Chapter Text
It’s a beautiful Los Angeles day; the sun is shining and Eddie is looking forward to having an afternoon of quality time at the beach with his son, Christopher, he just needs to quickly pop to the grocery store to grab some snacks and bottled water before picking him up from his Abuelas house.
His attention is suddenly taken be the sound of a revving car engine, looking over to see what’s going on he notices a tall, blondish guy about to cross the street, seemingly so distracted listening to music from his earbuds and looking at his phone to hear or see said car which is now careering down the street, Eddie instinctively takes off running towards the guy, just managing to shove him out of the way before bearing the brunt of the impact of the car, he flies into the windscreen then bounces off and back onto the street, the last thing Eddie hears is a loud scream and then everything goes black.
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One minute Buck is happily enjoying a beautiful sunny LA day, the next he’s being forcefully shoved to the ground, he hardly has time to register what the hell is happening when he hears a loud thud from behind him followed by screaming, as he scrambles to his feet, he turns around to see a guy lying on the ground, a crowd starting to gather and people around him frantically calling 911.
Buck pushes through the crowd towards the unconscious guy, kneeling down to check him, he notices the guys wallet on the ground, discreetly picking it up, he opens to see his driving licence and the name Edmundo Diaz.
“Sir, are you ok, can I check you over?” Buck jumps with surprise at the voice, looks over to see a male paramedic kindly smiling at him as others start to work on helping the guy, Edmundo, Buck is in shock as he realises this guy probably just saved his life.
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Eddie blinks a few times, his eyes feel heavy and his head fuzzy as he tries to adjust to the harsh strip lighting in the room.
“Eddie, Eddie, hey, can you hear me?”
Eddie gently turns towards the familiar voice to see his mother seated on a chair next to his bed, he scans the room and smiles grateful to see his dad, sisters, aunt and abuela, his eyes then land on an unfamiliar face seated on the other side of his bed, he looks back to his mum, “wh-what happened?” he croaks, throat dry, his mum holds out a glass of water with a straw for him to sip.
“You were in an accident mijo, you were hit by a speeding car, and have been in hospital for a week with a broken collar bone, several broken ribs and a broken ankle, the doctors say you were really lucky, it could have been so much worse, you scared us to death Eddie.”
“I-I’m sorry mami,” “How did I-?“
“You were saving your Buck,” his Abuela explains.
Eddie racks his foggy brain to try and remember if he knows the name Buck, he’s sure he doesn’t.
“Who?”
There is a collective gasp in the room.
“You’re obviously still a bit confused son, it’s to be expected, you have been in and out of consciousness for the last few days and have a slight concussion,” Eddies dad supplies, “but it’s ok, he’s right here.”
Eddie turns again to the unfamiliar guy sitting on the chair beside him, this time he registers Chris sound asleep on his lap.
“Hey Eddie.”
“Buck?”
“Um, yeah.”
Eddie turns back to his mother, confused, hoping she can fill him in, she squeezes his hand and smiles, “when you feel more up to it, maybe then you can explain why you have kept this handsome man a secret from us all, you could have told us you have a boyfriend Eddie, we’re so happy for you he’s a lovely young man.”
Eddie jolts his head to look back at the man, pain exploding in his shoulder and ribs, “boyfriend.”
The guy, Buck, smiles shyly back at him.