So @glorious-spoon expressed interest in the tags in more of my thoughts on why Eddie shuts Buck out of the house purchasing decision as referenced in this post and far be it from me to deny myself an opportunity to ramble about 9-1-1.
Eddie is clearly happy and relieved when Buck initial responds to the news of the move supportively, it’s a weight off his shoulders that he doesn’t have to worry about leaving straining their friendship, and he welcomes Buck joining him on the realtor call. So why is it that the next time Eddie talks about the move it’s to announce he’s done it all without even mentioning to Buck that he’s found a house he might like?
A mortgage and housing downpayment are not instant processes and Buck and Eddie see each other several times a week, for Buck not to know means Eddie has been making big steps that it would be natural to mention as they happen but has instead kept quiet.
And I think it circles back to Eddie’s ongoing issues with self-denial and noble suffering, in two clusters.
(It's hard to lean too much on analysis of the financial aspects because I don't have familiarity with the housing markets and pay-to-housing cost ratios of LA and El Paso and even if I did TV logic would take precedence, but…) if Eddie could afford to rent a nice enough house in LA on a firefighter's salary (& at the point of planning the move he expects to be able to get an equivalent job in El Paso), it seems reasonable to think he could rent at least an equivalent home there. Instead he buys a house that needs so much work it's uncomfortable for Eddie to live in and Helena suggests in the PS5 conversation has multiple issues that make it ill-suited for Chris to visit. I think Eddie's choice of house suggests he's still punishing himself. Eddie's perception of the root cause of his issues with Christopher was that it was caused by Eddie indulging his wants, ergo the opposite of that is to not think of his own comfort at all. Also I think some part of Eddie wants to be seen to be righteously suffering, that if Christopher sees Eddie is willing to live in a terrible house to be closer to him that will show Chris how much Eddie loves him. It also implies a degree of pessimism about what will happen in El Paso, Eddie has no hope that Chris will be quick to want to visit or stay with him, he’s expecting any resolution to take long enough that Eddie will have time to fix up the house before Chris will want to be in it.
Buck’s light-hearted framing of him joining the realtor call is because some of the houses Eddie has looked at are ‘tragic’ and Buck wants to help him pick a nice one – involving Buck would mean pushback on that. It’s not necessarily conscious, but I think Eddie is aware enough that Buck might try to talk him into something nicer or ask him to explain the choice to buy a wreck of a house. Eddie is at the point in time feeling pretty insecure about his ability to withstand temptation (Kim) and some inner conflict and shame about the fact in his heart he is not 100% fine with doing whatever it takes to fix things with Chris (he’s picking Chris but he’s clearly reluctant to give up his life in LA) and I think he knows that his determination to make this drastic decision is only going to waver more if Buck starts poking well-intentioned holes in it so the solution to that is to ensure it’s a done deal without Buck getting any opportunity to sway him.
Eddie tying himself down to buying a house is in part a gesture of the seriousness of Eddie’s commitment to putting Chris before everything else, and so it has to come from Eddie. He tried getting Buck to help with Chris in the immediate aftermath of the Kim situation and Chris wasn’t receptive at all. Letting Buck contribute to the move in ways that make the process meaningfully easier would undermine Eddie’s sense of responsibility and willingness to put himself through this for Chris as punishment for his actions, if he lets Buck make things easier that’s cheating. Of course, Buck ends up being a major help anyway by subletting, but by that point Eddie has already thrown himself into the decision, Buck isn’t building him a bridge he’s just offering Eddie a line so he doesn’t sink while doing what he has already committed himself to, but Eddie’s met his own expectation that he will throw himself fully into making this sacrifice in order to repair things with Chris.