Chim was understandably nervous. It was inching closer and closer to the wedding and he still had yet to write his vows, pick out his tux—under Maddie's strict colour instructions of course—and collect the rings. He was stressed and all frazzled out, plus the fact that he had just come off a very long 24-hour shift where it seemed like nobody shared any common sense between them. All he wanted to do was sleep off the past day and wake up in bed next to Maddie.
Except, sadly, that just wasn't meant to be. Because no sooner than he had left the building did his phone light up with a text from Buck asking if he could meet him before he went home. He dutifully responded and lugged all his stuff in the back of the car before driving to meet Buck at Eddie's house.
By this point, everyone was just about done with the situation between Buck and Eddie. They could all see it: the constant carpooling, the 'sleepovers' at Eddie's, the fact that they were each other's emergency contacts. But it seemed that no matter how obvious it was for everyone else, they were both totally oblivious.
He got to Eddie's house in ten minutes; it was luckily only a short drive over or Chim might have had a few choice words to say. But the sight of Buck opening the door for him with a large mug of coffee and the promise of a home-cooked breakfast did stomp down any minimal annoyance at being asked here so early.
He took a large swig of his coffee. "So, Buck, what are you calling me over here for?"
Now that he thought about it, he was sure he had gone and seen Maddie yesterday just after he left for work as well. Was there something going on? He asked as much, "You saw Maddie yesterday, didn't you? Is something going on?"
Chim should have known something was up at that point when a big grin lit up Buck's face. He was forever going to blame his tiredness for not figuring it out sooner.
"Well, you see, Chim, I had a lovely chat with Maddie about people getting cold feet before the wedding. But you know, I just told her that mine were already groom temperature so I was sure that she'd be fine with you, if I managed."
Chim blinked. What did Buck just say? "Maddie was asking if I was getting cold feet?"
Buck just huffed as if he was the one saying something crazy and continued talking, "Then we moved onto dumplings because she was like 'I have all the fillings for Chim', and I can relate because I have all the fillings for Eddie. Do you understand me?"
Chim blinked. "I don't think so. Maybe we should—"
Buck just grinned and kept talking over the top. "Anyway, whilst we're on food, what do you want in your sandwich?"
He was so confused, he glanced at the stove with the frying pan on top of it and then back to Buck. "Aren't you cooking?"
Buck huffed as if Chim himself was the one not making sense. "Keep up, Chim. Do you want any cheese in it? Any egg?"
He didn't know what was happening. Weren't they having pancakes? He just nodded anyway.
Buck shook his head at him. What now? "Awful choices, Chim. Cheese and egg. I understand why my sister likes you now, you two really do make an egg-celent pair. Not as good as mine, of course. But really, it sounds so cheesy, but it's totally grate that this is all happening so close together."
"What?"
"Anyhow, then me and Mads had to talk about going to the opticians, because you know, love may be blind, but marriage is a real eye opener, though it doesn't seem to be doing much for me, so maybe, I do need some glasses? Do you think I'd look good in glasses?"
Chim could not keep up with the information that Buck was throwing at him. Cold feet, dumplings, sandwiches, eye tests? What was even going on? He just wanted some pancakes.
He managed to get a moment of brief reprieve when Buck sat a plate down in front of him and he could dig into it with gusto. It was pancakes just as he thought he was getting in the first place. He seriously didn't understand where this sandwich talk came from.
He swallowed a bit and sighed. Though Buck may be confusing, there was nothing to get confused about how delicious his blueberry pancakes were.
He was busy trying to shovel the tasty food into his mouth when Buck started speaking again and all Chim could think was not now. He still hadn't figured out what all the last bit was.
"Oh, we have some cantaloupe if you want any of that as well! That reminds me of a joke, you want to hear it?"
There seemed to be no end to Buck's energy as he pottered around the kitchen, tidying up various pots and pans as he snuck in bites of food and spoke to him. He'd only just managed to open his mouth to reply as Buck continued straight on without even looking at him. He rolled his eyes in a fond way as he focused on what Buck was saying, even if most of his attention was still on the food.
"So these two melons tried to go to Vegas to elope, but it turns out that they didn't have the right documents. It was such a shame they cantaloupe. Get it? Can't-elope! Ha! Good thing me and Eddie had everything right."
Chim nodded along. It was a good job they had the right documents. Then, he consequently realised what that actually meant and proceeded to choke on his food, whilst Buck was of no help laughing at the other side of the table. Once he had finally managed to clear his throat, he managed to choke out, "You eloped? What? Oh my god. This whole morning you've been making fun of me. When did this even happen? Oh my god, does Maddie know?"
Buck didn't even have the decency to look ashamed of himself as he replied, "Why do you think I had to tell you before you got home? I told Maddie yesterday. Now finish your breakfast and get out, because Eddie is going to be home soon and Maddie wants to get all the gossip from you."
Chim accepted defeat in his tired state. He finished his breakfast and mumbled a thanks on his way out. He really just wanted to sleep now and then, when he was more awake later, he could try and figure out just when everything got so confusing.