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The wheels of the shopping cart rattled softly as it was pushed across the shiny red clay hued floor at a sedate pace. From where he walked behind the cart ahead, Eddie hummed casually to himself as his dark eyes raked over the many shelves of frozen food items safely kept behind glass. There was a definite chill in the air and with how sweltering the day was outside, the firefighter welcomed happily. It was time for another grocery run for the 118, so they had all packed themselves into their rigs and headed off to Howie's Market. The moment they had all piled out again, Bobby had used his best Captain's voice to send them all out to a different section of the store, individually this time rather than in pairs, said that it would cover more ground.
They were all to find the items designated to them by Bobby from the list and they report back to the front of the store for checkout.
Eddie had been tasked with getting various frozen vegetables and the couple of boxes of mini pizza bagels Cap allowed, but no more for with a captain who was also pretty much a world class chef, all else was sacrilege. There were only a few other exceptions to Bobby's edict that the others were tasked with finding. As he came to a stop when he saw the frozen carrots that Cap swore by when there wasn't enough time to peel and chop of the fresh stuff, Eddie felt a small smile come to his face as he wondered how the rest of the team was fairing in their quests.
Mainly he wondered what shenanigans a certain blue eyed best friend of his was getting up to in the meat and deli section, what with being tasked with getting the cuts that Cap listed, the exact cuts or he would have to face the consequences.
Nah not really, Cap was just particular but one of the rudimentary skills that Bobby said every chef should always have, it was to work with whatever you got, be it the wrong cut of meat, a not so perfectly shaped carrot, or the wrong color cabbage.
Eddie reached for the handle to the freezer door and pulled it open, an extra cold blast of air washing over him gently like a sigh as he sought out a couple of bags of frozen carrots. Once those were plopped into his shopping cart, Eddie made his way further down the aisle, looking back and forth between the shelves and the little post-it note Cap had handed him in their pre-quest huddle. Once he had everything or the closest thing to the items on his list, Eddie started humming again as he casually made his way out of the frozen food aisle.
Eddie wandered for a bit until he caught sight of the pasta aisle and felt himself perk up as he remembered that Buck had been tasked with getting the stations supply of boxed pasta, another time saving exception to Bobby's usual style of making things by hand. As he turned into the pasta aisle, Eddie found himself deflating a little when he saw a few other grocery shoppers but no tall, blue-eyed man-puppy in a LAFD uniform in sight. Deciding to continue casually strolling down the aisle and then head over to the front of the store to wait for the others, Eddie pushed his moderately filled cart forward. Eddie was just raking his eyes over the different jars of pesto that Howie's had to offer when a soft, young female voice caught his ear.
" Lizzy did you see how blue that firefighter's eyes were? He's so hot" The voice said with a besotted sigh.
" Oh yeah, and that birthmark over his one eye just made him even more handsome." Replied another young female voice.
Eddie instantly knew that these two were talking about Buck, or more accurately fawning over him. Now Eddie knew eavesdropping was bad but he didn't see the harm, what with it appearing like the pair of ladies were on the other side of the aisle and oblivious to his presence. Any chance to gather material to rib his best friend later makes it worth it in Eddie's Diaz's book. However the next words to come from the other side of the aisle had the bottom dropping out of his stomach.
" Can't believe he's still with that other firefighter, you know, the one who had that epic hissyfit a couple of months back and called him exhausting in front of everyone."
" Yeah Nina that was wild. Dude was super pissed off and it was like he couldn't care less how much he was hurting that blue eyed firefighter's feelings. I don't care how mad I get, I'd never ever call someone I love exhausting, or yell at them like that for the whole world to see. I mean, after all the other firefighters left after they helped out with the accident in the parking lot, that birthmark dude came back in and actually apologized to us for the way his husband acted, like it was all his fault or something."
From where he stood, Eddie let out a shaky breath with his eyes rounded wide in shock as the words, the words of two disembodied Howie's employees washed over him like hot acid.
That day, that day in this very same grocery when Buck had come out of his way by eight miles just to see them and apologize, and he had taken one look at his best friend and gone ballistic, unleashing all the venom he'd been holding back without care for decorum in a public place, or whose heart he was bruising. All he had seen was Buck abandoning him and Chris... like they had already gone through with Shannon. Eddie blinked and came out of his stunned reverie as the two workers continued speaking.
" Yeah, the blue eyed firefighter kept telling us that his husband is a great guy, that he didn't mean anything by what he said, he was just angry at him because he made a stupid decision. They've got a kid too, Christian or something, the Latino firefighter was reading his man the riot act for not being around." Came Lizzy's voice.
" Don't think blue eyes is a deadbeat at all though, when we were in the pasta aisle with him a few minutes he came right up to us and asked us whether those Finding Nemo cookies were back in stock. Did you see how fast he ran off to go get them when you told him they were back?" Nina asked with a chuckle.
" Did you see how big his smile got?" Lizzy countered with a giggle of her own.
From where he stood, Eddie felt his heart both swell and give an almighty lurch.
Finding Nemo cookies, Chris' current favorite cookie.
Buck had gone running to get their son his favorite. Eddie felt like a bolt of lightening had just gone through him at what his own mind had just said.
Their son.
Lizzy and Nina once again brought Eddie back to the present.
" Glad they worked things out, it's obvious that Latino firefighter loves the blue eyed firefighter like crazy if he got that mad. Probably did tons of apologizing and superior acts of love to finally make things right." Nina said.
" The blue eyed firefighter really loves him back too. If Kyle ever embarrassed me like that here where I work... well you know me Nina, definitely not gonna take that kind of disrespect lightly, don't care how mad he is. I mean the blue eyed firefighter almost started crying right in front of us before he basically ran out here, didn't even take his cat laxative." Lizzy replied with the confidence befitting a teenager.
" Hey c'mon, let's go see what Danny's doing in the bakery, maybe he can score us some half-moon cookies." Nina said suddenly.
" Awesome." Was Lizzy's reply.
The two teenage voices faded away, still chatting about the hot firefighter husbands, blissfully unaware of the cataclysmic shift they had caused in their unrevealed eavesdropper's... everything.
Eddie found himself just standing there, facing the many jars of pesto with the sound of his own pounding heart roaring through his ears. He could have been standing there for hours or even days, so lost was he in the maelstrom of emotions that ranged from shock to... terrified joy? Then a warm hand was settling over his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze and naturally causing Eddie to startle and whirl around on full alert.
" Woah Eddie it's just me." Chim assured, holding his hands up and smiling at his friend.
" Oh, h-hey Chim. Sorry." Eddie said, recovering quickly and feeling a tiny bit overwhelmed.
" No worries man, was just passing this way towards checkout and I saw you staring at the pesto with a laser focus. Did you find something special?" Chimney asked with his own dark eyes going to the shelf full of pesto jars with interest.
" What? Oh!" Eddie said as he looked between Chim and the aforementioned assortment of various green sauce filled jars.
" Nah man, pesto is pesto." Eddie said quickly to cover how flustered and off-kilter he was feeling.
" Don't let Cap or Buck hear you say that." Chim quipped with a good-natured smirk, because Cap was the world class chef among them and Buck just really, really liked pesto.
Eddie felt his heart both flutter with excitement and sink with guilt at the mention of Buck, but he quickly pushed his feelings aside and followed Chim out of the pasta aisle, the two of them pushing their respective shopping carts as they made their way towards the front of the store where the checkout was located. As he and Chim rounded the corner, Eddie caught sight of a few more individuals all dressed in standard issue LAFD uniforms or t-shirts, and among them Eddie immediately spotted the tall, dark blond back of Evan Buckley's head as he was facing a smiling Bobby and Hen, regaling them about something, no doubt another fact dump, while they looked on in warm familiar indulgence.
With his heart pounding against his sternum, Eddie and Chim crossed the distance between them and their team.
" Hey guys, we come with the culinary treasures you sent us to find!" Chim said with humorous gusto, earning chuckles all around as Buck turned to face them. Eddie felt his heart give a particularly hard pound against his sternum as he watched Buck's whole face simply light up as he caught sight of him. Eddie found himself smiling back, doing his best not to duck his head shyly.
" Hey Eds, look what I found!" Buck said excitedly as he turned back to his own cart and pulled out a blue and orange cookie package.
The Finding Nemo sugar cookies.
" Chris' current favorite!" Eddie said with a smile he didn't have to fake even though he already knew about Buck bounding off to find said cookies for their Superman.
Buck practically beamed while Bobby, Hen, and Chim all smiled and shared a knowing look. They all headed over to the checkout lines after that, sharing smiles and banter. As he stood behind Buck, Eddie caught sight of a pair of teenage girls wearing red Howie's aprons eying them pointedly. They were undoubtedly Lizzy and Nina, the commentators in the other aisle. Eddie felt his face heat up as he remembered everything these two had said regarding him and Buck.
Husband, they had called him Buck's husband.
He had had such a title before, and he had been the lousiest at it. Now though, after having heard it... in the span of a few moments his very soul was yearning to have such a title again, to be that for the man standing in front of his, totally oblivious. Eddie looked to Lizzy and Nina, smiling at them and nodding, the two teenagers sharing a look before they cautiously nodded back.
Eddie once again felt the acrid tendrils of embarrassment lance through his veins, seeing the impression his blow up at Buck in this same area of the store had left, especially on those so young. Eddie could only sigh and focus on the present, a smile coming to his face as Buck turned to him and once again gushed about Chris and his latest project for school involving the life cycle of beetles.
It was after they had loaded everything up in the truck and started back to the station that Eddie came to a terrible realization.
He hadn't actually apologized like Lizzy and Nina believed... it had been Buck who had apologized again and again while he had just brushed it aside and said they were past all of it.
If Eddie was a little more quiet on the drive back, it was neatly covered by Chim and Hen's lively discussion/debate about the proper way to stock the newest medicines into the rig, Bobby himself joining in. What Eddie didn't notice was Buck wordlessly frowning at him every now and then, as if sensing something was off.
Once they got back to the station it was all hands on deck getting all of the groceries put away and no sooner had the last carrot been put in the vegetable drawer in the fridge the alarm bells sounded and they were off to help whoever was in trouble in the greater Los Angeles area. By the time they rolled back into the station, they were all bone tired and Bobby was chomping at the bit to get dinner prepared fast. After they all washed up, Buck headed off to help Bobby with the food prep, the two of them sharing smiles and an easy banter. Eddie sat by the TV with Hen and Chim with only half a mind to what was on the screen and his eyes taking glances at Buck while the blond happily chopped up some celery. Eddie felt that tell-tale longing lance through his heart once more. Catching himself, Eddie turned his gaze back to the TV and tried to focus on the game show Hen and Chim were watching and pretty soon he was joining them in their debate on the best strategy the players could use to earn the most points.
A couple of hours later they were all gathering around the dinner table which had a simple but scrumptious looking spread of two different kinds of pasta, one cheesy and the other bright red, both loaded with vegetables and herbs, salad, bread, and fresh cut fruit. When they all joined hands for a quick grace by Bobby, Eddie felt his heart speed up a bit when Buck held his hand firmer than necessary and gave it a gentle but solid squeeze, as though to reassure without a single word. Eddie wordlessly squeezed back before grace was done and they all had to let go of each other.
With his whole body feeling like a live-wire, Eddie focused his attentions on eating and enjoying Bobby's always terrific cooking, meeting Buck's silently questioning eyes with his own dark orbs warm and seeking to dispel the blue eyed man's concern. Eddie went so far as to serve Buck some of the cheesy pasta Bobby had made, while Buck returned the favor and used the tongs to give Eddie some bread. They then went about passing out food or drink to the rest of the table if anyone requested anything situated near them.
Dinner was a lively affair with the whole crew getting into a deep discussion about how people and iron rods should never mix, their own Howard "Chimney" Han being a prime example. Buck of course heaped his praises on his pseudo-brother in law for being so lucky and tough as nails. If Chim blushed a bit and gave Buck this quietly appreciative look, no one made any disparaging comments on it, they simply smiled and agreed wholeheartedly.
Once dinner was eaten and any left overs were put away the team all disbursed to either chill out until the next call that could possibly arise or take care of any chores. Eddie made his way down to the locker room to put away the Finding Nemo cookies Buck had gotten for Chris in his bag. He had just closed the door of his locker when he felt a familiar presence behind him.
" Hey Eds?" Buck asked quietly.
" Y-Yeah Buck?" Eddie replied, trying to sound as normal as he could as he turned around to face his best friend.
" Are you good?" Buck asked looking tentative himself.
" Yeah man, why wouldn't I be?" Eddie asked with a smile.
Buck stepped into the locker room fully and let the door shut behind him, his face growing more serious as he spoke.
" Eddie, did something happen at Howie's today?" He asked quietly.
Eddie felt his heart freeze for a moment because of course Buck could tell something was off every since Howie's. Eddie's first instinct was to deny, to assure Buck that everything was perfectly fine, but then Eddie decided not to go that route.
From where he stood, Buck watched with a light frown as he watched his best friend deflate a little before Eddie spoke.
" Y-Yeah Buck, I just... I heard a couple of employees at Howie's talking about... about me and about us and I-" Whatever else Eddie was about to say to explain things to Buck were cut off as the emergency bells sounded once more.
With a lingering look at each other, Buck and Eddie hurried off to join the rest of the team in gearing up and getting on the trucks.
Several hours later...
" Daddy!" Christopher Diaz cried in joy as he looked up from the Legos and saw his father come through the front door. Chris got up and started making his way towards his father, Carla watching on with a smile.
The boy's joy only grew when he spotted the person following in after his father with an overnight bag slung over his shoulder.
" Buck!" Chris cried as he spotted a grinning Buck.
Chris hurried over to the two men, hugging his dad tightly first before launching himself at Buck.
" Superman!" Buck said with his brightest grin as he caught Chris and lifted him up into a full bear hug, the two of them the picture of pure elation.
Eddie watched on with a truly besotted look that had Carla smiling knowingly where she stood.
If only these two would finally get a freaking clue.
Buck didn't let go of Chris and carried him further into the house beside Eddie, the two men warmly greeting Carla and explaining that Eddie had gone ahead and invited buck over for dinner.
Which in Eddie speak meant that Buck would be cooking dinner and sparing them all from any and all of Eddie's attempts at cooking.
Even as she watched them dote on Chris as he showed Buck his latest Lego creation and asked his father what new and exciting rescues they pulled off during the day, Carla could sense that there was something going on, some weird tension between Eddie and Buck that normally wasn't there. Carla wisely chose not to comment and instead readily agreed to help Buck in the kitchen once he got up to get started on making them all dinner.
" Everything good with you two?" Carla asked casually once she and Buck were safely in the kitchen prepping things.
" I am sure it's nothing but we all went shopping at Howie's today and ever since we got back, Eddie's been real quietly. I was just about ask him what was up when we got another call, and by the time we got back shift was ending so Eddie asked me to come over for dinner." Buck explained.
" I see, well then I guess you guys can finally talk after dinner and once Chris is off to bed. I am sure it's nothing serious." Carla assured.
" I hope so." Buck said with a sigh before he and Carla set to work.
They ended up with a delicious looking one pan chicken piccata and with butter grilled vegetables that was sure to please everyone plenty.
Dinner was wonderful with Chris regaling them all with the adventure that Sydney the class Iguana had when he got out of his cage and somehow ended up in the gymnasium where he scared Bob the janitor half to death and then tried to make a B-line for the cafeteria for snack. The Diaz dining room was filled with plenty of laughter and more joy when Eddie presented Chris with the Finding Nemo sugar cookies Buck had been kind enough find for him at Howie's, but Carla could see the glances Buck and Eddie kept taking of each other. When Carla took her leave about an hour later, she gave all three of her boys a kiss on the cheek and hoped will all her heart that whatever was going on, would all work out for the best.
Once Carla left, Buck and Eddie put their sole focus on spending time with Chris as they put on a movie, Moana this time instead of Finding Nemo, and just showering the boy in love. Chris barely made it past the first half our before he was starting to doze off.
" C'mon buddy, lets get you ready for bed." Eddie said with a chuckle as he picked up his precious son.
" Will you read me a story Buck?" Chris asked as he rested his head on Eddie's shoulder.
" You bet buddy." Buck assured, grinning brightly back at Chris because he adored reading him bed time stories whenever he was over at the Diaz house.
Eddie resisted the urge to let out a besotted sigh before he and Buck headed down the hallway towards Chris' room. Buck waited patiently while Eddie got Chris dressed in his choice of pjs and then took him to the bathroom to brush his teeth before he and Buck got their superman tucked into bed. There was plenty of smiles and giggled as Buck animatedly read to Chris the story of a young prince who goes on a zany adventure and makes friends with inanimate objects that came to life whenever he asked them to. By the time Buck had reached the final page, Chris was barely awake.
He got dozens of hugs and kisses from both his father and his Buck before he finally drifted off into peaceful slumber, Eddie shutting off the light and closing the door to his room with a tenderly smiling Buck by his side. No sooner had he closed the door Eddie found himself finally face to face with Buck, whose eyes were still warm but whose expression was now very serious.
" We should talk." He said quietly.
" Yeah, we should. You want a beer?" Eddie asked with more steadiness than he felt.
" Sure, beer sounds good." Buck said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he followed after Eddie back up the hallway and into the kitchen.
Eddie gripped the handle to the fridge door tightly as he pulled it open and leaned in to fish out a couple of cold beers from the box in the corner. As he handed one of the chilled dark green bottles to Buck after he'd opened them both, their fingers accidentally brushing and seemingly sending a wave of electricity through them both. With his heart pounding hard against his sternum Eddie focused on taking a look swig of beer before he turned as Buck spoke.
" Eddie, what's going on with you? You've been off since we got back from Howie's. Did something happen?" Buck asked tentatively.
Eddie met Buck's gaze and felt his heart lurch at the open worry that was shining in those vivid blue eyes. He took a deep breath and then nodded before he set his beer down and leaned against the kitchen counter, crossing his arms tightly over his chest as he sighed and spoke.
" Yeah, yeah something did happen at Howie's." Eddie answered before he took a deep breath and continued at Buck's look of askance.
" I was just in the pasta aisle when I heard these two girls in the next aisle over. They were talking about what happened the last time we were all at Howie's." Eddie explained.
" What do you mean? We've been to Howie's plenty of times." Buck asked with a confused frown.
" They were talking about us, about me in particular and how I acted when you came out of your way to apologize to us after you'd dropped the lawsuit. They talked about how I... I called you exhausting and humiliated you in front of the whole store, and how it was a really shitty thing to do." Eddie said with everything pouring out as he kept talking, shame coursing through his veins.
He watched as Buck's expression grew sad and contrite, no doubt as he remembered the incident in question. Buck shook his head and stepped closer to Eddie as he spoke.
" Eds come on, we're past all that like you said. You had every right to be angry after how I blabbed all those personal details about the whole team to Mackey, and how he brought up Shannon." Buck said softly, a horrendous guilt coming over his own features.
" You told Mackey all that stuff thinking he'd keep it between you. He may be the worst kind of bottom feeder but he actually did what any good lawyer would do and used it to make the point clear. I was just too angry and hurt to see your side of things like you kept asking, that's all you really wanted, was for someone to see your side and we didn't, none of us did, did we Buck?" Eddie asked quietly, the full realization finally dawning on him that he hadn't been there for Buck, not in the way he deserved after every single traumatic thing he'd gone through in the past year.
" E-Eds I..." Buck began to say only to trail off, completely thrown off by Eddie's words.
With a self-disgusted huff, Eddie continued.
" Those two girls couldn't believe that you were still with the 118, still with me after how I behaved. They called it an epic hissyfit and they also talked about how after the rest of us left you behind after we helped out with that accident in the parking lot, you still went back inside and actually apologized to everyone at Howie's and defended me, telling them how I wasn't an awful person, just angry at you over a stupid decision you made like it was all your fault." Eddie croaked out.
" But it was Eds. If I hadn't filed that stupid lawsuit-" Buck began to say as he closed the remaining distance between them only to fall silent as Eddie help up his hand.
" I really really wish you had reached out and talked to me, or to any of us, but I get it. You felt backed into a corner and that the lawsuit was your only option. Cap should have talked to you too, especially after that whole dinner fiasco. That's the problem really, none of us just talked to each other and that would have spared us everything that happened." Eddie said with a sigh before he shook his head.
" Those girls, they don't know the whole story but they saw enough, I acted like an ass and even months after they still remember and like I said before, they couldn't believe you are still with the team." Eddie said as he felt his eyes start to burn, remembering what else Lizzy and Nina had said.
" Eddie please." Buck began to say as he reached out to grip Eddie's shoulder.
" I never apologized to you Buck, not like you did to me so many times over. I just brushed it aside and never really saw your side of things, or how much I hurt you that day at Howie's." Eddie said throatily as he reached up and gripped Buck's wrist tightly.
Buck could only stare wide eyed at his best friend, because out of every possible thing Buck thought would happen tonight, this was the farthest thing.
" I am so sorry Buck, I am so sorry I wasn't there for you like you needed just as much as me and Chris needed you." Eddie said with all the meaning he could muster before he let out this watery huff and shook his head.
" There was something else those two girls said, something really big." He said quietly, feeling like his heart was ready to explode.
" What Eddie? What else did they say?" Buck asked as he gave Eddie's shoulder a firm squeeze in reassurance, while feeling his own composure at the razor's edge with his eyes swimming in tears.
" They thought... they thought that you and I were married, and that they couldn't believe we were still together after how I treated you that day. They called you my husband and talked about how your whole face lit up when one of them told you that the Finding Nemo sugar cookies were back in stock and you ran off to go and get them for Chris." Eddie said with a hitched breath.
Buck stood wide-eyed and completely frozen with his face slack in shock at Eddie's revelation. For a few moments that felt like an eternity, there was only silence. Then Buck blinked and let out a shaky breath as he spoke.
" Eddie how did hearing someone call us husbands make you feel?" Buck asked shakily, as though terrified just for having spoken the words.
Eddie tightened his hold on Buck's wrist while his other hand tapped nervously against his leg as he took in a deep breath and forced himself to meet Buck's desperate blue eyed gaze as he urged himself to speak the truth.
" It... It shocked me... It shocked me a lot." Eddie said honestly.
He watched as Buck battled to keep his face from crumbling as he nodded mutely and looked to let go of Eddie's shoulder, only Eddie tightened his hold almost to the point of pain, refusing to let go of Buck as he continued.
" But what shocked me more was how much I loved it, how much I wanted it to be true. In that moment I wanted nothing more than to have you like that, for us to be each other's partner for life even though I was so shitty at it with Shannon, for Chris to have you in his life as his other dad. Buck... Evan I wanted it to be real." Eddie all but whispered as a single tear escaped his dark eyes and carved its way down his cheek.
Stunned silence followed once more, Eddie watching as Buck's jaw worked without sound, an utterly thunderstruck expression on his face. Then Buck let out a shaky breath and reached towards Eddie with his free hand. Eddie stood still as Buck reached for his cheek and wiped at the tear track staining his cheek. Then the next thing Eddie knew he was being yanked into a bone-crushingly tight bear hug.
" B-Buck?" Eddie choked out as he arms instinctively wrapped around Buck's waist. He could feel Buck's whole body trembling against him, while the blue eyed man's shaky gasps for air filled his ears.
" I am not leaving you Edmundo, I will never leave you and Christopher ever. I think I've loved you from the moment I saw you and even though I was such an ass to you on your first shift we just, we work Eddie. We just do." Buck croaked out with a sniffle.
He pulled back so that he could look Eddie in the eye as he continued.
" What I have with you is something I have never had with anyone, not even Abby or Ali. You did hurt me a lot that day at Howie's, you were just so angry and sometimes I can still hear you calling me exhausting in my head but I forgave you right after because I didn't realize how much I hurt you and Chris with the lawsuit and not being there. I just... besides Maddie I never meant that much to anyone, not even my parents." Buck said softly.
" You do, you do mean that much to so many people, and I will keep telling you this until you actually believe it." Eddie promised, feeling a deep anger come over him towards Buck's parents, who never even once bothered to show up for either of their children despite the multiple traumatic things each child went through.
With a watery huff of laughter Buck leaned in again, Eddie readily accepting him as they came together in a tight hug.
" Stay with me, don't ever leave." Eddie said softly against Buck's shoulder.
" I will, I promise." Buck replied against the side of Eddie's neck with a tearful smile.
They drew back from each other only a little, their eyes connecting and the air around them growing charged. With a pair of shaky breaths, they started leaning in, as it drawn my some magnetic force. When there lips met in their first kiss, they both froze for a moment before they seemed to share a sigh and melted into the warmth of each other. The chaste, hesitant kiss smoothly deepened as Buck and Eddie reveled in the electric sensation, the very taste of each other. When the need for air became too much to ignore they broke apart with a soft gasp. Buck's face was a picture of wonder, which had Eddie thinking his own expression probably looked similar, dazed and deliriously joyful.
" Wow." Eddie said eloquently, and then his soft breathless chuckling filled the kitchen as Buck promptly started playfully peppering his whole face with kisses.
About an hour later...
Eddie let out a slow sigh as he gazed at the face of Buck who lay beside him, fast asleep. He was the picture of tranquility, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and the grey sweatpants he had packed from his locker to spend the night with him and Chris. Instead of the guest room, Eddie kept Buck with him after the nights earlier, Earth rattling revelations. Eddie carefully shifted closer and tightened the arm he had around Buck, splaying his hand over the sleeping man's back. He stroked his thumb back and forth across Buck's spine.
Eddie himself was fully clothed as well, in a baggy black t-shirt and sleep pants. Despite the deeply heartfelt declarations of love and never leaving each other, they both agreed that they were nowhere near ready to take that big leap. Instead here they were enjoying intimacy, which in some ways was a bit more risky. Sex could be about pleasure and nothing more, intimacy on the other hand could only exist with the deepest of feelings. As he laid there gazing at his sleeping best friend, now the man he had declared to be the other true love of his life, Eddie felt his heart tremble both in excitement and also fear. This was bound to cause chaos with his family, his parents especially, and yet at the same time he kind of didn't care what his parents thought. It had been so long since he had felt like this, the giddiness of being in love and having it so wholeheartedly returned by the one sleeping beside him.
Eddie leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to Buck's forehead, earning a delighted little hum from Buck who smiled in his sleep before he shifted closed to Eddie and settled back into full sleep. As he felt himself start to doze off, Eddie knew that there was still tons of stuff they needed to sort out, tons of things they needed to talk about and plan. But for now Eddie was content to follow Buck into the most peaceful sleep he had had in a great long while.
When morning came Eddie was sure Buck would be up before him, getting breakfast ready and helping Chris, then Carla would show up and probably give them a knowing look. They'd enjoy breakfast together and see Chris off to school before Buck would have to take his leave and go get ready at his place before shift started.
Work would be it's own experience, what with whether or not they would just flat out tell everyone they were together now or they would wait, keep things secret for now until they had gotten more stable with each other.
That was all for later though. For now Eddie finally drifted off into the most restful sleep he had had in a great long while, with Buck safe in his arms and a world of possibilities laid out before them both.
The End