Work Text:
Eddie was a chronic fidgeter. He always had to have something in his hands, or he started picking at his nails and fingers. Mom had not let him pack anything that he normally snuck into church with him on the trip to see his abuelos, so he was almost ripping his nails apart. Abuelo reached over and grasped his hands lightly to stop him. His gaze was still trained to the front of the church, focused on the priest and what he was saying. Instead of a whispered scolding, like he had been expecting since that was what his mother normally did, his abuelo pulled the ring off his finger and pressed it into Eddie’s hands with a reassuring pat to his forearm.
He glanced up at his abuelo, having expected to get in trouble. His mom and dad always scolded him if he made too much noise or moved around too much. Church was for being still and paying attention to what the priest said. This, however, seemed like Abuelo was going to let him play with something, like he did not care if Eddie held still for mass. Abuela, who was sitting on Abuelo’s other side, shot a small smile at him, her gaze soft. That was pretty much permission.
Turning it over in his fingers, he looked down to his lap and watched the gold catch some of the light that came through the windows that was not colored. There was a lot of stained glass, but there were a few spots that were just regular glass, and one of those just happened to slant over his lap. He slipped the ring on and off of his own fingers, rolling it along them and across his palm. It calmed him a bit, moving the circle of gold around.
At the end of mass, he went to hand it back to his abuelo before they were drawn into conversation with someone else there, but he was just a little bit too slow. Instead, he kept rolling it between his fingers, patiently waiting for his abuelos to finish talking with people there. He stayed close by, not wanting to get lost in the crush of people, even though he was pretty sure he could go out to the car and nothing would be said. There was not anyone that he really knew, though. It was easier to just stay there with Abuela and Abuelo and twist the gold band. He glanced down at it again, the light catching just right that he could see something on the inside. What was that?
He bent over it slightly, bringing it up close to his face. There were numbers and then a name—Isabel. That sounded familiar, like he had heard it somewhere before, but not often.
A hand landed lightly on his shoulder, bringing his attention away from the ring. “We’re leaving now, Eddie,” Abuelo said with a small smile for him. It was not until they were outside and away from the crowd a little bit that he asked, “Was my ring enough to keep your hands busy?”
.
“Abuelo?” he asked hesitantly, pushing in next to him in the armchair that his grandfather preferred. They both shifted a little bit to get more comfortable, and Eddie reached for his abuelo’s opposite hand to twist the golden band around a couple of times. His abuelo wrapped the arm he was leaning against around his small shoulders.
“Sí, Eddie?”
“Why do you wear this?” He glanced up and smiled back reflexively at the softly fond look on Abuelo’s face.
“It’s a symbol of my love for your abuela.”
His nose scrunched. “But why do you need it on your hand?”
He hummed a low note, looking down at the gold band and running his thumb over it. “It's just a physical reminder, Eddito. Your abuela will always have my heart, and a circle, like this ring, is without end, just like my love for her.”
“And Abuela has one too,” he stated confidently, leaning back and curling into his abuelo’s embrace. “She loves you forever too.”
Fingers ran through his hair. “I believe so, yes,” his abuelo said. His smile was obvious in his voice, and Eddie snuggled a little closer, his eyes falling closed as his body relaxed, fully trusting in his abuelo that he would not come to any harm. He felt Abuelo’s chest move with an almost silent laugh but just resettled himself more comfortably. Naps were pretty rare for him now, but he was going to take advantage and have one while his abuelos watched whatever on TV.
He dozed, mostly upright against his abuelo, only being jostled slightly when he reached for the remote on the side table. The fingers in his hair soothed him closer to sleep when he grumbled. He only vaguely heard the TV change and Spanish fill the air at a low volume. Thinner, smaller fingers ran through his hair for a short moment, and he smelled some of the kitchen scents that seemed to always cling to his abuela as she bent close. There was a small noise before she murmured something to him quietly. Abuelo’s chest rumbled under his ear, and he shifted slightly, getting a little more comfortable.
Abuela hummed soothingly and said something else softly to his abuelo. Then he was no longer smelling food, just the scent he associated with his abuelo, something kind of like the woods and kind of smokey like a campfire. It came from something he did later in the evenings. He smelled it from the window sometimes when he woke up or if he could not get to sleep. At this point, it was more of a comfort than anything else.
.
“Abuela, you told me that I would get Abuelo’s ring to have engraved when I married,” Eddie said, almost desperate in his request. He had proposed to Shannon not long before, and they were set to marry so soon. This was one of the few things that he had actually looked forward to, being able to wear his abuelo’s ring once he had tied the knot.
“No, nieto. You will only get his ring when you marry for love,” she stated calmly.
How she could be so unruffled and cool he did not know. He paced across his childhood bedroom, agitated, and ran his hand through his hair. It had only been a few short days since he had finished training, and he was on a short leave before he went to his first post. Originally, he had been thankful to have the time to spend with his family, but now he was in the midst of planning a quick, shotgun wedding so that Shannon, who was pregnant with his child, was able to take advantage of the benefits the military provided.
“Abuela, por favor.” His eyes watered, but he suppressed the desire to actually allow tears to fall. He was a soldier, and he was about to be married and become a father. This was no time for him to have any sort of breakdown. He needed to keep it together. Even if he could not keep up with all the changes that were happening, he had to stay level-headed. There could not be any ups and downs. An even-keel.
“Eddie,” she said, her voice insistent. “Once you marry someone you truly love, then I will give you my Edmundo’s ring. It is ready for a new date and name already, but you will not get it yet. She is not the right person.”
The palm of his hand was starting to get red from all the rubbing he had been doing to it. His head tipped to trap his cellphone between his ear and his shoulder so he could do it again. By now, his hands were starting to hurt from all the stress he was dealing with. This had been one of the few things that he had hoped would put a band-aid on the hurt, the panic, and the almost horror he had been feeling since he had been told. Now his abuela was taking that surety away from him. It left him feeling adrift, reeling.
“Eddie, mi amor. You know that your abuelo would not approve of her. She doesn’t make you happy.”
“We’re having a child, Abuela. I will learn to be happy with her. She’s my best friend—what more could I ask for?”
“For an everlasting love,” she replied. “That is what you deserve, Eddie, and she will not give it to you. So the ring will stay with me until you find that person.”
Between the disdain that he could see on his mother’s face, carefully concealed though it was, each time Shannon’s name was mentioned and this one thing he had asked for being denied him, he could admit that he spiraled a bit. The day had not been treating him well. Everything was being decided for him.
.
“Abuela!” he greeted her as he opened the door, surprised to see her that early on just a random day. They had not had any plans, so he had to wonder why she had come over. “Can I get you some coffee or something?”
She smiled at him and followed him into the kitchen, sitting at the table as Eddie gathered everything and set a mug down in front of her. Her purse was set in the chair next to her. “I have something for you, Eddie.”
He watched as she rummaged through her purse, sitting down across from her with his own mug of coffee—his second of the day. What she had brought for him, he had no clue. It was nowhere near his birthday—that was several months away—and she specifically said it was for him , not Chris, so it had nothing to do with his birthday either. The holidays were still a ways out, so that definitely could not be why she had come by. The small drawstring bag she pulled out held no clues either. It just left him more baffled.
“Now that you have Buck,” she began, placing the small bag on the table and sliding it across to him. “You should have this.”
A frown crossed his face. There was nothing that he thought he would get. He and Buck had only started dating a few days before and had not yet informed everyone. Chris, however, had gone over to Abuela’s house just a few days before. He had probably let something slip. Which was fine. They had been planning on telling everyone anyway since neither of them wanted to keep it a secret. It did leave him wondering, however. He opened it and turned it upside down to dump the contents onto his hand. His entire body stilled as it registered exactly what he now had in his hand.
“Abuela?”
She smiled at him softly, her hands wrapped around her mug. “I knew as soon as you brought him to meet us, mi amor, but Chris told me that you just started dating. I had thought that you were for a while and were not yet ready to, oh, come out. Now that you are, I didn’t think it would take very long for you to propose to him.”
He swallowed thickly, eyes burning a bit as he held back tears. He had wanted this so badly when he married Shannon—had thought it was pretty much the end of the world when he was denied. Here? Now? This was what he had been looking for then.
“Really?”
“He makes you happy , Eddie. That is all my Edmundo ever wanted for you.”
It took him a long moment, his fingers rolling the simple band around between them. Seeing the inside, the lack of any engravings, was weird, but Abuela had probably had it removed in preparation for this eventuality. It also looked to have recently been polished, gleaming slightly in the soft light of his kitchen. “Do you think he’d like Buck?”
.
Waking up the last few days had been more pleasant than usual, the small weight on his finger making everything better. Buck had always slept close to him since they started sharing a bed, but just that tiny change was enough to make it all that much more real. It was no different that morning. The sight of the band around his husband’s finger was brighter, newer, but just as precious to him as seeing the one that was currently at home on his own. That would change once they returned to work, but they were both enjoying the time that they had now since they still had a couple of days left of their honeymoon.
They had returned late the night before and had plans to pick Chris up later in the day. He had time to get into the kitchen and make something simple for them for breakfast, and Buck was, surprisingly, not laying half on top of him like he had been the last few mornings. He stood and stretched before heading to the kitchen.
It was almost an hour later when Buck finally rolled out of bed. He could hear the almost thud that was him probably almost doing so literally, and he could track his footsteps as he wandered out of the bedroom. Large arms slipped around his waist as he hummed along to the song playing in his head, swaying in place.
Buck hummed, following his movements easily. “I’m gonna love you forever. Forever and ever, Amen. As long as old men sit and talk—”
And that needed a reward. He turned quickly, abandoning the last bit of breakfast since nothing was on the stove, and pulled his husband into a soft, languid kiss, leaning back against the countertop. Buck just pushed in a little closer, his hands sliding under Eddie’s tank top. Eddie shivered lightly. Buck was still sleep-warm, and the hold he had was light enough that his fingertips only grazed across Eddie’s skin, prompting that reaction.
“You don’t need to do any more seducing, sweetheart,” Eddie almost drawled as he pulled back a little bit, his fingers having buried themselves in the loose curls that Buck had yet to style that morning. “You’ve put a ring on it and everything.”
“Eddie, I could seduce you every day, and it still wouldn’t be enough times.”
He hummed. “It’s not like I would be unwilling.” His hands carded through Buck’s curls, alternating between lightly scratching at his scalp and pulling out a curl to try and loop around his fingers. “But loving you is one of the easiest things I have ever done. Seducing me into that took all of a few weeks and then a few years to realize.”
“And you think you aren’t that good with words,” Buck said with a still sleepy grin. Eddie was going to wake up to this man for the rest of his life. It was going to be absolutely amazing, and he could not wait.
“Only with you, mi amor. Only with you.”