Chapter Text

The lodge’s ballroom glowed with a thousand different colours, each set of twinkling lights reflecting off of one another. The kind of lights you can tell hotels only keep in storage for fancy events or holidays, such as: New Year’s Eve.

The DJ’s countdown playlist sounded through the speakers, filling the room with an overbearing noise. Clusters of teenagers milled around the room, some laughing, some glued to their phones, and some trying to pretend they weren’t being forced to socialise with strangers.

Eddie Diaz stood beside his abuela. He looked like he wished the glittered covered floor would open up and swallow him whole. “You said they had a book club.” The boy said whilst tugging at the sleeve of his button-down shirt.

He looked around the room, eyes darting over every stranger’s face, they all seemed like they were having the time of their lives. “You promised me a quiet week.” Isabel Diaz smiled sweetly as the boy spoke, Eddie could tell from personal experience that it was a trap. “I also said that it would be a good chance for you to meet some people your age. Even if you meet them while standing very still and refusing to smile.”

“I smile.” Eddie protested weakly.

“Not tonight, you haven’t.”

Eddie sighed. He’d only agreed to this ski-lodge week because his abuela insisted it would be good for him. New town. New year. New school.

It’s a new chance for… something.

The problem was that Eddie wasn’t sure he fit anywhere anymore. Not after everything with his parents. Not after moving. Not after being so tightly wound it felt like his ribs were trying to hold in an entire thunderstorm.

Someone across the room caught his eye and his nerves settled to a sudden stop, almost instantly. A weird feeling flooded his body, his heart was beating so fast yet this was the calmest he has felt all night.

Evan Buckley, loves parties. The talking, laughter and music were always able to drown out all the noise inside his own head, that being one of the many reasons why he could often be found attending one.

A week ago when he and his family came to the ski-lodge resort for a small break over the holidays, he was excited because it meant he’d get to spend time with his sister without all the stress of school. A week-long break from basketball drills, game talk and long lectures about “the future”.

But of course he should’ve known better, he should’ve known that basketball was all his dad would want to talk about. If they weren’t talking about basketball, then they were playing basketball and if they weren’t playing basketball then they were watching it. He was pretty sure even him and Coach Nash didn’t talk this much about it.

And it wasn't that he hated basketball, as a matter of fact he loved it, but sometimes he couldn’t help but think that it was all he and his dad had in common.

His mother could tell that he was getting sick of it, of course she could. Moms are just like that. They have a secret sixth-sense of knowing exactly what their children are feeling. Which is why she dealt with it in the same way she always does; doing little to nothing. She sent both him and his sister, Maddie, to the ‘Teens New Year’s Eve’ party the resort was hosting.

That was hours ago, and listen Buck - a nickname he started using when he joined the basketball team in freshman year - knew he should’ve been taking advantage of the party more, he knew he should’ve been doing something, anything. Even if it was just simply talking to someone or flirting with the group of girls that had been staring at him for the past hour, but he just couldn’t help but feel restless over the whole party ordeal.

He had almost decided to call it quits, and then he saw him.

Hidden almost entirely in the last remaining shadows of the party, Buck noticed him. Noticed him in the way Buck tended to notice those he found interesting. And it wasn’t just because the boy was the only teenager in the building still stood with an adult, but more so because of how clearly he was trying to hide himself, his big brown eyes darting around the room deeply assessing every person in there. He looked like a lost kitten.

And Buck thought it was cute, that he was really cute.

The pair locked eyes, Buck offered him a small, and what he hoped would be a comforting smile but almost instantly, the boy looked away. Buck’s heart deflated slightly at the action.

Eddie wasn’t exactly sure as to why he turned away from the boy so quickly, he seemed nice enough and his shiny blue eyes immediately caused butterflies to erupt through Eddie’s stomach- in a way that he couldn’t quite tell if it was nerves or excitement.

The next time Eddie felt brave enough to look back over at the boy, he was instead met with a brightly lit stage and a DJ wearing an obnoxiously large hat that read “NYE 2006”.

“Alright everyone! It’s time for random mic karaoke, let’s pick our last two singers of the year! You-” He pointed to the right side of the room “- and you!” His hand swung and landed unmistakably in Eddie’s direction.

“No.” Eddie whispered.

Next to him, his Abuela gasped “Sí.” She exclaimed whilst clapping her hands.

Buck blinked. The DJ’s hand pointed squarely at him. His first thought was to run- he almost did. That was until he saw who the other chosen singer was- the really cute guy from earlier.

This is my chance, he thought. Maybe they could escape this party together, Buck couldn’t know for certain but he’s almost sure the boy would be more than happy to leave.

Before he could fully execute an escape plan, someone from behind him nudged him towards the small stage. “C’mon man, it’ll be fun.” The stranger said with a grin, clearly looking forward to Buck embarrassing himself.

“It never is.” Buck murmured but it was too late, he was already being shepherded forward.

Eddie reluctantly followed from the opposite side of the room. Abuela smiling as big as she possibly could from behind him, as if he was on his way to win a Nobel Prize instead of being publicly humiliated right into the New Year.

The DJ handed each of them a microphone. “New Year’s Eve duet” he declared, “Lyrics will be on the screen. Good luck, don’t mess it up.” Eddie’s head snapped up at the statement and he sent the stranger in front of him a panicked look.

He responded with, what Eddie would love to think was a clumsy attempt at a reassuring smile. It made his heart soar.

“Hey” he whispered “It’ll be okay. I’m terrible at this too.”

Eddie swallowed hard “You don’t look terrified.”

“Oh, I am,” The curly haired boy said, “But I’m good at pretending.”

For a sentence that was said so freely, Eddie couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the story.

“Buck.” Buck said as he held out his hand “What?” Eddie replied, holding a confused expression.

“My name, Evan Buckley but most people call me Buck.” Eddie repeated the boy’s name under his breath quietly before looking back up at him “I’m Eddie, Eddie Diaz.”

The intro started, a soft, sparkly piano, and Eddie recognised the song instantly.

Of course it had to be a ballad.

Of course it had to be a duet.

Buck shrugged, sending Eddie a lopsided smile, shaking hands tightening around the microphone. Eddie inhaled, then slowly exhaled before shaking his head slightly- a way to psych himself up.

The lyrics lit up, it was Buck’s turn first. If he can do it then I can do it, Eddie thought to himself and somehow despite all the nerves and all the strangers watching and the fact that he did not sing, Eddie’s voice found the melody.

Buck stared at him, eyebrows lifting.

They sang the next lines together, tentative at first, then stronger, their voices blending unexpectedly well. Eddie kept his eyes on the screen; Buck kept his on Eddie.

By the time the song faded out, the ballroom erupted into applause. Eddie heard Buck laugh softly, a little breathless, like something electric had just hit him. For the first time in a long time he felt like he could just be him.

Eddie looked dazed, his once fearful eyes now twinkling under the lights, his mouth sporting a big grin.

“Ten minutes to midnight!” The DJ shouted suddenly.

Buck lowered his microphone. “See? You didn’t die.”

Eddie’s cheeks were still flushed crimson red “There’s still time.”

Buck smiled wider. “If you do, I’ll make sure you get a good send off.”

Eddie huffed out a laugh, very small, very real.

“Well…Eddie, Eddie Diaz, you’ve got a good voice.”

“Yeah,” Eddie murmured, “You too, Buck.”

And even though neither of them could have explained it, that moment- the awkward duet, the shared panic, the tiny laugh, it all felt like the first flicker of something neither of them had allowed themselves to feel before. It was the start of something new.

The applause still washed through the ballroom as Eddie stepped off the tiny stage, heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his fingertips. He’d barely made it three steps before Abuela enveloped him in a hug that nearly knocked all the remaining air from his lungs.

“Mi niño! You were wonderful.”

“Abuela,” Eddie muttered, mortified. “Please.”

Across the room, Buck was also being swarmed. And while almost all of the attention he was getting was positive, some teasing him slightly, Buck couldn’t help but thank God his parents weren’t here to see that.

Buck escaped the room as soon as possible, ducking around a group of kids taking selfies beneath a giant Happy New Year! arch. He spotted Eddie standing near the refreshment table, awkwardly pouring himself a cup of punch like it required engineering.

Buck’s feet carried him there before his brain caught up. “Hey.” he said, trying to sound casual and not like he’d spent the last twenty seconds weaving through crowds just to get close to the guy who sang like that.

Eddie startled slightly. “Oh. Hey.”

For a second, neither of them said anything. The music shifted to some pre-countdown dance track. Snow drifted lazily outside the big glass windows. The room hummed.

Buck shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “So… you really don’t sing?”

Eddie shook his head. “I don’t. That was… I don’t know what that was.” He continued pointing his hand towards the stage.

“Like I said, it was good.” Buck said simply.

Eddie looked away, as the thought of accepting a compliment might physically injure him. “And like I said, you’re not too bad yourself, Buckley.”

Buck let out a breathless laugh. “Thanks. Just glad my dad wasn’t there to see it.”

Buck turned to look out the window, into the distance, Eddie took a step closer, a little for Buck’s comfort, a little for his own. “Your dad?”

Buck nodded “Yeah, he’d never let me live this down.”

“It’s just a bit of fun, surely he wouldn’t be that bothered.” Eddie reassured.

“Yeah, well, you don’t know him.”

“No I guess I don’t.” Eddie replied but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had his own version of Buck’s dad all the way back in El Paso, in the form of Ramon Diaz.

“It’s just… it’s complicated.” Buck tried to explain.

“Most things usually are.”

A beat of silence passed. The kind that felt too long to be normal, but too short to be uncomfortable. Then the DJ’s voice boomed through the speakers. “Five minutes to midnight, people!”

Buck glanced towards the balcony doors “Wanna go outside? It might be quieter.”

Eddie hesitated for the slightest moment and then, he nodded.

They slipped out onto the lodge’s terrace. The cold instantly hit. Fresh snow blanketed the railing and pine trees below. The sky glowed with scattered stars that didn’t care about time zones or countdowns.

“Wow.” Eddie whispered, amazed at the sight.

“Yeah.” Buck agreed. Snowflakes clung to his curls like they belonged there.

They leaned on the railing, shoulder to shoulder but not quite touching.

“Are you here for the whole week?” Buck asked.

Eddie nodded. “My Abuela wanted a small vacation before we moved to our new town.”

Buck titled his head “Moving?”

“Yeah. New school. New people.” Eddie huffed out a small laugh “You know. Everyone’s favourite things.”

Buck smiled. Small, warm. “Hey. Could be worse. You could end up singing with some random guy in front of loads of strangers.”

Eddie nudged him gently with his elbow “ I survived that somehow.”

“Barely.”

“Yeah.” He whispered “barely.”

Silence fell again, but this time it felt like a blanket instead of a wall. From inside, a rumble of voices began the countdown.

“Ten!”

Buck straightened, glancing towards Eddie. “You ready?”

“Nine!”

“For the new year?” Eddie asked, eyebrows raised.

“Eight!”

“For whatever comes next,” Buck clarified

“Seven!”

Eddie looked at him, really looked, and something inside of him settled in a way he hadn’t expected.

“Six!”

“Yeah.” Eddie said quietly, looking directly into Buck’s eyes “I think I am.”

“Five! Four! Three!”

Buck grinned, bright and unfiltered.

“Two! One!”

The lodge erupted inside. “Happy New Year!”

On the terrace, they shared a moment of stillness. No touching. Not speaking. Just existing in the same cold, sparkling air, as fireworks burst above the snow-covered pines.

Buck offered his phone.

Eddie blinked at it. “You want my number?”

Buck shrugged, suddenly shy, as if this was something he hadn’t done before. “Well.. I mean, maybe we could talk? After this? You know. If you want.”

Eddie took the phone, typed his number, handed it back.

Buck smiled at the contact name: Eddie Diaz :)

Simple yet endearing.

“See you around… Eddie Diaz.” Buck said, pocketing his phone.

Eddie’s breath clouded in the cold. “Yeah. See you around, Buck.”

They soon rejoined the party inside, Eddie returning back to his Abuela, Buck hunting through the crowd to find his sister. And the spark, whatever it was, stayed on the terrace settling softly with the snow.