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When Eddie tells Buck he’s been invited to wine night with Hen and Karen, Buck thinks it seems like a good idea.
No, really.
A night at Hen and Karen’s where they all drink copious amounts of alcohol and watch shitty rom-coms? Perfection.
It’ll be good for Eddie, Buck’s sure of it.
*
Is it still good when Eddie ends up incredibly drunk, sending texts to Buck at midnight about how Hen and Karen’s cactus looks like a bunch of dicks?
Okay, maybe a little less good.
And when Eddie starts insisting he can’t sleep because he needs a hug and that Buck needs to come over and hug him or he’ll never sleep again ever?
Well, that’s definitely not good, no.
And what’s Buck supposed to do with that other than get in his car at nearly two in the morning and drive over to his coworker’s house so that he can comfort his extremely drunk best friend?
Not many other options really, are there?
*
It’s a quick drive over to Hen and Karen's place—taking Buck twenty minutes at least during the daytime—but he makes it in twelve with no traffic at two in the morning.
He knocks on the door, waiting patiently as he hears muffled voices from inside.
“Who is it?” Buck hears a voice call out through the door. “Are you a murderer?”
Buck raises an eyebrow.
“No?” he calls out. “Definitely not a murderer.”
“Sounds like something a murderer would say,” the voice he’s almost positive belongs to Karen says. “‘Thena’s a cop. I should call ‘Thena. She’ll—”
“Karen!” Buck calls out, trying not to yell too loud and wake the neighbours. “It’s just me. It’s Buck!”
“Eddie!” he hears Karen say loudly, and rather drunkenly. “Buck is here. Why is Buck here?”
“He came,” Eddie yells back, before Buck hears a scuffling sound on the floor inside. A little louder Eddie calls out, “Let him in!”.
“Okay!” Karen responds, opening the door to a very confused Buck. “Hi Buck!”
“Hi Karen,” Buck says, hiding his amusement. “Where’s Hen?”
“Hen’s asleep!” Karen responds, whispering as if she and Eddie hadn’t been yelling not even thirty seconds ago. “You gotta shush!”
“Uh, sure?”
Karen pulls Buck inside before closing the door with the exaggerated kind of care you’d normally see from a teenager trying not to wake her parents as she sneaks back into the house on a Saturday night.
Buck stares as Karen proceeds to wander off towards hers and Hen’s bedroom without saying another word.
“Eddie?” Buck calls out, quickly spotting Eddie sprawled out on the couch. “Hey, you doing okay?”
“I am now,” Eddie says, staring up at Buck with a dreamy smile on his face. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Of course I’m here,” Buck responds, trying to hide a smile. “Had to come see this cactus, didn’t I?”
“It looks like dicks!” Eddie whisper-yells, probably trying to stay quiet enough to not offend Hen or Karen by saying their beloved cactus looks like a bunch of penises in a pot.
And before Buck can respond, Eddie’s dragging him over to the dining room and pointing helpfully at the cactus on the dining room table.
And honestly, Eddie’s not wrong.
The cactus looks like a bunch of dicks erupting out of the rainbow patterned pot Hen and Karen planted it in.
“Oh wow,” Buck eventually says, eyes widening as he looks at the cactus from various angles. “That really does look like a bunch of dicks.”
“I told you it did,” Eddie says, narrowing his eyes at Buck’s tone. “Did you think I was lying?”
“What? No!” Buck backtracks immediately, eager to have the happy version of drunk Eddie back. “I just—I mean—”
“Which one would you be?” Eddie asks, easily distracted and now looking curiously at the cactus.
And what?
Which cactus would he—
“Are you seriously asking me the size of my dick?” Buck asks incredulously, huffing out a laugh. “God, you’re gonna regret this tomorrow.”
“Regret what?” Eddie asks, looking adorably confused.
“Look, forget about the dick cactus,” Buck says, in disbelief at the words coming out of his mouth. “It’s the middle of the night and we both need to get some sleep.”
For a moment it looks like Eddie’s going to cooperate, but no, of course it’s not going to be that easy.
“Can’t sleep,” Eddie complains. “Don’t like it.”
Buck internally rolls his eyes.
“Don’t like what? The couch?” he guesses, wondering if they can use the guest room before remembering Hen and Karen don’t have one anymore. Which leaves, “I suppose I can drive us back to your place if you really—”
“No,” Eddie interrupts, and then adds a little quieter, “I don’t wanna be alone.”
And at that Buck deflates.
Oh.
“Shit, Eddie, come here.” Buck pulls Eddie into a hug, and Eddie wastes no time wrapping his arms around Buck in return. “You’re not alone. I’m right here, yeah? And I’m not going anywhere. Come on, we can share the couch.”
“Not enough room,” Eddie insists. “Won’t fit.”
And yeah, probably not, to be honest.
But they haven’t really got any other options, do they?
“Not with that attitude we won’t,” Buck eventually teases, leading Eddie over to the couch. “We can totally make this work.”
*
So yeah, it turns out Eddie was right.
Two grown men don’t really fit on Hen and Karen’s couch all that easily.
Instead, they’re forced to spoon together, legs half entwined and pressed up against one another entirely from head to foot. Which neither of them are necessarily complaining about, to be honest. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite.
Buck closes his eyes, breathing in Eddie’s shampoo and wondering whether he should try and sneak out to get Eddie his favourite hangover food in the morning, when Eddie starts talking out of nowhere.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Eddie whispers into the darkness, snuggling back into Buck a little more.
“Of course you can,” Buck says, briefly squeezing Eddie with the arm he has draped over his body.
Eddie should know by now he can tell him anything, even when he’s drunk.
“Okay, but you can’t tell Buck,” Eddie insists, and Buck realises immediately that Eddie really still hasn’t started sobering up.
“Uhhh,” Buck stifles a laugh. “You know I’m Buck, right?”
“That’s nice,” Eddie mumbles, apparently starting to drift off after all. “Buck’s my favourite. I love him so much. Wanna kiss him all the time.”
Buck freezes momentarily before releasing a slow measured breath. “You do?”
Holy shit.
“Duh,” Eddie responds, as if it should be obvious. “But he’s got a boyfriend. So I can’t.”
“I bet he wishes he didn’t,” Buck admits quietly into the back of Eddie’s head, very much regretting ignoring the voice in his head that’s been telling him to break up with Tommy every day since they made it official. “Have a boyfriend, I mean. Because I’m pretty sure he wants to kiss you too. And he definitely loves you a whole lot.”
“That would be awesome,” Eddie says, starting to wiggle around before eventually adding, “I think he needs a new one.”
“A new boyfriend?” Buck queries, but Eddie doesn’t respond as he continues trying to get comfortable. After a few moments, Buck laughs. “God, you’re like a worm.”
“Would you still love me if I was a worm?” Eddie asks seriously, finally stilling himself as he looks over his shoulder at Buck.
“What?” Buck asks incredulously. “That’s—I mean—you’re not a worm, Eds, I—”
“You don’t love me,” Eddie says mournfully, his face dropping. “I knew it. You were lying to make me feel better. This is the worst day ever.”
Buck raises an eyebrow at Eddie’s clear overdramatisation of the situation. But then reminds himself that Eddie is clearly still drunk enough to not realise he’s literally right behind him on the couch, and figures Eddie deserves a little break.
“Eddie, of course I love you,” Buck insists. “And I really do wish I didn’t have a boyfriend right now. Because you really are—”
“I can fix that,” Eddie interrupts, squirming around again and grabbing randomly at Buck’s legs. “Where’s your phone?”
Somehow, eventually, Eddie manages to get his hand into Buck’s pocket—ignoring the startled gasp that escapes Buck—and grabs Buck’s phone. Buck watches Eddie as he taps at the screen for a minute or so, before locking the phone again.
“There, I fixed it,” Eddie announces, passing Buck’s phone back to him as he rolls back over and closes his eyes. “Now we can cuddle and then you can be my boyfriend in the morning if you want.”
“What did you—” Buck unlocks his phone, squinting at the screen in the dark as he reads aloud, “Hi Tommy we should break up sorry but you suck and—Eddie! Jesus, you actually sent it, what the fuck? Eddie?”
Eddie doesn’t respond, and when Buck leans forward he’s faced with a very much asleep Eddie who is most definitely not sorry in the slightest.
“Of course,” Buck says to himself, tucking his phone away and settling back in to spoon Eddie properly. “Well, I guess that’s a problem for future Buck.”
Buck presses a soft kiss to the back of Eddie’s head as he cuddles up behind him.
“You’re so lucky I love you.”
He receives nothing but a snore in response.
*
“What the hell?” Eddie mumbles as he wakes up the next morning, wincing as his head throbs the moment he attempts to sit up. Buck resists the urge to laugh when he drops back down onto the couch immediately. “Ugh.”
“I gotta go, sorry,” Buck says into his phone. He hangs up quickly before asking innocently, “How’s the head? Not so great, huh?”
That earns him a glare from Eddie as he rolls onto his back in order to look up at Buck.
“No. It’s not so great,” Eddie deadpans before looking suspiciously at Buck. “What are you even doing here? And who were you talking to?”
“That was Tommy,” Buck admits, and Eddie’s face visibly drops. “He wanted to confirm our break-up actually happened.”
Eddie perks up at that.
“When did that happen?” Eddie asks, doing his best not to cheer. “Was it last night? Is that why you’re here?”
“Well, yes and no technically,” Buck says, trying not to laugh. “Yes, it was last night. No, that's not why I came here.” A pause. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
Eddie seems to freeze.
“Uhhh… no? Should I? Did you already tell me about it? Because I was really drunk last night, and I don’t remember you telling me,” Eddie admits, sounding a little guilty. “Look, give me the short version. Did you break up with him? Did he break up with you? Was it mutual?”
Buck can’t help it. He knows he must look practically giddy.
“You broke up with him actually,” Buck says, enjoying the surprised look on Eddie’s face. “You sent him a text a little after two in the morning telling him he sucks, and—”
“I did not,” Eddie interrupts, looking extremely embarrassed before covering his face with his hands. “Please tell me I didn’t.”
“Oh you did,” Buck confirms, smiling widely. “Among other things.”
“Other thi—god, just shoot me now,” Eddie says, his words muffled through his hands. “I’m so sorry. I have no idea what I was thinking. I clearly wasn’t. Maybe I can call him and explain and—”
“Please don’t,” Buck interrupts. “I explained loosely—don’t worry, he doesn’t know it was you—but we’re definitely broken up.”
“You don’t look too sad about it,” Eddie points out. “Are you sure it wasn’t you who sent it because I really don’t remember—”
“I get the feeling you don’t remember a lot of things from last night,” Buck can’t help but interrupt again, a hint of a smile on his face as he runs a hand through his hair. “Which makes this morning kind of awkward.”
“Awkward?”
“Yeah, awkward,” Buck repeats, staring down at Eddie laying beside him on the couch. “Because you said some things last night, and then I said some things back, and right now I kind of just wanna skip ahead to the part where I kiss you. And that would be kinda weird, right?”
Eddie proceeds to stare at him with wide eyes in response to his rambling, and Buck starts to wonder if he maybe should have kept his mouth shut.
But then Eddie’s hand is wrapping around the back of Buck’s neck, tugging him down into what he can only describe as the world’s sweetest kiss. It’s soft and gentle and a little exhilarating, and when they eventually separate it leaves Buck feeling like he could fly.
“Not weird then?” Buck asks, smiling down at Eddie.
Eddie smiles right back at him. “Not at all.”
“Should I fill you in on last night?” Buck asks after a moment. “Or can we kiss a little more before Hen and Karen wake up?”
Eddie laughs, his eyes bright despite the hangover he’s no doubt got going on.
“Definitely the latter,” Eddie says, pulling Buck down into another kiss with zero hesitation.