#salphillip

[harmless-variety-of-garden-snake]

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:

[harmless-variety-of-garden-snake]

First of all: hello.

Second: you brought this on yourself 😁

Can I get more on Phillip and Sal? What’s their relationship like? How does it develop? What do Buck and Tommy think of it? (Buck would be hilarious, I’m sure!)

And one more thing: Phillip’s first thought about Sal is that he’s terrifying. I need more!! Maybe one day Phillip sees Sal in action at work—dealing with someone who hurt a woman, child, or animal—and he just unleashes on the person responsible? And Phillip’s reaction is basically, "Mark my words: I have never been so scared AND horny at the same time."

(WHY Sal is SO GOOD pairing with literally... everyone?! My man got range 🤣)

Okay so I've been writing the fic! It's almost done, I'm just wrapping up the last section. I think it's more that Sal looks intimidating at first because burly guy with a buzzcut. But here's their first meeting:

He turns to go back and get something to drink, and he sees Tommy talking to another man with buzzed hair and stubble. He could look intimidating, maybe even a little terrifying, but he's grinning at Phillip. Or Evan. Or Theo. But it's a good smile.

“You haven't met Sal, right?” Tommy asks as he approaches, and Phillip shakes his head. “He's my best friend. Sal, Phillip. Evan and Maddie's dad.”

“Nice to meet you,” Phillip says, shaking his hand. It's broad, calloused, and warm.

Alright, maybe noticing how a man's hands feel was another sign. He's done it before. Notably only when the guy is particularly good-looking.

“You, too,” Sal says, his grin shifting to something warmer. “Learning to surf?”

“Absolutely not,” Phillip says, and Sal laughs. “No, Evan tried, but it's not happening.”

He realizes he's heard of Uncle Sal. Theo loves him, says he makes the best pizza in the world and owns a fire station. Which probably isn't true, but Phillip imagines he might be a captain or something.

“I really need something to drink, sorry,” he says.

“Same, I just got here off a softball game,” Sal says, gesturing for Phillip to cross first.

Phillip glances at Tommy, who's looking at him like he knows something Phillip doesn't.

They get to the cooler, and Phillip digs around for the black cherry Boylan’s he'd found. He glances over and sees Sal watching him. Checking him out? Maybe.

“Where'd you get that?” Sal asks, bending next to him to go through the cooler. “I’d sell my sister for a birch beer, but that might be the next best thing.”

Phillip laughs and settles back on his heels. “You a New England boy?”

“Pittsburgh—well, Aspinwall,” Sal says.

“Mm, well, I won't hold it against you,” Phillip says, digging out a cherry Sprite and handing the Boylan’s to Sal. “Pretty sure it's the last one.”

Sal pops the lid off the bottle and hands it to Phillip before grabbing the Sprite, popping the tab, and taking a sip of that. He grins at Phillip and shrugs. “I’ll just steal some of yours.”

When he winks, Phillip feels that coil in his belly.

“Grandpa?” Jee-Yun asks, tapping his shoulder.

“Yes, sweetheart?” he asks, turning his head to look at her.

“Do you wanna Go Fish?” she asks. “Theo wants to play, too.”

“Absolutely,” Phillip says, getting up.

“Can I play?” Sal asks. “I'll only cheat a little.”

Another wink, and Jee-Yun leads them over to the big blanket where Theo is sipping a juice box and eating grapes and cheese cubes.

“Alright, how do we play?” Phillip asks seriously, sitting and shuffling the big deck of cards with cartoon fishes all over the back.

“Aces high,” Sal says, and Phillip snorts softly.

He shuffles the cards and hands them to Jee-Yun to deal out. She carefully hands them each seven cards, explaining the rules even though Phillip had been joking. He doesn't stop her, he enjoys the careful way she explains the rules to him.

The game is more fun than Phillip had expected. Jee-Yun gets a little wrinkle between her eyebrows when she's thinking, Theo’s reactions are all a little exaggerated when he’s told to Go Fish, and Sal keeps asking seriously for things like a thirteen of squares or a ninety of diamonds and getting outraged howls from the kids.

They're soundly beaten by his granddaughter. She's mostly gracious about it. Theo had started playing Sal’s way after a while, so he's satisfied with his strange collection of cards.

“Would anyone care to build the dopest sand castle on the beach?” Eddie calls through cupped hands.

“Me!” Theo says, up like a shot, his cousin hot on his heels.

“Abandoned so easily,” Phillip says, sighing and gathering up the cards. He stretches out on the blanket and reaches for the sunscreen. “You have kids? You're great with them.”

“Nah, I'm a better uncle,” Sal says, pulling his shirt over his head. “Bad hours, never found the right person, blah blah blah. Almost asked if you did, which woulda been a stupid question.”

Phillip eyes the lightly freckled, tanned back and then the hairy pecs. He busies himself with pouring sunscreen in his hand and rubbing himself down with it, taking his own shirt off. He has a brief, weird thought about whether Sal still goes to clubs.

“Let me get some of that,” Sal says, grabbing the bottle. He rubs sunscreen into his skin quickly, but then he hands the bottle to Phillip. “Can you get my back?”

Having watched everyone help each other with sunscreen all day, it shouldn't really give him pause. But as soon as his hand settles on Sal’s back, an alarm goes off in his head.

He's definitely into men.

Margaret's going to laugh her ass off when they have lunch later in the month.

Sal has him turn on his stomach so he can get Phillip’s back, too. He lays his head in his arms and clenches his hands. It's not like Sal is massaging him or squeezing, but there's just something about it. Maybe he's just hyper aware of this kind of thing now.

He rolls onto his back when Sal is done and shields his eyes with his hand, smiling. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem,” Sal says, settling on his stomach and grabbing an LAFD tote bag. He pulls out a book, and it's thicker than most beach reads Phillip’s seen.

“Is that Dune?” he asks.

“Yeah, my nephew's got me reading these,” Sal says. “You ever read ‘em?”

“In high school around when the third one came out,” Phillip says, reaching for his own bag and pulling out his reading glasses and a battered copy of Silence of the Lambs he'd found in a discount bin at a used bookstore.

“You like horror stuff?” Sal asks after grabbing the book and flipping it over to read the cover.

“Not usually, but I'm trying to expand my horizons. I've been called a literature snob,” Phillip admits. “I was an English teacher before I retired.”

“Well, then you've just got taste,” Sal teases. “If you're just some asshole looking down on, I dunno, Stephen King—”

“Depends on the book and how good the coke was when he was writing it,” Phillip says.

“Fair—then I'll call you a snob. But you've got a degree, you paid to have taste,” Sal says, grinning and handing the book back. His eyes flick up to Phillip’s glasses before he opens his book to the slip of paper holding his place.

—

The sun isn't going down yet, but it's still summer and the sun’s going to be out until late. But there are dinners to make, kids to clean up, and shifts to work in the morning for some of the people present.

Phillip’s getting quick hugs, it takes a while for them to all start separating because little conversations pop up. Lucy and May are squeezed together to look at something on a phone and laughing in bursts, Eddie and Karen are talking about something that looks a little serious, Tommy's got a sleeping Nash against his shoulder while he talks to Howie.

“Hopefully I see you again before you leave,” Sal says to Phillip.

Should he ask for his number?

He's old enough to be Sal’s father, so probably not.

“That would be nice,” Phillip says, hitching his bag on his shoulder.

“Dad, can you grab Theo while I get the cooler?” Evan asks.

“Yeah,” he says, giving Sal a smile before he goes to his grandson.

—

—

Buck is cuddled up against Tommy's side, still feeling warm and lazy from their post-beach shower. His dad is making dinner, Theo is helping by snapping the ends off the green beans. Buck is enjoying being in a towel and pressed against Tommy's equally warm, damp body in their bed.

“Today was fun,” he says, and Tommy hums in agreement, selecting photos to send to the group chat. “I think my dad and Sal might have been bonding over books.”

“Yeah, or something,” Tommy says mildly, and Buck’s eyes narrow.

—