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Father Brian has always considered himself a patient man.
It comes with the collar, he thinks.
You don’t survive years of confessions, grief counseling, youth groups, and listening to old women argue over casserole recipes without developing the patience of a saint.
But standing in the middle of the farmer’s market on a sunny Saturday afternoon, staring at Eddie Diaz for the first time in over a year—
Father Brian thinks maybe God is testing him specifically.
Because Eddie has a mustache now.
A mustache.
Father Brian blinks at him across the crowd, momentarily too stunned to speak. Last time he saw Eddie, the man had been spiraling quietly through a crisis of identity and loneliness, sitting in the rectory kitchen at nearly midnight nursing cold coffee while asking questions about purpose and love and whether it was possible to start over when you felt fundamentally stuck.
Father Brian had, gently and carefully, suggested Eddie stop hiding from himself.
Apparently Eddie’s response had been to grow facial hair that made him look like a divorced detective in a 1980s crime drama.
“Eddie?”
Eddie turns, startled. His eyes widen immediately.
“Father Brian?”
Well. At least the kid still looks happy to see him.
Father Brian steps closer, taking him in properly. Eddie looks… good, actually. Softer around the edges than he used to. Less haunted. There’s laugh lines Father Brian doesn’t remember.
Still, his gaze drifts helplessly back to the mustache.
Eddie notices.
“Oh my god,” he groans immediately. “Not you too.”
Father Brian folds his hands together solemnly. “My son, I mean this with love—”
“It’s not that bad.”
“It’s certainly… there.”
Eddie sighs the sigh of a man who’s had this exact conversation at least fifty times already.
Before Father Brian can say anything else, a small child barrels across the walkway at terrifying speed.
“EDDIE!”
The tiny missile crashes directly into Eddie’s legs. Eddie barely even rocks with the impact before instinctively bending down to scoop the kid up with easy familiarity.
“There he is,” Eddie says warmly, pressing a loud kiss to the boy’s temple. “Where’d you run off to, huh?”
The kid—four, maybe five—giggles wildly and wraps both arms around Eddie’s neck.
Father Brian stares.
Because Christopher had been around twelve the last time they spoke.
And unless something has gone horribly wrong with the space-time continuum, this cannot possibly be the same child.
Eddie notices his confusion instantly.
“Oh! No, this is Theo.”
Theo waves at him with complete seriousness. “Hi.”
“Well hello,” Father Brian says slowly.
Theo squints at the collar. “Are you God?”
Eddie snorts so hard he nearly drops him.
Father Brian smiles despite himself. “Not quite.”
“Close enough,” Theo decides.
“Buddy,” Eddie says, laughing now, “that’s Father Brian. Remember I told you about him?”
Theo gasps dramatically. “The church guy!”
“The church guy,” Eddie confirms.
Father Brian opens his mouth to ask the obvious question—whose child Theo actually is—but movement over Eddie’s shoulder catches his attention.
A blond man and a teenager weave through the crowd toward them carrying far too many shopping bags.
Christopher is taller now. Taller than Eddie’s shoulder, somehow, which feels personally offensive to Father Brian’s sense of time. He’s grinning about something the blond man is saying, rolling his eyes in the long-suffering way only teenagers can.
The blond man looks up first.
And then his entire face changes when he spots Eddie.
It’s subtle. Tiny, even.
But Father Brian has spent decades watching people love each other in quiet ways.
The man’s expression softens instantly, his shoulders relaxing like he’s finally reached the place he was trying to get to all day.
Eddie mirrors it immediately.
Oh.
Oh, Father Brian thinks.
Interesting.
“Dad!” Christopher calls.
Dad.
Right. Of course.
Father Brian nods politely to himself, mentally rearranging the picture.
The blond man reaches them a second later, slightly breathless. Theo immediately launches himself out of Eddie’s arms toward him with absolute confidence.
“Buck!”
Buck catches him automatically, one arm secure around the kid while balancing grocery bags with the other.
“Hey, troublemaker,” he says fondly.
And then he looks at Eddie.
Just looks at him.
It lasts maybe half a second too long.
Eddie smiles without realizing he’s doing it.
Father Brian has officiated weddings with less chemistry than this.
“Uh,” Eddie says, finally remembering his manners. “Father Brian, this is Buck. And Chris, obviously.”
Christopher beams. “Hey, Father Brian!”
Buck shifts Theo higher on his hip and offers a hand. “Nice to meet you, Father.”
Father Brian shakes it carefully, still observing.
Because Buck stands close to Eddie. Not consciously, maybe, but naturally. Like proximity is second nature. Theo is tucked against Buck’s side while Christopher leans casually into Eddie’s shoulder.
They look—
Father Brian pauses.
They look like a family.
A very obvious family.
So obvious, in fact, that he’s halfway through wondering when the wedding happened before he notices something deeply confusing.
Buck and Eddie are not touching.
Not really.
No wedding rings either.
And when Buck says something under his breath that makes Eddie laugh softly, there’s a flicker there—something restrained. Something cautious.
Father Brian narrows his eyes.
No.
No, absolutely not.
Surely not.
“You boys have been busy,” he says carefully.
Eddie nods easily. “Yeah, things are good.”
Buck smiles at him with unbearable fondness. “Really good.”
Father Brian waits for literally anyone to mention being together.
Nobody does.
Christopher is the one who accidentally detonates the situation.
“Buck got banned from choosing vegetables again,” he informs Father Brian cheerfully.
“I bought perfectly good vegetables!”
“You bought squash.”
“It’s seasonal!”
“You don’t even like squash.”
Buck points accusingly at Eddie. “See? This is what I deal with.”
Eddie grins. “You survived.”
“You laughed at me!”
“Because you looked genuinely betrayed by a squash.”
Theo pats Buck’s cheek sympathetically. “It’s okay, buddy.”
Father Brian watches the exchange in growing disbelief.
They bicker like spouses.
They parent like spouses.
They look at each other like men catastrophically in love.
And somehow—
“You’re not together,” Father Brian says aloud before he can stop himself.
Silence.
Buck chokes on air.
Eddie goes completely still.
Christopher immediately looks exhausted.
“Oh my God,” he mutters, like this happens constantly.
Father Brian looks between them slowly.
“You’re not?”
“No,” Buck says weakly.
“At all?” Father Brian asks.
Eddie rubs a hand down his face. “Father—”
“Because respectfully,” Father Brian interrupts, “that is the most married unmarried situation I have ever witnessed.”
Christopher outright cackles.
Theo, delighted by chaos despite understanding none of it, starts chanting, “Married! Married! Married!”
Buck turns bright red.
Eddie looks like he wants the earth to swallow him whole.
Father Brian suddenly understands several things at once.
The mustache is absolutely a cry for help.
“You two need to talk,” he says firmly.
“We really don’t,” Eddie says at the exact same time Buck says, “We’ve talked.”
Christopher makes a face. “Not correctly.”
“Oh, you’re being no help at all,” Eddie tells him.
Christopher shrugs. “I suffered for like seven years waiting for you idiots to figure it out. I’ve earned this.”
Father Brian blinks.
“Seven years?”
Buck looks at Eddie with the expression of a man standing at the edge of a cliff.
Eddie looks back with equal terror.
And there it is.
The thing Father Brian remembers from that late-night conversation long ago.
Not fear of being unloved.
Fear of being loved back.
Father Brian smiles gently.
“Well,” he says, stepping backward, “I should let you all enjoy your afternoon.”
“Father—” Eddie starts.
“But before I go.” Father Brian points between them. “God gives many signs. Some people get burning bushes. Some get divine revelation.”
He gestures vaguely at the two of them.
“And some people get whatever this is.”
Buck laughs helplessly.
Eddie hides his face in his hands.
Father Brian starts walking away before either can recover enough to argue.
Behind him, he hears Theo ask loudly, “What’s a burning bush?”
Then Christopher says, with deep teenage weariness, “You know what? Don’t worry about it.”
And Buck’s laughter carries all the way down the street.
Eddie fully intends to pretend the entire Father Brian encounter never happened.
This plan lasts approximately eleven minutes.
“Okay,” Buck says casually as they walk through the parking lot. “So that was insane.”
“Mmhm.”
“You know he basically called us married in front of God.”
Eddie unlocks the truck with perhaps slightly too much force. “Pretty sure Father Brian doesn’t actually speak for God.”
Buck slides Theo into his booster seat. “You sure? Felt official.”
Christopher snorts from the backseat. Traitor.
Eddie points a warning finger at him. “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
“You were thinking loudly.”
“I was agreeing with him loudly in my head.”
Buck loses his battle against laughter immediately, ducking his head against Theo’s hair.
Eddie glares at all three of them.
“Can everyone please stop acting weird?”
Buck blinks at him innocently. “Weird? Eddie, I’m completely normal right now.”
Christopher actually chokes.
Theo, ever helpful, announces, “Buck made heart eyes at you by the tomatoes.”
Buck sputters. “Buddy!”
“What?” Theo asks. “That’s what Maddie calls it.”
Eddie freezes halfway into the driver’s seat.
Christopher makes the kind of delighted noise usually heard from people watching reality television implode in real time.
“Oh my God,” he whispers. “Uncle Chim and Maddie know.”
Buck looks horrified. “They do not know anything.”
“Maddie literally asked if you wanted help picking engagement rings last month,” Christopher says.
Eddie’s head snaps around so fast he nearly gets whiplash.
“She WHAT?”
Buck looks like he’s considering faking his own death.
“She was joking,” he says weakly.
Christopher cackles. “She absolutely wasn’t.”
Theo kicks his little legs happily. “What’s engagement?”
“No one answer that,” Buck says immediately.
—
The problem is that Father Brian got into Eddie’s head.
Which is rude, honestly.
Because now Eddie can’t stop noticing things.
Noticing Buck reaching automatically for the coffee Eddie likes before Eddie even asks.
Noticing how Theo climbs into Buck’s lap during movie night but sprawls across Eddie’s side too, like the kid already decided years ago that they belong together.
Noticing Christopher watching both of them with the patience of someone waiting for a slow-moving natural disaster to finally happen.
And worst of all—
Noticing himself.
The way he looks for Buck first in every room.
The way his chest settles when Buck walks through the door.
The way Buck smiles at him soft and helpless and fond, like Eddie’s something precious.
It’s unbearable.
Three days later Eddie is changing the oil in the truck when Christopher appears in the garage doorway holding a soda.
“You’re spiraling,” Chris says.
Eddie nearly drops the wrench.
“I am not.”
“You alphabetized the spice cabinet yesterday.”
“…organization is important.”
“You called Buck babe by accident.”
Eddie closes his eyes.
In fairness, Buck hadn’t noticed.
Or maybe he had and was politely pretending he hadn’t.
Either option makes Eddie want to lie facedown on the concrete forever.
Christopher walks closer, handing him the soda.
“You know Father Brian was right.”
“Et tu, Brute?”
“I’m serious.” Chris leans against the workbench. “You and Buck already act married. Literally everyone knows it except you two.”
Eddie wipes grease off his hands a little aggressively. “It’s not that simple.”
Chris gives him a look that is deeply Diaz in its judgment.
“Isn’t it?”
Yes, actually.
It is complicated.
Because Eddie already almost lost Buck once.
Because wanting him feels dangerous in ways Eddie still doesn’t entirely know how to explain.
Because Buck is woven so tightly into the fabric of their lives that if this goes wrong—
“Dad,” Chris says quietly, startling him out of the spiral. “You know Buck already loves us, right?”
Eddie looks up.
Chris shrugs one shoulder. “Like. A lot.”
Emotion lodges suddenly and painfully in Eddie’s throat.
“I know.”
“And you love him.”
Eddie exhales slowly. “Chris…”
“I’m just saying.” Chris sips his drink. “If you guys keep staring at each other like divorced soulmates for another ten years, I’m gonna lose my mind.”
Eddie laughs despite himself.
“Divorced soulmates?”
“That’s the vibe.”
“That’s a terrible vibe.”
“It really is.”
They’re both still smiling when Buck appears in the open garage doorway.
And immediately stops.
Because apparently Eddie smiling softly at Christopher while sunlight spills through the garage is enough to completely short-circuit Buck’s brain.
“Oh,” Buck says faintly.
Eddie’s stomach flips traitorously.
Christopher notices too, because of course he does.
“You know,” Chris says loudly, “Father Brian would probably say this is another sign.”
Buck nearly walks directly into a shelf.
“Christopher,” Eddie says, scandalized.
“What? I’m helping.”
“You are absolutely not helping.”
Buck clears his throat, very carefully not looking at either of them for too long.
“I, uh, brought dinner.”
Theo pops out from behind him like an ambush. “Pizza!”
“Thank God,” Eddie says.
Buck grins. “That enthusiastic, huh?”
“I’ve been emotionally terrorized by a priest for three days.”
Buck laughs so suddenly and warmly that Eddie’s entire chest aches with it.
And there it is again.
That look.
The soft one.
The fond one.
The one that says everything Buck won’t.
Buck’s smile fades slowly around the edges.
Eddie realizes, all at once, that Buck is waiting.
Not pushing. Not asking.
Just… waiting for Eddie to be ready.
The realization hits him so hard he almost sways with it.
Because Buck could have demanded answers years ago.
Instead he stayed.
Stayed through panic attacks and grief and lawsuits and lightning strikes and impossible heartbreak.
Stayed anyway.
Buck shifts awkwardly under the silence. “Uh. Pizza’s getting cold.”
Eddie stares at him.
Then says, very carefully, “You know Father Brian once told me that hiding from happiness doesn’t make me less afraid. It just makes me lonely.”
Buck goes completely still.
Christopher quietly grabs Theo’s hand.
“Oh my God,” Chris whispers. “It’s happening.”
“Shh,” Theo whispers back loudly.
Buck’s voice comes out rough. “Eddie…”
And Eddie—
Eddie looks at the man who built himself into the center of their lives so naturally it feels impossible to remember a time before him.
Then he says the scariest thing he’s ever said.
“I think maybe I’m done hiding.”
Buck stares at him for one endless heartbeat.
Then another.
And then Buck sets the pizza down directly on the driveway because apparently motor function has abandoned him entirely.
“Okay,” Buck says breathlessly.
Eddie huffs out a helpless laugh. “That’s your response?”
Buck points at him wildly. “You can’t just say life-altering things while I’m holding pepperoni!”
Christopher actually cheers.
Theo joins in despite clearly not understanding why.
Buck steps closer slowly, like he’s afraid this might disappear if he moves too fast.
“You mean that?” he asks quietly.
Eddie meets his eyes.
“All this time,” Eddie says softly, “I thought I was protecting what we had.”
Buck’s expression cracks open a little.
“And now?” he whispers.
Eddie smiles.
Now feels suspiciously like standing at the edge of something wonderful.
“I think maybe we deserve more.”
Buck kisses him before the sentence fully finishes.
Quick and a little messy and absolutely overflowing with years of restraint finally snapping.
Christopher whoops so loudly the neighbors probably hear it.
Theo starts chanting, “KISSING! KISSING! KISSING!”
Eddie laughs helplessly against Buck’s mouth.
And somewhere in the back of his mind, he can practically hear Father Brian saying finally.