i do think buck has been excluding himself from the eddiechris family dynamic, and it is so juicy because that is not how eddie sees it. in both 8x17 and 9x18, we see eddie and chris from buck's point of view. both times, buck is with pepa watching them from the outside. even in 9x13, he tells bonnie that chris needs eddie. he is willing to sacrifice himself to keep the two of them together (a bit of a redux of the texas arc if you think about it).
on the other side, we have eddie's pov in 9x11 and 9x14 where he views them as a family. he calls buck immediately when chris is missing. he keeps up the weekly family dinners. he brings chris to buck when buck is struggling. eddie's favorite place to be is with chris AND buck. he says this in s3, and we continue to see that in his pov in s9.
it's just so interesting to see their complete disconnect that has now been amplified by the texas of it all. buck knows he will never be more important than chris, but he doesn't realize how important he is to both of them. eddie desperately wants to choose them both. the idea of picking between them hurts him to the point that he slipped up in 8x09. he knows he will always put chris first. that's not a question. but if he truly got what he wanted, he'd never had to choose between chris and buck ever again.
and the best part is the only way to get them on the same page is to make them acknowledge they have been building a family together for years because they are in love. yay.
turnnoffyourmind
titsay
gummygunk
vaporwave
