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“You wanted light, you wanted airy,” the relator said.
“One thing I really liked about my old place was that it didn’t feel so new. It had character,” Buck said. Older homes just weren’t for sale in the neighborhood Buck wanted, which was close to South Bedford, near the 118, and only a few blocks from where Harry and May grew up. The relator only had new or newish construction options to show him, which given his desire for character, seemed like a fools’ errand. At least this client had a hefty budget, she thought, as she reflected on the trust fund paperwork Buck had shown her when preapproving his site visits.
“I do have a new listing a few blocks from here. How do you feel about streamlined modern?,” the relator asked. “I guess the same way most people do,” Buck shrugged.
“Well, we will look at it anyway. So, why did you leave your last place ?,” she asked, idly making conversation.
Here, Buck lied. He did not want to explain to this stranger his story—his pain and yet, his new hope. So he just lied and told the relator he was subletting his old place.
***
After he ziplined onto the roof thanks to Avenger Eddie’s thoughtful and creative rescue, Buck was hopeful that Eddie would have taken agency over his own actions and told the El Paso FD that he was turning down the job in favor of moving back home. He hadn’t, though, as Eddie he was quick to jump on his phone to look for flights. But somehow Chimney of all people just told Eddie to show up for next shift, and Eddie just, did? Buck was a little angry and hurt about that, but at the same time, Buck never wanted Eddie to make a decision because of him. He wanted Eddie to make his own choices, in his own time.
But Eddie followed Chimney’s lead, and so Eddie and Buck shared the Bedford Street home for a few weeks, carefully dancing around each other, not quite in step like they were before Eddie had moved to El Paso, or even on their long-distance zooms, because something had changed. Buck didn’t know what it was until a couple of weeks in, when Chris was at a sleepover and he and Eddie settled in for beers and the new Americas series narrated by Tom Hanks. The documentary was discussing a mating ritual when Eddie paused it, turned to Buck, and said bluntly, “Buck, you need to move out. I can’t ask my roommate on a date. We aren’t doing the whole New Girl thing. I need to properly court you, woo you, and I can’t do that when you live here.”
Buck stared at Eddie in response blankly. But Eddie was straight. Eddie was a renter. Eddie has a silver star… Eddie doesn’t woo, Eddie nests.
After a beat, Eddie continued. “Buck, I know I just dropped that on you, and Chris and I will move if you would rather, but I need you to know a few things. One, I’m gay. I figured it out with Father Brian and some conversations at the cemetery.”
Buck meekly managed a “Congratulations, Eddie,” before Eddie continued on.
“Two, I don’t need to date anyone, because I think I have met my first and my last boyfriend already. But I don’t want to rush things with him, because he’s grieving the loss of his father, I’m grieving my mentor, and dammit he deserves to be wooed. So, Evan, I need you to know that you are not expendable. You are, instead, very much a part of my family. But here’s what’s important. I need to woo and court you. I need you to have space to heal from Bobby’s death. I need us to be apart for a little so we can grow together in a new way. We have the rest of our lives to be each other’s forever, which is how I think things will turn out. And right now, you need joy. You need first date jitters, and second date anticipation, and third date third base, and the hope of falling in love. We love each other already, Buck, but I want us to fall in love slowly, so we can savor each moment. So, baby, will you please move out so I can court you, unless I have somehow read all of this wrong?”
***
So that is how Buck found himself looking for real estate. Things had shifted with him and Eddie, but maybe in a good way. A hopeful way. Buck still missed his best friend, though, so the story was bittersweet. But Eddie was somehow right, too — coming together in grief or anger wouldn’t necessarily make the most stable foundation for forever, and Buck was still massively grieving and in pain. He did not have high hopes for his next real estate appointment, but his relator somehow wound up taking him to Bobby and Athena’s new place, which Athena was now selling for some reason?
“This is a brand new construction on a great lot.,” the relator explained. “Tragedy, really, the owner couldn’t take the pain of living here after her husband died. She’s a first responder, so you might have a chance to write a letter and get a leg up on the other bids. This will go fast if you like it.”
Buck saw different shades of white, sort of like the cast of the Hotshots spinoff set in Nashville, in the new house, but he also saw home. He saw barbecues and memories and love. Buck had a new 6-million-dollar trust fund that an uncle he never knew left to him (along with three million each to Jee and Robert Han), so he decided to be impulsive. “I will take it,” he told the relator. “I don’t care if there’s any money left in the trust. Use it all, just get me this house.”
***
Eddie thought Buck’s impulse purchase was a little crazy, but he also knew that grieving takes many forms, and he wanted to let Buck grieve. And a few weeks later, after things were a little more settled, Eddie arranged to pick up Buck at his new house to be followed by dinner, a visit to the planetarium, and private salsa dancing lessons. He was going to woo Buck on their first date. Buck, for his part, was nervous, but oddly calm. He, of course, would take Eddie Diaz as a partner in whatever way he possibly could, and he thought Eddie’s way of wooing him slowly was an exciting way to build a foundation together. He paced back and forth at his new house, eager for his 7pm pickup time.
At 6:45, however, Buck heard three raspy knocks on the door. Eddie shouldn’t be here that early, he thought, because he knew Buck would be stressing out over what to wear. Buck adjusted his tie, thinking fondly with a hint of acceptance in grief, to when Bobby tied his before his first date with Abby. He was going to be okay. Things were different without Bobby, but things were going to be okay.
So he grinned, excited for the start of something amazing, and opened the door….
to see a filthy, ragged, emaciated Bobby Nash at the front door.
“Buck? Why are you here? Where’s Athena? I just escaped from the Operation Whitecoat lab and I need to see my wife.”