#petersen automotive museum | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

harmless-variety-of-garden-snake · 7 days ago

Text

BuckTommy Fluffebruary Day Twenty-Five is: Sharing a Blanket. This is set in the same day as yesterday's, which you can read here. It's just more of Tommy's birthday and Buck using his ruthless organization skills to make sure it's a great birthday. We love him for that. This one can be read on AO3 over here. Tagging @bucktommyfluffebruary

After going to the Academy Museum, the LA Museum of Art, and the Petersen Automotive Museum, Tommy is ready to sit down for a good long while. He's had so much fun, but it's been a lot of continuous walking since they're all right next to each other. Evan has just as much fun in museums as he does reading up on any subject on his tablet or phone. It's made the entire day feel like something bigger and more exciting than just walking around big buildings filled with old things. Tommy loves setting him loose in museums and following him and learning about everything through him, though the shoe had been on the other foot for the car and film stuff this time around.

When they get to his truck, Evan reels him in for a kiss, and Tommy feels a suspicious grope into the front pocket of his jeans. He breaks the kiss and Evan shakes the keys in front of him with a grin.

“Now comes the second part of your surprise,” he says, herding Tommy around to the passenger side.

Tommy dutifully gets into the truck and tries to look exasperated, but it's all for show. He doesn't get whisked away for things. He doesn't get breakfast in bed. He doesn't get someone equally excited about reading plaques at museums dedicated to art and movies and cars—literally Tommy's three favorite things. Evan had called the museums the “Triangle of Tommy” and had mourned them not going earlier.

Truth be told, he’s now had two great birthdays in a row thanks to his husband, probably the best ones of his adult life. So whatever Evan has planned next, Tommy is more than willing to go along with it.

It’s pretty evident that they’re heading inland, and Tommy can’t distract himself on his phone without making himself carsick. He doesn’t say anything, though, because Evan keeps trying to loudly distract him every time they pass any kind of sign that might hint at the direction they’re going. He allows it, playing several games of Twenty Questions related to the museums and their exhibits. They end up debating whether beef jerky is an acceptable road trip snack—Evan says yes, Tommy says no—and what constitutes a good rest area. They do stop for dinner at an In-N-Out in Cabazon, which makes Tommy wonder just how far they’re going.

By the time they’re getting close to Palm Springs, Evan can’t hide the direction they’re going on.

“Are you taking me to Palm Springs?” Tommy asks, amused. “In November?”

“No,” Evan says, and Tommy believes him.

And then he knows.

It’s the place he’s wanted to go but hasn’t, even though he’s been less than three hours away ever since he moved to LA. It’s the place they almost went for Evan’s birthday to actually go stargazing, but they’d gone to Shasta instead because there was supposed to be a great meteor shower happening with a better view more north.

Tommy can’t hide his smile when they pass the first sign for Joshua Tree, and Evan’s under no delusion that his question about the new inspector the city hired was at all distracting enough to keep him from noticing. He reaches over and squeezes Tommy’s hand.

They pull into their spot at the Indian Cove campground just as the sun is starting to set, and Evan climbs into the back of the bed to unearth two large camping boxes and the cooler that he’d hidden by using their bed cover like a sneaky little genius. Bundled in a tarp behind the boxes is their tent.

“Alright, I’m putting you to work,” Evan says, holding out a bundle of poles.

“On my birthday?” Tommy pouts.

Evan steps in close and hooks his finger in Tommy’s belt loop, the tip of his nose brushing Tommy’s and a sexy, lopsided grin on his face. “Wouldn’t be the first time today.”

Tommy hates that he can be so easily manipulated by the man he loves. Thankfully, Evan only uses his power for good. Mostly. When he grabs the poles, he retaliates by licking Evan’s bottom lip before stepping away to deal with them while Evan stakes down the tarp.

They get the campsite set up in record time, having done this quite a few times in the last couple of years. When they’re done, Evan builds their fire and sets up their chairs next to it, the arms almost locked together. He digs into one of the boxes for the collapsible marshmallow sticks—one of the best purchases Tommy’s ever made—and a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, and a stack of chocolate bars.

“Is this my birthday cake?” Tommy teases, spearing a marshmallow on each skewer and handing one to Evan.

“Nope, this is the dessert appetizer,” Evan says cheerfully, holding his marshmallow over the fire. “Your cake’s in the cooler.”

Tommy smiles. Only his husband would understand that a dessert appetizer is perfectly acceptable and a great idea. He leans over and kisses his cheek. “I love you.”

Evan smiles back and leans his head on Tommy’s shoulder. “I love you. Happy birthday, babe.”

They eat their s’mores—more than they should—and Evan pulls a small six-inch cake out of the cooler, and it has ‘Happy Birthday Tommy’ piped in tiny lettering. He lights two candles, one shaped like a 4 and one like a 2, and pops them onto the cake backwards so it looks like they’re celebrating Tommy’s 24th birthday instead. He sings quietly, and Tommy gets stuck in his eyes until Evan prompts him to blow out the candles.

He doesn’t make a wish, because he really doesn’t need to. He doesn’t need anything else.

After Evan cuts the cake, he ducks into their tent and returns with one of the blankets they use over their sleeping bag if it’s cold out. It’s November, so it’s cold in the desert now that the sun’s completely set. He sits next to Tommy on their camping chairs, settles the blanket over their laps, and they dig into the cake. It’s chocolate with salted caramel, and it’s so rich that Tommy wants a glass of milk to wash it down. Evan jumps up and grabs two small milk cartons from the cooler and hands him one. It’s perfect.

Full of cake and marshmallows, Tommy snuggles down in his chair and tugs the blanket up to his shoulders. Evan does the same, and they lean against each other and look up at the stars. There’s no moon, so the sky is a fathomless black and they can see traces of the Milky Way. He remembers seeing it as a kid sometimes when he’d be with his Nonno, and he had thought it was kind of cool until his Nonno explained what it was that he was actually seeing. And then Tommy had been in awe, staring at a visible part of the galaxy that he was just a tiny speck in.

He’s in awe now. So many things had to happen across that galaxy for him to end up right here. So many things had to go right for them to end up here together.

Tommy feels tears fill his eyes, and he lets out a shaking breath. Immediately, there’s an arm around him, and Evan is pulling him close, testing the integrity of the armrests of their chairs.

“Hey,” Evan says softly. “What’s up?”

“It’s so stupid,” Tommy says, laughing wetly and wiping his eyes. “There’s a whole universe out there with infinite possibilities. And I could’ve ended up anywhere, but I get to be right here with you, and it feels—I don’t know. Like I said: it's stupid.”

Evan kisses his hair and wraps his other arm around him, cocooning him in his arms and the soft fleece of the blanket. “It’s not stupid,” he whispers. “It’s not stupid at all.”

Tommy buries his face in his husband’s shoulder. His husband. He’s forty-two today, and he gets to spend it with his husband. “I’m really glad I married you.”

“I’m glad you married me, too.”

He laughs and rubs his cheek on the fleece covering Evan’s shoulder, feeling it catch on his stubble. “I’d do it again. I probably will, actually. We can do it again as many times as we want. There’s no rule against it.”

“There’s not,” Evan agrees as they settle back into their seats, their heads tucked together. “And in the infinite possible universes, I know I’d do it there, too. Every time.”

“Every time?” Tommy challenges, hitching the blanket up until all that’s outside of it is their heads.

“Mhm,” Evan hums. “That’s how soulmates work.”

Tommy huffs out a laugh and twists his head to plant a kiss on his cheek. “It is?”

“You’d hope so, right?” he says, tilting his head toward his shoulder again and looking up at Tommy. “That in every universe with a you, there’s a me with them.”

“Yeah,” Tommy agrees, kissing his forehead. He lets his lips rest there for a long time, bringing his hand up from under the blanket to play with Evan’s curls. “Can I ask you something I’ve been afraid to ask since we got here?”

“Hm?”

“How early are we getting up to hike?”

Evan laughs. “Oh, early. We’ll probably need to go to bed in the next half hour.”

Tommy stands up, taking the blanket with him, and Evan squawks, grabbing for it.

“Then that means,” Tommy says, grabbing a bottle of water to douse the fire with, “that we need to go to bed now.”

“But ba—” Evan starts to whine, and then Tommy pops the button on his jeans. “Oh.”

He jumps to his feet, locks the truck, and makes a beeline for the tent. Tommy makes sure the embers are dead before he can dive into the tent after him—he will not set a national park on fire just so he can fuck his husband.

Even if it is his birthday.

#bucktommy #bucktommy fluffebruary #my fic

69 notes · View notes