#taylor is only mentioned and not actually there but i don't want to ruffle any feathers

[pirate-tink]

Umm, I have no idea where this came from? I may have come a little unhinged after this week's episode. I'm sure I'm not the only one. But in next week's preview, the clips of Buck look like he's talking to Eddie and helping patch his wall in his bedroom...!

And then my brain did the thing where it goes: Buck talking (to Eddie, in Eddie's room, fixing his wall cleaning his mess,) in a hoodie, with loose curly hair, which, after Monday's episode, we've seen is early-morning-comfortable Buck. Extrapolating from that, it's not beyond the realm of possible to presume Buck spent the night at Eddie's...? (I've connected two dots.)

So anyway, that's what inspired this. I haven't written anything in literal months, or shared anything in longer, and then I wrote this in a couple hours and sat on it for two days agonizing over it.

This is dedicated to @tulipintulle, because she is my bestest fandom friend, and keeps me appraised of the latest happenings, and listens to me rant about our stupid weewoo show (affectionate).

Buck leaves his loft after an explosive fight with Taylor that he thinks ended in a breakup? Neither of them actually said the words, so he's not sure... All he knows is that that's the last place he wants to be right now.

He's in his car driving to Eddie's house before he remembers that he and Christopher aren't home; they're still in Texas celebrating Eddie's dad's retirement. Buck briefly considers changing direction and heading to Maddie's instead, before deciding against it. She's at Chimney's, helping him settle in after being released from the hospital, and while he knows she wouldn't begrudge him the use of her couch, her's isn't the couch he wants to sleep on.

Buck pulls up to Eddie's and parks on the street, already feeling calmer than he had since seeing the news report on tv the night before. The feeling of peace only grows as he unlocks the door and lets himself inside, toeing off his shoes and dropping his hastily packed duffle by the door. He turns a lamp on in the otherwise dark living room, and collapses back into the couch.

The silence of the empty house envelopes him, but doesn't press in on him the way it had while packing his bag at the loft. Taylor had stormed out, going for a walk she'd said, and Buck had used her escape to make his own. Cowardly? Maybe. But he's said all he could, and more than a few things he'd aimed to hurt, just a little, just to try to make her see sense, and if she isn't going to try to understand where he's coming from... well, he knows better than to keep beating against a brick wall.

Buck would have thought he was too keyed up on adrenaline after the fight to fall asleep, but apparently he's wrong, since the next thing he knows he's startling awake at the sound of the door being unlocked. He rubs his eyes and twists to look over his shoulder at the door. What is Eddie doing home so early? Or, maybe it's late.

It's completely dark outside, and Eddie shuffles in carrying a sleeping Christopher, carefully closing the door behind him. "Hey, Buck," Eddie says lowly.

"Eddie? Everything okay? I thought you weren't coming back until Tuesday?" Buck finishes rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and yawns around the end of his question.

Eddie ducks his head and hides his fond smile in Christopher's messy hair. "It is Tuesday, Buck."

"It is?" Buck might be more tired than he thought, if he forgot when Eddie was coming home.

Eddie huffs a soft laugh, barely more than a puff of air blown out his nose, and says "Let me put Chris to bed, and then we can talk about why you're asleep on my couch in my empty house." He says it so fondly that Buck knows he doesn't mean anything by it, but he still stands up and straightens out his jacket he never took off, feeling a little guilty about imposing on Eddie when he's just gotten back from a trip.

Buck had thought he had another day before Eddie got back, a whole 24 hours to decompress from his life imploding, figure out if he still had a girlfriend - or even wanted to - and sort out if he needed to find a new place to sleep for the foreseeable future. Now he's left floundering for an explanation to Eddie's unasked question about what he's doing there as the man himself backs carefully out of his son's room and gently closes the door.

"Want a beer?" Eddie asks as he slips out of his boots and nudges them next to Buck's. The sight of their shoes lying next to each other's momentarily distracts Buck, and he has to forcefully pull his attention away when Eddie quirks an eyebrow at him and points his thumb back over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen, even as he takes a step forward toward Buck standing aimlessly in front of the couch.

"Nah, I- I should get going anyways. Get out of your hair, let you relax," Buck rambles. "It- it's late, and you just got in, and-"

"Buck," Eddie interrupts, "you don't have to leave." He crosses the rest of the way over to the couch, abandoning the idea of grabbing a beer.

"I don't want to impose," Buck barely starts to speak before Eddie is shaking his head softly.

"You're not imposing. You're always welcome here." One side of Eddie's mouth lifts in a smile, and he ducks his head to catch Buck's eye when he tries to lower his gaze. "Everything okay with you?" Eddie nods over to Buck's duffle, still lying where he dropped it on the floor, a single sock and his phone charger spilling out where he hadn't pulled the zipper all the way closed in his earlier haste.

Buck feels his face flush, and finally breaks eye contact with Eddie to say "Taylor and I broke up. I think."

"You think?"

Buck winces. "It's complicated. We- we had a fight, and- and then she left, and then I left, and I don't really want to go back there tonight- I don't know if I want to go back there at all-" Buck cuts off his rambling with a sharp inhale of realization. "I don't want to go back to her."

Eddie seems to sense there's more to the story, but glances at his watch, and only says "Well, like I said, you're welcome here, as long as you need. Hey," Eddie pauses, and catches and holds Buck's gaze, "as long as you need, Buck, okay?"

Buck can only nod in awe and relief and gratitude.

Eddie smiles at him, and claps him gently on the arm. "C'mon, you get your stuff ready for bed, I'll get the pillows, and we can talk more in the morning."

Buck ducks his head down again, before lifting his gaze slightly to smile gratefully at Eddie. "Yeah, okay."

Eddie squeezes Buck's arm gently before letting go, and turns to go to the hall closet for the spare pillow and blanket Buck uses when he crashes on the couch. Buck heads to his bag and digs through it for the things he needs for bed, pulling out a clean pair of socks, cut off sweats, and a hoodie to sleep in. He thinks he forgot his toothbrush, but it doesn't matter since he's kept one here for longer than he can remember anyways.

He wonders at that, while he changes and brushes his teeth in the bathroom, that he's had a spare toothbrush here for longer than his and Taylor's entire relationship. It's silly, but it feels like a sign, that Buck has a home here, has had a home here, for longer than he's tried to make one elsewhere. He has a fleeting thought about some things being worth the work, while others feel like a struggle in futility, before he forces all thoughts out of his head.

Eddie said it's time for bed, and that they'll talk tomorrow. He'll tell Buck all about Texas, and his not-screwed-up/screwed-up family, and Buck will try to sum up the craziness of the past few days. Maybe they'll make pancakes; Buck wonders if Eddie's newfound culinary skills extend to breakfast foods beyond cereal.

Buck heads back out to the living room, where Eddie's apparently waiting for him after having made up the couch to sleep on. They look at each other in comfortable silence for a moment, Buck with his hands stuffed in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie picking at his nails, before Eddie steps forward.

"Goodnight, Buck," he says, and instead of walking past him down the hallway to his own room, Eddie pulls him into a hug. It shouldn't be unexpected, but Buck is still surprised enough that it takes him a moment to pull his hands out from where they're trapped between them so he can bring them around Eddie to hold him close as well.

The hug is everything they haven't said tonight, can't say in the fragile dark of night, and is everything Buck needs.

Sooner than Buck wishes, they're pulling away. Eddie tells him goodnight one more time, before padding softly down the hall to his bedroom. Buck turns the lamp off, and settles into the couch to go to sleep. They'll talk tomorrow, and Eddie will be there for Buck, just like Buck's been there for Eddie, will always be there for Eddie. Buck closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep with a smile on his face. He knows, somehow, everything will be okay.