Work Text:
Eddie stands in the doorway to the lounge and announces, “let's go away for a christmas weekend.”
“What?” Buck turns himself around and stares at his boyfriend, who is biting his lip rather nervously. “What do you mean, let's go away? We have work, your family are flying in, how can we go?”
Eddie moves until he can sit next to Buck, and this close he’s practically radiating nervous energy, his eyes far away and his knee twitching and Buck’s reminded of the horrible year he’s had, how there’s still some days that Eddie struggles to get up and get on with life and he moves until he can cup his boyfriends cheek and guide his beautiful brown eyes to meet his own. Eddie exhales, relaxing as he presses into Buck’s palm. “I know,” he whispers. “I know there’s all these reasons why we should stay here. But I just want some time to enjoy Christmas with you and Chris and if we stay here the whole time we’ll get caught up in so many things. My parents will want to talk about stuff I don’t want to talk about and I’ll get angry and I don’t want that, I want our first Christmas together to be special and I spoke to Bobby and he said we can have the four days off this weekend and Christopher finishes school and so I just want to go somewhere with you both. But I know…”
“Sssh,” Buck cuts him off with a kiss, letting his thumb stroke the thin, delicate skin under Eddie’s eye, lingering on the freckle he loves. “Let's do it. You’re right, and I want some time with my boys too. So let’s go somewhere, just the three of us.”
Eddie smiles finally, his eyes lightening. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Good, because I’ve found us a home to rent over the weekend and I’m sure you’re going to love it.”
Eddie drives, and refuses to tell them where they’re going, saying it’s a surprise. Christopher is so excited he’s almost vibrating in the back seat, and Buck alternates between playing games with him and trying to work out where they’re going. They’re travelling north, he knows that, but other than that he’s not sure where Eddie’s heading to.
It takes them just under 2 and a half hours, along the coast road then into the national forest and Christopher is nodding asleep when they finally turn off the main road and Buck sees their destination. He gasps out the window as they drive into Solvang, a place he’d mentioned once that he’d love to visit and if there was any doubt in his mind that Eddie hears him, it vanishes as he turns to face his boyfriend and finds a massive smile on his face. “God, I love you,” he breathes out and Eddie shoots him a smug look and squeezes his fingers.
“I knew you’d love it here,” is all he says. Buck keeps hold of his hand as he turns back and watches in amazement as they drive through the town to get to the house they’ve rented. The Danish houses are offset by the town’s windmill and the cobbled streets tell more tales of the history of the town and Buck is fascinated already. When they pull up to the house and Christopher wakes up, they grab their bags, drop them off and then take a quick tour around the town. Even Christopher is amazed by the set up, the quaint houses, the shops with Danish signs over the doors, the smell of unusual food and he stands and stares at the windmill before tugging at Buck’s arm. “Can we go up there?” he asks and Buck checks with Eddie before nodding.
“Yeah, I may have to carry you up the stairs though, they’ll be narrow and steep and probably not great for crutches,” he says and Christopher is so amazed he just nods and gapes again.
Buck’s always loved a windmill, there’s something so romantic about them and when he feels the kiss Eddie presses to his shoulder, he gets that his boyfriend is feeling the same things too.
“We’re going to Santa Barbara for one day and I have some museum tickets booked,” he whispers, “but we can definitely do the windmill too, if you both want it.”
“You’re the best,” Buck declares, stealing a proper kiss and smiling at how Eddie ducks his head shyly.
The weekend passes so quickly, too quickly for Buck’s liking, if he’s being honest, he’d love many more moments just like this. Every minute with the Diaz boys is special, and he treasures every single one. Like the way Christopher is amazed when they see how the windmill works and they look down onto the big wheel that makes the grinder turn. How they spend almost an entire day in the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and he gets presented with his own, beautifully illustrated copy of his tales, a present off Eddie that he knows he’ll treasure forever, until they get grandkids to pass it onto. How Christopher finds a second copy and clutches it tightly for Jee. They spend a day at the beach in Santa Barbara and Eddie smoothes suncream slowly over Buck’s shoulders despite the fact they’re in public, his hands lingering. Buck and Christopher spend time swimming and splashing in the sea and they eat too many ice creams for one day but Christopher insists he needs to try every single flavour and Buck can’t say no to him, and it’s clear Eddie can’t say no to either of them.
It’s so much fun and the last night Christopher hugs them both tightly before falling to sleep, so tired with how much excitement they’ve had. Buck slips into the kitchen to grab them some glasses of wine and then sits next to Eddie on the rug in front of the fireplace in their quaint cottage. “This has been the best,” he says, resting his head on Eddie's shoulder and pushing into the way he starts combing his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah, it has,” Eddie agrees, dropping a featherlight kiss onto Buck’s curls and Buck could just sit here forever, the love of his life in his arms, the child he adores more than anything asleep down the hall, everything perfect.
“This has been the best Christmas,” he whispers, watching as he catches Eddie’s fingers against his and plays with them. “Just the three of us, here, it’s everything I ever wanted. I’m so glad we sorted ourselves out.”
“We’d have always got here,” Eddie says, sounding so sure. “All I know is I’ve been in love with you for ages, and I can’t imagine being with anyone else. So, it’s destiny, moving to LA, meeting you, falling in love, we were always going to get to this place. May have taken us longer if we hadn’t got our heads out of our asses, but still. I love you, Evan, so, so much.”
What else can Buck do, apart from remove the wine glass from Eddie’s hands and kiss him, slowly and sweetly, pushing him back flat against the rug and following him down. Eddie’s hands skim up his back as he kisses back, and Buck finds it so easy to lose himself in his boyfriend's arms.
Christopher may be asleep down the hall and this is a house they’ve rented, but for tonight, it’s just them and the gilt glow of the fire and Buck knows this memory is one he will treasure forever.