Archive of Our Own

The doorbell rings three consecutive times and Eddie wonders what has he done in his life for all hell to break loose on this random Sunday morning.

It was barely eight in the morning for fucks sakes.

Actually, he might have a thing or two in mind of why would karma bite him in the ass but that is not here nor there right now and he really needs to think how to handle a kitchen that decided to explode on him, an overly enthusiastic four-year-old and a teenager too wise and perceptive for his own good.

It was way too early to be dealing with guests on top of that.

All while he’s by himself.

Eddie stands frozen in the middle of the kitchen; Theo perched on his hip while he’s holding a mop in the other hand trying to clean the dirty water coming from the sink.

He’s barefoot on the tiles that are still sticky after Buck knocked down an entire pancake batter on the floor and spectacularly failed in cleaning it until all hell broke loose and Eddie’s sink started spewing something that didn’t smell like water.

Eddie is still puzzled how the hell that happened. He had it checked out almost two weeks ago and the plumber changed the entire thing.

Was it overpriced because Buck called the repairman on the weekend? Sure. But it was fixed.

Theo is wrapped in one of Eddie’s old army t-shirts and Christopher’s old dinosaur shorts because apparently one broken appliance wasn’t enough because his washing machine decided to die on him last night and … well, everything went to shit last night when he thinks about it.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong.

For the past two weeks they camped at Eddie’s place because Theo refused to go back to Buck’s without Eddie and Christopher.

Then Buck’s place was fumigated for bug infestation.

Then a strong wind destroyed part of Buck’s roof and he had to repair it.

So, it was a no brainer that the boys would camp out in the Diaz household. They were here on a regular basis already; it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

The only problem was that in the midst of Buck’s house collapsing and Theo’s unwillingness to sleep anywhere other than in between Buck and Eddie at night, Eddie’s house was also spectacularly falling apart.

He needed to buy a new washing machine for ages but didn’t want that new age touch screen thing and he pushed the purchase so much that in the end karma bit him in the ass. Especially because it died on them after their 72-hour shift after Carla, the daycare and apparently every functional teenage braincell died on his boys so they didn’t have anything to wear.

And now the sink.

Oh, and the fact that they didn’t have anything edible in the house because – again, they were living with an actual teenager and a human version of a vacuum, Theo – so when the pancake batter bowl smashed on the floor earlier that morning Eddie was trying really hard to rise above the situation and try not to teach Theo several curse words in Spanish by accident.

And Eddie is trying really hard not to panic right now because toddlers can smell your fear and then they’ll panic too, or do something unhinged and they had enough unhinged Theo situations since this morning.

So, Eddie needs to stay calm.

He can’t stay calm.

The world is on fire and someone decided that his doorbell is a toy to play with at eight in the morning and he wants to murder whoever decided to disturb his little ‘I’m not panicking’ panic he’s experiencing right now.

Eddie knows it isn’t Buck because the man left for the store approximately seven minutes ago and will be back in at least thirty.

He also has a key.

Eddie quickly glances at their shared calendar on the fridge to see if they agreed to babysit Jee or Nash but the entire day today was blanked out. It was supposed to be a quiet time.

Family time.

Well, friends and family time.

Their Buck, Eddie, Chris and Theo time. Because, you know – Buck was his best friend and Theo was, well… Okay, Eddie is completely blanking out on the definition he and Buck had for the past decade and every time someone refers to them as a beautiful family Eddie doesn’t have a heart to correct them.

Because, yes – they do have a really beautiful family. He just doesn’t know what that means yet.

Eddie snaps out of it when the doorbell rings again.

Theo is dangling his little legs, every now and again kicking Eddie on his sides while he checks out the sticker sheet in his hands and debates which one should join the frog one that has already found its place on Eddie’s right cheek.

‘’Jesus! Are we expecting someone this early on a Sunday?’’ Christopher yells from the living room where he’s still in his pj’s playing some lazy game on the screen.

He puts away the joystick as Eddie enters the room, Theo now theatrically slapping a butterfly sticker under Eddie’s eye with a giggle.

It lands just next to Eddie’s beauty mark and Eddie can’t help himself but giggle at the thought when Buck comes home and sees it.

The bell rings again as Chris reaches for his crutches.

‘’Don’t stand up, I’ll get it because whoever it is they will get a piece of my…’’

Eddie stops as he opens the door and sees Adriana leaning heavily on his doorbell. Sophia is pulling on her other hand trying to pry her sister from being an annoyance this early in the morning – and failing spectacularly because the ringing is coming from everywhere now and Eddie is convinced that he’s hallucinating.

Some kind of hallucination provoked by too many rings this early in the morning or something like that.

Eddie, caught like a deer in headlights – instead just stares at his sisters.

Adriana and Sophia, bickering when he opened the door now lift their gaze and take in Eddie – sockless, in a washed out black tank top with suspicious fluids on them looking like they’ve been there for a while now and joggers hunched up to his knees where he pulled them haphazardly as not to get them dirty from the sink water – then their eyes shift on the little boy perched on his hip and their mouth fall open.

‘’Pepa was right,’’ Sophia mumbles.

Eddie blinks, opening and closing his mouth trying to find words – he comes up with nothing.

‘’And Esteban told me but I didn’t believe him,’’ Adriana joins eyes darting from Theo to stunned Eddie.

‘’Soph, Adri… What…’’ He starts but Theo decides that he’s done with the sticker sheet and focuses on the new arrivals. As soon as he sees them his face erupts in the brightest smile Eddie has seen whole morning.

Well, there’s that – at least.

Theo gasps then yells at full volume –

‘’Wow, you’re so pretty!’’

Adriana and Sophia chuckle. Theo smashes Eddie’s face with both of his little hands and turns it towards himself. He looks Eddie straight in the eye –

‘’Eddie, who are they?’’

Eddie gently pinches Theo’s side making the boy giggle.

‘’This Theo are my sisters – Sophia and Adriana,’’ he says when Theo dramatically turns to the girls again.

‘’Sisters!?!!?! Like Chris and I are brothers?’’ He yells happily making grabby hands towards Adriana.

And as Eddie opens his mouth to contradict or say anything Adriana scoops Theo up and answers instead. ‘’Just like you and Chris Theo. Hi, I’m your aunty Adriana!’’

Theo then decides that the best thing to do is just lay on Adriana’s chest and yawn.

Adriana melts and makes a pouty face gently holding the boy over his back and kissing the top of his head. She angrily glares at Eddie who interprets the look as either ‘you’ll pay for keeping this boy away from us’ or ‘wait till we get inside and I’ll crush your little head with my two fingers’ – or probably both.

Yeah. Both at the same time.

Eddie gulps but Theo thankfully breaks his spiral.

‘’Hi, you are warm. And smell nice,’’ he looks up from where he’s still laying on her chest and yawns again.

Adriana chuckles. Sophia is holding a hand over her mouth behind her and trying very hard not to laugh.

‘’Our kitchen smells like poop,’’ Theo continues as Eddie pinches the bridge of his nose closing his eyes.

Jesus, okay. He’s going there.

‘’Theo,’’ Eddie warns.

But Theo continues because he’s not aware of Eddie’s not panic ‘panic’ coursing through his veins.

‘’Buck made a mess, then Eddie tried to fix it and now everything smells like poop,’’ Theo says simply.

‘’Hey, I don’t smell like poop!’’ Chris yells from the living room, crutches clanking when he goes towards the door. ‘’Dad, who is… Tias?’’

Christopher’s entire face cracks in a smile as Sophia pushes her sister and brother aside and gathers Chris into her arms smacking loud kisses on top of his head with exaggerated ‘mwah’.

‘’My favourite Diaz!’’

‘’Hey there!’’ Adriana and Eddie say in unison making Theo giggle again.

‘’Chris, they are sisters like you and me. But we are brothers,’’ Theo pushes his little hands on Adriana’s chest and leans back to look at Chris upside down. Adriana gently stabilizes his neck and manhandles him so he’s the right side up again.

Chris snorts as Eddie opens his mouth to say something but he doesn’t get to.

‘’Come on in, dad is going to have a heart attack. Would you like to watch me play with Denny Theo?’’

Chris hugs Sophia again then fist bumps Adriana and motions Theo to the couch and the game he has on the TV.

‘’Yes!’’ The boy yells and is already wriggling from Adriana’s hold to the floor – climbing over the armrest in a record speed.

Chris clears his throat looking at the Diaz siblings glaring at each other like they are one step away from having a very loud conversation at the front door.

‘’I think you should talk, you know. Before Buck comes home,’’ Chris lifts his eyebrows and points to the kitchen finally joining Theo on the couch.

Eddie snaps from his spiral. ‘’Fuck, yes. Buck.’’

Adriana opens her mouth but Eddie pushes her and Sophia into the kitchen. They immediately scrunch their noses in disgust.

‘’Jesus Edmundo, what happened here?’’ Sophia says looking cautiously at the sink like it might attack her.

Eddie glances towards the living room making sure that Theo and Chris are occupied then turns to his sisters taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment wondering if the smell from the sink is bad enough to make him hallucinate this entire thing.

It could happen, right? He’s a firefighter. Are there any instances of carbon monoxide coming out of the water pipes?

Okay, even he knows that he’s being silly.

Although, there was that one time when the water was flammable – that’s not the point now.

His hands are on his hips now and he’s pacing because this is not happening. It’s not that he doesn’t want Adriana and Sophia to meet Theo, he just didn’t want it to happen like this – in the midst of his emotional and physical despair.

He barely slept. They were awake for hours already and every single appliance decided to die on him.

The worst of all, Buck is still not home and he has to deal with it all by himself.

So, his filter is totally off and his brain decides to say everything at once –

‘’Theo couldn’t sleep last night so we didn’t too,’’ he winces as he hears a thump coming from the living room but neither Chris nor Theo yell in pain so – small wins, yay?

‘’Then the washing machine broke,’’ Eddie points out his old tank top and joggers that are too big for him and probably at some point belonged to Buck. ‘’And Buck accidentally knocked over the entire pancake batter on the floor which we awfully cleaned,’’ he points at the floor few inches next to Sophia’s foot where the paper towels were now soaked with the questionable sink water.

Sophia makes a step to the left as not to step in it.

Eddie continues. ‘’And the fridge was already empty because we needed to go grocery shopping since we just came from our 72 and then the sink…’’ He points at it like he’s still trying to wrap his head around what is going on with it but instead he buries his face into his hands and groans, admitting defeat.

‘’I fucking don’t know what’s wrong with it. And,’’ he then turns towards his sisters and points at them. ‘’What the fuck are you doing here?’’

He didn’t mean it to sound like an accusation but it sure sounded like it. Sophia lifts her eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest. She doesn’t say anything, just clicks her tongue and stares him down.

Adriana goes for a giggle but Sophia stares her down too and Adriana just sits on a chair quietly.

‘’Sorry, I didn’t mean. You know I didn’t mean,’’ Eddie says and buries his head in his hands again. ‘’Hi, sorry. I’m just a little bit stressed out right now.’’

He goes towards Sophia for a hug who’s still eyeing him, arms crossed then snorts opening her arms and yanking him towards her. Almost crushing all the bones in his body.

Adriana joins placing her head on Eddie’s back but then she gags in disgust.

‘’Ew, Edmundo! You smell!’’

‘’Shut up,’’ Eddie mumbles finally feeling like he’s relaxing in his sisters’ arms.

‘’No, like. Really,’’ Adriana peels herself from the hug and opens the backdoor to air the kitchen out.

They all start to giggle.

‘’Well, forgive me for not having my shit together at eight in the morning. Anyway, not to be rude but phones exist you know that, right?’’

Sophia eyes him again with that Diaz look that Eddie is convinced Abuela invented and then Pepa perfected. The look no one ever wants aimed in their direction.

‘’Really, they exist? So please tell us why we had to find out from Pepa that you have another child almost six months after the fact?’’

‘’I… He’s not mine. He’s Buck’s,’’ Eddie says sheepishly returning to the sink with his hands on his hips and trying to figure out what is happening.

He’s fully aware that they need to call the plumber again but he’s trying to ignore his sisters’ eyes so he pretends that he’s fixing the sink.

Adriana snorts.

‘’Yeah, Buck. Who’s already here on a Sunday morning and… Wait, where is Buck?’’ She says looking under the table like Buck might magically jump out on them.

Eddie automatically answers. ‘’He went to the bakery and grocery store for breakfast before gremlin number one and two get their freak on.’’

Adriana and Sophia lift their eyebrows.

‘’Don’t look at me like that. We’re friends,’’ Eddie points a finger at them while his other hand is still resting on his hip.

‘’Right,’’ Sophia nods her head – totally not believing her brother.

‘’We are. He’s fostering Theo and I’m helping out,’’ he says simply returning to the sink – opening and closing the water like that would help somehow.

‘’By hosting them in your house?’’ Adriana asks.

Eddie starts nodding before he gives an answer. ‘’Yeah, my place was closer than Buck’s last night and Theo was already restless and we already have his bed here and everything and…’’ He stops and just stares at the air fryer on his counter next to Sophia.

He fixates on it so hard that he thinks it might change the time and space continuum or whatever Buck and Christopher were talking about last night and change the past five minutes of this conversation.

Surprisingly – it doesn’t work.

Shocker.

‘’You have Theo’s bed here?’’ Sophia asks stunned.

‘’Yeah, of course. It would be stupid not to because he’s 99% here if he’s not at home so…’’

Sophia lifts her eyebrow.

‘’Don’t. Don’t do it. Don’t say it.’’

Eddie is now fully facing his sisters – and if his brain is not torturing him right now this whole situation and conversation while he’s covered in dirty sink water would probably be hilarious.

But he’s not amused. He’s really not amused right now and is not ready for whatever shit his sisters are preparing to throw at him – lovingly, of course.

‘’I’m not saying anything. I’m just looking at you,’’ Sophia mumbles.

‘’No, you’re not. You’re judging!’’

He almost hisses and Sophia’s face falls from annoyance into sadness.

‘’I’m not… Edmundo! I’m not judging. I’m pissed that you didn’t tell us about that perfect little boy but I’m not…’’ Her voice cracks.

‘’You do know we love you and support you?’’ Adriana adds. Eddie blushes and busies himself with drying the countertop – the countertop is eons away from being dry and Eddie is aware that he’s stalling again.

He throws the drying rag on his shoulder then winces as something wet catches on his neck and shrugs in disgust. He puts the rag back on the countertop and inhales deeply, closing his eyes – choosing very carefully his next few words.

‘’It’s not like … I’m not like … We’re not…’’

He starts but at that very point Buck decides to enter the house so loudly that Eddie’s convinced that his best friend was either a tornado or a bull in his past life. Eddie hears the front door closing with a thump – Buck probably kicking it close because his arms are full.

‘’Got the goods! Oof,’’ he says as Theo barrels into his legs and hugs him tightly. ‘’Hi Spiderman, having fun with Chris?’’

Eddie hears Buck talking softly with Theo in the background as he grabs Adriana and Sophia’s arms.

‘’Not a word to him,’’ he hisses at his sisters.

‘’About what?’’ Adriana smirks.

‘’About whatever you think this is. It’s not that.’’

His heart is beating so fast that he’s convinced that if anyone were to take his pulse right now, they would’ve wanted to admit him to the hospital.

‘’Oh, and what is it then Edmundo?’’ Sophia teases.

‘’And stop calling me that!’’

‘’I’ll stop calling you that when you stop being stupid mi hermano,’’ Sophia snickers again.

Eddie yanks on his hair. ‘’I’m in hell. I’m in actual hell.’’

They pat him on his back as Buck – his hands filled with bags and his head jammed into one of them like he’s looking for something and actively talking – not realizing they have company.

‘’Eddie, they had that raspberry cheesecake thing you love and I got Chris the blueberry thing and…’’ his head is still in the bag as Eddie realizes Buck’s leg is getting closer to the wet patch of the floor.

‘’Buck,’’ Eddie tries to warn him but Buck yelps, squeezes firmly the bags in his arms and lands on his back.

‘’I’m fine! Pastries are fine!’’ He states then groans. ‘’My back tho’, not so…’’

Buck rolls on his side and is met with Eddie with his face in his hands and amused Sophia and Adriana looking at him sprawled on the floor clutching the tote bags firmly in his arms. Something sticky peels underneath him as he moves and he has a faint feeling that whatever he slipped on was probably not made from rose water.

He blushes and opens his mouth to say something when Theo runs towards him again and pokes Buck in the shoulder.

‘’Buck, can you give me Chris and mine’s breakfast?’’ Theo asks politely and Buck has enough braincells left that he takes two paper bags from the tote bag and hands them to Theo.

‘’Here you go buddy, please don’t run to the living room.’’

‘’Yes Buck! Thank you, Buck!’’ Theo yells as he most certainly runs to the living room.

Buck – still on the floor, still clutching the rest of the groceries in his arms looks at the adults in the room.

‘’Um, hi,’’ he says sheepishly as Eddie gives him a hand to get up. ‘’Thank you, Eds.’’

He’s now standing in Eddie’s kitchen, tote bags fully safe in his arms and suddenly feeling like he’s too big for the room. His hip and elbow are hurting and something from the bag spilled and is actively making a wet patch on his already ruined t-shirt.

He leaves everything on the countertop and turns around.

‘’Sorry, wasn’t expecting… Not that we were,’’ he stutters as Adriana and Sophia snort a laugh at his confusion. He offers his hand but then realizes they’re dirty from whatever he slipped on to on the floor and scrunches his face in disgust. ‘’I really need to clean up,’’ he mumbles to himself.

They all stare at each other for five seconds flat before everyone starts to laugh – Eddie with his hands on his hips smiling in disbelief as the knot in his stomach finally dissolves.

Buck points in the general direction of the bedroom.

‘’I’ll just change really quickly and then we’ll catch up. Eds, can you,’’ Buck turns his attention to Eddie but Eddie is transfixed looking at the blooming bruise on Buck’s elbow. Buck waves in front of his eyes.

‘’Eds, Eds?’’

‘’Oh, yeah. Sorry.’’

‘’Yeah. There are the raspberry cheesecake pastries you love in there as well as several cheese filled thingies – please plate those and take your sisters to the dining room while I change,’’ he snaps his fingers as he turns to leave the room.

He turns around on the doorway and adds. ‘’Oh, I also called the plumber. They’ll be here in twenty.’’

Eddie sighs both in annoyance and relief and yells towards Buck as he goes towards the bedroom.

‘’You called the plumber on a Sunday morning? You know how he ripped us off the last time. I can totally handle this by myself.’’

Buck, shirtless plops his head into the kitchen and lifts his eyebrow.

Adriana and Sophia choke.

‘’Yeah, because the only free day we get in the past two weeks we intend on spending with you in poop water while your lovely sisters gather enough information to blackmail you until you’re old and grey,’’ he turns to Sophia and Adriana and smiles politely.

‘’Touche,’’ Sophia mumbles.

Eddie groans.

‘’Fine, go. Get changed.’’

Buck leaves but yells from the bedroom. ‘’That’s what the emergency fund is Eddie.’’

Eddie, forgetting that his sisters are there yells back. ‘’I thought we opened that joint bank account so that we could save enough money to bring the kids to the Star Wars land or whatever it’s called. Not to pay pushed prices from idiot plumbers.’’

Buck enters the kitchen in Eddie’s old army t-shirt – the one that is almost identical as the one Theo is wearing but this one so stretched out from all the times that Buck wore it – and Eddie’s cut down joggers revealing his relatively new leg tattoos.

Adriana theatrically turns to look at Sophia and makes wide eyes at her sister when she sees her sister also looking at Buck’s tattoos and trying really hard not to drool over her brother’s … whatever it is.

The dumbass and the dumbasser don’t catch the silent conversation at all.

Buck smirks cocking his head and approaches Eddie.

‘’First of all, it’s called The Galaxy’s Edge and I know you know that and second – I need at least one day of uninterrupted family fun, mkay?’’

Eddie gulps as Buck brushes his elbow taking the pastry bags from the counter and almost doesn’t notice when Buck waves his hands for Adriana and Sophia to follow him into the dining room.

Eddie busies himself with bringing out plates and pulling everything out from the tote bag. The squeeze caramel bottle was the one that broke, other than that everything was in excellent condition. He throws that somewhere in the vicinity of the countertop and promises that future Eddie will deal with it later.

When he joins Buck, Adriana and Sophia in the dining room Buck is talking their ears off explaining the breakfast options. They seamlessly fall into their normal routine – Buck opening the bags and plating the table, Eddie collecting the excess bags and bringing out the condiments.

Adriana and Sophia just stare at the display of domesticity as Theo comes out of nowhere and heads straight for the edge of the table – Buck’s hand is already there to stop it from hitting it, and Eddie’s hand is already there giving him his juice box to take it to the living room.

All while Buck is talking about the farmers market near Eddie’s house and that he loves this little old lady that makes the best sourdough in the county.

Adriana and Sophia feel like they’re in some kind of parallel universe.

They exchange glances when Christopher sounds off.

‘’And for me? Am I chopped liver?’’ Christopher yells when he sees Theo drinking his juice but Buck is already there, rolling his eyes and putting his own on the coffee table.

‘’Thank you, Buck! Love you, Buck!’’ Chris yells back as Buck and Eddie finally take a seat at the table.

Adriana and Sophia are still stunned, pastries halfway to their mouths.

‘’What? Is something wrong with the cheese?’’ Buck starts sniffing the pastries to see if something is wrong. ‘’I told them not to sell me old stuff but they are…’’

‘’No, no. Everything is fine. It’s just,’’ Sophia starts as she eyes Buck and Eddie who are now cutting several pastries in half in each other’s plates so that Adriana and Sophia can have full portions.

She takes a deep breath and detonates. ‘’How long have you been together?’’

Eddie chokes on thin air as Buck pats him on his back. ‘’Sophia!’’ Eddie yelps.

Buck doesn’t get the accusation and offers Eddie a glass of water wordlessly.

‘’What? It’s… You’re just…’’ Sophia moves her hand in the air between Buck and Eddie like that explains everything.

‘’You do know that we’ve been partners for nine years, right?’’ Buck, completely out of touch what Sophia and Adriana are alluding to answers immediately.

Sophia and Adriana’s eyes widen, Eddie pokes Buck in the shoulder to explain what they meant but he doesn’t get to because Sophia and Adriana yell at full volume at Eddie.

Eddie winces after each sentence.

Buck darts between the girls and Eddie munching on the raspberry cheesecake pastry wondering what is actually happening right now.

‘’Nine years!’’ Adriana yelps.

‘’You’ve been together for nine years?’’ Sophia adds.

‘’This whole time?’’ Adriana and Sophia say at the same time then quickly start rambling something in Spanish that Eddie is glad that Buck isn’t that fluent in it.

‘’I don’t understand what is happening right now?’’ Buck whispers to Eddie while Sophia and Adriana are moving their arms in the air still talking and Eddie’s ears are crimson.

Eddie clears his throat and turns to Buck, deciding that he needs to ignore his sisters for a second.

‘’They’re just… Spirited,’’ he shrugs his shoulders.

Sophia and Adriana are still yelling at Eddie in disbelief but with something that looks a lot like love in their eyes.

‘’Spirited?’’ Buck asks, not convinced.

Eddie takes the raspberry pastry and nibbles on it not looking Buck in the eyes. ‘’Yeah, they’re under the assumption that you and me are…’’

But they are once again interrupted when Theo and Christopher join them in the dining room.

‘’So, what are we talking about?’’ Chris asks and brings closer a tiny donut to Theo who’s been eyeing it since they entered the room.

Shit, now my life is genuinely over – Eddie thinks as Adriana and Sophia stop talking and focus on Christopher.

If there is something that Eddie hates – okay, not really hate but would like to stop existing immediately – is the union between Christopher and his sisters. Somehow, every time the four of them are together Eddie gets bullied – well, not actually bullied but in his eyes their relentless teasing counts as bullying.

So, yeah. His life is genuinely over if Christopher to go full defcon 1 in this conversation.

Sophia starts first. ‘’Your dad and Buck are partners for nine years?’’

‘’Well, duh. Since they met. Actually, no. They kinda hated each other in the beginning,’’ Christopher answers rolling another donut in Theo’s direction – trying really hard to do it without Buck and Eddie noticing.

Eddie might be in trance wondering what is happening right now but Buck sees his moves and intercepts the donut with an opened yogurt patch – Theo groans.

‘’Hey there,’’ Buck says.

‘’What, am I wrong?’’ Chris lifts his eyebrow.

‘’Well, not entirely. But I didn’t hate him, hate him,’’ Buck defends himself. Chris rolls his eyes.

‘’Buck, you told him he needed to respect his elders.’’

Buck pushes Eddie slightly on his chest. ‘’You told him about that? Traitor.’’

Eddie smirks. ‘’What? He loved you more than he loved me back then, I had to mark my territory.’’

‘’Good work dad,’’ Chris mumbles through his donut filled mouth.

‘’And you kept this from mom and dad this long?’’ Adriana turns to Eddie in disbelief.

‘’I didn’t keep…’’ Eddie stutters but Buck interrupts him again.

‘’Um, I’m pretty sure everyone knows we’re partners,’’ Buck says confused. A dollop of custard sticking to the corners of his mouth. Eddie, without a beat takes a paper towel and wipes it off for him, Adriana and Sophia almost faint.

‘’Buck, I don’t think they are talking abou…’’

‘’Well, I never lied to abuelo and grandma,‘’ Christopher says. Eddie levels him with his gaze. ‘’What? I haven’t. They even wondered how come Buck didn’t come with you when you moved to Texas.’’

Eddie blushes.

‘’I would’ve if someone asked me to,’’ Buck says not thinking about the implications.

Eddie turns his head in Buck’s direction so fast that he’s convinced that the B shift all the way at the station hears his neck snap.

‘’You would? Really?’’ His breath hitches.

‘’Yeah. Of course, we’re a package deal Eds,’’ Buck smiles and Eddie’s heart is somewhere in the stratosphere.

He can’t do this right now. He needs to plan and to think and to… definitely teach his son how not to be sassy and chaos gremlin in the midst of something that is starting to look like a sexuality crisis at 8:30am.

‘’He did take over this house for you dad, that’s pretty romantic tho’ – not gonna lie,’’ Christopher adds and at that very point Buck’s braincells suddenly decide to cooperate.

‘’What? Romantic? What…’’

But neither Buck nor Eddie are getting any say in this conversation because Adriana, Sophia, Chris and Theo are driving this conversation and they are just mere observers while the world crashes and burns in front of their eyes while they can’t do anything to stop it.

‘’I mean, one of you should’ve proposed instead but what do I know. I’m just a teenager,’’ Christopher shrugs his shoulders.

‘’I, what?’’ Buck whispers.

‘’Buck, Eddie – someone give me a towel please,’’ Theo says with his mouth full so what actually comes out of it is ‘Buddie – someone give me a towel pwease’ – and both Buck and Eddie jump to Theo’s help fussing over him.

‘’Is there a reason you never told us Eddie? You know we’re okay with it, you know?’’ Sophia says.

‘’Hell, I told you all about that time I made out with Consuela back in high school,’’ Adriana adds.

‘’I think he was just afraid that you would slip up in front of Abuelo and grandma,’’ Chris answers.

‘’Well, yes. They will either claw their eyes out or try and take him to the church or something like that,’’ Adriana snorts.

Buck and Eddie are still fussing over Theo and are barely listening to the conversation. The girls fully turn to Christopher.

‘’So, who’s gonna be the best man? Because I have a suit that’s waiting to bring to knees all the boys and girls at the ceremony,’’ Adriana’s eyes are sparkling with mischief.

Christopher points a finger in his aunt’s face. ‘’No! I’m his best man, you could be – I don’t know, a grooms-woman or something.’’

‘’And I’ll be a flower boy!’’ Theo enters the conversation while Buck and Eddie share a look. ‘’Or the ring bear!’’

Adriana and Sophia giggle when Christopher pats Theo on his little head. ‘’It’s ring bear-er Theo. Not ring bear.’’

‘’But, but,’’ he turns to Buck and yanks on his t-shirt. ‘’Buck, if I’m a ring bear can I be in a bear costume? I promise I’ll wear a fancy suit over it.’’

‘’Buddy,’’ Buck starts but Theo is lost in the details explaining everyone at the table how he plans on wearing a fluffy bear onesie – with ears and everything – and a fancy suit with a tie and that his aunty Maddie promised to help him out with it.

Buck and Eddie’s ears are ringing with disbelief.

Maddie is talking with Theo about Buck and Eddie’s wedding?

Theo has been actively thinking about the ring bear-er outfit?

And Christopher has been – what?

Eddie wishes that his brain melts in the sink goo and takes him with it. But as he glances at Buck he sees the exact same expression of confusion and hope on his face and almost giggles when the doorbell rings.

This day can’t get any worse.

They both snap at the same time. ‘’That’s the plumber,’’ they point over their shoulder and go to open the front door.

_

‘’Okay, I think we’ve seen enough for today,’’ Sophia states standing up from the couch and clapping her hands. ‘’Do you boys know any good hotels nearby? We have the next few days off and would love to spend more time with you.’’

Thank God for the plumber and Buck and Eddie totally hovering over them while they worked in the kitchen so they didn’t intentionally hear anything while Sophia and Adriana interrogated Theo and Chris in the living room.

But even then, they didn’t need to do much interrogation. Eddie’s entire mantel was filled with their photos – both when Chris was barely eight years old up until his teenage years and the group Buckley-Diaz Christmas photo they made few months ago.

Yeah, they’ve seen enough and they needed somewhere to regroup before they tackle the lack of braincells in Buck and Eddie’s brain.

Eddie opens his mouth to offer his house but Adriana interrupts him.

‘’And before you open your mouth dear brother,’’ Adriana continues. ‘’We don’t want to stay with you in a house that smells like poop water.’’

‘’Poop!’’ Theo yells with his hands in the air. The girls chuckle.

‘’Yeah. Fair enough,’’ Eddie whines.

‘’But hey, you don’t need to check into a hotel. You can just stay at my place,’’ Buck offers fishing out the keys from his pocket.

Adriana and Sophia look at each other.

‘’What? We always spend time here anyway. Well, here and there but we don’t mind the poop water, we’re firefighters. You can also take my car while you’re here. Come on, I’ll drive you over.’’

‘’Buck, are you…’’ Eddie starts but Sophia and Adriana clap Eddie hard on the shoulder.

‘’Yeah Buck, lead the way. Can’t wait to see what you’ve done with the place,’’ Sophia says then turns to Eddie kissing him on the cheek. ‘’I love you to the moon and back, but you are fucking stupid!’’ She says in Spanish then hits him on his head.

‘’Ay, Sophia!’’

Buck doesn’t stop talking when they enter the car and back from Eddie’s driveway. He’s talking about the roof situation and the bug situation but that everything is handled. Both Sophia and Adriana are charmed by their new brother-in-law.

They can see why Eddie fell for him, even though they are fully aware that neither Buck nor Eddie are aware that they are in love and dating each other.

Hell, they’ve been married for almost a decade and they’re just – what? Completely blind to the entire situation?

No, no. Sophia and Adriana need to regroup and talk this through several times before they corner them separately and ask them what the fuck are they doing with their lives.

Yes, that’s what they need to do – they mentally high five each other as Buck continues talking.

‘’It’s perfect, calm and quiet without me and Theo there. You might want to be careful where you step tho’ because Theo loves Legos but just leaves them everywhere. I will go to the grocery store after I drop you off and restock everything in the fridge.’’

Sophia and Adriana look at each other and chuckle.

Buck is still talking.

‘’Chris’s room is fully clean and the sheets are changed. It’s a double bed so if you want you can sleep in it. Theo’s room is a battlefield so I don’t recommend entering that one without protective gear. I’ll quickly change the sheets in my room so you’ll have that option too,’’ he finally breathes out.

‘’So, how is Theo doing with sleeping? Eddie tells us that last night was a bust.’’

Buck groans. ‘’Oh yeah, he barely sleeps in his bed. Most of the time the only time he can finally fall asleep is when he sleeps between Eddie and me in our be…’’

Buck abruptly stops mid-sentence and stays frozen the entire drive home. Sophia and Adriana chuckle and wave in front of his face.

He doesn’t notice them. Just keeps driving.

His face changes colours several times but he doesn’t make a sound.

‘’I think we broke him,’’ Adriana whispers.

‘’I think he finally realized what we’ve been saying all day,’’ Sophia adds and watches as blush creeps over Buck’s entire face and ears.

‘’Mission accomplished!’’ Adriana yells and Buck almost jumps from his seat. ‘’I’ll call Pepa. We need to start planning on the wedding!’’ She whisper yells to Sophia, Buck already again lost in his mind.

_

Eddie is pacing in his living room. The plumber left, leaving with a huge chunk from their shared bank account. Theo is napping in their – his – bedroom and Christopher is silently scrolling on his phone.

This has been such a confusing day – Eddie thinks and continues pacing. He looks at his watch and counts the minutes until Buck gets home. He remembers that he told him he’ll stop by the grocery store to restock the fridge for Adriana and Sophia and then he’ll get home as soon as possible for all of them to go together to the supermarket.

But Buck has been gone for more that two hours and Eddie wants to chew on the walls because – well, because he’s having a crisis of some sort and he needs Buck to, what? He doesn’t know what he needs Buck for but he knows he needs him.

And after everything his sisters told him today he’s fairly certain that if he carefully reconsiders his and Buck’s relationship from start to finish he’d find that they are – in fact – married.

Just, you know – without the proper papers and everything.

Except.

Wait.

There are papers.

Will is a paper.

Leaving Christopher to Buck in case something happens is legally binding.

As well as leaving Theo to Eddie in case something happens to Buck.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, shit.

It hits him in the face like a race car as he yanks the door open to – what? He doesn’t know what, maybe run towards Buck or something completely crazy like that. But when he opens the door Buck is already there.

They both yell at the same time.

‘’We’re dating!’’ Buck says.

‘’We’re married!’’ Eddie yells.

‘’It took you long enough,’’ Christopher calmly adds from the couch.

Buck and Eddie stop and look at Chris, their chest moving like they’ve ran a marathon.

‘’Chris, what?’’ Eddie asks.

‘’We’re basically together but without the sex part,’’ Buck says more to himself than to the entire room still trying to wrap his head around it.

‘’The sex part could be there too,’’ Chris adds and Buck and Eddie choke.

‘’Chris, stop!’’ Eddie warns, his ears blushing. He’s not denying it though.

A win is a win – Chris thinks.

‘’Well, he’s not wrong with that,’’ Buck mumbles and smirks at Eddie.

Eddie, his cheeks blushing points a finger at Buck’s face. ‘’Seriously Buck, don’t encourage him.’’

‘’You know dad, you’re not denying it thought,’’ Chris wiggles his eyebrows.

‘’Stop it. Both of you. I’m not talking about sex, my sexuality crisis and the fact that I’m in love with my best friend in front of my teenage son,’’ Eddie says in one breath and stares Chris down to stop making snarky comments.

He turns to Buck when he hears him gasp.

‘’You love me?’’ Buck says in a small voice.

Eddie almost stops breathing. How did he ever go through almost a decade of their friendship and never realize that the heart stopping feeling he has when Buck is around him is anything but love. And the saddest thing is, that Buck seems like he genuinely doesn’t believe that something like that can happen to him.

Eddie’s lips curve into a small smile as he takes Buck’s hands into his own. ‘’Yeah, I do.’’

‘’Really?’’ Buck asks again in disbelief.

Eddie takes Buck’s face in both of his hands and darts over his features. ‘’What part of raising a family and doing everything a couple does for all these years screams platonic to you Buck?’’

‘’Well, there’s the se…’’ Chris shatters the romantic tension in a beat and Eddie rolls his eyes.

‘’Chris I swear to Go…’’ He stops looking at Buck who’s just silently smirking. ‘’You too. Stop that. Immediately. Kitchen. Now.’’

‘’Sir, yes Sir,’’ Buck salutes and goes straight for the kitchen.

And Eddie be damned, the phrase actually does something to him as he quickly realizes that for the first time today he’s actually over the moon with his sisters visiting.

They’re going to experience gremlin number one and two in full force when they babysit them for the night, and they’ll beg Buck and Eddie to give them back.

Eddie, you’re a genius! Well, maybe not for realizing that everything you ever wanted was right in front of you all this time but for this – yeah, you’re a genius.

Adriana and Sophia will curse the day Eddie was born.