Tommy opened his locker and dropped his boots there before getting his phone and wallet inside. He looked back at where the rest of the team was getting ready to head out for the day. The shift had been a little nuts, but then they were due for one like that.

"What are you planning on doing?" Miriam asked.

"I am going to get ready to head out on a date with my firefighter."

"And how is that going?" Lucy asked.

"Pretty good. He's a little skittish sometimes but pretty much all in on trying to make me understand that's not freaked out."

"Is he?" Miriam asked.

"Yes."

Lucy laughed before she closed her locker. She turned to face him fully. "You'll have to bring him to drink night soon."

"I'll do that. Right now, we are enjoying spending time together. He's adorable and is trying to figure out my coffee order. After the first time, he got my coffee, which was very bad."

"So you are telling me that you aren't going to introduce us to him anytime soon," Miriam said. She slung her bag over her shoulder before linking her arm with Tommy and waiting for him to grab his bag and go out with her.

"No, just that I'm letting him set that pace. I don't want to pressure him into anything. I can't stand forcing someone out of the closet before they are ready. It does a lot of damage. There is a whole section of queers that were forced out for one reason or another, some can take it, and some can't. I'm not going to be the one to force him into anything. He deserves better than that."

"Look at you all smitten." Miriam didn't stop when anyone seemed to want to talk to them.

Lucy was trailing behind them. Tommy hadn't been sure about Lucy when she transferred there after her leg had gotten better where she could work again. She had seemed like a daredevil who was going to do something stupid despite how long she had been a firefighter. Yet, she calmed down as she got used to everyone there and realized that no one would make her do stupid stuff to prove she should be there. Miriam coming back from maternity leave had helped settle Lucy down the rest of the way since Miriam was the badass of the station.

"He is pretty when he looks smitten," Lucy said.

Tommy started to turn to escort Miriam to her car since it seemed it was what she wanted, but he stopped as he saw Evan sitting on the hood of his Jeep. The Jeep's panels were all off. Evan was looking up at the sky with his sunglasses on his face. He caught the glow of the rising sun and looked kind of ethereal. It made Tommy want to go and kiss him.

"Buck?" Lucy called out.

Evan sat up and smiled at Tommy.

"You didn't look at your phone, did you?"

"Why would you be texting me?" Lucy asked.

"Not you."

"Not me..." Lucy looked at Tommy, then at Evan, and then back at Tommy.

"CHRIS!" Evan yelled.

"Yeah, yeah," Chris called out from behind Tommy.

Tommy turned to see that Chris was indeed in the station. The teen was talking to one of the other guys.

"He wants a better tour, but he said that he needed to be taken up after the tour, so I figure it'll be an Eddie, you, and him adventure, just no Vegas. Chris is too young for you two to take to Vegas."

"But you can?"

"Duh, someone needs to be the adult there."

Tommy snorted and dropped Miriam's arm to walk over to the Jeep. "What about my car?"

"Eh, I'll drop you off before your next shift. Chris wants waffles for breakfast, but he doesn't want my waffles. No, he wants those things from where you took him and Eddie to a few weeks ago, so you get to take us there."

"I don't mind. I love that place. You are lucky I didn't have plans."

"You texted me last night that you had no idea what you would do today and were whining."

"I don't whine."

"Oh my God, kiss already," Lucy called out as she headed to her car.

Miriam started to laugh, but she headed to her car as well.

"Shut up, Donato!" Evan yelled back at Lucy.

"Just smooch."

Tommy raised an eyebrow, and Evan just shrugged before looking a little sheepish. "What's that look?"

"I forgot she worked out of here. Wow, you have fun with her. I'm glad she settled down a little, though. Her family is happy as well. I ran into her brother once when he was here visiting her. Not here, here."

Tommy cut him off with a kiss as he stepped up between his legs. "Why didn't you take a tour with Chris?"

"I like one certain guy for my tours. It's not the same without him." Evan brushed his nose over Tommy's before he leaned in for another kiss.

"That's all any of you do. Ew, kissing." Chris made a disgusted noise, but he was smiling.

"We are happy, so we kiss, Superman."

"I'm hungry," Chris said as he walked around the back to get into the Jeep.

"Ready?" Evan asked.

"Yes, I'm ready. So you just outed yourself to all of them, you know that, right? Lucy's still friendly with some of the people at the 118."

"Oh, I know. I came out to the station last week. Chim went home and told Maddie, and she got to lord it over him that she knew that but also who I was dating. I think Hen was trying to hide in my Jeep yesterday because she thought I would meet you for breakfast instead of Ravi. She was disappointed, and then I told her that you were working a weird shift right now, so you were already at work when I got off work. Eddie's a troll and acts like he only speaks Spanish when people ask him about you. At this point, it's more of a bit than anything else, and we are just fucking around with them to make them go insane."

"That sounds like the kind of thing you two live for."

"It's a lot of fun, but the coming out was because, before that shift, you gave me beard burn. They knew exactly what that was."

"Hungry!" Chris yelled again without even taking his eyes off his phone.

"Let's go before he starts getting Eddie to text me about leaving his kid hungry for too long."

Tommy stepped back and let Evan slip off the Jeep before following him around to shut the door for him. Just like every other time, Evan started to blush, even if Tommy had done it so many times already. Evan did his own little things that showed how into Tommy he was, but Tommy at least remembered a little of the stuff his grandfather tried to teach him before he died. The things that translated well to anyone he was dating were how to be a gentleman and how to be a good person.

Once the door was shut, Tommy jogged around the Jeep. He tossed his bag into the back, where Evan's extra bag was before he got into the passenger seat and buckled in. He looked back to see that Chris was in a harness of some kind. It looked like something that belonged in a military vehicle and not the normal consumer version of a Jeep.

"Bucky got it for when I outgrew the last one. I like it better than a normal seatbelt," Chris said.

"That's good." Tommy had learned that as much as Chris liked Tommy, Bucky was reserved for him and him alone.

Despite what Tommy thought about Chris, Chris was more than willing to share his people with him. Tommy expected a fight.

"I'm glad you both like each other," Chris said. He didn't even look up from his phone.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked as he got the Jeep started.

"You were both idiots for a while, but you did what was right."

Tommy looked at Chris, and Evan looked just as confused as he did. There were a few things that made sense in that but were not put together.

"Your father told me that you were just hyping up Tommy to make me like him, but you were match-making, weren't you?" Evan asked as they got onto the main road away from the station.

Tommy tried to fit those words together. Chris had talked about Evan a lot. There was so much that hadn't made sense in what Chris talked about, but now, looking at it as the clumsy attempt to get them both intrigued about each other made sense. Chris was not going to let this go, either. He would tell everyone that he was why they got together.

"Well, you were right that we are good for each other," Evan said.

"I know."

Oh, to be that age and so sure of everything in life. Tommy reached out and turned on the radio, pausing when it looked like a preset playlist since it was Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift.

"Yes, jamming music," Chris said. He put up his phone and focused on the radio before he started to sing along.

Evan was mouthing the words.

"What is this?" Tommy asked.

"It's our singing along music for when the weather is nice, and I have the top off the Jeep. We have worked on it over the years and keep on adding in more songs. We tried it in Eddie's truck, and it was not the same, so we made a playlist for singing at the top of our lungs with the windows down in the truck. Eddie hates that it's on his phone as well, but Chris told me that Eddie and he used it once without me. I felt betrayed. That's my music."

Tommy laughed, held out his hand, and waited to see what Evan would do. Once he was done turning in the direction that they were going at the four-way stop, Evan reached out before lacing their fingers together.

Once the song was really going, Tommy decided to join them in the singing along. The next song was something that Tommy hadn't heard in a long time from Katy Perry, before Lady Gaga came on. There were a few songs by guys on there, but it was mostly women or female bands. It was the kind of list that Tommy would expect from Evan.

Once they were halfway to the restaurant, Tommy realized that as close as he thought Evan and Eddie were, Evan was a parent to Chris. If Eddie wasn't around, Chris went to Evan next.

Tommy hadn't ever been all that worried about kids; he knew that he wasn't going to be like his own parents, and while he had wanted a family at some point, he never felt like he was ready to settle down with anyone he was dating. That just hadn't happened. Yet here was a teenager who was the son of the man he was dating.

"You look like something went wrong," Evan said.

"Nah, just thinking about work."

Tommy smiled at Evan before he started singing along with the next song, even though he only knew about half the words. Chris was singing along to the songs loud enough to drown out so much of what was going on around them. They hit a red light, and while Chris didn't stop singing, he lowered his voice slightly. A car of people was next to them, and they rolled up their windows, but Tommy just smiled as he saw it.

Evan was having fun singing along with Chris, and it was a good morning, even if Tommy had a revelation about where this relationship was going.

"So, what else are you going to get for breakfast?" Tommy asked when Evan got them parked in a spot.

"WAffles," Chris said.

"Just waffles?"

"No, I'm not sure what else. I need to see the menu and figure out what sounds good. Or I'll pick something based on the vibes."

"Vibes?" Tommy asked as he looked at Evan.

"What? Vibes are a totally valid reason to eat food. So just shut it."

Tommy shook his head and got out, seeing Chris grabbing his crutches that were strapped in beside him. The straps looked sturdy and like they wouldn't allow the crutches to go anywhere if they were in a wreck or Evan had to slam on the brakes. It showed the care that Evan had for him and something that Tommy was shocked he hadn't noticed before this. They hadn't been together long at all, and the wedding was still a week off. He had his suit picked out. There was no reason to worry about that. It seemed that Evan bringing a male as his date wasn't going to be a shock, but who it was would be to some of them.

Evan's stomach growled as he shut the door; it was loud enough to carry across the Jeep.

"Did you not eat dinner?"

"He ate a lot of dinner. Dad stole some of Abuelita's tamales, and we ate all of them. He also made refried beans and Buck's favorite version of rice."

"Favorite version?"

"It's got a lot of veggies in it. It's like fried rice, but a Mexican version. Eddie used too many veggies once because he forgot that he was making a smaller version, and I really liked it. So now, when he's trying to butter me up, that's what he makes." Evan caught Tommy's hand as he came around the Jeep and smiled at him.

Tommy smiled back. The small affections were growing, and he knew that at some point, Evan would be willing to fully reveal who he was. Something about him told Tommy that he was going to be full tilt when it came to Pride that summer. It was honestly something he was looking forward to.

"Wait, is this a date?" Chris asked as he turned around just short of reaching out with his crutch to open the door. "How did you trick me into going with you on a date?"

"Me trick you?" Evan asked as he walked over and opened the door. "You wanted waffles, right? You said you wanted these waffles, and since Tommy had taken you and your father, it was my turn to get waffles with Tommy."

Chris grumbled, but he went inside. Tommy grabbed the door and waved for Evan to go in first, then let the laughing couple behind him go as well. He could have hit the automatic door button, but he felt like this was nicer. It wasn't like there weren't a lot of tables empty inside the place. Evan and Chris were already being seated. He just had to follow them when the other couple stopped at the stand to wait to be seated.

"Your waiter will be with you right away," the hostess said as she laid down the last menu at Tommy's spot at the four-person table.

"Thank you," Tommy said. He sat down and looked at Evan before looking at Chris, who had the menu up, blocking him from seeing either of them.

"He brought this on himself."

"I wasn't thinking, clearly. The waffles betrayed me."

"Your stomach betrayed you," Tommy said.

Chris made a grumbling noise.

"Ready to get both Diazes upset at us?" Evan asked.

"How?"

"Well, Eddie's busy at home being an actual adult. I fell asleep on their couch last night, and Eddie didn't want to come for waffles, but that was before he knew you would be here. Lean closer to Chris; Chris puts the menu down. I'm gonna tease your father."

Tommy did as instructed and waited until after Evan had snapped a few pictures before moving back to where he was before that.

"Are we ready to order drinks?"

"Yes," Evan said before he started to order for all three of them.

It made Tommy feel like Evan really was taking this seriously and was ready for a lot more than he thought he was when he got Tommy's coffee order right and then even ordered him grape juice to go with the meal.

"Oh, sorry," Evan said.

"No, you got the order right, babe."

"Ugh," Chris said, but he laughed when Evan glared at him. "I think I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

Evan laughed, but he waved for Chris to go.

"He had a liquid breakfast. He woke up thirsty today. This is why he and I negotiated tea as what he was drinking with breakfast, not pop. He's going to suck down three or four glasses, and the tea here is lightly sweetened."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I looked the place up after Chris spent half an hour telling me it was better than my waffles."

"You are adorable," Tommy said.

Evan reached over and laid his hand on Tommy's knee. Tommy covered his hand with his own and then smiled.

"You keep on saying that. I am not sure that anyone has ever called me that unless they are attaching a dog name with it. Hen likes to call me a Golden Retriever. I think that Chim called me a Lab once. Eddie a Chihuahua, though I think that was more about babbling and then acting like I was meaner than I really was more than the adorable part of it."

"I can see that. What did Eddie say?"

"Oh, yeah." Evan picked up his phone again and frowned. "He's not even read it. The asshole. I guess I'll just have to bombard him with pictures of our food."

Chris came back and settled in. The menu stayed on the table this time, but he looked at it. It told Tommy that if this went the way that he hoped it did, he would be an adult figure in Chris' life. He would babysit Chris the same as Evan, and that would mean having not to be fun all the time. It was a different look than he had before that.

"What are you thinking?" Tommy asked.

"I don't know. I think maybe the crepes?"

Chris looked at Evan, glaring. "The only answer is waffles."

"Or maybe the oatmeal with fruit. Or the meat platter."

"Waffles," Chris said.

Tommy picked up his menu and covered his face because this was going to make him laugh his ass off, and he knew it. He really didn't want to bring Chris' attention to him. That was the way of getting Evan laughing, but he didn't want it at his expense.

"Got room for another?" Eddie asked.

"Dad, they tricked me onto a date!"

"Mijo, I heard you talking him into his place and then making Tommy come as well. Pull my other leg."

"Go ahead and be the fourth wheel," Evan said.

"You were bored at home?"

"No, I thought it would take you longer at the airfield, actually, and I would be out of here before you guys got here, but I started to crave the waffles, and we all know that while I'm a lot better at cooking the fancy things, waffles are beyond me, even in Buck's machine. So I came here. I finished a few things, and I saw Buck's Jeep when I got here. I figured I might as well forget getting anything else done and tag along."

Tommy nodded at Eddie's words. He didn't mind. He handed over his menu to Eddie as the man took a drink of Evan's water. It wasn't the oddest thing in the world but it was going to confuse the hell out of most people out there.

Some people would not be able to handle the friendship between those two, the way that they shared a kid between them and had no bones about showing the world just how important Evan was to both of them."

"I'm going to get three things," Chris said.

Tommy looked at Eddie, who didn't react, and neither did Evan. That sounded like a lot of food.

"Leftovers will be your snacks when you get hungry in two hours," Evan said.

"Of course."

Tommy forgot how much teenagers ate, and Chris' having to use his body in different ways to get around meant more calories burned. Growth spurts had to be hell on his metabolism and Eddie's food budget.

"What are you getting?" Evan asked as he leaned over.

"The same thing I always get."

"And?"

Tommy grinned at Evan and said nothing. Evan squeezed Tommy's knee a little hard but smiled as he did it.

"What if I want to get what you get?"

"You'll have to see about that next time, I guess."

"Are we ready to-Oh. I'm sorry, I was told it was a party of three."

"Yes, we had a late addition. He'll take black coffee with cream and sugar on the table,'' Evan said.

Eddie laughed and hit Evan on the arm with his menu, but then he ordered his own breakfast.

The waitress was still slightly stunned but got the order down.

"And you, young sir?"

Chris ordered his food, and when he didn't stop, the waitress' eyes just kept on getting bigger and bigger. Evan ordered next, and outside of the toast choice, it was exactly the same as Tommy's. he shook his head and brought Evan's hand up to kiss the back of it before he started to give his order.

"You asshole," Evan said when the waitress left.

"What?" I didn't know what you were ordering."

Chris was laughing, and Eddie was sipping at Evan's water again, trying to hide a smile.

"You just let me order that without even a hint about what you were ordering.'

"You didn't tell me, and I wasn't going to interrupt you."

"You two are adorable," Eddie said.

"They are disgusting," Chris said.

"You don't get an opinion until after your first big crush," Eddie said.

"I'm never going to be like that."

That set off all three adults laughing, and Chris just huffed a little and rolled his eyes. He pulled his phone out and started to type on it.

"You messaged the world?"

"I'm making sure that everyone knows how disgusting you all are," Chris said.

There was a snap of a picture.

"That's going on Insta," Evan said.

"And who made him want to show the whole family everything?"

"Hey, my online persona isn't nearly as big as it could be, thank you. I only talk about work on it."

"And the private account?"

"Well, that's different. The family needs to see your attempts at waffles."

Tommy wondered what Evan would think of the fact that he and his little family had murdered the man he had been before. He had thought he was happy with his mostly shallow relationships with friends. There was no reason to have something more, or at least that was what he thought before Howie brought Evan and Eddie into his life. He wanted to be part of things, and he wanted to have a family again, even if that was Evan's family.

It was the best kind of murder, and no one would ever see wanted-for-murder posters with Evan's name and face on them, even if Tommy was maybe going to make something up and print it out to have Evan see it. It would make Evan laugh, and he would probably want to frame it. Maybe Tommy could frame it first. It would be a good gift for their six-month anniversary.

Evan Buckley: Wanted for the murder of Tommy Kinard's bachelorhood and isolationist ways.

The End