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Three things happen as Eddie walks through the door of the dentist’s office:
- the entire waiting room turns to look at him as if they were expecting a celebrity
- the flustered receptionist looks up, sees Eddie, and says “oh thank god”
- what is unmistakably Buck’s voice booms down the hall, slurred, but clear as day
“My Christopher is coming to get me! Isn’t he the best?? I lost him once. In the tsunami. He just went *plop* and floated away and I was like “oh no! Come back!” It was no good. No good at all. ” He hears Buck say to someone in another room.
Eddie feels curious eyes burn into his back as he approaches the front desk.
“Mr Diaz! You’re here for Mr Buckley!” the receptionist greets, already jumping up from her chair to lead him towards his patient.
“But then his dad found him. And that was so good. His dad is so good. So so good. I love him. Do you know him? He’s so pretty. Can you believe that? He’s so good and so pretty. And his abs. He has them. They are good. Goooood good good,” Buck’s voice continues from wherever it’s coming from.
Someone from the waiting room tries to cover a laugh with a cough. Eddie clears his throat.
“Uh, yes. I take it he’s ready to go?”
“Oh yes. The laughing gas seems to have made him quite chatty. He’s right through here,” she smiles, leading Eddie down a hallway and through a door into the recovery room. She ushers him in and closes the door behind him, leaving him alone in the room with Buck.
Buck is sitting upright in the middle of the recovery bed, face swollen and packed with gauze.
He’s the only other person in the room, and he doesn’t seem to have registered his visitor, but he clearly seems to be having a conversation with someone.
“Like his face,” Buck continues, eyes drowsy and voice muffled by gauze. “It’s such a good face, you should see it. I’ll show you. Remind me to show you. You’re gonna love it. I love it. I love him. He’s the best. Like Christopher. Do you know Chris? He’s so funny.” He clearly isn’t going to wait for a response, so Eddie takes the chance to cut him off.
He takes a few steps closer to the bed and sweeps and gentle hand through Buck’s curls.
“Buck, baby. How about we let that mouth have a rest?”
Buck jumps as if Eddie isn’t standing right in front of him. He looks up, dazed and beautiful, and grins around the gauze.
“Eddie!!” He shouts . “This is my Eddie!! I need to show - - Suzanne?? SUZANNE!!”
“ Buck ,” Eddie chuckles, patting the top of Buck’s head in an effort to turn down the volume.
The receptionist, Suzanne, Eddie guesses, suddenly appears in the room again.
“Sorry, Mr Buckley, I was just in the other room,” she smiles — she looks equal parts amused and exhausted, and Eddie makes a mental note to send her a thank you note.
“Suzanne!” Buck gasps. “Thank god! I missed you.”
Buck grabs Eddie’s arm and tugs, pawing at him until Eddie is close enough to grab by the face.
He squishes Eddie’s cheeks together, holding his face right in front of his own.
“Suzanne! Look! Isn’t he so pretty? Are you seeing his face?” He asks, considerably louder than is necessary. “Wait, you need to see his abs!”
He lets go of Eddie’s face and starts pulling at Eddie’s shirt, getting his (freezing) hands under the fabric and pawing clumsily at his abs.
“Okay! Buck. Suzanne doesn’t want to see that,” Eddie tries, wrestling with Buck’s wrists and trying to pull his shirt back down.
Unfortunately, even medicated, Buck is stronger than Eddie, and he’s winning.
“Eddie, don’t be rude. We have to show Suzanne. It’s so important,” Buck whisper-yells towards his abs that are now on full display to the room. Suzanne is kindly looking away.
There’s only one trick up Eddie’s sleeve, and he’s going to have to pull it.
“Okay, baby, Chris is waiting in the car- -”
“CHRIS!!” Buck yells. “Suzanne! Have I told you about Chris?”
“You have, Mr Buckley. He sounds wonderful.”
Maybe he’ll send a fruit basket with the thank you note. Or some flowers.
“He is. Oh man. He’s the best, isn’t he Eddie? I love him so much,” Buck sighs, grinning dopily off into space.
“He is,” Eddie agrees. “And we can’t leave him waiting, you ready to go?”
Buck nods and jumps to his feet. Eddie catches him when he immediately topples sharply to the left.
Eddie ushers him towards the door, shooting a grateful smile to Suzanne.
“Thank you. For, uh - - listening, to that.”
Suzanne laughs kindly and opens the door towards the waiting area.
“Truly my pleasure. It’s nice to be reminded that this kind of love exists. He loves you both a whole lot. You’re very lucky, Mr Diaz.”
“Yeah, I am,” Eddie says at the same time Buck spins around and says:
“IS YOUR DAD HERE?”
Eddie steers Buck down the hallway and through the waiting area, past the room full of amused faces, and out onto the street.
“Mr Diaz, I love your son, okay?” Buck announces.
“My dad’s not here, baby,” Eddie laughs. “But Chris is waiting for us in the car. Let’s get moving.”
•
When Eddie finally wrangles him into the passenger seat of the truck, Buck is devastated to discover he can hear Christopher’s voice, but can’t find him.
Christopher, who is sitting directly behind Buck in the back seat, is delighted to be capturing the entire thing on video.
By the first traffic light, Buck figures out how to turn around in his seat and starts sobbing when he finds Chris giggling in the back.
Which is how they’ve landed here, twenty minutes away from home, with Buck twisted in his seat, one hand holding Christopher’s and the other waving at the camera.
“Okay, that might be enough videoing, Chris,” Eddie sighs. “Buck, baby, you need to turn back towards the front. It’s not safe.”
“Can’t. If I let go he’ll disappear again,” Buck explains, still grinning at Chris. “Christopher, your dad is the best. Isn’t he the best? You’re so lucky he’s your dad. You got such a good dad.”
Eddie watches Christopher shrug through the rearview mirror.
“He’s fine, I guess.”
Buck, somehow, twists even further towards the backseat.
“No. He’s the best. Christopher. You have to tell him. Tell him he’s the best.”
“Okay, Buck - -“ Eddie tries.
“You have to!!” Buck demands.
“You’re the best, dad,” Christopher sighs.
“Wow, thanks, bud,” Eddie chuckles.
Buck spins around in his seat with a gasp. He grabs at Eddie’s shoulder.
“No! No! Eddie! Eddie! Do you know Christopher?”
“My son?” Eddie blinks.
“Yes! He’s the best. I love him so much. He’s my favorite ever. He’s so funny and so smart and so strong. I wish I was more like him. Don’t you? Oh my god! Eddie! We should go as Christopher for Halloween!!”
Christopher giggles from the backseat.
“Okay, Buck.”
“You don’t think he’s the best?”
“Of course I think he’s the best.”
“You HAVE to tell him.”
Eddie catches Christopher’s eye through the mirror.
“Christopher, you’re the best kid in the whole world and I love you so much.”
Christopher rolls his eyes. Buck bursts into tears.
“I just love love!” He cries.
“Honey. How about we let that mouth rest and you get some sleep,” Eddie suggests.
“Wait! Dad! No one told Buck that he’s the best. Buck! You’re the best, too. We love you the most!” Christopher pipes up from the back.
Eddie loves his kid. Buck starts sobbing.
•
They make it home with only three more bouts of happy tears from Buck, not including the sobs they are met with when Eddie deposits him on the couch, because, this is my favorite couch in the whole world, Eddie, how did you know??
When he comes back with a bowl of Buck’s favorite ice cream, Buck seems to be talking to the wall.
“He’s the love of my life, you know. I want to eat him. I would never do that because he’s so beautiful and then I wouldn’t be able to look at him. Don’t worry. Oh! And do you guys know Christopher?”
“Who are you talking to, honey?”
“My friends.”
“Okay. Do your friends want any ice cream? Because you need to eat something.”
“I dunno, let me ask. Hey! Do you want ice cream?”
Eddie is not expecting a response to that, and nearly drops the ice cream bowl when Hen’s voice fills the room.
“We’re good, Buck, thanks though.”
Eddie scans the room and realizes the voice is coming from Buck’s phone, face down and nowhere near him. He picks it up and discovers it’s a FaceTime call. A group one. With the whole team.
“Oh wonderful, everyone’s here. Hi.”
“It’s the man of the hour!” Chimney grins.
“Eddie! Give me my friends back! I was just telling them how much I like to kiss you. He’s so good at it. You guys should kiss him! But don’t - - no. You shouldn’t. Cause then you’ll just be sad that you can’t kiss him all the time. I think it’s better if you just don’t kiss him. I’ll kiss him.”
Eddie doesn’t even know where to begin.
“Don’t worry Buck, he’s all yours,” Bobby says, eyes twinkling with amusement.
Eddie wants to hide.
“Okay, well, this has been fun for me, but it’s time for meds, so we’re gonna go. Buck’s phone needs to take a nap somewhere very hard to find. We’ll see you later,” he says, ending the call.
He looks up to find Buck blinking at him.
“My phone is tired?” He asks. “I didn’t know. Is it okay?”
God, he loves this man. He drops down onto the couch beside Buck, placing the bowl of ice cream in front of him.
“It’s fine, honey. Do you want ice cream?”
Buck looks at him, blinks, and crawls on top of him, pushing him back into the couch.
“No, nap,” he says, curling up on Eddie’s chest.
Eddie chuckles softly, his hands instinctively finding a home in Buck’s curls.
“Baby, I was going to make you some soup,” he whispers.
“No.”
“I need to get you a blanket.”
“No.”
“Okay. You might be more comfortable propped up with the pillows,” he tries.
“No.” He says, sighs, then yells, “EDDIE!? ”
Eddie nearly falls off the couch.
“Good god. Yes?”
“Eddie! My pillow is being so loud,” Buck complains.
“What a coincidence. My blanket just started yelling at me,” Eddie responds.
Buck shoots up, long limbs flying, just missing Eddie’s face.
Eddie reaches out as if to calm a startled animal.
“Whoa, where are you going?”
“I’m gonna fight the blanket,” Buck glares.
Eddie bites down on a smile.
“I think you just missed it,” he says, taking the opportunity to slip off the couch. “Here, you lie down, I’m going to make your soup.”
He grabs the actual blanket from beside the couch and drapes it over Buck.
Buck looks at the blanket and glares.
“You okay?” Eddie asks.
“I’m gonna explode it with my mind,” Buck whispers.
“The blanket?”
Buck nods.
“For yelling at my boyfriend.”
Eddie smiles. He loves this man.
“I think that was a different blanket.”
Buck blinks between Eddie and the blanket.
“Oh. Okay. Gonna go to sleep,” Buck says, closes his eyes, and appears to immediately fall asleep.
Eddie leans down and presses a kiss to his forehead.
Buck’s eyes fly open. He grabs hold of Eddie’s face and pulls him down so they’re eye to eye.
“Eddie,” he whispers. “I think Suzanne stole my teeth.”