Something I Need: A Buddie Story

Confession

The following day, Eddie and Buck find themselves in their favourite bar, sharing stories and beers. They decided to go here on a whim, just before they would go and pick Christopher up from school and Eddie would go to work. 

Eddie struggled to bring up his conversation with Hen and Chim from the day before, racking his brain for a good way to approach the subject. He finally decides to just go for it. 

"You know, I had this odd conversation with Hen and Chim yesterday".

"Really?" Buck responds, "What about?" They're now facing each other and Eddie can't help the blush that took over his cheeks. 

"Well, for starters, Chim actually found us -you know- cuddling. So he confronted me about it and asked what that was about. I mean, I told him that it was just me helping you out since you've been having trouble sleeping, but he and Hen were insisting that it was more than that. Which it isn't. Right?" Eddie looked dead into Buck's eyes, searching for some sort of response. 

Buck, on the other hand, was as red as a tomato and mildly worried about how this conversation was moving along. 

"Y-yeah, of course, Eds. What else would it be?"

"They were implying that perhaps it was because we were into each other or something along that line. Which I think is just weird". Eddie conveyed back. Buck took a swig of his beer but nodded to his statement. 

"Yeah, man. We're friends, that's all we ever will be". Buck replied, setting his empty beer bottle down. "I had a similar weird conversation with TK and Carlos yesterday too actually". 

'A little too similar for my liking'. He thought to himself. 

"Carlos had asked what we were since we were very close. I told him we were friends and TK mentioned that you were cute. Which was in and of itself a very funny scene because Carlos was very taken aback. But then again, his type is Latinos so that might be why". He chuckled lightly, suddenly missing his friends again. 

Eddie was unsure which part of Buck's revelation he wanted to respond to. He decided to respond to none of it. 

"What if I actually told you that I wouldn't hate it if we were something more than friends?" Eddie was suddenly very interested in his own hands, observing every little callous on the knuckles.

Buck just stared at him for a moment, unable to form words, let alone sentences. He suddenly felt like the world around him was closing in on him. Why would Eddie say that? Was this some sort of sick joke between TK, Carlos, Hen and Chim? It wasn't even April, why were they pulling such a big prank on him? He proceeded to stand up and just walk out of the bar with the speed of a gold medal Olympic runner. 

Outside, Buck continues to run down the road, only stopping when he remembered that he came there with Eddie. Screw it. He thought and decided to just take the journey home on foot. 

Back inside the bar, Eddie's hand is still in the air mid-gesture from trying to call Buck back to the table, but he let it fall and finishes the rest of his beer before proceeding to run out to try and catch up to his best mate. When he is outside, he canvasses the area, but he doesn't see the taller man. He checks his watch and decides that the rest of the conversation will have to just wait, and heads to his car to go pick up his kid from school. 

*****TIME SKIP***

That evening, Buck is laying on the couch his parents had gotten him, trying to process what Eddie had said in the bar. He had called TK and confided in him about what happened, to which TK sighed exasperatedly and wondered why Buck didn't just take an Uber home. His phone now lay on the coffee table and it buzzed with a notification. He peered at the phone and noticed it was a text from Eddie. 

"Buck"

"Can we please talk soon?"

"I'm sorry I just sprung that on you"

Buck switched off his notifications and tried to go to sleep. It had been the first time in days that he had nightmares again.