Work Text:
Eight hours before Eddie finds out what a Skylight Smart Calendar is, he’s schlepping groceries for two into his truck. It’s a practiced routine — Eddie hauls the groceries from the cart to the trunk, and Chris returns the cart to the cart return.
He’s waiting for Chris to return from this noble deed when his phone rings. Buck’s face pops up on the CarPlay display.
He answers it. “Hel- -”
“No! No. Theo!” Buck yells distantly. “Don’t - - buddy. No, don’t - - oh my god. Theo, please - - ah, shoot.”
The thing with both Buck and Theo is that a call like this could be a code red emergency, or it could be an innocent butt dial. They might be finger painting, or someone might have lost a finger.
“Buck?”
The sound of fumbling. A distant crash. Buck’s panicked voice saying: “Eddie! Eddie, hey, hi. Sorry. Theo, don’t touch that! Don’t touch that! Ah, frick. He’s - - he’s touching it.”
Eddie bites down on a smile. The passenger door opens, and Chris drops into the seat beside him, brows raising at the cacophony coming through the speakers. Eddie shrugs. “Is everything okay?”
“No. No. I’m - - locked out. Theo is locked in. Well - - he locked himself in. Accidentally. I think. I’m pretty sure. Anyway, I need your key. I need your key really fast. Theo! Buddy. Please. Don’t eat that. That’s not for eating. Theo. Theo. Don’t - -” Buck lets out a loaded, patient breath. “Ideally as fast as you can.”
The following takes place in less than three seconds: Eddie looks at Chris — the look says, ‘Is it okay if we skip the movie to save Buck’s house from burning down?’ Chris nods, once, smirking — the smirk says, ‘I am enjoying bearing witness to this tiny Buck terrorizing big Buck, and would rather see this in person than watch any movie in existence.’ Eddie reverses out of the parking spot.
“We’re 10 away,” he tells Buck. “Have you tried a window?”
“I escape-proofed the sugar out of this entire place. Those windows are not budging. I did almost break the door down before I called you. Should I break the door down? I can break the door down.”
In most other circumstances, featuring most other kids, Eddie would say No, don’t panic. Don’t overreact. But this is Theo. So instead he says:
“Can you see him?”
“Yeah. Yeah. He’s - - currently breathing, not bleeding, and not on fire. But - - Eddie,” he shudders. “That is not going to last long. Theo! Do not climb that! On the ground, please! Please stay on the ground! Theo. Theo. Fuuuuhhhhdge. Heck. Shoot. I’m gonna break the door down.”
“Did you ask him to open the door?” Chris suggests, because his experience of four-year-olds is limited to Princess Fairy Tea Party Jee.
Buck laughs, unhinged. “I did. I did. Right after he closed it and turned the lock. He’s - - he thinks this is very funny. This isn’t funny, Theo, right? Are we making safe choices? Or are we - - nope. Oh no. Nope, we found the markers. Oh my - - heckin’ gosh. He found the paint. He’s - -” Buck sighs. “He’s redecorating the living room.”
Eddie snorts. “We’re just passing the taco place.”
“Oh no. Oh no. He’s going to the kitchen. Theo! Theo! Shoot. I’m - - frick. Please don’t burn the house down. Please don’t burn the house down.”
Eddie and Chris share a look that looks an awful lot like the grimace face emoji.
“Can you still see him?”
“I’m changing windows. Theo! Oh my god. He’s dragging a chair. Oh my god, he’s - - good gosh, he’s climbing. Oh no. He’s climbing. Theo! Theo, buddy! Hi! Hi, yeah, look, it’s me! How did I get here, huh? That’s so funny. What - - what are you doing there, bud? What about the markers? Why don’t you go and paint on the walls? You - - okay. I’ll get you a snack. I can get you every snack. Whatever you want. If you just open the door, okay? Hop down from there. From the - - oh Jesus fucking Christ,” he whispers under his breath. “Eddie. Eddie. He’s looking at the knives. He’s eyeing the knives. He’s plotting - - oh, thank god. He - - oh god. No! No, Theo! Why don’t we turn that off, buddy! Let’s not - - no, no! That’s the sink, that’s not the bath! Don’t take your pants off! Don’t - - oh god. Theo, please don’t - -” Buck groans. “Okay. Okay. I think I have to break the door down. I’m going to break the door down.”
Eddie winces. “We’re almost there. Is he in the sink? Maybe break the door down if he’s in the sink.”
“He peed in the sink. We’ve moved past that. He’s now opening cabinets and throwing…everything on the floor. He just dumped molasses on his head.”
“That’s - - better, right?” Chris tries.
“Theo! Don’t throw that, buddy. That’s glass. Glass isn’t safe! You can hurt yourself on glass! Don’t. No. Do not. Eddie - - Eddie says not to do that!” Buck begs. “Oh. Oh my god, he’s listening. Yeah! Yeah, buddy. Eddie! Eddie is gonna be here soon, okay, so we have to be on our best behavior, right? Maybe just - - no, no, maybe just stay - - don’t try to jump - - oh, good god. I’m gonna pass out.”
“We’re pulling up,” Eddie promises. He throws the car in park, grabs his keys, and jogs toward the front door. With Buck’s spare key already in hand, he looks up to find - -
Theo grinning in the doorway, door wide open, covered in about 15 different mystery substances. Pantsless. “Hi, Eddie!” He grins.
“Hey, Theo,” Eddie laughs. “Where’s Buck?”
Theo shrugs. “In the window.”
Ominous rustling suggests that Buck may no longer be in the window. Eddie looks over just in time to watch a frenzied Buck stumble around the corner of the house, sticks and leaves stuck to his clothes and hair.
“Oh gosh, buddy,” Buck breathes, beelining for Theo. He drops to his knees in front of him, hugging the mystery molasses-covered toddler tight to his chest. “I was so worried,” he says, pulling back to inspect him for injuries. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt?”
“I gotta watch Bluey!” Theo groans, wriggling in Buck’s hold. At least one of the mystery substances gloops onto Buck.
“I - - think we might need to take a bath, bud,” Buck winces, trying to wipe the goop onto his pants. The goop resists. It does something akin to a cheese pull.
Eddie also winces on his behalf.
“No!” Theo yells. “Bluey!”
If that sticky touches the couch, it’s never coming out. They need to pull out the big guns.
“Hey, Theo,” Eddie tries, crouching down. “Have you ever used a firefighter hose?”
Theo’s eyes widen. He looks like Buck when someone mentions the battering ram. “A firefighter hose?”
Eddie nods. He brings a hand up to cup his mouth like it’s a secret. “I think,” he whispers. “I saw one in the backyard. Should we see if we can find it?”
Theo gasps, wriggling out of Buck’s hold. “Yes!”
Exactly like Buck when someone mentions the battering ram.
Eddie winks at him. “I’ll race ya.”
“Is he going to hose him down like a horse?” Chris asks.
Buck jumps. He didn’t even notice that Chris was here. When did Chris get here? What day is it? What year is it? Is this what it feels like to have a heart attack?
Jesus fucking mother of Christ on a stick. He’s gonna pass out. The - - the knives. The hazards. His child.
His child, who is safe. His child, who is with Eddie. Eddie, whose child just asked Buck a question.
Buck blinks. His hand is so sticky. “Uh - - yeah. I think he might.”
He didn’t know it was possible for a child to be so sticky. He didn’t know it was possible for anything to be that sticky. He doesn’t even know if they make soap more powerful than whatever Theo is covered in.
His heart is going to beat out of his fucking chest.
“Cool,” Chris grins. “I wanna watch.”
Buck has never particularly enjoyed cleaning. But he’d, previous to this moment, never experienced cleaning his absolutely trashed kitchen while watching his best friend chase his kid around the backyard with a hose.
He’d be lying if he said he isn’t having the time of his life watching them both, soaking wet, sneak up on a not-yet-quite-as-wet Chris. He’s pretty sure Theo’s cackling is a dead giveaway, but Chris is valiantly pretending to be surprised by the ambush.
It’s so cute that he doesn’t even mourn the contents of his baking cabinet as he vacuums it from the floor — the constant stream of squeals and giggles is the best cleaning playlist he’s ever heard.
He cleans up as much as he can until he hears Eddie yell, “I think we got all the sticky!” Buck looks out the window to find him holding a giggling Theo upside down by the ankle.
He gets everyone’s clothes into the dryer, gets everyone fed, gets Theo into bed, and eventually, hours later, gets to sit down.
He all but collapses into a patio chair. Eddie, wearing Buck’s clothes, which Buck is feeling very normal about, hands him a beer.
“Thank you,” Buck says. “For - -” He can’t find the words, so he just waves his hand around the general premises. Eddie was here. He remembers. He saw the sticky.
“Hey. Of course,” Eddie shrugs. “I told you I had your back on this. He’s a great kid. Smart, curious, funny. It’s no hardship to get to hang out with him. He’s a cool little dude.”
Smart, curious, funny.
Smart, curious, funny.
He’s a great kid. Smart, curious, funny.
“Yeah,” Buck breathes. Something complicated is happening in his chest. “He’s cute when he’s not eyeing the knives.”
Eddie snorts and takes a sip of his beer.
Smart, curious, funny. Those are the words that Buck uses when he talks about Theo. The ones he uses when he talks to Theo, hoping, hoping, hoping that he says them loud and often enough that he hears them.
“Most people don’t use those words,” Buck says. It bursts out of him, really. “To describe him. Especially on a bad day.”
Eddie shrugs, picking at the label of his beer. “What can I say? He reminds me of my best friend.”
“I have never peed in a sink,” he notes, taking a swig of his beer. “That I can recall. My parents could definitely have used that hose trick, though. I’m gonna write that down.”
Eddie snorts. “This isn’t my first rodeo. I have some tricks up my sleeve.”
Buck highly doubts Eddie ever had to hose a tiny Chris off with a hose. This is the same kid who refused to jump in puddles because he didn’t like it when his socks got wet.
“If Chris were a rodeo, then Theo is a herd of wild bulls on the loose,” Buck jokes. “They don’t exactly share a temperament."
Eddie smiles over the lip of his beer. “I didn’t mean Chris.”
Oh. Right. Right. Buck is the herd of wild bulls on the loose, and Eddie has been trapped in the rodeo with him for years.
“Oh. Right,” Buck winces, ducking his head. “Uh - - sorry?”
Eddie rolls his eyes. “You know that I like being around you, right? That we’re best friends because I like you the way you are? I like those things about you.”
Buck blinks. “I - - yeah. Sure. You put up with me.”
Eddie frowns. He throws a piece of picked-off beer label at him. “No, I don’t. Chim might, sure. But I don’t. I’m not tolerating you. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t voluntarily spend all my time with you, you doofus.”
“I - - I know I can be a lot sometimes. You don’t have to - -”
“I know I don’t have to. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t have to. I’m here because I want to be. I’m your best friend because I want to be. All the things about you, and about Theo, that some people don’t know what to do with, I know what to do with. I like it. I like you, and I like tiny you.”
Buck doesn’t know what to do with that. It might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to him.
“Oh,” he breathes. “Thanks. That’s nice. We like you, too.”
Eddie smiles. “I know. Chris said you both look at me the same. Said it’s creepy.”
Well, that’s fucking embarrassing. Theo looks at Eddie like he hung the moon.
He ignores the burning in his cheeks. “Must be genetic.”
Eddie nudges him with his elbow. “I meant it, y’know. We could do this together. I always thought I’d have another kid.”
Buck sucks in a breath. Eddie had said that once, early on, and he’d thought - - he’d assumed it was just the polite thing to do. Like saying “let me know if there’s anything I can do,” or “I’m here if you need anything — you’re not alone.” He’d taken it as a gesture of support, not as an actual offer to do this together.
This was - - Buck made this decision. Eddie didn’t choose this.
“Eddie. You don’t have to - -”
“What did I just say? I want to. I don’t want to overstep. If you want to do this on your own, you should. But if you want company,” he shrugs. “I’d raise another kid with you. I’d raise this kid with you. You, me, Chris, Theo — we could be - - y’know. Like a family.”
Like a - -
Buck blinks at him. “Like a family?” He breathes.
“A family,” Eddie amends, not a trace of hesitance. “We could be a family.”
“Like…co-parents?”
“Sure.”
Sure. Sure is - - sure is not a word that Eddie uses to mean yes. Sure is a word that Eddie uses when he doesn’t want to say no.
He searches Eddie’s face. “Why - - why’d you say it like that?”
“We can do it like that. If you want.”
If he wants????
“W-what are the - - how else would we do it?”
Eddie shrugs. “Parents. Partners.”
Parents. Partners. Parent partners. Parent-partners. Partners in parents.
“Is that like - - like work partners? B-But parent partners?”
Eddie fights a smile and loses. “Sure.”
“Why do you keep saying that? What do you - - what do you mean?”
Eddie breathes out a laugh. “I mean that when I think about the future, it’s you, me, Chris, and Theo. Maybe another house with another bedroom. Maybe a dog.”
Maybe the sticky substances were hallucinogens, somehow. Maybe when you mix molasses with craft glue and children’s paint, you get a lesser-known hallucinogen.
“A-Another bedroom? J-Just one?”
Eddie nods. “Yeah. Just one.”
Buck swallows. “W-Would Chris and Theo be sharing?”
“No. No,” Eddie laughs. “I don’t think Chris would go for that.”
“You want to share a room?”
“A bed.”
“A bed.”
Eddie shrugs. “That’s just - - when I think about it. That’s what I see.”
“Eddie.”
“Yeah.”
“You want - - me?”
Eddie looks out into the distance. He takes a breath and lets it out. “Yeah,” he says. He breathes out a laugh. “Yeah. I do. I want you.” He’s grinning. He's the brightest thing Buck’s ever seen. He’s so beautiful. Buck loves him.
He should probably tell him that. It seems like a time to say that, out loud. But instead, he opens his mouth and says:
“I have a kid.”
He’s not sure why he says it. He knows that Eddie knows this, but it’s important. It’s the most important part of him. Theo is the most important part of him. Decisions aren’t simple anymore. Decisions have consequences, and Theo has been dealt enough of those already. So, instead of tackling Eddie where he sits and climbing him like a tree, Buck hesitates. He hesitates in the face of everything he’s ever wanted.
Eddie chuckles. “I love kids.”
Buck blinks. He’s 27 and knee-to-knee with Eddie in the engine again, the world collapsing around them. “I love this one.”
Eddie smiles, remembering, too. “Wanna do it again?”
Buck blinks in rapid succession.
“You’re serious.”
Eddie nods. “As a lightning strike.”
Buck ignores that.
“A family?”
“Ours, yeah.”
“Buck?” A tiny little voice pouts. Theo stands in the patio doorway, bed head and all, eyes filled with tears.
A million things are racing through his mind, but in that moment, the rest slips away — all he sees is Theo. He opens his arms, and Theo runs into them. He holds his whole world in his arms.
Theo sniffs, turns his head, and spots Eddie.
“Eddie!” He gasps. His whole world flings himself from Buck’s arms into Eddie’s. Eddie catches him. Eddie always catches him.
“Hey, buddy,” Eddie smiles. “You okay?”
Theo buries his face in Eddie’s neck. He sniffs. “I don’t want to sleep,” he explains. “It’s boring.”
“Did Buck read you a bedtime story?”
Theo nods. “Three.”
“Woah,” Eddie gasps. “That’s so many!”
“I’m really clever,” he says. “I know all the words.”
Buck grins proudly. He is really clever.
“No way,” Eddie says, squinting his eyes playfully. “I don’t believe that a 4-year-old could know all the words. That’s so many words!”
Theo lights up, wriggling in Eddie’s arms. “I do!” He insists. “All of them!”
“Hmmm,” Eddie hums. “I don’t know. I think you’ll have to show me.”
Theo gasps. “I will! I’m the most clever. I know them all.”
“Alright,” Eddie says, feigning disbelief. “You head back to bed, and I’ll be right there so you can show me. Pick out your favorite one.”
“Okay!” Theo says, already sprinting back into the house. He doesn’t argue, he doesn’t negotiate, he doesn’t haggle, he just…does it. Like Eddie knew he would. Because Eddie - -
Buck blinks at the doorway. He looks at Eddie. He narrows his eyes. “How many times has that worked on me?”
Eddie snorts. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Buck stumbles into the living room with every intention of following Eddie in to settle Theo. He finds Chris sitting on the couch, headphones on, playing something on his Switch.
The feeling in his chest when he looks at him is the same as it’s always been — bone-deep and fierce. It’s the same one he feels when he looks at Theo.
Chris looks up and sees him. He pulls his headphones off. “Did Theo find you?” He asks. “He was looking for you.”
“Yeah,” Buck manages. “Thanks, bud. Your dad is putting him back to bed.”
“He’s really cute,” Chris offers. “I like him.”
You’d think someone just told him he won the lottery, or crowned him Best Firefighter in the Universe, the way his whole body floods with pure elation.
His kid likes his other kid. His kids like each other.
“Yeah?” He laughs. “That’s good. I’m glad you do.”
Chris fidgets with his Switch. He looks up, hesitant. “It’s really sad, what happened to his parents.”
They haven’t really spoken about it much, he and Chris. He was so laser-focused on Theo, and getting everything ready for Theo, and if he could ever be enough for Theo. He knows Eddie would have explained it to him, but they haven’t talked about it.
“It is,” Buck agrees. “It’s really sad.”
“But you’re a really good dad,” Chris says, like it’s that easy. Like it’s a fact. “It’s good that - - if he can’t have his parents, then he gets to have you.”
Buck blinks at him. He’s going to cry. He’s going to cry on this teenager that he loves more than life itself. “You know I love you, right?”
“I know, Buck,” Chris sighs.
“I love you like you’re my kid.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“I think you taught me how to be a good dad.”
Chris rolls his eyes. “You already knew how to do that.”
The Buck that met tiny Chris definitely did not know how to do that. Eddie knew how to do that. Buck just got to love the shit out of him and picked up a thing or two along the way. He stands by his statement. It was all Chris.
He drops down onto the couch next to this impossibly perfect human that he got to watch grow up.
“What would you think about being a big brother to Theo?”
Chris shrugs. “That’d be cool,” he says. “I always wanted a sibling. And I know what it’s like to lose a parent. I could help him with that,” he adds, like he’s thought about it. Like he's been thinking about it.
Fuck. He’s definitely going to cry. “Yeah?” He asks. “That would be - - Chris. That would be so great.”
“I figured it would kinda be like that anyway,” Chris shrugs.
God, Buck loves this kid. He loves this kid so bad. He’s gonna snotty-cry all over him.
“He was out before the second page,” Eddie announces, appearing from the hallway. He’s still wearing Buck’s clothes, and he looks like he belongs here. “I think he wore himself out.”
“Yeah,” Buck laughs, wet. “He doesn’t really sleep, he just passes out.”
“Speaking of getting kids to bed,” Eddie sighs. “We should probably head home soon. It’s getting late.”
“Can’t we just stay here?” Chris groans. “I can sleep on the couch. Then we can be here when he wakes up! We could do something fun tomorrow!”
Eddie hums. “What kind of thing?”
“I don’t know. A brother thing. Whatever he wants to do.”
Buck is floored. Just like that, Theo has a big brother. Theo has the best big brother.
“That’s a great idea,” Eddie smiles. He looks at Buck. He must see the barely-contained tears threatening to spill down his cheeks, because he steps closer, squeezing the back of Buck’s neck. “That okay with you?”
Buck breathes out a laugh, leaning into the touch. “Yeah. Yeah. He’ll be so excited. He’d love that. I’ll set up the sofa bed. He may - - he will almost definitely jump on you at 6 am,” he winces.
Chris snorts. “That’s okay. I want to help.”
He’s the best kid in the world. Theo has the best big brother in the world.
Buck can’t resist any longer. He leans over and squeezes Chris into a tight hug. “I love you so much.”
“I know,” Chris says, muffled into Buck’s shoulder. “Love you, too.”
He could stare at a sleeping Theo for hours. He’s so tiny. He’s so still. Most of the time, he sees him in a blur as he zooms past him, or on top of him, or away from him.
Like this, deep in sleep, Buck is always struck by how beautiful he is.
“Still sleepin’?” Eddie whispers, coming up behind where Buck is hovering in Theo’s doorway. A hesitant hand finds his hip.
“Yeah. Chris?” Buck leans back into the touch. He wants more of it. Eddie always knows what he wants.
Eddie steps closer, closing the space between them, hooking his chin over Buck’s shoulder. “All set up on the sofa bed. How do you even own that many pillows?”
“I wanted to make sure he’s comfy. I really - -” he chokes. “I really appreciate - -” He clears his throat. “Theo and I are so lucky to have him.” His whole body exhales as he lets his weight lean back against Eddie’s chest.
Eddie hums. “Join the club.”
One of Theo’s tiny snores reverberates around the room.
Eddie snorts. Buck ducks his head. Eddie presses a kiss to his shoulder, then properly wraps his arms around Buck’s middle, pulling him even closer.
“You, me, Chris, Theo,” Buck whispers. “A house. A dog. Maybe a key safe.”
He feels Eddie smile into his neck. “Fire extinguishers in every room,” he adds. “A family pass to the zoo. Maybe we can plant an AirTag on him. And we should get him into a sport. Or all of them. Something with lots of running. We’ll get one of those big family calendars for the kitchen. Color code it. Put our laundry schedule on there.”
Buck covers Eddie’s hands with his own. “What color will you be?”
“Hmm,” Eddie hums. “I dunno. I like red, but so does Chris.”
“Theo will want whatever color everyone else wants. His favorite changes every time I ask.”
Eddie snorts. “The boys can fight it out for red, then. You’ll be blue, and I’ll take whatever’s left.
“I’ll be blue, huh?”
“Mhm. Unless Theo wants it. Always makes me think of you.”
“You been thinkin’ about me, Eddie?”
Eddie smiles into his neck. “Shut up.”
“Language. Our kid is right there.”
“Our kid is about to grow up with a teenage brother. I think he’s gonna learn some new words.”
“Chris has never done anything wrong in his life, ever. He’s perfect.”
“I see how it’s gonna be.”
Buck accidentally yawns in response.
“Bed?” Eddie asks.
“Nuh-uh,” Buck hums, sleepy. He lets his head fall against Eddie’s, but his eyes never leave Theo’s tiny sleeping face. “Don’t wanna move. You’re comfy, and he’s cute.”
Eddie’s arms squeeze around his middle. “You’re cute,” he mumbles, just as sleepily.
Buck replies with an unsanctioned yawn.
“Mm. I’m tired,” Eddie says into his shoulder. “Come to bed with me?”
“Yeah,” Buck agrees, instantly. He’s pretty sure that when Eddie wants something, Buck is genetically predisposed to say yes. It’s a sample size of two, but the data is compelling.
Even Theo - -
Wait a fucking second.
He pauses. He turns. “Did you just Theo me?”
Eddie blinks at him, the picture of innocence. “I don’t know what that means,” he says, tugging Buck toward the bedroom.
Yeah, Eddie Theo’d the shit out of him. He has never been less tired in his life. His whole body is buzzing — he has a…boyfriend? A partner? A Buck. He has a Buck. And a Theo. Chris has a brother, and Eddie has everything he’s ever wanted.
There’s no chance he’s sleeping any time soon. With Buck snoring into his throat, he’s googling. He’s researching. He’s looking at calendars. He’s looking at calendars that have no business costing as much as they cost, but he already knows he’s gonna drop a ridiculous amount of money on this stupid calendar.
This stupid, needlessly high-tech calendar that probably spies on him is already in his cart, because if Theo wants to be a different color every day of the week, then Eddie is going to make damn sure that he can be.
artwork by @abritincanada