#firstrespcnse

          He knew he was in trouble the moment Eddie told him that he was going to ask Christopher’s teacher out on a date. Even worse, he knew his heart was in trouble the moment Eddie brought up the fact that he as going to ask the woman out on a date. He felt frozen as Eddie talked about his plan on asking the woman out, and he knew he would have to say something eventually but -- but he couldn’t, because all he could think about was the fact that eventually, his best friend is going to find someone to spend the rest of his life with, and that that person isn’t going to be Buck and Buck -- Buck realizes that that means eventually -- Eventually Buck won’t be the first person to make Eddie and Chris breakfast, or go see Santa with them, or spend his weekends with them and Buck absolutely hates that.

Not sure how to feel in the moment, Buck looks at his friend, looks at him with wide eyes before gulping, thankful that he’s holding onto a mug of tea in his hands and he takes a sip from the mug to hide his lack of enthusiasm, though he can’t help but wonder if Eddie even realizes that he hasn’t even said anything about the topic. Taking his friend in, something deep inside of Buck sinks at the look of happiness he can see on Eddie’s face as he continues to talk about Christopher’s teacher (and he’s really going to have to try and remember her name, if this is going to become a thing, he thinks). He takes another sip from his mug and clears his throat, looking away, the happiness on Eddie’s face to bright for Buck to withstand.

It hurts. It hurts a lot because Buck isn’t the person who put that look on Eddie’s face and he has no idea how he’s going to handle that when he’s alone but -- but his best friend is apparently happy, and even though Buck isn’t the one making him happy, who is Buck to stop Eddie from being -- well, happy, in general? So it hurts, but he smiles a little at Eddie and clears his throat, placing the mug down.

if he were being completely honest, he was relieved that she had only been drinking, but underage drinking wasn’t something that he could take lightly. not with his past. more than anything he wanted to make sure that harper was never anywhere close to the positions he had found himself in. he knew his daughter didn’t want him to know and probably everything that he had been was on her mind. not even that long ago, all things considered he had relapsed. at least he was passed out from a long shift to not be there and had had a few hours of harper not venturing downstairs to cool down. “i can’t – pretend that nothing happened. i know people your age see it as no big deal, but laws are in place for a reason… and getting drunk like that – did you even consider the dangers of getting home? this isn’t minnesota harper!”

“i’m not a complete idiot, dad, despite what you may think. there were designated drivers there. i wasn’t going to drink and drive. jesus, how fucking stupid do you think i am?” 

stupid enough to have gotten caught at a party - that’s how stupid. and even worse, she’d been caught by athena when  she’d responded to a noise complaint. been driven home in the back of a squad car. that had been embarrassing as all get out. 

“can you just - talk to athena. because she said i was grounded, but i don’t think that’s fair. she doesn’t have the authority to ground me.” you wish, harper - of course she does. “this killler hangover should be punishment enough, in my opinion.”

            ❝ now do you really think that’s the best idea? ❞

she was busted and she knew it, but still, the teen hoped she could talk her way out of the mess she was currently in. “oh, hey athena. i asked my dad if i could borrow some money and he told me to just go ahead and take it out of his wallet, so that’s what i was doing.”