# 122 | Making Four
Evan Buckley/Eddie Diaz/Joe Al-Kaysani/Nicky di Genova. Two couples meet in a bar and have a chat.
Word Count: 1242
It’s been hundreds of years with Joe, hundreds of beautiful, intimate, romantic years that Nicky wouldn’t trade for the world. Every day they wake up together is another blessing. He loves the way they know each other, know each other’s bodies. But sometimes it’s nice to change things up- it’s nothing they haven’t done before- and in the bright city of LA, there’s plenty to choose from.
The city has grown over the years, into something modern and crowded in a way they’re both still learning to navigate. Nicky thinks he’ll always be a little out of place in the cities that have cropped up across the globe. He prefers the drift of sand in a small place, where the sun shines through glassless windows and vines creep across the wall. The modern steel and reflections on every building can make him jumpy. Especially since Merrick. That building had been too sleek, crisp and clean. Nicky doesn’t like being in the city, but duty called, and besides that, Andy thought it would be a good chance for them all to start to understand modern technology. Nile can’t be the only one capable of it. But that means sitting here, in this city, like sitting ducks and with nothing to pass the time besides fumbling with a prepaid phone and getting nervous over electronic keypads on the doors.
Sitting at a bar with red lighting and aggressive music winds up being their preferred way to end the evening of a frustrated day. People filter in and out, but mostly, it’s the same groups in their dark LAFD tee shirts. Fire fighters, Joe says, when Nicky watches them laugh and joke with a familiar kind of camaraderie to the family built on blood and pain. They’re happy, though. Team 118 smile and laugh and come up often for drinks. There’s two of them who Nicky especially finds familiarity in. The blond with the birthmark, and the dark haired one who never stops smiling. They touch each other casually, lovingly. Easily. Look at each other more than anyone else in the room.
“They’re like you and I,” Nicky tells Joe, pulling him in a little closer to press his lips against his ear. “Do you think they’d want to?”
“No harm in asking.”
So they wait for the next round, taken by the blonde. He has legs for days, and the muscles of his body stand out so beautifully in the high-contrast light. His smile is bright and free, and he raises an eyebrow when he catches the both of them looking.
“Uh, something I can help you with?” he asks.
His voice is rough and beautiful.
“You’re very beautiful,” Nicky says.
That seems to surprise him, his cheeks going pink as he ducks his head. “Thanks. I um- I’m with someone, though.”
“He is too.” Joe presses himself up against Nicky’s back, pressing a kiss to his temple. A reminder that they’re never in this alone. Whether they take this couple back to the hotel and rock their worlds, or they return by themselves and have a beautiful night in the thousand thread count sheets, they have each other. “Your lover’s beautiful as well. Can we buy you both a drink?”
When he turns back, looking to his table of family, the brunet smiles at him, but his eyebrows are raised in a clear question. He’s asking if everything’s alright. In return, he gets a thumbs up, and then Nicky and Joe have his attention once more.
“Sure, that would be nice. I’m Buck.”
“Joe and Nicky.’
Joe reaches past him to shake Buck’s hand, slipping his free arm around Nicky’s waist as he does so. It’s safe and reassuring, even though Nicky doesn’t think he particularly needs that, here. Still, it’s safe. He leans his head back on Joe’s shoulder.
“Your boy’s name?”
“Eddie.”
“Eddie,” Nicky repeats. It rolls off the tongue. “What are you drinking? We can get a booth.”
Once again, Buck looks back to his team. “I’ll talk to Eddie, get back to you?”
“We’ll be here.”
They watch him return, laden down with the next round of beers, and slide in beside Eddie with a kiss to his cheek. Chaste, sweet. But their legs press together under the table, and there’s the barest slip of tan fingertips against Buck’s leg before it disappears between his thighs. Then the whisper. Nicky knows that whisper, has used it and watched others do the same when they get an opportunity. Buck’s mouth is close to Eddie’s ear, lips moving. Eddie looks over at Joe and Nicky. On a whim, he waves.
“What are the odds on it?”
Joe hums. “Fifty-fifty. Buck is into it, Eddie’s unsure.”
Another shot of whiskey for them both butters the nerves that come every time they do this. Sometimes it’s just one person, but usually they go for couples. There’s a different understanding in it. Two people who love each other so deeply that they’re able to share. Nicky can see that in Buck and Eddie, wants it, craves it even. And he can feel, against the small of his back where Joe’s whole body is pressed up against him, that he’s not the only one.
It takes a few minutes, but Buck and Eddie come over to them, Eddie’s hand in Buck’s back pocket, and ask if they’re still interested in a private table and a drink or two. Of course. Joe taps Nicky’s hip, right above where his gun sits in his waistband. Stay on edge, just in case. But they’ll take this chance, and it seems the two strangers are more than willing to join. Buck asks the bartender for four shot glasses and the bottle. He promises to keep track of their shots with a wink. She doesn’t hesitate to trust him, which means Buck is here often, and has a good reputation. He’s probably not a threat.
When they slip into the booth, Nicky leans his head on Joe’s shoulder and takes a moment to watch. The two really do love each other. And they have passion, excitement in that love. Eddie wraps an arm around Buck, keeps a hand tucked in against the dip of his waist and a careful watch on Buck’s lips. Joe and Nicky are both at the table, but he still only has eyes for Buck.
“Where are you guys from?”
“Europe,” Nicky responds vaguely. They’re from everywhere. “We travel a lot. LA is a new one for us.”
Eddie hums. “Italian? Your accent sounds it.”
The safest response is to laugh, avoiding the question. Eddie seems to notice, but he doesn’t push, nor does he show any signs of discomfort. He still trusts them to do more than sit around and drink. Nicky glances at Joe, to make sure he feels it as well, and is rewarded with a hungry look that means a good night is ahead.
“I’ll be honest, as nice as it is talking to you, we are not looking to make friends. Our hotel is a couple blocks away, do you want to come with us?”
They glance at each other with a thousand words that don’t need to be said. The two are made of the same thing, perhaps the very same as Nicky and Joe, when he reads the way they kiss like it’s second nature.
“We’d love to,” Buck says, and the night is sealed in its lovely fate.