And this kid—happiest kid in the world, Buck’s willing to bet on it—tucks his chin towards his chest and hides a giggle behind his hand. The sound shoots right past Buck’s khaki apron and strikes him in the heart. 

“No!” He raises his voice, yelling in that childhood gleeful way, like it’s possibly the silliest thing Buck could have said. Because it is. 

Buck loves kids. He’s good with them too. He somehow has a knack for knowing just the right thing to them. Hen says it’s because Buck is still a kid himself, which Buck will allow. Only from Hen, though. She’s earned that right after having to save his ass enough times for almost burning down the bakery on complete accident. 

“So,” Buck leans forwards on his elbows, “where are your parents?” 

As if Buck had summoned him, Buck hears, “Chris!” 

The call comes out in a form of a more hissing type of scolding. The dad’s not really mad. Buck can always tell. Not by looking at the parents, but by watching the kids. When the parents are really mad, the kid always does some form of retreating into their shell, a frozen fear or embarrassment of being caught. But just rolls his eyes like he’s the one being inconvenienced before turning his head towards his dad. 

“What did I tell you about just running off like that?” When the dad approaches, he touches a hand to his son’s back. Instead of shaking him off, the kid leans into it.

“I didn’t run off. I told you where we were going to next. It’s not my fault if you’re slow.” 

It’s the dad’s turn to roll his eyes. He’s looking at Buck now, and talking to him. “He thinks I’m slow because I’m ‘old.’”

And, okay, look. Just like he’s good with kids, Buck’s good with flirting. Too good. It’s gotten him numbers that he both didn’t really want and didn’t know he wanted, and is a good factor in why their customer retention is so high. Buck’s flirting is practically a staple to these farmers market pop-ups. It irritates Maddie (because he’s her baby brother and she “doesn’t want to see all that!”) and Ravi seriously hates it (although Buck’s convinced that’s because a customer Buck flirts with is a customer Ravi can’t flirt with) and it’s fun. It’s not like Buck’s got any special someone and it’s just talking anyways so where’s the harm in that?

Any other time, Buck could easily respond with a, “You’re not old.” He’d know how to do it perfectly, like a routine. He knows just the way to contort his facial muscles to look charming to the parent and in on the joke with the kid as well as shift his tone so the parent can be in on a nuanced something that their kid doesn’t need to know. And even if he was old (which he’s not), it’s not like that’s been an issue for Buck in the past. Attractivity doesn’t age out. It matures like fine wine. 

But holy shit. Holy fuuucking shit this guy is hot. He’s got golden brown hair that’s been kissed by the sun which falls in effortless waves like a Disney prince, soft brown eyes that glimmer at his son, and a beautiful mustache that stands out against his tanned complexion that it’s practically impossible not to stare at his lips. And his hands, god, his hands. They look sturdy, like one could fall right into them and trust that they’d keep you safe the entire time. His whole body stays that way, every inch just solid and absolutely perfect—

So yeah. Buck’s a little distracted by this guy that he can’t even think to turn on the practiced charm. 

Thankfully, some god or the universe takes pity on him, because this kid, Chris, speaks in Buck’s silence. “You are old,” he mumbles to his dad. Chris leans forward to stare at the treats in the display case. 

Buck wants to say something to this dad’s defense like how he’s not that old, or maybe he just looks good for his age! Or he could even say something agreeing with Chris, to get this kid to like him even more and to try and make his dad laugh. At this point Buck will take anything. Just grant him the ability of his voice again and say something impressive and cool like: 

“So, Halloween. It-it’s, uh, coming. Or, I mean, it’s here.”

Okay, so not exactly like that. 

It does make this extremely hot dad smile. It’s small, closed lips so Buck doesn’t have a view of his perfect teeth again, and it’s entirely at Buck’s expense, but it’s good enough. 

“Yeah. Chris makes sure to plan way in advance for costuming just to ensure we’re always set by the time the day arrives. Well, I plan, he repeatedly reminds me.” 

“Smart kid. Seems Chris has the right idea.” 

Great. So when Buck isn’t gawking at this man, he’s struggling to form full sentences. That’s fine and totally normal. 

“Yeah,” Hot Dad smiles down at his son. “So, you guys sell bread?”

“Dad!” Chris groans. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you not want sandwiches this week? Because, you know, I can cook you-” 

“No.” Chris forcefully ends his dad’s sentence. He grumbles into his arms. “Sandwiches is fine.” 

Hot Dad looks back up at Buck, pleased. 

“Uh, yeah, hot, bread. I mean, bread. We got bread.” Buck turns around to the shelves and starts pointing. “We got whole wheat, white, jalapeno, rye, sourdough, and ciabatta.” 

“Whole wheat’s fine.” 

Buck nods and the top of one slice gets caught slightly as he tries to pull the whole loaf out. His eyes flicker down to Ravi, sitting next to the cart, and they make eye contact, but say nothing. Buck readjusts the bread and pretends nothing happen. 

“Alright, so will that be all for you?” 

They hear some whining come from Chris, like a sad puppy. Hot Dad looks down at him and his son is pouting at him. Hot Dad sighs. “Okay, fine. We’ll get a pumpkin cupcake and…” He pauses, waiting for his son to answer. 

“A mummy cookie, please!” 

His enthusiasm makes Buck chuckle. “Excellent choices. Okay, great! That’ll be $15 even.” 

“Wow,” Hot Dad says as he moves to get his wallet out, “that’s a bargain, don’t you think so, Chris?”

Unfortunately for him, Chris is too focused on his cookie to answer. Hot Dad shakes his head, but he’s amused. “Thank you,” he says to Buck.

Buck’s not really sure why this man is thanking him, when it should be Buck doing that. “Uh, yeah. Th-thank you.” 

And he doesn’t say anything more. Because he’s an idiot. 

So Hot Dad just smiles (with teeth this time!!) “Right, I better go. Before he runs away from me again.” 

Then he does. Hot Dad just walks away, which is not all that much easier on Buck because wow does he even look good walking away, and it’s not until they turn the corner out of sight that Buck can think properly again. Like how to let air back into his lungs and afraid any movement might shatter the perfect moment. 

“You know you undercharged them right?” Ravi’s voice breaks the silence. 

Buck basically jumps. “Jesus, man.” Buck turns and leans against the table to face him. “So?” 

Ravi snorts, like it’s obvious. “So have fun explaining that one to Maddie.” 

“Explaining what to me?” Maddie tucks her head into the tent again. 

Buck’s body flinches again. “Uh,” he says very eloquently. 

“Just how terrible Buck fumbled a hot dad. You know, if you keep that up, maybe I’ll stop having something to complain about.” Ravi grins. 

Hey. Hot Dad was Buck’s nickname for the guy. Buck frowns. “I did not fumble him.” 

He definitely did, but he was not about to tell Ravi of all people that. 

Ravi raises one eyebrow. “Really? So what’s the guys name?”