come straight out and ask you if I’m gay, then I want you to tell them the truth, but other than that situation, can we keep this to ourselves for now?”
“Yeah, of course, dad, I would never out you without your permission.”
“Thanks, Chris,” Eddie says, as he gets up and walks over to Chris’ side of the picnic table to hug him. To Eddie’s surprise, Chris doesn’t say anything about the hug. He hugs him back. It’s not a long hug, but it’s the best hug he’s ever gotten from Chris.
“So, when are you telling Buck?” Chris asked, with a mischievous smile on his face.
Eddie, ignoring the question, replies with “You ready to go to the museum?” Chris nods and they get up and walk to the truck to head to the museum. Eddie hasn’t felt this happy in a very long time.