eternity || epilogue

my current wip is being dragged along by mel, so a thousand thanks to her <3 tagged by beloved @tweetsongs; please enjoy crop top eddie and buck's single remaining thread of control:

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"I didn't know Eddie could two-step!"

May rolls her eyes at Josh, no amount of years between them changing their relationship from when May worked at dispatch. "He's from Texas, of course he can two-step!"

Buck's about to glue his head to the table with leftover beer so that he never, ever has to see Eddie dance with anyone ever again.

"Damn," one of May's friends says, "he could teach me how to two-step."

Buck understands this one. He's not happy to hear it spoken aloud, but he understands it. He wonders, for a moment, if there's already enough beer residue on the table to act as an adhesive or if he has to save what little is left in his.

But May, sweet and perfect May, somehow already has his back.

"No, no, no," she fusses, "we don't want Eddie teaching anyone anything that isn't—"

"Eddie!" Josh yells, lunging across the table as Eddie and Ian come back from the dance floor. "I didn't know you could two-step! Teach me!"

But Eddie just smiles, glistening from the inside. "Give me a few songs to rest up, okay?" He flops down on the bench next to Buck, but he doesn't exactly stop. "My cardio's not what it used to be." With every phrase and sentence he uses to carry on his conversation—whether that's about teaching Josh to two-step or answering vague, veiled questions from May's friends about his love life—he's getting…

Well.

He's almost in Buck's lap, is the thing.

They're sitting thigh to thigh, practically squeezed. Buck angled his body out a little the last time Eddie leaned over, trying not to spill his beer, so now his hand is planted behind Eddie, his arm resting along the entirety of Eddie's spine. And Eddie keeps leaning over to talk to people, so his shoulder is constantly resting against Buck's chest, the heat of them both getting caught in the thin cotton between them.

"Eddie," Buck whispers, "you wanna swap places with me? Make it easier to talk to people?"

Get me out of this particular situation before I pull you on my lap and make you sweat for real?

"Nah," Eddie whispers back, head turned to Buck's, noses almost touching. "I'm good here."