season 7 | canon divergence | eddie pov | (vaguely) unreliable narration | 2.5k
Something twists in Eddie's stomach, heavy and coiled, like a snake unwinding and then rewinding itself. It swashes upward, climbs in his chest as nausea builds, claws up his esophagus like acid reflux. Should've drank something stronger, he thinks, and then it's right up against his teeth and burning in his nose.
In lieu of throwing up, Eddie lets the truth spill out his mouth.
"It was a date."
“Tommy!” Eddie cheered, lifting his drink toward the sky as he spotted his friend walking toward him. “Whatcha doin' here, Man?”
“Figured I'd stop by and see how you were doing, Bud,” Tommy replied. He gave Eddie a pat on the back as he sat down in the empty seat next to him. “You come here alone?”
“Mhm. Needed ta get out. House's too quiet.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Too long,” the bartender interrupted as he walked by. “Was about to cut him off. I already took his keys.”
Eddie's eyebrows furrowed, looking around the bar counter. “Hey! You took my keys.”
“I got him,” Tommy said, giving the bartender a nod. “I gotta say, at least you're talking better than you're texting. I was worried.”
Eddie's face scrunched up in confusion. “Huh? I never did texted you.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” Tommy fished his phone out of his jacket pocket and went to his messages. “'Buuuuuuuck, lezz drink, Buddy.' Then five minutes later, 'Bruck, why rn't you at bar? I waiting.' A good two minutes after that you sent me your location with an angry emoji. Then, and this is my personal favorite, 'Loser too busy kissy kissy with Tummy to be a friendship.'”
"Huh. Thought I was textin' Buck.”
“Yeah, I pieced that together.”
“So where's Buck if you're not kissy kissy?” Eddie asked, his final drink sloshing over his fingers as he attempted to bring it to his lips.
Tommy took the drink from Eddie and set it back on the counter. “Evan is watching Jee overnight so Howie and Maddie can have a night away. So, you wanna talk about whatever's bothering you? I mean, I could take a guess, but...”
“Nah. No, no, nope. I wanna,” Eddie pulled at the collar of his shirt. “Lessgo karaoke, Tomboy-”
“We're not calling me that.”
“I wanna sing to the rooftops,” Eddie continued, his words slurring more and more with each sentence. “I wanna. I wanna be, you know, be free, Tommy. I don't have a rea-,” he hiccuped, “reason to get back home.”
“Really? Seems like that's exactly where you need to be right now.”
Eddie's eyes widened, like he'd thought of the best idea in the entire world. “Let's go to Peeping Tom! That's your name!”
“Peeping Tom is a gay bar, Eddie.”
“I don judge.”
“A very kinky, fully nude gay bar,” Tommy clarified.
Eddie squinted, deep in thought. “No karaoke?”
“No karaoke.”
“Well, then were we go? Don't say home!”
“Home.”
“Ugh,” Eddie groaned, allowing Tommy to wrap an arm around his back and help him up. “You're like a no- no fun dad. Wish I'd texted fun dad.”
Tommy gripped onto Eddie tighter as he stumbled while taking a step. He sighed. “Maybe next time.”
*****
When Eddie woke up the next morning it was to a pounding headache and blinding sunlight coming through his window. He was nauseous and his mouth tasted like a mixture of gasoline and mouthwash.
He laid there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what happened that made him feel so unbelievably ill.
After a few failed attempts, he finally rolled out of bed and made his way into the kitchen to fix himself some coffee.
He froze when he walked through the door to see Tommy sitting there, reading the newspaper.
“Good... morning?” Eddie started, confused.
Tommy set the paper down. “Morning. Sleep well?”
“I- I think so, I guess. It's a little blurry.”
Tommy hummed. “Not surprising. Coffee just finished, if you want some. Your couch is not comfortable, by the way.”
“Buck's never complained.”
“Yeah, well, he's easier to please than I am.”
Eddie was too hungover for this. He had so many questions, but for some reason the first one out of his mouth was: “Where'd you put my shoes?”
“In your closet.”
He grabbed himself a cup for some coffee. “My keys?”
“We have to go pick them up at the bar today, along with your car, obviously.”
“You didn't close my curtains last night. Woke up thinking I was being interrogated by Ice T.”
Tommy sighed, leaning back in his seat. “'Thank you so much for getting me home safely, Tommy. Did it hurt your back having to drag me into the house while I belted out Bohemian Rhapsody at the top of my lungs?'” He stood, walking over to Eddie and taking the coffee out of his hand, drinking a big sip. “Thank you for asking, Eddie. I think my back will be okay, but my ears will never recover.”
Eddie rolled his eyes, turning to fix himself another cup. “Thank you for getting me home safely, Tommy. I appreciate it.”
“Mhm. No problem.” Tommy returned to his seat and Eddie joined him at the table. They sat in silence for a couple minutes, taking small sips of their drinks.
Eventually, Tommy set his cup down a little harder than normal, getting Eddie's attention with the clinking sound. “Wanna talk about it?”
“About what? How your coffee tastes like cigarette sludge?”
“I'll take that as a no then.” Tommy checked his watch. “The bar doesn't open until three. Want me to stop by and pick you up then?”
Eddie shook his head. “I can just get an Uber, Man, thanks though.”
“Of course. I'll, uh, let you recover.” Tommy stood and went to leave, checking his pocket for his keys and phone.
As he neared the door, Eddie spoke. “Wait,” he said. Tommy turned back to face him.
“Yeah?”
“Why'd you sleep on my couch?”
“You're my friend,” he answered simply. “You drank a lot. Wanted to make sure you were okay.” He took a step back toward the table. “Are you okay?”
Eddie cradled the mug in his hands, watching the steam rise from the cup. “You don't... How long has it been? Since you talked to your dad?”
Okay, so Tommy wasn't leaving then.
He came to the table and sat down, taking a moment to think about Eddie's question. “About six years, I think.”
“What did he do?” He looked over at Tommy. “To make you stop talking to him, I mean. Unless you don't wanna get into it. In fact, forget it, I shouldn't-”
“Eddie, it's fine,” Tommy assured him. “I don't mind.”
“Okay,” Eddie nodded, sitting up straighter. “So? What happened?”
“It wasn't just one thing,” Tommy explained. “It was a lifetime of things. He's... He's not a good man. I think the catalyst was about a year after I came out. I hadn't been home in awhile, so I decided to drive to his place one weekend. When he answered the door he said, 'What the hell are you doing here?' I told him I was coming to see him and he said, 'What's the damn point in that?' I thought about it for a second and realized that was a good question, so I turned around, got in my car, and left. Never looked back.” Eddie seemed to be contemplating his words, and Tommy could tell where this was going. “It's not the same thing, Eddie,” he said, beating Eddie to it.
“What if he doesn't come back? What I did, Tommy, it wasn't... It was bad.”
“You made a mistake.”
“I cheated on my girlfriend with a doppelganger of his mom, Tommy, and he caught me.”
“Granted, it was a big mistake,” Tommy deadpanned. “But, still a mistake. He'll come around. You gotta give him time.”
“People keep telling me that,” Eddie replied with an eye roll. “That he'll come around. But it's been months of nothing. And it seems like no matter what I do, it's not enough.”
“You're trying.”
Eddie huffed. “I'm not sure getting drunk alone at a bar is trying.”
“I think it shows you care, Eddie. And, yeah, that shouldn't become a habit, but you're allowed to be upset. You're allowed to hurt. You made a mistake, but you're a good dad and Christopher knows that. He will come around.”
“And if he doesn't?” Eddie asked, staring over at Tommy.
“Then you keep trying,” Tommy replied. “You never stop trying. Keep being there, keep sending him letters and getting him on Facetime. Go for a visit. Send him texts. I'm not saying you gotta smother him, but never let him forget that you're there. That's the biggest mistake you could ever make.”
“Yeah,” Eddie took a deep breath. “Yeah, you're right. I just... I gotta keep it up. Let him know I'm here, whenever he's ready.”
“Exactly.”
Eddie looked over at the clock on his stove, 11:32 staring back at him. He had no idea he'd slept so long. “Why don't you call Buck, see if he wants to come over and watch a game? Then you can drive me to my car.”
“Oh, you want me to call Evan? Don't you mean fun dad?” Tommy asked, eying Eddie.
It took him a minute, but the memory came back to him. “I did say that, didn't I?”
“You did,” Tommy confirmed. “Which I'm very offended by, by the way. I'm fun!”
Eddie sighed, his head drooping down. “I know you are.”
“I introduced you to karaoke trivia. I've flown you to Vegas.”
“I remember.”
“I never tried to seriously injure you in the name of love.”
“Which I'm very grateful for.”
“I don't have control issues when I have a clipboard in my hand.”
“Are you just gonna keep listing reasons why you're fun?”
“I once shoved three cupcakes in my mouth at once! Nearly choked to death, but Evan whacked me on the back and everything went down just fine.”
Eddie stood with his mug in hand, pointing toward the living room, “I'm gonna go to the couch. Get more comfortable.”
Tommy followed behind, pulling out his phone to call Buck. “I'll let Evan tell you who bowled a 230 last week. Hint: it was me!”
”Buck is not a friend you can bust balls with” !!! This just unlocked something inside me, wow, yes. That’s the mismatch that’s happening here because Chimney is a ball buster, too! Hen and Athena bust each other’s balls! Ohhh, I feel like I’m seeing this “found family” with new eyes.
yes ok i'm not alone!! the ball busting comment is about this gifset about eddie accusing buck of making things "about him" and specifically the bachelor party set in the middle. the bachelor party set isn't as bad as the other ones, but it's still a personality mismatch! because some people? you just can't bust their balls.
(bust balls = fuck around with someone, like jodere in spanish)
a good example is THIS VERY SCENE where tommy arrives at the bachelor party in 7x06 - it's not that deep, but it still shows the difference (and why i wanted eddietommy friendship so fucking bad):
EDDIE, SASSILY: Didn't know you could bring a date to a bachelor party.
TOMMY, EASILY: Hey, I knew Chimney before he was Chimney.
BUCK, EARNESTLY: Yeah, also, he's not officially my date until the wedding tomorrow. Tonight is about Chimney.
EDDIE, SASSILY: But his wedding is about you?
and buck's reaction:
buck's not like. MORTALLY WOUNDED. he's not SCARRED FOR LIFE. but that lighthearted little jab kinda hurt! if not hurt, at least made him think: "oh wow, why DID i invite this guy i like romantically to my future brother-in-law's bachelor party, i mean yeah they're old friends, yeah he and eddie and everyone else coming get along great, but am i the jerk because i wanted him here?? what's gonna happen when everyone realizes he's also here because he's MY DATE tomorrow??? are people gonna say stuff because he's MY DATE and he's A GUY and A GUY THEY KNOW??? it's gonna take away from chimney isn't it!!!! shit, i did make it all about me!!! just because i liked a guy and couldn't control myself!!! shit. shit."
and that's not what eddie meant!!! it's not that deep!!! i don't think people tell jokes expecting them to land with a thud like that, buuuuuut. buck is not a ball busting friend. it's not infantilizing to point that out and respect that boundary when it comes to the earnest people in our lives. some people don't like to be teased! he is a big earnest guy who wants to be handled sweetly, and Once Upon a Time his best friend and his boyfriend could have been each other's bitchy teasing besties and they all could have been happy together, but fuck this show we can't have nice things, apparently. god forbid anyone HAVE A FRIEND on the DISASTERS, EMERGENCIES, AND FRIENDSHIPS SHOW.
