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Buck has a weird thing with socks.
Eddie hadn’t ever noticed it before, but once it caught his eye one day when they all started living together during the pandemic, it's turned into this nagging thing in the back of his mind.
Now it's become a daily thing for him to try to see if it's actually going on or if it's his imagination.
Buck makes his way down the loft stairs as Eddie leans against the kitchen counter, sipping on his coffee, and Eddie's eyes glance quickly at his sock-covered feet.
It's subtle, but Buck is definitely wearing two different socks.
They're both black, so it's not really something that many people would necessarily notice if they're not looking for it, but Eddie is; one sock has a tiny pink Puma logo on it, and the other has a tiny purple logo.
Really, it's probably something that happens to people all the time, so it's not like it's actually a big deal.
Except Buck's socks never match.
Sometimes it's just the different colored logos, but Eddie's also fully seen him with a white sock on one foot and a charcoal sock on the other.
In all of their years of friendship, Eddie hadn't ever noticed it, but now that he's had three weeks of watching him walk around his loft in socks, climbing into bed in socks, wearing socks just…all the time, he's surprised it isn't something he'd observed sooner.
Eddie finds it endearing, really. It definitely seems like it's intentional, some sort of signature "Buck thing," and he really wants to know why.
He could just ask his best friend why he always wears mismatched socks, if it truly is intentional or just some sort of happy accident that Eddie gets to be amused by. That's no fun, though.
He has a different idea in mind.
Before he does anything about the whole sock thing, Eddie decides he should ask someone else about it, just to make sure he’s not imagining things.
“Hey Chim,” he starts, sidling up to Chimney one morning at the fire station, “have you noticed something weird about Buck’s socks?” Eddie takes a sip of his coffee before looking over to the man next to him.
Chimney looks at him as if he’s grown another head.
“His socks?” he asks in bewilderment.
Eddie nods. “His socks.” He doesn’t elaborate further.
“Well…he wears them. Like all the time. But that’s not that weird?” Chim says, still clearly not sure what Eddie wants from him.
“You haven’t noticed…anything else?” Eddie takes another sip of coffee from his mug. He’s not going to give anything away—he wants to see if anyone else has noticed what he thinks he’s noticed, completely on their own, with no outside influence.
“...No?” Chimney replies, almost as if it’s a question. “I really don’t make a habit of looking at Buck’s feet, man.”
Eddie almost spits out his coffee. "And you're saying I do?"
"You're asking me about his socks," Chimney deadpans.
"I'm just observant!" Eddie responds defensively. He doesn't exactly like what Chimney's implying.
Chimney sighs, pushing himself away from the counter.
"Whatever, just leave me out of your guys' weird mating ritual, okay?"
And he walks away, as if he'd just said the most normal sentence in the world.
"What??" Eddie yells after him, almost choking on his coffee.
The other man ignores him, though, and instead continues to make his way down the loft stairs.
"Hey, man, are you okay?" Buck turns from where he's been sitting on the couch as Eddie continues to cough around the coffee he inhaled.
He catches his breath enough to give Buck a thumbs-up and respond, "Yeah, I'm good," before turning to dump the remnants of his coffee in the sink, hoping his red cheeks weren't obvious from across the room. He takes a deep breath as he washes out his mug, doing his best to try to settle himself so he can focus for the rest of their shift.
In the end, Eddie decides it doesn't actually matter what Chimney thinks. He's going to do a little experiment.
"Hey, Eddie, there's a package for you," Buck calls from the front door.
Eddie hops off the couch and makes his way over to Buck. He knows exactly what that package is—he'd only ordered one thing.
"That's actually for you," he says, gesturing at the small Amazon package in Buck's hand.
Buck tilts his head to the side.
"It's got your name on it."
"I know." Eddie gives him a small smile. "Just open it."
Buck gives him a wary look before peeling open the package and pulling out a packet holding three pairs of socks. The confusion on Buck's face doesn't go away as he looks back up at Eddie.
"I don't get it," he confesses.
Eddie smiles. He knew he wouldn't.
"When I was doing laundry the other day, I noticed a hole in one of your socks, so I threw it away. I couldn't exactly buy just one sock to replace it, but…" He gestures toward the socks in Buck's hand and shrugs. "I made sure they're the same brand that you normally wear. I think the color is slightly different, but that's all they had, and I figured the brand was more important anyway."
Buck's face softens into a grateful smile.
"Thanks, man, you really didn't have to do that."
Eddie shrugs again. "I know, but I wanted to."
Buck's smile widens, showing all his teeth and making his blue eyes sparkle even more than usual. He gives Eddie a nod of thanks before jogging up the stairs to put his new socks away.
With that, Eddie's experiment has begun, so he sits back and observes.
The next day, Buck wears one of the pairs of socks that Eddie had gotten him—and they match. Interesting. For the following two days, Buck wears the other pairs of socks from that package, and still, they're matching.
Eddie supposes it could just be because they're new and paired up already in his drawer, especially since on the fourth day, when he's done wearing the three pairs from Eddie, he goes back to wearing mismatched socks.
Some doubt is cast on this theory when, after laundry day, Buck continues to wear the socks Eddie got him as matching pairs. He can tell they're his because they're a light grey, different than any of the other socks Buck already had, and he knows they're paired correctly based on the different colors of their tiny logos. Meanwhile, he still mixes up his other socks.
This continues for a while, with Buck still mostly wearing mismatched socks. However, a few days every week, they match.
Eddie thought he'd get some sort of clear answer by starting his little experiment, but instead, he now has more questions than answers. It used to be that Buck would wear mismatched socks every single day, but now…well, sometimes he does, and sometimes he doesn't.
At this point, Eddie almost wishes he had just asked Buck about his weird sock thing when he first noticed it. It might have been a weird thing to admit that he'd noticed such a small detail as what socks Buck wears, but at least then he'd have answers.
He's dedicated to the experiment, though, so he continues to observe as he tries to decide what to do next.
It's late one fall evening, and Chimney, Hen, and Eddie are all gathered around the TV, sipping on beers and trying to decide what movie to watch. Eddie looks up as he hears Buck shuffle in from the kitchen, beer in one hand and a large bowl of freshly-made popcorn in the other. As if on instinct, Eddie's eyes flicker down to his sock-clad feet.
Today, he's wearing longer crew socks—which makes sense, he supposes, since it is starting to get colder. They're so obviously different today, though, that Eddie is really surprised no one else says anything. On one foot, Buck is wearing a burnt orange sock, and on the other, he's wearing a brown one.
Even when he's wearing longer, more noticeable socks, Buck doesn't bother making sure they match before putting them on.
Eddie had started thinking that Buck's erratic pattern of mismatched vs matched socks was simply because he didn't think about it too much, almost like he just grabs two socks at random and puts them on. That would certainly account for the way he still, every now and then, will end up wearing matching light grey socks.
Now, though, Eddie's starting to think it might be intentional.
Well, either that or Buck's color blind.
He knows the next step of his experiment.
Eddie doesn't have an excuse to get him more socks, really, and he knows it'd be a bit odd to just randomly gift him a few pairs, so he decides to just sort of…sneak them in.
One morning, when Buck's out on a jog, Eddie grabs the colorful socks he'd purchased from his car and goes to put them in Buck's sock drawer, making sure to keep them next to each other, as a set, so he can see if it really is intentional when Buck wears different socks.
He chuckles to himself at the way the ridiculous amount of socks Buck has are just sort of thrown about in his drawer. Sometimes, that man is so incredibly particular and organized, and sometimes…
Before he closes the drawer, Eddie notices that Buck owns some socks that are a little more eccentric, such as thicker socks with polka dots and cute little ducks all over, and even a few fuzzy socks. He wonders to himself if Buck would even mismatch those.
Maybe one day he'll find out.
It doesn't take long for Buck to wear the socks Eddie snuck into his drawer. As he'd expected, Buck is walking around the loft wearing two different colored socks—one is a dark green one that Eddie had bought, and the other is a navy blue one that Buck had already owned.
This continues for the rest of the week, with Buck wearing mismatched socks every day.
Well, except for one day. During one of their shifts, Eddie notices Buck pulling his boots on over a pair of matching grey socks with tiny teal logos—he recognizes them as one of the pairs he'd given Buck a few weeks back.
Eddie jots this down in his mental notebook. Mostly, all signs have been pointing to Buck just intentionally wearing mismatched socks. Maybe it's just one of his quirks that makes him so…well, Buck. But then, every now and then, there's a break in the pattern, and Eddie can't figure out what the reason is.
In the back of his mind, he knows this whole thing is silly and doesn't actually matter at all. But now, he's invested. He wants to get to the bottom of Buck's weird sock thing.
Eddie, not for the first time, considers just asking Buck what the deal is with his socks. He'd get his answers, and then he could just move on with his life. However, that would mean admitting to Buck that he's been paying attention to what socks he wears. He'd probably also have to fess up about his little experiment, and well…Buck likes data, sure, but Eddie's pretty sure he'd be a bit weirded out to learn that Eddie's been keeping tabs on what he puts on his feet.
So, instead, he moves on to the next stage of his experiment.
Eddie quickly learns that yes, Buck does, in fact, mismatch his more eccentric socks, as evidenced by the fact that he makes his way around the loft one day wearing one polka dot sock and one striped sock. It looks ridiculous, and yet Eddie can't help but be endeared by it.
For what he thinks will be the last stage of the experiment, Eddie comes up with, in his mind, a brilliant excuse to give Buck more socks.
He decides to give them to Buck one afternoon when they're in between calls—in his mind, it feels like it makes it more casual, almost like an "Oh, I almost forgot" type of thing, rather than making it obvious that he bought Buck socks for a very specific purpose.
Eddie climbs the stairs to the firehouse loft and is greeted with Chimney in one of the chairs, reading a magazine, and Buck lounging on the couch, scrolling on his phone. He knew Hen was napping in the bunk room and Bobby was doing something in his office, but he'd been hoping Chimney would be…well, anywhere else. Oh well, he can ignore him.
"Hey, Buck," he says as he approaches the couch, giving him an awkward little wave.
Buck looks up at him with a smile. It's the type of smile that Eddie thinks he could get lost in, the kind that crinkles the corners of his bright blue eyes and shows off his perfect white teeth and—oh right, the socks.
"What's up?" Buck asks.
"Oh, um," he clears his throat, "I, uh, bought these for Chris, but he said he didn't want them, so I thought, maybe you'd like them?"
He holds out a clear plastic package containing three pairs of brightly patterned socks—one pair of black socks with blue, purple, and green polka dots, a pair of white socks with red, orange, and yellow polka dots, and a third pair with rainbow stripes.
Buck's eyes light up in the way that Eddie hoped they would—these socks are not Chris's style at all, but they're definitely Buck's.
"Yeah, sure, thanks!" he replies brightly, taking the socks from Eddie's outstretched hand.
"Cool." Eddie's glad he said yes—otherwise, he'd have to sneak them into his sock drawer again.
Buck studies the package before shooting Eddie an amused grin. "These would've been way too big for Chris anyway, man—these are my size," he says, eyes twinkling.
Eddie feels heat creep up his cheeks and hopes they aren't too noticeably red. "Oh, uh, I mean," he clears his throat, "I figured he could grow into them? Better to buy a size or two up than too small, you know?"
"Right," Buck deadpans. "Well, thanks again."
Eddie nods, a tight smile etched onto his face.
Chimney looks up from where he'd been silently reading a magazine in his chair. He fixes Eddie with a knowing look.
"So, do I get fun socks too, or is it just Buck?" he asks, voice laced with mirth.
"Shut up," Eddie grumbles, walking down to the locker room before Chimney can say anything else.
Eddie's confused.
He really thought that gifting Buck some fun socks would help him figure it all out, once and for all. Instead, it's left him with more questions than answers.
Because Buck doesn't mix up his socks.
Well, he mixes up his socks, just not the ones that Eddie gave him. No, he very clearly always wears those together as a set.
At first, Eddie thought it was just what he'd experienced the first time he'd given Buck some new socks—they're fresh out of the package, so they're already paired up, so it's probably just easier to wear them as a set. However, once again, after they've gone through the laundry, Buck continues to wear those socks matched together, as they were intended.
Meanwhile, he still mismatches all of his other socks.
It's starting to make Eddie's head hurt, trying to figure out what on Earth Buck's doing with his socks. He finally decides to move his notes on this whole situation out of his head and onto a piece of paper, in the hopes that writing it all down will bring him some clarification.
These are the facts:
-
Buck usually wears mismatched socks.
-
When Eddie bought him socks, he started to only sometimes mix up his socks.
-
When Eddie snuck socks into Buck's sock drawer, he continued to wear two different socks at a time, even when they were wildly different colors or patterns.
-
When Eddie gifted him patterned socks, Buck wore those as correct, matching sets.
-
Eddie has no idea what any of this means.
He rolls through the memories in his brain before going back and making an amendment to number 2: Buck only ever matched his socks when they were the ones Eddie got him.
Eddie stares at the list in front of him, reading it over and over again. It still doesn't make any sense. Why would Buck ONLY pair up the socks that Eddie bought for him?
There's a voice in the back of his mind that gives him a reason, a voice he'd been trying to tamp down for months now—years, if he's really being honest with himself.
He shakes his head. It's silly, there's no way that's the reason why Buck's doing what he's doing.
Except…
Eddie thinks about it for a moment. It is a fact that Buck has been wearing the socks that Eddie gave him as a set, while mismatching all the rest. However, that could just be because they were a gift, simple as that.
Just to make sure, Eddie decides to add one more step to his experiment. He just hopes he doesn't get too much shit for it.
"You want me to do what?"
Eddie sighs. He should have known it wouldn't be as simple as he'd hoped.
"Just…can you give these socks to Buck? Please?" He doesn't know how to properly express to Hen just how important this is to him, especially since he's not even sure why it's so important to him
Hen studies his face for a moment. "Why?" she asks.
Eddie twists his mouth as he decides what exactly he wants to say. He figures he has to give her some sort of reason, but being vague is probably his best option.
"I'm just…I'm trying to see something, okay? But I need someone to give socks to Buck, and it can't be me. Just…please? You can say you accidentally bought the wrong ones or something, and you don't want to return them, I don't know. I'll owe you." Eddie's aware he's practically begging at this point, but he doesn't even care. He just needs Hen to give Buck the socks.
Hen stares at him some more, seemingly trying to peer into his soul to unearth some deeper explanation that he's unwilling to give.
"Okay, fine," she eventually concedes. She grabs the socks from his hands and shoves them in her bag. "But you do owe me."
"Yes! Of course I do! Thank you!" Eddie is so relieved he could practically kiss her. Instead, Hen rolls her eyes at him before stalking off, muttering something unintelligible under her breath.
Over the next few days, Eddie notices Buck wearing the socks that Hen had given him, and…they don't match. He's not making sure he wears Hen's socks as matching sets.
Eddie doesn't understand. Pieces are starting to fall in place, but the picture is still blurry. Because this means that it's not just that Buck matches his socks when they're gifted to him but doesn't bother otherwise. No, it seems like, for whatever reason, Buck only puts in the effort to make sure his socks match when they're from Eddie.
The thought makes Eddie's heart flutter in his chest. Is it…intentional? For a second, Eddie lets himself believe that. He lets himself live in a world where Buck feels some type of way about him, so that he takes special care to match his socks and none of the others. He doesn't let himself stay in that world for long, though. It's not realistic—just a fantasy.
There has to be some other explanation for all of this; he just can't seem to figure out what.
Late one night, Eddie decides he just can't take it anymore.
It's been a few days since he noticed Buck not matching up Hen's socks, and it's honestly been keeping him up at night.
Which is how he finds himself, lying in bed next to a lightly snoring Buck, staring at the ceiling, mind racing. He keeps trying to put two and two together and getting five. Nothing is adding up, and it's driving him mad. No amount of repeating the facts over and over again in his mind is leading him to the why, which is really all he wants to know at this point.
This whole thing started off as something silly, to see if Buck was actually intentionally mismatching his socks. Instead, he has more questions than he started with. It seems like there's some intentionality there, but now, not being able to figure out exactly how Buck's brain ticks is making Eddie's skin itch.
He sighs, looking over at the man next to him before returning his gaze to the ceiling above him. He could just ask him. He should just ask him. It's really not that big of a deal. He'll ask, then he'll have his answer, and then he'll move on. Simple as that.
Eddie does have the thought, though…what if it's not that simple? What if there's a reason behind Buck's whole sock thing that's deeper than he's letting himself believe? There's definitely a part of him that, while hopeful, is also worried the answer may change things between them.
Maybe, though, he's also worried it won't.
He sighs again.
"What are you sighing about?"
Eddie snaps his head to the side, startled. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed Buck waking up and rolling over to look at him.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologizes quickly, quietly. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
Buck shifts so he's more comfortable, tucking his arm under his head as he looks at Eddie.
"C'mon, I can hear you thinking over here. What's up?"
Eddie has to look away, or else he'll get lost in Buck's soft blue eyes, and he'll spill everything that's been bottling up inside of him.
"It's nothing, sorry, just go back to sleep."
He should've known better, though.
He feels the way the bed shifts next to him as Buck scoots closer, and then the other man's hand is on his arm.
"Hey," Buck whispers. Eddie suppresses a shiver at the way Buck's thumb is gently rubbing against the skin of his forearm. "You can talk to me."
Eddie sighs, and he can feel the way Buck is smirking at him for it before he even looks his way. He thinks now, in the safety of the moonlit loft, might be the perfect time to ask his silly question. Maybe he really does need to just ask him about it so that he can finally get some sleep.
Buck's hand falls away as Eddie rolls onto his side so they're face to face. If they're going to have this conversation, he wants to make sure he catalogues Buck's every reaction.
"So, this might be a bit weird," Eddie starts, trying to make it clear he knows this isn't where Buck thought things were going, "but I noticed something. With your socks, I mean. You sort of…always wear different ones? Like they don't match. Is that on purpose?"
Buck blinks. Eddie can see the surprise etched across his face. But also…there's something else there, too.
"What?" is all Buck whispers in response.
"Do you wear mismatched socks on purpose?" he asks, more directly this time.
"Oh! Well, yeah," Buck says softly, a gentle smile easing across his face. "It's just kind of something I've always done, just for fun, really."
"Then why don't you do that with mine?" Eddie's words feel too loud in the darkness of the loft. He didn't mean for the words to come out like that, but now they're out there, and he'll finally get an answer.
It's so quiet between them that he can hear Buck swallow. He also takes note of the small tinge of pink blooming across Buck's cheeks, just visible in the moonlight.
"Well, uh," Buck starts off, stammering, "th—they were, um, a gift, kinda, s—so it felt like I should, ya know, keep them together, o—or—"
"You didn't do it with Hen's," Eddie cuts him off.
"I didn't do it with Hen's," he breathes.
Eddie continues looking into Buck's cobalt blue eyes, watches as the gears turn behind them while Buck figures out what to say.
"I guess…" Buck bites his lower lip nervously, and Eddie wishes he could reach his hand out and soothe it away with his thumb. "I wanted to keep yours the way you gave them to me. In pairs. Because they were from you."
Deep down, that's what Eddie was hoping to hear—confirmation that it was because they were from Eddie, as if that somehow made them special.
He nods, unable to suppress the small grin that forms on his face. A silence falls between them, and Eddie fiddles with the strings of his sweatpants, unsure of where they go from here.
"Wait," Buck's voice breaks the silence. "How did you even know about all of this sock stuff?"
Eddie snaps his head up to see Buck with a slightly amused yet also slightly confused look on his face.
"I'm…observant," he responds, hoping that's enough to placate Buck's curiosity.
"Mhm," Buck shoots back, a smirk starting to grow out of the corner of his mouth. "So observant that you noticed when I was or was not wearing matching socks, even so much so that you could remember when I was wearing specifically the socks you gave me versus the ones someone else gave me."
"I think it's normal to notice things about your friends, okay!" Eddie replies, quietly but defensively. "I noticed your socks were mismatched one day, and then I just…kept noticing…" he trails off.
Buck's eyes glimmer.
"So you just…noticed."
"Yeah!"
Buck continues to stare at him.
"Okay, and I may have done a little experimenting," Eddie admits, feeling the tips of his ears turn red.
"Experimenting…?" Buck raises his eyebrows questioningly.
"So like…I bought you some socks. And slipped some into your sock drawer. And told Hen to give you some. You know, just to see what would happen," Eddie confesses. He wishes he could rewind to before this conversation ever happened.
"Eddie…" Buck starts, the corners of his eyes crinkling with glee. "Oh my god."
"Shut up," Eddie grumbles quietly.
"Do you care what Hen does with her socks?"
"No." Eddie's voice grows quieter.
"Do you care what Chimney does with his socks?"
"No." Quieter.
"Hm," Buck hums as the mischievous smirk on his face grows. "So I guess the only person you're so concerned about is…me."
Now it's Eddie's turn to blush.
"Why are you making it weird?" he mumbles, attempting to bury his face in the crease between their pillows.
"Nuh-uh." Buck uses his finger to guide Eddie's chin until he's looking him in the eyes once more. He's got a shit-eating grin on his face that makes Eddie want to hide under the covers for the rest of time. "You're the one who made it weird when you started paying attention to how I wear my socks."
There's a twinkle in Buck's eyes that Eddie can't quite place. It's mischievous, for sure, but there's something else there, an extra little spark that Eddie notices.
"Don't worry," Buck continues as he moves the hand that had been holding Eddie's chin so that he's cupping his jaw, gently stroking the supple skin of his cheek. "I kinda love it."
Eddie's breath hitches. It feels like something's shifted between them, and it makes his skin tingle. He can feel how close Buck's feet are to his, and he wants so badly to reach out and tangle them together with his own.
So he does.
He studies the subtle changes in Buck's face as he slips his own foot in between both of his—the way his eyes widen slightly, how his lips press closer together and turn up at the corners in a way that would normally be barely perceptible.
Eddie rubs his foot along Buck's sock-clad feet. He can't see them, but he knows that Buck went to bed wearing the striped ones that Eddie gave him. The thought makes his heart swell.
Buck moves his hand once more, brushing the hair off of Eddie's forehead and carding his fingers in his hair. Eddie's eyelids flutter shut at the soothing sensation the movement sends through his body.
He almost feels himself drifting off before he snaps his eyes open. He doesn't know how, but it seems like they've somehow gotten even closer to each other.
Eddie meets Buck's eyes, which seem to be studying him, looking for something, but maybe unable to ask. Neither of them says anything; Buck just continues to stroke his fingers through Eddie's hair, and Eddie continues to look at Buck.
He's so close he can see the detailed outline of Buck's pink birthmark, and, almost as if on autopilot, he reaches up a hand and traces it with his pointer finger. Buck shivers at the contact, eyelashes fluttering as he looks at Eddie in awe.
Eddie shifts ever so slightly, causing their noses to brush against one another as he cups the back of Buck's neck, running his fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck.
There are no words spoken between them, but they seem to come to a sort of understanding.
Buck nuzzles his nose against Eddie's before tightening his grip on the hair he's been so gently playing with.
"Eddie," he breathes.
"Buck," Eddie breathes right back.
He's not sure who finally closes the last millimeter between them, but suddenly their lips are pressed together in a kiss, soft and sweet.
There are no fireworks, and time doesn't seem to stand still.
Instead, Eddie just feels…alive. He can feel every point of contact between them so sharply—Buck's hand on the back of his head, his fingers in Buck's curls, the way their feet are tangled together underneath the sheets, the gentle movements of their lips sliding against one another. It's almost like there's something that's been awakened inside of him that he didn't know was sleeping, like something has clicked into place.
Kissing Buck…is fucking transcendent.
They pull apart, and for whatever reason, the next words that come out of Eddie's mouth are:
"Is it weird that I know you're wearing the striped socks I gave you?"
Buck giggles, honest to god giggles, and Eddie can't help but join in because, yeah, that was a ridiculous thing to say post-kiss.
Buck leans in to press another soft kiss to Eddie's lips. "No," he says simply, before placing a soft peck on Eddie's nose, "I think it's cute."
Eddie's heart warms. Buck thinks he's cute. He's not sure how something so simple can make him feel so giddy.
"Oh!" Buck sort of whisper-shouts before abruptly sitting up and getting out of bed.
"What are you doing?" Eddie hisses after Buck as he walks across the room.
He stops in front of his dresser and, instead of answering, turns and waves Eddie over.
Eddie grunts as he rolls out of bed. He'd been really comfy in their little cocoon they'd made together.
"I need you to show me which socks you slipped in here without telling me," Buck demands once Eddie's next to him, opening up his sock drawer. Eddie quickly sees that, like he remembers, most of the socks are scattered in a disorganized mess, as if they're just thrown into the drawer. However, what he hadn't noticed before was the small pile of neatly stacked socks that Eddie had gotten him tucked away in the corner, including the nondescript pairs of Pumas that are almost identical to ones that Buck had already owned.
In a drawer of chaos, Buck had carved out a special place for the socks Eddie had gotten him.
Eddie can feel the sharp burn of tears behind his eyes that he tries to blink away before pointing out the pairs of colored socks he'd snuck into Buck's drawer all those weeks ago.
"Oh, also," he sniffs as Buck wordlessly pairs up and folds the crew socks, "I bought the socks that Hen gave you; I don't know if those count."
Buck pauses, looking Eddie in the eye. "You bought them for me?"
Eddie nods, giving him a soft smile.
"Then they count," Buck confirms with a firm nod. He pairs those socks as well and folds them neatly next to his other Eddie socks.
"You're so ridiculous," Eddie says fondly, pressing a soft kiss to Buck's shoulder.
Buck snorts. "Says the man who did an experiment with my socks."
They both burst out into giggles, Eddie leaning forward to press his forehead into Buck's chest while Buck wraps an arm around him. Really, they're both ridiculous.
"Oh my god, will you two just kiss already or something to stop giggling? We're trying to get some sleep!" Chimney calls from downstairs, clearly annoyed.
Unfortunately, that just causes them to giggle harder, Eddie pressing his face into Buck's shirt and Buck pressing his face into the top of Eddie's head to try to muffle the sounds.
"Sorry!" Buck calls down once they've caught their breath. He presses a kiss to the top of Eddie's head before closing the drawer.
They both climb back into bed, and Eddie immediately rolls onto his side so he's facing Buck as Buck does the same. Eddie tangles their feet together once more, loving the sense of security that contact brings. Buck laces their fingers together, brushing a gentle kiss across Eddie's knuckles before resting their joined hands on the pillow between them.
They drift off like that, completely intertwined under the covers.
Eddie has never been more grateful for Buck's weird thing with socks.