Work Text:
Eddie had the feeling that today was gonna be a great day, especially once he'd finished his shift.
After he left the station, he went straight to the school to pick Chris up.
Meanwhile, Buck had already gone home to start preparing dinner.
Later that evening, Maddie and Chim would come by and he still had to buy fruits for some fancy dessert Buck was making.
A few minutes after he arrived at the school, he saw his son quickly making his way to him and the truck.
"Hey dad!", he yelled with a grin so wide, Eddie thought it might just split his face.
"Hey mijo", he grinned and hugged the ten-year-old close to him. "What's got you all smiley?"
"I'll tell you later. Can we go home?"
"Sure. We just gotta stop by the store real quick, Buck needs some fruit. Said you would know which ones?"
Chris nodded excitedly,
"I do!"
As soon as they arrived, he scrambled to get out of the car as soon as possible and impatiently tugged on his dad's shirt.
Said man then laughed,
"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Patience, mijo..."
They got a shopping cart, which Chris demanded to sit in, and went inside.
He directed his dad around the fresh produce section, obviously enjoying being pushed around.
Half an hour later, they walked through their home's front door and into the kitchen.
"Bucky!"
Said man turned around and crouched down instantly, brightly smiling,
"Hey buddy! How was your day?"
"Awesome! Dad even pushed me around the store in the cart!"
Eddie grinned,
"I did. He ordered me around like I was his personal maid or something."
"Oh I bet he did... So Superman, wanna clean up a little and help me with the chopping?"
The kid lit up even more at that and hurried to get to the bathroom.
Buck then turned to his best friend and suggested,
"We'll get the prepwork done, you wanna shower? They'll be here in two and a half hours."
He nodded,
"Yeah, thanks. I'll set the table once I'm done."
"You're a godsend, seriously; I haven't even thought of that yet...", the younger man sighed.
Eddie just smiled at him and turned around to go take a shower and change.
Once done, he grabbed a random shirt out of his drawers - after all, there was no use in possibly staining the shirt he'd picked for the night already; not while the cooking was still in process anyways.
Usually, he'd just go without one for now but he'd been lectured on kitchen safety one too many times already and knew better than to provoke it again.
What he saw when he entered the kitchen took his breath away; his son and hi- _Buck_ stood there, chopping vegetables and chatting away happily.
It was so damn domestic, the way their stories bounced off of each other while they worked so well together...
/Fuck, I love you two/, was the only coherent thought Eddie could form.
Instead of speaking, he opted to start gathering plates and cutlery from the cupboards and drawers and spreading them out on the table.
The chatter from the kitchen kept on going, only stopped occasionally when Buck had to look up something important in the recipe.
He took a moment just to take it in, and it was such a bittersweet feeling; he knew that those two loved each other infinitely.
But he also knew that, no matter how much this was his family, the part where the parents love each other would always be missing.
"Daaad! Can you help us? I'm too short!"
He hurried over to the kitchen and asked,
"What is it?"
"I need some more flour but Chris can't reach the shelf and my fingers are already dirty", Buck replied.
"Sure. But didn't you say you'd put some in a bowl for quick reach?"
He chuckled,
"Yeah, I just wildly underestimated the amount of flour we'd need to roll out the dough."
Eddie shrugged,
"Well, you're the one who insisted on making homemade pasta", but handed him the jar none the less.
Then, he tossed some flour onto the younger man's hands, too, not even needing to be asked to do so.
The smile he got in response was blinding.
"Can I help any more?"
With a grin, Buck nodded,
"Yeah, you could cut up the fruit for the dessert, please. Just remember to wash everything and peel what has to be peeled."
"Oh come on, that was one time", he responded, rolling his eyes.
"Still, you forgot to skin a damn kiwi! You don't just do that!"
Incredulously, Chris asked,
"Did you seriously?"
"Yes he did, Buddy."
"In my defense, I was very busy!"
"Doing what?", the younger man asked with a raised brow.
/Staring at you working out/, Eddie thought.
Pushing that thought deep down, he said,
"Well, Hen and I were in the middle of, uh, a very passionate exchange of opinions."
Technically, that wasn't a lie...
They were indeed exchanging opinions - on whether or not he should tell Buck that he's in love with him.
But the subject of his affections didn't have to know that.
Thankfully, he left it at that and they all turned back to chopping and cooking.
And sooner than they thought, it was ten to six pm and they had to go and change, like, immediately.
So, after getting Chris ready and having told him to go and play with Legos for a while, both adults rushed upstairs to change.
"You go wash up first, I'll try to get my hair in check", the younger man said, already taking his place in front of the bedroom's mirror.
"Thanks", Eddie smiled before stepping into the bathroom.
There, he cleaned up a bit and fumbled around a bit more with his hair before simply deciding to give up.
He just threw on a fresh shirt and the button down he'd picked out, still closing the buttons as he stepped out of the room.
There was a whistle and then the comment,
"All dressed up today, huh?"
"Yeah whatever", he mumbled, tossing the worn shirt onto the bed before finishing with the buttons.
A couple of seconds of silence later, Buck stated,
"You were wearing my shirt."
"How would you know it was yours anyways?", the older man asked, practically feeling his face starting to resemble the colour of a tomato.
"Well, as far as I know you never trained to be a SEAL, nor is your last name Buckley." He just picked the shirt up and showed the back, pointing out the SEAL logo and his own last name printed on there. "See?"
Under his breath, Eddie muttered,
"If anything it's your name that would change", before raising the volume and teasing, "Not my fault that you keep doing your laundry at my place and forget so many pieces here."
Buck didn't reply, instead opting to step into the bathroom and let out a staggering breath.
Something about seeing the man he had a massive crush on wearing his clothes just felt right.
It settled something inside him...
He refused to dwell on that and cleaned himself up instead. He also put on a new shirt and his favourite flannel.
When he walked back into the bedroom, his best friend mimicked the earlier whistle and then grinned,
"Looking pretty good yourself, Buckley."
"I always do", he responded with the same tone.
They didn't say anything else, just stared at each other for a moment before silently agreeing to go back downstairs.
There, Buck tossed the pasta into the hot water and turned up the flame underneath the sauce-pot.
Without needing to be asked, the older man took on stirring the sauce, leaving him free to finish decorating the dessert he'd made.
When he walked back to Eddie to get the rest of the chopped fruit, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it."
"Thanks Eds", he smiled, kissing the other man's cheek in passing.
He hadn't intended to do it.
However, he couldn't say that he didn't mean it - because god, he really did love this domestic bliss they had going on.
And he just wanted to be able to do that all the time and not have to write it off as an accident...
Still, he mumbled,
"Sorry...", and fiercely concentrated on finishing the dessert's decor.
Meanwhile, Eddie excitedly greeted their guests at the door, blush obvious on his face.
He asked Maddie how the baby was within the first minute of her and Chim having arrived.
"Yeah, mango's fine. Been kicking me a lot lately but it'll be okay."
"Mango?", Buck asked from the kitchen, a grin evident on his face.
His sister came over to hug him and grinned back,
"We figured that that's a gender neutral endearing term to call them until further notice."
"It is really cute", he nodded and put a hand on her stomach, instantly getting it kicked by his nibling.
He laughed,
"They tryna be a soccer player or what?"
"Sure", she laughed back as they walked to the living room to join the others.
Chris greeted her excitedly,
"Maddie, hi! How's the baby?", and hurried over to hug her.
"Hey sweetheart. They're good, how are you?"
"I'm great!", he announced.
Eddie pitched in,
"He wouldn't stop smiling all day", as he handed her a glass of grape juice.
"Oh, is that so? Well, what is it?", she asked as she sat down beside her quasi-nephew.
Said kid grinned,
"Today I learned that Riley and I have something nice in common!"
"Ohhh, the one from your class with the really cool, super curly hair?", Buck asked from where he sat between Eddie and Chim.
The kid confirmed that happily.
His father tried not to let it show that he only had a vague picture of the girl in question in his mind...
"Well, what do you have in common, then?", Maddie encouraged him to talk.
Brightly, he beamed,
"She also has two dads!"
Both Buck and Eddie proceeded to choke on their drinks, while Chris happily continued,
"They are so nice! Maybe we could go to the zoo together some time? Her favourite animals are giraffes, too, so we have to go see them! I like koalas a lot, too, though... And penguins!"
"I'm pretty sure the zoo still has all of those", Chim grinned, trying and failing to hold back a laugh.
Maddie didn't even bother trying, so now Chris sat there on the couch, surrounded by two laughing adults and two violently coughing ones, and was more confused than ever.
"Bucky? Dad? Are you okay?"
As soon as the latter's coughing had died down a bit, he replied,
"Sure, uh, I think we could do that..."
Buck was still extremely red in the face and excused himself to 'go check on the food', aka calm the fuck down after what had just happened.
He was still speechless, so he just gestured towards the kitchen, hoping that that'd convey his message.
There, he put both of his elbows up on the countertop, resting his face in his hands.
"Hey, you good?", his best friend's voice sounded out from behind him.
"Yeah sure... I just, uh, need a moment, I think..."
Coming up to stand next to him, Eddie asked,
"Is this some sort of existential crisis about the fact that he more or less indirectly called you his dad?"
He could only find it in him to do anything but keep staring at the counter and nod.
The older man shrugged,
"Well, he's right."
"Huh?"
He elaborated,
"Think about it; the teachers at his school know you at least as well as me, you know who all his classmates are, you volunteer for bake-sales and such, and you spend almost as much time with him, raising him, as I do. Just look at me for a moment, please Evan."
Still stunned, he simply did that, not saying anything.
"Thank you. So, will you please believe me when I say that I wholeheartedly agree with him?"
Buck could only nod, despite not fully believing it yet.
"You're family, Buck."
"I love you."
He couldn't stop it, it had just slipped out like that.
For a moment, Eddie just looked confused.
Then, he smiled,
"I love you too, so much."
"Can I ... is it okay if I kiss you?", the younger man asked, unsure of himself, and still not really believing anything that had happened during the past five minutes.
"More than okay... Shit, I love you so much, Evan."
Hearing him say his name like that sent shivers down his spine, which was only outmatched by what he felt once their lips met.
It wasn't perfect right away. But after a few seconds, they found a way how they slotted together perfectly.
When they eventually parted, Buck couldn't stop staring at him in awe.
The other man chuckled,
"You look so adorable like this... But we should probably go back to tell them that the food is done."
He just nodded and wordlessly trailed behind his ... boyfriend? Was he?
Before he could further debate about that with himself, his sister walked over to him and grinned,
"Since your brain has apparently stopped working, I'll guess that you two finally got your shit together?"
He could only nod,
"Yeah..."
"That's so great, I'm really happy for you two!", she beamed and hugged him close. "I always wanted the best for you, and I think you might've found it with them..."
After another minute of much-needed sibling hugging, they let go and sat down at the table with the others.
"Hope this tastes as good as it smells", Chim said.
His quasi brother in law preened a little at that and smiled,
"How about we try it and figure that out? Enjoy, everyone."
A chorus of "You too", sounded around the table and everyone dug in.
"Evan, I don't know what you did with this but I love it and I really want the recipe", Maddie smiled.
Her brother ducked his head at that, obviously not used to being praised that much.
Eddie made a mental note of that and tucked the information away for ... other occasions.
Out of nowhere, Chris asked,
"You're my aunt, right Maddie?"
"Uh, sure, if Buck is your dad and I'm his sister then yeah, why?"
"Nothing, just making sure."
Maddie smiled warmly at him and lovingly ruffled his hair.
"Hey, that's mean!", he promptly complained.
She just grinned,
"Well, it's my job as your aunt to lovingly nettle you a bit."
"Dad, papa! Maddie's being mean to me!", he pouted, crossing his arms for emphasis.
For a second time that night, Buck was frozen in place.
At least until Chris asked him hushedly,
"Is that okay?"
Then, he hugged him close from where they were sitting next to each other, and smiled into the kid's hair,
"More than okay, Superman. It was just surprising to hear you say something like that for the first time."
"Alright!", he replied with his usual cheerfulness and returned his focus to eating his dinner.
Eddie thought his heart might well burst soon...
Here lies Eddie Diaz, died when he saw his boyfriend being his usual, adorable self with their son.
Chim nudged him with his elbow and quietly asked,
"You good?"
/More than good/, he thought as he nodded, /perfect, actually./