Chapter Text
Evan “Buck" Buckley knows the kind of vibes he gives off, knows all about the picture his methods of self-expression must paint him to look like. He’s also well acquainted with the fact that some people, women predominantly, see him – his looks, or his aura, or something- and come to the conclusion that he’s easy, open to getting down and dirty with anyone willing to give him a second of their time to blow off some steam.
However, contrary to the vastly popular opinion, he is not a fuckboy, a man-whore, or whatever other terms people are using nowadays. In fact, Buck is one of the most loyal, faithful people in the firehouse. All the advances that have been thrown his way over his time with the team have all been rebuffed, not once has he taken any of them up on their offers; his heart already belongs to another.
Not that anyone believes him.
-
“- You can never show this to a girl.” The young firefighter states, his hands waving towards the profile pulled up on the screen as he talks.
“Why not?” Bobby implores, glancing at Chimney to see if the other firefighter agrees with their youngest member.
“Okay, this profile is a joke profile for a guy no one ever wants to go out with-“
Chim clears his throat, cutting off the blonde before he can dig a bigger hole for himself with his callous wording. “You know what? Maybe you are not the right person he should be taking dating advice from, Buckaroo.”
“And, why is that? Because, last time I checked, I’m in a stable, monogamous relationship with an amazing person. Hey, I’m the healthiest dater at this whole table.”
There’s a charged pause as Hen, Chimney and Bobby exchange glances, their expression morphing into reluctant acceptance. Buck doesn’t need to hear their thoughts to know that they don’t believe him. They never have. They just go along with it for his benefit, probably as tired with the same argument as he is.
Chimney, as ever, is the one to break the quiet. “Oh my God, he’s right.”
“The world has turned upside down.” Hen jokingly states, making them all laugh.
“Yeah, okay, laugh, huh?” Buck joins in, grinning at his team.
Before they can continue their discussions, the alarm comes to life, ringing out across the firehouse and sending all of the on-call firefighters scrambling for their gear, Bobby dropping off the laptop in his office before joining his team to put his turnout gear on. Duty calls.
~~~~
The call takes longer than any of them had thought it would. A multiple car collision on one of the busiest freeways in Los Angeles resulted in multiple injuries, of differing levels of severity, and they had to grapple with the delayed arrival of any backup because of traffic and the other team having to travel from quite a distance away because all of the closer teams and houses were busy with other calls.
Buck shucks his jacket after jumping down from the truck, hearing one of the other guys – Reynolds, he thinks – getting out behind him and slamming the door, wiping the sweat off his brow and grimacing at the state of himself, already making plans to shower as soon as debrief is over. A glance at his watch informs him that his shift is mostly over, only half-hour or so left and that will be taken up by the debrief and shower – so long as no other calls come in that push them all into overtime.
He changes out of his turnout gear quickly, using a wet wipe from a pack in his locker to give his face and arms a cursory wipe over, before joining his team where they’ve amassed upstairs, seated around the loft as they look to Bobby for him to go over everything. He does a headcount, nodding to himself when he finally accounts for everyone, before starting.
Buck listens as they go over the usual stuff – their response time, the quality of their teamwork, number of victims they dealt with altogether, how well they coped in the circumstances they were working with - and all the other stuff they cover after every call. The young firefighter lets the words wash over him, taking them in but not dwelling on them as his mind starts to wander; his body finally starting to catch up with the fatigue that’s been picking at the edge of his concentration for the last few hours of his shift.
He startles when a hand lands on his shoulder, quickly looking up from where his gaze had absently landed on a coffee cup stain on the table. His tense muscles relax when he meets the gaze of Hen, seeing her frowning slightly in concern at him.
“You okay, Buckaroo?”
He nods, sending the woman a tired shrug. “Yeah, just starting to feel the shift catching up with me.”
She nods in understanding, patting his shoulder before nudging him towards the stairs with her. As they make their way down the stairs together, Buck looks towards the front of the station and lets out a sigh of relief when he sees some of the guys from the next shift arriving. Hen seems to share his sentiments when he nods for her to notice it too when she glances at him in question at the sound of his sigh.
They go their separate ways after grabbing their casuals from their lockers to change into after their showers, Buck taking an extra minute or so to savour the warm water running over his tired muscles in rivulets before falling to the ground and being swept away by the current of water towards the drain. Once he’s finished getting dressed, fiddling with the chain he wears under his uniform that contains his ring since he can’t wear it on duty to check it’s still intact before making sure it’s safely under his shirt again, for now, he takes a seat on the bench of the locker room to tie his shoes while he powers up his phone, having turned it off earlier and left it in his locker so he could better focus on his shift.
He can’t help the fond smile that lights up his tired features as the device pings to let him know about a text message that came through minutes ago, while he was in the shower.
Hey Cari ño, I know you might not be able to reply for a while but I wanted to let you know that you don’t have to worry about cooking tonight, I already got it covered (And no, I didn’t make it, I ordered it from that place you like). I love you, mi sol. Stay safe.
His thumb strokes the side of the phone as he rereads the message before tapping the text box to open his keyboard.
Thank you. I love you too <3 I can’t wait to get home to my favorite boys 😉
His reply is short and pretty simple, but it also says everything he needs to say right now. Everything else, all the things he doesn’t say, are things that are common knowledge between the pair by now so they stay unsaid. He focuses on the screen again when his phone notifies him that he’s received a reply.
We both know which one of us is your actual favorite 😜
Our little superman is the cutest so, of course I play slight favorites.
Slight? 😂
Yeah, slight.
Okay, that’s 100% totally believable.
What about me? What is my rating?
… Meh.
Meh? Meh?? 😡
He gets rated as “the cutest” and all I get “meh”?
Wow. So glad I have you in my life.
Such a confidence boost
You really know how to make a guy feel special
I still love you 😇
Yeah, whatever 😜
I love you too, Evan
😊😊😊
He looks up when he hears shuffling in the doorway, seeing Hen watching him with a look on her face that he’s seen on the teams' faces many times before, already expecting the next words out of her mouth before she even gets the chance to say them.
“Another hot date?”
He shakes his head to himself, standing up and slipping his phone in his pocket before grabbing his duffle from the bench next to him. He joins her as they both walk towards the car park, noting that Chimney has already left but Cap’s car is still present so he must be in his office or making food for the next team before he goes home.
“I’d say no, but we both know you wouldn’t believe me.” He sees her frown, the conflict clear on her face as she tries to decide if it’s best to say something or if she should pretend not to have heard. “I’m sorry, I’m tired and I guess it’s making me snappy.”
She sends him a tight smile. “We all know that feeling all too well. Get some sleep, Buck, and I’ll see you next shift if not before then.”
He nods, repeating her subtle order to sleep back to her and smiling as she laughs and agrees. They reach their cars soon after, Hen pulling him into a short side hug before diverting to get in her own car as Buck climbs into the front of his Jeep, dumping his bag on the passenger seat. He checks his phone one last time, fiddling with the car keys in his lap with his other hand, only seeing a short message telling him to drive safe which he replies with a thumbs-up emoji to, before also putting that down on the seat as well and putting the keys in the ignition. With a quick adjustment of his mirrors, he begins his drive home, exhausted but ready to spend what’s left of his day with the two guys that mean the most to him.
~~~~
The first thing Buck does when he pulls into the driveway is pull off the chain to retrieve his ring, sliding it on and sighing at the feeling of completion the small piece of jewellery has given him since it was first put there, before putting the chain back around his neck, sans ring until his next shift, and getting out of the car after grabbing his stuff to take inside. He looks around as he locks his car after parking in the doorway, having heard the front door clicking open. There, highlighted by the lights coming from inside the house is his other half, his soulmate, his partner in everything – his husband.
“Edmundo!” He greets with over-exaggerated enthusiasm. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
The older man gives him an amused look before waving him over to come inside. “Yeah – you’re not fooling anyone.”
“I love you,” Buck says in a sing-song tone as he grins, leaning to give the shorter man a peck on the lips as he passes him, pausing briefly to toe-off his boots and place them on the shoe rack, before following him deeper into the house. “Mmm, it smells good in here – have you two already eaten?” He asks as he follows Eddie to the kitchen.
“Yeah – we waited for as long as we could but, with traffic and the potential for a late call, I already knew the chances of you making it in time was going to be slim. Chris was all for waiting longer but his stomach had other ideas.” Eddie informs him as he prepares a plate for the blonde, putting it in the microwave to heat up.
“Talking about Chris, where is he?” Buck frowns, glancing through the doorway to the living room and looking back to Eddie when he doesn’t see the boy in the other room. “I haven't missed bedtime again, have I?” He checks the time displayed on the cooker for confirmation.
Eddie smiles, shaking his head as he pulls the food out of the microwave when it signals it’s done. “No, he’s still up.” The pair move to the dining room table before he continues talking as Buck eats. “Dinner got messy so I got him in the shower earlier than usual and left him to change just before you pulled up. He should be done any minute.”
Buck nods, reframing from talking since he was brought up to be respectful of manners. Talking with food in your mouth was a major offence in his childhood home, his parent’s strict on that kind of “impolite” behaviour – their way of saying “disgusting habits” without actually having to say the words. Eddie knows this, happy enough to fill in the silence even though he’s not much of a talker usually.
“He’s already got this evening’s movie picked out, which he’ll no doubt fall asleep watching.” Eddie chuckles, before shrugging to himself. “At least he’ll be in his pajamas already so we won’t have to disturb him to get him changed, we can just put him straight in his bed.”
He goes on to tell Buck what he had gotten up to while the younger male was at work, telling the blonde all about their trip to the park and that Abeula has requested their presence for dinner at her house on the weekend. They already knew about the weekend plans with Abeula, but the older Diaz loves to remind her grandson multiple times throughout the week just so he can’t use the excuse that he forgot to ever get out of it – not that they’ve ever tried since they all love her cooking.
Buck takes a moment to wipe his mouth on a napkin once he’s finished eating before verbally replying to his partner. “Seems like you two had a lot of fun without me.”
“You were missed – don’t worry.” Eddie smiles, getting up and collecting the dirty dish to wash. Buck follows him back into the kitchen, leaning back against the counter after getting himself and Eddie a beer each out of the fridge, admiring the other man while he’s distracted as he sips from the sweating bottle in his hand, picking at the label idly between sips as his thoughts wander. “Chris wanted to send you a billion texts and pictures from the park so I had to convince him that we’d get you in a lot of trouble if you got distracted at work.”
Before Buck can even formulate a response, the all too familiar clicks of crutches moving across the floor bring their attention to the arrival of their little superman. The boy breaks out into a wide grin, trying to speed up as he catches sight of the other occupant in the kitchen. “Bucky!”
The blonde firefighter places his beer on the counter behind himself before moving closer to the boy, stooping down enough to swing the boy up into his arms without knocking anything with Christopher’s crutches, hugging the boy back as vigorously as the boy is hugging him with gleefully giggling in his ear.
“I feel like you grow a little more every time I look away.” Buck jokes as the boy leans back in his arms a little so they can see each other’s faces. “Have you gotten bigger since I left? I think you have. How old are you now?” He teases, loving the sound of Christopher’s laughter in response.
“No,” The boy giggles, squirming as Buck tickles him slightly. “I’m still seven, I promise.”
Buck pretends to think about it before smiling. “I believe you, superman.”
He carries the boy towards his father, seeing the amused glance Eddie sends him when he sees Christopher still in Buck’s arms as he turns around, drying his hands on the dishtowel. Chris is very vocal about not wanting to be carried or held for too long whenever Eddie does it but laps up all the attention whenever Buck is the one to do it. Clearly, Buck isn’t the only one that plays favourites, but the older man loves the fact his son loves Buck as much as, if not more, than he does.
“Is everything set up for movie time?” The Latino asks, wrapping his arm around Buck’s waist as his other hand hover’s behind Chris for support in case he wriggles too much – not that he thinks Buck would ever drop his son, he loves him too much.
“Yup.” Chris nods vigorously, tightening his grip on Buck when the man starts to walk, following Eddie as he leads the way to the living room.
As Chris said, everything is set up – snacks already on the table, Eddie carrying in their beers and setting them on the table either side of Chris’ juice box, and the movie is queued up on the screen already. Buck waits for Eddie to sit down first and get comfortable before carefully placing Chris down next to him, taking his crutches for him and placing them nearby in case the boy needs to get up for any reason, before seating himself in the available space on the boy’s other side and smiling as the boy snuggles against his side, leaning down the kiss the boy’s curls before turning his attention to the movie that Eddie is just pressing the play button for now that they’re all settled.
~~~~
By the time they’re three-quarters of the way through the movie, as Eddie predicted, Christopher is a solid weight against the blonde’s side with the blonde’s arm around him, soft snores escaping each time the boy breathes. Buck, having stopped watching the movie a while ago, can’t help but watch the boy peacefully sleeping with a soft look, taking in the moment and savouring it as he thinks back to his younger days when he wasn’t sure he’d ever get to experience this.
“Hey,” He hears his partner call softly as to not wake the boy between them, the brunette’s fingers reaching to play with the small curls growing in at the nape of Buck’s neck as his hair grows out from it’s usually short, shaved style on the sides and back. “What are you thinking about?”
Buck takes a second to answer, trying to word it in a way that doesn’t sound depressing. “How lucky I am to get this – with anyone.”
Eddie nods softly, already knowing all about Buck’s thoughts from when he was younger, from when he wasn’t sure he’d ever get to have a family to call his own in any way, having already had that discussion way back when they were still just dating.
“We’re lucky to have you as well,” Eddie continues when he sees the look on Buck’s face, the slight doubt that he brings all that much to the relationship other than more emotional baggage – Buck’s words, not Eddie’s. “You’ve been part of our family since well before our first proper date. Chris loves you like another father, and I know that you would do anything for him too. Whether you believe me or not, I can guarantee that there’s no other person I could ever dream of raising my son with – not with everything that has happened over the past few years.”
Buck blushes, ducking his head to hide his reddened cheeks in Christopher’s curls. “Stop, or you’re going to make me cry.”
The brunette smiles, leaning over to kiss the blonde’s head, lingering close as Buck looks up before meeting him in the middle and humming contently under his breath as their lips meet, loving the feeling of their lips always seeming to fit together like two puzzle pieces reuniting to make their full picture. They pull always slowly, Buck darting in for one last teasing kiss before just pressing their foreheads together, breathing in the air between them as they look into each other’s eyes, savouring the moment before it can be broken by any outside influence. Buck has gotten used to the idea that quiet, intimate moments with your other half are few and far between when you have a kid.
Eventually, they accept fate and let their peace end. Eddie sets about turning off the TV while Buck carefully picks up Chris and carries him to his room. He crouches and places the sleeping boy in his bed gently before pulling the duvet over him, smiling as the boy nuzzles against his pillow in his sleep and lets out a content sigh. He takes another second to just watch the boy and take him and the moment in, before leaning down to a press a kiss to the sleep-warm skin of Christopher’s forehead, running his fingertips through the boy’s curls one last time while mumbling that he loves him, before quietly getting up and turning in time to see Eddie leaning against the doorway, watching him interact with their son.
The other man enters the room to say a goodnight of his own to the boy while Buck pauses by the doorway to take his turn watching their interaction, before Eddie meets him by the doorway and leads him out of the room with a warm palm against his lower back, pulling the door closed until it’s ajar behind them. The pair make their way to their room, changing into their sleepwear in comfortable silence, before heading into the bathroom to brush their teeth together before bed. As Buck watches Eddie in the mirror, the other man pulling funny faces at him while brushing his teeth every time he catches Buck’s gaze, he is struck by how domestic they’ve become over the years, and how this is a side of him that nobody outside of this house even believes exists.
As they settle in bed, he turns on his side to watch Eddie as the older man settles next to him. This man has shown Buck a different side of himself that he wasn’t sure existed until he met Eddie, a side of him that nobody but Eddie believes in, and that small realisation stings more than he thought it would.
His team don’t believe in him. Hell, his own family doesn’t believe in him.
They don’t believe that he could settle down.
They don’t believe that he could ever find someone to build a life with.
They don’t believe in him.
They never believe in him.
Their lack of belief lead him to not believe in himself for a long time. But, he believes now. He just wishes he could get them to believe in him too.
“Evan – do you want to talk about it?”
The sound of his husband’s voice makes Buck blink back to the present, seeing the other man turned on his side watching him as he got lost in his spiralling thoughts. He doesn’t know what to say, to get the thoughts out of his mind, to stop the man from worrying about him. However, they’ve talked about hiding things before. It has never gone well for either of them during romantic endeavours with other partners, so communication is important to both of them.
“They still don’t believe me.”
Eddie reaches out, his fingers gently skimming Buck’s cheek as he listens intently. He never interrupts, always listens to whatever Buck has to say, and the younger man appreciates it wholeheartedly.
“Bobby made one of those profiles on a dating website and I happened to see it,” Buck speaks aloud as he remembers earlier’s conversation. “I was joking around about some of the parts – which I know wasn’t nice and I owe him an apology when I see him next – talking about how cheesy a part of it was and teasing him that he probably shouldn't show that to anyone he wants to actually date and – they all just wrote me off as the dumb kid that doesn’t know anything about a serious relationship.” He grips Eddie’s wrist as he meets the older man’s gaze. “I try so hard but it’s never enough, I just get waved off and things said that insinuate that I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Eddie shushes him reassuringly, pulling the blonde into his arms and rubbing his back in calming circles as Buck buries his face in the other man’s neck, holding onto his husband tightly. He waits for Buck to calm down a little before speaking lowly to him, for the blonde’s ears only. “You’re none of those things. What you are is smart, loving, trustworthy, and so, so loved. You’re an amazing father, and the best husband I could ever ask for, and it makes me so mad that nobody else is willing to see that. But, I promise you, you’re not a “dumb kid that doesn’t know anything about a serious relationship” because I’d say we’re pretty damn serious and I have never doubted you or had second thoughts about having you in our family, or about marrying you, for a second.”
Buck sobs, nodding against the warm skin he’s pressed his face too. Eddie always knows what to say when Buck’s doubts are getting to him, when the doubts from his friends, his team, are weighing on him. It’s one of the many reasons he loves the other man. “I love you. So much.”
“Yo tambien te quiero, mi amor.” Eddie whispers, nudging Buck back enough to press a soft kiss to his nose which he knows will make the younger man giggle, smiling when it has the desired effect. “Get some sleep, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Buck hums happily at the reminder of their plans for the next morning - they’re taking Christopher to the zoo where Buck has booked them a special session to feed the giraffes, which Christopher is going to find out about tomorrow morning when they surprise him with the news during breakfast. “I can’t wait.”
“The faster you fall asleep, the faster it’ll get here,” Eddie replies, using a phrase he’s heard Buck say to Christopher on multiple occasions when he’s been excited about something happening. “Goodnight, mi sol.”
Buck smiles, leaning in as Eddie meets him in the middle. There’s nothing heated about this kiss, just pure love being exchanged before they separate, snuggling close to each other after Eddie quickly checks that their alarm is set for the morning.
“Goodnight.” The blonde whispers against his husband's chest as he rests his head against it with his arm over the other man’s waist as Eddie lies on his back. Eddie’s only response is to squeeze him a little bit tighter to him with the arm he has around Buck’s back.
No matter what he’s been through during the day, ending it in bed with Eddie like this and Chris sleeping peacefully in the other room, is the best feeling in the world. The only way he ever wants to end each day for the rest of his life. With his family.