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Date nights, as two busy guys in university with an infant to take care of, are sometimes hard to fit in. Most romantic events are a moment or two here and there throughout the week when Chris is down for a nap. Weekends occasionally allow for date nights, but that usually just means studying side by side or taking a nap in each other’s arms. Which... are very romantic and totally count as dates, according to Buck.
Buck does, however, really try to give Eddie at least one night a week (sometimes one night every two weeks) that’s just for them. Abuela or Pepa usually takes Chris on weekends to give the boys a break. Buck takes this opportunity to treat Eddie to some much-needed alone time, ordering in, taking Eddie to the movies, or booking a reservation at a restaurant he has to save up to afford. Eddie is an amazing father and boyfriend, very deserving of being treated like a prince. He treats Buck to these things too, but he knows Buck likes to plan dates for them, so he graciously lets him.
This week, Buck planned on making Eddie dinner and watching the latest episode of Eddie’s favourite telenovela with him. He was going to make them get all dressed up just to eat dinner in Eddie’s tiny apartment kitchen and watch TV on Eddie’s unmade bed. Buck also planned on doing other things on that unmade bed, things they haven’t gotten to do for weeks.
Even though it isn’t the most grandiose date they’ve been on, Eddie loves these the best. It means more time with his boyfriend and less time having to stop himself from making out with said boyfriend in public places.
Last minute, Pepa called her nephew and said she wouldn’t be able to make it to the university in time to pick up Chris. There was an accident on the highway and it looked like it was gonna take a while to clear the totalled cars. Eddie panicked a little at first, but then told Pepa she’s off the hook, to go back home and not to worry about it. He and Buck could take care of Chris this weekend, no problem.
So that’s how Buck and Eddie’s date night started to look a little different. Instead of getting dressed up, Buck is wearing gym shorts and a hoodie, Eddie is wearing Buck’s team-branded sweats and a tank top. So no, not the fanciest attire, probably the most comfortable though. Buck still made dinner, spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread. It smells wonderful and if Eddie closes his eyes he can almost convince himself that he and Buck are on a fancy date night downtown somewhere.
That is until his son drops his sippy cup on the floor and starts crying.
“It’s okay, little man, here you go,” Buck leans over and picks up the cup of juice, Chris sniffles and grabs the handles of it as soon as he can, bringing it to his mouth once again.
Eddie smiles and goes back to his pasta. Buck is holding one of his hands on the table, alternating between lacing their fingers together and rubbing his thumb back and forth over his boyfriend’s knuckles. It's a sweet and very Buck-esque gesture, it makes Eddie's heart go all warm and floaty.
Meanwhile, Chris has also gone back to his pasta. He grabs it by the (tiny) handful and the little pieces of spaghetti are getting mostly in his mouth. His cheeks and chin and hands are stained red from the sauce but he doesn’t seem to mind one bit. Knowing the mess spaghetti makes, Eddie brought him to his high chair in only a diaper, no point in dirtying more clothes if he’s just gonna have a bath after anyway.
As Buck finishes his third plate of dinner, Chris is finishing his first. Something about the rate at which Buck can stuff his face with carbs and the makeshift playtime Chris turns all his meals into means that the Buck to Chris dinner plate ratio is 3:1.
All that’s left on Chris’ plate is some of his garlic bread. His “garlic bread” is actually literally just melted cheese on fresh bread since his lack of teeth makes biting into toast a little difficult. As Chris is distracted by the spectacle of Buck eating, Eddie tries to feed him his last piece of bread.
“Mijo, look what Papa has,” Buck says, gesturing to Eddie. Chris looks over and makes a face of disgust at his dad before coming to the realization that he actually likes bread and was eating it like two minutes ago. Chris starts to grab the piece of bread from Eddie’s fingers and ends up pulling Eddie’s whole hand to his mouth, continuing to gnaw on Eddie’s index finger long after he’s finished eating the bread.
Eddie smiles. And is thankful his son doesn't really have teeth yet.
“Grab his pacifier, Ev?”
Buck gets up and crosses the room, finding Chris’ pacifier on his changing table. He gives it to Eddie and is treated with a kiss for his troubles.
Later, while Buck cleans up from dinner, Eddie gives Chris a bath. Mostly all of the tomato sauce has been rinsed off, and now Eddie struggles to actually wash Chris. It's obvious Chris would rather splash around in the water than sit still and let his dad clean him.
Bathtime with Chris is always hit or miss. Sometimes Chris is well-behaved and loves the feeling of water around him. Other times, being in the bath seems like his worst nightmare and he cries the whole time until he’s safely swaddled in a towel. Today, Chris loves the water, almost too much. He’s not letting any bathing happen, instead splashing and giggling and grabbing at his bath toys. Buck recently got him a wind-up fish toy that putters around in the water and Chris treats it like it’s the greatest discovery of mankind. He cries out when it goes under a patch of bubbles and is incredibly relieved once it reappears. When the fish comes to a stop and needs to be wound up again, Chris ineptly grabs it by the tail and waves it around in the air until Eddie fixes it for him.
“Papa- apapapa,” Chris whines, “fisie, fisie!”
“Here, mijo,” Eddie replies, twisting the little knob on the fish and letting it swim free in the water, “fishie’s all better.”
Chris giggles at it again and is distracted long enough to allow Eddie to roughly scrub down his body and hair. Eddie then collects some water in a blue plastic cup and gently pours it over Chris’ head, shielding his son’s face from the cascading water.
Just as bathtime is finishing up, Buck joins his boyfriend in the bathroom. He kneels down next to the tub with Eddie and gives each of his boys a kiss on the forehead.
“Kitchen’s clean,” Buck smiles, “and so are you, buddy!” he scoops up some bubbles and gives Chris a little bubble hat which Chris almost immediately destroys.
“Thanks, baby,” Eddie chuckles, “the fish is a big hit, by the way.”
After Chris has been dried and changed and clothed in his green dinosaur footie pyjamas, all three of them cuddle into Eddie’s bed while Buck sets up their episode.
Sometimes they watch telenovelas with English subtitles, usually, though, it’s Spanish subtitles since Buck wants to practice what little Spanish he has. Eddie's decided that the smile on Buck’s face when he checks in to make sure he’s on track with what’s happening is 100% worth the number of questions he has to answer for Buck.
Buck plays the episode and wraps his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders. His touch is gentle and warm and Eddie cuddles into it, leaning his head on Buck. Chris is between them, wriggling around on his stomach while lying on his dads’ laps.
Before long, just as Eddie is shutting down his English brain and focusing on the show, Chris starts whimpering and batting at the laptop. He smacks the spacebar and the episode pauses. The tears go away. Eddie laughs a little and plays the episode again.
And the tears come back.
Chris cries and reaches for his Dada as Eddie hits the spacebar, purposely this time.
Chris stops crying again and Buck and Eddie are a little puzzled.
“I thought you loved watching Papa’s shows,” Buck frowns and lets Chris cuddle into his chest and pull at his collar, even if he’s getting some residual baby snot and tears on his shirt in the process.
“Let’s try one more time,” Eddie plays their episode once more and holds his breath.
Chris turns his head and stares the screen for a second before his blank face turns to one of complaint, wailing and scooching himself off of Buck's chest to paw at the laptop again.
“Oh, mijo,” Buck says as he scoops Chris back up.
Eddie closes the tab, “I don’t think Chris approves of Miguel’s affair, I think he’s rioting,” he jokes.
“Miguel’s having an affair!?”
“Yes, babe! That’s like the whole thing this season! Do we need to go back to English subs next time?”
“Maybe,” Buck pouts as he reaches around Chris, who is now effectively teething on Buck’s shirt, to go find something their son won’t protest.
That’s how Buck and Eddie find themselves nodding off while watching Dinosaur Train on their "romantic" date night.
“I’m sorry Chris had to crash our date, mi amor,” Eddie says softly, turning his head to drop a kiss on Buck’s temple.
“Are you kidding me? Eds, I don’t mind at all, tonight was great,” Buck presses a long kiss to Eddie’s lips, the kind of kiss Eddie gets when Buck needs more than words to prove how much Eddie means to him. Chris squirms a little and babbles out baby sounds as he watches his dinos, and it makes Buck so happy, “I wouldn’t trade spending time with my Diazes for the world, you know that.”
Eddie can’t help but smile, “Yeah… I know that.”