hi dalawa!! thank you for sending!
Tommy tries knocking again.
But Eddie still doesn't answer.
"Eddie! Open up or I'm calling 911!"
Tommy jumps at the sound of Evan's voice directly behind him.
"Jesus," Tommy says. "Where the hell did you come from?"
Evan raises a bemused eyebrow. "Did you not hear me pull into the driveway?"
Tommy looks over Evan's shoulder, and, sure enough, Evan's jeep is parked right next to Tommy's truck. How he didn't hear it is anyone's guess, but he will solely blame Eddie for making him worry by not answering the front door.
"Uh, no, I guess I didn't hear you," Tommy says.
"Clearly," Evan replies. Evan's clearly laughing at Tommy and he would be annoyed by it but it's better ground he's been on with Evan lately, so he'll take it.
"So, what are you doing here?" Evan asks. "And why were you yelling?"
"Eddie texted me, said to come by his house as soon as I could because he needed my help. Put an SOS and everything, which is why I was yelling. He's not answering the door."
"Huh," Evan says, which is odd, considering Tommy just said Eddie might be in trouble.
Evan sighs, and starts heading back to his Jeep. "Hey, since you're here, can you help me with unloading these?"
Confused, Tommy follows Evan. When he makes it to the trunk of Evan's Jeep, he's even more confused.
"Well, Tommy, it appears Eddie's trying to parent trap us. Here." Evan shoves a sack of garden mulch in his arms. Before Tommy can protest, Evan stacks another one on top with a little too much force.
Tommy's a big guy, so they're not really a bother, but Evan's clearly pissed, so Tommy's not gonna complain.
"And what makes you think that?" he asks as Evan pulls out another bag of mulch, but keeps it for himself.
"Eddie's not here, Tommy. He's in Texas. You didn't know that?"
Evan closes the trunk of his Jeep and starts heading to the side of the house, toward the backyard. Tommy follows again.
"No, I ... I didn't know that," he admits, and wonders how much else he missed by ignoring everyone in the wake of his breakup with Evan.
They make it to Eddie's backyard and Tommy throws the mulch down near a garden bed that Evan points to. There's a bunch of tools already laid out, and varying flowers already planted in the soil.
Evan doesn't reply to Tommy's admittance but he does roll his eyes, then bends down to start opening the mulch.
Considering they've been here for a little bit and no one's come out to yell at them, Tommy guesses Evan's right about Eddie not being here. Texas, he said? Eddie must have gone for Christopher. Feels like he should have known that. Then again, he ignored every one of Eddie's calls.
He should probably leave. It's clear he's not actually needed here, and Evan seems angry enough as it is. Except —
"So what are you doing here, exactly?" he asks.
Evan's started laying out the mulch in the garden bed, spreading it evenly across the ground. At Tommy's question, he looks up, hands on his hips. Tommy had been too worried about Eddie when Evan first showed up to really look but now that Evan's standing there looking at Tommy with a mixture of disdain and bemusement on his face, sweaty from whatever yard work he's already done, he sees it now. Evan looks good. Really good. Tries not to think about Evan keeping in shape, either by the gym or other ... activities.
"What does it look like I'm doing, Tommy?" Evan gestures to the entire garden bed like Tommy's not standing directly in front of it. To be fair, Tommy really only has eyes for Evan.
When Tommy shrugs his shoulders, Evan sighs again. "Eddie asked me to water his plants while he was gone."
"And that turned into you planting an entire garden back here?"
Evan glares at him from where's spreading the mulch around.
Tommy smirks. He recognizes that glare as the face Evan makes when he's trying really hard to be mad at Tommy but is losing the fight.
"If you're done making fun of me," Evan says, "I could use your help."
Tommy's not sure how long Eddie's been gone, but he and Evan obviously still talk. If Eddie sent Tommy here to have a run-in with Evan, then that has to mean something, right? He should probably call Eddie back, soon. To apologize. And say thank you.
He glances over at the flowers Evan's already planted. They don't fill the entire garden bed. There's room for more. Pictures what this garden will look like in a couple months time, when summer arrives. If they keep at it, it could be full of a variety of plants, of all shapes and colors by then.
Tommy picks up the other bag of mulch and drags it to the other side of the garden bed. Evan watches him, not giving anything away about what type of answer he's looking for.
"Sure," Tommy says. "I'll help. I'll cover this side and then we use the other one to layer on top of what's already on the ground?"
Evan gives a reluctant smile, and goes back to work.
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