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Evan Buckley loved the summertime. Summer was warmer than any other time, and Pennsylvania was cold a lot. In the summer, he got to get away from his parents, and Maddie came with him. He went to a summer camp at the edge of Hershey every year once he was old enough and there he had tons of friends and people who would watch out for him and he wasn’t apart from Maddie unless he wanted to be. It was the best time of the year, even better than Christmas for Evan.
The camp was fun and while there were other people from his school there, they ignored him. That was perfectly fine with him, though, because there were so many other kids that came to the camp too. They were the ones Buck was excited to see every year, even if there was no guarantee that it was the same kids. He loved to hear their stories and even kept a journal where he could write them down to read when he wasn’t at camp anymore. He also writes down any activities or adventures he goes on with his new friends at camp just in case.
He started this because when he was seven, he had a best friend at camp for the whole summer, but once camp ended, he forgot everything but the love he had for this friend.
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In 2000, Evan Buckley showed up to Camp Olympus at the start of summer, like he had the past two years. He was seven years old. He pulled his bags out of the car and took off towards where Maddie was currently signing them in. He didn’t give his parents' car a second thought; he already knew they would be gone the minute everything they needed was out of the car.
Maddie was now a counselor, at 16, so she was going to be in charge of a whole cabin of kids which was fine by Evan. He was bigger now, and knowing Maddie was close gave him the courage to explore and learn more about who he was.
Evan was familiar with most of the kids that went to the camp every year like he and Maddie, but sometimes there was someone new. This year he had a new kid in his cabin. He was cautious because camp was a safe haven for him. New people, especially new people in his own space were a possible threat to that. He decided that he would be wary of the new kid, just in case.
The new kid walked over to their cabin meet-up spot where a kid named Cyrus, their counselor, was rounding them up. (Counselors had nicknames, so his name wasn’t really Cyrus. Maddie told Evan that his real name was Josh after the camp.) Evan ended up following the new boy with his bags and Cyrus smiled at him. Cyrus did roll call, told one of his superiors that they were going to their cabin to drop stuff off, and started herding the young boys to their cabin area for the summer.
The group made their way to six cabins in a u-shape around a bigger cabin that was for the counselors and where they would have group meetings and do some of their activities. They were in the Apollo campground. Evan ended up in the same cabin as the new kid, as well as two kids that he had seen multiple years in a row, Willie and Nick. Those two took one side of the cabin, so Evan and the new guy, Eddie, he introduced himself as, took the two beds on the left side of the cabin.
Eddie had an accent. Evan liked it, and when he asked where he was from, Eddie told him that he had lucked into a scholarship to the camp from some school competition and that he’s actually from El Paso. Evan decided that he wanted to make this summer Eddie’s best summer ever and held out his hand when it was time to go meet for dinner with the rest of the camp. They held hands all the way to the mess hall and Evan grinned when he saw his sister. He rushed over to her table, dragging Eddie behind him, and sat right beside Maddie.
Maddie was introduced as Violet to Eddie, with Evan whispering in his ear that this was his big sister and what her real name was, but that they had to make sure not to call her that in front of her campers. Maddie ruffled Evan’s hair and started to ask Eddie how he was finding camp. He smiled at her and nodded, keeping to himself mostly. Evan made sure that Eddie had all the best choices of food from their table and the table all introduced each other and chattered about whatever they could. The first day was always just random topics because they hadn’t gotten to do any activities yet. Maddie made sure to engage even the shyer kids, like Eddie, into their conversations. Before they left to go back to their campground counselors, Maddie made sure to pull Evan to the side to commend him on making a friend and reminding him to watch out for the new kid.
Evan decided that he was going to be the best friend that Eddie ever had during camp. He succeeded.
They spent the months of the summer going from activity to activity, often holding hands or walking close together to talk about whatever their seven- and nine-year-old brains came up with. They were thick as thieves and you never saw one without the other. During big camp bonfires on the weekends, Evan was determined to make sure Eddie got the best and newest experience each time. He even enlisted some of the counselors to help, courtesy of Cyrus and Maddie. Eddie came out of his shell more and more over the summer and it made Evan so happy. His friend was showing more and more of himself and his personality.
Evan and Eddie were also known to play in tall grass and in meadows around their campsite during downtime, laughing too hard and shrieking a little too loud, and coming up with all kinds of games with their child imaginations. They climbed trees (under supervision), had a ton of fun on the tire swing at the lake, took turns trying to dare the other to jump in but being just a little too scared to jump from the old swing and deciding that jumping from the dock was just the better choice anyway.
The two spent the whole summer together, only to be ripped apart unceremoniously when Maddie fractured her ankle on the last week of camp and the Buckley parents decided to make the whole pick up at once. They didn’t want to make the trip out there twice, even if it was a 30 minute drive max. Eddie and Evan weren’t able to exchange contact details before Evan and Maddie left, and there was no way to really look each other up so they lost contact, upsetting the both of them.
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In 2011, Eddie Diaz’s wife gave birth. He had married her when they found out she was pregnant after pressure from their parents. He wasn’t even sure if he was ready for marriage or if Shannon was the one, but he had to try. He had to, for his son. His brand new son who Shannon had decided to call Christopher and Eddie couldn’t tell her no. Especially not when he was born and Eddie thought he looked like a Christopher anyway.
Eddie just had one thing he wanted. He had told Shannon and surprisingly, she had agreed. He had had to tell her the story, or as much as he could remember, but she was glad he was also giving something of himself to their child. Eddie picked out Christopher’s middle name, and he used the best friend he ever had as a child for it. Even if a name and a smile were all he had left of him.
Eddie introduced his and Shannon’s parents to Christopher Evan Diaz a few hours after he was born, giving both his wife and his son time to bond and rest before bringing anyone else in.
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In 2018, Evan Buckley was threatened. Not really, of course, but the new probie had so many accomplishments and the whole team basically adopted him immediately, which very specifically was not how they treated him when he had joined the 118. Is he jealous? Maybe, but who does this Eddie Diaz, Silver Star recipient, good in a crisis, combat medic, probie , think he is? He just waltzed in and got the whole 118 to like him but not Buck. Buck wasn’t going to like him until he earned it, that was it.
It didn’t take long, honestly. It was within that first week, Buck and Eddie dealt with a live grenade and came out the other side as the best of friends. When you became Buck’s friend, he went all in. Buck also learned that Eddie wasn’t the typical probie, having military experience and all, and that helped him with his “fit.”
Buck met Christopher early on, loving the kid immediately. His life intertwined with the Diaz boys so quickly, that it gave the rest of their friends whiplash (or so they told them). No amount of worrying on Buck’s part shook them apart either. Even when the lawsuit happened. Christopher understood that Buck just wanted his job back, once Buck was able to explain himself to the kid. He stopped being mad and was just excited to have his Buck back. Eddie eventually explained too and forgave him for the silence during that time.
Eddie wanted to talk to Buck very badly, he told Buck this, but knew that the minute he let Buck back in his life he would figure out the street fighting and he wasn’t ready to lose that coping mechanism quite yet. “Did you learn that from therapy, Eds?” Buck quipped, causing an empty plastic cup to be thrown at him in retaliation. Buck burst out laughing, missing the look on Eddie’s face.
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Buck was also determined to help Eddie feel better about Chris going to camp. Eddie got protective over Chris, and rightfully so, in Buck’s opinion. The kid’s gone through a lot in his eight years of life. They had to provide some copies of Christopher’s medical history so that they were as up-to-date as possible just in case anything happened.
The two set up at Buck’s apartment, with Christopher at a sleepover with Denny. This way Eddie had a more neutral spot to do the work, and Buck got to have someone in his apartment.
“Nothing’s gonna happen, Eddie,” Buck reassured him. It was important to keep the elder Diaz calm in situations like this. He can go papa bear on people if unchecked. It’s one of the things Buck loves most about him. He also is just in love with him, but that is a problem for Future Buck, not the one helping Eddie with camp forms.
“You don’t know that, Buck,” he snapped back. Eddie did calm down after Buck took the papers from him and pushed his glass of water into his hands instead. He relaxed as he drank and Buck looked through the papers.
“Chris’ middle name is Evan?” Buck asked. He was surprised that he never heard this, and honestly that it took this long for him to learn his middle name in the first place.
Eddie looked up and nodded. “I would’ve thought he told you when he found out your name, but I guess his classmates got into his head about being ashamed of middle names. He’s mentioned to me that he likes sharing your name though.” Eddie smiled at his best friend, and it only got fonder when Buck teared up slightly at the thought of Christopher and him sharing.
“He does? I wonder if he would tell me eventually,” Buck responded.
“Knowing him, I’m sure he just assumed that you found out already. He really likes it, despite the new shame thing. He always asks me about the story.” Eddie glanced back down at the water in his hands. He took another drink, knowing that his best friend was never going to be able to not take the bait.
“Wait, what’s the story?” Buck asked quickly. Eddie laughed softly and set his cup down.
“It’s actually why he asked about camp when the school brought it up. One year, I got to go to this camp somewhere for the summer -I won it, I think- and I was shy at first. Until this kid, that might have been younger than me? It’s hazy now, but this kid became my best friend that whole summer. He found me on day one, and we became inseparable.” Eddie started fidgeting with his hands. He was nervous, sharing this secret. He just couldn’t tell anyone why.
“I don’t remember much about him, mostly just the way he made me feel, and his name, Evan. He left early so I wasn’t able to keep in touch, it was the 2000’s and all, and I never got to go back.” Buck looked up at that. He looked startled. Eddie also didn’t have an explanation for that either.
“But I never forgot the love and the feeling of a best friend that I had that summer. It’s some of my earliest memories, just bits from the summer. I wanted to put all that love I had for my childhood best friend into my son, I wanted to love him as unconditionally as I was loved. Evan meant the world to me and I never found another person who made me feel the same. Well, until you, of course. You’re the best friend.” Eddie finally really looked up when he was done. Buck’s eyes were shining again.
“Hey, uh, Eds?” Buck asked, softer than he had been a few moments ago. “Do you remember the camp name?”
“Um, maybe, why?” Eddie asked back, racking his brain to remember. “Camp Olympian? Maybe?”
“Camp Olympus,” Buck exhaled and smiled softly. “Hey, Eds,” He started again. “I think you named your kid after me.” He laughed at this.
“I’m sorry, what?” Eddie’s brain had stopped working.
“Yeah, I went to Camp Olympus every summer from 5 to 18. I actually, wait, hold on.” Buck got up at that and went upstairs to the closet in the loft. He pulled out his camp journal and brought it down to Eddie.
“I started a journal to keep track of the friends I met, mostly because I lost most of the memories from the best friend I ever had and I didn’t wanna forget anyone else. The first page is probably about you, I think.”
There, in what is clearly a nine- or ten-year-old’s handwriting, were pieces that lined up with Eddie’s own memories.
- Boy, older, nice, warm
- Accent, maybe southern
- Tire swing and the lake
- Pirates in the weeds
- Same side of the cabin
- Space: saturn?
- E? Maybe
- Never came back :(
Eddie teared up, but he couldn’t resist teasing his friend, “You really forgot my name? At least I remembered yours.” They both laughed. “I wonder if Maddie remembers.”
“You remember Maddie?” Buck gasped.
“I’m older! And mostly I just remembered a sister, not who she was, so this is still not just on me.” Eddie protested.
“I’m- I’m glad it’s you, Eds. I’ve been wondering about that guy for years. Missing the warmth and the love and the happiness I felt being your friend as a kid. That summer felt more like home, camp was already home, but it started lacking something when you never came back.” Buck blushed but committed to what he was saying. “I knew that being friends with you, being close to you, it was the same feeling, but it’s the same feeling! You have literally always been my sense of home.”
Eddie crossed the space and hugged Buck. He couldn’t help it anymore. Buck buried his face in Eddie’s neck, wanting to make himself feel smaller. Eddie pressed a kiss to Buck’s forehead, holding him closer, murmuring “ I know, me too, Buck” over and over. Holding his best friend like this, after finding out that they were the person the other was searching for nearly twenty years, was perfect. Knowing that this entire time, Buck had been by him. His whole life, he held onto the idea of Buck, only to find him again. He kissed Buck’s forehead again softly and felt the blonde man smile.
Suddenly, Buck pulled away. “Wait, we gotta tell Chris. He has to know.” He told Eddie. Eddie started laughing pretty hard at that. Of course, Buck’s first thought was going to be about his kid. Eddie kissed Buck’s forehead again, feeling bolder by Buck’s blatant love for his son, and the realisation itself.
“We will, cariño, I promise we will.” Eddie smiled at Buck, again. He would probably never stop smiling at Buck. “But first, I think maybe we have some other things to talk about. Like how you said I felt like home? And you love me?” Buck groaned and hid his face in Eddie’s shoulder again, hitting him lightly when he felt Eddie laughing against him.
“It’s okay, Buck, I love you too.” Eddie reached up to put his hands on either side of Buck’s face so that he was forced to look at him. Buck was blushing again, but he looked hopeful.
“Yeah?” He asked. Eddie nodded and this time, kissed him. It was soft and it was sweet and not heated like Buck had imagined their first kiss might be. But he imagined it would happen in the middle of a dumb argument. “Eddie. I love you.” Buck declared.
This triggered something in Eddie’s memory. “To the moon and to Saturn, Buck.” The two of them could not keep the smiles off their faces. They couldn’t wait to pick up Christopher from the Wilson’s and even for the eventual teasing from the rest of the 118 and their family about their new relationship. But for now, they were just BuckAndEddie learning more about each other in a romantic context.