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There were very few things that Eddie Diaz truly indulged in.
At first, it was for practical reasons. Putting all of his resources towards Christopher was the most important thing he could do, especially in the weeks and months after their move from El Paso to Los Angeles. When they had made the move across the country, they didn’t take much in the way of furniture or linens, instead selling the majority of it before the drive and buying new (or, really, used but in decent condition in every room that wasn’t Christopher’s) as soon as Eddie signed on their apartment.
Once they were settled, he’d gone out and made sure that Christopher had good quality sheets for his bed that he would enjoy. His own? He bought the cheapest on the shelves and just replaced them when they were pretty threadborne. He didn’t need to indulge right now. He just needed something to sleep on and survive until the next day.
But that wasn’t exactly what he liked or enjoyed. And he was finally in a position to fix that.
In the days following his breakdown, Buck had stepped up to help him reset his room and get himself on a path towards healing. Besides patching and painting his room, Buck had helped him replace his furniture and taken him shopping for new linen to really get a jumpstart in getting on a more even keel.
While in Target, Eddie had sent Buck off on a quest to find a new Lego set for Christopher as a thank you for being so strong during all the upheaval. Knowing that Buck was going to completely ignore his instructions (“Nothing over thirty dollars, Buckley.” “But there’s a fire station! It could help him get more-” “Thirty dollars!”), he quickly made his way down the aisle looking for the same cheap and plain sheets he’d been using for the last four years. As he picked up some that were dark blue, he happened to spot something out of the corner of his eye.
Silk sheets.
The one little vice he allowed himself when he’d returned home from the Army was sleeping on silk sheets. The first night he was home, he discovered that Shannon had replaced their sheets with silk ones, ones that she had found on sale. She had very much enjoyed sleeping on them, something that Eddie himself had to agree with once he took the first of his many naps.
He hadn’t yet found decent quality silk sheets for a good price over the years, not for lack of trying. It was something he kept his eye out for when he did have to go shopping, but it wasn’t a priority.
But today…
Eddie checked the price on a set of good quality royal blue silk sheets. They were massively on sale, so much so that they were right in the price range he was willing to pay. WIthout a second thought, he pulled the tightly folded package off the shelf and dropped it in his cart, before moving on to get the rest of the extensive list that Buck had written up.
That evening, they finished setting up the new-to-him furniture, but he held off on putting the new sheets on just yet, wanting to wait until he could get out of Buck’s ever watchful eye. They cooked up a good meal for themselves and Christopher, and both sat in his room listening to Christopher read aloud and slowly make his way through yet another Percy Jackson book.
Once the boy was well on his way to sleep, the two men retreated to the living room and just sat quietly.
After a time, the silence was broken. “Hey, do you need help with those sheets you won’t show me?” Buck asked, glancing over at Eddie.
Eddie made eye contact with him. From where he was sitting, Buck wasn’t asking sarcastically, instead just out of curiosity. The same way he always seemed to be when he was trying to care for the Diazes.
“I’ve got it. Don’t you have a shift in the morning? You should be heading out,” Eddie said, trying to divert Buck’s attention. But the smart little voice in his head reminded him that when Buck was focused, that little trick wasn’t going to work.
Buck gave him a quick little shoulder shove, not hard, but just enough to let Eddie know he wasn’t getting out of this. “No being secretive. It’s just sheets! You made my bed how many times during quarantine? Including the time you used my good sheets and I gave you hell for ten minutes.”
Eddie winced. He should have remembered that. One night, they had to change the sheets because they smelled smoky (someone had laid down on them as soon as they got back to the loft, and Eddie wasn’t about to confirm or deny it was him!). Once they’d stripped the bed, Eddie had grabbed Buck’s spare sheets and made the bed, not even realizing that they were near the same quality as the silk sheets that Shannon bought.
It was only one night, but it was the best sleep he’d had during quarantine.
Buck waited patiently for Eddie to finally give up and grumble, before both men pushed themselves to their feet almost synchronized. As they made their wait to the main bedroom, Eddie snagged a Target bag and tossed it at Buck. “Say one word and I’m rekeying the house.”
It took a second for Buck to pull the sheets out of the bag. “Dude, these are the same one’s I have, I think, anyway. Ali bought them right before the accident.” The ‘before she left because she couldn’t handle it, though I still don’t blame her’ went unsaid.
“They’ll work for now,” Eddie said, not wanting to let on that he would rather staple them to his bed so that they could never leave. That never needed to be vocalized.
They made quick work of getting the sheets on. Eddie’s new mattress was frankly very stubborn, but between the two of them they got the job done. “Looks like you just volunteered for laundry day,” Eddie deadpanned as soon as they got the last corner of the fitted sheet finally around the mattress.
As soon as the last wrinkle had been carefully smoothed away from the flat sheet , Buck ruined all of Eddie’s hard work by faceplanting onto the sheets. “Go find another bed, I’m sleeping here. I have a shift in the morning.”
Eddie picked up the comforter and threw it on the bed before giving Buck a token shove. “Share or get out. Still my house.”
“Less talking, more sleeping.”
With a very firm roll of his eyes, Eddie reached over, flipped off the light, and relaxed. Nope, never leaving this bed again.
… The company wasn’t bad either.