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Buck hadn’t thought about it in years. He used to stutter a lot as a kid. He was constantly made fun of both at school and at home. His mother became his first bully before he even entered pre-k.
“Stop with the stuttering,” Margaret demanded. “Why can’t you just speak like a normal person, like your sister? God, you're so annoying. Go to your room,” she ordered.
Buck stood there in tears, clutching his favorite stuffed teddy bear. “ I..a…am..s..s..s..so..sorry,” He struggled to say between his tears.
“You’re..n..n..not.. forgiven,” his mother mocked as little Buck ran off to his room in tears.
He was only 4 then.
And every time he tried to speak from then on, Margaret would mock him, and his father just let her, frowning in disappointment that his son spoke with a stutter.
They didn’t care if it broke him.
He became afraid to speak in school, and when he did, he was belittled and laughed at, but it was nothing compared to his own mother. And when he was loud, his mother would glare at him until he went silent.
It wasn't til he was out of that awful house he once called home that his stutter almost went away. It was still there, always present, just not as noticeable.
But he truly hadn’t thought about it in years. It wasn’t until they called, saying that they were in Los Angeles, visiting his sister, and wanted to see his new house.
There’s only one problem with that, Eddie, his best friend and boyfriend of 4 months, lives with him.
“Oh, I am so fucked,” He whispers to himself, staring at the text message from his mother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What?!” Eddie shrieked as Buck paced the floor, sighing deeply.
“My parents are coming, Eds. They apparently want to see the house.”
Eddie jumps up and grabs Buck by his shoulders, stopping him in his place. “You have the power to say no, baby, if you don’t want them here, they don’t have to be,” Eddie says comfortingly.
Buck scoffs, looking at Eddie like he is crazy.
“Have you met my parents?” Buck questions.
Eddie rolls his eyes, sighing at the thought of the Buckley parents, “Yes, unfortunately.”
Buck raises his brow, confused. “Really, when?”
“The lightning strike.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
Buck sits down on the couch, face in his hands, as Eddie sits down next to him, rubbing Buck’s back with a warm, comforting hand.
“What's the real reason you’re so scared, mi vida?”
Buck looks up at Eddie with tears in his ocean eyes.
“They don’t know about us.”
Eddie sighs knowingly.
“Well, we don’t have to tell them if you don’t want to. They don’t have to know.”
Buck reaches over and takes one of Eddie’s hands into his. “Eds, I don’t want to hide you. I want everyone to know how much I love you. I just don’t…I just don’t want to hear what they have to say about us because I know they’ll have no good things to say about us.”
Eddie then takes Buck into his arms. “I trust you, baby. I’ll follow your lead, mi amor. Okay?”
Buck nods, snuggling into his boyfriend’s arms. “Okay, Eddie. Thank you, I love you.”
Eddie kisses Buck’s birthmark. “I love you too. Tanto, amor de mi vida.” (So, so much, love of my life.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buck was cooking up a storm. Bobby’s lasagna was being made in the oven, his homemade garlic bread was thawing out, and the perfect strawberry cheesecake was happily being decorated. Maddie’s apple pie for his mother was sitting on the counter. For some odd reason, his mother hates all sweets but apple pie.
Eddie walks into the kitchen dressed in his nicest shirt and pants to have dinner with his boyfriend’s parents. He senses Buck's nervous energy and wraps his arms around his waist to try to comfort him, making Buck yelp.
“It's alright, cariño,” he whispers, kissing Buck's cheek.
Buck puffs, turning towards Eddie, “How do you know?”
“Because I do. We’re together, mi sol, how could anything be wrong?”
Buck blushes, going in for a kiss, then the doorbell rings before they get the chance.
Eddie groans internally, thinking, “They couldn’t have waited five minutes, so I could kiss my boyfriend?!”
“Oh, God. They’re here early,” Buck hisses out, checking the time on his wristwatch.
“Relax, baby, I got it,” Eddie whispers in Buck’s ear, kissing it briefly before making his way out of the kitchen to the front door.
Buck takes a deep breath and returns to get the lasagna out of the oven and the bread into the oven.
Eddie glared at the door, trying to calm his nerves as the Buckleys knocked again, this time more annoyed. Eddie opens the door rather harshly.
The Buckleys pause mid-knock and stare at Eddie, confused. “I’m sorry, are we at the wrong house?”
“No, you’re at the right one.” Unfortunately, Eddie wants to add on, but doesn’t.
“Where is Evan then?” Philip asks.
Eddie cringes at hearing Buck’s real name spoken with such disdain.
“Buck is in the kitchen finishing dinner, and you're early.”
Margaret just glared at Eddie. “And who are you?”
“I’m his boyfriend, and this is our house,” Eddie responds.
Margaret is rendered speechless.
“I am sorry, what?”
Eddie just smiles with pride. “You heard me.”
Right as Margaret was about to speak again, Buck walked out carrying Bobby's famous lasagna, looking deathly pale as he saw his mother standing at his and Eddie’s front door.
“H…hi, m...mom,” Buck stutters out, setting the dish down in the center of the dining table.
Eddie raises his brow, having never heard Buck stutter before. He heard stories about how Buck used to stutter as a kid. But he’s never heard Buck actually stutter before; it was kind of adorable.
“Buck?” Eddie starts to ask with concern, making sure Buck is okay.
Margaret just scoffs, rolling her eyes, annoyed. “I see you’re still stuttering, Evan.”
Buck looks down, ashamed as Eddie grabs his hand, stroking it softly, glaring daggers at Margaret, who seemed to miss the look, but Philip saw it.
“How about we eat? I am starving, and this looks good, Evan,” Philip tried. Eddie could give him that, at least.
“Yeah, let's,” Eddie says, sitting down in the chair next to Buck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner was awkward. Margaret kept glaring at Buck while the four of them ate, barely any conversation flowing because no one knew what to say, which made Eddie stare at her, daring her to say something out of line.
“So, you are…” Philip asked, somewhat.
“B…boyfriends,” Buck stuttered out, cringing at himself.
“Oh, so I shouldn’t expect any grandkids then,” Margaret snides.
“Margret!!” Philip shouts, turning to look at her.
“What Philip? I am just asking a question.”
She wasn’t, and they all knew it.
“You already have one,” Eddie jumped in.
Margret just laughs manically, confusing everyone at the table.
“Wh..w..what’s ..s..so..funny?” Buck stammers, making Margaret laugh even more.
“The idea of you having a child. Like, really, Evan. You?”
Eddie looks over at Philip, hoping he’d say something, but he just looked at his lasgasna like it held all secrets to the universe.
“What a coward,” Eddie thought bitterly.
“He does,” Eddie confirms. “We do.”
Margret just looks at him seriously. “Who then?” She asks, looking around the room.
“Our son Christopher.” Then Eddie points to a photo of Chris, Buck, and himself that’s on the wall nearby, showing both Margaret and Philip that it’s true and not a lie.
Margret just scoffs. She met this child once, and she felt sorry for him; she still does. And he unfortunately looked just like Evan.
“Evan is clearly not that child's father,” she hisses.
“Why not?” Eddie asks, cocking a brow.
Margret just rolls her eyes. Evan is too childish and immature for one–” Margaret gets cut off by Buck.
“ I…a..am not. A..and..I..I..lo..love Chris.”
Margret just smirks devilishly, “How can you possibly be a parent when you can’t even speak like a normal person?”
Eddie could feel his own face turning red from rage.
“ I…c..can,” Buck insisted.
“N…no…y..you..c..can’t,” Margret mocks cruelly.
Eddie gets up out of his chair, leaning across the table, face close to Margaret’s, taking everyone by surprise.
“Don’t you dare speak to him like that!” He growls.
“Eds…I..it’s..o..o..okay.”
Eddie turns back to look at Buck, his face softening slightly. Buck and Chris are the only ones who do that to him. “No, mi sol, it’s not.”
Philip just looks at the three, not knowing what to do, seeing his son in tears and Eddie standing over his wife.
“You do not speak to my boyfriend that way,” Eddie then hisses at Margaret, turning back to look at her.
“Don’t talk to my wife like that,” Philip tells Eddie.
“Tell your wife to stop talking down to my baby like that, then maybe I will,” Eddie snarks at the man.
Philip is rendered speechless.
Margret just scoffs, annoyed. “You're really all right being with someone so broken and as crippled as him?”
Buck intakes a long breath; he has heard his mom say that all his life, but he wasn’t expecting her to say that in front of Eddie.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?” Eddie yells, enraged.
Buck gasped, trying to control his breathing as he listened to his boyfriend defend him.
“Let’s try to calm down, now,” Philip starts, but Margaret isn’t having it.
“It’s the truth,” she insists. “You have seen that, Eddie. The boy can’t even speak. How could you love someone so broken and exhausting? I mean, look at him, he’s nothing but a damn coward. He’s retarded and crippled.”
Eddie was in disbelief. How could a mother say that about her own child?
“I DO! I LOVE HIM!” Eddie screams at her.
Margret scoffs, not believing him.
“DO NOT TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!” Eddie shouts, pointing a finger at her. “He is not broken, or whatever other BS remarks you have to say about him! He is far from broken! If you say one more wrong thing about him, you can get the hell out of our house!”
Margret was stunned; no one had ever spoken to her like this before. “Evan, are you just going to let him disrespect me like this?”
Buck looked up at her, his eyes filled with unshed tears.
“Y..y..yes…I…I am.”
Margret was so exhausted; however, Philip was not taking deep breaths, looking at the couple, seeing the anger radiating off Eddie, and the utter devastation on Buck’s face.
Philip sighs heavily, turning to his wife, defeated, “Let’s go, Margaret.”
Margret scoffs, knowing that she has lost this one.
“Fine, but Evan, I’ll be expecting an apology once you learn how to talk again. Whenever that’ll be.”
“Rot in hell!” Eddie screams as the Buckleys slam the front door shut.
Eddie turns to Buck, wrapping him in his arms as Buck sobs heavily.
“Why… d…doesn’t she lo…love me?” Buck weeps.
Eddie’s heart shatters, kissing Buck’s golden curls. “ I don’t know, mi amor, I don’t know, but I love you. So, so much.”
Buck slowly pulls away as Eddie kisses his hair again, running his fingers through it.
“What a.. wa…way to meet the parents, huh?” Buck tries to joke, but fails.
Eddie gives a soft chuckle. “Has she always been like that?” he asked curiously.
Buck shakes his head.
“N..no ..not..al..always.”
Eddie looked at him, not believing him.
“J…just when I was loud. A…always so loud.. so ..ex…ex… exh..exhausting. Sh.. she ..al.. always liked me b..better w…when I s-stayed q…quiet.”
Eddie made a pained noise, hearing just how broken his cariño was.
“I never want you to stay quiet, baby. I love it when you're loud. It’s my favorite sound.”
Buck blushes brightly, smiling faintly at Eddie.
“Mi vida, I’m so sorry you had to deal with her. Not just today, but your whole life. She is no mother; she was supposed to love you, not treat you the way she did. I could only imagine what you went through when you were little with her as your mother and how your father would just sit there and let her do it.”
Buck grins, wiping away his tears. “Thanks, Eds. But I have a family at the 118 now, I don’t need her or them anymore,” He says for the first time since his parents showed up without stuttering, taking them both by surprise.
Eddie kisses Buck’s birthmark. “There’s my baby.”
Buck looks up at him, smirking slightly with lust in his eyes, making Eddie gulp, quickly getting aroused.
“So you really like it when I am loud?” Buck asks seductively, licking his lips.
Eddie just pulls Buck towards him for hungry, passionate kisses, dragging him towards their bedroom, making Buck giggle happily in anticipation of what’s about to happen.
“You know I do, baby,” Eddie says, slamming Buck down on their bed, taking off Buck’s white button-down slowly, kissing along Buck's bare chest.
“Pr…prove it,” Buck demanded with a whine, running a hand through Eddie’s gel-free hair.
Eddie just smirks, biting at Buck’s beautiful tummy.
“You're just a stuttering mess, baby,” he teases, kissing Buck's lips as his boyfriend whimpers.
“But you love it,” Buck says back, biting at Eddie’s bottom lip.
“I do, I really do,” Eddie replies, sliding a hand into Buck’s boxers, making Buck moan loudly in delight.
A stuttering mess indeed.