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Theo bounced back quicker than Buck thought, having seen his kid be taken down by a 102 fever in the early week.
He himself was not as lucky.
Between ferrying the puke bowl from Theo’s room to the bathroom and back fifty million times and taking sneezes directly to the face, Buck got infected early on. He kept up a bravado in front of Theo, helping to keep him calm and resting while his body fought the flu off. Buck takes more fever reducers, nibbling on crackers, pushing through his exhaustion to help his quasi-queasy son get through this. He keeps the 118 at bay, just asking for some essentials to be dropped off as to not infect everyone all at once.
Everyone but Eddie agrees and follows this. On Thrusday morning, Eddie just lets himself into Buck’s house. He finds Theo watching cartoons in the living room, not having noticed Eddie yet. One of these days they should talk about his situational awareness but he’s four, so there’s time. He announces himself and gets tackled in the shins between breaths. Theo starts bouncing off the walls. Eddie tasks Theo with cleaning up his toys as he finds Buck. He finds Buck passed out, rosy cheeked, and sweating through his hoodie.
He jostles Buck awake enough to let him know he’s taking Theo for the day so Buck can sleep. Buck nods at Eddie then nods off back to sleep. Eddie and Theo take LA by storm, stopping by a local diner for breakfast, two different parks, and lunch at a chain Christopher loved at Theo’s age. They stop for groceries before going back to Buck’s. Instead of finding his co-parent asleep in bed, they find Buck doing dishes with one eye open. He still tries to tough it out as Eddie stares at him. “Go back to bed.”
“But lunch.”
“We got Tony’s for lunch. I bought you soup. Go to bed, I’ll bring you a bowl.”
“But I hate eating in bed.”
“No you don’t.”
“I don’t like it anymore.”
Eddie nods understandingly, withdrawal hurt Buck the most but it didn’t leave anyone unscathed.
“You need to sit down at least then. Even on the couch.” He compromises his order. Buck wearily complies.
Theo brings Buck tubes of crackers to eat along with lukewarm gatorades that haven’t made it into the fridge yet. Buck thanks Theo for his hard work, unable and unwilling to turn dad mode off around his kid.
After lunch, Eddie carts Buck off to bed. Only to see him an hour later because he ‘needed more water.’ Eddie brings him two glasses of water and escorts him back to bed. Twenty minutes later, Buck darkens the hallway with the need of more blankets. Eddie grabs the extra heavy blankets in the closet and all but tucks the man back into bed. This time, Buck stays put for two hours, a record. By now, Theo is getting ready for bed as Eddie coordinates Christopher’s pick up with other family members, letting Tia Pepa steal him for the night. Buck hobbles into the living room, exciting Theo who barrels into him. “You need to stop getting out of bed.”
“I missed you guys.” He mumbles, Eddie only understands him because he’s fluent in tired Buck, 24-48 hour shifts make everyone speak a new language.
Eddie burning frustration pitters out at the admission. “Why don’t we all curl up in your bed for bedtime stories then?” Buck nods, a sickly smile adorns his face as all three of them walk back to Buck’s room.
Buck is asleep before Theo’s even settled into bed. Theo brings him Mr. Snuggles and deposits him in Buck’s arms. “He made me feel better this week.” Theo passes out by page three, his mind may be over the sickness but his body still demands extra rest. Eddie takes Theo to his room, leaving him with a kiss and a starry ceiling. He goes back to Buck, laying next to him under the covers, curling up with the best man he knows.