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Eddie’s not entirely too sure how much longer he can restrain himself from punching Tommy Kinard in the face.
And look, some people may be like ‘woah, calm down’, but they’d have to be people who have never had to sit alongside Tommy at a baseball game.
Admittedly, Eddie’s got Buck between them as a buffer, but it’s not enough.
Tommy’s such a fucking asshole that Eddie’s not even sure whether the guy actually likes Buck or not.
In this particular instance, the ‘or not’ honestly seems like it’s the clear answer considering the fact that every time the kiss cam is pointed their way, Tommy takes it upon himself to be a dick.
The first time the kiss cam shows their trio on the screen, Tommy notices the camera and pretends he’s on his phone.
Tommy doesn’t see Buck’s face fall, but Eddie does, and it breaks his heart.
So he does what any good best friend would do and waits for Buck to go to the bathroom to say something to Tommy.
But instead of seeing the error of his ways and promising to do better, Tommy brushes Eddie off and turns around to buy a hotdog.
Eddie hopes he chokes on the damn thing.
Especially when the kiss cam comes around for the second time, and Tommy says, “Evan, you know I don’t like watching anybody make out on screen. It would just take away from our experience today.”
Tommy definitely sees Buck’s face fall after that—and so does the entire stadium—but Tommy doesn’t seem to care.
It’s at that point that Eddie decides he’s had enough.
*
Eddie escapes to the restroom soon after, taking the brief opportunity to get away from Tommy for even a few minutes. He does his business and washes his hands, and then freezes when he runs into an unexpected and yet familiar face on the way out.
“Josh,” Eddie says in greeting.
“Eddie,” Josh returns. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“I’m here with Buck.” Eddie says, subconsciously not mentioning Tommy’s presence.
“And Buck’s boyfriend,” Josh throws back at him. Eddie resists the urge to roll his eyes. “I saw you guys on the kiss cam.”
And Eddie doesn’t mean to say it, but he’s just so frustrated at the whole situation.
“Do not get me started,” Eddie accidentally complains, forgetting that he and Josh aren’t friendly enough for the bitch session he’s about to have. “Tommy’s such a fucking asshole. Would it really kill him to kiss Buck for a few seconds? It’s a kiss cam. It’s a part of the experience!”
Josh raises an eyebrow.
“Don’t look at me like that!” Eddie continues. “You saw Buck’s face, didn’t you? He looked gutted every time Tommy refused to kiss him. What kind of shitty person won’t kiss their boyfriend on a damn kiss cam?”
Eddie takes a deep breath once he’s done with his rant, crossing his arms. He waits for Josh to say something and gestures at him when he doesn’t.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Josh says snarkily. “Are you done?”
“Am I—am I done?” Eddie absolutely hates how high-pitched his voice is at the end of his statement, but he resolutely ignores it. “Don’t tell me you’re on Tommy’s side.”
“Do you even realise how jealous you sound?” Josh asks, leaning against the wall beside the sink. “Because you do. Sounds jealous, that is.”
“I’m not—I’m not jealous!” Eddie insists. “What the hell?”
Josh holds his hands out placatingly.
“Hey, if you’re not ready to hear it…”
Eddie huffs.
He’s not jealous.
He’s not.
He must wait too long to deny it, because Josh is unfortunately speaking again.
“Look, whether you want to admit it or not, you’re jealous,” Josh says again. “And I may be the first to point it out, but I won’t be the last because I’m damn sure not the first to notice. So, if I may offer you a word to the wise: take a long, hard look at the way you feel and the way it’s making you act right now before you end up making a fool of yourself.”
And Eddie genuinely has no idea what Josh is talking about.
The way he feels?
He feels like Tommy should be a less shit boyfriend since he’s apparently got so much more experience dating men.
The way it’s making him act?
He’s acting perfectly reasonable, thank you very much, in his defence of his best friend and said best friend’s feelings.
As for making a fool of himself, Eddie’s pretty sure the only person who’s making a fool of themselves is Tommy.
“I’ll think about it.” Eddie figures that’s probably enough to get Josh off his back for now.
“You do that,” Josh says, sounding slightly exasperated. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a boyfriend to get back to.”
Eddie understands. He’s also got a—well… he’s got a Buck to get back to.
He nods at Josh, holding the door open for them both as they make their way out into the hallway.
“By the way, what the hell are you even doing here?” Eddie finally remembers to ask as they start walking back to the stands. “You don’t really seem like you’re a baseball fan.”
“Oh, I’m not,” Josh says with a smile. “I’m here with my boyfriend.”
Of course he is.
Everyone’s here with their stupid boyfriends apparently.
He hopes Josh’s boyfriend is at least less shit than Tommy.
*
Eddie makes his way back to his seat, and proceeds to sit through two more rounds or quarters or whatever the hell they call them in baseball.
He’s pretty sure they’ve been here for four hours minimum at this point, but Tommy assures them that no, it’s only been two hours, and they’re also only in the fifth inning.
It’s called an inning, apparently, and Tommy goes on to inform them that there are going to be nine of them in total.
Eddie could not give less of a shit.
It crosses his mind that he definitely would have given a shit if Buck had been the one spouting off information about baseball, but he doesn’t let himself look too hard at that.
*
Less than an hour later, the kiss cam eventually comes back around, and with it the urge to punch Tommy in the face.
Tommy gets his phone out the moment the camera starts focusing on other couples, and Eddie sees Buck fold in on himself a little.
Eddie’s not stupid, he knows the camera is probably going to swing their way a third time considering the reaction they’d gotten from the crowd the first two times.
He needs to do something, but what?
What is he supposed to do?
What can he do?
With each couple that appears on the screen—every single one of them kissing for the camera—Eddie feels himself become more and more anxious on Buck’s behalf.
And then it happens.
The camera’s pointed in their direction once more.
Eddie turns to look at Tommy—sees him on his phone ignoring Buck as he nudges his arm—and contemplates whether screaming at the man might actually do any good.
He doubts it.
Buck sits back looking resigned, and Eddie’s hit with a truly insane idea.
Truly, completely, absolutely insane.
He shouldn’t do it.
He knows he shouldn’t.
But it’s so tempting.
The camera won’t stay on them for too much longer, so he knows he’s running out of time.
It’s now or never.
Fuck it.
Eddie nudges Buck in the side with his elbow.
Buck turns towards him with a confused look on his face.
And Eddie proceeds to pull his best friend into a ridiculously heated kiss, discovering in the process that—while he previously had no idea he was into kissing guys—he apparently very much is.
He’s also well aware that most of these kiss cam kisses last a few seconds at most, but that’s about how long it takes for Buck to realise what’s happening and actually kiss him back.
And when he says Buck’s kissing him back, he means Buck’s kissing him back.
Enthusiastically, in fact.
So instead of panicking at the revelation that he’s gay and almost definitely in love with his best friend, Eddie focuses on what’s most important at the moment.
Kissing Buck.
He surges forward all at once and captures Buck's mouth like he’s a man starved for oxygen and Buck’s the first breath of air he’s had in days.
He swings a leg over Buck’s thighs, throwing himself into Buck’s lap with a soft grunt and effectively mounting him in front of something like fifty thousand people.
He’s vaguely aware of the cheering going on around them, but he doesn’t dare open his eyes because when he does it’ll be over.
And Eddie really doesn’t want it to be over yet.
So Eddie reaches up and laces his fingers through Buck's hair to bring him closer still.
And Buck kisses him back, fisting his hands in the front of Eddie’s shirt and dragging him in with what Eddie can only assume is the intention to devour him whole.
Eddie has no idea how long they’re kissing for.
It’s way longer than necessary, Eddie’s aware of that much.
Buck must be aware too, surely.
And he figures Tommy’s definitely aware, considering he ends up physically manhandling Eddie off of Buck when the kiss cam moves on and they’re still yet to come up for air.
“Hey! What—” Buck complains breathlessly, reaching out blindly for Eddie as his eyes flutter open slowly.
Eddie wastes no time brushing Tommy’s hand off of his arm and patting his shirt back into place where the fabric is left crinkled from Tommy’s grip.
“What the hell?” Tommy shouts, drawing literally everybody’s attention in the near vicinity.
Buck looks down, biting at his reddened bottom lip.
Eddie ignores Tommy and stares at Buck instead. “Was that—was that okay?”
He’s almost scared to ask, not entirely sure he wants the answer.
Buck smiles softly and nods, still looking rather dazed.
Tommy mutters away to himself as Eddie smiles back.
“I didn’t mean to spring it on you like that,” Eddie explains, sitting back down in his seat so that he’s not in the way of anybody’s view of the field and turning towards Buck more fully. “I’m sorry, I just—”
“Don’t apologise,” Buck insists. “You—”
“Are you kidding me?” Tommy interrupts. “You’re both going to sit there and ignore me after whatever the hell that was?”
“Well, you were doing such a good job with all the ignoring you were doing earlier that I just had to give it a go myself,” Eddie says snarkily. “How’d I do?”
Tommy sputters.
“You tell him, bro!” a voice calls out from a few rows back, and Buck snorts out a laugh.
It draws Tommy’s attention, unfortunately.
“You think this is funny?” Tommy asks, towering over them both. “Cheating on me right in front of my face?”
"Does it really count as cheating?" the woman beside Eddie mutters, looking away hastily when Tommy glares at her.
Luckily, Tommy's distracted by a voice chiming in from a little to their left in the row behind, “You deserved it, jackass!”
And then it’s Eddie’s turn to snort, he can’t help it.
Buck looks at him wide-eyed, and that just makes Eddie start to laugh.
Tommy looks like he’s about to burst a blood vessel, and Eddie’s a little worried he might be the one who’s going to end up getting punched in the face after all this.
He thinks he deserves a little leeway for his slightly unhinged reaction in the face of current events.
He’s just kissed his best friend, realised he’s actually super into that actually, and is now wondering if and when he’ll get to do it again.
All while sitting in front of said best friend’s current—or hopefully soon to be ex—boyfriend.
Eddie manages to get a hold of himself, his laughter slowing enough that Tommy gets the chance to speak again.
“I think you owe me an apology,” Tommy says sternly to Eddie, and oh dear god.
He can feel the corner of his mouth twitching.
Don’t laugh.
Do not laugh.
He snorts again, and Tommy exhales so harshly his nostrils flair.
Eddie has to choke back even more laughter, but manages to pull himself together enough to say, “If anybody owes someone an apology here, it’s you.”
“Me?” Tommy asks incredulously, still half-yelling. “What do I have to apologise for?”
“How about for not kissing your boyfriend, mister,” a little girl’s voice comes from the seat directly behind them. “That was real poopy. He looked so sad every time the cameras left. You should say you’re sorry.”
Jesus Christ.
Out of the mouths of babes, much.
Tommy looks flabbergasted, and Buck takes the opportunity to speak.
“That’s okay, sweetheart,” Buck says to the little girl. “I don’t need him to apologise—”
“Thank you, Evan,” Tommy says obnoxiously, glaring at the child. “For being mature about—”
“You don’t need to apologise because we’re done,” Buck says, turning to look at Tommy. “You’ve never cared about anything that’s important to me. And I can’t believe it took me until today to realise just how much of an asshole you are.” Buck freezes, turning back towards the little girl and her parents. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have called him that in front of her.”
“Don't worry about it,” the little girl’s dad says. “She’s heard worse.”
The little girl smiles innocently. “I have! You should call him a stupid butthole next!”
Buck laughs, turning towards Tommy once more. “She’s not wrong.”
Tommy seems to be at a complete loss for words for the first time in his life.
It’s oddly satisfying.
Especially when he starts muttering to himself as he grabs his jacket and storms out of the stadium.
Eddie watches him go and tries not to look too happy about it.
He’s not entirely sure how much he succeeds at that.
Oh well.
“So,” Buck says once Tommy’s well and truly gone. “That happened.”
“It sure did,” Eddie confirms, suddenly feeling nervous when he realises he’s not going to be able to escape this conversation.
“Thanks,” Buck says, managing to utterly confuse Eddie with a single word.
“Are you seriously thanking me for kissing you and causing you to break up with your boyfriend?” Eddie says, looking to clarify. “Because—to be clear—that’s what just happened.”
“I know,” Buck says, knocking their knees together as they both pretend to watch the game. “And yeah, I’m thanking you. For knocking some sense into me, or showing me his true colours. I dunno, take your pick. Either way, I appreciate it.”
Buck appreciates it.
That’s by far not the worst reaction Buck could have had to everything that just happened, so why does Eddie hate every word that’s coming out of his mouth?
“You shouldn’t be thanking me,” Eddie blurts out.
“Why not?” Buck asks, pressing his knee more firmly against Eddie’s.
Why not, indeed, Buck.
Maybe because Eddie just kissed him and it was the catalyst to realising he’s probably gay?
Or maybe because Eddie just ruined his relationship because he was jealous?
(Side note: they will never be telling Josh he was right about any of this.)
Or just maybe because Eddie doesn’t need to be thanked for doing something it turns out he desperately wanted to do of his own volition.
“Because it was selfish of me,” Eddie eventually offers, still refusing to look at Buck. “It broke my heart seeing you upset, so I kissed you because he wouldn’t. And I liked it, and I took it too far, and—”
“Wait, what?” Buck seems surprised for some reason. “I thought you just kissed me to teach him a lesson or piss him off or—you liked it? Like actually liked it, liked it?”
Was that not obvious?
Eddie feels his face heating up.
He would like it on the record that he did not make it this hard for Buck to come out.
“What part of me liking it wasn’t obvious?” Eddie asks, feeling a little embarrassed. “I mounted you in front of a stadium full of baseball fans! How was that unclear?”
“I thought you were just trying to prove a point to Tommy!”
“Well, surprise!” Eddie exclaims. “It may have started off that way, but by the time I had your tongue in my mouth I was pretty far into my gay awakening and well and truly enjoying every moment!”
Eddie takes a deep breath—preparing to continue his rant—but instead he’s cut off by Buck’s mouth suddenly covering his own once more.
Oh.
Well.
Okay, then.
He’s hardly going to complain about getting to kiss Buck again.
Especially with the way Buck crowds in happily and kisses him deeply.
Especially with the way Buck presses him up against the uncomfortable stadium chair, claiming his lips with enthusiasm.
Eddie reaches out with his hands—his fingers catching on Buck’s shirt—and uses his grip to hold on tight as his world falls silent despite the fact that they’re surrounded by thousands of people.
When they finally break apart, Eddie’s horrified to realise the man behind them has his hands covering his daughter’s eyes.
“Oh—oh god,” Buck stammers, clearly seeing the same thing Eddie is. “I am so sorry!”
“Have they stopped kissing yet?” the little girl whines. “I wanna watch the game again!”
The little girl’s dad raises an eyebrow in their direction. “You done, guys?”
Eddie nods in the affirmative.
“Yep, we’re totally done for now,” Buck says, and Eddie’s heart skips a beat at the ‘for now’.
He turns back to the field, still breathing heavily, and attempts to pay attention to what’s happening with little success.
He remembers pretty quickly that he has no idea what’s going on, nor does he actually give a fuck about baseball.
“This might be a weird question,” Eddie says to Buck slowly. “But was this whole ‘coming to a baseball game’ thing Tommy’s idea? Or was it something you actually wanted to do?”
Buck turns to look at him. “I’ve never wanted to see a baseball game in my life.”
“Right.” Eddie glances at the field before turning back towards Buck again. “You wanna get out of here then?”
“Oh, definitely,” Buck agrees immediately. “I do not want to have to spend the rest of our lives telling everyone our first date was at a baseball game.”
Eddie snorts.
Yeah, that would kinda suck.
He grabs Buck’s hand and stands, pulling them both to their feet.
“Come on,” Eddie says, tugging Buck up the stand towards the exit. “I’ve got a great idea for the perfect first date.”