Chapter Text
Buck wakes with a start at the sound of his alarm blaring far too close to his head. He scuffles around in the covers searching for his phone before finally finding it and turning off the horrific noise. At this point his head is pounding and he’s starting to seriously regret opening that bottle of Jack.
“You set an alarm ?” Hen grumbles from the pile of blankets and pillows she’d passed out in on the floor, glaring daggers at Buck. “It’s our day off.”
Buck rubs his temples, eyes slamming shut as he wills his headache to go away. “I forgot to turn it off last night.”
Hen throws a pillow at his head before falling back onto the floor.
“Good morning, you two,” Albert chirps, appearing at the top of the stairs with a tray in his hands. “Some water and two Albert’s Hangover Cure Specialty Omelettes.”
“Thanks,” Hen mumbles, reaching for the glass of water and plate he hands her.
Albert snorts, turning to Buck and handing him food as well. “Do I want to know why I came home to you both absolutely shit-faced last night?”
Hen groans. “Bad day,” she says around a mouthful of omelette, pointing to herself.
“Supportive friend,” Buck adds, pointing at himself. At that Hen snorts but thankfully doesn’t say anything.
When Hen had shown up at Buck’s apartment last night angry at the world and clearly on the verge of a breakdown, he had been more than happy to heed her invitation to get wasted and shit on life. It had been only the day after Chris had run away from home and ended up at Buck’s place and as horrible as it sounds, having Hen over to get drunk and talk about her problems had been a welcome distraction to the onslaught of emotions Buck had been dealing with lately. Besides, Hen was his friend and he was almost as angry about the social worker trying to take Nia away as she was. It’s ridiculous is what it is.
“Very supportive by the looks of that empty bottle downstairs,” Albert laughs before adding, “ which I know was full last week.”
“Buck, get him to shut up, my ears are ringing,” Hen snaps, but Albert just laughs again.
“There’s coffee on the counter when you both eventually make it downstairs.” Albert disappears back down the stairs, leaving Buck and Hen to their own alcohol-induced misery.
Buck and Hen finish the rest of their breakfast, each of them downing several glasses of water before they start to resemble functioning humans again.
“What does he put in those omelettes, I genuinely think my headache is going away,” Hen asks, rubbing her temples.
“I think that’s the aspirin,” Buck responds, leaning back against his pillow, eyes closed.
Hen snorts. “True.” She settles back next to Buck on the bed and prods his shoulder. “Do you wanna talk about it, Buckaroo?”
Buck groans and throws his arm over his face. “I can’t believe I talked about it at all.”
“Well, it was a lot of whiskey.”
“Which I am never drinking again.”
“Yeah, right.”
Buck opens one eye and glares at Hen. “How about you, how are you doing after everything?”
Hen sighs. “Honestly, still angry. And sad. And about a billion other things that I can’t think about right now. I have no clue what Karen and I are going to do. Speaking of, I should probably head home, I’m not the only one dealing with all this.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Buck pulls himself off the bed and stands there with his eyes closed for a minute while his body remembers how to walk. “Are you going to be good to drive?”
Hen shoots him an exasperated smile. “I’m hungover, not drunk. And feeling better anyways. I gotta thank Albert for those omelettes,” she says as they enter the kitchen.
“You are very welcome,” Albert says, sliding two mugs of coffee across the counter.
“You’re an angel.” Hen gulps down half the cup before pulling him into a side hug.
“Don’t worry about it, get home safe!” Albert squeezes her back before heading into the living room, patting Buck’s shoulder as he passes.
Hen finished her coffee before turning back to Buck. “Seriously, thank you for being there for me last night, I really needed it.”
Buck smiles shyly, ducking his head. “Always, Hen, you know that. You’re family. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Buckaroo,” she says, pulling him into a real hug. “Same goes for me, ok? You need me and I’ll be there, even if it’s so you can cry about your feelings for your best friend.”
“That’s so not what I said,” Buck protests, pulling back.
Hen gives him a disbelieving look. “Buck, I have never seen someone get as worked up about their best friend as you did last night unless they’re in love with them. Besides, last night is far from the first time I’ve thought you might be in love with Eddie. We all love Eddie like family, but only one of us tried to single-handedly claw through forty feet of earth when he went under.”
Buck opens and closes his mouth, not quite sure what to say. Hen gives him a soft smile, grabbing his shoulder as she heads to the door. “Think about it, hm? Thanks again for everything.”
Buck nods, following her to the door. “Keep me updated about Nia, ok? And let me know if you and Karen need anything.”
Hen nods and waves goodbye as she heads out to the hallway.
Buck stares at his apartment door for a minute, lost in thought. It’s not like he isn’t aware that his feelings for Eddie are something else, something more , but he can’t think about it, can’t admit it out loud because then it becomes real and if it becomes real then his heart might actually break. The small ache he feels whenever Eddie talks about Ana or when he watches Chris while Eddie is on a date, that he can deal with. The flood of pain he would feel if he had to actively think about the fact that Eddie doesn’t love him back and never will? He couldn’t handle it. So for now, he settles on being sad and lonely and in denial about his own feels for Eddie. He made a promise to Christopher that he wasn’t going anywhere and he intends to keep it, no matter what.
He climbs the stairs back up to his bedroom slowly after drinking two more cups of coffee. His head no longer hurts, but his heart feels a little like someone dropped a firetruck on it.
The clock on his bed side table reads 10:03, meaning he should have a text from Eddie by now telling him how yesterday went with introducing Ana to Christopher as Eddie’s girlfriend went. Girlfriend . Buck rolls his eyes at the word and grabs his phone. He had avoided Eddie’s texts like the plague last night, choosing instead to live-text the evening to TK Strand from Austin.
That was a new development in his life, texting with TK and, by extension, his boyfriend Carlos. After TK had mistakenly assumed Buck was hitting on him, Buck had texted him on the drive to El Paso to clear that up. It wasn’t that he was straight or that TK wasn’t great, he just wasn’t interested. Buck had known he was bisexual for years, ever since his soul searching trip across the western hemisphere, so that was never the issue. Then, a week later, TK had texted him with a screenshot of his most recent post on instagram, a picture of Buck, Chris, and Eddie eating ice cream at the park, and had simply said your weird reaction to me thinking you were hitting on me makes a lot more sense now.
Buck had stared at that text for close to an hour before responding simply with ??? .
TK had called him laughing before explaining. You’re in love with your best friend dude.
Buck had spluttered and insisted that no he was most definitely not in love with Eddie. But it didn’t matter how many times he denied it. TK had the idea in his head now and he was never letting it go. He respected Buck’s feelings about not talking about it, but now Buck was in the habit of texting TK about Eddie all the time, so how could he not tease him.
They talked about other things too, even though Buck had a professional therapist, TK was who he went to with more mundane issues and TK had begun to do the same with Buck, which is how he met Carlos. They have a group chat. TK was currently in the hospital, after getting kidnapped , for the love of God, so he’d been pretty entertained to witness Buck’s emotional rollercoaster over text last night.
A text from TK is the first thing Buck sees when he opens his phone.
Goodmorning, dumbass, hope you’re not dead from alcohol poisoning.
Shut up, it wasn’t that bad. Buck shoots back.
It was lmao
Carlos was worried
Well, I’m fine, thanks
Sorry for spamming you last night
Don’t worry about it, not like I have anything better to do rn
How are you feeling by the way?
Better, I just got home, actually
Good, heal quickly, worrying about you from thousands of miles away is stressful
You think you’re bad? You should see my parents and Carlos
Buck snorts at that.
Glad I don’t have to lol. Tell them hi from me though
Will do, how’s Eddie and that girl
Girlfriend
And they’re good, he introduced her to Christopher as his girlfriend yesterday
So you said last night
Also i refuse to call her his girlfriend
Well, that’s what she is
Doesn’t mean i have to acknowledge it
You’re ridiculous
Pot, kettle
Shut up
How are you doing with all that anyways?
I’m fine
Right, cause I believe that
Whatever, i am, i swear.
Whatever you say
Hey, I have to go, my dad is making lunch for me and carlos, but text me if you need anything, ok?
I will, tell everyone hi from me
TK doesn’t text back and Buck assumes he put his phone down for lunch. He pulls up Eddie’s texts instead and sees that he missed quite a few.
Hey, so shockingly Chris did really well with Ana coming over.
I was so sure it was going to blow up in my face
I guess whatever you said must have made an impact so thanks again for that
I think he still kind of sees her as his teacher and not my girlfriend though
So it could still blow up
Are you ok? You haven’t responded since this morning.
I know it’s late I just wanted to check to see if you were still good with doing movie night with us tomorrow?
I guess you had a busy day, text me when you get these
Goodnight, Buck
Buck sighs and falls back onto his bed. So much for avoiding the heartbreak.