Work Text:
Once Christopher had been put to bed, once tonight’s movie night was over, Eddie left Buck to entertain himself on his phone. He wanted to put dinner away and do some cleaning up before he got too tired. His mind wandered a bit as he scrubbed plates, thinking about how Christopher had snuggled into Buck’s side while they watched their movie. Buck’s arms had been wrapped protectively around the boy while he stroked his hair with one hand.
Eddie had felt his heart swell, and felt something akin to butterflies in his stomach when he watched this. He was so glad his son had someone other than blood family to count on. Buck had been there for …. Everything since they’d moved to LA, and he didn’t know what Christopher would do without him. Hell, after the tsunami, Buck would come at the drop of a hat if Christopher had nightmares. Eddie thought it helped Buck with his own nightmares, scenarios where they just never found Christopher…
Eddie snapped back into reality, realizing he’d been washing the same plate for way longer than necessary. He rinsed it off and put it in the drying rack, before moving on to the next dish.
He tried not to think about the tsunami too much. It didn’t help anything to dwell on it. He’d gotten Christopher back. And Buck was alright. That’s all that mattered.
He found his mind drifting from the sheer joy of seeing his son bonded with someone else, to how good Buck looked tonight… He’d worn a grey-blue sweater that fit him perfectly and made his eyes pop. When he’d wrapped his arms around Christopher, the sleeves of the sweater bulged out, revealing the shape of his strong arms even more than it already had. His shoulders looked even more broad and strong than they did normally, somehow. He felt his stomach swoop as he thought about running his hands over the shape of them…
He shook his head violently, clearing the thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus on finishing cleaning up. He shouldn’t let his mind wander so much. Finishing the rest of the dishes, he moved on to wiping down the counters and stove, scrubbing and wiping meticulously until finally, the kitchen was done. At least for tonight. He looked around one last time, checking to see if anything else needed to be done, nodding in satisfaction as he did so. Pushing open the door that isolated the kitchen from the open floor plan of the dining room/living room, he started to say something to Buck, before his eyes fell to the couch to see Buck passed out despite sitting upright on the couch.
Eddie melted, his face breaking out into a soft, fond smile that was almost his default expression when he looked at Buck. Well, it was either that or exasperation… He quietly padded over to the couch, to grab the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch to lightly drape it over Buck. When he backed away, the floor creaked under his foot and he lightly cursed. Unfortunately, that was enough to wake Buck up.
“‘M awake!” He shot forward, eyes wide and wild. “Eddie? What’re you doing?”
“Oh, I was….” He laughed nervously, lips twisting a little, before he decided to go the route of honesty. “I was putting a blanket on you, because you were sleeping.”
Buck smiled lopsidedly, looking up at his best friend with a look of unabashed affection and Eddie could feel the swoop in his stomach once more.
“That was sweet of you.” He ducked his head a little before continuing, looking at his watch. “But uh… I should probably be getting back to the apartment, and Taylor, anyway. I had fun tonight, though. See you at work tomorrow?”
Eddie nodded, the smile on his face falling a little, but frozen there so as to not show Buck his disappointment. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow, man. Drive safe.”
Buck got up from the couch, lightly punching Eddie on the shoulder, before opening his arms, silently asking for a hug. Eddie smiled and embraced his friend tightly before letting him go, turning away from him to fuss at something in the living room, to distract him.
Frowning, Buck left, a weird feeling in his stomach and his heart he couldn’t put his finger on.