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It’s the middle of the week when Maddie texts Buck and asks if they would mind helping her put up her Christmas tree. Eddie has to smile when Buck complains about the fact that Chim could help because he actually lives with Maddie, even if he’s on shift covering for someone on the B team, because it’s obvious he’s only kicking up a fuss because it’s Chim he’s complaining about. It’s clear this is a Buckley tradition, at least, a Maddie and Buck tradition and Buck loves spending time with Jee and so it’s just a token complaint. Besides, both Eddie and Christopher have been invited too, for the first ever time, and it makes Eddie’s stomach twist pleasantly because it shows that Maddie approves of their relationship and that means more to him than he thought possible.
He enjoys spending time with Maddie and Jee, she’s always been easy to talk to and she’s interesting and they started going for coffee to talk about children and their recovery from things they don’t like to talk about in therapy. Usually, the conversation does turn to Buck and how much they both adore him. Buck doesn’t know this, it would make him embarrassed if he knew how much they chat about him, he thinks they talk about coffee beans and the best way to bribe teenagers and other inconsequential things. But she’s become a good friend to Eddie too, listening to him, being there for him, helping him when he just needs someone else. And being part of their family thing is precious.
They go around to Maddie’s on the Saturday, Christopher immediately claiming Jee for company and sitting her on his lap as they read a book together. Eddie and Buck get the tree inside that Maddie chose and had delivered, with Maddie giving them a running commentary of where she wants it to go as they’re trying to manoeuvre it into the tiny door. Buck makes quips the entire time, making Maddie frown. Whilst she is sorting out the branches and getting it just right, Eddie crowds Buck in the kitchen, away from prying eyes, and kisses him to keep him quiet, promises exactly what he’ll do when they get home later if he does stay quiet and is gratified by the wide eyed gulp this gets him. “You’re a menace,” is all Buck snaps at him as he barrels out of the kitchen, “I have to spend hours with my sister and niece and Chris and think about your dick all day!” but he manages to put it to one side as they help Maddie to drape tinsel over the tree and hang the decorations around the rest of the house. It looks lovely, reminding Eddie of sorting out a tree and decorations for their own house, maybe getting Buck to go shopping with him and Christopher to choose new things to add to the ones they already have, when Maddie comes downstairs holding one last box.
“It’s our decorations,” she says, soft and fond as she sits on the sofa with the box on the coffee table. Buck sits next to her, pulls Jee and Christopher onto his lap, they open the box together and for the first time Eddie feels like he's intruding, like he shouldn’t be here for this obvious family moment. But he’s not fathomed on Buck knowing him so well, because he looks over to where Eddie’s lingering by the door, holds his hand out and pulls him to sit on the arm of the sofa he’s sitting against, resting his head on Eddie’s thigh the minute he gets close enough.
Maddie is pulling ornaments out of the box and it’s clear they’re pride of place in her heart, they’re handmade and of various degrees of impressiveness, but even the shabbiest are treated like they’re precious. Buck and Maddie take it in turns to look and laugh at each one, show them to Jee and Christopher and explain what each one means and hang them on the tree so carefully. There's one Maddie made herself when she was young, an angel made out of threads with a gold wire halo. Buck puts the one their grandad made onto the tree, a gingerbread man with lots of tissue paper glued over it. He laughs as he recalls how when they’d made it, his grandad had stuck tissue paper all over the kitchen table and their grandma had been so cross at him that she made him scrape every single piece off it before he could sit down. Chim’s is a fire engine, red and messy. Jee’s is the newest, a unicorn, all glittery and pink and purple and Maddie hangs that up almost reverently. And then she’s handing Eddie one to put on the tree with a smile that makes her eyes twinkle in the dim light. “This is Evan’s,” she says, “maybe next year you could make one to hang next to it?” And Eddie has to bite back the tears at the image that conjures up for him. He composes himself by looking at what Buck’s ornament is and snorts with laughter at the sight of it, a ridiculous Rudolph who looks more like a sloth, painted sloppily on one side.
“Hey,” Buck says, head pressing into Eddie’s thigh, comforting, “I was only three. It’s a masterpiece!”
Eddie hangs it next to Jee’s, and if his fingers linger on it for a moment too long, then he can hide that by pretending he’s just checking it won’t fall off the branch.
It’s when they’re back in their house, in bed, that he voices what he wants to. “Can we make some baubles for our tree? Me, you and Chris? I mean, we have our decorations that Chris made years ago, but I’d like something for us, for the three of us, if that’s alright?” he asks into Buck’s hair so he doesn’t have to look into his eyes.
Buck picks his head up from where he’s been lying with his ear over Eddie’s heart and his eyes are so soft and warm as he looks at Eddie. “Yeah,” he breathes, “for our family? I’d love that.”
So whilst Buck picks up a tree for their house, Eddie decides that actually, if he’s going to do this, do the whole bauble thing again but this time with Buck as part of the Diaz family, he wants to do it properly and without telling anyone, he rings the pottery shop around the corner and books all three of them in for the weekend when they have the time off work.
He keeps it quiet because he wants to surprise them both and so he waits until Saturday morning, when they’re all sitting around the breakfast table. Buck’s made pancakes with chocolate chips in and Christopher is cramming as much into his mouth as possible and it’s simultaneously the cutest and the most disgusting thing he thinks he’s ever seen.
He waits until they’ve finished eating before clearing his throat and identical bemused eyes stare up at him, like he’s a teacher and they’re waiting for instructions. “How would you feel about doing some pottery painting today?” he asks, a little nervously. “Baubles,” he adds, nodding jerkily at the tree Buck put up last night, currently decorated by a single strand of lights and Christopher’s old decorations, each one lovingly preserved but not representing the Diaz-Buckley’s in their new form as a family of three.
Buck’s mouth drops open in what Eddie hopes is surprise, but Christopher is immediately excited, he loves doing anything creative and this is a nice unexpected treat for him. Eddie sends him off to get changed into older clothes and whilst he’s out of the way, he cleans up their plates from breakfast. When he turns around, Buck is resting his elbows on the table and just staring at Eddie.
“What?” he asks, from where he’s finishing washing up and putting the plates to dry.
“You are the loveliest person I know,” Buck declares, with stars and love hearts in his eyes and Eddie almost snorts and flicks the tea towel at him, and captures his lips in a soft kiss instead.
The walk to the pottery cafe is so nice, a glimpse of the future Eddie wants to have, Christopher making his way steadily and carefully ahead of them, Buck stealing a kiss whilst they’re waiting to cross the road. They get sorted with plastic aprons and choose their baubles and paints. Eddie goes for a stocking and fireplace scene, Buck gets a circular disc and Christopher picks a traditional spherical bauble. Eddie’s laying out his equipment, paintbrushes, a variety of paints and his water when he realises that both Buck and Christopher are sitting apart from each other, backs turned to him as well. “What?” he starts and they both turn and stick a tongue out at him.
“They’ve got to be a surprise,” Buck says, like Eddie should have known this all along. “We can’t see each other’s designs until we have the tree decorating ceremony.”
“It’s what Buck says we need to do!” Christopher chips in, “with any new family baubles.”
Eddie almost thinks he’s in a twilight zone, tree decorating ceremonies blowing his mind, but both Buck and Christopher are getting on with their baubles, concentrating so hard they don’t see the bemused look on his face. They’re not joking with being secretive, stealing furtive glances at each other’s work as they protect what they’re doing with their arms. Eddie rolls his eyes fondly as he sits down, but he chose this, he chose Buck and Christopher is the best kid in the entire world and so he has no one to complain to about it,never though that’s the last thing on his mind. They’re geeks, but they’re his geeks and he loves them both so much.
It’s a lovely morning, even if it’s quiet with both Buck and Christopher concentrating, wanting to make their baubles the best they can. Eddie gets his design done quickly, a fireplace, nice and bright and then three stockings, red and green in their beauty, with the three names of his family written on the top of each one. The colours are dull at the moment, after firing and varnishing, they will look incredible and he can’t wait to see them hanging on their tree. Buck and Christopher take longer to finish and he takes the time to just sit and watch them, head pillowed on his hands as he drinks them both in. Christopher ‘s got his tongue sticking out as he concentrates on whatever he’s painting but Buck’s got that cheeky smile that Eddie adores on his face as he sneaks glances up at Eddie, biting his lip as he looks away and then glances back again like he can’t help himself.
The lady in the shop packs their baubles away when they’re finished, mainly because Buck and Christopher refuse to look at each other’s until they’re complete. It will take a week for them to be ready and so Eddie arranges a time to pick them up next weekend and they spend the rest of the day planning the tree decorating ceremony for when they’re brought home. Christopher draws invitations for Maddie, Chim, Jee, Abuela, Pepa, Carla, Bobby and Athena and everyone else he can think of, even suggesting inviting Hen and Karen and Denny. Eddie’s still reeling from this when he sees him glaring at him. “You can’t look at our decorations until we’re all here,” he instructs. “Pinky promise me. Because you’re going to collect them without me and Buck and you can’t look.”
Eddie goes to pick the box up a week later, makes sure it’s sellotaped down and doesn’t even sneak a look once as he carries them to the house carefully. The rest of the family are already there when he lets himself in, drinks in hand, all chatting like this is a normal thing to do. They all stop talking when he comes into the living room, box in hand and the excited cry Christopher lets out is louder than any he’s heard before. “Abuela, look!” he calls, excitedly jumping up and down. “It’s our baubles. Let's hang them up straight away.”
He can see the way Carla and Pepa are hiding their laughter, how Chim rolls his eyes but Maddie, Abuela and Buck are looking at Christopher so fondly that Eddie feels torn. It’s a little embarrassing to have Chim and everyone else over, and he sort of wants it done quickly, but at the same time, this is his new family, he wants it to last forever.
He hands the box to Buck and gets him to open it, taking comfort in the press of fingers as they exchange the precious cargo between them. Buck slits the sellotape and looks inside and then makes a sound of pure joy.
He hands out the baubles one at a time, Eddie’s first and Christopher gushes over it, shows it to Jee carefully, loves how all their names are on it and how lovely the fire looks and why can’t they have one like that in their house? Eddie’s red, he can feel the heat in his cheeks, but the soft, warm look on Buck’s face fills him up with happiness. Buck’s fingers trail over the stockings as he hands it over to Eddie to hang on the tree, and he smiles knowingly as Eddie’s fingers shake slightly.
Christopher’s is next out and this time all the adults are able to smile at the exuberance displayed on it. He’s drawn three figures, all holding hands, the figure in the middle has red crutches. One of the others is very tall with a pink birthmark on his face and Eddie gets a lump in his throat as he shows it to all of them but then comes and sits on Buck’s lap to explain it. “This is my family,” he says, proudly. “Me in the middle, then my dad and my Buck. Can you see how much my Dad is smiling because you’re holding his hand and you’re here?”
Eddie swallows back the tears, as Buck hugs Christopher close and tight and when he looks up, Eddie can see exactly how touched he is by the love for Christopher that is written over his face. When Christopher carefully gets off his lap to add his bauble to the tree, he moves over to where Buck’s sitting, slides a hand around his neck and kisses him hard and fierce, no matter that his sister and their friends are in the room.
When he moves away, Eddie can see the smile on Maddie’s face from where she is sitting on the sofa opposite and it’s so lovely that actually he’s prepared to admit that a tree decorating ceremony may be his new favourite thing to do.
At least, until Buck pulls out his bauble and shows it off. “It’s what I associate with each of us,” he explains as he lets them all see it. Eddie chokes at the sight. He’s aware of the others, Chim is snorting with laughter, Maddie is giggling madly and Abuela has gasped, just once, hand to her throat. Christopher the only one who is unaffected, taking the bauble off Buck and smiling broadly at it. “I’m a spaceman,” he says proudly, “and you’re a dinosaur, Buck. But what’s this for Dad?” and he turns the bauble around and around in his hands, puzzlement on his face.
“It’s his firehose, cos he’s a firefighter,” Buck explains and Christopher grins and thrusts the design at Eddie to see closer.
Maddie manages to pull herself together to convince Christopher to go with her to get some food and when they’re out of the room, Eddie can finally lift his eyes to meet those of his ridiculous boyfriend. “My firehose,” he says slowly, so aware of how red Pepa is turning with laughter and the look on Abeula’s face. How can he look at them again, when on the bauble is the single most phallic representation of a firehose he’s ever seen?
“Of course. I love your hose, you know that, right I've never seen anyone use it better than you,” Buck says with a truly terrible wink and Eddie is screwed. “Better put it on the tree, babe. It is our decoration, so we’d better display it.”
And with another wink, he grabs Chim to get more beer and leaves Eddie to hang the bauble on the tree and then look up at Abuela, sure he’s crimson red because she’s Abuela and there’s no mistaking to the adults exactly what Buck’s drawn of his.
Abuela has this look on her face, like she’s enjoying this too much and even as he cringes, she touches his face lightly. “Oh Eddito, it’s not like I don’t know what you and Evan get up to. I’ve been there and done it myself, you know.”
Eddie’s not sure what worse, the bauble or the sex talk from his Abuela so he busies himself with hanging it up, trying to make it not look so obvious.
Chim comes back in and shakes his head. “Eddie, seriously, you’d better get prepared for everyone who comes here to see that. How are you going to explain it to everyone? Who else is due to come round before Christmas?”
Eddie realises with a shock that his sisters and probably his parents will be due round in the next few days when they fly up from El Paso and how on earth can he let his parents see and work out exactly what he’s been up to with Buck? He knows they must know they have sex, but he’s not sure if he’s ready for it all to be out there.
“You could just hide it,” Abuela suggests with a smile, “but he’s put a lot of time into making it look lifelike, you know.”
“Just goes to show what his favourite thing is of you,” Chim sniggers and Eddie throws him a filthy look and decides that maybe hiding Buck’s bauble is the best thing to do.
It turns out they must have a bauble fairy because Eddie spends most of the rest of the time on the run up to Christmas hiding it at the back of the tree, only to see it back in prime position every single time he looks at it again. But by next Christmas, he’s over the embarrassment, overwhelmed by love for his family, and he lets Buck put it up right at the front. After all, it’s now got a partner bauble that he’s made with exactly the same idea on it.