something about how tommy is the rom-com guy but he's also been THROUGH IT, you know? i think he's thought he had the rom-com before and it's never quite worked out and he's been knocked around enough that he knows it's not really a thing that happens, you know? like sure, you can fall in love, you can have the butterflies, you can adore someone but that doesn't mean happily ever after is on the cards so while he aches for The One, his rational brain says that there's no such thing so he's cautious because he knows he has a tendency to go all in on something and maybe romanticise things more than he should and set himself up for heartache, so the first couple months with buck he's holding himself back just a little, not enough to give buck the (wildly false) impression that he's not here for a long time, but enough that he doesn't make a fool of himself and then buck hits him with an incredibly casual "cool, see you later, love you" or a "hey, you want kids, right?" or a "when we get married" and tommy's just...buffering for a few seconds because what. so maybe there's no The One (but evan is The One) maybe there's no soulmates (but evan is his soulmate) maybe there's no forever (but evan is forever)
