Archive of Our Own ^beta

Once upon a time, Christopher Diaz said, “I need money.”

Which is becoming a more common phrase month over month, it seems. 

Eddie certainly didn’t have an allowance like this when he was a kid. But he supposes he also had fewer expenses. Even a bag of Cheetos costs like ten times as much as it used to. And, back in Eddie’s day, a hot new video game would come out, what? Every few years? Now, it’s more like every month. And what’s up with spending real money in those games? Call Eddie old-fashioned, but once you buy a game, you shouldn’t have to give it any more real life money. What the fuck are V-Bucks? Robux? What are skins? Why do you need to buy them? Can’t you unlock them by, you know, playing the game, not paying it? 

Apparently, that was not how entertainment worked for the youths anymore.

So, every once in a while, Chris would put on those puppy dog eyes he totally inherited from Eddie himself and beg his dad to give him an advance on his allowance. And Eddie does say no! A lot of the time! Okay! He swears! But how can he always say no to that cute face? How can he always say no when Christopher threatens that if he doesn’t renew his Battle Pass (what the fuck is that?) he would fade into unpopularity amongst his friends and become a recluse and die alone and Eddie would be the only one to attend his funeral? ‘Dad, you wouldn’t want that? Would you?’

Eddie is confident Chris knows that his friends are his friends because they like him, not just because he has the latest trendy Emote (huh?). But it doesn’t hurt to let him splurge every once in a while so he can be all caught up with his peers.

“What is it this time? More Roblobs?” Eddie asks from behind his newspaper, acting like the sassy technophobe father Chris always tells him he is.

“They're called Robux, Dad,” Chris sighs back just as sassily. Like father, like son.

Eddie rolls his eyes fondly. “Fine. How much do you need from your dear old dad?”

“I don’t need Robux–”

“Christopher Diaz doesn’t need more Roblobs? It’s a miracle!” Eddie interrupts, dropping his newspaper to the table.

“Daaaaad,” Chris tries not to laugh, scrunching his face up into a glare. “I’m not gonna unpack my lunch if you keep making fun of me.”

“Sorry, sorry. Go ahead,” Eddie pretends to read the newspaper again, just using it as a cover to hide his smile as he watches his son unpack his lunch box without even having to be told.

“It’s Lia’s birthday in a couple weeks.”

“Who?”

“From my class, duh. She has blonde hair, she’s kinda tall, her mom’s name is, like, Nancy, or something.”

“Ohhh, yes. Lia dressed up as Elsa for Halloween, right? And she has a sister named Hannah?”

“How do you know that?” Chris scowls as he rinses out his sandwich container.

“Nancy is on PTA with me. She’s always talking about Lia and Hannah.”

“Do you always talk about me?” 

“Of course, mijo! I love talking about y–”

“Daaaad! That’s embarrassing!”

“You want my money or not?”

Chris pipes down. 

“Okay, so. Write down a list of gift ideas. We can go out this weekend to find her something.”

“Thanks Dad!” Chris beams. He puts his empty lunch bag down and makes his way to the couch.

“When’s Lia’s party?” Eddie calls out into the living room.

“Next Saturday! At, like, 3!” Chris yells back, “it’s Disney princess themed!”

Eddie scribbles on his day calendar.

‘Princess Party @ 3’.

“Nice weather, huh?” Hen nudges Eddie’s shoulder in Nancy Fowler’s backyard two weeks later.

“Yeah,” Eddie smiles. It is nice weather. Nice and warm but not too hot. Cool enough that all the girls can run around and do crafts in their Disney Princess dresses. A few of the boys in the class dressed up too. The most Chris had at home to wear was a crown from his dress-up bin. But even that was discarded long ago, way before the second half of the party began.

It started in the house, gathering presents and playing games and having snacks. Soon, however, the party moved outside. There’s an art table and a princess castle bouncy house. There’s a cake with one of those Barbies in the middle that makes the cake look like a dress. But, really, the stars of the show are the princesses.

No, not the teeny tiny ones. The real ones.

Well, not real, exactly. They’re actors hired to attend. But not all the kids know that, or they can at least suspend some disbelief.

Chris, being a bit older than most of the kids there, isn’t terribly interested in talking or playing with the princesses. He’s in the sandbox with a few of his friends, making castles and playing with Disney character figurines.

“Awe, look at them,” Hen pouts at the image, Denny and Chris having so much fun together with their classmates.

“They’re the best,” Karen comes up behind Hen, kissing her on the cheek. Eddie pretends to hate the PDA but it is actually incredibly cute. He can’t lie. “What’s Chris’ favourite Disney princess?” Karen asks.

“Um,” Eddie pauses, “I’m not sure. Maybe Rapunzel? He likes the lizard, I think.”

“It’s actually a chameleon,” Hen adds.

“Which is a type of lizard, no?” Eddie chuckles back.

“My favourite is Ariel,” Karen smiles.

“I like Jasmine,” Hen follows, nodding over to one of the princess actors by the bouncy castle.

Wow. Yeah. She’s pretty. Eddie is a newly out gay man, but. Yeah. He can still appreciate that she’s absolutely gorgeous.

“Don’t go getting any ideas, babe,” Karen teases her. Hen waves her off, as if anyone could be any sort of competition to her wife. “What about you, Eddie?”

“Oh, well. I’ve never really thought about it,” Eddie laughs, leaning back against the fence. “My sisters liked Belle and Pocahontas when I was growing up. I never really paid much attention to them though. I kinda liked the princes more.”

Hen cackles. “Surprise, surprise, Diaz. I wonder why that is.”

“Hey! I don’t even know if it was a gay thing! The princes were just, they were cool, y’know? All chivalrous and stuff.”

“I’m not even going to unpack all of that–”

“Which prince was your favourite then?” Karen interrupts.

Eddie thinks for a moment. He can’t even come up with most of their names. Eric… Aladdin… the… Beast? Was that his name? Just… Beast? Or did he have a real name? Eddie isn’t sure. He cycles through the princesses in his head, trying to visualize their partners and how he would always pretend to be playing by himself in the basement whenever his sisters had a Disney Princess movie on, just so he could sneak a peek. They’re cool movies, okay? But there was no way he would let his sisters know he thought that. 

He would do homework or play with his Hot Wheels in the basement while his sisters watched something on the CRT monitor after school. And if he glanced at the TV once or twice when a prince came on screen? That was his secret.

What’s, like, the main guy’s name? There’s like that quintessential Disney Prince that everyone knows. The chivalrous guy! Prince… Charming! Prince Charming. He was always cute– he means cool. He was always cool.

“Prince Charming, probably. Is that a basic answer?”

“No,” Karen hums. “The classics are classics for a reason. They’re good options. I gotta say though, the Prince Charming here isn’t incredibly accurate.”

“The huh?” Eddie coughs.

“The Prince Charming actor. He’s blond. Maybe there’s been a blond Prince Charming before? Still cute, but. Pretty sure Prince Charming had dark hair.”

Oh, wait. There’s a Prince actor here too? Why hasn’t Eddie seen him yet?

“Where?” Eddie asks, trying to seem all nonchalant about it. “Not that I care, I just, I’m curious.”

Hen rolls her eyes with a smile. “There,” she points to the craft table.

There’s this big guy—he’s gotta be, like, 6’3”—sitting in a little plastic chair, hunched over with his knees practically to his chest, helping a girl cover something in glitter.

He is blond… kinda. More of a dirty-blond, light brownish colour. But Eddie’s not nitpicking. Prince Charming over there is gorgeous. That’s the main thing Eddie’s focused on. A cute face with beautiful eyes and a fittingly charming smile.

He has the whole prince getup on, a fancy light coloured suit with a red collar and white gloves, a gilded belt, and shiny tassels on the shoulders. His hair—that pretty, golden hair—is wonderfully coiffed. There’s not a thing about this guy that isn’t perfect. Even the smear of what Eddie guesses is stray pink fingerpaint by his eyebrow looks perfect somehow.

Eddie’s not really one to ogle—before his realization about his sexuality or after. But there’s something about Prince Charming over there that just draws him in. Is love at first sight really a thing? Is he in a fairytale?

“–dmundo! Earth to Edmundo!” Eddie spaces back into the conversation to hear Karen giggle.

Eddie clears his throat and buries his face in his solo cup of fruit punch without saying a word.

“He has a crush on the Prince, doesn’t he?” Hen stage-whispers to her wife.

“I think he does,” Karen’s still giggling. “Eddie?”

“Whatever. Yeah, sure. He’s cute. I guess.” Eddie shrugs as his eyes inevitably drift back to the Prince.

It’s at that very moment Prince Charming’s craft time is ending and the little girl is tugging him across the backyard to engage in something else. As he gets up, Prince Charming stretches his back out and rolls his neck. He glances around the yard, taking in how the party is going since he was last unoccupied.

And of course he has to end up making direct eye contact with Eddie. Of course he did.

Eddie immediately averts his gaze and spins around. He tries to play it off cool, though, and looks around aimlessly at the trees as Hen laughs at him.

“Oh, you are so gay.”

“Shut up,” Eddie grumbles, resting his head against Hen’s shoulder in defeat. He hasn’t felt like this since… ever? Maybe it feels a little bit like when his elementary school would have assemblies and be addressed by Jayce McConnell, the junior class president (who was four years older and had spiky boy-band hair and rode his skateboard to school). 

But Eddie couldn’t exactly identify the source or type of those feelings back then. And it wasn’t really the same.

The feelings he has now are explicitly big gay feelings. He definitely feels big gay things for blondish Prince Charming. No doubt about it. 

But. Whatever. Honestly. It’s not like he’s going to act on them. He’s not gonna hit on the hired entertainment for his son’s friend’s 6th birthday party. And it’s not like he’s ever going to see him again. Prince Charming here is just one of those hot strangers you can imagine your life with for a fleeting second before they disappear.

A few weeks pass as Eddie mourns the loss of Prince Charming. 

Do images of that smile drift into his mind at the most inopportune moments? Yeah.

Does he practically force Chris to watch the original Cinderella movie, only to be abandoned by his son halfway through and still finish the movie himself? Yeah.

But. Eddie’s over Prince Charming, okay? Maybe he just needs to watch Star Wars again and his next nostalgia crush on Luke Skywalker can distract him from whatever has been going on in his brain lately.

Except, the more Eddie tries to convince himself it’s nothing, the more Eddie can’t stop thinking about Prince Charming.

And now he’s scheming.

The day before the next PTA meeting, Eddie whips out his phone in between calls at work.

27 hours later

Eddie blushes and flips his phone upside down next to him. God. He hasn’t had a crush in so long. He doesn’t even know this guy.

Maybe Prince Charming is secretly an awful person and he only works with kids because all people with fully developed brains despise him.

Maybe he’s sleazy and rude and selfish and would be a horrible partner and an even worse kisser.

Maybe his favourite genre of music is EDM.

He could be so incredibly flawed and still, Eddie isn’t sure his crush would go away.

He didn’t get to have this rush of juvenile feelings that all his friends got in school. He always wondered if what he felt for Shannon was the pinnacle of attraction. Because surely love , this thing that almost everyone constantly craves, couldn't feel so… lukewarm.

As he got older, he learned he was right. What he felt for Shannon was fun and comfortable and she really was his best friend. But it wasn’t a carnal magnetism. And Eddie’s almost sure that’s how he would feel about Prince Charming, if given the chance.

It’s out of his hands now anyway.

Prince Charming might not even work the party. There might not be Disney characters at all. There might not even be any actors present. 

He just has to wait and see what happens.

That’s what fate is all about, isn’t it?

“Don’t you look snazzy?” Karen teases Eddie when he drops Chris off at Shayna’s party. “Sticking around to help with cleanup?”

Eddie blushes again. He’s been doing that a lot lately.

“Eh, y’know. Might as well,” he shoves his hands in his pockets. The pockets of his favourite jeans paired with his favourite Henley. Both ironed. Eddie can’t even remember the last time he used his ironing board before this.

Karen pulls a knowing face at him, but doesn’t say anything. Her eyes do all the talking anyway.

“Is he here?”

“Is who here, Eddie?” Hen joins the group of parents in the living room, watching as the kids play outside. 

“You know who, okay?” Eddie’s not in the mood for more teasing.

“I’m not sure I do,” Hen is the worst.

Eddie sighs.

“Is Prince Charming here?” he mumbles.

“Sorry, what was that?” Karen puts her hand up to her ear comically. “I think you need to speak up.”

“Just– Karen– is he here?”

Karen gives in. “I honestly don’t know. Why don’t you go check?” She and her wife give Eddie a little push out onto the patio. When Eddie turns around to scold them about it, they’re gone.

Great.

Whatever. Eddie’s already seen some actors around that he vaguely recognizes from the previous party. Maybe Prince Charming really is here.

He takes a deep breath—and probably looks super odd in front of all the other parents—before he turns back around to casually scan the cr– oof!

“Oh, I am so sorry!” 

Eddie’s just about to make a passive-aggressive ‘watch where you’re going’ statement to the owner of that gorgeous voice who just bumped into him and smeared chocolate cake on his nice shirt. But the words are ripped straight off his vocal cords when he looks up at the perpetrator.

It’s him. It’s Prince Charming.

And Prince Charming does indeed look genuinely sorry, trying to scrape the biggest glob of icing off of Eddie’s shoulder. “I should watch where I’m going more, sorry about that.”

With a voice like that and a touch so gentle, Eddie would let him get away with anything, no apology necessary.

Not that Prince Charming needs to know.

“All good, uh, don’t worry about it, I’m, um, really, I’m fine,” Eddie manages to piece together enough words to communicate like a human person. He reaches to brush some of the cake crumbs off his chest and feels a zing when Prince Charming goes to do the same thing, their hands touching for just a second. He looks up to meet Prince Charming’s eyes and feels the sudden urge to word vomit some more. “You’re royally forgiven–” Fuck, what is he saying? Just shut your mouth! “–Your Highness.”

Fuuuuuuck. What the fuck was that. Eddie is so utterly mortified.

Prince Charming just laughs it off like the angel he is. “Well, thank you, Sir.” He does a little curtsy and Eddie has to physically cover his mouth to stop more words from coming out.

He tries to save the action by scratching his face the way he used to when he had a beard. Thankfully, Prince Charming doesn’t see how awkwardly he does it, occupied again brushing those crumbs off Eddie’s shirt and all.

“Let me– um,” Prince Charming puts the paper plate down with all the remnants of the cake he got off of the Henley. “I can talk to the host, get you another shirt to wear, maybe, just–”

“No, no, hey. Really. It’s all good m-man,” Eddie can feel how close his voice was to cracking. Oh my God.

“Are you sure?”

Prince Charming makes direct and gentle eye contact with him. Eddie knows it’s just Prince Charming making sure he knows the question is genuine, but the mere eye contact still feels more intimate than anything he’s done in the past year.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll just–” they do an awkward back and forth shuffle as Eddie tries to head for the bathroom. When Eddie moves to the side, Prince Charming mirrors it. Again and again. “Sorry,” Eddie smiles, his cheeks going red, he has to get out of here.

Eddie makes a beeline for the patio exit over Prince Charming’s shoulder. He doesn’t even know where it leads to exactly, or why he has to go there, but he’ll figure it out when his brain comes back online.

He ends up standing by the outdoor snack table, fingers shaking as he texts Karen.

One trip to the tiny downstairs bathroom later and Eddie is good as new. Save for the splotch of water on his shoulder and his newly diminished dignity. 

He mills around with the other parents and sneaks little looks at Prince Charming when he’s facing away. His brain is all jumbled as he debates whether or not he should go make some follow-up apology or casual small talk. Would that just make it worse? Should he keep his distance? 

Yeah. This has gotten out of hand, right? Eddie’s starting to feel really creepy.

He makes a swift Irish exit and sits in his truck for a good half hour before deciding what to do. He could just wait here until he has to pick Chris up, or he could drive back home and wallow for a little while before driving back, or he could drive around the neighborhood a little and try to clear his head.

He goes for the third option. He puts some classic rock on the radio and drives around suburbia until the party comes to a close.

Chris, ever the meddler, can’t help but ask his dad why he’s so high strung on the ride home. Eddie doesn’t even know if he can articulate it.

He just needs a fresh start. A blank slate. He’s going to go home, take a nap, and have a more solid plan for the next party. Maybe go over his motives beforehand too. Does he just want to chat with Prince Charming for the endorphins it gives him? Or does he actually want to find out if Prince Charming is queer and on the market?

That night, he does what he does best. Totally not panic.

The ‘being so chill’ thing is starting to get really hard the longer Eddie goes without hearing about an upcoming birthday party.

He’s just starting to accept that maybe the cake incident was as much as he’ll ever get from Prince Charming. 

That is, until three weeks later.

“What are you guys getting for Jesse’s birthday?” Chris asks into his headset.

Eddie’s ears perk up from where he’s sorting through bills at the dining room table. It’s Chris’ turn with the TV, otherwise Eddie might put on a telenovela in the background.

He holds the papers still in his hands as he listens up like a fox in the forest. Who is Jesse? Is Chris gonna say anything more about it??

But the next thing he hears is “Footsteps on me! Footsteps on me!”

Oh, God.

“Austin! Get over here!” “I knocked him!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” “Hold on, I’ve gotta shield up!”

Footsteps. Knocked. Shield up. This must be Fortnite. Which means there’s no knowing when Chris will chat more about anything except the match.

Eddie can be patient, though. He’s not going to eavesdrop on a one-sided conversation from his son.

It takes a whole 75 minutes but Chris finally puts the controller down and says goodbye to his friends. Eddie is going to be so smooth about this.

“Sooo,” he hums as Chris heads to the kitchen for a drink. “Your friend is having a birthday party?”

Chris looks at him funny. ‘Since when is Dad so into birthday parties? He’s been insisting on mingling with the parents at every one so far. It’s weird.’

“Yeah…” Chris says as he puts the Brita back in the fridge. “My friend Jesse from school.”

Even though Eddie doesn’t recognize the name one bit, a little hope blooms in his chest. If this is a school friend, maybe he can pull more strings at PTA and get some Disney actors there through word of mouth.

It’s really not selfish if he’s just recommending a business, right? It’s not like he’s forcing a theme upon the party from afar. He’s just. Helping. In case live entertainment is something that’s wanted. The party actors have been all the talk within the party planning committee at PTA (Karen’s on it, so Eddie has an in).

And there’s no guarantee that the birthday girl would choose Disney anyway, but it seems to be an ongoing theme that Eddie is not mad about.

Jesse will follow suit, right? She would– oh, shit, wait. Why is he assuming Jesse is a girl?

“Your friend Jesse… are they a… girl?”

“Daaad!”

“No, no! I’m not teasing you! I’m just curious.”

Chris doesn’t quite look convinced. But he answers anyway, and with a great deal of the Diaz sass. “Yeah. Jesse’s a girl. Okay?”

“And what does Jesse like?” It’s a helpful question, okay? They’ve got to get her a gift, right? Eddie’s playing it sooo cool. He only crosses his fingers on one hand under the table while his mind chants ‘princesses, Disney, fairytales, please, something.’

“Hm. I dunno. She likes reading–”

Okay, okay. Eddie can work with that. It’s very possible she’s into those Disney princess books.

“–She likes movies–”

Disney princesses are known for their movies! This could actually work out.

“–She likes girls.”

And the princesses are girls! Perfect!

All Eddie has to do now is inquire with Pc Support Group about sending in the cavalry.

It seems like things are really falling into place.

Karen reported back that there’s a good chance Jesse’s party will use that same company. Eddie almost can’t believe it. He’s not gonna fuck it up this time.

He puts on his favourite jeans again, the ones that make his ass look even better than should be legal. He finds a Henley that’s maybe a little bit older, making it stretch across his recent gains from the gym. Maybe Prince Charming is straight, that’s true, but if he’s not… Eddie is almost sure he’ll be able to tell. There’s no way someone could be interested in men and not check him out a little when he looks this good, right?

He leaves his house confident. Nice cologne on his neck. Generous AMC gift certificate tucked inside a handmade card from Chris. This will be a good day.

Eddie is so utterly confused.

Things start to make sense when they arrive, Chris runs to meet his friends in the living room of Jesse’s house as Eddie takes in the decor.

Superheroes. Marvel, to be specific.

The reading? That must have meant comic books. The movies? She must like the MCU. The girls… oh, God. She likes likes girls. Chris has talked about having a gay classmate before, Eddie had no idea he meant Jesse.

Karen did her part, at least. There are actors here. But as he looks around, he sees Hawkeye, Captain America, Thor, a few others, too. But, of course, no Prince Charming. None of that gorgeous blondish hair and those unmistakable blue eyes. Awe man.

Eddie mopes in the corner with Hen and Karen.

“Lighten up, Eds!” Karen squishes his cheeks and Eddie is not having it.

“I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” Hen pouts.

“I am! Even if I didn’t talk to him today I was still excited just to see him. Isn’t that dumb? I don’t– I just don’t ever feel that way. Why does he make me feel like this? It’s fucking me up. It’s making me do things I wouldn’t normally do and I feel stupid.”

“I think that’s kinda the definition of having a crush, honey. You have a crush. It’s okay to have a crush on a stranger,” Karen pats his back.

“Not for me! I don’t have crushes! I’m a grown man!” Eddie slumps down in a lawn chair.

“Grown men can have crushes! I had the fattest crush on my wife when I met her!” Hen wraps an arm around Karen’s waist and lets her plant a kiss on her cheek. “Age doesn’t matter, okay? You’re allowed to be a grown man with a crush on another grown man.”

Eddie doesn’t even answer. Just huffs and hides his head in his hands.

Hen and Karen do genuinely feel bad for him. He looks like a kicked puppy. All because he couldn’t see his Prince Charming.

“What would make you feel better?” Karen asks, sitting down in the grass beside Eddie.

Eddie thinks for a second. Seeing Prince Charming would make him feel better! And it feels like the only thing that would. Seeing his pretty smile and his beautiful laugh while he plays with the kids. Ugh. He’s so good with kids. It’s literally his whole job to be good with kids. Eddie hates how perfect he is.

“Can I just. Can I… talk about him?” Eddie mumbles. God forbid he say something so incredibly down bad aloud.

Hen and Karen share a knowing look.

“Yes. Of course you can. Tell me about him.” Karen pulls a hand away from Eddie’s face and holds it in both of her own hands.

“He’s just– I know I don’t know him. Okay? And I know I’ve only talked to him once. But he’s just– he’s so fucking pretty and it makes my heart, like, do things. I’ve never been so drawn to a stranger. It’s scary.”

“Don’t think about the scary things. What are the good things?”

“His eyes,” Eddie says immediately. Maybe too fast. “And I’m pretty sure it’s actually a birthmark around his eyebrow. His whole face is just– I didn’t think people like that existed in real life.”

“People like what?”

“People that beautiful. It’s– it makes me– fuck.”

“So you just think he’s hot? That’s it?” Hen shares another look with Karen. She’s fishing. And it’s gonna make Eddie just light up, talking about how great Prince Charming is.

“No! He’s so nice too. I mean, you’ve seen him with the kids. You’ve seen him with me. He’s just so… good. At everything. I tried to look him up on the company website or something to figure out what else he does with his time, but they didn’t have any information about the employees. It’s pathetic, I know,” Eddie laughs. “I’m pathetic. I just like him so much. And I know that maybe he’s taken, or maybe he’s straight, or maybe he’s taken and straight. But I’m just begging the universe that there’s no one else waiting on him.”

“The universe? Thought you didn’t believe in the universe,” Hen smirks.

“Well, yeah. I– I don’t. But he’s just– I’m so– I'm crushing on him with all that I am.”

Eddie continues to wax on and on about Prince Charming and what he must be like as a person. And how hot he would look in an outfit that shows off his arms. And how maybe he should ask Prince Charming to be gym buddies—that’s a normal thing to ask, right? Like, it doesn’t have to be a gay thing. He just wants to be with Prince Charming in any capacity outside his son’s classmates’ houses.

The three of them will go a little while without any Prince Charming talk and then Eddie will go “Oh, oh! Also!” and add something onto the never-ending list of reasons why Prince Charming deserves to be crushed on.

“His lips, oh my God. I really do my best to keep my daydreams about him PG, but, fuck.”

“Eddie–” Karen tries to interrupt.

“But it’s not just that, y’know? I wanna kiss him. Ugh, I wanna kiss him so bad–”

“Eddie–” Hen tries this time.

“What’s that thing with the princes about true love’s kiss? I’ll give it to him, I swear to God. Just one chance–”

“Eddie!” Karen finally gets him to stop talking.

“Hm?” Eddie snaps out of whatever word vomit he was producing. He kinda forgot he was speaking to other people, to be honest.

Hen points behind Eddie and he slowly turns around.

And is faced with… Spiderman?

Just. Standing there.

Eddie suddenly feels the need to apologize. Subjecting Hen and Karen to his bullshit is fine. Subjecting strangers at a party to it? That’s not as cool. He realizes he totally wasn’t mindful of his volume. Oops.

“Sorry about that, um. I was just– can I help you?”

Spiderman, even through the mask somehow, looks confused for a second.

And then he chuckles.

Oh. Oh no. No no no. That laugh.

Spiderman pulls his mask down over his face and fuck.

It’s him. This is just Eddie’s luck. 

Of course Prince Charming could work parties dressed as someone other than Prince Charming. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

For the first time today, Eddie is at a loss for words. He’s been spouting about Prince Charming all day, but now that he's faced with him, no words are coming out. At least no coherent ones.

“I’m– oh my God. I’m so. I’m so Eddie– I mean! I’m so sorry. And I’m Eddie. Two separate things that I am. I’m sorry and I’m also Eddie. My name is Eddie. And I’m so sorry you heard that. I didn’t mean to–”

“Eddie,” all Prince Charming has to do is say his name once and Eddie shuts up. It sounds so good when he says it. No one has ever sounded so beautiful saying his name before.

He’s expecting Prince Charming to say something else. But he doesn’t. He just takes one of Eddie's hands and places something in his palm.

All Eddie can focus on is how intimate it is. They’re practically holding hands. Prince Charming just said his name and now Prince Charming is touching him. Fuck.

Prince Charming closes Eddie’s hand around what he’s just given him. Eddie has no clue what it is, his eyes trained on Prince Charming’s gorgeous face and shining hair—all curly and floppy from being under the Spiderman mask.

Then Prince Charming meets his eyes again.

Then Prince Charming smiles and walks away.

What. The fuck. Was that.

Stunned, Eddie watches him until he’s completely out of sight. When he turns around to face Hen and Karen, all three of them have their jaws dropped.

The first one to break the silence is Karen. “Eddie! Eddie, oh my God! Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!”

Hen shushes her a little. Volume control is not Karen’s thing either, apparently.

Eddie just has to laugh a little. He’s so fucked.

He slowly opens his hand, like there’s something dangerous inside. All there is, however, is a folded-up cupcake wrapper. Huh?

He unfolds it to inspect and ends up getting crumbs on his hands. It’s from a chocolate cupcake, of course, because the world is just cruel like that.

If he had a nickel for every time Prince Charming covered him in chocolate cake crumbs…

Whatever.

Why did he give this to him anyway?

He flips it over and– oh.

Oh.

Written in glittery red gel pen, a message reads: “323-555-8369. you’re right btw. it is a birthmark”

Eddie is rendered speechless for the second time in the matter of a mere half-minute.

“What! What is it!” Karen squeals.

Dumbfounded, Eddie hands the wrapper over for her to take a look.

“Oh my God! You got his phone nu– Wait! You mentioned the birthmark like an hour ago! He was eavesdropping the whole time!? Eddie!”

“Oh, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.”

“No, it’s a good thing! He heard it all and he still wanted to give you his number!” Hen takes the wrapper from Karen to look at it herself.

“Yeah, so I text him and then he can cuss me out for being a creep,” Eddie starts to pace.

“He likes you, Eddie!” Karen takes the paper back and hands it to Eddie again. “Text him!”

“Right now?”

“Just– put him in your phone right now in case you lose that.”

Eddie scoffs. As if he would ever lose the only tangible thing Prince Charming has ever given to him. This is a historical artifact now.

But Karen is right. He should put Prince Charming in his phone right away.

He fumbles for his phone while he holds it up straight in front of his face likes he’s taking a cheesy dad selfie, trying to get Face ID to go through despite his shaking and sweating hands. Fuck. He hopes it wasn’t so bad when Prince Charming was touching him.

Eddie immediately opens his contacts. He starts putting in the information, double, triple, quadruple checking that the number is right. 

He has to put in a name now.

Fuck.

Did he even write his name? Eddie flips the wrapper over and over, searching for a name that isn’t there.

Oh, this is so embarrassing.

Fine. He knows what he has to put.

First name, Prince.

Last name, Charming.

Eddie just. Doesn’t know what to do.

Does he text him? What would he even say? Isn’t there some rule about waiting three days after someone gives you their number?

He goes back and forth in the Pc Support Group chat about what to do, begging his lesbian guardian angels for advice. He gets mixed reactions. Karen thinks he should just go for it but Hen thinks he should play it cool and wait a little.

Eddie ends up spending the next full day crafting a first message, it looks like he might make it to the three day rule purely due to anxiety. It’s hard to draft a perfect text, okay? And this text does have to be perfect. A text fit for a Prince.

Hello, it’s–

Is ‘Hello’ too formal? Backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace.

Hey, it’s Eddie from–

Would Prince Charming even remember or recognize his name? Backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace.

Hey, it’s the guy you gave your number to–

Is he even the only man Prince Charming has given his number to at one of those parties? Backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace.

Hey. You gave me your number on a cupcake wrapper after I made a fool of myself at the party on Saturday. It’s Eddie–

Is that too straightforward and boring? Should he do a pickup line? Backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace.

Hey, handsome. Are you Spiderman? Because your web shooter–

No. Just, no. Backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace.

Simple but cute but casual but thoughtful but engaging. C’mon Diaz. You can do it.

Eddie closes his eyes and pictures Prince Charming. What would he say if they were in person? Probably something about how gorgeous he is. Is that weird? Ugh.

Finally, after an hour-long call with Karen and a couple of beers to release some inhibitions, Eddie decided he just has to go for it. 

He’s about to add on another message, something about his birthmark, carrying on their mini conversation from the cupcake wrapper. But he doesn’t get a chance to.

Oh, holy fuck. That was immediate. He was ready. And a winky face? How is Prince Charming making him blush harder than anyone else has, and with just some punctuation marks?

Shit. What does he say now? Prince Charming obviously knows he’s on his phone, Eddie can’t pretend he didn’t see it, he has to respond.

It’s safe to say Eddie has never felt so many butterflies from just a text conversation.

And they’re not just normal butterflies either. It’s like he did something to personally offend these butterflies because the way they are attacking his stomach is inhumane (inbutterflyane?). He’s never felt so… fuzzy after half an hour of exchanged texts. Like his ears are ringing but in a good way? Like he’s weightless and yet incredibly grounded at the same time?

He wishes he could show little Eddie, playing with his Hot Wheels and calling his sisters’ movies dumb as a defence mechanism, that one day he’ll know himself. He won’t be afraid of the word gay—in fact, he loves it. He won’t have to hide who he likes in movies or in real life. He'll get to be wooed by a prince one day. Not a real prince, sure, but a beautiful man all the same, inside and out.

And Eddie does.

Whenever Prince Charming says something that makes him swoon, he texts the group chat about it.

He said he misses my eyes.

He started calling me princess as a joke but I don’t think it’s a joke anymore.

He sends me voice messages of him saying goodnight.

All of it definitely falls under the wooing category. Prince Charming is doing a great job there.

They talk practically every day for two weeks, but two topics of conversation are still yet to come up. And it’s driving Eddie a little crazy.

He still doesn’t know Prince Charming’s real name, for one. Any time Eddie brings it up, Prince Charming just says ‘be patient, princess’ and it shuts Eddie right up, giving him a full-body blush no matter what.

The second thing, however. The second thing is really what’s making Eddie go loopy—their chats have been entirely, well, family friendly. 

Don’t get him wrong, Eddie could chat with Prince Charming forever, regardless of the topic, but they’re just teetering on the line of plausible deniability so far. Technically, they could just be very affectionate bros. But it feels like they both know that’s not true.

Everything about the subtext of their conversations points to the fact that Prince Charming wants to take him out. To kiss him. To touch him. To tell him he’s loved and vice versa. It’s just not explicit. Which is the part that’s driving Eddie mad. It’s fucking with him. They’re on the precipice of something.

It’s not just Eddie that it’s driving mad. It’s all of A-shift, really.

Eddie will randomly slam his phone facedown on the table at work and take a lap around the kitchen. He’ll drop his phone to his chest and start doing breathing exercises in the bunk room when everyone else is trying to sleep.

He feels like he might explode if he doesn’t see Prince Charming again soon.

The only moments of solace A-shift really gets are when the bell rings. Everyone piles into the truck and can be confident in the fact that Eddie won’t be dealing with Prince Charming related anxiety for a good while.

“Isn’t that near your place?” Hen asks Eddie as they’re getting in the truck this time.

Eddie pauses for a moment to listen to the address being read out over the intercom from dispatch. But the broadcast is soon interrupted by their captain coming in through their headsets.

“Eddie, Ravi, you two focus on getting patients out of the house. We’re told it’s a small kitchen fire but there’s gonna be a lot of people on the premises.”

“How many?” Ravi asks.

“Not sure, dispatch only said it was a party. The host is safe and on the phone with Josh trying to get a number for us.”

Ravi sighs. “A party house? Jeez, gonna give me college flashbacks.”

“No way you were a party boy,” Chimney scoffs.

“I so was!” Ravi laughs. “I used to be wild, I’m telling you. Your brother really straightened me out.”

“Nothing you do with my brother is straight–”

“You don’t need to tell me,” Ravi only barely stops himself from winking. Chimney would have killed him.

“I regret setting you two up,” Chim grumbles.

“No, you don’t.”

Chim gives a big, long sigh.

“……No. I don’t.”

By the time they arrive at the scene, the house seems to be all cleared out, really.

And how do they know? Because the front yard is filled with… little kids…?

Oh. It’s not that kind of party.

Eddie’s heart has a Pavlovian response just being on the premises of a kids’ party, skipping a beat and then thumping faster in his chest. He sees one rainbow ‘Happy Birthday’ banner and his stupid gay body is already preparing to see Prince Charming—someone who is almost definitely not even here, right?

Hen gives him a knowing smile as she sets up the little triage area and Eddie wishes smacking your coworkers was an acceptable thing to do in public. 

They do a sweep of the house to make sure there are no enduring flames while Bobby chats with the host. When they meet up outside to reconvene, the priority of the call is shifted. They just need to check over any guests who need any form of medical attention and then get on their way.

“Chim and Ravi, you focus on the kids. Hen, you’ll do the adults. And Eddie, I want you to check up on the knight in shining armour.”

“The what?” Eddie asks, looking between Bobby and the host.

“As soon as the fire started he kinda just kicked into high gear! Got all the little ones out of the kitchen and grabbed my fire extinguisher and kinda took charge of the whole thing,” the host explains. “It was kinda hot,” she blushes as she laughs under her breath.

Um. Okay. That still doesn’t quite give Eddie enough information. “Who?”

“Him,” the host points over Eddie’s shoulder.

Eddie turns around to catch sight of a group huddled by the driveway of the house. Whoever this is, he has a whole posse surrounding him.

So, off to mystery man Eddie goes.

As he draws near, he can hear a sound he knows all too well. Horny PTA Moms. There’s just. There’s something so specific about it. The lilt. The laugh. The lingo. It’s a sound Eddie wishes he was less familiar with, but the handsome-single-dad-firefighter combo is catnip to suburban moms with boring marriages.

And the knight in shining armour thing seems to do the trick, too, considering the amount of attention this guy is getting.

Well. Too bad, ladies. Because now this handsome-single-dad-firefighter needs to give him some medical attention.

Eddie takes a deep breath in and out, readying himself to enter the situati-

“No, no, really! It’s in my contract to keep the kids safe! Just doing my job, Marleen!”

Eddie would recognize that voice anywhere. Prince. Fucking. Charming.

Of course Eddie had to be called to this scene. Of course Prince Charming had to save the day. Of course Prince Charming is irresistible to moms.

Is Eddie jealous? No, no, nonono, no, nono, no, no, nonono. Not at all. He totally isn’t feeling the urge to fight these women off with a stick. He just doesn’t like the way they’re fawning over Prince Charming. Like he’s a piece of meat. Like they have a chance in the world with him. Something about it makes his chest burn.

Is Prince Charming his? No. But. But. But… He kinda is? He’s his patient right now, at least.

Exactly. He’s his patient. Eddie has a job to do. It’s not his fault he’s gonna have to push these moms around a little. It’s quite literally his job. He’s getting paid for this. It’s his duty to fight off horny PTA moms.

“Oh, you are just so sweet, aren’t you?” Someone—not Marleen—says, putting a hand on Prince Charming’s bicep. “Let me get you a coffee sometime!”

Someone else—still not Marleen—jumps in, hand quickly taking up some space on Prince Charming’s other arm. “No! I mean– I can, sir. I actually own a cafe, so–”

“But that’s so far away, silly. I can take you in for some coffee! I live just a block away,” still still not Marleen says. How many women are there? And how do they all have a hand on Prince Charming?

That’s more than enough. Really.

Eddie clears his throat. 

Nothing happens.

Again, a little louder.

Nothing happens.

He does it again, much louder, the way he does when Chris has his headphones on. And finally, Prince Charming looks over. Which means all the women‘s gazes immediately follow.

Eddie’s heart skips a beat again when it’s immediately obvious, just from those pretty blue eyes, how surprised and relieved Prince Charming is to see him.

“‘Scuse me, sorry, I’ve gotta take Prince Charming off your hands now,” Eddie grabs Prince Charming by the shoulders and all but yanks him away from the group, passive aggressive smile and nose scrunch on full display to them.

Eddie’s just now realizing this is the first time he’s ever really touched Prince Charming. Yes, Prince Charming has touched him extremely briefly, but that’s not the same. He coughs and lets go of Prince Charming as soon as they’re a decent distance away from the group.

“Eddie–” Prince Charming starts. Oh, he sounds so pleased.

“Shut up,” Eddie blushes.

“You didn’t have to do that. I didn’t need saving, you know?” He’s so smug.

“I wasn’t saving you,” Eddie sits Prince Charming down on the back of the ambulance. “You’re my patient. I’m doing my job.”

“Oh, yeah? And what’s your job? Ripping me away from my loving fans?”

Eddie rolls his eyes. But he’s also smiling like a fool. How does Prince Charming just do things to him so easily?

“‘Loving’ is not quite the word I would use,” Eddie jokes as he shucks his turnout coat off and reaches into the ambulance for some gloves. If he kinda accidentally on purpose shoves his chest into Prince Charming’s face instead of moving to the side to reach around him, that’s Eddie’s business, thank you.

Prince Charming just bites his lip and grins, clearly enjoying the view.

Eddie expertly puts on his gloves, further mesmerizing his patient. “It’s my job to check you out.”

“Yeah, it is,” Prince Charming teases.

Eddie keeps moving. If he acknowledges that, they’re in straight up flirting territory. “I heard you swooped in and saved everybody from the big fire, huh?”

“There was no big fire, okay? Just a faulty Easy Bake Oven. It’s the mom’s, from, like, the 60’s or something. Really cool vintage stuff. And the girls loved it. Like, seriously it’s so…”

Oh, Prince Charming just lights up talking about kids. He’s so handsome. Proper name. Place name. Backstory stuff .

“…and it was still only preheating but I guess there was some sort of power surge or something because all of a sudden it got really hot and started to smell like smoke and then it just burst into flames, I swear!”

“And you put it out?”

“Well, I unplugged it first. I don’t really know if that helped. But the kids were screaming and it’s the first thing I could think to do. Then I helped Charlotte and the parents get all the kids outside so I was the only one left in the kitchen. But there was a package of birthday candles starting to catch fire beside the oven so I was like, fuck, it’s gonna keep spreading. I can’t just leave this, right? So I looked around for a fire extinguisher and I’ve only ever used one once in college but, I dunno, it was just muscle memory, I guess? I put the fire out. Easy work. Nothing crazy. But everyone’s treating me like I’m a hero or something.”

“Hey, you kinda are. You made our job a lot easier.”

Prince Charming blushes this time.

“Were you hurt at all? Got any burns?” Eddie asks, squatting down to Prince Charming’s level.

“No, no. I mean. I cut myself a little taking the pin out of the fire extinguisher, maybe.”

“Yeah, those pins can be tricky.” Eddie takes Prince Charming’s hands in his own and inspects them until he sees what he means. Just a little cut inside the second knuckle of his right index finger. He’s only just realizing this is his first time seeing Prince Charming’s bare hands. 

“What happened to those pretty white gloves you wear?” Eddie doesn’t mean for it to sound teasing—it’s a genuine question.

“Took them off for baking,” Prince Charming answers as Eddie reaches up again for a small med kit.

“Ah,” Eddie opens it up and gets out some alcohol pads, some gauze, and some medical tape. He sets them on the ledge Prince Charming’s sitting on. Now it’s time to touch him again. Okay.

It’s stupidly intimate, gently taking Prince Charming’s hand and cleaning it off for him. Softly warning ‘this is going to sting a bit’ before he washes the cut out. Intently listening as Prince Charming sucks in a short breath at the pain. Carefully tucking some gauze against his skin and wrapping the tape above and below his knuckle so the joint can still move. He’s done this hundreds of times. But never with such a heated gaze on him.

Eddie doesn’t have to glance up to know Prince Charming is eye-fucking him. The whole caretaking thing definitely does it for him. Noted.

Eddie has the urge to kiss Prince Charming’s hand when he finishes. It takes everything in him to push that desire deep down.

“Good as new,” Eddie smiles, standing up again.

Prince Charming swallows and blinks for a moment, clearly ripped from some other thoughts.

“When you told me you were a firefighter, I never anticipated–”

“Us crossing paths? Yeah. Me neither.” Eddie shuffles from foot to foot, unsure of what to do now that he’s technically completed his duty. This is when he has to let Prince Charming go again. Back to being unsure when they’ll see each other.

Prince Charming seems to be feeling the same way. He’s not budging from his place seated on the back of the ambulance.

“Oh!” Eddie exclaims, suddenly rooting around in the back of the ambulance for a clipboard. He’s so fucking smart.

“Yes?” Prince Charming responds immediately, probably thrilled to have another reason not to leave just yet.

“I still need one more thing from you.”

“And what’s that?”

“Your name,” Eddie says. “F-for the report.”

“The report?”

“The report.”

“What report?”

“The report to say I treated you, you’re happy with the treatment, you won’t sue me, blah blah blah, y’know.” Eddie looks down at his clipboard as if he’s reading from it. Hoping it’s not obvious he’s looking at a blank piece of paper.

“You have to put my name? I can’t just sign it? Can I see it?” Prince Charming reaches forward.

“No!” Eddie yanks the clipboard away. “I mean, no, you don’t have to. It’s just. Normal stuff. Run of the mill. You don’t really need to read it.”

“I don’t need to read it?” Oh, Prince Charming is definitely catching onto him.

“Well. You know. You’re not gonna sue me, right? So it doesn’t matter. I just need your name.”

“My name.”

“Your name.”

“Does it have to be my real name?”

“Yes.”

Prince Charming sits there just smiling at him.

“My name is Prince Charming.”

“Okay, c’mon, I’m serious!” Eddie chuckles at him. He’s back to being the blushing one now.

“Hey! It is! You have no proof that it’s not!”

“Can you show me some ID then, Prince Charming?”

“I don’t think you’re legally allowed to ask me for that, are you?” Prince Charming stands up, and wow, Eddie’s reminded that he’s tall. He’s so tall and hot and charming.

“I need a name for the report,” Eddie stays his ground. Keeping his feet planted even as Prince Charming walks toward him.

“Uh, huh. That report?” Prince Charming points to where Eddie’s let his arm drop, clearly showing off his blank clipboard.

Eddie just bites his lip, trying not to laugh. “Yes.”

Prince Charming smiles at him. He leans into his ear and whispers. “Next party, Eddie. I promise.”

And then he’s gone. Walking back to the yard.

Fuuuuuuuck.

Eddie’s shift ends a few hours later.

It was a manageable twenty-four hours. Nothing too crazy. He’s tired though. Really tired. Thank God D&D night is at Jorje’s house this week—Chris won’t be home until tomorrow morning.

Meaning Eddie can just nap the rest of the day away if he so chooses. Relax and dream of flirty blue eyes and messy blond curls and smiley pink lips.

When he gets up later, of course he has a text from Prince Charming waiting. Of course they were going to text about what happened. They text every night after all.

Oh. Eddie’s bedtime routine is about to get so much more interesting.

It’s now been almost four weeks since he first texted Prince Charming and if Eddie thought his crush would settle once Prince Charming was no longer this mysterious stranger, boy, was he wrong.

They just click. Through text. Through FaceTime. Through late night phone calls when Eddie has the house to himself. (Eddie never lets it go too far, though. Cutting Prince Charming off means they get to save a few things for in-person someday, hopefully soon. And the way Prince Charming whimpers ‘Eddieeee’ every time is always worth it. Prince Charming is always so good for him).

Eddie thinks they’re reaching a new precipice. A label, maybe?

It’s clear they’re into each other. That much is for sure. But Eddie still lies in bed at night thinking of Prince Charming the same way he did months ago—thinking about being around him, seeing him in person, spending time with him alone. They talk now, yeah, but Prince Charming still feels just out of reach sometimes. It’s like they’re playing chicken, seeing who will cave first.

And it’s hot. It really is. But it’s also devastatingly difficult when all Eddie wants is Prince Charming Prince Charming Prince Charming all the time. His anxiety flares up sometimes, scared that they don’t have a label and they don’t go on dates because he’s just being led on.

How could he be so stupid! Prince Charming has literally always called him ‘Hot Dad’. Emphasis on hot. He’s hot. He’s attractive. He’s sexy. He’s quickly becoming great at sexting. This is what Prince Charming wanted all along, isn’t it? He doesn’t even want to meet in person, he just wants to fool around on the phone with that one hot dad from the parties. Or at least that’s what Eddie ends up telling himself on those late nights spent in bed—the not-fun kind.

But then he’ll get little texts from Prince Charming throughout the day—checking in on his shift, telling stories about today’s audition, suggesting an easy recipe Chris would love for when Eddie gets home and doesn’t have a lot of energy for the kitchen. And that’s not the kind of thing someone does if they don’t plan on taking you out, right?

But he feels. Well. Weird? About formally asking Prince Charming out? They haven’t even seen each other in real life since their relationship became explicitly non-platonic. He just has to see him in person once, just one more time, and then maybe they can get a label on this thing.

So. He needs an excuse to see him again. But Chris is running out of classmates with upcoming birthdays. Let alone parties he would be invited to. Let alone ones Prince Charming has a chance at being hired for.

Well. There is one surefire way to guarantee he sees Prince Charming at a party. And Prince Charming did say he’d reveal his name at the next party, he never said who had to throw it.

So, much like when Eddie was trying to text Prince Charming for the first time, Eddie decides he just needs to go for it. Prince Charming loves someone else taking the reins after all. Eddie from 11:48 pm last night would know.

And so. He does it.

Half an hour later, he gets a text.

The following week is one of the most stressful of Eddie’s whole year. But he can do it. For Prince Charming.

Prince Charming, who still won’t reveal his name but says Eddie’s like a prayer. Who loves to yap but listens better than anyone Eddie knows. Who is just so attractive in every way but claims Eddie is way out of his league.

Eddie’s really really hoping this goes well.

He’s never gone back and forth about what to wear this much since junior prom.

With his phone set up against his dresser, on FaceTime with the pc support group, Eddie switches from outfit to outfit. He says ‘this is too formal’ but ‘this is too casual’ but ‘this is too slutty’ but ‘this is not slutty enough’.

Hen and Karen, to their credit, are very patient with him. And very enthusiastic themselves. They play smash or pass with probably 80% of the shirts Eddie owns, and about 86% of the pants.

They get Eddie to dig out his good suit from the back of his closet, just to see if it’s worth matching Prince Charming’s level of dress. They get Eddie to scrounge around for his academy sweatpants, just to see how casual he could go.

Eddie doesn’t want to feel overdressed, but he doesn’t want Prince Charming to feel overdressed either. Does he go with a Henley again? Does he default to those pants that hug his ass so well? No. Prince Charming has seen those before. He wants to look like he’s putting in the effort. Just not, like, a tuxedo.

Finally, with Karen’s keen eye, they pick out a burgundy button up and a nice, dark pair of jeans. Eddie pouts that the colour hides the shadows that are crucial in accentuating his ass to the nth degree. Hen says that she doubts they’ll be on long enough for that to matter.

(Which Eddie protests. He’s not gonna put out on the first date. No matter how well it’s going.)

Then there’s the matter of the hair—how much product? And then the cologne—deep and sultry or light and sweet? And then the accessories—should his chain go on the same wrist as his watch or no? But, finally, Eddie is as prepared as he can be.

“Awe, look at you!” Hen coos.

“Are you ready? Is everything good to go?” Karen asks, looking like she’s genuinely about to start taking notes.

“Snacks in fridge, got my Disney+ trial set up, lasagna in the oven; it’s gonna be done by 7.” Eddie sighs, trying to calm himself. He can do this. He can do this.

“You’ve got this, hun,” Hen reads his mind. “There are mints in the left pocket of your LAFD jacket. Go take a couple before he gets there.”

“Uh, no– why do you think I have mints in my jacket?”

“Because I put them there at the end of our last shift,” Hen smiles.

“You–”

“I knew you’d need them and I didn’t trust you to get any yourself”

“Hen! Why would you not–”

“Well, do you have other mints? Gum? Anything?”

Eddie goes to answer but stalls. Shoot. She’s right. When was the last time he bought mints for a first date?

“Shut up,” he sighs, laughing. “Thank you, guys. Really.”

“You’re gonna kill it,” Karen says.

“He’s gonna love you,” Hen waves goodbye to the FaceTime.

Karen adds “He better!” before ending the call.

Eddie stands still for a moment, just frozen in time, trying to calm himself. He goes through a couple breathing exercises from therapy. Frank would be so proud.

He only has fifteen minutes until party time and he’s not gonna waste it stressing.

The pillows are fluffed and lighting is adjusted and mints (thanks Hen) are eaten. And then he waits.

Well, paces and waits, really. Back and forth up and down his front hall, trying to focus on what could go right instead of what could go wrong. At the end of the day, he gets to see Prince Charming. That’s the important part. Just the thought makes his heart rate pick up for a moment before settling into something calming.

He’s gonna see his Prince Charming.

He’s gonna see his Prince Charming.

He’s gonna see his–

The doorbell rings. Eddie nearly jumps out of his skin. He’s never been so anxious to open a door in his life. Not even the closet one.

With a deep breath, he opens the door and ohhhhh. Eddie always forgets just how pretty he is in person.

In all his stunning, royal beauty, Prince Charming stands on his doorstep. Flabbergasted. A ‘hello’ stuck in his throat at the surprise host.

“Hi,” Eddie smiles. What else can he do but smile. “Can you– do you wanna come in?”

“Eddie,” Prince Charming’s blue blue blue eyes are wider than Eddie has ever seen them. He’s blushing more too. Which is saying a lot, Eddie has seen him blush so many times. “Eddie.”

“Prince Charming,” Eddie echoes proudly, cheekily, stepping back to let Prince Charming in the door. He does a stupid motion with his arms like an usher and fuck, it feels like that time he told Prince Charming he was ‘royally forgiven’.

Prince Charming doesn’t seem to notice or care, though. Still only producing the word ‘Eddie’.

Until, finally, he stands in Eddie’s front hall and says something more coherent, clearly still trying to wrap his head around this. “It’s Chris’ birthday?”

Huh?

“What– no, it’s not Chris’ birthday. He’s at his tía’s. I just–”

“It’s your birthday?”

“It’s no one’s birthday,” Eddie chuckles, taking one of Prince Charming’s hands and guiding him to the living room.

“But you–”

“Booked you for a birthday party? Yes. Let’s just say it’s a super belated one. Or maybe super early. And super private.”

“So– you just–”

“Yeah. I did,” Eddie sits down with Prince Charming, turning to face each other on the couch. “It was so fucking embarrassing telling your manager I specifically needed the ‘cute, tall, blond Prince Charming with the birthmark’. But, thankfully, she knew what I meant. Only kinda mortifying.”

“Eddie…” Prince Charming says for at least the fifth time in the past minute.

“Yes, that’s my name,” Eddie straightens out one of the golden tufts on Prince Charming’s shoulders, just to do something with his hands, get a little closer to actually touching him. “You wanna tell me yours? You said you’d tell me at the next party. Pretty sure this counts as the next party.”

Something playful finally crosses Prince Charming’s expression. “Oh, so that’s what this is about, is it? Didn’t want to wait for someone else to hire me so you did it instead,” he smirks at Eddie. Eyes sparkling.

“Well,” Eddie looks up at the ceiling for a moment to laugh. “Yeah. Yeah. That’s– that’s exactly it.”

“That’s…” Prince Charming melts into the hand Eddie still has on his shoulder. “That’s gotta be expensive.”

Eddie chuckles again. What is it with Prince Charming being so goddamn charming? “Maybe a little,” he shrugs.

“But I’m worth it?” There’s a tiny glimmer of doubt in Prince Charming’s eye that Eddie wants to strangle.

“You’re worth it. More than worth it.”

Prince Charming smiles so big and bashful and beautiful that Eddie almost dives in for a kiss right then.

They sit there for a moment just looking at each other, making sure this isn’t a dream.

“Well,” Prince Charming claps his hands. “What are we doing, belated birthday boy?”

Eddie swallows. He had this whole plan. What was the first step after getting Prince Charming over here? Think. Think.

“Oh! Um– well, I thought we could maybe watch a movie, like, uh, I thought it would be kinda funny to watch Cinderella, since, y’know–” he gestures toward Prince Charming’s cute as all hell outfit. Prince Charming looks like he finds it so endearing.

“And I know at these things you probably don’t get anything more gourmet than a couple pieces of those huge party-sized pizzas so I–” Eddie fumbles his words as Prince Charming smiles at him. “So I, uh, made us something. Or, well. Tried to. I’m not the greatest cook.”

“I’m sure it’ll be amazing,” Prince Charming stretches his arms up and not so subtly rests one on the back of the couch, giving Eddie the opportunity to scootch into his side if he likes.

And Eddie likes.

He gets up to flip some lights off and grabs the remote. When he returns, he just so happens to sit much closer to Prince Charming’s end of the couch this time, letting him casually lean into the cradle of Prince Charming’s body.

Eddie can’t help but hum softly as he fits into place under Prince Charming’s arm. He’s never cuddled (if this can even be considered cuddling yet) with someone bigger than him. It gives him  a head rush that he never wants to end.

Prince Charming holds Eddie’s shoulder, rubbing his bicep, as he shifts his head to rest on top of Eddie’s. They fit together so well.

Eddie closes his eyes for a moment, it’s just so perfect.

Cinderella and her glass slipper are forgotten in the background as they chat through the whole movie. It’s just like how it is through the phone. Prince Charming tells him stories. Prince Charming goes off on tangents. Prince Charming listens to him so well. Prince Charming makes him laugh. Prince Charming is everything—and it’s even better getting to experience him in person without hoards of children around.

They slowly sink into each other more and more until Eddie finally finds himself with Prince Charming’s head in his lap. He scratches gently at the fade behind his ear, where there’s no product, and Prince Charming just melts.

“So there I was, on stage in front of my whole class and two of our directors, and we were doing Shakespeare, right? But we had done, like, no rehearsal, like, all the time we would have during class to rehearse together we would just hang out ‘cause it was just fucking Romeo and Juliet, like we should know it front to back. That’s, like, the first thing you do in high school English class. Plus, Charlotte and I had done this scene the year before, so, like, we thought we were fine. But then we start the scene and it’s all good until I start blanking, like a fucking idiot, and Charlotte sees me start to panic so then she looks like she’s starting to panic which only makes me panic more and then all of a sudden I just call ‘Line!’ in the middle of our performance! Oh my God, absolutely crazy to do that in the first place. And obviously no one has the script out, so my dumb ass completely breaks character and goes ‘nobody’s on book?’ and looks out at the audience! Like, what the fuck! Someone else happened to know the line, though, so they gave it to me and I have never been more embarrassed on stage, I swear. We got such a bad grade on that, like the worst I’ve ever gotten. But it definitely taught me to use rehearsal time well, even if it’s just running Italians or something. A good lesson to learn in first year theatre school, instead of later, I guess.”

Prince Charming talks with his hands and speaks with his eyes and lights up the entire room with his laughter until the alarm on Eddie’s phone does instead.

“Ah! Food’s ready. You’re gonna have to let me up,” Eddie smiles down at him like a fool.

“What if I don’t want to let you up?” Prince Charming teases as he plays with Eddie’s fingers.

“Then this party is about to become a lot less private when my kitchen catches on fire and B-shift shows up.”

Prince Charming pouts.

“Plus, then there’s no lasagna.”

“There’s lasagna!?”

“Only if you let me up.”

Prince Charming concedes, then.

When Eddie finally gets their food plated up and brings it out to the dining table, he nearly drops it all on the floor.

Because there Prince Charming is sitting in a tight white tank top. What the fuck.

Eddie knows he must have made an embarrassing sound just from the way Prince Charming’s laugh bubbles up again. “Sorry, I hope this doesn’t ruin the whole fantasy.”

“No– it– you look– it’s great.” Eddie finally gets the plates down on the table.

“I just– I didn’t want to risk staining that fucking jacket because it’s a pain to clean and, y’know, normally, I don’t take it off during parties ‘cause it’s, like, integral to the act, but–”

“But you don’t have to keep it on here, don’t worry,” Eddie finishes his sentence for him. “I’m afraid I already know you’re not a real prince.”

“Oh, yeah? And why is that?” Prince Charming flirts and raises his eyebrows.

Eddie goes back into the kitchen to grab them some beers, giving him a chance to school his persistent, dorky smile. “I don’t think princes are supposed to have such dirty mouths. Seems like it would be a bad look for the kingdom.”

“And you think I have a dirty mouth?”

“I know you do,” Eddie chuckles, handing Prince Charming his bottle.

There’s nothing else Prince Charming can say to dispute that, really. Because if anyone would know about how dirty his mouth is, it’s the guy he’s been having phone foreplay with for the past half-month.

They eat in near silence, save for Prince Charming’s many compliments to the chef, and end up sitting across from each other with empty plates—just nursing their beers and lazily chatting, playing a very low stakes game of footsie under the table.

But, still, Eddie just can’t stop looking at him. Oh my God.

He’s never seen Prince Charming out of costume in real life, and he’s always thought Prince Charming would look gorgeous in an outfit that shows off his arms. Boy, was he right.

Prince Charming’s arms are to die for and the way his tank stretches across his chest is sinful and Eddie is suddenly so completely distracted from the conversation. Like a deer in the headlights except the headlights are the outline of Prince Charming’s nipples.

His gaze doesn’t go unnoticed. “I can change, if you’d like,” Prince Charming is teasing him. Teasing him at a time like this. Knowing that’s the opposite of what Eddie wants.

Two can play at this game. “Yeah, you probably should,” Eddie fires back.

Poor Prince Charming looks like he’s just about to apologize profusely and beg for forgiveness when Eddie puts him out of his misery.

“Bottom right drawer of my dresser there are some sweats you could wear, we’ve got half a movie left, need to be comfy, right?”

Prince Charming sighs in relief and blushes like a rose. “Where’s your room?”

“Down the hall, turn right, door at the end,” Eddie clears the table for them as Prince Charming heads to his bedroom.

Eddie sits on the couch waiting as patiently as he possibly can for Prince Charming to finish changing. It’s the longest three minutes of his life.

But, finally, he returns.

“Wha’d’ya think?” Prince Charming does a little spin as he enters the living room.

Eddie thinks no one has ever looked so good in his clothes.

The tight white tank with the soft grey sweatpants is an absolutely insane outfit. Like, the sluttiest thing a man can wear. Eddie chokes trying not to look at Prince Charming’s dick print. It’s not his fault the pants fit more snuggly on Prince Charming than they do on him!

He just looks so comfy and handsome and edible, it takes Eddie a moment to realize he hasn’t actually answered the question.

“I think I like it even more than the costume.”

“Oh, yeah?” Prince Charming gives him that smile that makes Eddie’s stomach flip.

“Yeah,” is all Eddie says back as he pulls Prince Charming down onto the couch with him.

They’re just about to start the movie again when a timer on Eddie’s phone goes off.

“What’s that?” Prince Charming asks.

“Oh, it’s just,” Eddie faces Prince Charming on the couch. “It’s 7:30.”

“Okay…?”

“Well. I only had you booked for two hours. Time’s up.”

“Oh,” Prince Charming’s face drops like it did when Eddie told him to change. And Eddie can’t have that.

“I mean, I just– you don’t have to stay longer than I’m paying you for. But, I dunno, something gives me the feeling you don’t want to leave,” Eddie casually tucks a stay curl behind Prince Charming’s ear as he talks.

“Mhmm,” Prince Charming smiles. “Something gives me the feeling you don’t want time with Prince Charming anymore anyway. Maybe you just want time with me.”

Eddie loves how he just takes the words out of his mouth. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Good.” Prince Charming pulls Eddie into his side again, tilting Eddie’s body to face him, taking one of Eddie’s hands and holding it to his chest. “I’m not in costume anymore, I’m not on the clock anymore, you're not my client anymore…”

“Think that means I can…?” Eddie’s voice gives out as he looks Prince Charming in the eye. Beautiful ocean blues drowning him in desire.

“That you can what, Eddie?”

Eddie breathes in and out. He can do this. 

“That I can kiss you now?”

Prince Charming positively beams. “Thought you’d never as– ohh–”

Eddie pulls a surprised Prince Charming in by his grip on his stupid white tank top and just kisses him.

Prince Charming reaches out to steady himself on Eddie’s shoulders and doesn’t let go, kissing Eddie back and already starting to whimper the way Eddie loves.

God, Eddie can’t even remember the last time he kissed anyone. Is it always this addicting? They’ve been kissing for approximately half a second and Eddie already knows he wants to do it forever. Prince Charming’s lips are just perfect. Just like the rest of him.

“Fuck, Eddie,” Prince Charming pulls away for a breath of air and takes a second to open his eyes. His mouth already looks more pink. His birthmark does too.

“C’mere,” Eddie mumbles. One second is already too long to be apart from each other. He reaches for one of Prince Charming’s legs and pulls it over his lap, making Prince Charming straddle him.

Prince Charming goes easily, diving back in for a harder kiss as he gets on top of Eddie. They’ve spent weeks and weeks being sweet to each other. And they’ve got weeks and weeks ahead to keep doing that. But, right now, Eddie wants to eat Prince Charming alive.

He throws his arms around Prince Charming’s shoulders as he bites his lip. Prince Charming just whines about it, desperate to keep kissing Eddie.

And so he does. Prince Charming holds the back of Eddie’s head with one hand and the couch with the other, trailing kisses off Eddie’s lips and down his face as soon as his mouth is free to do so. He’s loud, as he does it. Each kiss has a ‘mwah’ and a moan and a gasp of air as they go lower.

“Eddie,” Prince Charming whispers into his skin. “Eddie, Eddie.”

“Fuck,” Eddie exhales back. He can’t do anything but thread his fingers through Prince Charming’s hair as his neck is kissed. Well. That’s not quite true. Because he can do one other thing, it’s kind of impossible not to.

How is he supposed to make out with someone in his lap without his body autonomously grinding up into them? It’s a reflex. He’s trying to stop it, really, because he’s the one who swore that they’re keeping their pants on for the whole date.

Eddie would feel worse about it if Prince Charming wasn’t doing the exact same thing. Eddie can feel it, Prince Charming’s cock in his own fucking sweatpants rubbing against him. Even through layers of clothing, Eddie can feel when their bulges line up and their tips catch on each other, when their cocks end up side by side as Prince Charming grinds into his hip. Since when was dry humping this hot?

And where the fuck is Prince Charming’s mouth?

Eddie pulls on Prince Charming’s hair and rips him off of his neck. Prince Charming is heaving when he sits his weight back on Eddie’s lap, messy lips and skin glowing with blush and sweat. “Eddie,” he says again, begging with just one word.

Eddie grabs Prince Charming by the shoulders again and swiftly flips them to the side, laying Prince Charming down along the length of the couch before climbing on top of him. Prince Charming reaches for Eddie’s collar and pulls him right in.

Eddie’s smiling as it happens so his teeth bump Prince Charming’s lips—which makes Prince Charming smile in return, making his teeth bump Eddie’s lips this time. They’re clumsy like that for one more half-kiss before their lips finally meet properly. Prince Charming’s bottom lip slots between Eddie’s and he sucks on it all he wants, breaking apart with an audible smooch just to start again.

And then Prince Charming is reaching down, getting his hands on Eddie’s ass and holding their bodies together. “Dios,” Eddie moans, “ahh, ahh, yes, fuck–” he swipes his tongue over Prince Charming’s lips with the next kiss and suddenly a whole new door opens.

Prince Charming’s tongue is soft and warm and fits so well alongside Eddie’s own. They rub together on each following kiss, mimicking the motion of their cocks.

Prince Charming keeps moaning “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,” each time he can manage to slip a word between them and it’s driving Eddie crazy. Still baffling him that Prince Charming from that party months ago knows him, knows his name, is under him, begging for him.

“Love it when you say my name,” Eddie groans as he draws away for a moment just to look at Prince Charming.

“Yeah?” Prince Charming is panting as he heaves a breath in, still grinding his slutty sweatpants bulge up into Eddie.

“Yeah, fuck,” Eddie kisses all over Prince Charming’s jaw and neck as he catches his breath, trying to conserve enough air to speak. “I wanna say yours.”

Prince Charming’s cock twitches at that, Eddie can feel it. Can feel the way Prince Charming’s lust is getting too big for his body.

“Tell me your name, baby,” Eddie orders, breath ghosting over the wet marks he just made. “Don’t make me say Prince Charming when I’ve got you like this. Please, don’t make me.”

Prince Charming whimpers. Those needy, subby whimpers Eddie gets to hear glimpses of over the phone sometimes. Eddie hopes Prince Charming still has the wherewithal to speak his name while being so lust-drunk.

“You’re not Prince Charming anymore. I’m not calling you Prince Charming like this.”

Eddie’s putting on his confident soft dom voice but inside he’s just pleading, grovelling, scratching at the walls of his brain hoping Prince Charming gives him something to work with.

“I’m not kissing Prince Charming right now,” Eddie’s lips lead back to Prince Charming’s mouth, capturing one of his moans between them before pulling back. “I’m not kissing Prince Charming, baby, I’m kissing you.”

“E-Eddie,” Prince Charming whines, grip tightening on Eddie’s ass, holding their bodies tightly together.

“Tell me who I’m kissing, sweetheart, tell me your name. Tell m–”

“Buck!” Prince Charming shouts into Eddie’s mouth, shaking and shaking as he connects their lips again. Fuck.

“Buck. Oh, Buck.” Eddie growls between their kisses, feeling Prince Charming’s cock twitch again as they grind together.

Prince Charming mewls underneath him and hides his head in Eddie’s neck. Eddie can only kiss his temple now, but, God, he doesn’t need more kisses right now anyway. Because all he can feel is Prince Charming’s– sorry, Buck’s body pressing against every part of his. He feels him and smells him and tastes him and, fuck, Buck is such a fitting name. Buck’s just holding onto him so tightly and grinding against his cock so perfectly and suddenly he’s… Eddie– Eddie’s… he’s–

He’s coming his brains out on top of Buck.

It’s gross. It’s so gross. He can basically already feel how damp his jeans are before he even finishes. He can’t remember the last time he came in his pants. Jesus fucking Christ.

He collapses down onto Buck, scooting himself to the side so he’s wedged in between the back of the couch and Buck’s body. The last thing he wants to do is suffocate the man he just came on.

“Fuck,” Eddie sighs, putting one hand on top of Buck’s chest and the sweat stain on his—now see-through—tank top. His lungs are pumping so hard that Eddie’s hand gets lifted up a couple inches with each breath. Eddie’s so mesmerized by it he almost forgets what he just did. “‘M’sorry, didn’t mean to–”

“Me neither,” Buck gives a dopey smile, nodding down the couch.

Eddie follows his line of sight to see– oh. Oh. Oh fuck. That’s why everything felt wetter. Buck’s (well, Eddie’s, actually) sweats are no longer sporting a huge bulge but rather a little soggy splotch where his come is seeping through his boxers and into the pants.

Eddie just chuckles and flops back down into Prince Charming’s side. Content to close his eyes and just soak in the bliss. He hums softly when Buck throws an arm around him. He could die happy right now.

After a good ten minutes of quiet, sticky cuddling, Eddie finally gives in. He drags Buck to the shower but makes them take turns. Showering together is a recipe for third-date type activities. Eddie’s trying to be classy… at least for someone who just dry humped until he came in his pants.

“Would you, um, wanna stay over? I can make you eggs in the morning. It’s like the one other thing I can’t fuck up in the kitchen,” Eddie laughs nervously as Buck walks into his room, fully dressed post-shower, back in that fucking white tank.

“Mm. Depends,” Buck grins and leans against the doorframe.

“On?”

“Will you give me a good tip? Leave a positive review? Tell my manager I’m the best Prince Charming ever?”

Eddie scoffs. “You’re leaving my house with more than a good tip.”

It’s terribly clear in Buck’s eyes that he’s trying so, so hard not to make a joke about getting Eddie’s tip. Ugh. He’s so cute Eddie can barely stand it.

“Oh? What am I gonna leave your house with, then?” Buck opts for instead.

Eddie puts his hand out to reach for Buck, pulling him to sit on the mattress. He holds Buck’s hand in his own and kisses it gently. The way princes do to princesses in Disney movies. Buck isn’t the only one who can channel his inner royal heartthrob.

“I dunno. Maybe a boyfriend?” Eddie looks up into Buck’s eyes just in time to see them melt.

“You wanna be my boyfriend, Eddie?” Buck is positively teasing him again, deflecting, like if he can make Eddie blush harder, his own blush isn’t noticeable.

“Yeah. I wanna be your boyfriend, Buck,” Eddie says, sounding even more vulnerably genuine than he was aiming for.

Buck clearly wasn’t expecting something so direct and honest. The way Buck swallows as he processes the answer gives Eddie the feeling that the people he’s been involved with before didn’t value honesty as much as they should have. It’s time for that to change.

By the next second, something seems to have settled inside Buck. There’s a sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his lips.

“Thank you, boyfriend.” Buck tackles Eddie down onto the bed until they’re cuddling, laying his head on Eddie’s chest. It’s amazing how big, buff Prince Charming so naturally curls up against him.

They chat and laugh and kiss a little bit more. They throw the remainder of the movie up on the TV in Eddie’s room and cuddle like a couple on their 500th date. Fitting together like puzzle pieces.

As the credits roll, Buck draws patterns on Eddie’s chest. “Can I tell you something?”

“‘Course,” Eddie hums, turning off the TV.

“One of the reasons I waited so long to tell you my name is, uh, I didn’t want you to Google me.”

“Why would– ohhhhh. You’ve done porn, haven’t you?”

Buck smacks his chest now instead, giggling. “I haven’t done porn, you perv!”

“No?” Eddie laughs back, wincing from the slap.

“No, I just–” Buck sighs. “I just didn’t want you to watch my demo reel.”

“Because there’s porn in it?” Eddie can’t help but poke the bear one more time.

“There’s no porn in my fucking demo reel, Eddie,” Buck chuckles and hides his face in Eddie’s chest. “Acting is just, it’s a personal thing for me, you know? It’s kinda like me in my most raw form, I guess. It’s like– I know it sounds stupid– but I– I just got scared thinking about you seeing me when I’m not Prince Charming.”

“It’s not stupid.” Eddie rubs up and down his arm comfortingly. “Why don’t we watch it together?”

“Really? Right now?”

“Why not? You were worried about me not liking it—let me show you that you were wrong.” He grabs his phone off the nightstand and holds it up to his face for a second to unlock it. It’s only when he opens the browser that he realizes he actually has no idea what to look up.

“Gimme that,” Buck grins and rolls his eyes. He types away and clicks something and then hands it back to Eddie with the phone on his IMDb page.

“Evan? You said your name was Buck!” is Eddie’s first reaction.

“My name is Buck. Yeah, like, Evan is technically my real name, but now it’s kinda– it’s like a stage name, I guess.”

“So your stage name is… your real name?”

“When you put it like that it sounds dumb,” Buck chuckles. “First day of first grade, Evan Alvarez is called at the top of attendance. So when we got to me, my teacher’s like ‘Okay boys, what are we gonna do?’ and then we did Evan A. and Evan B. for a bit. But eventually I just said I’d go by my last name to make things easier. ‘Buckley’ got shortened to ‘Buck’ pretty quick. And then it just stuck. My parents hated it, though. And when I got into acting I was like ‘I can’t go by Buck Buckley, that’s ridiculous’ so Evan it was.”

Eddie shrugs and nods. That makes enough sense. He skims Buck’s biography, from Hershey PA, got his start in community drama productions and local commercials, graduated from Penn State's School of Theatre, etcetera, etcetera. Now where’s that reel?

“Aha!” Eddie exclaims as he clicks into the video section.

“Oh, God,” Buck laughs, hiding his face in Eddie’s neck this time. “I was just– I was really young in some of this, okay?”

“Stop worrying so much,” Eddie squeezes him into one last cuddle before playing the one and only video in the tab.

It starts with some clips of grainy commercials where Buck can’t be more than 17 years old. “Awe, look at you!”. As it keeps going, the shots become a little more professional looking—bit rolls in student films, then made-for-TV movies, and finally a scene or two with other actors Eddie swears start to look a little familiar.

In the next clip, Buck is shirtless and chained to a bed. Eddie’s head whips to look over at him. “I thought you said there wasn’t porn in this!”

“That isn’t porn, you idiot. They’re about to traffic my organs,” Buck points back to the screen. And, sure enough, the next shot has someone taking to Buck with a scalpel. Yuck.

The following clip cuts to Buck with dark hair, sitting in an interrogation room and sporting a black eye. Then there’s one of Buck yelling in a business meeting. One of him driving a pickup truck. The one after that has Buck dressed in a hospital gown, talking to a doctor at his bedside and– hold on– is that…? Patrick Dempsey? “You were on Grey’s Anatomy!?”

“It was one episode, okay, calm down,” Buck giggles, “and I had, like, five lines, max.”

Doesn’t matter. Eddie is still wildly impressed.

By the time the reel ends, Eddie feels somehow even more smitten than he was before. Buck is so talented. Plus, he’s met Patrick Dempsey, and, like, McDreamy was one of Eddie’s secret crushes in college, so he kinda feels like he’s in the presence of stardom. He can’t stop looking at Buck with awe as his phone screen dims from lack of use.

“You liked it?” Buck asks, sounding cautiously optimistic.

Eddie just has to kiss him. Buck gives a muffled ‘mmph’ as Eddie captures him in a sweet, smiling kiss.

“I loved it,” Eddie whispers when they break apart, rubbing their noses back and forth gently. “My boyfriend is gonna be so famous.”

Buck giggles again. God, Eddie loves that noise. He’s making it his life’s mission to hear it as often as possible. 

Before Buck can say anything back, Eddie’s phone dings, taking both of their attention. They look over at the device in Eddie’s hand as the notification lights up the screen again, displaying a new iMessage.

Eddie rushes to swipe the notification away, but it’s too late.

“Eddie–”

“Nothing! It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Eddie swiftly turns his phone off.

“What’s the ‘Pc Support Group’? Huh?” 

Buck is going to be the death of him.

“...Princecharmingsupportgroup.”

“Say that again?” 

“The– um, Prince Charming support group.” Yeah, Eddie is kind of embarrassing himself here, but it gets him more of those Buck giggles, so it’s actually a win, when you think about it. “The friends I go to Chris’ parties with, they– they’re kinda, like, invested in our story, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Ugh, shut up,” Eddie throws his head back to laugh at the ceiling. “What do you want me to tell them?”

Buck thinks for a second and then snatches Eddie’s phone. “Let me take picture.”

He clicks the notification and opens the camera, holding it up above him in bed to click the shutter. Finally, Buck adds some text and then sends it off.

Eddie fiddles with his wedding ring as he waits for the stoplight to change. He hasn’t been this upset about work running late in a good long while.

Because it’s their first wedding anniversary.

One year ago today, Buck put that ring on his finger in front of all their family and friends. They had this beautiful, sprawling venue at an orchard north of the city—Buck had insisted on having an outdoor fairytale themed wedding since he couldn’t convince Eddie, nor his wallet, to get married at Disneyland.

(Eddie had proposed to him there on a sunny autumn afternoon during a little trip to Disneyland with his boys. Eddie was so scared Chris would give away the surprise—the little guy was so incredibly hyper the whole day, completely unable to hold his excitement back.

As the sun was starting to set and the twinkling lights of the castle were illuminating the park, Eddie pulled Buck aside by a flowerbed on the esplanade. Chris sat on a nearby bench, taking a video with his dad’s phone as Eddie held Buck’s hands and got down on one knee. Buck was already sobbing.

Eddie started his proposal with “Evan Buckley, my love, my Prince Charming…” and could barely get through his speech because Buck kept trying to say ‘yes!’ before he was close to done. Of course, Buck accepted Eddie’s final question (and the white gold ring with a single pale blue diamond inlaid, the perfect choice) before pulling him up for perhaps the smiliest kiss they’ve ever shared.

Shortly after, Buck also cursed Eddie that he beat him to it. Buck explained that he was planning on using this very trip to scope out places to propose to Eddie in the new year. Either way—Disneyland proposal, no Disneyland wedding.)

With their busy schedules, they weren’t going to have a whole lot of time together on the actual day. And now it’s looking like they’ll actually have no time.

Eddie was supposed to get off work at 8 pm, which would give them a couple hours of time to themselves (and long enough for a quickie or two) before Buck had to leave for his night shoot. Buck is amazing at leading Hotshots; Eddie loves how his husband’s career has soared to new heights, don’t get him wrong, but the 10 pm to 8 am shoots were not especially fun.

And obviously everything couldn't go smoothly for Eddie on one of the most important days of his year. That would be too easy.

The fire at the community centre wasn't supposed to take that long to clear, at least according to the information they had when they accepted the call. But between the time they left the firehouse and the time they arrived on scene, the fire had spread rapidly—chemicals for the gym pool stored with fertilizer for the communal garden turned the whole thing into a multi-hour long ordeal. Eddie would love to have a talk with whoever obviously wasn’t paying attention during their staff safety training. Do they not know he has a hot husband at home who needs him?

So, here Eddie sits. In his truck. At 11:19 pm. Enroute to an empty house. On his anniversary.

He won’t even get to see Chris, either, who’s at a sleepover with Denny since it was supposed to be a date night for his dads. 

With a frown, Eddie parks and grabs his bag from the passenger’s seat, pondering whether he should try to find something to do or just crash until his husband comes home. He misses him so much. He opens his phone and stares at the last messages Buck sent.

(He never did end up changing that contact name. It has stayed Prince Charming since the moment Eddie first put Buck’s number in his phone. Changing it never felt right. Buck will always be his Prince Charming).

Eddie sighs as he unlocks the house. He kicks off his shoes and leaves everything at the door to deal with la–

“Thank goodness you made it home before midnight, princess.”

Eddie’s head shoots up to see his wonderful husband leaning against the wall of the living room. Sneaky bastard. His brain fries as he tries to work through all the things going on.

He’s gonna have a night with his husband after all? The shoot was cancelled? Buck didn’t think to mention it? And what smells so good? Also, what the fuck is he wearing?

None of it matters right now. Objective number one is to go kiss his man.

“Baby,” Eddie chuckles as soon as he’s caught his breath. He walks over to Buck and holds him by the hips to pull him in for a kiss. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” Buck mumbles between kisses. But he’s smiling so much he can’t possibly feel that bad about it.

Eddie’s so obsessed with him. 

“Where on earth did you find this? Didn’t think we still had it,” he tugs on the hem of Buck’s suit jacket. That fancy light coloured suit with a red collar and white gloves and a gilded belt and shiny tassels on the shoulders.

“Oh, this ol’ thing?” Buck pulls away to do a little spin. “I knew exactly where it was. Hid it in a box at the back of the linen closet when we moved.”

“You are sneaky, husband,” Eddie smooths his hands up and down Buck’s arms, feeling the stretched fabric fighting for its goddamn life. “How does it even still fit?”

“It kinda doesn’t,” Buck laughs. And it’s true, it barely contains Buck’s gorgeous arms and chest and, fuck, Eddie has no idea how he got those pants on over his thighs. “But maybe I wanted to be Prince Charming for you one last time?”

Eddie rubs their noses together and hums. “You’ll always be my Prince Charming.”

Buck holds him close close close and kisses him. Eddie feels all the stress of the day wash away.

“Did you bake something?” Eddie asks after a moment, becoming aware of that delectable smell again. “I thought you had a night shoot to prep for? What happened?”

Buck takes his hand and leads him to the kitchen, giggling. “There was never a night shoot, babe.”

“There wasn’t–”

“Nope! Just wanted to surprise you. Spent all day in the kitchen,” Buck steps to the side to reveal what’s on the kitchen island.

Oh. Eddie should have known.

On the counter there’s a cake stand (since when do they own a cake stand?) presenting a gorgeous chocolate cake. Fluffy chocolate frosting with little hearts drawn in it. As he steps closer, he sees ‘B + E’ scribed on top, too.

Eddie thinks he might cry.

“You made us our cake?” He clings to Buck’s side and rests his head on Buck’s shoulder. Chocolate cake has been their cake ever since that second party when Buck smushed his cake all over Eddie. And then again with the cupcake wrapper. It’s been an ongoing thing—chocolate cake was dessert after their earliest official date. And after their first dating anniversary. And the top tier of their wedding cake from exactly one year ago. But neither of them have ever made their cake. Not until now.

“I did,” Buck smiles. “Chocolate truffle cake with fudge filling and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. All Hershey’s, of course.”

“Of course,” Eddie giggles back. His sweet Hershey boy.

They stand in silence for a moment, just holding each other and swaying gently together. It’s a peaceful silence. Just them in their own house with their own love.

Buck is the first to break the quiet. 

“So how long are you gonna make me wait before you fuck me in the Prince Charming costume?”

Eddie laughs and hides his face in Buck’s neck, chuckles divulging into kisses that take Buck’s breath away.

“Mm. I dunno,” Eddie kisses up to Buck’s jaw. “You have been very good, haven’t you?”

“ So good,” Buck pants.

Eddie flips Buck around in his arms and pushes him into the kitchen island with his hips, Buck’s back to his front. “And these tight pants must just be so uncomfortable ‘cause of that huge cock of yours, huh?” He runs his hands down from Buck’s sides to his thighs and up to his cock.

“ So huge, Eddie,” Buck teases back. It’s so impossible for them to not have sweet, smiley, silly sex these days.

“How about we get you out of these then,” Eddie can just barely get his fingers in between Buck’s hips and the waistband to pull them down for him. He drops to his knees on the floor, helping Buck get them all the way off, and is met with a faceful of bare ass.

“Not even any panties for me, baby? You really can’t wait for it at all.”

Buck tries to push his hips back into Eddie’s face. Eddie stills him, using his hands to pull Buck apart, only to see more evidence of Buck’s impatience.

“Didn’t even want to wait for me to prep you, huh? Had to do it all by yourself so I could just fuck you as soon as I got home?”

Buck whines in the affirmative, completely shameless.

And Eddie’s gonna fuck him. He will. So much. But while he’s here he might as well–

“Is this– you bought chocolate flavoured lube?” Eddie laughs, pulling his tongue from Buck’s ass for a moment before diving back to his hole for more, licking the mess from inside and out.

Buck’s legs shake and buckle for a moment when Eddie doesn’t let up. He grips the counter as tight as he can while Eddie drags his tongue around, tasting pure Buck and rich chocolate all at once.

“Hm?” Eddie reminds Buck of his question as he adds his middle and ring fingers to the equation. His left hand being his dominant one most of the time means Buck can feel the wedding band against his hole. It’s cold on Buck for a second but just thinking about what that is and why it’s there warms him right up.

“Eddie,” Buck whimpers, sounding exactly like he did on the couch all that time ago. “Eddie, Eddie…”

“Prince Charming’s already so cockdrunk he can’t use his words, poor baby,” Eddie presses gently on Buck’s prostate with his fingers, licking his hole at the same time now.

Fuck, it’s been so long since Eddie’s done this. He can’t even remember the last time he ate Buck out. It’s a miracle he’s gone so long without it. Buck is just so pretty on his tongue, trying to squirm into it and away from it simultaneously. He moans this special moan that only comes out when Eddie’s got his tongue on him. He’s just so good. He preps himself so well and has his whole waxing routine down pat. He’s, like, just such a good bottom.

But life has been busy lately, the pair of them too desperate to do anything but get inside each other as fast as they can whenever they’ve got a chance. And if they’ve got time for oral, Buck is usually stuffing his face with cock, so. Eating ass has been moved to the back burner.

Absence makes the tongue grow fonder, it seems. That and the chocolate lube. Eddie can’t get enough of Buck.

He leans back for a breath, listening to the obscene squelch of lube and spit in his husband’s hole. It’s fluttering around his fingers as Eddie spits on it, shoving more into him. And the way Buck whines and goes up on his tiptoes when Eddie fingers his prostate head-on is just so cute. Eddie needs to be inside him deeper and deeper.

Eddie smacks Buck’s ass with an open palm as he stands up. Then again. Then again as he finally gets an arm around Buck’s waist to steady him. “Where’s that lube, honey?” Eddie whispers behind his ear, reaching for his jaw with his free hand so he can tilt Buck’s mouth into his. They kiss sloppy. Buck licks the lube from Eddie’s tongue and swallows down Eddie’s saliva just like his ass did.

Buck has to answer, though, so Eddie gives him a moment with a free mouth, opting instead to spread wet kisses across the back of Buck’s neck.

“Left it in the– the shower– I think,” Buck pants.

There’s nothing Eddie wants to do less than detach himself from Buck right now. But he has to.

When he comes back to the kitchen, with a lack of his shirt and the addition of their lube, he finds Buck sitting on the counter, completely nude, on top of his discarded jacket, leaning back on his hands and smiling the way he does when he knows he’s about to get railed. Eddie’s in love with that smug, lustful, eager grin. Would do anything for it.

“Missed you,” Buck grabs Eddie’s belt and pulls him close as soon as he’s within reach. Eddie shoves the lube into Buck’s other hand.

“Do it,” is all he whispers, kissing Buck’s birthmark and speaking into his skin.

Buck is so thrilled to follow through. He puts the bottle down next to him as he expertly undoes his husband’s belt, then he’s at work on the fly, and in 0.5 seconds flat, Eddie’s pants are shoved to his thighs. If there was a reverse stripper job? Like, people pay you to take their clothes off? Buck would be so good at it. (He’d also be a pretty dang good normal stripper, to be fair).

As Buck warms up the lube for him, getting his hands all messy as he rubs them together, Eddie eyes the bowl of leftover buttercream on the island over Buck’s shoulder. Fuck, it all smells to good. He has the sudden urge to cover Buck in icing and lick it all off.

He shouldn’t, though.

But.

Buck’s only just about to start stroking his cock with the lube. He has a little time to spare.

With a swift lean forward and back, Eddie scoops a handful of the fluffy frosting and smears it down Buck’s chest, right in between his tits.

“Hey!” Buck laughs, hands two inches away from Eddie’s cock. “What the fuck!?”

“You covered me in chocolate icing that one time, I think it’s only fair,” Eddie picks up some more buttercream on the tips of his fingers and spreads it across his husband’s chest—the crease under his pecs and around and around and around his perfectly pink nipples.

Buck’s chest quakes a little at the stimulation as he tries to swallow down a moan so he can defend himself. “Okay, ‘covered’ is a strong word, babe.”

“Mhm, maybe,” Eddie gently pushes on Buck’s sternum until he lies down on the granite. “And it’s not like you did it on purpose.”

Buck squeaks something, some non-answer, ignoring the question, and just looks down his body to finally get messy hands on Eddie’s waiting cock. And fuck. It feels so good. But Eddie’s not going to be distracted (yet).

“It wasn’t on purpose, right?” Eddie asks with genuine intrigue.

Buck presses his lips together and focuses on giving Eddie’s cockhead some specific attention. A surefire way to make Eddie tremble.

And Eddie does. His knees buckle for a moment, he feels a moan rise up from his chest but he stops it in his tracks, trying not to think about how fucking perfect his husband’s big hands are on his cock. He can do this.

“Buck,” Eddie smirks, in that expectant, being-dominant-in-the-bedroom way that Buck always recognizes to mean ‘talk to me, baby, be honest for me, be good for me’.

When Buck stays his course, keeps his lips sealed, and starts blushing, Eddie knows he’s gonna have fun with him.

With the speed and grace only someone with martial arts training could have, Eddie grabs Buck’s wrists and pins them above his head. Buck yelps and gasps and moans as it happens, helpless against Eddie’s desire to hold him down.

“Mi amor,” Eddie starts again. The pet name is just playing dirty—Eddie knows that’s practically Buck’s kryptonite. “Did you walk into me with that cake on purpose?”

Before Buck can answer, just to torture him a bit more, Eddie leans down to start cleaning up the artwork he made on Buck’s chest. He points his tongue and drags the tip through the bulk of the icing between Buck’s pecs and fuck is it delicious. Buck is so good in the kitchen. Eddie’s good, good boy.

Buck whimpers and struggles against Eddie’s hold. He wraps his legs around Eddie’s waist and tries to pull him in, only making Eddie’s slick cock transfer lube to the crease of his hip where they grind together. Maybe if he just keeps trying, Eddie’s tip will catch on his hole and he can finally get fucked.

So Buck tries to do that. He whines like a brat as he tries scootching around and pushing Eddie’s hips this way and that, attempting to line Eddie up to slide right into him. Eddie thinks it’s so endearing, how much Buck wants it, knowing things would go a lot faster if he just answered the question.

“Tell me, baby,” Eddie tries again. This time, he sucks on Buck’s left nipple like he has a thousand times before, tasting more decedent chocolate off him. Once he’s got most of it just from suckling, Eddie traces his tongue in circles around and around Buck’s areola, cleaning him off. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Buck keeps pushing his chest up into Eddie’s face, like if he can distract Eddie with his tits, he doesn’t have to answer. Between that and how he’s still trying to line Eddie up, he’s squirming all over the counter, helpless and submissive as all hell.

“Evan,” Eddie draws it out expectantly, dipping again into that voice he uses when he disciplines his man.

It would normally get Buck’s attention—being called Evan usually means Eddie is drop dead serious about something. But Buck still pretends to be unphased.

Eddie chuckles at him. Oh, he’s so sweet, his cock is leaking so much it’s going to start pooling on his stomach. Buck loves this. Eddie can definitely crack him.

With another lean down, Eddie licks up the rest of the icing on Buck’s pecs, lapping at Buck over and over and over again, sucking it all off his other nipple but keeping some in his mouth as he heads for Buck’s lips.

He kisses him, capturing Buck’s surprised moan between their lips. Eddie pushes his tongue in, making Buck taste the buttercream that’s been kept in his mouth. Buck jumps at the gift, kissing Eddie all sloppily so he can lick his tongue as he goes.

Eddie’s head swims. Buck is so desperate for it. Maybe more of that extra frosting can be put to good use later.

When Eddie’s tongue is sufficiently clean of the icing, he kisses Buck one last time before resting their foreheads together, panting. He smiles as he tightens his grip on Buck’s wrists again, reminding him why he’s in the position.

“Did you–” Eddie starts, but he doesn’t get far. Buck surges up to connect their lips again. That’s not going to fly.

Eddie pulls back, leaving Buck with his lips pursed into thin air. He’s tried ‘mi amor’, he’s tried ‘Evan’, there’s really only one option left.

Whispering into his husband’s ear, Eddie smiles, “Prince Charming?” Buck immediately melts, sighing ‘fuck’, under his breath. “My sweet Prince Charming. Did you walk into me with that cake on purpose? Hmm?”

Finally. Buck caves. “Yes,” he mumbles.

“What was that, baby?”

“Yes!” Buck cries. His voice nearly cracks as he projects the word louder than any sound he’s made in the past ten minutes. “Or– no, but– yes– kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“I was just– I wanted to talk to you! And then I– I saw you arrive and I– fuck–”

“Keep going, baby.” As a reward, Eddie lets go of Buck’s arms, instead using his hands to stabilize himself as he tilts Buck’s head to the side to suck little marks into his neck.

“I was gonna– maybe– just bump into you, y’know? Help– help speed fate up a little bit?”

“Uh, huh,” Eddie hums, pulling at Buck’s flushed skin with his teeth.

“I didn’t mean to– to get cake all over you, I swear! You just– you turned around all of a sudden and–”

“Oh, so it’s my fault?”

“No! No– it’s mine, baby. I shouldn’t have– it’s– I felt so bad after– but then you started fumbling over your words and it was so– just– fuck, please?”

“Please what, sweetheart?” 

“Your cock–” Buck begs. “In me. Please. Now.”

“Now?” Eddie stands up and pulls Buck to the edge of the counter by his waist, a tight grip on him as he gets Buck’s ass just off the edge of the island.

“Please,” Buck nods, wiping his hands on the jacket beneath him and then throwing his arms around Eddie’s neck.

Eddie smiles so wide. His boy is so beautiful.

“Happy anniversary, Prince Charming,” Eddie whispers right before he, at last, thrusts into Buck’s needy hole with one smooth glide.

“Fuck!” Buck screams as he’s filled balls deep. He grips Eddie’s hair where he’s been letting it grow longer recently, pulling him down for a kiss.

Eddie goes easily, if with shaky arms as he catches himself on the counter with one hand, and kisses his husband all he wants. He gives Buck one, two, three slow thrusts all the way out and back in again before he lets go of caution.

He swears when he listens to Buck whimper as he fucks him deep, the whole kitchen, whole house, is echoing with the sound of skin on skin, an obnoxiously loud slapping that their four walls haven’t heard in weeks. There’s probably too much lube (is that a thing?) because Eddie can feel it lathering and dripping from Buck’s hole, leaking onto Eddie’s balls and most likely all the way to the floor. But their entire kitchen smells like chocolate—Hershey’s yet also some mix of chemicals Eddie doesn’t want to think about—and he really can’t be anything but pleased.

Buck lets go of Eddie’s hair to scratch down his back. “Yes! Yes, yes, fuck, Eds– fuck– just like– oh, just like thaa-at!” His legs scrabble where they’re wrapped tight around Eddie’s hips, pleading for him to somehow get deeper and deeper.

“You like that, baby?” Eddie fishes, knowing the answer as he stands up and holds Buck by the waist, pulling Buck down onto him to be speared at the apex of each thrust.

“Fuck!” Buck gives in again reply, eyes squeezing shut as his jaw falls open. He’s so tight and warm and messy, Eddie’s absolutely whipped for his husband’s asshole.

“You’re so good, Buck, just take it. Let go and take it.”

Buck desperately nods, eyes still closed as he whimpers at the instructions, feeling safe and secure in knowing he’s already being a good boy for Eddie.

“That’s it, honey. That’s it,” Eddie soothes him. “You feel so good.”

Buck tries to get out a ‘you too’ but it’s caught within a moan. Eddie can hear it, though. They don’t need words to get each other anymore.

Which means Eddie can also tell Buck is craving a change in angle, with the way he’s thrashing and grasping for him.

So. Reaching for Buck’s ankles, Eddie gets one of Buck’s legs up on his shoulder and keeps the other wrapped tight around his waist. “This good?”

“Uh huh, yeah, fuck–” Buck pants. He puts his hands down on the counter behind him to rest his weight onto, sitting up a little so Eddie’s cock curves into just the right spot inside of him. “Fuckkk.”

“Yeah?”

Buck just whimpers and nods again, looking down and trying to watch how Eddie keeps entering him over and over. He can’t really see, the angle isn’t great for that, but it’s so fucking good for his prostate he doesn’t dare to move.

“Eddie. Hand.” Buck moans. Normally, that would mean Buck wants to hold his hand during sex, but with both hands supporting himself on the counter, Eddie knows that’s not what he needs. It’s not hard to figure it out with the way Buck’s abs are clenching on every thrust, though. Buck wants him to press down on his stomach—press hard just above his pelvis so he feels that pressure from both angles.

There’s not quite a bulge there; Eddie’s cock is thick but not quite long enough for that like Buck’s firehose is, but Eddie understands that to Buck it must feel like he’s being stretched from the inside out regardless. A hand there helps balance out the feeling. And it’s just hot—Eddie touching him over where he’s being filled with cock.

Eddie uses one hand to keep Buck’s ankle glued to his shoulder while the other lets go of Buck’s leg, trusting Buck can keep it wrapped around his waist on his own. Buck whines when Eddie takes a little break from fucking him to reposition himself and catch his breath. But, soon enough, one of Eddie’s big, handsome hands is raking through Buck’s happy trail before pressing down with his palm.

Buck groans and throws his head back as he feels the pressure change inside him. When Eddie starts fucking him again—long, slow thrusts—he swears Eddie’s hand provides a little resistance, pushing his cockhead straight into his p-spot.

Eddie took special care to avoid touching Buck’s cock, though. It’s so difficult with it dripping and bouncing right there, tip blazing a pink that’s reminiscent of Buck’s lips and birthmark—all three being places made for Eddie’s mouth to kiss.

But Buck’s tip will get its own attention later, rest assured.

It’s a bit of a workout for both of them, moving together desperately like this, but it’s so worth it. Surprise anniversary sex is the best.

While he’s got his hand on Buck’s stomach, Eddie focuses on going slow and deep, making Buck feel every inch of his cock.

“Big,” Buck whimpers; few words accessible on his tongue by this point. It’s obvious what he means, though.

“All for you, baby,” Eddie whispers back, smiling like a fool at his cockdrunk husband.

“Need it– faster, Eds. Fuck me faster, ‘m’gonna– fucking come.”

There’s no way Eddie’s saying no to that. With a couple more deliberate presses down on Buck’s tummy, Eddie starts maneuvering them around again. He knows this position will be tough on Buck’s arms for a moment, but he has the feeling they won’t need to be in the position incredibly long.

Regrettably, Eddie has to pull out for this part, much to Buck’s dismay. Eddie’s cock slides out with a stupidly pornographic sound of lube squelching, giving them both a soft laugh and wave of lust simultaneously.

Eddie gets both of Buck’s legs in his arms, holding them with the inner crease of his elbows underneath Buck’s knees. He pulls Buck even further forward so his whole tailbone is off the island. But the position still needs one more adjustment, gravity is gonna help him keep Buck bouncing on his cock.

“Up on your hands, babe,” Eddie pants.

Buck gets his arms completely straightened out, so now the only part of him touching the island is his hands, the rest of his body suspended by Eddie’s grasp on his legs. Now, instead of pulling Buck forward, Eddie can pull Buck down onto his cock to fuck him.

And thankfully, Eddie doesn’t need any free hands to get his tip situated at Buck’s hole—he can just maneuver Buck around a little bit to line him up and then fuck right in. It feels like coming home to a warm bed on a cold night. Everything just clicks. Every sensation is heavenly.

Buck loves it, too. His ass is bouncing off of Eddie’s hips, a controlled swinging of his body in the air as Eddie fucks him fast and hard. Like he’s a toy. Just the way Buck adores when he needs cock on a primal level.

“Fuck, you look so good,” Eddie admires his husband, completely flushed as he takes it so well. Eddie’s really not going to last very long. “I love you.”

“I love you, Eds. I love you so– fuck! So fucking much.” Buck babbles as his legs begin to shake, toes curling. “I– after that first party– I thought I’d never get to see you again and now I– you’re mine now. Forever. I still can’t believe it.”

“Believe it, baby,” Eddie chuckles, all out of breath. Buck knows he feels the exact same way, though. Who would have thought that one glance at a stranger would change his entire life? All Eddie’s fretting about Prince Charming paid off. And now he never has to worry about whether he could have Prince Charming’s heart ever again. He knows he does.

“Love being your husband.” Buck clenches on the word ‘husband’ just to drive Eddie a little crazy. And it absolutely works.

“Buck.”

“Love being good for you. Love how you fuck me, Eddie. Make me fucking come, babe, please.”

Oh, how Eddie wishes he had a free hand to touch Buck’s cock just once. That’s all it would take. But, well, making him come completely untouched is probably even hotter anyway.

Eddie stills inside Buck for a moment, giving him a moment to readjust the way Buck’s legs are slung over his arms. There’s something so special about having sex like this—where Buck’s entire body is controlled by his hold. Most of the time when they’re in bed, no matter what position they’re in, if Eddie let go of any part of Buck, Buck would be fine. Maybe he’d collapse a little on the mattress, and he would definitely miss Eddie’s touch, but he’d be completely okay. Here, though, if Eddie let go, Buck would definitely not be fine, no safety net of mattress to cradle him. Buck is certainly contributing to the position, holding himself up by his arms, but Eddie’s doing the (literal) heavy lifting.

It makes something warm settle in his stomach, giving him a bit of a headrush, knowing that Buck’s entrusting his body to him. Buck’s handing him the reins and has full faith that Eddie will make him feel good no matter what. Buck loves it too, having his big, strong, hot husband hold him in the air and fuck him.

So Eddie takes a deep breath and does exactly that. He holds onto the front of Buck’s thighs and shoves him onto his cock over and over, listening to the gorgeous sounds Buck makes. Their skin is slapping and their bodies are sweating and their eyes are meeting. Buck has these big, pouty, cockslut eyes when he gets fucked that Eddie’s been in love with since their very first time.

“Oh my God– fuck, fuckfuckfuck,” Buck whimpers. Suddenly his eyes are screwing shut and his jaw is falling open again, blissed the fuck out, so close.

Eddie can’t touch Buck’s cock with his hands, but there’s still one thing he can do. 

Focusing on Buck’s rosy cock bouncing against his abs with every thrust, Eddie gathers saliva in his mouth and spits it down onto Buck’s drooling tip. It hits his frenulum dead on and Buck shivers, whole stomach clenching as the mere sensation of spit touching his neglected cockhead sends him over the edge.

“Eddie!” Buck all but screams into their kitchen. “Eddie, Eds, baby!”

Eddie will never ever ever ever get tired of hearing his name on Buck’s lips. Especially in bed (or, well, on the kitchen counter).

Buck shakes apart as Eddie fucks him straight through his rush of pleasure, only stopping when Buck’s cock has completely stopped dribbling after shooting come up to his chin. Stripes of come slide over the remnants of chocolate icing on Buck’s torso—the little bits Eddie didn’t end up cleaning with his tongue, too focused on sucking around Buck’s nipples to care about licking the rest of his chest completely squeaky clean.

Just the obscene view and the way Buck’s hole always strangles Eddie’s cock when he shoots off causes Eddie to follow shortly after. He has to stop thrusting to hold Buck still as his balls pulse, dumping an overdue load in his husband. Buck, of course, extends his whimpers into whines as he realizes he’s being filled. 

When Eddie’s finally done, when they both are, Eddie pulls out and gently puts Buck’s ass back on the counter on top of his discarded suit jacket. Buck lies back on the counter with a giggle, lightheaded as Eddie drops his legs to hang off the edge of the island. He just closes his eyes and breathes in and out a few times, listening to Eddie catch his breath and shake out his tired arms.

“Good job, babe,” Buck gives a dopey smile. “We’re so good at sex,” he puts his fist up for a bump

Eddie chuckles at that (but totally fist bumps him back), stepping out of the jeans and boxers that were trapped around his thighs. He goes to grab his discarded underwear like he usually does when they need a clean up—it’s not like he’s gonna put it back on, might as well use it as a cumrag before it goes in the wash anyway.

But then he’s reminded of the marbled brown and white painting Buck’s body.

He drags two fingers through the mess and picks up a mix of buttercream and come. Buck’s already smiling, knowing what’s coming.

“Open, mi vida,” Eddie grins.

Buck sticks his tongue out like a good boy and moans when Eddie wipes his fingers off on it. He swallows it down and if his expression is anything to go off of, he loves it. Yummy chocolate mixed with the evidence of his pleasure. What’s not to love?

“You’re so nasty,” Eddie teases him, as if he didn’t initiate the whole feeding ritual.

“But you love it,” Buck beams back, pulling Eddie in for a kiss. And then one more. And then one more and one more and one more.

“But I love it, baby.”

Buck kisses him again and again, getting lost in it. Making Eddie taste the come too.

“Eds?” He whispers in between smooches. “I’m about to start dripping all over my jacket.”

It takes Eddie a moment to process what he means but then a fierce blush is rising to the surface of his skin. His husband’s perfect asshole is gonna start leaking come any second.

He places a hand below Buck and watches as Buck’s hole flutters, obviously trying to stay clenched to avoid a mess.

“Let go,” Eddie orders softly.

And Buck does. He breathes out a happy sigh as he relaxes all his muscles. Eddie’s own come starts to pool in his palm. And what a sight that is to see. If Eddie was a younger man, he would be just about set for a second round already. 

As it is, he’s not. So he just admires the view he has before sending his husband off to start their shower. Buck runs to the bathroom, completely naked, with residual come running down his thighs.

After a nice, long, hot shower, they end up on the couch each with monstrous slices of chocolate truffle cake. 

Buck loves to bake, and he bakes for his Diaz boys all the time, but this has got to be the best thing Eddie’s tasted from him. Maybe because it’s surely filled with extra extra extra love. It’s their cake, after all.

When the first serving of cake is finished, Buck makes Eddie the little spoon as they cuddle and kiss the night away, the beautiful colours of Cinderella III lighting up the dark room.

For something to do with his hands while they watch, Buck traces ‘Hot Dad’ into Eddie’s chest. Eddie laughs as soon as he realizes what the touch is spelling out.

“I’m still Hot Dad to you, huh?

“Of course,” Buck says it like it’s the simplest thing in the world. “Already told you you‘ll always be Hot Dad to me. No matter what. Sometimes I just look at you and I swear it feels like love at first sight all over again. You were Hot Dad then. You’re still Hot Dad now. Hot Husband now, too.”

Eddie’s never been so charmed in his life. He’s gonna be Buck’s Hot Husband forever and ever and ever.

“I love you with everything I am, Prince Charming.”

And they lived happily ever after.