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Buck lets himself into the Diaz house on his day off shift to find absolute chaos.
There’s always an edge of it, but it’s something he loves so much. Their house is lived in, loud and lively, full of love and family, everything Buck’s ever wanted and still can’t believe he’s part of.
But this is something more than normal, with things strewn over the living room floor and coffee table and Christopher bent over the kitchen table, his curly head so low to whatever he’s making that he doesn’t even notice Buck coming into the room.
Eddie does though, looking up from where he's sitting next to Christopher and Buck has the distinct pleasure of watching as his face lights up, as a soft smile steals over his features and his eyes shine with happiness. It’s a heady feeling, being on the receiving end of Eddie’s affections, and Buck doesn’t think he’ll ever get fed up of being so wanted and desired that Eddie looks so happy to see him every single time.
Getting up, Eddie steals a kiss from Buck, diving back in when Christopher doesn’t even flinch for a longer one and a squeeze of Buck’s biceps. “What are you doing?” Buck asks when he finally pulls back, staying close enough to feel Eddie’s breath over his lips as they talk.
“We're making you a stocking for Christmas,” Christopher is the one to answer, making Buck’s heart almost stop in his chest.
“What?”
Christopher finally looks up, and rolls his eyes. His sass is legendary now, and Buck wouldn’t have it any other way. “We all have stockings for Christmas,” he says, like he’s explaining something to a child. “I made Dad his when I was little…”
“When he was seven,” Eddie whispers to Buck, hiding his smile and Buck grins too, pressing it into Eddie’s hair so Christopher can’t see as being eleven now means seven was obviously so long ago.
“And Mom helped me with mine the year before, and then Dad added more things to it and we always put them up every year,” Christopher continues like he didn’t even hear Eddie and Buck blinks as the words actually sink in.
“So why are you making me one?” he asks as he sits down and this time Christopher pulls a face and pats Buck’s cheek like he’s stupid.
“You’re family,” is all he says.
It’s still like an arrow in his heart, every time one of them mentions it so casually, like Buck is just one of them, their family, loved and adored. He knows he is, but when Christopher just says it like it’s common knowledge it still catches him off kilter. He catches the look on Eddie’s face that shows he’s not hidden his feelings that well, so he disguises it even more by trying to smack a kiss to Christopher’s cheek, making him squeal and giggle as he wrestles away.
“I’m too old for kisses, Buck,” he complains but he softens the blow by giving Buck a hug instead and moving over so he can see what he’s working on. Eddie also presses a kiss to the crown of Buck’s head, lingering in his closeness as he sits back down too. He tangles their feet together under the table, his hand sliding onto Buck’s thigh and he squeezes his knee, knowing just how overwhelmed Buck is right now.
Shooting him a smile, Eddie motions for him to look at the project spread over the table. Buck can now see it’s a plain stocking and the Diaz boys have been working on making it personal for him.
His name is half completed, the B and the U covered in blue glitter and the C and K written in black marker ready for the glue to go on. There’s piles of things on the table that Christopher points out to him.
“I picked these things for you, because they remind me of you, Buck. Do you want to help me choose what to put on your stocking?”
His eyes fill with tears as he gazes over the pile of things that Christopher is picking through, showing his favourite things out of the lot of them and Eddie squeezes his thigh, understanding what must be going through his head, offering his comfort without words. There’s scraps of blue material that Buck recognises as one of his old shirts on the pile, a picture of the three of them drawn when Christopher was younger, a piece of Buck’s old LAFD shirt that he gave Christopher after the tsunami when he couldn’t sleep and needed something of Buck to help. There’s also green and blue sequins and ribbon; “the colour of your eyes, Buck,” Christopher points out; a santa “because you come with us every year to meet him” and some mistletoe “you and Dad just kiss all the time but I guess it’s sort of sweet.”
They spend the rest of the day making Buck’s stocking, Christopher’s head bent close to his and Eddie’s hand on his knee. They end up with something so mismatched it must look a mess to everyone else, blue and LAFD shirt pieces paired up with so much glitter and sequins the stocking almost glows and on the back the things Christopher has picked out. It’s garish and obviously homemade.
Buck loves it.
He loves it even more when Christopher grabs the other stockings from Eddie’s room and puts them up, Christopher’s in the middle of Buck’s and Eddie’s, and the three of them stand and stare at the fireplace.
It’s their home, their family and Buck couldn’t be happier with his perfect stocking.