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Finding a bedtime story for the ever-so-needy Christopher is getting harder and harder every day. No space shenanigans, no dino story, not even his favourite pirate adventure can satisfy the eight-year-old.
So Buck, being the good dad he is, decides to look for some more stories, with the help of Chris.
“How about… a tale about a knight?” To which, Chris just shakes his head. “Alright, how about someone looking for treasure? Those are always exciting!”
“No… I want something fun.”
They all sound fun to Buck, but not to Chris, apparently.
“Oh, how about a monster attacking Los Angeles and Christopher, the Brave saves the city?” Chris shakes his head again. Buck’s worried that these moments are gone. For the past 6 years, he’s been the Storytelling General at the Buckley-Diaz household and he doesn’t want to lose that title just yet. “Alright, then.” Buck scratches the back of his head. “How about a princess? A mermaid? A dancing monkey group?”
“Dancing?” Chris’s eyes go wide and he grins at Buck. “Yeah!”
“Something about dancing then?”
“Did you know dad used to dance?”
For a second, Buck forgets to function. Eddie Diaz, as a dancer. That’s not a thing Buck can easily imagine. The Eddie he knows refuses to dance, even in their own living room. Buck’s tried, God knows he has, but Eddie is incredibly stubborn. But now, Christopher has supplied him with some information that Buck will not be afraid to use against Eddie.
“I did not. You know… Maybe we can get him to dance with us tomorrow. How about that?”
“Yeah!”
After the bedtime story about a brave firefighter who saves the city by dancing (okay, there’s no logic there, but Chris was more than satisfied with it), Buck heads back to their bedroom. Eddie’s in the living room, FaceTiming with his parents, so Buck uses this time to do some digging.
He isn’t really sure where to start. Was it in high school? Was it afterwards? Does Eddie Diaz have a second identity who dance battles to win the girl and to save his neighbourhood from said girl’s father? They’ve been together for over six years, and Eddie has never given him a single hint. Not that this is a dealbreaker for Buck, he knows their relationship is stronger than a small fact, but he’s been reading the relationship subreddit quite a bit, which makes him ever so slightly paranoid.
So, he dives in. His first go-to place is Facebook. He types in ‘Eddie Diaz dance’ and gets a bunch of videos, but nothing about his boyfriend. Buck does, however, find a couple of dog videos which he watches with delight.
Next up is Youtube. He still gets nowhere, but then he decides to add the name of Eddie’s high school along with El Paso and he hits gold. A video from August 2005, showing 17-year-old Eddie Diaz, front and centre, dancing. He isn’t alone, he’s part of a crew, doing … Yup, street dance.
Buck never would’ve guessed that Eddie Diaz, his boyfriend, the love of his life, used to be a street dancer and he’s never said anything about it.
So he rewatches, again and again, never taking his eyes off of Eddie. He’s on his fifth rewatch when Eddie walks into the room.
“Parents send their love as usual,” he says with an eye roll, then stops dead in his tracks. “That song is so familiar, what are you watching?” Buck doesn’t even have the time to answer, because Eddie realises what he’s looking at, so Eddie runs across the room, launches himself at Buck, grabbing the phone from his hand. “Where did you find that?”
Buck’s arms go around Eddie, holding him tight, feeling the tension in his muscles. “A little bird told me.”
“Let me guess, that little bird’s name is Christopher.”
“Yup.” Buck kisses his temple and lets him go. Eddie lies down next to him and hands him back the phone. “Can’t believe you never said anything.”
“Can’t believe you found out.”
“Oh come on, babe, you were good. Also that outfit. Smokin’ hot. This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Eddie gives him a look, it’s only slightly annoyed. “We save lives, day in, day out. We have a house where we raise our child, but you’re focusing on the fact that I was in a crew called The Mob.”
Buck has to swallow his laughter. “This just keeps getting better.”
“Look, it’s awkward. It was cringy when we did it, so 17-years-later it is most definitely cringy.”
“Nope, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Buck reiterates. “Gotta say, that backwards snapback cap, the tank top with the massive… armholes they’re called? The low crotch. Wow, I’m so turned on.”
Eddie punches his arm lightly. “You’re sleeping on the couch, Evan. Can we just drop this, please?”
Buck could tease him for hours. There’s a lot to talk about: the music, the dance moves, the outfit, Eddie’s babyface, but Buck decides to save that for later. They’ve got a life together ahead of them, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to bring it up.
The next evening, Buck and Christopher are watching some cartoons, when there’s cluttering coming from their bedroom. Buck almost gets up and checks it out, but then…
But then Eddie Diaz comes in, music playing from his phone, the same song that was in the video. Eddie is wearing a similar outfit: a white snapback cap that’s slightly too big for him, a white tank with massive armholes and light denim blue, ripped jeans. He looks absolutely ridiculous and Buck enjoys every second of it.
“You can’t laugh.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Buck says and he gets his phone. He might not be allowed to laugh but Chim and the others will treasure this. “You look so good.”
Christopher laughs. “Papa’s lying, you look funny!”
“I don’t remember a whole lot of it,” he says as he moves some of the furniture out of the way, “so this will be mostly freestyle. I’m just doing this for my boys.”
Eddie does most of the moves from the video: the ‘wave’ which seems to be his signature move, some weird movements where he tugs on his shirt, spins and jumps. The most impressive is the backflip he does. He almost ends up putting his feet through the wall and knocking the TV off, but he pulls it off. Somehow
Once the routine is done, he looks at Buck and Chris, with a massive grin, face all sweaty and flushed. Buck hits stop on the recording and picks up Christopher.
“Chris, do you think that was good?” he asks, as the two of them make their way to Eddie.
“Yeah, dad’s good!”
“Dad is really good!” Buck agrees, which makes Eddie smile even wider. Once he and Chris are there, Eddie engulfs them in a sweaty hug. “Who knew dad was a brilliant dancer?”
“Dad is too old for this kind of dancing though,” Eddie says. He kisses Chris’s forehead, then plants a kiss on Buck’s lips. “Maybe next time, we’ll stick to something easier.”
“Oh? So there is a next time?” Buck asks, happy to hear that Eddie’s willing.
“Maybe.” He looks at Chris. “Come on buddy, it’s bedtime.”
“Papa,” Chris turns to Buck, arms still around his neck, “will you tell me that dancing firefighter story again?”