Archive of Our Own

“Dad.” 

Christopher walks up to where his dad stands at the kitchen sink. His tone is purposefully sweet, eyes wide in that classic Diaz puppy-dog way, like he always pulls when there’s something he wants. Why fix what isn’t broken? It works every time. 

“Yeah?” Dad answers without looking up from the dishes. 

“Can I get this game?” Chris asks and turns his Switch around. Dad lets out a sigh before turning off the faucet. He wipes his dripping hands on a towel and looks at the screen. Christopher does his best impression of appearing charming, pouting as Dad reads the store page. He only pulls this move when he’s really desperate. 

“For $60?” His eyes widen. “You’re dreamin’, kid.” 

“Please, Dad,” Chris begs, dragging the word out. “It just came out, and I aced my World History report. Remember? You said I could get something.” Dad had promised him a reward if he got above a B, and he had gotten an A, so he deserves this. Dad has nobody to blame but himself for that. 

Dad realizes this as he tries to hide a grin. “Fine. Go grab my wallet,” he says, giving in like he always does. 

Excitedly, Christopher shoots down the hallway and into the living room, tucking his Switch under his arm. He stops by the side table beside the front door, grabbing his dad’s wallet that rests by his car keys. Just as he does so, the front door opens at the same time. Like tradition every Friday night, Buck walks in with a bright smile and plastic bags filled with Chinese food for their weekly movie night. 

They’ve been doing it almost every week since Chris returned from Texas and Buck moved out, even more so now in the last few months since he’s been in recovery. It’s nice. Chris missed having nights like these. He’d never admit it aloud, but sometimes he even wishes Buck had never moved out. On movie nights, he can pretend like Buck never did. 

“Hey, buddy,” Buck greets him as he toes his shoes off, his grin only growing. “Robbing your dad?” he asks when he sees Chris pull his dad’s credit card out of his wallet.

“With permission,” Chris corrects. 

Buck scrunches his nose. “Really?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Dad enters the room with their plates and cutlery in hand. “This is coming out of your college fund,” he jokes as he settles on the couch. 

Chris rolls his eyes at the bad joke as he sits down next to him. Buck laughs like he always does when Dad jokes, even if they’re not funny, and unboxes the containers. 

“What’s the game?” Buck asks once he’s dished out the food. Chris tilts the screen towards him so he can read the title Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream before handing it over to Dad to enter his card details. He’s seen the game all over his TikTok all week, leading up to its release a few days ago, practically taking over his for you page with the funny scenarios that can happen. His friend Lewis got the game the day it came out and has not shut up about it since. 

Buck nods as he reads the screen. “Cool. So what do you do?”

Chris explains the game in as simple terms as he can for Buck and his dad to comprehend. They understand video games most of the time, but Buck’s eyebrows still furrow when Chris calls it an ‘ant farm’ or a ‘dollhouse’ game. He doesn’t get the point in passive simulation. 

“Connect it to the TV,” Buck says after he explains. “I wanna see this.”

“After dinner,” Dad chimes in, handing the Switch back to Chris. “C’mon now.” He picks up the remote to press play on their already-selected movie, the second Jurassic Park. They’ve been working their way through the series since Dad called it a crime that neither he nor Buck had seen them before, despite their affinity for dinosaurs. It’s not his fault that when Chris was a kid they skipped past the fictional dinosaur movies and went straight into the documentaries. If anything, it’s Buck’s fault. 

Chris does as he’s told, mainly because he’s really hungry. He hits download on the game, drops his Switch beside him on the couch, and picks up his fork. 

After multiple soup dumplings and over two hours later, Chris hooks his Switch up to the TV as Buck and his dad settle back onto the couch with a beer each. They chatter mindlessly as they always do, as Chris flies through the game setup. He’s gotten way too used to drowning out Buck and Dad’s voices. As much as he loves them, as Chris has grown older, he’s noticed that they can very much entertain each other without much external effort. 

He speed-runs the game’s tutorial, picking out a name for his island and setting everything up. He’s seen countless gamers on Twitch do this already: he knows what he’s doing. The game prompts him to make his first resident—his Mii. Buck excitedly wriggles in his seat. 

“Okay, we’re making me,” Chris says and selects the ‘from scratch’ character creation option. He starts the process, following the prompts as Dad and Buck quietly watch. 

It’s not until he gets to the hair option that the backseat gaming kicks in. He should’ve figured this would happen. 

“That one,” Buck nearly shouts in his ear and points to the curliest hair option. “That one is perfect.” Chris selects it; he was considering it anyway, and mulls it over. 

From Chris’s other side, Dad snorts. “Yeah, you do need a haircut,” he says and scruffs up the curls upon his head. Chris shrugs him off annoyingly. It makes Dad laugh. 

“Fine,” he murmurs and moves on to the next category. He customizes his eyes, nose, and mouth in a breeze, all the while Buck and Dad chip in with mostly dumb ideas that cause them to collapse into a fit of giggles. 

“You need glasses!” Buck exclaims as Chris opens that category. He was going to do that anyway. He almost forgot how annoying it can be playing video games with Buck and Dad. They always turn into two over-excited toddlers. 

“Make ‘em red,” Dad says when Chris clicks on one of the square options.

He resists rolling his eyes. “I’m gonna. Give me a sec.” 

They speed over naming his Mii, choosing the gender, and inputting his birthday until they get to the voice settings. Buck and Dad insist on listening to every single one, including the robot and mouse voices, and laughing their asses off. The three of them spend at least ten minutes just playing with the custom sliders, goofing around until Chris selects a proper option—though after arguing with Buck that he’s not giving himself the highest-pitched voice. The irritation of it will get very old very quickly. 

And then they finally drop into the game, where the tutorial talks over his Mii getting its house and the opening of the first store. Chris actually pays attention to it while Dad runs to the kitchen to grab another beer for him and Buck. He makes bad timing of it, though, stepping out of the room just as Chris’s Mii asks for another resident to be made. 

“Make me!” Buck cheers. 

Chris nods as he re-enters the ‘Add a Mii’ menu. 

“Aw, c’mon,” Dad complains when he returns to the room and collapses on the couch again. He hands Buck his beer behind Chris’s head and groans, “Why do you get to be first?”

“You snooze, you lose,” Chris argues. 

“I bought the game.” Dad glares at him, but there’s no heat to it. “And I’m your Father.”

“Shouldn’t have been so slow,” Buck mocks.

“I was getting you a beer!” Chris isn’t paying much attention to their squabbling, but he’s fairly certain he can see in the corner of his eye Buck sticking his tongue out while Dad flips him off, hand hiding behind Chris’s back.  

“Make him the palest option,” Dad orders out of pure pettiness. And truth. 

“I was already gonna do that,” Chris says, causing Buck to pout around the rim of his bottle. 

“And the curls!” Dad shouts. “Give him the same curls as yours.”

“You’re gonna make us identical,” Buck says. 

Dad scoffs. “You pretty much are.”

Chris pauses what he was doing and turns to Buck—really looking at him. Buck looks back, mostly confused. “We kind of are,” Chris says. He’s never noticed it before, though; he guesses it makes sense from how often parents of his friends assume Buck is his other father. Chris isn’t in the business of correcting them. It’s easier than saying, No, my Dad’s just in an eight-year-long situationship with his best friend.

Buck tilts his head, humming a “huh,” when he sees it too. Dad snorts from behind them. “I’ve never noticed it before,” he mumbles under his breath as Chris continues making his Mii. 

He’s mostly finished now, but something’s missing. Chris knows just the thing.

He clicks on ‘Add face paint’. It can’t be too hard, right?

“Why do I need face paint?” Buck asks. 

Chris selects the color pink and zooms in on Buck’s right eyebrow, mirrored on the TV screen. “I’m gonna make your birthmark.”

Okay, so apparently this is really hard. He erases and starts over at least five times, all of his attempts just not looking quite right. Dad keeps pitching in with ideas; use a different shade, use a lighter brush, a harder brush—so much so that it’s starting to do Christopher’s head in. Buck just sits there quietly, letting the two Diaz boys take the reins. 

“Maybe we can find a sticker to use,” Chris mumbles as he opens the sticker tab, giving him options of pre-made shapes. 

Dad basically jumps in his seat. “That one.” He points to the TV. “The love heart.”

Chris selects it, sizes it down, and places it under Buck’s eyebrow. He grabs two more, making them even smaller and placing them above the brow. It actually looks pretty decent.

“That’s perfect!” Dad insists, proud of his choice.

Chris turns to Buck to gauge his opinion. Buck sits there, looking a little bewildered and with a soft tinge of pink on his cheeks. Chris wants to roll his eyes. Of course he’d blush over this. They really are hopeless. 

“What do you think, Buck?” Chris has to prompt him to answer.

Buck blinks, like he was in some trance, just staring at the screen. He coughs. “Y—Yeah, looks good.”

Satisfied with that, Chris moves on to the height sliders selection. 

“Make him the tallest,” Dad argues. 

“I’m not that tall.”

Chris snorts. “You are a giant.” 

“You’re a tree,” Dad reiterates. 

Buck glares at him. “You are literally two inches shorter than me.”

After going through most of Buck’s Mii customization, there’s still one thing Chris wants to add. After the gender selection, he moves on to the dating preferences, having skipped this step for his own Mii before. 

“What are you doing?” Buck questions.

“Making you bisexual.”

“You can do that?” Buck seems surprised, which makes Chris laugh. “That’s so cool.” 

After finishing making Buck, the game immediately prompts for Chris and Buck’s Miis to meet, much against Dad’s protests of wanting to make himself. Chris follows the game, dragging himself over to Buck by the wishing fountain. 

“Oh, have we really never met before? I’m Chris!” Chris’s Mii says. 

“I’m Buck.” 

Their Mii’s relationship changes from ‘Strangers’ to ‘Seems like-minded’ after talking for a bit. Buck cheers enthusiastically. 

“Okay, now it’s my turn,” Dad insists. His patience really is staggering, but Chris thinks he’s been tormented enough and actually listens to him this time. It’s just so fun irritating Dad with Buck; he falls for it so easily.

They start the ‘Add a Mii’ process all over again, except this time it’s Buck who takes over, shouting ideas. 

“Oh! Let me pick the hair.”

“Buck—” Dad groans.

Buck makes Chris go through a few options until he shouts, “That one!” at one of the short hairs with a little strand falling over the forehead. Chris selects it while Dad looks at Buck curiously. “It has your—uh, strand,” Buck tries explaining. 

“My strand?” Dad repeats. 

Buck reaches over Chris, much to his annoyance, and flicks the hair falling on Dad's forehead. “Strand,” he whispers. It’s now Dad’s turn to blush. God save Christopher. 

Buck turns to him again, but only for a second. “Do the face paint thing again.”

“Why?” 

Once again, Buck leans over him and pokes Dad under his eye. “You have a mark there,” he says, “we gotta recreate it.” Chris is almost being smothered in his armpit. He coughs obnoxiously and pushes Buck away. 

Dad furrows his brows. “Is it really that important?” 

“Yes,” Buck exclaims as he finally sits back. 

Chris does listen just to appease Buck, and hopefully to get him to stop leaning over him. Plus, once he got the hang of it, the face paint customization is just fun to use.

After he meticulously gets the placement for Dad’s beauty mark, they finally settle into the game. Their three Miis meet by the wishing fountain, and Chris introduces Dad to them both. In an instance, Dad and Buck’s Miis become good friends as Chris gifts his own maracas. He annoyingly plays them over their talking. 

They play for a little while longer, but eventually Buck calls it a night, saying he needs to go home before it gets too late. Chris tries not to seem bothered by it as he turns the game off and bids his goodbye. Buck never sleeps over anymore since he moved out. Chris doesn’t get it.

And by the look on his dad’s face, he doesn’t really seem to get it either. But he lets Buck go, talking his ear off as Buck puts his shoes back on and Chris leaves for his bedroom. Chris knows that if Dad just asked Buck to stay, he probably would, but Dad also doesn’t ask anymore. Chris doesn’t understand why either, but he’s stopped trying to understand his dad’s thought processes when it came to Buck a long time ago. 

Once situated in bed, Chris turns his Switch back on and boots up the game. It’s late, but it’s not a school night, so once he hears Dad’s bedroom door close down the hallway, he’s loading back in. He plans to make some of his friends, texting with Lewis as they both play and see what their Miis get up to. 

But before doing that, Chris has an idea. He gets curious, making a harmless setting change to Dad’s Mii. Well, at least he thinks it’s harmless. Dad doesn’t have to know anyway. 

He changes Mii Dad’s dating preferences to include men as well. Chris is only guessing here, but he thinks it’s a pretty fair estimate. 

Not even two minutes after that, his game buzzes. ‘What’s up with Eddie?’ Chris's screen prompts as Dad’s Mii pauses, staring at Buck’s as he smells some flowers.

Oh, Chris knows what this is. He’s seen it before. He did not expect it to work so quickly. 

This is going to be so funny. 

The game plays a cutscene in which Mii Dad freezes in the middle of the screen as the music intensifies and zooms in on his shocked face. Chris can barely contain his laughter, needing desperately to keep quiet, as the game shows a loop of Mii Buck playing with butterflies flying around him, a sparkly filter, and lovey-dovey music playing. 

Mii Dad stands there, absolutely shell-shocked and blushing as Mii Buck is oblivious to it all, the background turning pink. Life imitates art, or whatever the saying is. 

“It’s like Buck is a butterfly, fluttering by to bless me with love. Yes, that’s what this feeling is! It’s love!” Mii Dad says in his quiet, tinny voice. 

The game gives Chris two options: ‘You’re imagining things’ or ‘Let love soar!’ 

With zero hesitation, Chris selects the latter. 

“It’s love after all. I’m actually in LOVE!” Mii Dad’s voice calls out. “I think I’m gonna ask Buck out!”

Chris smiles at the screen. If only it were that easy in real life. 

Over the weekend, Chris plays the game almost non-stop. Or at least he would, if Dad stopped telling him off for doing so, making sad attempts to restrict his screen time. Except now it’s Tuesday night and Dad’s situated in the kitchen with Hen. He called her over in a rush after dinner, meaning Chris can play till his heart’s content. Christopher isn’t exactly sure why Hen’s here, but if the phone call he overheard earlier today has anything to do with it, he has a pretty good guess.

Dad’s freaking out over something, which isn’t that uncommon for him. As much as his dad prides himself on being someone who doesn’t panic and keeps cool under pressure, sometimes he just cracks. Chris may not have believed it years ago, but after the fiasco that was last year, it makes sense. 

The phone call in question? All Chris has gathered is that it has something to do with Buck. 

Buck had called, which is not unusual whatsoever. He said some things that caused Dad to step into the backyard to process. Chris doesn’t know what was said, and frankly, he’s a little afraid to find out. It wasn’t long after that Hen showed up at their door with a bottle of wine, and Dad gave a very not subtle suggestion that Chris finish his homework in his room. Chris was planning on doing that anyway the second he saw the bottle. Dad gets too emotional when he’s had too much wine. It’s rare for Chris to see, but he always starts getting weepy about how much Chris has grown. It’s really funny. 

So now Chris is in his room, Switch volume on low just so he can eavesdrop a little. He can’t hear much, mainly just a few words out of context.

Why—

Bridge. Auction. New Mexico. Will. Texas. Sublet. My Abuela. Shannon. Gay. 

I can’t—How did you know?

And Buck. Buck’s name has been brought up at least seventeen times in the last half hour. Chris has been keeping score.

He tries not to overthink the words and the sequences they fall into. Of course, he has questions, particularly about the last few there. He could make assumptions, but really, Chris doesn’t want to. He does not want to think about what type of identity crisis his father is having on the other side of the door. Not because he doesn’t care—he cares honestly too much, but out of respect. Privacy. Ignorance is bliss, or whatever. 

Besides, Chris has a fairly good idea what Dad’s outcome will be here anyway, and he already knows he’ll support him and Buck, so he tries not to dwell on it. That’s why Dad called Hen. He’s in good hands. Dad can come out to him in his own time, with his own explanation—not through echoes in the house. 

So instead, he turns the game volume up, and ironically, Mii Dad seems to also have a problem. His speech bubble is pink. It’s a love problem. 

Chris clicks on Dad’s Mii. 

“I must confess my feelings for Buck. I can’t hold back.”

The timing couldn’t be crazier. 

Obviously, Chris selects: ‘Go for it!’

Mii Dad asks Chris a bunch of questions about how he should do it. Chris settles on at the restaurant and romantically. 

“All right. It's time to psych myself up and confess,” Mii Dad says before the game transition from his house to the restaurant. 

Chris watches intently as Mii Dad walks into the restaurant, finding Mii Buck sitting in one of the booths. Instantly, the lights of the restaurant dim. There’s a spotlight on Dad’s Mii spinning around. Mii Buck stares at him blankly. It’s so ridiculous. 

“Buck, when we met on this island, I felt like we were meant to be together!” Mii Dad says. “Like chips and ketchup! Like crumble and custard!” He kneels down on one knee. “Buck… My sweet Buck… Together we’re a taste sensation… So… Won’t you try a spoonful?”

Chris snorts. Damn, who wrote this?

The camera pans to Mii Buck’s unblinking face. The two Miis stare at each other, the screen rapidly flashing from one face to the other. 

Eventually, Buck’s Mii blushes. “I would love to go out with you,” he says. Mii Dad does a happy dance, and the screen cuts to black. Christopher watches and can’t help but smile as their relationship status changes from ‘Best Friends Forever’ to ‘Sweethearts In Love.’ 

It seems pretty accurate. Only time will tell, he guesses.

Once again, Christopher should be doing his homework, but he can’t. It’s like this game calls to him just like how the green goblin mask calls to Norman Osborn. He can’t do anything about it, so his math homework sits abandoned on the coffee table as he’s tucked up in the corner of the couch, Switch in hand. 

He swears he was just going to check the daily shop. That was twenty minutes ago. Now he watches as Mii Dad and Mii Buck stand in the living room of their house. They begged to move together after they started dating. Chris finds it funny how the reverse happened in real life. 

He watches as Mii Dad stands there mindlessly, swaying along, as Mii Buck sneaks up behind him slowly. “Got you!” Mii Buck says with a smile as he grabs Dad by the shoulders. 

Mii Dad turns around to him, smiling, and says, “You got me a long time ago,” making Buck blush in return as hearts fly around their heads. The game cuts back to them hanging out in the living room, the blush still permanent on their faces. Their relationship changes from ‘In love’ to ‘Super in love.’

Even Christopher will admit that was pretty sweet. 

Unbeknownst to him, though, he is not as alone as he thought he was in the living room. 

“Does that say sweethearts?” Dad’s voice startles Chris from behind the couch, making him jump. “For me and Buck?” 

Chris dares to turn around and face him. He seems completely stunned, eyes wide open as he stares incredulously at the screen. “Yeah,” he replies with a swallow. 

“What—What does that mean?”

Chris answers honestly. “It means you’re dating.”

Dad furrows his brows. “What, why?”

“You did that on your own,” Chris says. He does not mention that he changed Dad’s Mii’s dating options to include men as well, just to make this happen. 

Dad doesn’t get it. “Aren’t you the one playing the game?” he asks while rubbing the back of his neck. Great. He’s getting nervous, Chris can tell.  

“Yeah, but it’s an ant-farm type of game, not a life sim,” he tries explaining. Dad just gives him a blank look. Chris continues, “They have more autonomy. They can do things without me deciding. Your character asked me if he should ask Buck out, and I said yes.”

It’s more or less what happened. Really, Chris had more say in the matter than he’s letting on, but it’s not necessarily a lie. Dad doesn’t need to know that anyway. 

“You—said yes?”

Chris nods. “Yeah. It seemed right.”

Dad stays silent for a little while longer after that. He just stands there, in the hallway, seeming completely dazed. His eyes are glazed over, staring off in the distance as he absent-mindedly rubs the back of his neck. Chris shifts in his seat. He kind of doesn’t know where his dad’s head is at here. He doesn’t know what conclusions he came to from his conversation with Hen the day before. 

Eventually, Dad speaks again. 

“So, hypothetically.” He braces with a breath. “If I asked you that in real life, would you also say yes?” 

Chris fully abandons the Switch, putting it on the couch with the screen facing down, and stares directly at his dad. “Are you asking?” 

The anxiety radiates off of Dad’s body, practically shaking as he nods hesitantly, eyes widening with apprehension. 

“Dad,” Christopher breaths out faintly. 

“Just—I—” Dad stutters. He rounds the corner of the couch to sit right next to him, wringing his hands together to keep his nerves under control. “I don’t know,” he exhales. “It’s all so confusing.”

“That’s okay,” Chris whispers. He reaches out and holds one of Dad’s hands. He looks like he really needs it right now. After another moment of silence, Chris says, “For the record, if you were to ask Buck out, I wouldn’t mind.” He adds, “If it’s right for you.”

Dad nods with conviction. “It does. It feels right.”

Chris gives him an encouraging smile. “Then you should do it,” he says with a squeeze of Dad’s hand. 

This takes Dad aback. “Really?”

Chris resists snoring. As if making them date in the game wasn’t approval enough. “Dad, you’ve kinda been dating for, like, eight years,” he jokes, but not really. “I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up.”

Dad chuckles lightly. “I didn’t realize.”

“Clearly.” 

“You think Buck would—”

Christopher cuts him off. “Yes.” 

“You didn’t even think about it!” Dad splutters. 

As if there’s any universe where Buck turns down Dad. 

“Didn’t need to,” Chris says, confident. “C’mon, Dad, it’s Buck.” 

That causes Dad to smile like a little kid with a crush as he nods along. God. They’re gonna be annoying. 

But Chris can deal with that for the rest of his life, as long as it means they’re happy. 

“You should tell him how you feel,” he says. “Tell him that you’re…?”

Dad sighs. “I don’t know what I am.” He fidgets with Chris’s hand still in his. “Hen and I spoke—”

“I heard.”

Dad chuckles, but it withers away. His nerves come back instead. “I think I might be… gay, but I—I don’t know.” He stumbles on the words. 

Chris gets it. Kind of. He’s never really considered his own sexuality before, simply because it’s never crossed his mind, but it’s 2026, and they live in Los Angeles. He’s watched a lot of queer films. He knows so many Chappell Roan songs. He has a plethora of queer friends and queer family. Hell, he saw Buck go through this only a few years ago. He knows it’s something that can be a big qualm for some, and something that’s less complex for others. A spectrum. And it doesn’t take a genius to see Dad’s deep on the repressed side of the wheel. 

Dad’s old. He grew up in Texas. Chris now understands what it’s like living with his grandparents—it makes sense that Dad is the way he is. It makes sense he’d struggle with accepting this. 

“You’re allowed to be, y’know,” Christopher says. 

“Yeah, I need to keep reminding myself that.” Dad exhales before gripping Chris’s hand tighter. Dad looks him right in the eyes as he says, “But, Chris, about your Mom.” He swallows. “I—I loved her, I swear—This doesn’t change that. I’ll always love her. She was my… my best friend.”

Chris nods. “It’s okay. I believe you.” 

Dad just watches him for a minute, a hint of a smile creeping up until he’s pulling Chris into his arms. “I love you so much,” he says, muffled from Christopher’s hair. “I’m so happy you’re my kid.”

Chris lets himself be crushed in his dad’s embrace. “I love you, too, Dad,” he says before looking up at him. “Tell Buck,” he begs. 

Dad grins widely. “I will, I promise.” 

That promise comes into effect on the next Friday movie night. Dad has been nervously pacing around the house all afternoon. He swears he’ll do it tonight. Chris feels inclined to believe him. 

Like always, Buck unlocks their front door at seven o’clock on the dot, carrying two boxes of pizza this time—one with pineapples for him and Chris, and one with pepperoni for Dad, as well as a container of his homemade brownies. Chris begs for one, but Buck keeps insisting after dinner. Usually, he’s easier to wear down than this. 

They sit with their food on the couch just like last week, the final Jurassic Park movie in the trilogy playing. Chris sits in his usual spot in the middle of Buck and Dad, except this time it feels more like a punishment rather than a blessing. 

On his right, Dad is shaking like a leaf. His eyes keep darting from the TV screen to the side of Buck’s face every few minutes. For the whole movie, he wrings his hands together constantly, fidgeting with his fingers. It’s almost enough to drive Chris crazy.

And on his left side? Buck is completely oblivious to it all. Figures. 

“You should put your game on,” Buck says once the credits begin to roll. “I wanna see how little Buck’s doing.” 

There’s nothing Chris would love more than to show him how little Buck’s doing, but before doing so, he sneaks a quick glance at Dad for his approval, considering the fact that little Buck is dating his supposedly straight best friend. Dad nods, but gulps loud enough that Chris catches it. He listens, though, and loads up the game on the TV. 

The realization isn’t immediate. Chris manages to do some island chores before Buck’s Mii garners his attention. He’s hanging out with Dad Mii on the beach, so Christopher knows whatever he does will expose their Miis’ relationship to Buck. 

“Oh! I have that speech bubble thingy,” Buck shouts. “Click me!”

Chris can hear his dad’s shuddering breath from beside him, but he does it anyway. The game pans to Mii Buck and Dad standing across from one another, Buck’s Mii blushing. They blush an awful lot in this game. 

“How much do you love me?” Mii Buck asks Dad. If Chris wasn’t currently sitting next to his very anxious father and a clueless Buck, he’d probably burst out laughing. That is definitely a Buck question. 

“I love you this much,” Mii Dad answers with his arms held out wide. And that is definitely a Dad answer to said question. 

“Well, I love you THIS much!” Mii Buck jumps. 

“Oh yeah? Then I love you THIS MUCH!” Mii Dad spins in a circle, arms still wide. 

Mii Buck seems surprised by it. Real-life Buck isn’t doing much better. His mouth is gaped wide open as he blinks at the screen in disbelief. 

“Then, I… Love you… THIS MUCH!” Mii Buck maintains as he starts to grow taller, towering over Dad.

“Not so fast! Me too!” Mii Dad grows taller as well. They both tower higher than the trees and buildings around them until the screen cuts to their blushing faces among the clouds. “Hee hee… We’re like two gigantic peas in a pod!”

The cutscene ends, and the TV flashes to black for a moment, giving Chris a front-row view of the reflection of Buck’s bewildered face and Dad’s own in embarrassment. When the game loads, their relationship changes from ‘Super in love’ to ‘Wants to marry!’ 

They sit in an awkward silence for a moment. Chris tries breaking it with a joke. “Well,” he exhales. “You are kinda like two gigantic peas in a pod.” 

Seeming awoken from his state of shock, Buck awkwardly laughs. It sounds more like a choke. Chris turns to his dad, who just shakes his head, grimacing. 

Whelp. This is awkward. 

“I’m gonna—” Buck stands up. He wipes his hands on his thighs. Chris can see that they’re shaking. “Uh, I’m gonna clean this up.” He refers to their dishes and empty pizza boxes. Mind far away, he begins picking them up, avoiding eye contact, and heading to the kitchen.

Once he’s left the room, Dad releases a shuddering groan. He buried his head in his hands. 

“Sorry,” Chris winces.

Dad shakes his head. “Not your fault, buddy.” He looks up at Chris again and attempts a smile. It looks almost painful. 

“Sounds like it’s a good time to talk to him,” Chris says. 

Dad sighs but stands up anyway. “Better now than ever,” he murmurs. “Wish me luck.”

Chris does, but he thinks Dad doesn’t need it. If there’s one thing he’s sure of in this life, it's that his dad and Buck are solid. This is just the beginning of something new. 

Once Dad leaves the room, Christopher tries returning to the game. He knows they’re talking in there, but he can’t hear them—which should be concerning, considering Buck’s never known how to have an inside voice, but he tries not to overthink it. He’s sure everything will be fine. 

And frankly, Chris would rather not be a fly on the wall of that conversation. They’re gonna need to set some ground rules after all this. Buck and Dad are already sickeningly, disgustingly in love now; he does not need to see that amplified. 

But after over half an hour of being abandoned on the couch, Chris decides that enough is enough. If they haven’t gotten their shit together by now, then it’s his job to step in.

And he hasn’t stopped thinking about Buck’s homemade brownies, which he knows are just sitting on the kitchen counter. He’s really craving one. 

Making as much noise as he possibly can, rattling his crutches purposefully loud on the floorboards just as a forewarning, Chris makes his way into the kitchen.

Really, he isn't surprised to see them kissing. Clearly, the warning wasn’t loud enough, or eight years of firefighting has finally caught up to their hearing. 

“Ahem,” Chris coughs loudly and intentionally. Buck immediately springs away from Dad, darting to the other side of the kitchen island. He avoids eye contact and clears his throat. Dad just watches him, fighting a smile that threatens to break. 

“Chris! W—What’s up, buddy?” Buck awkwardly shouts back, trying to appear normal but missing by a mile. 

Chris raises an eyebrow. “Did you forget that I was still here?”

Buck’s eyes widen. “What? No. Never.” Dad attempts to contain his snorting by covering his mouth with his hand. “We were just—Just… um—”

“Buck, it’s fine,” Dad says, saving Buck from putting his own foot in his mouth. “He knows.”

Buck raised shoulders drop, relief coursing through him. “He—he does?” He blinks at Christopher. “Is that why we were—in the game?”

Dad steps around the island until they’re standing side by side again. He grips Buck’s forearm. Chris resists gagging. “Actually, he did that first.”

With a look of disbelief, Buck turns to him. “Really? You’re okay with this? Me and your Dad?”

Chris snorts. “Why wouldn’t I be? Can I get a brownie now?”

The smile on Buck’s face is the brightest that Christopher has ever seen. “Yes! Yes, of course,” he cheers and grabs the container. “You can have all the brownies you want.” Buck hands the container over to Chris, but instead of walking away, he pulls Chris into a bone-crushing hug. “I love you, kid,” he murmurs, sounding weepy. 

“Buck—” Chris groans, trying to worm his way out, but before he can, Dad’s engulfing both of them in his arms. “Dad!” Chris complains, but Dad’s grip just tightens. It’s sickening how sweet it is. 

“Shhh. We’re having a moment,” Dad mutters into his hair.

“I just want a brownie and to play my game!”

After a few more passing seconds of Chris trying to worm his way out, Dad and Buck finally let him go. They have matching grins. 

“Fine, but only one,” Dad says. 

“Two,” Chris argues. Dad just shakes his head but doesn’t fight back as the three of them make their way back into the living room. 

They settle on the couch again, snacking on brownies, and keep playing the game. Now that Buck is aware of his and Dad’s relationship, he won’t let Chris do anything else but play with their Miis. He nearly jumps out of his seat when he sees a pink speech bubble appear over Mii Dad’s head. 

“I’ve given this a great deal of thought… I want to marry Buck!” Mii Dad says once Chris clicks on him. “Should I propose to him?” 

“Yes, definitely!” Dad shouts at the TV like it’s a football game. Unlike before, Buck is sitting in the middle now because they already cannot stand to be separated, and Chris refuses to be the middleman anymore. Buck turns to stare at Dad, completely amazed. Dad looks back at him with that sickening smile on his face. Chris considers gagging again. 

“All right! I’ll gather up all my courage, and then I’ll propose to him,”  Mii Dad says, but then grows weary. “Ehm… Actually, I’m super nervous right now… My heart’s racing in my chest… and all kinds of weird thoughts keep popping into my head. Could I ask you to help me stay focused?” 

“At least that’s accurate,” Chris jokes. It causes Dad to glare at him. 

“All right! I’m going to talk to Buck. Wish me luck!” 

The screen cuts. “It’s just like real life,” Dad comments as they wait for it to load. 

Buck splutters. “It’s not like you asked me to marry you.”

Over Buck’s head, Dad’s eyes meet Chris’s. They’re both aware that it probably won’t take long for that to happen. Chris smirks and says, “Yet.”

Immediately, Buck’s head swerves to look at Chris in pure disbelief, then back at Dad. Dad just shrugs in response, smiling. 

The game loads back up and into a cutscene of Mii Dad and Buck sitting in Dad’s room. Soft music plays as three small floating hearts appear over their heads. Chris hasn’t had a couple propose on his island yet, but he’s seen a few streamers that have. He knows there’s a mini game he has to get through first to make it happen. He is locked in. 

“Thanks for meeting me here,” Mii Dad says. 

“Of course.”

Mii Dad looks down and blushes. From the corner of his eye, Chris can see Dad grabbing Buck’s hand and grinning. “So, um…” The camera pans to inside Mii Dad’s head, where there’s a giant heart with Mii Buck’s face in it. It doesn’t seem so far off from what Chris thinks his own Dad’s head probably looks like. 

There are brief instructions for the mini game—‘Shoot down irrelevant thoughts!’

“There’s a mini game?” Buck asks, excitement growing. “I wanna play!”

“Let me go first,” Chris insists. He begins the game, using Mii Dad to shoot down the other thoughts and Miis that keep popping into his head. It would be really awkward if he called Buck Kermit the Frog instead while trying to propose. The game is actually more difficult than Chris thought it would be, but he gets the hang of it. Mainly, the most challenging part is Buck buzzing out of his seat beside him. 

When he successfully completes the level, Mii Eddie says, “I have something really important that I wanted to talk about, Buck.” 

“Oh? What is it?” Mii Buck asks.

Real Buck laughs. “Deja vu,” he jokes and nudges Dad’s shoulder. Dad rolls his eyes, but Chris can see him squeezing Buck’s hand tighter. 

“So, what I wanted to say was…”

It loads into the next level. Before starting, Buck drops Dad’s hand—much to his protests, and begs Chris to let him try. Reluctantly, Chris hands him the controller, and somehow, by some miracle, Buck manages to scrape by and pass the level. 

“I’ve realized that the only thing on my mind these days… is you, Buck,” Mii Dad says. 

“Also accurate,” Chris jokes. 

Dad snorts. “I’m not even gonna try denying it.” 

“Aw… Thank you. That makes me really happy,” Mii Buck answers with a blush. The hearts above their heads begin to grow. 

Mii Dad slowly turns to face Buck. “I have something to ask you, Buck…”

“Okay, my turn,” Dad insists when it cuts to the mini game again. 

Chris wants to fight back—it’s the hardest level, and if he screws this up, the proposal will fail. He tries explaining this. “Are you sure?” he asks. 

“Nobody’s proposing to Buck but me,” Dad says as he begins the level. He pokes his tongue out in concentration, tilting the remote as he shoots around the screen with a determination Chris has never seen before.

“I don’t think anyone else would try to propose to Buck but you,” Christopher teases.

“Hey!” Buck takes offence to that. “I’m very desirable. I’ve been bid on for 8k twice.”

“Even I still can’t believe that,” Dad mumbles, trying to keep his focus on the game. 

Buck turns to glare at him. “Are you saying you wouldn’t spend 8k to go on a date with me?” Christopher prays he wouldn’t. He does still need that college fund one day.

“Don’t needa,” Dad replies. “All it takes is pizza and a video game.”

Buck gives him a deadpanned look. “I bought the pizza.”

“Exactly.” Dad shoots a playful grin his way right as he completes the level, winning the game. “Booyah!” he shouts. 

Chris is kind of in shock. “You actually did it!” he says, stunned, as Dad hands the controller back. 

“Wow, you really had no hope for me.” 

“Buck.” They’re cut off by Buck shushing them as Mii Dad stands up and pulls out a bouquet of roses. “Will you marry me?”

The game pauses on Mii Buck’s face, building suspense. The three of them are on the edge of their seat. 

“Yes! A squillion times, yes!” 

A loud cheer erupts throughout the house, sounding more like their team just won the winning goal instead of a Mii accepting a marriage proposal. It’s ridiculous, but Chris loves it. He wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

“I expect more than just roses when you propose to me,” Buck jokes to Dad. Chris doesn’t think it’s much of a joke, though. “A ring, preferably.”

Dad’s smile is almost unbearable. He grabs Buck’s hand again. “Sure, bud, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chris snorts. He gives them six months before they’re engaged. 

Music from the TV interrupts them as the game cuts to Mii Dad and Buck’s wedding. Their two Miis stand at the altar side by side, heads tilted towards each other with blushing cheeks and a flower bouquet in their hands. Funnily enough, Chris’s Mii is there too, standing beside Dad and singing really badly. 

It’s a very sweet scene. 

“Are you gonna sing at our wedding, kid?” Dad jokes, making Buck laugh. 

Chris shudders. “God no.”