Ediaz: How is school going?

WhatTheBuck: It is what it is.

Ediaz: What's wrong?

WhatTheBuck: I'm not sure that it's going to work here either. It's not rigid like the full university I went to. It's just that this place doesn't have anyone I like at it. I've tried to make friends but think in the end, they only like me because of the money.

Ediaz: You don't have to do college. Or college like that. You could see about a place that would do remote learning. That kind of thing is getting more popular. You need a place that works for you not works against you.

WhatTheBuck: Yeah, I just...my parents think I'm going to amount to nothing. I haven't spent all my money, but I want to be happy. I have no clue how to make myself happy right now. I think I need more sleep and to do something for me tomorrow.

Ediaz: That sounds like a good plan. Thanksgiving is coming up at the end of the month. Any plans?

WhatTheBuck: There is a party on campus, and it's going to be a rager, from what I have heard. I haven't decided if I want to go. My parents have already told me they are leaving town for the holiday and I am not welcome at home. I think they might have changed the locks. I don't care. I took everything I wanted out of there when I left for college the first time. It all fit into the car they bought me, so I didn't have to rely on them to do anything. I think they will pay me to stay away, which at first I thought was good but now I just worry that it's messing me up.

Ediaz: When do you see the campus psychologist again?

WhatTheBuck: Tomorrow night. I have weekend meetings with the one who only works weekends now. I meshed with him better than the lady during the week. I know that he's been thinking of putting me on a low dose of antidepressants, but I am not sure.

Ediaz: Anything that helps. You might not need them for the rest of your life. You never know that therapy could work. I saw one for a few years at my agent's pushing. It helped a lot with letting me figure out on my own how to get out from under my parents and what I needed to do. I thought that therapy was a joke before, but it's not.

WhatTheBuck: I know it's not. My parents hate it, and I have no clue why, but I figured that if they are shitty parents, anything they hate has to be a good thing.

Ediaz: That's a good way of looking at it, but I think in the end, Evan, you need to decide what you want out of life without factoring them in.

WhatTheBuck: Yeah, that's something that more than one person has told me. My therapist especially. I should head to bed and get some sleep. You are back in LA, right?

Ediaz: Yes, I'll figure out something to do where we can talk on Thanksgiving. Abuela said that she was going to send you a meal of some kind, and she's not sure how.

WhatTheBuck: I love her.

Ediaz: She loves you. Goodnight, Evan.

WhatTheBuck: Night, Eds.

---

Evan rolled over and closed his laptop after looking up a few things. He needed something to do and was worried about Eddie. The guy hadn't texted him in three days since going out to a bar in LA with a few friends he had made who weren't part of the music scene.

It was strange and something that Evan just wasn't sure about. The school was shitty, and Evan just wanted to get away from it all.

It was the week before Thanksgiving, and while Evan was doing well in classes, he wasn't sure that this really was what he wanted to be doing. There was no reason for him to be doing any of this. He had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.

Evan picked up his cell phone and looked at the time. It wasn't that late in LA. Eddie should be home. He hit the button to call him and smiled as the line started to ring. He put the phone on speaker and laid back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Sorry, can't talk for long right now," Eddie said as a way of greeting.

It was loud wherever Eddie was.

"Where are you?"

"At a bar with Shannon."

Evan tried to figure out who Shannon was, but he had no idea. He had met two Shannons in his life, one male and one female, and even though the name was mostly for females these days, there were guys with the name. He nearly asked who Shannon was until the sound of a female voice was picked up close enough that Evan knew she had to be Shannon.

"Let's go," the woman said.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Eddie said and then hung up.

Evan tried to quell the feeling in his gut. They could just be having a lot of fun. Evan knew that Eddie was out of his league, but he had thought that they were on the same page. They would be settling into something when Evan gave up on college and moved out to LA to be with Eddie and work on the tours when they were in season and then pick up some other type of work when it wasn't that way.

Of course, Evan had never shared any of that with Eddie. He had just done what he always did: made his plans, then would change them if needed.

Evan's stomach churned at the thought that Eddie was just another person in his life who just wanted Evan without giving, but as he thought about it, he knew it wasn't the way it was. Eddie just didn't want that kind of thing from Evan, and the friendship was enough.

Plans on hold, Evan knew that he needed to just live with what Eddie wanted from him. Having that was more than enough because it was at least more than he had ever gotten from anyone else in his life.

---

Eddie picked up his phone and glared at Shannon before he pulled the phone away when she tried to grab it.

"Eddie, quit it and come back to bed." Shannon held out her hand from where she was still naked and barely covered in a sheet.

It was a tempting image, but after her trying to take his phone when he was going to do something was pissing him off.

"I told you I needed to call Evan back. I was too drunk last night to even think about it, but even though he's been a little off, he sounded really off last night." Eddie was beating himself up a little that he hadn't caught it until they had been back at his place and post-sex. It was like it had fucked the drunk out of him, and he saw what had happened.

"You need to decide who you want in your life, me or him," Shannon said.

"Really?" Eddie looked at her and tried to figure out why she gotta make that kind of demand after a few weeks of hooking up. They weren't even in a relationship, or at least he thought not.

"What? Your friend or your girlfriend. You have to pick."

"He's been in my life a lot longer than you have, and I told you from the start this wasn't a relationship. We've had fun. I told you friends with benefits, and that was it. If this ended up being more than that for you, you should have said something."

"Eddie, you love me."

"No, I like you as a fuck buddy, but we have a lot of different things that we want out of our lives, and we need to make sure that we get what we want. I want my career and what I have going with it; I can't be here all the time. You want someone who is going to be here and take care of you. The sex is great, but it's not something that would make me want to live a life with you, knowing that we don't want the same things.

"We want something different, and that's fine. We just need to accept that."

Shannon sat up, pulling the blankets up to cover her body. "You need to stop being so close to him. He's what's stopping you from starting anything with someone who will love you. He wants you. I know it."

"You've never seen him. You've never talked to him. I talk to Sofía more than I talk to him since he's in college. Don't tell me how my best friend is with me."

"You will not be accepted for being gay."

"I'm not gay. I'm bisexual, and if you even try and do a damned thing like blab that to the news, I will sue you. I don't give a shit about what you want otherwise. It's done. The sex part is done. I don't want to see you again."

Eddie grabbed his clothes and started to put them on; he turned to the side to give her privacy as Shannon finally got out of bed and started to get dressed in clothes. He was now worried about what she would do in revenge for doing this. He had thought she was getting a little clingy, but then her circle of friends was out of town for the holiday.

"You need to think about this, Eddie. We were so perfect back in school."

"We were kids who shared our first kisses, and then you moved away. I missed you at first, but then I moved on. I am not going to place more affection on what we were as friends than needed. Evan's been my long-distance friend, and honestly, beyond my sister's, the only person who got me through my parents trying to sue me for cutting them out of the next contract signed. They had no legal recourse as my own lawyer eviscerated them, and they have taken their asses back to El Paso, where they haven't tried to contact my sisters and me since."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, it's telling you that even if we were more, Evan's not a part of my life I would cut out unless he was actively harming me for someone who I am not even dating. That's insane."

Shannon huffed and stormed out of the room. It was crazy how much she had put on Eddie in a short time.

Eddie headed to the bathroom to get showered, and then he got dressed again.

Sofía was sitting in the chair in the corner when Eddie exited the shower.

"She was pissed off. What pissed her off?"

"She thought we were dating."

Sofía didn't say anything, but the look on her face said plenty. Eddie sighed and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. He noticed that Sofía had changed the sheets.

"You know, after you left El Paso to do all of this, we thought it was something you wanted. You embraced and loved it, but is it all you want out of life?"

"Yes, and no. I want to keep doing this, but I want to find someone who will be with me despite all this. Shannon wants someone who will take care of her. I doubt she wants to be a stay-at-home mother or anything like but a homemaker or something like that, I think. I don't think she wants kids, given her reaction to me talking about it at one point."

"Is that why you aren't with Evan?"

"What?" Eddie frowned at Sofía.

"Look, we both know you like him. I just assumed that he didn't like you that way or anything, but now I think that it might be closer to something like the fact that you want kids and think that you need a woman for that instead of adoption or even surrogacy."

"Sofía."

"No, just think about it. Being happy takes more than just finding someone you can tolerate. You need someone that you are going to want to be around for a long time. Someone who will love you for who you are and nothing else. You need that in your life, Eddie. Someone who will accept you for who you are as Ávila and then as Eddie as well and won't be upset when you keep him hidden from the world."

Eddie knew that it was something that had turned him off of Shannon right away. She had known him on sight. It wasn't impossible to do since he had known him for years before she had left, but it had shocked him a little. Still, Eddie was unable to hide who he was, and he thought that Shannon understood what he wanted and he understood what she wanted, but it seemed that it wasn't what really happened.

"Let's just get through Thanksgiving, and we can deal with that whole thing then. How sure are you that she's not going to go online or at least to a reporter and give up your real name?"

"I have no idea. I am worried about it a little bit, but it is what it is. That cat was out of the bag as soon as she saw me. So, there is nothing that I can do about that. We have Thanksgiving this coming week, and Abuela is worried about having enough food even though it's just the family up here and not all of the cousins in San Diego as well."

Sofía snorted and got up out of the chair. She walked over to pull Eddie into a hug. Eddie laid his head on her stomach and sighed. He liked this right here. He was looking forward to seeing Adriana, who lived up here now but worked too much. No one got to see her enough to make them happy, so they took what time they could get to see her.

"Let's go get breakfast somewhere," Sofía said.

Eddie nodded but didn't let go of her.

"In a few." Sofía ran her fingers through Eddie's hair before cupping the back of his head.

---

Evan grabbed a beer bottle and looked around the New Year's Eve party. It was the kind of party he normally loved, but there was just something about it this time that had him feeling like he didn't belong there.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen when he left the party, but he had made his choices on what to do. He hadn't bankrolled as many keggers as he had at the start of the year, but now he was looking at the next semester without wanting to do it at all. He wasn't sure what he wanted, but this wasn't it. This life wasn't it.

Evan finished off the beer, and he looked around for the guys he came with. He caught Simon's eye, jerked his head toward the door, and waved. Simon frowned but nodded. Simon knew that Evan didn't want to come to the party, so his leaving wasn't that big of a shock to Simon.

"Hey, wanna go to my room?" one of the guys Evan had hooked up with before asked as he stopped Evan at the door.

"Nah, gotta head back, Family shit tomorrow. Can't show up hung over or looking like I rolled out of someone's bed."

The guy pouted, but he at least backed off. Thankfully, Evan was within walking distance of his dorm, so he headed that way. There were a lot of drunken revelers running around and a few who had already hit their limit and were puking in bushes. He wasn't sure what the campus was going to look and smell like in the morning, but it was the kind of thing that he would laugh at a little when he found it.

The dorm was pretty much silent. The only people who were in the dorms were the ones who didn't want to come out and deal with drunken people.

Evan dropped onto his bed, looking at the side of the room where his roommate's stuff was. He wasn't sure if the guy really did much more than sleep there anymore, and even that was only a few times a week. Evan wasn't sure if he had a significant other, but the guy wasn't here a lot. Evan settled onto his bed, and he got his phone from his pocket. He texted Simon so he wouldn't worry, and then Evan turned on the TV to listen to the stuff going on in Times Square. He knew that Eddie and the band would be playing there, and he had debated not even going out and just curling up on his bed and watching the ball drop, but in the end, he had gone out instead of pine.

Despite the short-lived fuck buddy relationship between Eddie and Shannon, Evan had backed off on a few things. He didn't need to deal with an Eddie who wasn't into him as anything more than a friend. Evan could lock that part of his heart off and move on.

Evan was nearly asleep when his phone rang. He jumped a little and looked to see it was Eddie. He frowned and looked at the screen. He could see Eddie's back where the rest of the guys were all talking to others, and Eddie was calling Evan.

"A little crazy there, isn't it?" Evan asked instead of answering the phone like normal.

"I told you I would call you, but then things got crazy. So this is me calling you," Eddie said.

"Who do they think you are calling?"

"The guys know exactly who I'm calling, but the others just have no idea. I don't need to tell them. We did our talking; now it's just waiting on the ball."

"And you called me?"

"Eh, I want to be busy so no one kisses me. I don't need that."

Evan laughed and rolled to his back to look up at the ceiling. He didn't need to see Eddie now that he was talking to him.

"I need out of here," Evan said.

"Then come to LA. Finish up what you need to finish up there and just leave. Come out here, and I'll get you on a crew with the sets or something. You have been working out still, right?"

"It's helped with my ADHD a lot. I haven't gained as much as I had as studying has made it hard for me to eat properly to gain what I need."

"Look, do what you need and pack your shit and drive out here. We have a few crews working on the stage stuff for the tour we start on later in the month."

"Not March?"

"Well, it's the same tour; we just added a whole bunch of early dates once we got the album finalized. The first concert is the day the album drops. It's been a lot of fun. Between working on that and you being busy, we haven't gotten to talk about a lot of that stuff, and I wanted to tell you in person about all of it. So, surprise."

"And where is my copy of the album?"

"I was going to mail you an early copy, but why do that when it's going to get to you after you leave there."

Evan laughed as he knew he was going to start to get the hell out of there as soon as he could. He liked the idea of being in LA. "Winter does suck here."

"Of course it does. There is all of that snow and the cold. It's nice here right now, well, not here, as this is New York. But LA has wonderful weather."

"Are you doing a song from the new album tonight?"

"After the ball drops, we will be." Eddie started to ramble about all the fun the guys had been having all night, and Evan tried not to fall asleep. They were so close together, but there was no way that Evan was going to Times Square on New Year's Eve, even if Eddie invited him, which Eddie had not.

"Hey, are you still there?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just kind of enjoying listening to you ramble. So, how long until the ball now?"

"Two minutes. Do you want to go?"

"No, I can't think of anything better than talking to you when the ball drops," Evan said. He realized what he had said after saying and groaned internally.

"Same, Evan. So, what do you want to do next year at this time? We will not be here, or at least I doubt it, but we do take crews out here to get things set up for us and such. I could get you in there."

"Not even if you paid me," Evan said.

"Really?"

"Really. I'll camp in your Abuela's living room and drink her alcohol and give her a kiss at midnight next year."

"Wow," Eddie said with a laugh.

Evan could hear the count down on the TV, and he looked to the side to see Eddie looking at the camera, and it looked like he was looking at Evan.

"I miss you and can't wait for you to get to LA," Eddie said.

"I miss you as well. I'll get there as soon as safely possible. I will probably need a new cell phone. Despite my parents trying to act like they care and shit, they don't, and as soon as I leave college and don't do what they want, they will cut it off."

"We can handle that as soon as you get here. Make sure to keep the phone even if you don't so that you have the numbers to get a hold of people here if we need to get you or something. I will text you the address to the house as well as the code you will need to get in through the gate. I'll make sure that people are expecting you. Check-in once a day unless your phone gets turned off, and then just worry about getting here."

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" people screamed from Eddie's end of the phone.

The ball had dropped, and they had been talking about Evban getting to Eddie. It was more than enough to know that Evan was too gone on Eddie to be anything but in love with him. It was going to be harder to fall out of love than to just move on from a crush. He would do it. He wanted to be happy, and that meant finding happiness elsewhere.

Eddie rambled for a few more minutes before Evan couldn't keep his eyes open much longer.

"Get some sleep, Evan, then work on packing up your room before you drop out. Don't even think about doing it the other way."

"I won't. I'll message you over messenger about how I'm doing just so that the texts don't end up in my mother's hands."

"Okay, but check in over text as you drive, just to be safe."

"Will do. Night, Eddie. See you soon."

"See you soon, Evan. Sleep." Eddie hung up before Evan could say anything else.

Despite it all, this was what Evan wanted. He wanted to be the hell away from the East Coast, where no one loved him.

---

Eddie hadn't told Evan that he was going to be home that day. The drop of a new song had meant a few press things in New York and then in LA as well, but those weren't going to be live, so Evan would have no idea about being on the road. Evan had taken to just driving until he couldn't, getting a hotel and sleeping as long as he needed, then driving again. He was making good time and was set to be there that day.

"You are acting like you are going to go nuts, which is driving me nuts," Sofía said as she tossed a pillow at him.

Eddie stuck his tongue out at her.

"You are really going to want him to live here?"

"Where else? I'm not going to have him living anywhere else. That's not the point of this. It's big enough here, and a few other people have lived here over the last two years. Usually with short term, but honestly, I don't give a fuck." Eddie dropped onto the couch, and he wanted to say that he was going just to sit there until Evan got there, but he had said that four times already. The last check-in had been about an hour, depending on traffic. Which it was LA. Traffic was always a consideration.

"How is that degree of yours coming?"

"Good. I think I'll have it done soon, actually. Why?"

"Just trying to distract you," Sofía said.

Before Eddie could respond, there was the sound of a key in the door. The key had been left with the guards at the main gate. Eddie didn't have much security, but the guards at the gate were needed. They were supposed not to tell Evan that Eddie was there.

Sofía started to laugh as Eddie jumped up off the couch and headed for the door.

Evan looked tired as he dropped his bag in the doorway before turning back to get something else. It was another bag. Eddie knew that Evan's stuff all fit in the car that he had been given by his parents. It was another show of caring about him for the sake of optics, but that was it. They could even want to take it back; Eddie wasn't sure if it was in Evan's name or not. He would have to figure that out. He would ship it back if it weren't in Evan's name. They could do what they wanted with it.

Once the stuff was inside, Evan turned to shut and lock the door, only then realized that there was someone in front of him.

"Welcome home, Evan," Eddie said.

Evan burst into tears as he rushed over to Eddie and pulled him into a hug.

Eddie hadn't realized that Evan had gotten taller than him. "Hey. Let's go sit down." Eddie tried to maneuver Evan over to the couch but failed until Sofía came to help.

This was a little worse than he thought it was going to be. The last time they had talked, which had been that morning, Evan had been in a damned good mood. He was happy to be in California, on the other coast, away from his parents. There had been a lot going on, but it had been good.

Sofía attached herself to Evan's back as they got onto the couch and held him as he cried.

Evan's phone fell down to the couch at some point, and Eddie fished it out, finding it was on a text from Maddie.

Maddie: How could you disgrace this family by running away from college? Mom and Dad are so upset with you right now. You are being cut off. They don't trust themselves right now, so your car insurance, phone, and everything will be canceled as soon as they can get it. They want the money they have been depositing in the bank returned to them as soon as possible. You are a worthless piece of shit, Evan, and I wish you had died instead.

Eddie was shocked at the words' tone and the whole thing. Instead of who? Or was it instead of running away? He knew things had worsened since Evan had been in college with his sister, not even trying to like him anymore. Eddie figured that she resented the way she was made to raise him, and it had gotten worse with her abusive ex-husband in the picture. She had become as toxic as their parents.

"Yeah, I'm glad I'm here," Eddie said. He handed the phone to Sofía, letting her look at the words.

"Abuela is going to flip her shit," Sofía said.

Eddie didn't say anything. He wondered how Evan had parked outside and saw one of the guards coming in with the rest of Evan's things from the car. The man looked pissed off but not at Evan. The man caught Eddie's eye and nodded toward the kitchen. Eddie nodded, but it wasn't like Evan would let him go anytime soon.

"I've got him," Sofía said.

Evan moved with ease to Sofía's arms, holding on. It didn't seem that Evan was even aware of what he was doing. Eddie knew that taking him to a bedroom was going to be best for the time being because this was a hell of a lot of what was going on.

"Marco, what's wrong?"

"He's going to be staying here, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"'Cause his family are pieces of shit. I'm sure that if he's not going to get another job with your tour, he can work security here. His size is a deterrent more than the fact he's a marshmallow." Marco knew Evan and was one of the guards who was part of Eddie's normal entourage when he went anywhere.

"What can you tell me?"

"I could hear his mother screaming over the phone about how shitty he was being by dropping out of college and the ruin it was bringing on the family. The thing is that I think Evan missed something when the harpy was screaming at him. Something about how Evan let Daniel die."

"Who is Daniel?"

"I am not sure. That's probably going to have to be something you get a private investigator to find out."

"It matches with something Maddie told him in a text about how she wished he died instead. It sounds like maybe it was someone related to them. We can send someone out to deal with that once I get Evan settled. He likes pizza a lot."

"I'll order some. Anything he doesn't like?"

"Everything that the house likes, he will pretty much each, so just get normal. I have no clue what staff are on hand for cleaning at the moment."

"I know, so don't worry about that. I'll make sure that everyone is fed. You might need to think about getting that head of household position filled soon."

Eddie scowled, but he agreed. His last had left when he had pretty much divorced his parents and had gone back to El Paso. Ediee hadn't liked her anyway and had been just relying on Sofía for a lot of that stuff when he was home. He needed to pick someone. Maybe that was something he could get Evan's help with. He needed to see about getting him on the staff in like three weeks. Evan needed the time to come to grips with things. Then, it would be full-on tour time.

Reaching out for the pen and paper on the island in the kitchen, Eddie made a few notes about the PI and then the head of the house he wanted to get. Then, a list of the people who did the shopping for the things that Evan liked that were not stocked in the house. Then, a note about Edde's therapist and getting Evan one. There was a lot of stuff to unpack now.

"I didn't think his family would care. I mean, they are pieces of shit, but they hate him. I would have thought that him dropping out of college would have been the highlight of their life."

"Anything that they can lay claim to needs to be handled."

"Oh, I'm going to put my lawyer on it. I have the name of the one that they use in Hershey. I can make sure that it's all legal. His home is going to be shut off, and his car insurance has been canceled. The money in the bank needs to be returned per the sister, but I have a feeling that it'll be told to them that they need to lay off because I'll fight them on that. Or my lawyer will. I'll handle this."

"We run in the mornings, as you know. Maybe some of that kind of thing would be good for him. We do yoga as well."

"Ew," Eddie said.

Marco laughed. He tapped the counter and then headed for the door. "With him in your space, no one would question a single thing. It wouldn't hurt for him to be part of the public-facing part of your entourage on tour."

Eddie thought about that. He wondered what would happen if Maddie saw her baby brother with him on tour. Maybe even pulling him out when they went anywhere near Pennsylvania. Maybe they could find a place pretty close to Hershey to settle an extra date to make sure that Maddie couldn't resist going.

---

Evan was tired. He knew that he needed to get up off where he was latched onto Sofía, but it had felt good to be held like Maddie used to do to him when he was upset.

"Sorry," Evan said.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it at all. Marco, the head of security, heard your mother screaming at you. No one is going to question you wanting to take some mental time for yourself." Sofía didn't let Evan go.

Evan pushed up and out of her arms, and he looked around. He had seen pictures of the house after Eddie had bought it years ago before he had divorced his parents, as he called it.

"Where did Eddie go?"

"He's probably tackling problems in the kitchen. March talked to him in there, and I'm sure that he is making a list of what he needs to do now that you are here and your family are pieces of shit. He saw the text from Maddie and shared it with me."

"I hate her, and I never thought I would. As much as I didn't like her, I loved her, but I think Doug broke her."

"I think he did as well. Some people just want to wallow in what happened. She's not going to change until she's forced to. The phone is off; by the way, I noticed the signal was off. We will get you a new cell and make sure you are on the business plan. Then that stuff can come out of the first paycheck."

"I have money." Evan didn't want charity. He would work for what Eddie gave him. He knew he would lose on a place to live as Eddie would want him here, but that was a battle he would deal with later once he saw how much he made doing whatever job Eddie could snag for him.

"Eh, keep that for what else you might need over the next while. I don't think Eddie's going to let you out of his sight for a while, and it's just stuff in the studio right now to lay down the last track for the album."

Evan stood up and started to take in the room. He could see bits of the Eddie knew in the place. He knew that while there were reporters and the people who wanted access to his house, there was no way Eddie would ever let them see inside of it. It didn't fit the persona that Eddie had for the group.

"The guys are all coming over for dinner," Sofai said a few minutes later.

"I would like to see them again." Evan had good meetings with all of them before.

"They will discuss as a group what they want you to do. You might be tapped for something like security. Not that you would be expected actually to tackle people, but you could look imposing. You got bigger than Eddie."

"I did. I wasn't sure I was going to stop."

"Well, you can look angry, right?"

"Eh, I've been told it looks like a kitten trying to be badass, but I'm sure I could work on it; why?"

"I think that Eddie would like you in the position. You would be closer to him and able to spend time together. He likes when he can talk to his guards rather than them being assholes."

Evan laughed, and it helped him feel a little better. Eddie wanted him, no matter what. Eddie wanted him.

"So, I have a plan, and I love it, but only as much as you want to do it," Eddie said as he came into the room.

"Yeah?" Evan asked.

"One, pizza for lunch, and Marco is ordering it. He took all of your things out of your car and has them in the side room right now. We can pick a room for you later. Two, when we go on tour, you are going to be a guard. I am sure that Sofía told you a little about that. My goal is to shove you in your sister's face."

"Eddie." Evan wasn't sure how he felt about that. It seemed really petty and nothing like what he should want to do, but it sounded so good as well. There were a lot of things going on, but in fact, being closer to Eddie was what he wanted.

"What? She is the superfan. I've seen some of the things that she's said online. I have a person who checks that, and she looks for the stuff. She wants to be close to us. She wants to be one of the groupies; I'm shocked she hasn't given up her life to do it. Still, show them all and fuck them when they try and do something."

"Whatever you want, Eds. I mean that. I am not sure that I want it, really, but it sounds good. I might be messed up for a while, and giving me a target to work on is the best thing."

"Good. Good. We can talk more later. Let's go and get a room picked out for you, and then we can work on what you want to do."

Evan nodded because right now, he was raw, and he had no idea what to do with someone who wanted him. It was the kind of thing that made him want to stay. It was good to want more, and Evan hoped that, over time, he was going to want even more than that.

The house tour was quick and easy since it was big but not that big. There was enough room for both Eddie's siblings and their families. Then there were a few rooms on top of that. Evan had his choice, but without much thought, Evan chose the one that was across the hall from Eddie's. The normal master bedroom wasn't in use at the moment, mainly because Eddie had turned it into a workout room. It looked well used, and Evan was excited to learn how to use a lot of it. The football team at college had taught him some of the things, but not all of them.

"This place is great. You're never going to use the main bedroom?"

"Nah, it's better used like that. The bedroom I'm in is more than big enough for what I need. There is an elevator that security uses to come up and work out that doesn't give them much trouble."

Evan dropped onto the bed and looked around the room. It was a good one, and Evan knew he would love it. It was bigger than the bedroom that his parents had in Hershey.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asked.

"No, but I'm going to try and get better. I need to find a therapist for the future, but I think I need to get a grip on everything. I want to see what was going on with the text and then make a copy of it somehow and then send the phone back to them."

"I'm going to have us meet with my lawyer, and they are going to handle all of that, and you are not going to fight it."

Evan laughed. He wasn't going to fight with it. He didn't want to have to deal with his parents. He wanted a divorce, much like Eddie had done. "I'm not going to say no to that. I know you would just badger me until I agree, so there is no reason to do anything that would upset you. So, I'll take that, and we can work out letting me do stuff to take care of part of the bill."

"Okay. So, listen, just take your time and get yourself settled; we can work out things if you don't want to be part of the whole muscle part of the tour."

"Which muscle part?"

"The one where you set up everything. It was what I thought you would like since it's a lot of movement, but if you want to do the guard thing, we can try that for a while to make sure that you do like it and then decide while on tour if you change your mind."

Evan knew that Eddie wasn't going to push him on anything. He could take his time and start to love life, maybe.

---

Eddie had a few different interviews, some with the rest of the group, some without. It was all kinds of chaos as they got ready for the tour that was set to kick off, and with Evan around, it was the kind of thing that made Eddie actually want to leave the house. There was a small fight over who got Evan each time, and Eddie always won because they always asked Evan who he wanted, and Eddie wasn't ever going to lose that one.

"So, Ávila, there was new eye candy when you came in this morning. Are you changing up all of your security?"

"No, not really. We just needed more members as we gear up for a tour and lost a few after the last one." Eddie had been the one to broach that it was a topic he didn't mind talking about with her. It wasn't like he was keeping Evan a secret. This part would serve him well in making sure that Maddie saw something about it.

"He looks pretty intimidating, but I've heard he's a sweetheart. A few of the girls were scared of the other security guard that we had here at the studio, and he crouched down and made them feel like they were special. It's something that made me wonder about why you picked him?"

"His name is Evan, and he's actually been a friend of mine for years. We met while I was on tour, and the friendship struck with letters in the mail, then emails, and then messaging and text. He wasn't doing well in college. He liked parts of it but not other parts, and I told him that when he got sick of trying to be who his family wanted him to be, I would welcome him with open arms. I figured I would throw him as a roadie or something like it while on tour, but my head of security for my personal team thought he would be good as a guard."

"And?"

"Well, he's good at the training, too much a sweetheart for most of the strong stuff, but he's been a deterrent. The biggest thing was the kids. You saw the footage, right?" Eddie asked.

The hostess nodded her head, and then she pointed up at the massive monitor for the crowd who was live and would be able to see the footage.

Eddie smiled as he saw the two girls who were buried in their parents' legs. Both were wearing shirts that proclaimed them Ávila's biggest fans. Eddie had seen them from the start and wanted to make sure to talk to them, but they didn't want to leave the crowd to get closer.

The girls did come out for Evan, and it was adorable the way that they seemed to just shift to him.

So far things were working out well with Evan. The kids all loved him and had been loving him for weeks. The tour was set to kick off next week, and Eddie's tour bus was nearly ready. Sofía wasn't going with him right away as she was doing a few things locally to get a second degree she wanted, and she needed to be on hand. So it would just be Evan and Eddie on the bus.

Eddie's thoughts were drawn back to the footage as Evan stood up with the girls in his arms, after getting permission from the parents to be able to take them over to Eddie.

"Ávila, that's too adorable for words. So you think that he'll do good with the tour?"

"We will see. If not as a guard, then maybe a kid wrangler. Despite being around for a while, we still have a lot of younger kids, male and female, who love our songs and like to dance around to us. He could make sure that the kids are having a lot of fun, and one thing I know is that the kids around him are safe. He loves kids and would make sure they are safe, which is just as important as making sure that I'm safe."

"And the rest of the band?"

"They really like him. He's met most of them a few times over the years when we've been in cities near where he grew up."

"The tours have been changing some, and there is a lot of speculation that you guys are all going solo soon."

"Not soon, no. Now, I do have a solo album I've been working on within the contract. I negotiated the label when I split from my controlling parents. I would not ever be going on a solo tour while I'm still with the band. We love each other too much for that. Now, I will say that I might do a few things solo here and there, like performances for charities and other things that would easily fit into my schedule."

"That's a shock."

"Not really. Mario is married and has kids. He spends all of his extra time with his family. He doesn't need extra stuff. His wife makes a good bit of money with her business as well. Then there is García, who isn't as private as I am but has proudly celebrated his new marriage. He's going to want to be at home with his partner."

"And Diego? He's the middle of the older two of your group, right?"

"He is, and he's a happy bachelor, but he dotes on his nieces and nephews, and when he's not with us, he's with them."

"Then there is Ricky."

"Ricky's happy with what he does, which is something he doesn't talk about, and that means I'm not going to do it." Eddie knew that the whole world tried to get all they could out of them, but Eddie wasn't going to push that whole thing where the world deserved to know everything.

Ricky's love of writing, which amounted to telenovelas in written form, was something that made Eddie laugh, but he loved reading them as well. Eddie was looking forward to when Ricky decided to go with Eddie on his bus and talk about plot points, including the sex in front of Evan.

"It sounds like you are the only one who wants to make their life in show business."

"Not really; the other guys are more than happy to have a life outside of work as well. I do, but my sisters come out on tour with me. I live in the same city as mi abuela y tía. So it makes it easy to see them. I fly them to concerts when we are in the same city for a while to make sure that they can see me. I don't need a life fully outside of show business right now. That could change, but I love music; I always have. I want to do it for as long as I can. I'm sure that at some point, you'll find me in bars long after the group is disbanded, singing the songs even if I am too old to dance the routines."

"Speaking of routines, you had another scare a while back with a fan who was a little too zealous with their affections."

"I wouldn't call it that," Eddie said. He straightened up in his seat. His agency and the music label were well aware that he wasn't going to keep his mouth shut about this when it came up again. This time, he hadn't been injured, but he had been sexually assaulted.

"What would you call it?"

"Sexual assault."

The room's tone changed, and Eddi knew it would. He didn't care.

"I'm sorry, but..."

"She stuck her hand down my pants. She was trying to touch my private parts. We tell children that it's not something that anyone should be doing to them, but it seems that once we are grown and in a job like this, we just have to put up with it, and I never will. It was caught on film, with the videographer giving up the footage to the cops. I had charges filed. She wasn't able to actually get into my underwear, but she didn't care about my consent on the matter, and that was the crux of it all."

"Your other bandmates were very upset with that."

"They were, and I agreed with them. They protected me, and it's not just because I'm the youngest of the group. If that had happened to one of them, I would have done the same thing they did. We are used to touching our arms and grabbing at our clothes a little just to get a touch, but for the most part, they don't go after our groin area. I won't stand for it. If that were a man who put his hand up a woman's skirt, this would be a different conversation. Just because I'm a man doesn't mean that I don't deserve the same respect that women get. I didn't consent to her putting her hand down my pants, and that's the end of the matter."

Eddie wasn't shocked when it went to commercial.

"You warned me that asking about that would probably piss me off, and it does, but not the way you think."

"Ávi," Evan said as he came over with a glass of tea for him.

Eddie took it with a smile. Evan was good at defusing the situation a little, and the fans in the crowd were going a little wild for him being on set at the moment. It was easy for Eddie to push those sounds away, but Evan was getting used to it.

"Have a seat, Evan," the hostess said.

"No, thanks, Ma'am. I'm not the one you need to talk to about anything here. I'm doing my job, and that means staying alert."

Eddie buried his smile in the tea and then handed it back to Evan once he had drunk what he wanted. Evan didn't reach out to take the glass, so Eddie drank more of it. He looked at Evan and found him with his arms crossed.

"You are a brute," Eddie said before finishing off the glass.

"You don't drink enough when you aren't performing. Your Abuela gave me strict instructions. I'm going to follow them."

Introducing Evan to Abuela was the worst thing in his life.

"I see who is in charge here."

"Just about the things that he doesn't do that, he should."

"I'm used to it. My sister did the same kind of thing when she was on tour with me."

"I see."

Eddie handed the glass over, and Evan left the stage. "He is good for me in ways I never thought. I like having a guard who I get along with. He's in charge of me and making sure I'm safe, but he makes sure that everything is good. I doubt he would tackle someone unless there were no other options, which is good as he's good at calming down situations."

"What would he have done with the assault?"

"I'm not sure, but I figure that he would have been very upset. We can move on from that topic when we come back."

"No, I want to stay on it, but we are getting a list of things that we can discuss with the rating the show will have and deference for your fans. I'll have that in a few seconds." The hostess looked to the side, and then a man handed them both a sheet of paper.

Eddie found that it was a lot of things, which made it easy to go over things. This was more than he thought. He checked his phone as the last commercial played. He found supportive messages from the rest of the band. Most especially García.

Looking to the side, Eddie saw Evan standing off to the side, and he smiled at him. Evan smiled back, and it made Eddie feel warm inside.

---

"It's the biggest rated thing we have done in a while," García said.

Evan looked around the room. He was reading the brief about what was going to be allowed for the meet and greet before the first concert of the tour, which was supposed to have been in New York City, but there had been a Pittsburgh date added.

There was no way that the concert date hadn't been added to piss off Maddie and Evan's parents. Later in the tour was a date in Hershey, but it was a benefit for something, and the venue had to be changed for the addition of Sonido Loco.

"Well, there are a lot of people who are pissed off at our Ávi here, but mostly, it's that they are pissed that someone is saying what has been true for years," Mario said.

"Oh, I forgot," Ricky said as he turned his head to look at Evan. "So, there was a thing we saw online, and I have to ask, is that one crazy lady about you being a threat to kids, your sister?"

"What?" Evan asked.

"Told you he hadn't seen it," García said. He tapped around on his laptop and then waved Evan over.

Evan was the only guard in the room, but the door was locked, and it would take an assault to get inside there. He didn't worry too much about being distracted at the moment.

The online forum was full of discussion of the band. It was run by the group who were considered the biggest fans, and Evan had seen Maddie on it over the years.

"Oh, yeah, that's her handle." Evan laughed as he read over what she said. There were a lot of people who responded to her that she was insane and needed to put up sources for him being a danger to kids, and if there was a threat, then it needed to be given to cops, not online forums.

"She's crazy cakes," Diego said.

Evan nodded.

"She was crazy long before this." Eddie wasn't going to soften his words, and Evan knew it. Eddie hated Maddie.

"Wait, I've looked at the profile; she's been a big fan for years."

"You knew I met him here ena you knew he lived in Hershey. You don't think that his parents brought him here, do you? No. They brought her and took her to that two concert stand we did here. They then left him in the hotel room. I spent the entire day with him and then had my sister take him from the hotel room. The cops were never called."

"You never...your sister took a minor from his hotel room?" Mario asked.

"He chose to go. It's not like she kidnapped him."

"Your family is fucked up," Diego said.

Evan had to agree, but he didn't want to just talk about them.

"So this was added as a fuck you?" Diego asked, looking at Eddie.

"Maybe."

Evan looked around the room at the guys and tried to figure out what was going on. He knew that Eddie had added this to piss off Maddie, but there was something else going on there. He had no idea what it could be, though.

"Dile que lo amas," Ricky said.

Evan tried to figure out what was said there.

Eddie said something back in Spanish that was too fast for him to understand, but the other guys just laughed.

"Evan, you've never met my husband, have you?"

Evan looked at García and shook his head. He hadn't even guessed that García was at least bisexual, but then, given that the band was pushed for females, it wasn't a shock. "That's why it's always talked about you have a partner, isn't it?"

"Yes, the guys try to use that term, but there have been a few who haven't caught on. I don't mind being in the closet, as my husband isn't really ready to come out. I love him dearly, and he loves the life we have. He's a bit of a recluse. We will have to have a party at the house with the family to make sure you meet him. He doesn't come out on tour at all."

"I can't wait until he wants to meet me."

García looked at Eddie with a look on his face.

"Callate," Eddie said.

Evan knew that one, but he felt like he was missing something.

"So when do you turn twenty-one?" Mario asked.

"Next year."

"Damn. We could have a lot of fun. Well, we should get ready to face the hordes. Bets on the sister being there?"

Evan knew that the topic had been changed for Eddie, but he wasn't sure what was going on.

---

Eddie smiled as he took the sheet music that had been sold off to benefit a few charities. It was the stuff he had worked on the songs with Ricky. His handwriting was all over it, and a few notes from Ricky that still made him laugh. He had the actual final bits in his songbooks, but the sheets of paper where he and Ricky worked on things would stay with him, and maybe one day, he might sell them off to make sure his retirement plan was set.

"Ávila, it's wonderful to see you again," Maddie said.

Eddie smiled at her and handed the sheet music to Ricky, who just looked at Eddie with a frown.

"Maddie Buckley, or is it still Kendall?"

Maddie's face turned stern, and she seemed to rethink her entire plan for a few seconds.

"I feel that you have a very wrong picture of my family."

"Oh, really? I didn't have my stranger of a sister go to pick up Evan from the hotel room in Pittsburgh when I met him; he just left, and no one asked him where he went. Or spent all day long with him, and no one cared? Or how about the way that my sister heard you talking about your brother, who was still with her that night? He heard it all, too. I'm sure you want to think that Evan deserves what you do to him, but it just speaks more about you.'

"We were rash about the whole school thing."

"It's okay. My family took him."

"Yeah, we did," Ricky said. He signed the sheet music and turned to the next person to come up to him.

"Acting like an asshole will make me not like the band anymore."

"And?"

"You don't want to make an enemy of me."

"I think you're forgetting the kind of money I have at my disposal, as well as the copies of the texts from Evan's old phone. I made sure that someone recovered those. Everything that your family sent to him. I'm not above releasing them."

"Evan would hate you for that."

"Sweetie, he gave me permission to do what I wanted when you guys were fighting over the car with my lawyer. I have given them all to my lawyer, who has a team of people who are going after everything you post online, by the way. Your security sucks, and they have traced all of your accounts."

Maddie's eyes got wide before she spun around and left.

"You grew up badass." Ricky bounced his shoulder into Eddie's before focusing on the next person coming to them. The distance from the line to who was talking to them was for their own safety.

Eddie had found out the concert was sold out, which was good since it was an added-on date late in the game. Still, there were a lot of people there that Eddie had seen before. He might not remember their names, but he remembered them. The meet and greet was something that Eddie did look forward to for those who could afford the price. There was always a kind of raffle thing as well so that a few others who might not have the money could get there.

Hours later, Eddie dropped onto his bed on the tour bus, and he looked at the curtain that blocked Evan's bed from him. Sofía had a third bed, but it was full of their junk. They hadn't found a home yet but would have to before Sofía joined them in three weeks. The bunks were made to be little oases. They went all the way up the bus and had shelves.

Evan had been a little weird as they had gotten on the bus after the show. They would be going through the night to the next city, and the road crew would follow with the stages and such. Everything would be easy the next day, and they would have time to do what they wanted.

Eddie was about to shut his curtain when Evan got out of his bed. Evan looked right at him, and then his face got a little hard, but not enough to scare him. Eddie opened his mouth to say something when Evan climbed into Eddie's bed and kissed him. It took a few seconds for Eddie's brain to kick in, and before Evan could pull away, Eddie carded his fingers through Evan's hair and held him right there.

There was something good about the way that Evan kissed him. Eddie could tell that Evan hadn't kissed a lot, and neither had Eddie, really, since he hadn't really been in relationships, and the fuck-buddy type stuff he got into with Shannon and others hadn't been about kissing that much.

"Eddie," Evan said when the kiss finally broke.

"I know you want to kiss more, but we need to talk." Eddie really didn't want to get Evan up off him, but he also knew that he would just keep on kissing, and then that would lead to more if they didn't get up.

"Ugh, talks' cheap."

Eddie pushed Evan up and glared at him a little, but Evan sighed and got up. He rolled to the side and sat. It wasn't the wall on the other side, seemingly willing to stay right where they were. Eddie reached up behind his head and grabbed a can from the basket. He saw it was Sprite, so he handed that to Evan before reaching up again and pulling down something orange-flavored. It wasn't his favorite, but he would drink it. He wasn't sure what kind of things they needed to talk about, but things would get interesting fast.

"How did you know?" Eddie asked.

"What they said earlier. Well, Ricky said. Tell him you love him. I had to look it up, and you said shut up or be quiet. I haven't picked up as much Spanish as I probably should have."

"It's okay. We can easily teach you. There is a good bit of staff who are bilingual. Mario talks in Spanish when he's excited, even during interviews."

"I've seen that...I just...Eddie, I didn't realize anything. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I never let you know because your friendship means too much to me, but I guess Mario saw how much you watched me even when you weren't guarding me. At that party last night, we were all there for fun. He told me you barely looked anywhere but at me, and three girls hit on you, and you never noticed."

"I'm not good at that." Evan popped the top on the pop and took a sip before sighing. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, I can pick up when people just want to have sex with me. College was at least good for that, but the whole thing. I don't see it. Not that anyone in Hershey wanted me like that, and the girls in college who wanted to date me wanted also to change me."

"I don't want to change out, well that's actually very, very wrong. I do want to change you. I want to send you to therapy every single day, but I know that you have the phone thing going on at the moment and a few in-person when we can send you back to LA."

"I guess those changes are okay because you don't want them to make you happy but to make me happy, or at least make me better. I like the guy I'm seeing. I am not sure if I said that."

"You did. I'm glad. Look, this is going to be something that I want for the rest of my life. I might have thought once or twice about making my intent known back when you were in high school, but the gap between us was a little too much, given the more worldly life I've lived. Then things got weird with you in college. You aren't even twenty yet, which I know is coming soon, but it's still...I want you to be happy. I want you to be where you need to be. I want you in my life. How I can get you even if that means that you end up moving on from me."

"And how do you think I'll ever move on?"

"Well, you could find I'm not what you need when you are a little older."

"I don't see that happening, but I'll agree that you think it might happen; just don't think I'm going to be leaving you all the time."

Eddie knocked his feet into Evan's. Evan smiled at him, and it was a good smile, something that Eddie wanted to see more and more on his face. There was something about Evan's look when he was happy that made Eddie want to keep on doing it time and again. It had been something he had wanted for years, but Evan had to take himself out of that situation. Eddie just gave him a place to land, and Evan saved himself.

"How the hell are we supposed to date?"

"Well, it's pretty easy actually cause I don't give a shit about meals out and having my picture taken. Meals on the bus, and other things like that, and when we are at home, cooking lessons can be dates."

Evan laughed at that and looked to the side before peeking out of the curtain. He frowned when he looked back in. "The book fell. I'm tired as hell all of a sudden. Can I....just stay here?"

"Of course." Eddie wasn't going to kick Evan out of his bed like that. There had been nightmares on occasion, his parents coming and dragging him away and the like. Eddie had never kicked him out before. "There just won't be sex for a little while. Let's take this slow. We can talk about more things in the morning. Go and get your phone and everything else you need."

Evan slipped off the bed, ducking back into Eddie's side of the curtains and kissing him before darting away. Eddie picked up his phone as he heard Evan heading toward the bathroom. He would be able to get a few messages in.

Eddie: So I have a boyfriend.

Sofía: You are too adorable. I knew that wasn't going to last long with Diego messaging me that they were all giving you shit. Marco won the bet, by the way. Everyone picked a week of the tour.

Evan got into the bed again, crawling over Eddie to lie between the wall of the bus and Eddie. He dropped his phone on the shelf above the bed where Eddie put his when he was sleeping and then started to get comfortable under the blankets.

Eddie closed his phone and laid down with Evan, getting close. He knew they would end up tangled together by the time they woke up. It always happened when they fell asleep in bed together over the last while.

"Night, Eddie," Evan said.

"Night, Evan."

---

Evan looked around the area, and he frowned as he took in the woman who had been standing off to the side for a while, staring at Eddie when she didn't think she would get caught. He waved at Marco and then pointed at the woman.

Marco looked, and he frowned before rolling his eyes. He walked over to Eddie and said something in his ear. The little event that was going on for the kids at an LA children's hospital was widely publicized, but few people were able to get in from outside; only kids at the hospital and kids of the hospital staff were allowed.

After Eddie said something back to Marco, Marco went over to where the woman was, and when she turned, Evan could see that she was pregnant. Evan didn't like that. He looked back at where the line was and the people in it. It was almost over. The other guys were in other spots all over the city doing the same kind of thing. Eddie's was the longest from what Evan had last heard when there was an update. Marco let the woman away.

"So, that's Shannon," Marco said over the comms a few minutes later when he came back alone. "Eddie's going to talk to her with me since he doesn't want you to hear the kind of shit that Shannon says."

"Eddie talked to me about her when he realized I was jealous of her a week ago. It's fine."

It wasn't fine, but Evan knew that Eddie loved him. There was that part of him that said the kid in Shannon's body wouldn't make things easy on them. There was not a lot that could be done, and his thoughts about him never being enough needed to be stopped. He could hear his therapist telling him things would work out; he just needed not to freak out. He centered himself and took a few deep breaths to make sure he could focus on what he needed.

Shannon could never hold Eddie's love, but if that kid was Eddie's. Evan had no idea what Eddie would do about that. He was very old-fashioned in some ways and modern in others. Of course, there was a whole thing with Eddie hiding who he was, and adding a woman who would be bringing in a child to Eddie's life made things a lot harder to stay hidden.

When the line was finally done, Evan followed Marco and Eddie to a room that looked like it was used for consults but probably only during the week since this place was a treatment hospital and the ER was on the first floor. Evan stayed outside while Marco and Eddie went inside of it.

Evan's stomach churned, and he couldn't stay still. It was only a few minutes later when the door opened, and Eddie caught his hand and pulled him in.

"Sit," Eddie said.

Evan looked at Marco to see he didn't look upset.

"As I was saying, Eddie. You are going to marry me to give this child the best life."

"It's 2011, Shannon. I'm not going to marry you for fear of being seen with an out-of-wedlock child. I'll take custody, or we can share custody. I'll make sure that a nanny is provided so that you can work and live your life if we share custody, but know this: I'm going to want shared custody. I will not have you having full custody."

"No judge is going to reward that."

"I could bring him on tour with me. My sister is easily capable of helping me raise my child."

Evan was happy to know that Eddie and Shannon were having a boy. He was also happy that Eddie didn't seem to want to go back to her.

"I'll spread your little fuck toy to the Internet."

Evan looked over to see that Shannon was looking at him.

"Go ahead, and I'll make sure that you are just as in the spotlight. The people who try and dig into my life would uncover everything you've ever done. You claim the kid is mine, but before any of this, I'm going to need a DNA test. You have the kid's DNA on file already since you said that you had that tested with the guy who you got with after me. I'll submit my DNA to whoever needs it, but first, I need to contact my lawyer, and he will set it all up."

"You don't need a lawyer."

"Oh, I do. I fully need one to make sure that this is all done in a way that is best for the baby and me."

"And me?"

"I have thought this was something like baby trapping me, Shannon. I don't trust you. We weren't in a relationship, it was just fuck buddies. I don't even want to think about what would happen if we got married. I don't trust you."

Shannon huffed and stood up. "I'll text you the information for my lawyer, and they can talk about all of this."

Evan waited where he was, and Marco followed Shannon out the door.

"How are you doing?" Eddie asked.

"I should be asking you that."

"I haven't let myself think much. I'll have to make sure this is all handled through the lawyer. I don't think she wants the kid. I think she wants me and will do anything to get me. NDA will be needed to make sure she doesn't blast this all, and I'll get the gag order on her as soon as possible. It's probably assholish, but this is...out of my league. She had known for months she was pregnant, but once the guy she was with found out that it could be another guy's, he demanded a paternity test and dumped her when he found out it wasn't his. he thought that it was and she hadn't once in the months said anything that it might not be his. He's hurt. Shannon didn't say that part, but that would be me. I would be hurt and pissed off. I would have done more than just break up with her, but then I figure he has no idea who Shannon was with."

"I'm fine. I'm...happy you aren't going back with her, but I wouldn't have been shocked if you did."

"I figure. That's why I pulled you in. I know you're doing better about thinking shitty things about yourself, but that doesn't mean you need to be out there."

"No one would be shocked if you married her."

"I don't want a relationship like that. I don't need a woman to tell me that she only wants me for who I am, not anything more. You didn't care who I was in Pittsburgh. You don't care about any of this. You'd take me as I am."

Evan nodded, but he wasn't sure what Eddie needed right now.

"Let's get out of here. No one but the cleaning staff is at the house now. I'll start working on plans for the baby, just in case."

"Would you let her live with you?"

"No. Never. I don't care where she's living, and if she ends up with more custody than me or whatever, I'll make sure that she knows that I'll make the changeovers happen in front of people who are not friends or family to us. I think I can set up stuff like that to happen at like CPS or a police station."

"We can go through somewhere and get lunch and then head home," Evan said. He stood up and held his hand to pull Eddie up.

Eddie came to him and hugged him tight, not letting him go.

"I heard Marco call you Buck at some point today, I swear."

"I flinched the other day when Maggie called me Evan. Her tone and pitch of her voice were close to sounding like Maddie. I've been trying out Buck to see if maybe a new name would be best. I have no clue, but Marco and the guys are trying it first."

"Let me know. I don't mind calling you what you like. I mean we have Garica."

"Yeah, how do you say his first name anyway?"

"Chicahua," Eddie said.

"I'm gonna call him García." Evan pulled out of the hug when a knock came on the door.

"Car's here," Marco said.

"Good. Let's get the hell out of here. I'll call the lawyer when I get home and can pace around."

Evan was glad to know that, at least for now, Eddie wanted him. It was something that he wanted more than anything, but he also knew that adding a kid into the mix would change things.

---

Eddie looked at where Buck was reading. He was stretched out in the backyard and soaking up the sun. The name change was still getting him a little, but Eddie was trying his hardest at all times to make it happen in his head, as well as his speech. Buck had taken to the weather in LA over anywhere else and was already debating if he wanted to take a vacation when the tour headed into Canada. The break was nearly done, and then they would head into the next leg for two months. Eddie had no idea how he would take care of things for the arrival of his son.

"What's up?" Buck asked.

Eddie looked at him to see that Buck was looking at him.

"My lawyer called. The results are in, as well as the newest volume from Shannon's lawyer. He's coming over to tell me about that in person. I want you there as we discuss what I want to do with my son."

"He's yours?"

"Yeah. There was no doubt at all. I haven't told anyone but you. I'm going to call Sofía and Adriana when Stan leaves."

"Stan is the lawyer, right?"

"Yes, he's the side that handles personal things more than business things in the firm. Honestly, I hope I deal with Stan more than anyone else over the next while."

"That was quick on the DNA, right?"

"The firm has a place on hand. I don't even know how much they pay to have things done quickly, but it's all worth it. I figured I would let my sisters set up the room for him. I will help pick things out, but I won't be here, and I don't want them to have to wait for me."

Buck rolled to his back, and he held out his hand.

Eddie walked over and dropped onto the blanket that Buck was lying on. Eddie laid his head on Buck's stomach and looked up into the sky. "I've got a kid on the way. We used condoms every single time, so I must have missed a hole or something, or there was leakage down. I don't want to think that she did it on purpose, but she's made it clear that she wants me over everything else. A kid is just a way of making sure I would marry her."

"Will you have that looked into?"

"No. I don't care. Not unless she makes it hard for me to do what I want, which is to be a father to my kid in the best way I can."

"Eddie," Marco called out.

Eddie looked to see that Stan was on the side of the yard, looking at the grass like it was going to eat him.

"We can go inside and sit in the kitchen."

Stan looked relieved.

"Stan hates nature," Eddie said.

Buck laughed.

Eddie got up first, reaching out to help Buck up even if he didn't need it. It felt good to walk into the house with Buck holding his hand. They didn't have to worry about anything because the tall stone fence that blocked the line of sight from pretty much everything wasn't on the edge of the property. There was a huge stretch of land around it that was free of trees but had other plants that a service came and cared for that made sure that Eddie was pretty safe on that front. No paparazzi were getting around it. There might need to be other things added to make sure that new things didn't pop up with technology, but Eddie had made sure his place was his oasis in the hectic world. It would be a good place to raise a kid, and Eddie would make sure that his kid was safe.

"Let's get the horrible stuff over with. You might want a drink."

Eddie walked to the fridge and grabbed what he needed out of it, then smiled when Buck grabbed glasses. Lemonade was easy to add something alcohol in it, and he figured if he needed that, he could do that easily. Eddie grabbed ice to put in the glasses, and Marco sat down when he saw the fourth glass. Eddie wanted his opinion when it came to certain things that he might not think about.

"Who else is home?"

"I pulled the guards all back to the edge of the property, and Sofía isn't in the house at the moment. I heard she was on a date."

"Let's get the worst part of this over with then," Stan said. He pulled out a sheet of paper that had a lot of handwritten notes on it. "This was what I pulled out of the newest filing that Shannon's lawyer sent over since they didn't like what I sent about the stipulations from the last one they sent."

"They sent another?" Eddie asked. He hadn't been told about that.

"You had your wants and wishes laid out, and I didn't need to ask you anything. Of course, if something were in there that I knew you would be wanting, I would have talked to you. So, there is nothing good in this. She's still angling to marry you. As it is, she wants enough money settled on her not to terminate the pregnancy so that she'll never have to work again in her life. She wants you to buy her a house and pay for it in compensation for raising the child."

"No, joint custody is what I want, and I will not settle more money on her than what a surrogate goes for on top of the cost of all care she would need. I will not marry her. I will not do anything close to that. The handoff of the child will be with other people around because I don't want ever to have a case where she eggs me into a fight of some kind, and the kids see it."

"I had a frank discussion with Shannon's lawyer about this, and I told him that going down this road like this would just cause more issues for her going forward. The lawyer has to honor what his client wants, but he's going to try and make her understand that what she wants will never happen and that good will go a long way when it comes to things like this."

"And?" Eddie asked because it sounded like things had changed.

"I got the newest copy from a courier three hours ago. She's pretty much given up, but her demands are nuts. I think that it might work in your favor, though, because I think she thinks she's playing hardball. The thing is that I think you'll take it and not care about the extra money."

"Lay it on me."

"She'll give up all rights now and forever. She'll sign anything and everything to do with making sure that she has no legal right to him ever again. She wants four times the going rate of the payment to a surrogate, and she will sign an NDA. The biggest thing is that it's a no-contact. You cannot contact her about anything, and she'll only contact you if there is something big medical that comes up that might need to be known, and it'll happen through the lawyers."

"And she thinks that's hardball, and I'll just go for less? That's pretty much the best of what I could have ever thought I would get. I am not sure I'll be anything close to what she thinks I would do, but I love the sound of all that."

"That's what I thought as well." Stan looked at what he wrote down. "There are a few other things I would want added to the NDA and the like. It can be sealed up so that even if someone gets a bribe somewhere, they cannot access her name at all. Now, how are you feeling about being a father?"

"Good. I am already thinking of what is needed to make sure that he's happy here—changes to the tour bus, which isn't a lot, really. There are a few spaces that I could make sure would be adapted for a cradle or something like it to make sure he's safe when he's born. I would want to be on hand for that, but otherwise, I don't want to be around her."

"Agreed. We can make sure that things are handled on that end and that someone takes her to and from all appointments. We will go through a few rounds with this to make sure that both parties are in agreement. Then we will have the final meeting where we will all be present. Now, the new will, I have that ready as well."

Eddie held out his hand, and it was handed over. The will was simple as hell, but the length of it made it seem like it wasn't. Everything would go to the currently unnamed baby, with the wording and names changing when the baby was born. Sofía, Adriana, and Buck would have to share custody because Eddie wasn't planning on doing this without Buck, and he would never raise the kid with him and then take that kid away if Eddie died.

When Eddie was done, he flipped back to the page detailing Buck as main custody, and then it went to Adriana and Sofía if Buck were dead.

"Eddie," Buck said as he finished reading the spot Eddie told him.

"Look, this is me and you in this. I would never just raise a kid with you and then make it to where you would have to fight to keep the kid. Adriana and Sofía would never take him away, but we all know things can be heated when it comes to family. But that's only if you want it."

Eddie didn't push, knowing Buck needed time to wrap his head around this. There were going to be a few things changing over the next few months as they got ready to welcome the kid to his life.

"yes."

"Good. So, while I love you as my guard, I think that you'll be better as my kid's new guard and parent on that side of things as well. We can work on sidelining you a little more and more, just having you do things when we go to places where there are a lot of kids, and then as the tour ramps up again, we can make sure that you have what you need to help me raise a kid."

"Yes."

Eddie turned back to Stan and nodded his head.

"This NDA looks good," Marco said as he handed it back to Stan.

Eddie hadn't even noticed him taking control of that part of things.

"And the rest?"

"I agree that it's going to be the best. She'll hate it, but she's the one who put it out, and things will get worse if we drag a judge into this. I think this is the best way to move forward with your family."

Eddie looked at Buck and smiled. Things were still new and fresh between them, and Buck was young, but Eddie figured that as much as Eddie grew up while being on tour, Buck would find himself on tour as well. There was a lot that could be said about it changing people. Eddie just hoped that as time went on, Buck and he would grow together instead of growing apart.

Life was full of good things, and Eddie was fortunate enough to have everything he needed to make his life great.

The End