Let's talk Teacher Buck and his crushes!
I personally have a preference for Kindergarten teacher Buck, because he is adorable with little kids.
This got long so I'm putting it under a cut
• Buck immediately thinking Sal and Gina are both super hot then trying (and failing) not to fumble his way through his whole 'Welcome to Kindergarten' spiel. He's only just discovered his bisexuality, so he hyperfixates on Sal just a little bit. Okay, a lot, sue him.
• Buck on car rider duty feeling his heart speed up when he recognizes Sal's car pulling up. Sal flirts with him through the window just to watch Buck's cheeks turn a pretty pink.
• Buck berating himself a fairly regular basis because he absolutely should not be thinking about one of his students parents this way.
• School events almost feeling like a weird form of torture because Buck can barely focus when Sal is in the room (they feel a little worse when he's not there).
• Buck not being able to stop himself from telling Sal he made the cookies he keeps looking at during the school bake sale. He's not proud of the smugness he feels when Sal runs the price up on them during the auction. He'll also never admit to keeping the note Sal sends in his daughter's folder the next day praising how delicious they were.
• Buck and Sal spending way too long chatting in the parking lot after school events. This is how Buck finds out Sal is a fire captain and how Sal finds out Buck used to be a fire fighter, but his leg got crushed in that engine bombing and it never did heal quite right. Sal gets really quiet and Buck thinks he's freaked him out, so he's quick to say it's all okay now, though, and teaching these past few years has been so incredible. He knows he's babbling, overcorrecting, making things weird, but he can't make himself shut up. They eventually say an awkward goodnight and Buck goes home feeling like an idiot.
• One day an unfamiliar truck pulls up in the car rider line and an extremely hot, built guy gets out. Before Buck can ask who he's picking up, the Deluca girls start yelling "Tommy!" from where they're waiting on the upper sidewalk. They run up and throw their arms around him, talking over each other and bubbling with excitement. "Alright, alright," Tommy guy says, popping the back door open. "If we leave now we'll have time to stop for ice cream before your dad gets suspicious about why it's taking so long." Dread washes over Buck as he comes to the conclusion that this must be Sal's boyfriend.
• Buck once again goes home feeling like an idiot, then feels even more like an idiot because obviously he and Sal were never actually going to go anywhere. He's his daughter's teacher, it would have been completely inappropriate. He never should have been flirting and acting the way he been in the first place.
• Buck resolving to do his best to be strictly professional from then on out. But Sal is damn charming and it's extremely difficult. Tommy is also incredibly interesting and sweet and, god damn it, he's doing it again. What the fuck is wrong with him?
• One day when his leg is aching something awful, Buck is in a particularly bitchy mood and snaps that Sal's boyfriend probably wouldn't like to hear that he's flirting with other people when he's not around. Sal looks very confused for a moment, then laughs. "I'm not so sure," He says with a wink.
• Buck asks to be switched out of car rider duty.
• The rest of year goes fairly smooth. Sal tones down his flirting. His daughter talks about Tommy in class sometimes and Buck smiles and nods. Gina, Sal, and Tommy all show up for Kindergarten graduation and Buck tries not to be weird about it.
• When the last day of the school year comes to a close, a bunch of the other teachers insist that Buck join them for after work drinks. He doesn't really feel like going, but he can't come up with a good excuse fast enough so he's dragged to the bar and gets a margarita shoved into his hands. He actually ends up having a really good time and lingers at the bar far later than he planned, and before long he realizes most of his coworkers have all gone home. He finishes his drink and is about to tab out when two figures siddle up to his table. "Can we refill that for you?" Sal asks with an impish grin.
• Embarrassingly, Buck learns that Sal and Tommy hadn't actually been dating when Buck snapped at him that day. Sal had genuinely liked Buck, but was also aware that he at least had to wait until his kid was out of his class to make a move. However, Buck's words had made him look more closely at his relationship with Tommy and realize that oh, shit, he was in love with his best friend. Not too long after that they officially got together, to the surprise of literally no one else that knew them. "Glad I helped you figure that out," Buck says, and tosses back the rest of his drink, ready to storm out. He's a little bitter, okay?
• Before he can move, Sal's hand lands on his thigh and Tommy is moving his chair a little closer. "In case you missed it, you're not my daughter's teacher anymore, and we're actively trying to pick you up here."
• The three of them fall tangled together through Buck's front door and don't come up for air for the next two days.
• By the end of the summer, Sal's daughters are excitedly telling everyone that will listen that they have two moms and three dads, and this is absolutely not an issue at all in 9-1-1 hand wavey way.
