Work Text:
Weddings always…got to Eddie. He’d been to a number of them over the years - high school friends, neighbors, friends from basic training. But he was always a little bit more emotional at weddings of some of his closest friends. That could also be the months of therapy and becoming more in tune with his emotions talking though as well.
He’s pretty sure that the sight before him could melt even the frostiest of hearts. He had finally had a few minutes to sneak away from Maddie and Chimney’s wedding reception to find where Buck and Christopher had run off to a half hour before. The wedding venue is nice; a bit outside of Los Angeles, so you can actually see some stars above the garden where Buck and Christopher are sitting on a bench with their heads tilted together looking up above them.
“And what’s that one?” Chris asks, voice barely audible from where Eddie is leaning against a pillar a few feet behind where his two boys are sitting.
“Uh…I think that that’s Jupiter,” Buck says, tilting his phone up towards the sky. “Yeah, definitely Jupiter. See?”
“Cool,” Chris answers, taking a peek over at Buck’s phone where Eddie can see Buck’s star tracker app pulled up. Ever since Chris had gotten really into space over the past year or so, Buck had been trying to feed that curiosity, even spending money on an app that was supposedly slightly better than the free one on the app store.
It’s a bit warm for a mid-October night, even in Los Angeles, and Eddie can see that both Buck and Chris have shed their suit jackets sometime since they left the reception. Chris has Buck’s (much larger) jacket draped over him like a blanket, and Buck’s arm is wrapped protectively around Chris. It’s going on 10:00pm, and Eddie can tell by the way that Chris is starting to lean more and more into Buck that he’s starting to flag. Leaving them to continue their star searching, he turns back to the reception and looks around the room until he finds Carla. She sends him back a smile before starting to gather her things and saying goodbye to the happy couple.
“Your boy ready to get going?” she says, looping her hand through Eddie’s extended arm.
“I wouldn’t say ‘ready’,” he answers, both him and Carla sharing a small smile and quiet laugh as they reach the patio where Chris has now fallen asleep fully against Buck, the younger man slowly carding his fingers through Chris’ curls while still looking up at the sky. He hates to disturb the picturesque scene in front of him, but he knows he can’t let Chris sleep like this for too much longer, knowing that his son will be the crankiest kid in the morning if he doesn’t get to his bed soon. Buck must have heard him and Carla, because Eddie can see him give Chris’ shoulder a slight shake as they get closer to the bench.
“Hey, buddy,” Buck says in a barely there whisper, “Carla’s gonna take you home, okay?”
Chris mumbles sleepily something that sounds a lot like ‘don’t wanna go home yet’, and both Buck and Eddie smile at each other as Buck settles Chris into his arms before standing up. He joins Buck and Carla as they walk to Carla’s waiting car, and both Buck and Eddie give Chris a kiss goodnight before watching the pair drive off.
“That patio you two were on looked nice,” Eddie says, catching Buck’s eye as he knocks their shoulders together, “wanna head back that way? I could use a few more minutes away from the party.”
“Definitely,” Buck answers, taking a turn down the path they came instead of heading back into the reception hall.
Arriving back in the garden, they both settle back onto the bench where Chris and Buck had just been sitting, pressing together from shoulder to knee like they usually end up no matter where they land.
If you had asked Eddie 6 months ago if he would be here, at Maddie and Chimney’s wedding, sat next to his best friend, back at the 118 for about three months after almost six months away, he wouldn’t believe you. Six months ago, he had destroyed his bedroom, scaring his son in the process. His son had been so terrified that he had called his - their - best friend, who came running over to start putting the pieces of Eddie and Christopher’s lives back together.
The survivor’s guilt of being the only one from his convoy left had been the absolute worst part of all of Eddie’s trauma - and there was a lot of it. Buck hadn’t left Eddie’s house for almost 3 weeks after his initial breakdown except for shifts, and even then he was still constantly checking in. Though he didn’t deserve any of his kindness after what he had said to the man, Bobby had been one of Eddie’s biggest supporters and confidants during those rocky first few months of therapy and working through everything.
After the suggestion from Frank, it had been Bobby and Buck that had done most of the heavy lifting of taking care of Christopher while Eddie, Abuela and Pepa had gone back to El Paso so that Eddie could talk to his parents and confront them about everything they had put him through growing up. When they couldn’t rearrange shifts on their own, the rest of the 118 (and their associated significant others and families) had done their best so that Chris was taken care of. When the three Diazes arrived back in LA, Chris had shrugged and said that it was like one big sleepover with his favorite people besides Eddie, Abuela and Pepa.
Buck had been there for them both through it all. No matter what time or how often his therapy sessions had been with Frank in the beginning, Buck was always waiting at the Diaz house when Eddie got home in those first few months. Most often he and Chris were working on homework, but on the days where Buck’s days lined up with Chris being in school, the two would often find themselves lain together in Eddie’s backyard, enjoying both some needed sunshine and quiet while not being alone.
He’s not sure how long they’ve been sitting there in relative silence, but quickly realizes that it’s been a while as his phone vibrates with incoming texts from both Chris and Carla that they’ve made it home safely - the one from Chris sent to both him and Buck. He turns his head and sees Buck smiling down at his phone before locking it and sliding it back into his pocket and turning slightly to catch Eddie’s eye. They both smile at each other and Buck lets out a small, quiet laugh before speaking.
“He really is a great kid, Eds,” the younger man says, his hand moving from where it had been laid across his lap to squeeze Eddie’s knee, “you should be proud of him.”
“I am,” Eddie answers, his own arm that had been pressed against Buck’s for the last half hour moving to the back of the bench, his fingers tapping out a slow, random rhythm against Buck’s shoulder blade, “you should be too, Buck.”
“What - no, I. Eddie, I -” Buck sputters.
“You what, Buck? Haven’t taken care of him just as much as I have the past 9 months? Even more than me in the first few?” Eddie says, turning on the bench to face Buck full-on, his right hand moving from the back of Buck’s shoulder to his collarbone and resting there.
“I just…” Buck starts, before ducking his head down, “I don’t want you to ever think that I’m trying to take over for you. You are seriously the greatest dad that I know, and Christopher is lucky to have you as his dad.”
“And he’s lucky to have you, too, Buck.” Eddie says, smiling softly and ducking his head to try and meet Buck’s eyes where they’re refusing to meet his own. “We both are. We - I - have been so immensely lucky to have you in my life, not only for the past year, but before that as well. I never imagined I’d find someone…someone like you when Chris and I packed up everything and left El Paso for LA. You saved my life, Evan, both literally and metaphorically, more than once.”
Buck finally meets his eye before saying softly “I’m lucky to have you both, Eddie,” the two sharing a smile.
Eddie can hear the beginning chords of a new song playing over the loudspeakers, and something in him snaps in the best way as he gets up from the bench. Buck looks up at him confused, and Eddie realizes that this is one of only a handful of times where Buck’s ever had to look up at him.
“Can I have this dance?” Eddie asks as he extends his hand out to Buck. A shy smile crosses Buck’s face before the younger man places his hand in Eddie’s, his other eventually drifting to Eddie’s waist as Eddie’s free hand finds a home on Buck’s shoulder.
You're calling out the constellations
I swear you know them all by name
I see the moon accentuating
The summer freckles on your face, and I
Already miss right now
And I wish I could slow this down
Slow it down
The other benefit of his weekly therapy appointments with Frank is that Eddie came to the realization a few months ago that he is not straight. He doesn’t know exactly which label fits him best - he and Frank had decided on an umbrella term of queer for the time being - which had been quite the revelation to Eddie. One of if not the biggest catalyst for this realization? Eddie realizing that he was completely, irrevocably, head over heels in love with his best friend. He had initially been a bit confused coming to the realization; what he felt for Buck was so different to what he had felt for Shannon back when they worked. The first people he had come out to had been Hen and Karen, who had both become an invaluable support system for him - as Denny had for Chris - both when Eddie was partnered up with Hen after Chimney left to find Maddie and when Eddie himself left the 118.
Evan Buckley was hands down the best friend that Eddie had ever had in his life, and he supposed that was probably what made everything feel so…different. Hen and Karen had asked him once - when he, Chris and Buck were over for a playdate and dinner with Denny and their new foster - if he knew exactly when he had fallen for Buck. Eddie was surprised to realize that he couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment in time. Though he doesn’t exactly believe in the whole ‘love at first sight’ phenomenon, he definitely believes in starting to fall in love with someone from the moment that you met them. And he’s pretty sure that he’s been falling in love with Buck since Eddie’s first day at the 118, even if Buck was kind of a dick the first few hours after they met.
All of the therapy and life altering revelations had led him…here; slow dancing with his best friend outside of his best friend’s sister’s wedding to one of their other best friends. God, when you really thought about it, the 118 was quite a tangled web of relationships. Eddie can tell that the song is already getting well into the second verse by the time his hand has started drifting from its place on Buck’s shoulder, closer to the open neck of his dress shirt. He feels Buck shiver slightly as his fingertips lightly land on Buck’s jaw.
Cause I just wanna memorize you
And every detail I can see
So even though I can’t rewind it
I’ll have a picture I can keep
Cause I already miss right now
And I, wish I could slow this down
Eddie looks up from where he had been watching his fingers lightly grazing the skin of Buck’s jaw to see bright blue eyes staring directly back at him. From where his hand is placed, he can feel Buck’s breath hitch as Eddie more firmly places his palm on the side of Buck’s neck, his fingers slowly winding their way through the baby hairs at the nape of Buck’s neck.
It takes barely any pressure from Eddie for Buck’s forehead to drop a few inches to meet Eddie’s own. This close, Eddie is pretty sure that they’re both going cross eyed trying to maintain eye contact. Eddie, as a trained medical professional, knows that there aren’t any pulse points anywhere near his waist, but he’d be shocked if Buck couldn’t feel how hard his heart was hammering, and he’s not shocked in the slightest that he can feel Buck’s pulse against his palm.
Eddie, feeling brave, moves his hand from the back of Buck’s neck to cup his cheek, fingers extending to brush ever so slightly over the birthmark that so delicately frames Buck’s eye. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” he says, voice barely above a whisper.
“ Eddie ,” Buck replies, more of an exhale than even a whisper. They had stopped their slight swaying, and were now both standing perfectly still on the patio facing the garden. The warm light from the reception is bringing out so many colors in Buck’s eyes, and Eddie’s pretty sure that he could spend the rest of his life in this moment, staring at his best friend.
Nothing is forever
And now I'm just figuring out
That's what makes it better
So come let me hold you now
“Please tell me if I’m reading this wrong,” Eddie says, nerves kicking up as Buck leans back slightly.
“You’re not,” Buck answers, and that’s all the confirmation Eddie needs before he leans up and finally closes the distance between them.
Eddie had had a few first kisses before, but kissing Buck for the first time was somehow a combination of earth shattering and coming home all wrapped up into one. Buck’s lips tasted like the vanilla lip balm that he kept tubes of literally all over the place - from the station, to his loft, to his Jeep and Eddie’s truck and Eddie’s house now, too. He could feel Buck’s heartbeat quicken ever so slightly as he releases Buck’s hand to move both up to wrap around Buck’s neck, pulling him closer, as Buck’s now free hand joined the other as Eddie could feel himself wrapped up in Buck’s arms. Eddie’s fingers work gently through Buck’s hair, giving a soft experimental tug that causes Buck to gasp and open his lips just enough for Eddie to deepen the kiss, if only for a few seconds.
Cause time only moves in one direction
These are the nights we won’t get back
Don’t want to waste one single second
Don’t want the stars to fall so fast
They stay there for a few songs longer, swaying back and forth slowly no matter the tempo of the song playing over the speakers, trading kisses back and forth whenever they can stop smiling long enough for them to not be all teeth.
Their foreheads are pressed together when Buck lets out a deep exhale before speaking for the first time in a few minutes. “We can’t tell anyone about this,” he says.
“Oh, I mean, if that’s what you want…” Eddie answers, stuttering and thinking that somehow, even though he asked, that he read this whole situation wrong and that Buck doesn’t actually feel the same way about him.
“Just for a few days, Eds,” Buck answers, pulling Eddie out of what was truly about to be a spiral for the record books. He starts playing with the fingers on Eddie’s right hand where it’s held in Buck’s left, settled between them on Eddie’s chest.“Let Maddie and Chim’s wedding be the focus for a bit, then I can’t wait to tell everyone that you’re mine.”
“O-of course. What’s a few days when…when you’re it for me, Evan. Forever.” Eddie answers, moving his finger to rub gently on the fourth finger on Buck’s hand.
“Forever, huh?” Buck asks, and Eddie can feel Buck’s grip on his right hand get tighter and the hand on his back slide up just a touch all of a second before he comprehends what’s happening as Buck dips him to be almost parallel to the ground. And Eddie does not yelp, definitely not. The noise that he just made is between him, Buck and God at this point but he will go to his death bed saying that he did not yelp the first - but certainly not the last - time Buck dipped him on a dance floor. “I like the sound of that.” Buck says before pulling Eddie back upright and kissing him again.
Cause someday we’ll be saying how
We wish we could turn back around
Time only moves in one direction
Come on, get close, come let me hold you now
What neither of them realizes as they are wrapped up too much in each other, is that the bride and groom had had a similar thought to get away from the party for a little bit. Neither Buck nor Eddie realized that they had an audience. They didn’t hear Maddie squealing or Chimney hissing as Maddie smacked him on the arm as they saw Buck dip Eddie and then pull him back upright to kiss him.
“I’m just glad they finally figured it out, it was getting exhausting.” Chimney says as he laces his fingers with Maddie’s as they turn back to the reception hall.
“All in their own time, just like us,” Maddie answers with a smile and a squeeze of Chimney’s fingers. “You do realize you’re going to have to keep this a secret until they tell everyone themselves though, right?”
Maddie only laughs a little bit as Chimney groans and drops his head onto the table in front of him.
Come on get close
Come let me hold you now
Buck and Eddie end up telling Christopher - and Carla - over breakfast the morning after the wedding, swearing them both to secrecy until Maddie and Chimney get back from their long weekend away. They finally come clean at a cookout at Bobby and Athena’s about 2 weeks into their relationship, at which point Chimney and Maddie admit that they saw Buck and Eddie dancing on the patio outside of the venue - as did Karen and Hen, and Bobby and Athena.
May ends up winning the - unofficial - bet that had apparently been going on for some time, with her guess of “at a wedding - someone else’s or theirs”.