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All things considered, his son giggling has to be one of the best ways for Eddie to be woken in the middle of the night. He opens his eyes as he hears a light shushing from down the hall, quickly placing the sounds in his living room. He looks to his dresser, his alarm clock informing him it is just past midnight. Eddie smiles to himself as he hears Buck’s laughter joining his son, followed by the unmistakeable sound of that goddamned bear screaming. If anyone asked, Eddie would insist that he found the whole Five Nights at Freddy’s thing silly, but his son and Buck know the truth. Those stupid animatronics scare the daylights out of him, even if he’d never admit it. He knows it’s a silly thing to fear considering his history, but he can’t shake the chill in his spine when those things jump out at him when he’s in control. Never again.
Eddie almost goes back to sleep, but the small shriek he knows belongs to Buck at a jumpscare convinces him to sit up. Sure, Eddie might not be able to stomach the game himself, but he can’t give up an opportunity to bully his best friend. He makes his way down the hallway quietly, sneaking up so as not to shatter the bubble his son and best friend find themselves in. As he reaches the living room, he leans against the archway to take it in. Buck and Chris are sitting on the couch, huddled together tightly as they stare at the screen. He feels a tug on his heart at the sight. Ever the teenager, Chris has begun to pull away from these types of affection, especially if it’s because he’s scared. Now though, Eddie watches as Chris leans into Buck in tense moments, shoulders strung tightly as he waits for the next jumpscare. Buck holds the controller in his hands tightly, eyes darting around the screen as he checks cameras and doors. Eddie can’t help but notice that Buck’s face is pulled into the same expression he wears on a complicated call, brow furrowed in deep concentration.
“Buck, he’s right there!” Chris whisper-shouts, pointing as Foxy runs by one of the cameras. Buck quickly closes the camera tab and hits the door button as the sound of the animatronics feet grows closer. He waits a second, and seemingly satisifed by the lack of sound, he opens the door. He turns on the light and lets out a sigh of relief as he sees the doorway is empty. He opens the camera tab again, flicking through the different video feeds quickly. Eddie can barely keep up with the flashing images as Buck takes in each camera angle, cycling through them with ease.
“Don’t worry, I am the king of Five Nights at Freddy’s,” Buck promises. Chris scoffs.
“You could never be Markiplier,” he states plainly. Buck gasps in offense, gearing up to retort before he sees Bonnie in the hallway, his laser focus returning as he slams the door shut.
Eddie can’t seem to move from his spot, entranced by the scene in front of him despite his hatred for that stupid fucking bear. Neither of his boys have noticed him yet, too caught up in their own fun. Buck’s face has somehow grown more serious as he stares at the screen, tongue poking out of his mouth slightly. Eddie’s chest warms at the sight, and isn’t that odd? The word adorable bounces around his head, not for the first time when faced with that expression. It is the first time Eddie also feels the need to kiss the birthmark on Buck’s forehead, creasing from the deep furrow of his brows. Eddie should probably feel a little weird about it, but he can’t be bothered to find it anything but welcoming. Now that he’s had the thought, he can’t imagine how he’s gone so long without thinking it.
Before Eddie gets the chance to read too far into it, he’s pulled out of his thoughts by the unmistakeable sound of that goddamned bear screaming. Buck and Chris jump in tandem, twin shrieks escaping their lips. He knows Buck will deny it until the day he dies, but his shriek is far higher than even the thirteen year old can achieve. Eddie can’t help the laugh that spills out of his chest at the sound, shocking Buck into another equally high-pitched shriek at the sudden intrusion.
Buck turns towards him, hand gripping his chest and eyes wide, as he whisper-screams, “What the fuck!” When he registers it’s Eddie standing in the doorway, his hand drops away and his eyes turn to daggers. “Not cool man, not cool,” he says as Chris points and laughs at Buck. He crosses his arms over his chest and his face settles into a deep pout, his lip jutting out in a way that makes Eddie want to grab him by his shirt and kiss him. And, oh.
Oh. That’s new.
Granted, Eddie probably should have seen this one coming. He has already experienced the constant craving for physical contact, relishing in the light brush of their arms as he and Buck walk side by side, soaking in the feeling of his thumb resting on the junction of Buck’s collarbone where his pulse point lies. He was always able to excuse the thrum in his chest at the small displays of affection as adoration for his best friend, but this feeling goes beyond it. Now that Eddie’s felt it, he knows there’s no going back. The idea should scare him, he thinks, but he can’t find it in himself to feel anything but the shining light Buck brings to his heart. He also knows he has to take this realization to the grave, because he’ll never live down mentally waxing poetic over Buck’s Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay.
“Alright King of FNAF, hand it over,” Chris says, wriggling the controller from Buck’s grasp. He starts up a new game, still chuckling at Buck’s fear. The all too familiar “Hello, hello, hello,” of the opening phone call begins before Chris silences the call, mumbling “Yeah, we get it,” as he opens the cameras.
Eddie realizes two things in that moment: he’s still staring at Buck, and Buck is staring back at him. Buck’s head is tilted to the side, his brows furrowed in the same concentration he’d just used on Freddy Fazbear, eyes searching. Eddie can’t resist the chuckle the thought brings, breaking the staring contest as he steps away from the archway. He settles on the couch next to Buck, knocking their knees together with a grin as he sits. Buck pushes his leg flush against him, looping his ankle over Eddie’s. Buck turns his attention back to Chris’s gameplay, and Eddie tries to focus on the screen as his heart continues to do flips in his chest.
“Thought you were too much of a scaredy cat for this one,” Buck whispers, angling his head towards Eddie’s ear. Eddie just barely represses the shiver down his spine at the words, fully prepared to blame the motion on Freddy Fazbear’s stupid ass har-har. Part of him thinks he should feel ridiculous for the sudden intensity of his reactions to Buck, but he can’t find it in himself to care. When Eddie turns to roll his eyes at Buck, he has a lazy smirk on his face.
“I’ve been to war, yknow,” Eddie says.
“Yeah, and the one time you played, you said this was worse,” Chris butts in, eyes still glued to the screen. Buck snorts, his smirk only growing.
“You think Five Nights at Freddy’s is worse than war?” Buck asks.
“Suddenly I think it’s time for Chris to go to sleep,” Eddie says, laughing at the loud groan from Chris’s side of the couch. Chris begins to turn towards Eddie, certainly with another sassy remark, as Chica appears in the doorway. Before Chris can react, the telltale scream of those goddamn animatronics rings out. The three of them jump at the noise, Eddie instinctively leaning towards Buck. Buck’s arm comes around his shoulder, pulling him closer. Eddie’s pulse begins to race for entirely separate reasons, and he feels heat rising in his cheeks. For fuck’s sake, he thinks.
“I think that was karma, but I’m not sure who it was for,” Buck says with a chuckle. He doesn’t pull his arm away, and Eddie couldn’t imagine moving now.
“Eh, Dad’s right,” Chris says. “I’m getting tired anyway, and I’d like my dreams to be about something other than getting stuffed into an animatronic suit.” Chris turns off the game and stands, handing the TV remote to Buck. “Make sure Dad doesn’t have nightmares, will you?” He says to Buck, smirking as his father huffs at him.
“I am 32 years old, I do not have nightmares about Freddy Fazbear,” Eddie says unconvincingly.
“Notice how nobody specified Freddy Fazbear,” Chris says, pointing at his dad. He smiles widely, surely proud of the ribbing he’s given his father this evening. “Alright, I’m going to sleep. Goodnight, love you guys. Sleep tight, don’t let the animatronics bite!”
“Love you too, even if you’re evil!” Eddie calls after him as he enters his room, the responding giggle audible from down the hall. Buck smiles, failing to hide his own giggles as he looks for something worthwhile on the TV this late at night. He settles on a nature documentary about sharks, the closed captions already on from their last midnight binge. He still hasn’t moved his arm away from Eddie’s shoulder. As the two settle into silence, he begins tracing shapes into Eddie’s upper arm. Eddie thinks he might explode.
The two sit in comfortable silence for a while, the documentary informing them of the friendliness of nurse sharks. Eddie breaks the silence, keeping his eyes on the screen as he speaks. “So did Chris wake you to play video games with him?”
Buck lets out a small huff of laughter. “Honestly, it was my idea. I promised him we could play after you went to sleep so you wouldn’t have to suffer.” Eddie squaks in offense, knocking his shoulder into Buck’s side. Buck laughs, continuing, “Obviously we were not as sneaky as planned.”
“There’s worse things to wake to than my two favorite people having fun,” Eddie says softly, the implication of the sentence feeling heavier than it has before. Buck squeezes his shoulder and then resumes his tracing. The shapes start to feel more uniform, but Eddie can’t exactly place them for the moment.
“You’re my favorite people too,” Buck says sheepishly. Eddie smiles and, feeling brave, leans his head onto Buck’s shoulder. The tracing stutters, and Eddie freezes, terrified he’s overstepped, before it resumes, the same lazy pattern over and over. Eddie realizes suddenly that Buck is tracing hearts on his arm and feels his chest tighten.
“We know,” Eddie says, pulling back slightly to smile up at Buck. Buck looks down at him with a soft smile in return, his eyes flickering over Eddie’s eyes, his cheeks, landing on his lips for just a second before they come back up. Eddie’s pulse thrums as he holds the eye contact, the sweet smile not leaving either of their faces.
“Not sure you do,” Buck whispers into the small space between them. Eddie feels like they’re the only two people in the world, the sound of the television completely lost to the roaring in his ears as they sit in this space together. The brave feeling in his chest grows, and he can’t say he’s really shocked by how easy this feels. It’s Buck after all. His eyes flicker down to Buck’s lips, lingering meaningfully for a moment before he meets Buck’s eyes again.
“Show me then,” Eddie whispers, hope exploding in his chest. Buck’s eyes grow wide, and for a horrible second, Eddie begins to think he’s misread everything. But then, Buck is leaning in, pausing for a second at their noses touch. Eddie feels like there’s a magnet betwen them pulling him closer, and he closes the gap between them. They kiss softly, and Eddie feels like he’s coming home. He brings his hand up, cupping Buck’s face as they kiss, the hand wrapped around his own shoulder slipping to his waist. The kiss stays soft, but it’s firm and strong, like the love he feels for the man pressed against him. When they pull away, his hand migrates a little higher, thumb brushing over Buck’s birthmark. There’s barely any space between them, their breath mingling as they look into each other’s eyes. “I love you,” Eddie confesses, the words feeling more natural than anything else ever has before.
“I love you too,” Buck says, leaning in for another chaste kiss. When he pulls away, his eyes are shining as bright as Eddie’s chest feels.
Eddie tilts his head up, kissing Buck’s birthmark. “I love you,” he says, kissing Buck’s cheek. “I love you.” He kisses his nose. “I love you.” He kisses the other cheek. “I love you,” he says, kissing the crinkle next to each of Buck’s eyes as the smile on his face grows, large enough to crack his face in two. “I love you,” Eddie says, one last time, touching his nose to Buck’s, “so much.”
“Alright showoff,” Buck says, his smile betraying his tone.
“I had to,” Eddie states plainly, a small smirk on his lips.
“I know you did,” Buck says, bumping his nose, the hand on his waist resuming its previous duty of tracing hearts into Eddie’s skin. “If I knew all it would take was my fantastic Freddy Fazbear defense skills, I would’ve been playing this game on your couch every day,” he says, his smile turning teasing.
“Oh, shut up,” Eddie says, hiding his face in Buck’s neck in embarrassment.
Buck giggles, then morphs his laugh into the distinct har-har of that stupid goddamn bear. Eddie scoffs, pulling away from Buck’s neck to give him a look.
“I can’t stand you,” Eddie says, not meaning it even slightly.
“Good thing you’re sitting down,” Buck says cheekily, poking Eddie in the ribs. Eddie squirms and groans at the horrible joke.
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Eddie says lightly, pointer finger stabbing Buck’s chest.
“Yeah,” Buck says, eyes locked on Eddie’s, love pouring right out of them, “I am.”