The walk up to Buck's room was a quiet one. Bill had, surprisingly, made it home early for once, and he'd decided to surprise his son with a movie night of his choice.
He finally made it to the door, which was labelled with many stickers and posters along the lines of "Stay Out!" In contrast with this message, Buck had left the door ever so slightly open. This allowed beat after slow beat of some strange song to trickle down the hall.
To this, Bill simply thought, Boys and their music! And then he placed his hand on the front of the door to push it open. But he froze mid-action when he happened to peak inside.
There he saw Buck and one of his friends, whom he remembered to be named Sour Cream. But that wasn't alll there was. Sour Cream was lying on top of Buck, their mouths pressed together as their hands tangled in each other's hair. He watched as Buck's eyes, which weren't hidden behind his glasses for once in his life, fluttered open slowly. They even gently glided over the room before they froze on Bill.
Buck pushed Sour Cream away instantly, twisting under him to look away from his father.
"Buck, are you okay?" Sour Cream asked, instantly worried. This was made worse when Buck didn't respond. "Come on. If I hurt you, I'm really sorry. But you have to tell me!"
Bill walked forward on instinct. He wasn't looking, and he ended up tipping over some CDs, which had been neatly stacked by the door.
Sour Cream looked over at the noise, and his pale face flushed pink. "Oh, uh, hey Mr.- er- Mayor Dewey."
Bill tried to find something to say to him, but was cut off when a pillow was flung at his head, landing with a thud on the wall next to him. He looked down at Buck, the source of the pillow, to see the most angry expression he'd ever seen on the boy's face.
"Just get out!" he yelled
Bill slowly pulled away, closing the door and fast-walking to his own room.
Buck curled up tightly in his bed, not daring to look at the door behind him. Sour Cream had closed it when he left, both actions at Buck's request.
"Not like this..." he mumbled to himself in a low whine.
Tears pooled under his face as he placed both hands on the cool wall in front of him. He hoped that he never had to leave this room, that he would never have to face his dad ever again. Unfortunately, his prayers were left unheard. Instead, he got a soft knock at his door.
"Buck?" his dad asked through the door.
"Just a minute," he said as he sat and cleared his eyes, searching his fairly neat room for his glasses. He slid the shades onto his face, hoping they would hide his puffy eyes. "Come in."
As soon as he gave the okay, Bill entered. Buck had to contain his shaking while his father worked to hold up the appearance of a smile.
"Hello, son." Buck just stared. He coughed slightly into a fist. "So, I see you're in a relationship. Sour Cream, huh? When did that start?"
Buck tensed and looked down. "A while ago."
"Oh great!" He chuckled nervously before walking forward nervously and resting on the edge of the bed, right next to him. "You know, you can always tell me these things, right? I understand. I mean, I'm a pretty cool guy!"
"Yea. A cool guy with conservative views," Buck said with a bit more venom in his words than he meant before he slid back to lean against the wall and pulled his legs up to his chest.
Bill's eyes went wide at hearing that and he began waving off the idea. "Hey now, that doesn't mean anything! I mean- sure I always thought you'd be a lady killer like your old man," he paused as Buck curled up a bit more, placing his face into his arms as they lay atop his knees. He smiled softly and reached for his shoulder, "but that doesn't mean I love you any less."
Buck's head turned quickly to look up at him, and he didn't even try to wipe away his tears as they peaked out from under his glasses.
"You... you really mean that?" he asked.
"Of course I do! You're my son, after all!"
Buck wanted to smile, he really did. Instead he just tried to contain the harsh sobs of joy as he was pulled into a hug. His cool motif usually prevented him from reciprocating things like this, but he found himself hugging back as he continued to sob into his father's shirt.
It took a few minutes for Buck to calm down, but he didn't move when he did. He just stayed there.
"Thanks dad. It means a lot."