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for @bucktommysummerfest, week 11 prompt: break up/make up, 2k
(only one day late this time!) rating: g
read below or on ao3
“Hey.”
It had been years since Tommy had heard that voice, but he knew exactly who he’d see when he turned way from the bar.
Evan Buckley, sunshine personified. Also, his last serious ex-boyfriend.
Tommy mentally steeled himself and turned around.
Well, it was Evan, but the sunshine that usually radiated from him seemed dimmer than Tommy remembered.
“Are you here with anyone? I uh, I have a table,” Evan said.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Tommy said, picking up his beer before pushing his stool back in towards the bar. He followed as Evan wove his way to a small booth at the back, tucked out of the way. Tommy never would have known he was there if he hadn’t come up to him at the bar.
“Waiting for someone?” Tommy asked cautiously as he sat opposite Evan.
“Ravi left a couple of minutes ago, actually,” Evan gave a half-smile. “Just me.”
“Ah.”
They sat in a cautious silence for a moment.
“I heard you were doing some work with the pilots in training?” Evan broke the silence.
“Yeah, I’m about fifty-fifty with the academy now,” Tommy told him. “Mostly working with the pilot hopefuls, but a little bit of ground work too.”
“That’s great. They’re lucky to have you.”
“And you’re still with the 118?” Tommy checked.
“Yep. Same old same old.”
“And… how have you been?”
“Did you know Jee started second grade? She’s like, reading and writing on her own. Has opinions about things that aren’t just food. Still has time for Uncle Buck,” Evan smiled, though Tommy thought it seemed a bit put on. “The helicoter you gave her is still one of her favourite toys.”
“Oh, she still has that?” Tommy was surprised. He was sure it would have been quietly cleared out after he’d broken up with Evan.
“Well, most of it. She had a minor meltdown when Robbie broke one of the rotor blades off.”
“Who’s Robbie?”
“Oh, uh,” Evan looked confused and a little flustered. “He’s Jee’s brother.”
“Oh, right, Maddie was pregnant,” Tommy remembered, then flushed a little thinking about the circumstances where he’d found out about that. “Robbie’s a nice name.”
Evan’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. It’s a nickname.”
Tommy was an idiot about a lot of things, but it was easy to connect the dots here. “Oh. They named him after…?”
“Yeah.”
“That must have been really tough,” Tommy said sympathetically.
“Well uh, the good thing about being the single childless uncle is that they really only expect you to look after one kid at a time, and Jee usually wins.”
“Ah,” Tommy nodded like he understood.
“She still asks when I’m going to take her up in a helicopter.”
“I'm sure we could find a day that works,” Tommy offered.
“Oh I didn’t — I wasn’t — you don’t have to do that. You’re under no obligations.”
“Who said anything about obligation?” Tommy smiled and hoped Evan would smile along with him. “You know I like flying on my days off. Always room for some fun passengers.”
“I’ll see what her parents say.”
Well, it wasn’t a no. Tommy decided to prod a little more.
“I didn’t hear who took over as Captain at the 118.”
“Uh,” Evan raised a hand and scratched at the back of his neck. “it was Chim for a bit, but it was a little too much for him with two kids at home, and Hen ended up taking over the position.”
“She must be really good at it,” Tommy tried to dig out some more information. “I bet the new probies love her.”
“I guess,” Evan said non-committedly.
“Hey,” Tommy nudged his foot under the table. “What aren’t you saying?”
Evan sighed. “… I moved to C shift a couple of months after Hen took over.”
“Oh,” Tommy tried not to let his face show his surprise.
“Yeah it just… didn’t feel right anymore. But I didn’t want to leave the station, so…”
“Understandable,” Tommy said, even though this did not compute with the Evan he had known three years ago. “Do you, um, still see everyone?”
“Well, Maddie and Chimney obviously, but Maddie a little more than Chim, because of the different shifts,” Evan said. “Jee and Mara are still close so sometimes the Wilsons are there too.”
“And… that’s it?”
“Well, Ravi moved to C with me when there was another opening.”
“Right, you said he was here earlier,” Tommy remembered.
“Yep.” There was that half, not quite a smile again. “What about you?”
“Do — I still talk to them?” Tommy was a little baffled by the question. “A couple times on evacs.”
“Oh.” Evan’s forehead creased. “And, uh, are you seeing anyone?”
Single childless uncle, Tommy felt the phrase bouncing around in his head. “No.”
“… have you?”
“Since…?” Tommy let it trail off. “Uh. Um.” He swallowed. “Just a couple casual things.” Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Right. Casual.” Evan nodded. “Kind of your M.O., huh?”
Tommy wasn’t sure what his face was doing, but it made Evan look contrite.
“Sorry,” Evan apologized.
Tommy waved it off. “You?” He could handle some more salt in the wound. Probably. Maybe.
“There was… someone,” Evan said, cautiously. “About two years ago. It ended… worse than the last time.”
Tommy couldn’t stop whatever his eyebrows were doing in time.
“Yes, fine, it was Taylor,” Evan said snappishly. “I’ve already heard it all, thanks.”
“How long—?” Tommy started to ask, then stopped.
“Three months,” Evan said. “Some things were good, but mostly… it was not.”
“I’m—” sorry? tired of missing you? better than she is? the worst boyfriend ever?
Evan pursed his lips. “You wanna get out of here?”
“Uh—”
“Not like that,” Evan had the audacity to roll his eyes, like they hadn’t played this scenario out before. “For food. There’s a good food cart a couple blocks down.”
“Sure,” Tommy threw back the last of his beer and followed Evan out of the bar.
Evan led him unerringly down a couple of blocks, twisting through some side roads to avoid the drunken crowds near the bars. The food cart appeared before them, a short line of people already there, and a few people sitting along a low wall next to the stand and eating. Tommy wondered how Evan had found the place. It wasn’t far from the bars, but just out of the way enough to not be overrun.
Evan and Tommy joined the line, Evan playing with his phone while Tommy craned his neck forward to check out the menu.
“Get the fish tacos,” Evan suggested, finally looking up from his phone. “You’d like those.”
Tommy focused on the ingredients, spotting that they came with mango chutney. He felt a little flush of warmth that Evan had remembered that he liked that on his tacos.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
When they finally got to the front and ordered, Tommy managed to get his credit card out before Evan could and paid for both their orders. Evan looked like he was trying to refrain from sticking out his tongue at Tommy.
They took their tacos and the waters Tommy had insisted on from the workers at the stand, and Tommy let Evan take the lead again. He took them around the corner to a small park with two benches next to each other.
Evan sat on the inside of one bench, leaving Tommy to choose his spot. Tommy chewed his lip. The far end of Evan’s bench would mean their food would be between them; the far end of the other bench would essentially be a rejection. He sat at the inside of the other bench, closest to Evan. They still had about a foot of space between them, but it wasn’t filled with their food, only the memories of what they used to be to each other.
Evan gave a little half smile before he took a bite of his taco, and Tommy felt like he had passed some kind of test. They ate their tacos in silence, balling up the wrappers and tossing them into the takeaway paper bag. Tommy watched from the corner of his eye as Evan leaned back against the bench, taking a couple large gulps of water.
“So,” Evan said.
“So,” Tommy echoed, turning to face him rather than the empty swings. Evan mirrored him, stretching out his long legs and bumping their ankles together.
“I’m sorry,” Tommy said, his voice quiet in the night air.
“For what?”
“That you and Taylor didn’t work out,” Tommy quickly said, because what he actually wanted to apologize for was probably too much to address right now.
Another eye roll from Evan. “Sure, cause that’s what you need to apologize for.” A short pause. “I knew she and I wouldn’t work out. It was just— a patch? A bandaid?" He snorted. “Never mind, maybe you should be apologizing for that.”
Tommy felt a little off-kilter. “Um, why?”
“Wow, you are an idiot.” Evan blew out a breath. “Tommy, you broke my heart.”
Make that a lot off kilter. “I — what?”
Evan looked at him thoughtfully. “Did you really not know?”
Tommy mutely shook his head.
“I asked you to move in,” Evan emphasized. “What did you think my feelings for you were?”
“How could I have known?” Tommy burst out. “It’s not like you ever said anything close to defining your feelings. The closest you got was a speech about the gay people that came before you and how I was ‘transformative’,” he did finger quotes around the word.
“I—” Evan stopped, blinked. “I never said it?”
“Said it? Said what?” Tommy demanded.
“That I love you,” Evan said, simply, plainly, with just a hint of you’re an idiot.
Tommy’s mouth fell open. “Yeah, that was, uh, not something you said.”
“Huh.” There was that thoughtful look again. “Maybe I should be apologizing to you then.”
“For what?”
“I… haven’t been the nicest about you since the breakup,” Evan admitted.
“That seems fair.” Tommy was still confused by the turn the conversation had taken, but he did feel like that was a perfectly valid reaction from Evan. Honestly, he would have been a little surprised if he hadn’t felt that way. “Wait. You said love. Not loved.”
The flush that appeared on Evan’s face was near instantaneous, and dark enough that his birthmark was hard to see.
“Do you still feel that way about me?” Tommy asked. Part of him didn’t want to ask, but a bigger part of him needed to know the answer.
“Tommy,” Evan said, a hint of pleading to his voice, tilting his head back and looking up to the night sky.
“Evan,” Tommy took a chance and rested a hand on his knee. Evan startled, looking first at Tommy’s hand and then at Tommy’s face. “Evan. Please.”
“Yeah. Yes. I’m so—”
Tommy surged forward before Evan could finish, pressing their lips together. Evan sighed into him, relaxing and winding his arms around Tommy’s neck, pulling him closer. Tommy had to brace one hand on the back of Evan’s bench to stop himself from tipping over completely, the other curling around Evan’s back and pressing them together. This. This felt like no time had passed. The years between then and now didn’t matter.
“Hey,” Tommy said when they finally pulled apart, still holding himself up with the bench, his other hand cupping Evan’s cheek now. “What are you doing on Saturday?”
“No Saturdays, no Italian restaurants,” Evan said, pupils blown wide. “They’re cursed.”
“Never?”Tommy teased gently. “There’s more than one Italian restaurant in L.A.”
“Not never, but not yet,” Evan conceded.
“Friday? Flying?” Tommy suggested.
“I think we can make that work,” Evan said with a smile.
“I know we can make this work,” Tommy promised, pulling them both upright so he could kiss Evan properly this time.
“Maybe we can take Jee up the weekend after that?” Evan asked when they separated again.
For @bucktommysummerfest, Week 13: Breakup/Make up
Rating: G | wc: 2,290 | Warnings: none | Ao3 Link
There were a lot of things in his life that just didn’t go Buck’s way. Take for instance his childhood relationship with his parents. It wasn’t horrible by any means, they provided all the material things he needed and they didn’t abuse him, but their involvement in his life had been extremely lacking. Still was really.
Recently, there was a lot of stuff. His boyfriend had dumped him last fall, leading to the downfall of a lot of things. Then his best friend moved halfway across the country to Texas, then Bobby died, which had just about ruined him, then his best friend came back, and decided to stay only after they got into a huge fight. (And Buck had kind of sort of gotten kicked out of his house.)
But there were also things that did go Buck’s way.
Like finally getting his Jeep back after some major repairs. Sure, the rental pickup truck was great for moving from the loft to Eddie’s, but he loved the Jeep. Also, Maddie gave birth to his new nephew, and even though naming the boy after Bobby had caused some feelings within Buck, the baby was a great baby (in all the ways you could measure what a great baby meant).
And most recently, getting back together with Tommy.
(And moving into Tommy’s place after leaving Eddie’s.)
🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒
“So what did you get up this weekend, Buck?” Hen asked, as she walked up to him in the kitchen at the start of shift.
“Mmm… Me?” he asked. His head popped up to look at her with wide eyes.
“Yeah, you,” she said. “Anyone else named Buck here?”
“Oh… uh,” he stumbled over his words. He had spent almost the entire weekend in Tommy’s bed, and in his kitchen, and a little bit in Tommy’s bathroom. “I just… hung out at home mostly,” he said.
“Just hung out at home?” Hen asked. “Since when do you spend most of your time at home? You’re always finding some event in the city to go to.”
And that most certainly was true. He was always finding new things to do or events and fairs that were going on. He hated spending entire days at home and not leaving the house.
He supposed he could tell her that it was Tommy he was spending time with, she most certainly would catch onto what he meant by spending most of the weekend at home. But he stopped himself.
Every other time he spoke about reaching out to Tommy or hoping to get back together with the man, the others had been… quick to tell him to temper his expectations. Either that or tell him he just needed to move on.
Now that they actually had been seeing each other again, he wanted to keep it a secret. Not that he thought it would jinx them to tell anyone, he fully intended on keeping Tommy his for as long as possible, but he just wanted this new thing with Tommy to be their little special thing for just a bit longer.
“It’s just… moving into the new place and all, I needed some time to unpack everything,” Buck said, and he surely hoped that by saying that no one asked to come over, because his stuff was most definitely not unpacked.
Hen seemed to accept that answer, and didn’t push him on it.
🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒
Chimney popped his head around the doorway of the supply closet one morning as Buck was doing some reorganizing.
“Hey Buck~” Chimney started. “Can I ask you a question?”
Buck put down the box he was holding. “You just asked me a question,” he said.
“Okay, you got me there,” Chimney said, rolling his eyes. “Can I ask you for a favor?”
“You’re the Captain,” Buck said. “You don’t really need to ask me for a favor, just tell me what to do.”
Chimney grabbed the box of paper towels before Buck could. “A personal favor,” Chimney said.
“Just tell me what you need Chim,” Buck said.
“Would you be able to babysit Jee and Robbie Saturday night?” Chimney asked, the words rushing out of his mouth. “And before you say no, I’ll make it up to you big time. Whatever you want, an extra shift off, choice of K Days for the next month. No chores for the next month, you name it. Our babysitter just told us she was heading out of town this morning and we bought these tickets for the concert months ago! This will be our first night out since Robbie was born!”
Buck would have loved to say yes. He loved to spend time with the kids, but he held himself back. If his only plans for Saturday were hanging out at Tommy’s or his place, he would have said yes in a heartbeat. Tommy would surely understand.
Only their plans for Saturday night weren’t just staying at home. Tommy knew a guy who was able to get them some tickets to some big movie premier. Some remake of a movie from the 80’s, Buck didn’t know exactly what the name of it was or what it was about.
Buck wasn’t one who cared much for movies, nearly everyone knew that, but Tommy did. And with everything that went wrong with their relationship in the past, Buck didn’t want to blow off anything that he knew Tommy liked.
“Sorry man, I already have plans on Saturday,” Buck told Chimney. “But maybe you can ask Hen if Mara could babysit for a couple hours, she’s in middle school now right?”
“You mean the girl who nearly set our oven off three times while she was living with us?” Chimney asked.
“It’s been over a year,” Buck said. “I’m sure she knows how to use it now. You could also just order pizza for them?”
“Even so, I don’t want to leave a twelve year old with a rambunctious four year old and a three month old,” Chimney said, hanging his head.
Buck held back a wince at the man’s plight. “I’m sorry man,” Buck said. “But really, I can’t.”
🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒
“Hey Buck,” Eddie started as he walked up to him in the locker room at the start of their next shift.
“What’s up?” Buck asked as he finished getting changed into his uniform.
“So I found some stuff of yours at my place that you must have left when you moved out,” Eddie said. “A bookcase and one of those end table things for the living room. I take it you will want those back, right?” Eddie asked.
Buck’s eyes widened in recognition. Truthfully, when he moved into Tommy’s place, he put most of his furniture into storage. Tommy had a full household of furniture, most of it better than Buck’s, so it wasn’t like Buck had much use for it. What was in storage or forgotten at Eddie’s house, Buck wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
“Oh, yeah?” Buck asked. “Um… yeah, getting them back would be nice. But it’s no rush man.”
“I could just drop it off at your place,” Eddie said. “You live near North Central Hospital right? I’ll be going over there to drop Chris off for a sleepover tomorrow anyway. Could also check out this new place of yours?”
If it wasn’t for the fact that Eddie had already seen his new place, because he was living with Tommy. Though it had probably been about a year since Eddie had been to Tommy’s house. But the point was all the same. He still hadn’t even told anyone he was dating Tommy again, let alone living with the man now.
“You know what? Really Eddie, you don’t have to worry about bringing it over,” Buck tried to say again. “I have to drive by your place to get to mine anyway. I can pick it up right after we get off tomorrow morning. And anyway, it will fit in my Jeep better than your prius.”
He didn’t miss the wince Eddie had at that. Eddie still had the prius, hated it, and was looking to get another truck to replace it, with very little luck.
“Now that you mention it, yeah,” Eddie said. “I still want to see this new place of yours though.”
“Oh yeah,” Buck nodded, forcing a smile on his face. “We’ll have to find a time.”
🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒 🚒
“Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow?” Athena had asked Buck when they ran into each other at a scene. “”We can catch up. May will be there too before heading back for her last semester.”
“Oh, tomorrow?” Buck asked. “Um… I-”
“You’re telling me you have plans on a Wednesday night?” Athena asked.
Well… he and Tommy did have plans to go down to San Diego. They had finally had the same day off in two weeks and wanted to do something meaningful with it. He doubted that they would be getting back in time for dinner.
“Actually,” Buck started. “I’m heading down to San Diego with a friend tomorrow.”
“A friend?” Athena asked. “Do I know them?”
“Um…” Buck said. “Y- yeah… you do.”
He saw Athena lift an eyebrow at that answer, and right as she went to answer, he heard Chimney yell.
“Hey Buck! We’re heading back!” Chimney called to him as the captain climbed into the ladder truck.
“Oh, sorry ‘thena. I got to go. I’ll text you to schedule some other time!” he said as he started jogging to the truck.
“Hey, Buck. Wait!" She tried to call out to the man. Then shook her head when she realized it was no use.
But she had to wonder. Who was so important that Buck would rather spend time with them than her?
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Of course it would be Ravi’s luck that he would be the first person to run into Buck and Tommy and they were out on a date.
And the thing was, it wasn’t really a ‘date’ to begin with, nor was it obvious to Ravi that Buck and Tommy were together when he saw them.
It was a Saturday afternoon, Buck and Tommy were at the grocery store when Tommy had stepped away to grab something from another aisle. Ravi first saw Buck looking over the stand of tomatoes.
“Hey, Buck,” Ravi greeted him as he walked by.
“Oh, hey Ravi,” Buck said. "What's up?”
“Not much,” Ravi said. “Just getting some food for the week.”
“Yeah, same,” Buck said as he picked out three tomatoes. “You’re scheduled to work Tuesday and Friday this week, right?” Buck asked.
“Yeah,” Ravi said. “See you Tuesday.”
As Ravi stepped away from the produce, he turned down the next aisle, seeing Tommy looking at the shelves of spices.
Tommy had grabbed two jars of nutmeg and paprika and turned to his right, making eye contact with Ravi as he did so. “Oh, hey Ravi,” Tommy said.
“H- hey, Tommy,” Ravi said, slightly caught off guard. He wouldn’t have been if it was only Tommy he saw here today. But to see the man less than two minutes after he was just talking to Buck in the other aisle.
Tommy moved to walk past him, most likely turning down the aisle Ravi had just come from, the aisle where Buck still was. And, to help a friend out, well both of these guys, Ravi felt the need to stop him.
“Um… say, do you know where the onion powder is?” he asked quickly.
“Onion powder?” Tommy asked.
Ravi nodded. “It’s just, I’ve been looking for it for weeks now, but whenever I come here I can’t find it on this shelf.” That was a complete lie. Ravi had a jar of it at his house that had been sitting unopened in his pantry for about a month now. He could also see it clear as day on the top of the shelf.
“Oh well,” Tommy turned back to the shelf of spices and quickly scanned them, almost immediately spotting the onion powder on the top. “It’s right here,” Tommy said as he picked a jar of it up and handed it to Ravi.
“Oh, there you are!” Ravi heard Buck’s voice say from behind him. Shit. He had been hoping to keep these two separated. But Buck was already looking past Ravi, had been since he first rounded the corner to the aisle.
“I got the ones you wanted,” Tommy said, which had Ravi spin right back around, because Tommy was holding out the spice bottles out to Buck.
“Great!” Buck explained as he pushed his shopping cart down to Tommy.
“Wait,” Ravi said, interrupting them. “You two came here together?”
“Yeah?” Tommy said, in the way saying ‘of course, isn’t it obvious?’
“Are you dating- since when?” Ravi asked, confused and caught off guard and a whole host of other emotions his mind was running too fast to be able to process.
“Um…” Buck lightly huffed as he rubbed the bottom of his nose in embarrassment. “Since… about two months ago?”
“Two months?” Ravi asked. “You’ve been hiding it this whole time?”
“It’s not like I’ve been trying to hide it,” Buck said, slightly defensive.
“You’ve just forgotten to say it whenever anyone asked you what your plans were,” Ravi said.
Buck… didn’t know what to say for that. “Sorry?” he said, more like a question than a statement. “I didn’t mean to! Really! And you can tell the others if you want. In fact, it will probably be better if you tell the others,” Buck mumbled at the end.
Tommy chuckled from where he stood a couple feet down the aisle now. “Come on Evan,” he said. “You’ve told them you were dating me once before, you can do it again.”
written for week 10 of @bucktommysummerfest, prompt: family vacations, 1k, rating: g
read below or on ao3
“This isn’t exactly what I pictured,” Buck admitted, as he and Tommy waved to Jee and Maddie at the top of the water slide.
“It’s what we get for mentioning a hotel pool in front of Jee,” Tommy laughed. “At least we booked rooms on different floors.”
Buck grinned at him. “That was non-negotiable.”
Chimney wandered over with their drinks, waving to his wife and daughter as one drink sloshed dangerously. Tommy quickly rescued it from him, and Buck took his drink off of Chim as well.
“Our first big family vacation,” Chim said happily. “Thanks for letting us tag along.”
“Jee didn’t really give us a choice,” Buck laughed. “I’m just glad we were able to get the same time off. And that you have to go home before us.”
Tommy snickered at the look on Chimney’s face.
“Maddie and I never got to do family vacations when we were kids, so this is really nice,” Buck continued, taking a sip of his drink.
“So I’ll just drop off the five year old on a sugar high with you two then?” Chimney asked.
“Absolutely not,” Buck toasted him with his glass. “We’ve been drinking! We are no longer responsible babysitters!”
Tommy dropped his head against Buck’s shoulder to muffle his laughter.
“What got into them?” Maddie walked towards them carrying a towel wrapped Jee in her arms.
“Adult drinks,” Chimney said. “And they’re being generally ridiculous.”
Jee nodded, always up for someone being called ridiculous. It was her favourite word this week, even if she had a bit of trouble pronouncing it.
“So, obviously we never did family vacations because of Daniel,” Buck said, sitting next to Maddie on the hotel’s patio, “but — would you want to start doing family vacations?”
Maddie turned to look at him. “You’d want to do this again?”
“Of course,” Buck responded immediately. “All my favourite people are here. I know it can be hard for Chim and I to get the same time off, but as long as we plan ahead far enough it should be fine.”
“I’m so lucky you’re my brother,” Maddie leaned across the chairs to hug him. “Most people don’t want to vacation with a five year old that isn’t theirs.”
“We got past the terrible twos,” Buck said flippantly. “But I will be leaving the teenage girl angst to you.”
“What would you even know about teenage girl angst?” Maddie laughed.
“Okay, only what I saw in after school specials,” Buck said, “but enough to know that I am not qualified to deal with it. I will teach her how to drive though.”
“You absolutely will not,” Maddie laughed. “I remember teaching you to drive. She’s getting an instructor, we will save her from the family member teaching trauma.”
“Oh come on, we’re older and wiser now,” Buck protested. “I'll be good.”
“I’m sure you’ll try,” Maddie bumped their shoulders together. “But I’m veto-ing it now.”
“I’ll take her out for her twenty first,” Buck joked.
“Yes, because I’m sure she’ll want to spend her birthday with her old decrepit uncle,” Maddie teased back.
“I didn’t say I’d bring Tommy.”
“Ouch,” Tommy said dryly, fitting himself into the space between Buck and the back of the chair, handing him a beer. Chimney handed Maddie a glass of wine and pulled an ottoman for himself.
“Sorry babe,” Buck said, leaning back to kiss Tommy’s cheek.
“Where aren’t you bringing old decrepit Tommy?” Chimney asked curiously.
“Our daughter’s twenty first,” Maddie told him. “After I vetoed him teaching her to drive. He’s also decided we’re doing more family vacations.”
“Oh, I don’t want to picture her being able to drive, or being old enough to drink,” Chimney bemoaned. “That’s so far away.”
“The vacations sound nice,” Tommy said, trying to provide a distraction. “How often were you thinking?”
“Once a year,” Buck said. “We’ll have to do some planning ahead for Chim and I to be off at the same time, but we can make it work.”
“Same place every time, or different places?”
“Different places,” Buck said. “We can do hotels, and camping, and winter vacations with snow, and when she’s a little older maybe we can even go overseas.”
“Oh, I don’t know about camping,” Chimney said. “That might be an uncle only trip.”
“I am really good at it,” Buck agreed.
“We can teach her how to set up her own tent, roast hot dogs, make s’mores,” Tommy suggested.
“Well now you're making it sound fun,” Chimney protested.
Maddie laughed. “You’re thinking with your stomach again.”
“Dinner was… an hour and a half ago,” Chimney checked his watch. “That seems about right.”
“How do you do shift work without regular meal times?” Tommy wondered.
“I eat when I can,” Chimney said. “You know that. You’ve seen the snack stashes in the engine.”
“Oh, those need restocking by the way,” Buck said. “Ravi and I got hungry last shift.”
“You eat it, you replace it,” Chimney shot back.
“So when are we planning our next vacation for?” Maddie asked, changing the subject again.
“Next summer?” Buck suggested. “Gives us time to really plan it out and do it right.”
Maddie squinted at her brother. “You’re going take to her somewhere wild and buy her every souvenir, aren’t you?”
“No comment,” Buck said, taking a sip of his beer.
“Hey,” Buck said later, when he and Tommy were back in their room. “You’re okay with family vacations, right? I didn't really ask before I suggested it.”
“Of course,” Tommy stepped out of the bathroom in the middle of brushing his teeth, so Buck could see him. “It may surprise you to learn this, but I didn’t exactly have a lot of happy family vacations myself.”
Buck laughed softly at Tommy trying to speak around the toothpaste still in his mouth. “I do recall you mentioning something like that.”
Tommy spit out the toothpaste. “You know I’ve been really glad to reconnect with Howie, and Maddie and Jee are amazing.”
Buck gave him a minty kiss when he came back to bed. “I’m glad you like them.”
“I’m glad they like me,” Tommy said, running a hand through Buck’s hair. “I’m glad you like me.”
“I love you,” Buck corrected.
“I love you,” Tommy repeated, giving Buck another minty kiss.
Summary: Buck and Tommy spend a lazy afternoon tangled in blankets, half-watching Love, Actually. There’s popcorn, cocoa, playful bickering, and the kind of quiet love that sneaks in when no one’s looking.
Author’s Note: I spend so much time nearly killing them, physically and emotionally, that when I saw the @bucktommysummerfest prompt for this week was lazy morning/afternoons, I decided that I just wanted to wrap these two up in a pile of blankets, feed them popcorn and cocoa, and let them be soft for a while. Consider this a love letter to lazy (December) afternoons, Christmas movie arguments, and the way Buck always pretends not to like romcoms when he’s clearly a secret sap.
Hope you like this little homage to Christmas!
The afternoon stretches lazily around them, the kind of day where time doesn’t seem to matter. A half-empty bowl of popcorn rests precariously on the coffee table, sharing space with two mismatched mugs of cocoa — Buck’s has already gone cold because he’s been stealing sips from Tommy’s.
They’re buried beneath a fortress of blankets with Buck curled against Tommy like he’s been magnetized there. Tommy’s hand idly combs through his curls, slow and absentminded, while the TV glows with the familiar scenes of Love, Actually.
Buck shifts, grinning into Tommy’s chest as Hugh Grant shimmies down a hallway. “You’ve made me sit through this three times already this month.”
“You’ll survive,” Tommy murmurs, pressing a kiss against Buck’s birthmark. “And don’t even try to deny that you secretly like it.”
“I tolerate it for you,” Buck shoots back, muffled by the blanket and Tommy’s shirt. “I can’t believe this is one of your favorite Christmas movies.”
Tommy tilts his head down, raising his brows. “It’s not just a Christmas movie. It’s a masterpiece.”
Buck grins, his voice low and teasing. “You think this is a better Christmas movie than Die Hard?”
Tommy gasps like he’s just been mortally wounded. “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie, Evan.”
“That is blasphemy, Tommy,” Buck teases, “everyone knows Die Hard is a Christmas movie.”
“Chim is the one who is teaching you blasphemous things, baby,” Tommy corrects, lips twitching. He brushes a thumb across Buck’s arm, absently tracing the curve of muscle like he can’t help himself. “Even if you want to be wrong and consider them both Christmas movies, this definitely has more Christmas spirit.”
“Okay,” Buck says finally, voice softer than before. “I’ll give you that one.”
Tommy kisses the top of his hair in victory. “Knew I’d convert you.”
“Who said you’ve converted me?”
“Which one of us was quoting along with Colin Firth two scenes ago?”
Buck lifts his head, mock offended. “That doesn’t count. That was just—”
“—adorable,” Tommy finishes for him, eyes crinkling as he leans down to nudge their noses together.
Buck rolls his eyes, but his hand slides across Tommy’s stomach, curling into the hem of his sweatshirt like he isn’t going anywhere. The banter fades into something softer when Tommy’s thumb brushes over the back of Buck’s hand, slow and steady.
The movie plays on — the cue cards, the airport chase, all the clichés Buck would’ve laughed at once. But here, cocooned in blankets and warmth, listening to Tommy’s quiet chuckle rumble beneath his ear, it doesn’t feel silly at all.
“Fine,” Buck admits in a whisper, barely loud enough to compete with the soundtrack swelling in the background. “Maybe it’s…a better Christmas movie that Die Hard.”
Tommy smiles, dropping another kiss into his hair. “Told you I’d convert you.”
Buck just hums, snuggling closer, heart settling into the easy rhythm of Tommy’s. Maybe love — actually — is supposed to feel exactly like this.
Author’s Note: Okay but now I can’t stop imagining this becoming a yearly tradition — Buck insisting he doesn’t need to rewatch it every December, but Tommy grinning because he knows Buck secretly looks forward to it more than Tommy does.
It was one of the few days that both Buck and Tommy were scheduled off and had nothing planned. Well take that back.
Buck had nothing planned.
Tommy had been working on redoing his back deck off and on all week.
Tommy really wanted it to be finished by his next shift on Monday.
Buck had been helping him a little earlier, until two guys from Harbor showed up in the afternoon saying they were there to help and finally repay Tommy back for a favor from three months ago. (Apparently a lot of people owed Tommy favors.)
Buck had gotten bored as they were all outside working, and to fill his time he had made lunch, sandwiches for all of them.
With lunch completed, Buck began puttering around Tommy’s house. Taking in some things he hadn’t noticed before.
There were a lot of photos Tommy had on a wall in the hallway. Tommy had added a couple of him and Buck since they started dating a couple months ago, but most were from way before then. A couple showed a much younger Tommy, probably from his Army days or even earlier. The majority were in the years in between Tommy starting at the 118 and the cruise rescue. A group picture outside of a firetruck, another group picture outside of a helicopter. There were two of him and Buck so far, one on one of the beaches in LA, another a picture of Buck with a dog they had met on a hike.
Looking around Tommy’s kitchen, Buck found what could only be a very large coffee mug collection. One in the shape of a pumpkin, another a snowman, one covered in snowflakes, another in dogs, and more than Buck could see without going through the cabinet. Now that Buck thought about it, he had come to Tommy’s for breakfast about a dozen times now and hadn’t seen Tommy reuse a mug yet.
Then Buck’s attention was drawn to the shelves on either side of Tommy’s TV.
On one side was Tommy’s extensive DVD collection. There were a lot of action movies in there, even more romcoms, and then a good collection of some classic movies. Although according to Tommy ‘just because the movie came out before you were born, doesn’t make it a classic, Evan.’ When Buck had first seen the collection, he had ribbed Tommy a little. Who kept DVDs in 2024? Tommy had rolled his eyes, saying something along the lines of ‘people who don’t want to subscribe to ten streaming services.’
Buck had to admit, as they had begun watching Tommy’s extensive collection (after Tommy was appalled by Buck’s lack of breadth of movies) the DVDs had come in handy.
On the other side of the TV, lay a bookshelf full of Tommy’s books. And honestly, if one were to compare Tommy’s DVD collection to his book collection, Buck would say they belonged to two different people.
There were the helicopter and car maintenance books, which Buck had completely expected. Also some military history books. And then a whole twenty something book series of what looked like some historical fiction novel. All in all, it was completely different from Tommy’s DVD collection.
Buck was distracted from his perusing by the sound of the back door opening and footsteps walking inside.
“What are you doing in here?” he heard Tommy ask him.
“Just looking around,” Buck said as he read the back of a book. ‘A Classic Sharpe Adventure in which Lieutenant Sharpe is sent to Copenhagen to…’ Buck didn’t finish reading the summary.
“You can read that if you want,” Tommy said as he walked across the house to where Buck was standing.
Buck shrugged. “Maybe later,” he said as he put the book back on the shelf where it had been. He turned around to look at Tommy. “Did you finish outside?” he asked.
“Almost done,” Tommy said. “The guys had to leave, but I can finish the rest in about an hour tomorrow.”
“Oh, you should have had them come in to take some of the lunch leftovers,” Buck said.
“Oh, trust me. You gave them enough food at lunch they’re already bringing home leftovers,” Tommy said. He moved to wrap his arms around Buck.
Buck’s nose twisted. “You’re all sweaty,” he said.
“I thought you liked it when I was all sweaty.”
Buck rolled his eyes and lightly pushed Tommy away. “Not like this,” he said. “Go take a shower.”
“After that can we-”
Buck took hold of Tommy’s shoulders and forcibly turned the man around. “I said go take a shower. Nothing is happening before that!”
for @bucktommysummerfest , week 9 prompt: lazy mornings, 600 words
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Tommy stepped out onto the back deck to find Buck curled up in one of the lounge chairs, big fluffy socks peeking out from the blanket he had draped over him.
“Good morning,” Tommy said, setting two coffee mugs down on the table next to him. Buck scooted forward so Tommy could squeeze himself in behind him. Once Tommy was comfortable, Buck leaned back against him and Tommy wrapped his arms around his waist.
“I hope I didn’t wake you up,” Buck said. “I just wanted to take advantage of our last day here.”
“I mean, the bed was a little cold,” Tommy teased. “But no, you didn’t wake me up.”
“I think I could stay here forever,” Buck admitted, staring out at the lake and the muted colours of the sunrise.
“It would be an awfully long commute to work.”
“We could get a helicopter. You could fly me to work. It would be what, an hour? That’s better than traffic most days.” Buck tilted his head back a little so he could smile at Tommy.
“It does not take you an hour to get to work,” Tommy said.
“Once you add in all the time it takes to get my kisses it does,” Buck argued playfully.
“Oh,” Tommy drew the word out. “So I shouldn’t give you kisses before work so you can get there faster?”
“That’s not at all what I said,” Buck laughed. “And anyways, I’ll be asking for more now. Fiancé privilege.” He held up his hand to show off the ring Tommy had bought him, glittering in the early sunshine.
Tommy dug his nose into the side of Buck’s neck.
“Ah, you’re cold!” Buck swatted him away, laughing.
“Because it’s November in the mountains,” Tommy pointed out. “And you’re hogging the blanket.”
Buck rearranged them so Tommy was wrapped around him like a barnacle, making sure the blanket covered his arms and legs. He leaned back against Tommy, pressing him into the chair.
“There, fully covered, happy now?”
“Hmm,” Tommy considered the question thoughtfully. “Well, now I can’t reach my coffee.”
“I’ll give you your hand back when you want to have some,” Buck promised, lacing their fingers together.
“Then it’s perfect,” Tommy said. “So how many kisses are we talking for this fiancé privilege?”
“Well,” Buck said, “one for each year of dating, one for each year we’ve lived together, one for each month until we get married.”
“I think that’s going to make your commute longer than an hour,” Tommy said dryly.
“I’ll suffer through it,” Buck said nobly.
“Do you only get the fiancé kisses when you’re headed to work?”
“No, I can get them anytime.”
“Okay,” Tommy mumbled as he pressed kisses into Buck’s neck.
Buck squirmed and laughed as Tommy pressed his cold nose into the skin behind Buck’s ear.
“Fiancé revenge,” Tommy told him, “because I woke up alone when I could have been out here cuddling you.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Buck laughed. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“Well I give you permission to next time,” Tommy said. “I’d rather be up early with you than wake up without you.”
“You’re such a sap,” Buck giggled delightedly. “Okay, I’ll wake you up next time. You still have to make the coffee though.”
“Oh,” Tommy wiggled their linked fingers. “Speaking of, coffee please?”
Buck untangled their hands and passed Tommy his mug before picking up his own, leaning forward a little bit so they could both drink their coffees.
for @bucktommysummerfest, week 8 prompt, gag gifts, 500 words
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“A salt and pepper shaker?” Tommy looked at his Secret Santa gift in confusion.
“Yeah, they’re roosters!” Lucy said gleefully. “You know, because you like— oof!” Her sentence was cut off as Tommy whipped a pillow across the living room and she dove off the couch to avoid it.
Eddie and Ravi were collapsed in tears on the love seat while Buck shook his head at them from the chair next to Tommy. “So immature,” he muttered.
“As if you’re the one saying that,” Hen said. “Hello, Chim and I still remember your probie year.”
“That was almost a decade ago!” Buck protested. “I've changed!”
“Not that much,” Chim muttered. “I still know way too much about your sex life.”
Buck squawked. “You walked in on us, in our house! That is not the same!”
“I told you to text before you went over,” Maddie reminded him.
“Okay, next gift,” Karen called out, trying to defuse the situation. “Um,” she peered at the label. “I think this one says Eddie.”
“Oh, thanks!” Eddie pushed himself upright and took the gift from Karen. He pulled out a snow globe that had a bee house and some floating bees in it. “Oh, ha ha, very funny guys.”
“Gag gift Secret Santa was such a good idea,” Lucy laughed.
“We’ll see how you feel when you open yours,” Eddie threatened.
“Can it be worse than salt?” Ravi wondered. The attached note had said it would help him with spicing food at the firehouse. Buck was pretty sure it was from Athena.
“I liked mine,” Maddie offered, her reindeer ears perched on her head. Josh had given himself away with the note, saying it would help get her in the holiday spirit like her cat ears did for Halloween.
“They look cute,” Chimney pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“But not as cute as you,” everyone else chorused in unison with him.
“You wish you were this cute,” Chimney shot back at them.
“We are,” Karen said, Hen posing next to her with all the kitschy sunglasses she’d gotten as her gift.
“Okay, we might have a problem,” Buck said as he surveyed the shelf in the kitchen with a critical eye.
“Hmm?” Tommy walked in, hands full with leftovers Bobby had packed up for them. “What’s the problem?”
“Those can’t all be from Lucy,” Tommy put the leftovers in the fridge and came over to Buck, resting his chin on Buck’s shoulder and looking at the shelf with him.
“No, I think most of our friends have contributed to it.”
“We could turn it into a whole house theme,” Tommy suggested with a smile.
“I’m not living in a rooster house,” Buck laughed. “It would be so ridiculous.”
“The salt and pepper shaker are pretty nice.”
“We can use them if we hide them when Lucy comes over,” Buck bargained. “I don’t want to encourage her to buy anything else that’s themed.”
written for @bucktommysummerfest, week 7 prompts, 1k
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“We’re being called out for what?” Buck asked from the backseat.
“Dog in a tree,” Bobby repeated.
“A dog? Isn’t it usually cats in trees?” Ravi asked, Eddie nodding in agreement.
“This one just wanted to be different, I guess,” Bobby said.
“I’m not going up the ladder,” Chimney called. “Dogs and me, not a good mix.”
“Buck, you like dogs, they like you,” Hen said. “Remember Hoover?”
“Please don’t mention Hoover near my wife,” Bobby said.
“Mine either,” Hen muttered.
“I went up last time,” Buck complained. “It should be Eddie or Ravi’s turn.”
“I went up last week when you were on shift,” Ravi was quick to point out. “And that cat was not friendly.”
“Eddie then.”
“Dogs hate me,” Eddie shook his head.
“That’s a lie!” Buck protested.
“Well, we’re here, guess you're going up Buck,” Bobby said as the engine stopped next to a bungalow with a large tree in front of it.
“You guys suck,” Buck said with a pout as he climbed out of the engine and pulled on his turnout coat.
“You’re welcome!” Hen called from inside the engine, crowding around the window with Chimney.
Ravi and Bobby followed Buck, Ravi getting the ladder into position and Bobby talking to the homeowner.
“Owner says the dog is friendly, active, and is somewhat of an escape artist,” Bobby reported back. “She’s been going from the fence to tree to get out of the backyard.”
“And what, she got stuck this time?” Buck peered up into the leaves.
“Owner thinks her leg is stuck between two of the smaller branches,” Bobby said. “She might try to make an escape once you get her loose.”
“What’s her name?”
“Daisy.”
“Okay.” Buck settled his helmet onto his head. “Let’s get Daisy down.”
“I’m getting a weird feeling of déjà vu,” Tommy said from the hospital room door.
Eddie waved at him from the chair on the far side of the room.
“It wasn’t even my turn to go up the ladder,” Buck protested. “Eddie tried to say dogs hate him.”
“Well that’s not true,” Tommy said.
“Ha!” Buck said triumphantly, pointing at Eddie.
“Dogs are always saying hi to you on our runs.”
“Yeah — wait, runs?” Buck swung his gaze back to Tommy. “When do you guys go on runs together?”
“Sometimes we run to warm up for Muay Thai,” Tommy said.
Eddie held up his hands. “We all know animals and kids like Buck better than anyone else.”
“That is true,” Tommy admitted.
“Yeah, and now I’m in a hospital bed. Again.” Buck scowled.
“What happened?”
“The dog —”
“Daisy,” Buck interrupted.
“— was a bit of an escape artist,” Eddie continued, heedless of the interruption. “Buck got her free, she took off, knocked him off the ladder, his ankle got caught, and voila, hospital visit.”
“I was hanging upside down and they waited until they took a photo to get me down.” Buck pouted.
“What’s the damage?” Tommy asked, sitting carefully on the side of Buck’s bed.
“We’re waiting for the films to come back,” Buck said. “But it feels like just a strain.”
“Bobby made him come in to get it checked out, he wanted to just walk it off,” Eddie informed Tommy, looking up from his phone.
Tommy’s phone vibrated in his pocket as Buck glared at Eddie. “It wasn’t that bad,” he protested. “I just looked like an idiot.”
“I’m glad Bobby made you get checked out, just in case,” Tommy said.
“Can we get back to the running and the Muay Thai?” Buck asked. “You both know I run. Why aren’t I invited?”
“Uh, well,” Tommy started, before giving up and looking to Eddie for help.
“You distract Tommy and it’s our bonding time,” Eddie said promptly.
Buck’s mouth dropped open. “What— I— distracting?” he sputtered. “Bonding time? What the hell?”
Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you guys are a mess when you try to work out together. You just flirt and don’t actually do anything.”
“Okay, but bonding time?”
“Hey, we were friends first,” Eddie defended himself. “Just cause you’re dating now doesn’t mean I don’t want to hang out with him — without you two mooning over each other. I mean, Tommy still talks about you the entire time, so it’s not really a break from that, but at least I don’t have to see the eyes you two make at each other.”
“I feel like I should be offended but, I mean, have you seen him?” Buck gestured at Tommy. “Of course I moon over him.”
“Did he get painkillers?” Tommy asked Eddie suspiciously.
“No, this is just how he is,” Eddie gave a dramatic put upon sigh. “I’ll leave you two alone, text when you get the films back. See you Thursday, Tommy.”
“Wait, you’re leaving? How am I supposed to get back to the firehouse?” Buck demanded.
“Buck, even if it’s nothing, Bobby’s not letting you back today. Let your boyfriend take you home.”
“You’re fighting the urge to pout and complain, aren’t you?” Tommy said once Eddie had left the room.
“I hate not finishing a shift,” Buck said. “Even if it means I get to go home with you.”
Tommy chuckled. “Evan, I’d be a little worried if you weren’t upset about it. Then something would really be wrong.”
“I don’t mean to be so focused on the job,” Buck mumbled, casting his eyes down.
“Hey,” Tommy said fondly. “It’s something I like about you. You love helping people. Why wouldn’t I like that?”
“Yeah?” Buck looked up at him from under his eyelashes.
“Yeah.” Tommy leaned forward a little bit to take his hand. “You're a great guy Evan Buckley.”
“You’re pretty great yourself,” Buck said.
“But next time make someone else climb the ladder,” Tommy smiled. “I’d rather pick up a friend from the hospital than my boyfriend.”
“Deal,” Buck told him. “Eddie all the way. Then you and I can go running and leave him in the dust.”
Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, exactly 8.79 miles away from Hershey Park, barely a thirty minute drive when his their parents just dropped Maddie and him off near the entrance, gave them the family’s season passes, $20 for food, and told them to meet them back there at 4 pm.
Buck grew up going to Hershey Park nearly every weekend, and the occasional trip to Dutch Wonderland when he was younger. So, when his parents took them on family vacations, they very rarely went to amusement parks. Usually to a cabin in the Poconos, or hiking in some National Park on the other side of the country, once or twice to a beach in South Carolina where his dad’s coworker owned a condo.
Buck remembered his first day of third grade, when Benny Wilson and Carly Foster told the class the most exciting thing they did that summer was go to Disney World for a week.
Buck had gone home and asked if they could go there instead next summer for their family vacation.
“You want to go there, Evan?” his mom asked. “But you already went to an amusement park at least once a week this entire summer. Wouldn’t you want to do something different?”
Of course he wanted to do something different. He wanted to go to an amusement park based on Disney characters, not chocolate bars.
He was never able to sell his parents on the idea though.
For his first six months living in LA, Buck spent most of his time working odd jobs waiting for his academy course to start, and took classes in the academy. He had made alright money then. The Academy paid him enough he could afford his rent - shared between three other roommates. But he hadn’t been making enough money to afford tickets to Disneyland.
The next eight months following that, while he was in his probationary year, he had made considerably more money compared to his academy days. And while he could afford tickets then, going to Disneyland wasn’t something he had been interested in, especially when looking at Google maps, it was almost a three hour drive including traffic. Plus, he thought Disneyland was something you should do with other people. And he hadn’t known anyone well enough yet to go with.
But that was all in the past because now, over ten years after moving to LA, Buck was married to Tommy and they had two kids, who were now old enough to go to Disney Land.
Now that their kids were eight and six, Buck and Tommy thought that they were finally old enough to take to Disneyland. They had asked a couple times over the years, even more so after Maddie and Chimney took their kids a couple months ago.
“Dad~” Jack called out from the back seat of the truck.
“What is it?” Buck asked as he turned his head over his shoulder to look back at the boy.
“Are they gonna have fireworks tonight?” Jack asked. Of course the boy would ask that. Ever since watching them through the TV last New Years he had become obsessed with them.
“Of course we picked a day they’re having them,” Buck said.
Jack smiled and nodded. “Great!”
Finding a spot to park and then getting to the entrance wasn’t nearly as hard as Buck had expected it to be based on all the nightmare stories online he had been reading the past couple weeks.
Getting through the ticket line, Tommy grabbed a park map from one of the stands up front and then walked over to one of the closest benches.
Jack climbed up on the bench and looked over Tommy’s shoulder. “Where's the Cars ride?” he asked.
Tommy laughed, smiling. Last month while Maddie and Chimney offered to babysit, they put on Cars for all the kids. Since then, their boys had brought the movie up at least eight times a day. It came as no surprise that that would be the first ride they asked to go on.
“How about you Benji?” Tommy asked their youngest son.
“I want to go on Cars too,” Benji said.
Buck sighed, why did he think the answer would be anything else?
“Okay then,” Tommy sighed. “Cars it is. Good news is that it’s close to the front.”
They went on all of the Cars rides, the kids loving them and wanting to go on each one a second time. Luckily for all of them both kids met the height minimums. And that filled most of the morning.
By the time noon came around, they started looking around for somewhere to grab lunch.
“There’s a group of food stands over there,” Buck said, looking towards their left. “Although it looks pretty crowded.”
Tommy hummed as he tried to help Benji tie his shoelaces that had come undone. The boy had recently been trying to learn how to do it himself, and hadn’t been taking kindly to people stepping in and doing it for him.
“How about you take Jack and see if there’s anything good over there?” Tommy asked. “We can wait here.”
“Okay, you want to go Jack?” Buck said as he turned around. Jack nodded, and the two walked over to the food stands.
Tommy turned to look at Benji, who was still slowly trying to tie his shoe. “How’s it going bud?”
“I got it!” Benji yelled, lifting his arms up. Tommy looked down at the shoe, and Benji had definitely not gotten it.
Tommy smiled as he sat down next to the boy, “You almost got it,” he said. “Mind if I fix it a little?” Benji shook his head, and Tommy started retying the shoe.
“Daddy,” Benji pulled on Tommy’s sleeve as Tommy retied the shoe. “Daddy~”
“What is it, Benji?” Tommy asked.
Benji pointed at one of the food stands closest to them. One specifically selling the Mickey Mouse shaped Ice Cream bars. “Can we get a Mickey Ice Cream?” Benji asked, staring up at Tommy with the most begging puppy dog eyes ever. They were even worse than Buck’s Tommy had thought he was lucky when Jack never learned how to use them on him. But of course, he wasn’t as lucky when it came to their second child. Benji wasn’t even a year old when he learned how to use them on Tommy. “There’s no line,” Benji said, blinking his wide eyes up at Tommy.
And of course, when he used them, Tommy was never able to say ‘no’. Tommy knew when Buck and Jack came back that Buck would rib him for feeding their youngest ice cream when it wasn’t even noon, but… what could he say? They were on vacation.
“Let’s go get one,” Tommy said as he grabbed Benji and hiked him up on his hip. Benji smiled a large smile and his legs happily tapped Tommy’s legs.
“You know this isn’t a very healthy lunch?” Tommy asked as he paid for and was handed the ice cream.
Benji only rolled his eyes. “We’re on vacation, Daddy. We’re not supposed to eat healthy.”
That got a laugh out of Tommy.
As they walked away from the stand and waited for Buck and Jack to get back from the bathroom, Tommy asked. “What ride do you want to go on next?”
Benji hummed and turned his head left and right, spotting a ferris wheel in the distance. “That one,” he said, pointing at it.
Tommy followed his finger. “That one? The ferris wheel?” he asked. Benji nodded vigorously.
Tommy pulled the map back out of his pocket, finding the ferris wheel on it. “Let’s see… that’s the Pal-A-Round, and there’s about five rides in between here and there. “What do you say we do a couple of those before we get to that one?”
Benji smiled, his face half covered in melted ice cream, and nodded again.
That was when Buck and Jack found them. “You got ice cream?” the boy yelled loudly upon seeing his younger brother. He ran up to them, Buck left with his arms full of their food. “We go away to get you lunch and you buy ice cream instead?”
“Don’t worry, we can get you some ice cream later,” Tommy told the boy.
Jack huffed, crossing his arms as Buck finally reached him. “We better,” he said.
“Come on,” Buck said, nudging the older boy. “You were the one who said he wanted chicken tenders.”
Eating lunch (and buying a second ice cream afterwards),
Another hour, three more rides, and they had finally arrived at the ferris wheel. Benji bounced on his toes excitedly as they walked up to it.
That was when Tommy looked up at the ferris wheel, and realized it was a lot more complex than he had originally thought.
🎡 🎡 🎡 🎡 🎡
Tommy was never one to usually get motion sickness. He was a pilot for goodness sake, it was sort of a prerequisite. But that last ride, the damn Pal-A-Round ferris wheel, made him feel like throwing up.
Buck smiled at him with a cheeky smile. “Did you get motion sickness?” he asked.
Tommy gave Buck a glare.
“Papa, Daddy doesn’t look good,” Jack said. Benji nodded next to him.
“Oh, Daddy will be alright,” Buck said as he grabbed hold of Tommy’s arm. “He just needs to rest for a little bit. How about we go get a snack?”
“Another ice cream?” Benji asked, a large smile stretching across his face.
Buck rolled his eyes. “You still have chocolate on your face from your last one,” he said, slightly exasperated.
“But… that doesn’t mean anything! I can eat another!”
“You two can share one, how about that?” Buck asked the boys.
Jack let out a long sigh. “Alright~” he said. “I guess that’s fine.”
🎡 🎡 🎡 🎡 🎡
Somehow they had ended up surviving until the fireworks began. Well, maybe surviving wasn’t the most accurate word. Benji was fast asleep in Tommy’s arms. Jack looked exhausted, but was determined to stay awake if only for the purpose of being able to watch the fireworks.
Jack pulled on Buck’s hand, getting his father’s attention. “You said this was the best spot to see them right?” he asked.
Buck nodded. “That’s what everyone online was saying,” he said. Of course he researched each and every bit of information he could find before they came here today.
Jack stood on the tips of his toes. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to see a lot,” he said.
“How about I put you on my shoulders?” Buck asked.
Jack smiled up at him and eagerly nodded his head. It took a minute to get the boy settled on top of him, but when they did Buck looked up at him. “How’s the view up there?” he asked.
“A lot better,” Jack said.
It was only a couple more minutes for the fireworks to start, and it was a long fireworks show. By the time it finished, nearly fifteen minutes after it began, Tommy looked up.
“He’s asleep up there,” he told Buck.
Buck looked up, seeing Jack slumped over his head. “Yeah? Say we go home now?”
“Two sleeping kids?” Tommy asked. “Sounds great.”
Once the fireworks concluded, Buck and Tommy left the park, walking side by side back to their truck, their two kids sleeping in their arms.
Getting there, they opened the rear doors and deposited the kids in the car seats in the back.
As they closed the doors, Buck grabbed hold of Tommy’s arm before the man could start to make his way to the driver’s side door.
“Today was a great day,” he said, smiling at the older man.
“Yeah?” Tommy asked, smiling back at Buck and pulling him into a loose hug. “It was a great day, wasn’t it?”
Buck pressed a quick kiss to Tommy’s lips. “Think we could do it again sometime?” he asked.
Tommy’s eyes widened. “Again?!” he asked. “After all of that, you want to do it again?”
Buck laughed. “Of course, today was amazing! I can’t believe it took me so long to come here!”
