Hi, Ed! We went a little crazy in our Discord chat and cooked up a prompt we thought we would throw at you if you're interested!
Phillip decides to drop in for a surprise visit post-divorce. Buck and Tommy were planning on going out for the night, and Phillip doesn't want to ruin their plans, but they don't want him to have to sit at their house alone. The only logical conclusion is that they take Phillip with them to the gay club. Of course, having those wonderful Buckley genes, he does not go unnoticed and a very friendly man sends him a drink.
Bonus points for: Buck pouting because Tommy thinks the man hitting on his dad is HOT
More bonus points: Everyone loves this guy except for Buck.
I am HONORED. Someone should be trying to fuck that old man. I toyed with this being Sal/Phillip but I had another idea, so it's an OC but then later Sal/Phillip because this....I don't know what this is.
1. His dad is two days early, which means there's two fewer days of cleaning up and enjoying some alone time. Theo runs to his dad and gets swept up in a big hug, and his dad doesn't seem to notice or care about the chaos in the house. There's toys, schoolwork, laundry to be folded, laundry that's been folded but needs to be separated by person, and some remnants of a craft project. They've been working alternating days, but things get away from them with a very active five-year-old to take care of. Buck had meant to tackle some of it after Theo's dentist appointment the day before, but it had been a rough one. Theo had inherited Connor's fear of the dentist, and they'd spent the rest of the afternoon talking about why it was so scary to him. By the time he'd made dinner, it was close enough to bedtime that all Buck could really do was take care of the dishes and clean the rest of the kitchen. But his dad just steps over a race track with Theo on his hip and laughs at Theo's story about trying to make a big Lego tower. He hugs Buck with one arm and then Tommy, and when Theo squirms to get down so he can grab some stuff to show his grandpa, his dad smiles sheepishly. "Sorry to drop in on you guys," he says. "It's fine," Buck says, smiling and actually meaning it.
2. Maddie comes and gets Theo for a planned cousin sleepover, sees that their dad is there, and asks Buck if he and Tommy are still going out. "Nah, probably not," Buck says, handing her Theo's stuffed chicken. He bends to scoop Theo up and kiss his cheeks and tell him to listen to everything Aunt Maddie says and nothing that Uncle Chimney says. Tommy takes him to walk them out, making raspberries as he walks until Theo's shrieking with laughter. "You should still go out," his dad says. "I don't want to ruin your date night." Buck flushes. "It's, uh, not a date night," he says, then considers it for a moment. "Well, it's not not a date night. We were just gonna go out to a club or bar or something. We don't have to--" "No, go," his dad insists, smiling. "You two deserve a night out. Hell, I wish I was still young enough to go out." And he looks at his divorced dad and mentally debates with himself for about five seconds before he asks, "Uh, who says you're not?"
3. They go to a place that's not quite loud enough to be a club, not quite laid back enough to be a bar. Buck had dug through his dad's luggage for jeans and a t-shirt that he'd normally wear under something that buttons up. He lets his dad borrow a bomber jacket, and they're in business. "I look like I think I'm James Dean," his dad says, his lips twisting as he plucks at the jacket. "No, you look timeless," Tommy corrects, herding him to the bar. And Buck watches with a smile as Tommy tells his dad about the first times he'd gone to gay clubs, leaving out the details of hookups. But he watches his dad relax and laugh and drink a beer, and it's nice. They've been working on things since the divorce, and they're actually pretty close. He gets to experience his dad being a good grandpa, they've talked about the other stuff. They've even done teletherapy appointments together. And now his dad is drinking a beer with his boyfriend in a gay club. When Tommy leans in and kisses Buck later, he comments on how pretty Buck looks. "Yeah?" Buck says, smiling. "Mhm," Tommy hums, and Buck kisses him and nuzzles his cheek and completely misses the bartender putting a drink in front of his dad. But when he looks over, his dad is drinking something that looks like liquor. "Where'd you get that?" Buck asks, since they hadn't ordered another round yet. "Him," his dad says, nodding to the other end of the bar. There's a guy a little older than Tommy leaning forward and smiling their way, and his dad waves before Buck can stop him.
4. The guy is named Cliff, and he's a lawyer and he thinks it's so sweet that Phillip is with his son at a gay bar. He's about Buck's height but broad, barely squeezed into the shirt and jeans he's wearing, and there's thick hair on his arms. His dad is getting hit on by a huge bear. Buck tries to run interference, but Tommy yanks him close and murmurs for him to just let it happen. "My dad's not gay," he hisses. "Yeah, and he can tell Cliff that himself," Tommy points out, rubbing Buck's lower back. "I mean, if he wants. Who knows? Maybe he's not the only Buckley with a thing for guys." The thought breaks Buck's brain a little, and he watches how his dad smiles at Cliff and angles his body toward him and holy shit, is his dad bisexual, too? "Good for him," Tommy says, and Buck sees he's checking Cliff out. "Excuse you," Buck says, and Tommy flushes. So Buck doesn't like Cliff. He's too loud and too smiley, Buck doesn't trust it. He keeps putting his hands on his dad, too. And that's weird. His dad's a grandpa. Three times over. He's retired, he's divorced, he's got kids. Yeah, Cliff's a lawyer, but what if he's a gold digger? Buck watches with probably thinly veiled mistrust.
5. It would switch to Phillip POV at this point, because Phillip experiencing latent bi panic would be *chef's kiss*. Like, yes, he lived on the fringes of a gay neighborhood in Philadelphia when he was in school. Yes, he had that friend in his American literature class who maybe Phillip liked spending a lot of time with, but then he'd met Margaret. So it just never mattered. But Cliff is a big, looming presence. He makes Phillip feel almost small, and his heart rate kicks up when Cliff settles a large hand on his hip and leans in to ask him if he wants to dance. "I'm not really a dancer," Phillip admits. "I can waltz, but not this. The last time I went out somewhere with a dancefloor, disco was in style." Cliff laughs and rubs a thumb over his hip, and Phillip's face goes hot. "Disco's always in style," Cliff says, grinning. He's got white but slightly crooked teeth. His hair's thick and dark with grey streaked through it and the equally dark beard. As if the DJ overhears them, a mix using a Donna Summer song starts playing, so Phillip downs his drink and gets walked out to the floor. He can't quite meet his son's eyes, but Tommy gives him a thumbs up.
6. Cut between Buck POV gaping at his dad's awkward shuffling while Tommy tries to talk him down from a ledge and Phillip POV having more fun than he'd expected and feeling more and more like he maybe should've gone out with Larry all those years ago. Just once or twice. He wouldn't give up his life with Margaret and the kids for anything, despite all the pain and heartbreak that came with some of those years. But Cliff's guiding him through some moves and laughing with him when Phillip doesn't quite hit the beat. "You're so handsome," Cliff says in his ear, and then he pulls back just a little and kisses Phillip. And Phillip just sort of...stops moving. Not because it's bad, it's more like all the air's gone from his lungs and his thoughts got replaced with the thumping of the music. There's a beard, he's tipping his face up instead of dipping his head down, and Cliff has soft pecs when Phillip's hands go to his chest, but they're definitely not breasts. "Huh," he breathes when Cliff pulls back. And he keeps dancing. Buck is stunned but not in a bad way. He's got something welling up in his chest that's making him feel weirdly emotional. "I think my dad's into guys," he says, and Tommy pats his back gently.
7. Phillip doesn't go home with Cliff. "I'm almost seventy, and I got divorced last year from my wife," he explains gently. "And I'm not from here." Cliff smiles and kisses his cheek. "Well, if you change your mind while you're in town," he says, handing Phillip a card. "That's my cell on there. It could be a date, or you could just come over." And Phillip almost asks for what, but he realizes very quickly what Cliff means and flushes, tucking the card in his pocket. "Good night, handsome," Cliff says before kissing him again. It's a long, lingering kiss that makes Phillip's toes curl in his shoes. When he goes back to the bar, Tommy looks delighted. And Evan looks...unreadable. Phillip worries for a moment that he's fucked this up, this thing they've been able to build between them, and then his son pulls him into a hug. "I'm proud of you," Evan says, and Phillip smiles against his son's shoulder. Before they leave, Tommy drags both of them to the dancefloor. It's fun, it's silly, it's joyous, it's something that Phillip can't believe he's doing.
8. He doesn't meet up with Cliff. There's flirty texts, but that's it. Instead, Phillip enjoys his time with his kids and grandkids. "Oh, we moved up the big beach party hang out so you could go," Evan mentions, then brightens. "Can I teach you how to surf?" And Phillip laughs and almost shakes his head, but Evan looks excited by the idea. "I'm teaching Theo," he explains. "We're not going out on the water yet, don't worry." So Phillip goes out and buys a swimsuit, since he hadn't planned for a beach day, and he sees all the friends his kids have made. He's met them, most of them. He's the oldest person there by probably twenty years, but they're a fun, welcoming group of people. The kids are all running around and going crazy, but there's always eyes on them. He's winded from Evan teaching him how to paddle out and get up on a board, flopping onto his back after a while. "You two have fun," he says, waving to Evan and Theo. "Grandpa's going to lay down and have a nice, quiet heart attack." Theo shrieks and jumps onto him, pushing his hands on Phillip's chest to give him ineffective CPR. Phillip plays dead, letting his tongue flop out of the side of his mouth, and when Theo asks Evan what to do next, Phillip resurrects and grabs him around the waist, swinging him as he stands and making Theo laugh. As he does, he sees Tommy talking to a newcomer, a guy maybe a little older than Tommy with buzzed hair and stubble. He'd look terrifying if he didn't choose that moment to look over at Phillip with Theo and grin.
9. The guy's named Sal, and he's Tommy's best friend and possibly one of Theo's favorite uncles. He's a captain at another station, and he's not shy about checking Phillip out as they peer into a cooler to see what drinks are left. Phillip digs out a Boylan's. "Where'd you get that?" Sal asks, digging through the ice. "I'd sell my sister for one of those." Phillip laughs and hands it over and grabs a different soda instead. Sal takes the lid off, hands it to Phillip, grabs the Sprite he'd taken, pops the tab on it, and drinks that, grinning. "I'll just steal some of yours," he says, winking. And they end up in a circle with Jee-Yun and Theo playing Go Fish, except Sal keeps solemnly asking for things like a twelve of squares. After Jee-Yun's beaten them and the kids run off to go build sand castles with Harry and Eddie, Phillip stretches out on the blanket and reaches for the sunscreen. "You have kids?" he asks. "Nah, I'm a better uncle," Sal says, then smiles. "I almost asked if you did, stupid question." He strips his shirt off, and Phillip eyes the chest hair and tan skin and wonders if Sal goes to clubs. Sal does smear sunscreen on his back, and Phillip repays him in kind and realizes he's absolutely, definitely into men. Margaret is going to lose it when they have lunch together. But at the end of the day, they all part ways, and he has the stupid thought to ask Sal for his number, but he's old enough to be Sal's father. Probably. But Sal tells him he hopes he sees Phillip before he leaves LA.
10. The second to last night he's in town, Evan and Tommy drop Theo with Maddie again and drag him back out to the same club. "This is ridiculous," Phillip says, ignoring the child who's checking him or Tommy out at the bar. Regardless, they're too old for him. He looks like he should be studying for his SATs. When did Phillip get old? "No, it's practice," Evan says. "You should go out when you go back home. Meet some guys, have some fun." "Get a Ferrari?" Phillip asks dryly. "I'm not telling you to have a midlife crisis," Evan says, whacking his shoulder with the back of his hand. He waves someone over, and Phillip looks over and sees Sal. And Sal smiles and there's hugs all around, but he presses his cheek to Phillip's and brushes his lips against the skin as he pulls away. "You wanna dance?" Sal asks, and Phillip laughs. "What?" "Nothing, I'm just not sure what kind of signal I'm giving off that I can dance," Phillip says wryly. "Trust me, you're not. It's cute, though," Sal says, grinning. "C'mon." And they go out to the dancefloor, and Phillip shrugs when Evan's mouth drops. On the dancefloor, Sal tugs him close and murmurs instructions in his ear, and Phillip shivers when Sal's hand spreads over his lower back under his t-shirt. "You should come back to my place, give the kids some time alone," Sal teases. "You're young enough to be one of my kids," Phillip points out, even though Cliff was, too. "Not unless you were making babies in high school," Sal says, smiling. "We can just...talk." And Phillip looks at Sal's lips. "Yeah, I don't think I just want to talk," he admits. "Lucky me," Sal murmurs before kissing him.
11. "You set my dad up with Sal?" Buck asks his boyfriend as they dance far away from them, because that's his dad. "Not on purpose," Tommy says defensively. "But they're kinda...cute together." "I don't like him," Buck decides. "Evan."
Bonus beach Gregory reference and recent Gino reference:
I'm taking my PSAT and SAT/ACT soon so i can start applying for scholarships. Thats the hardest part, i cant find many that go to out of state scholarships. i'm just very tense about gettin as many as i can so i can lessen the chance of gettin a loan or paying out of pocket
thanks so much, and keep the advice (and some scholarship recs?) flowing, im jotting this down
