Chapter Text
Eddie woke up on the floor of the study. He looked around the room. It looked exactly the same as it had before the painting tried to drown them. The dust of the bookcases wasn’t even disturbed. He looked over the clock behind the desk, still ticking.
10:45AM.
Not even a minute had gone by. They had been in Narnia, out at sea on the Dawn Treader, for weeks. Yet just as Buck said, they hadn’t missed a second here. He was relieved. He and Buck hadn’t disappeared for over a month, not here. Christopher wasn’t alone, the 118 wasn’t in the dark. To this world, it was as if they never even left.
After taking a moment, he looked around for Buck. When he spotted him, he instinctively reached out for Buck, who was laying beside him, still passed out.
“Buck!” Eddie shook him awake.
“Calm down Eds.” Buck blinked his eyes a few times
“Was that, was all that real?”
Buck nodded. “Yeah, it was. Narnia, Aslan, all of it.”
“So that means,” Eddie reached out and intertwined his fingers with Buck’s. “This is real too.”
“Sure is. You’re stuck with me.”
“Good.” Eddie placed a chaste kiss on Buck’s lips. “No one I’d rather be stuck with.”
“Do you think Chris will take it well?”
Eddie smiled. “That boy adores you. Almost as much as I do. He’ll be thrilled you’ll be around all the time.”
“All the time?”
Eddie stood up, then reached his arms out to help up Buck.
“Now that I’ve got you, I don’t ever want to be away from you. Move in with us. Our place is no Cair Paravel,” Buck chuckled as he let Eddie pull him to his feet. “But it’s home. Our home.”
“Sounding a little possessive there, Diaz.” Buck smirked. Eddie just pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around Buck’s waist.
“Hmm, Diaz. Evan Buckley-Diaz sure has a nice ring to it, don’t you think your majesty?”
“Are you proposing?”
“Not yet. I need to get you one hell of a ring before.”
“Looking forward to it.” Buck placed a hand on the back of Eddie’s neck and pulled him for a kiss. He immediately licked into Eddie’s mouth, drawing out a quiet moan.
“God you’re hot Eds” he pulled his lips away from Eddie’s face and began nipping his neck.
“As much as I love where this is going, I don’t think your late mentor’s office is the best place to do this.”
Buck huffed, but pulled his teeth away from Eddie’s neck. “You’re probably right.” Buck turned to look at the painting of the Dawn Treader.
“We could still take the painting. Put it in the living room? I bet Chris will love the story of his dad getting turned into a dragon.”
Eddie shoved him.
“I hate you.”
“No you don’t. You love me.”
“You’re lucky I do. What if that painting decides to flood our living room one day?”
“You heard Aslan. My time in Narnia is done.” Eddie stayed silent for a while.
“Aslan knew who Christopher was.” He finally spoke.
“Yeah, he seems to know just about everything.”
“Do you think he might call out to him one day?”
Buck’s face scrunched.
“I guess it’s possible. I was 8 when I first went to Narnia.”
“And you had to go to war with a witch! I don’t want Christopher in that kind of danger. Sword fights and sea serpents. I don’t want him getting hurt.”
“Hey, hey,” Buck cupped Eddie’s face in his hands. “If, for whatever crazy reason, he ends up there, he’ll be okay. He’s strong, like his dad, and he’ll have good people to help him through it. Trust me Eds.”
Eddie sighed and nuzzled his face against one of Buck’s hands.
“I trust you.”
“Then let’s clean this place up, grab that painting, and go home.”
Eddie leaned in to kiss Buck again.
“Sounds perfect.”