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Buck stood in the doorway of the living room with a blanket in his arms, having just woken up from sleeping after shift. It was the early afternoon by now and Eddie was already awake, sitting on the couch with the TV playing quietly.
Eddie looked up when he saw Buck enter the room and smiled at how soft he looked with his rumpled clothes and messy curls.
“Hey, sleepy head. Rest well?”
Buck hummed and nodded a little but didn’t say anything for awhile and Eddie looked at him curiously.
“Eddie, I-” Buck cut himself off and pulled the blanket up under his chin looking shy, and Eddie immediately knew what was up.
“Hey,” he said, standing up from the couch and walking over to Buck. “Are you feeling little?”
Buck nodded, looking dangerously close to tears and Eddie gathered the taller man in his arms.
“I’m-I’m sorry, Eds,” Buck hiccupped as he starting crying for real. “I tried to hold off but-but I had a bad dream and-”
“Shh, it’s okay, baby. I’ve got you, you don’t need to stay big for me. Christopher’s got school all day and I’m sure he would love to have a sleepover with Denny tonight. You can let go, sweetheart.”
“Are you- are you sure? You can just-” Buck gasped again, “bring me home and I’ll- I can deal with it myself.”
“No, no, baby, are you kidding me? I love taking care of you, Bucky. Daddy’s here. You can let go.”
“D-daddy,” Buck croaked, his tears finally slowing down.
“Yeah, I’m here, sweetheart. What do you need?”
“Can we watch something?”
“Of course, baby. What do you wanna watch?”
“Don’ know, daddy.”
“Okay, let’s get settled on the couch and we’ll see what we find.”
Eddie kept his arms wrapped around Buck and led him over to the couch. He laid down with his back propped against the arm of the couch and settled Buck between his legs. The taller man immediately nuzzled his head into Eddie’s chest and slung his arms around Eddie’s waist.
Eddie hurried to change the TV from the random action movie that had been playing and went to the kids profile.
“Do you see anything you wanna watch, baby?” he asked, squeezing Buck’s shoulders gently.
“Umm… Wild Kratts?”
“Sure, Buck.” Eddie clicked through episodes until he found “The Great Froggyback Ride” and pressed play. That episode was one of Buck’s new favorites and one without Gourmand, who he knew scared Buck when he was little. Eddie didn’t blame him, the dude was evil.
As the Wild Kratts embarked on their mission to find the stolen miniaturizer, Eddie set the remote on the coffee table and ran his fingers through Buck’s blonde curls, happy to see that his boy was already focused on the TV and sucking languidly his thumb.
He loved Buck so much he couldn’t handle it sometimes. Buck had been so nervous when he told Eddie about his little side. Eddie had had to talk him down from a panic attack and spend the rest of the week reassuring him that they were alright, that he loved Buck no matter what and just because they had Chris that didn’t mean it had to be awkward.
Eddie was just so happy Buck let him see that side of himself and that he trusted Eddie to take care of him. He still felt self-conscious about it sometimes, but Eddie knew how to calm him down and give him the comfort he needed.
When the episode was over, Eddie paused it before it started playing the next one and Buck turned his head to look up at him.
“Hey, baby,” Eddie whispered, “I know you just woke up from a long nap a bit ago, can I get you some food?”
“Daddy, you can’t cook,” Buck laughed quietly.
Eddie smiled back. “You’re right, silly boy,” he booped Buck’s nose. “But luckily we have some food left in the fridge. Is fried rice okay?”
“Sounds yummy, daddy.”
“I’ll heat some up while you keep watching, alright?”
Buck didn’t say anything else, but he nodded, so Eddie carefully extracted himself from the couch and made sure Buck still had his blanket nearby to cuddle with. He quickly heated up some fried rice and when he came back Buck was curled up right where he left him, still sucking his thumb and watching a new episode where the brothers were searching for the Easter Bunny.
He looked up when Eddie entered the room and pulled his thumb out of his mouth, starting to sit up on the couch. Eddie sat down next to him with two helpings of fried rice, one for himself and another in Buck’s favorite bowl with little safari animals on it. He handed Buck his food along with a giraffe-shaped spoon, and they both settled down to eat.
When they finished eating, Eddie set their bowls off to the side of couch and laid back down, hugging Buck to his chest. His baby boy snuggled closer within Eddie’s arms and they went back to watching yet another episode of Wild Kratts.
Eddie found himself getting caught up in the story and when he looked back down to Buck, he already had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily, drooling a little on Eddie’s tee shirt. Eddie ran a hand over Buck’s back and kissed his head, feeling like everything was right in the world with his boy safe and happy.