Chapter Text
Eddie doesn't expect to be stopped by Josh Russo the secretary on his way out of the school on Wednesday, but the man waves him down. "Eddie," he says.
Eddie slows to a stop and glances around. He didn't get a chance to see Buck this morning. He'd handed Chris off to Buck's mortal enemy, Mr. Dunbrounstein. No one in the hall is paying attention, so Eddie crosses his arms. He realized after Buck left the station on Monday that Josh could have finally told Principal Blevens about what he saw months ago. The guy looks like he enjoys some juicy gossip, though Buck has assured him that Maddie vouched for Josh that the secret would stay hidden.
The chances of Josh breaking after months, though, is unlikely.
"Can I help you?" he asks. "I have errands to run." He's telling the truth; Josh doesn't need to know that his errands will take about an hour at most.
"Sue wants me to talk to you," Josh replies, unfazed by Eddie's attitude.
"Sue?"
"Principal Blevens."
Right. He'd forgotten her first name. Buck always calls her Blevens. "Okay?"
Josh grabs Eddie by the elbow and pulls him into the office. "About Buck," he says as he closes the door.
Whenever Eddie wants to curl in on himself, he squares his shoulders as he does right now. He says nothing but makes eye contact.
Josh rolls his eyes. "I didn't tell her I saw you in October."
"Thanks," Eddie says dryly. "Then why would she want you to talk to me?"
"She probably thought it would be less stressful. Things have been good between you two?"
Eddie narrows his eyes a little. "Yes."
"Good." Josh nods. "Maddie hasn't told me any details."
Eddie sighs. "What is this about?"
"Don't get him into trouble," Josh says. "There are only six weeks of school left, and if this gets out before then there'll probably be an investigation, and he'll get fired and possibly blacklisted from teaching in LA County."
"No pressure," Eddie mumbles.
"The kids love him," Josh continues, "and don't tell him I told you this, but I kind of like having him around, too. Plus, Maddie would lose it. It would be a shame if something happened."
Eddie suppresses a scowl. "I'm not about to let him get fired."
"Really?" Josh says doubtfully. "Sue told me you waited around until everyone was gone. You went more than six months and then got lazy."
"Don't call me lazy," Eddie replies sharply. "I get it. I shouldn't have done that."
"As long as you understand," Josh says, clearly calm about it all. "You seem like a decent guy and Buck is great, so please don't mess it up." He opens the door. "She already talked to Buck."
"Yeah, he told me."
Buck had been scared. Terrified. He'd been too scared to even come over after school yesterday, citing his crippling guilt over making people (Josh, Maddie, the 118, Chris) keep their secret for so long. "I can't make Chris do that anymore," he'd said when Eddie called.
Eddie is scared, too, for Buck. Buck can't lose his job or he'll break, but he's also worried that Buck will pull away. He doesn't want Buck to think that keeping his distance is the solution.
Eddie leaves the room.
"Mr. Diaz," Josh says.
Eddie turns. "Yes?"
"There's a substitute in your son's class today," Josh replies. "Thought you should know."
Eddie's brow furrows and he nods. He leaves without another word, speed-walking to his car. If there's a substitute, that means Buck isn't here, but Josh made it clear that Buck hasn't been fired. Maybe he's sick, but Buck hasn't ever called off of work as long as Eddie has known him, and he must feel absolutely horrible to do so this recently after getting in trouble.
Eddie peels out of the parking lot and arrives at Buck's shortly after. He parks next to Buck's Jeep and hops down, making his way toward the building. He has to press the button under Buck's apartment number and waits impatiently.
Look, his main concern isn't being ignored, it's that Buck will think he has to be on his own.
Buck's voice crackles through the speakers. "Hello?"
Eddie presses and holds the button. "Buck, it's Eddie. Let me in."
There's a long pause and Eddie wonders if he's going to have to call other apartments and hope someone's waiting for food. Then there's an aggressive buzz and a click, and Eddie yanks open the door. He's at Buck's door in a few minutes and knocks.
Buck opens the door. "Come on in."
Eddie slips past him. "Are you okay?"
Buck shrugs and makes his way toward the living area. He's limping. "You want something to drink? I have water and beer."
"No, I don't want anything." Eddie follows close behind him. "What happened?"
Buck's eyes close for a second. "I, uh. Woke up this morning and puked so now my stomach hurts." He opens his eyes again and looks at Eddie a little sadly. "But I was already feeling weird, so."
"Weird how?" He wants to take all of Buck’s sadness and absorb it into himself.
Buck sits slowly on the couch and gestures vaguely up and down his body. "Like all of my insides are vibrating, kind of. And tired. Nauseous. Dizzy."
Eddie sits beside him. "Can I check you out?"
Buck grins suggestively. "Whenever you want."
He shakes his head and feels Buck's skin with the back of his hand. "You don't feel warm."
"Are you saying I'm not hot anymore?" Buck jokes. "I thought I had at least a few good years left."
"Buck, please. Why didn't you call me?"
Confusion crosses his face. "I texted you. I thought that's why you were here."
"No, you didn't."
Buck starts to stand, then winces. "Can you get my phone? It's in the kitchen."
Eddie stands and goes to the kitchen where Buck's phone rests face-down on the counter next to the full coffee maker. He pockets the device, fills up a mug with coffee, and carries it with the creamer from the fridge into the living room. He sets them down on the coffee table. Buck looks at him in confusion but takes the phone Eddie extends to him, then goes a little pale. "It didn't send." He turns the screen toward Eddie.
Buck (failed to send): Wanted you to know im not at wotk tiday if you want to come over. Not feeling great though
"Oh." Eddie settles beside him again. "How long have you been feeling sick?"
"Since Blevens on Monday."
"Is that why you didn't come over yesterday?"
"I didn't want to get you or Chris sick."
Eddie brushes his thumb along Buck's cheekbone. "I don't think what you have is contagious."
Buck's brow furrows. "What do I have?"
"Anxiety. You had a panic attack and you've been feeling sick since then. Anxiety can cause physical symptoms."
Buck takes a deep breath and leans back against the couch. "Hmm."
"Josh talked to me today."
Buck sits up, alarmed. "Josh? Russo. From Durham?"
"Yes." Eddie resists the urge to check Buck's forehead again or ask him where he keeps his thermometer. "Have you eaten today?"
Buck shakes his head and leans forward to grab the coffee and creamer from the table, and Eddie notes how much cream he puts in.
Eddie nods. "I'll order us something."
"I can make us food," Buck says. "It would make me feel better. I like cooking."
"I know you do," Eddie says fondly.
Buck stands and makes his way to the kitchen. He's already a little steadier on his feet than when Eddie first showed up. Eddie watches him move around the kitchen, relaxing the longer he's in there.
Eddie walks up behind him as he pushes down the lever on the toaster and wraps his arms around him. He props his chin on Buck’s shoulder. "Hey," he says.
"Hey," Buck replies.
"I love you," Eddie says.
"I love you, too."
—
Buck's idea for a day off after he starts to feel better is, apparently, working out. He suggests going out some time before lunch.
"We could play basketball," Eddie replies. "I have some friends that are always ready for a pickup game."
Buck looks genuinely apologetic. "Sorry, not really into basketball."
"Alright," Eddie says easily. He'll pester Buck about that later, when they're not sitting in Buck's apartment because he called off work. "What do you like, then?"
Buck blushes a little. "I, uh. My apartment has tennis courts?"
Eddie fights back a smile, then realizes that he doesn't have to. He's so damn fond of Buck he can hardly stand it. "You like tennis?"
"I never got into pickleball."
"I don't even know what that is."
Buck's hand warms Eddie's knee. "Don't worry about it. Tennis?"
"Whatever you want."
—
Buck leads the way out of the back door of his building, Eddie's fingers tangled in his. He's sort of surprised Eddie agreed to tennis, especially after he'd said he preferred basketball. Buck, though, has two tennis rackets in his closet.
Look, he'd done football in high school, mostly to rebel against his parents because he knew they'd hate it. Before that he'd joined more Buckley-approved sports like track and field and tennis. He hated running but actually enjoyed tennis, but he'd quit because no number of wins had satisfied them. Or pleased them.
So he tried out for football. He got hurt. They cared for a day.
But his parents are in Pennsylvania and his apartment has a tennis court, and he'd bought some rackets and balls when he was stocking his place.
He uses his fob to unlock the gate to the courts, where a few of his older neighbors are already deep in a match. He gets his rackets out. "Have you ever played?"
Eddie shakes his head. "Never really had the chance. I played basketball or baseball with my friends and my sisters did marching band and badminton."
"What instruments?" he asks as he bounces a ball a few times on the strings of his racket.
"Adri played flute and Sophia did mellophone."
Buck hums. "I never got into music. Maddie knew a little piano. Don't know if she still does."
"You never learned?"
"Not like I had the attention span." That and his parents never paid enough attention to pay for lessons. "But you don't want to hear about my crippling lack of extracurriculars."
"Maybe not out here," Eddie says. He catches the ball as it falls toward Buck's racket. "Later."
Buck tries not to squirm under the rejection. It's not even a rejection; he was the one who gave Eddie the out, and Eddie said later. It's a postponement. "So I get to teach you tennis?"
Eddie smiles at him softly. Buck could live off that smile. "You say that like you want to," Eddie says.
"I love teaching," Buck replies brightly. "Come here."
He starts by showing Eddie how to hold the racket. Eddie keeps trying to hold it like a baseball bat, which is honestly sort of endearing. He has Eddie bounce the ball and hit it a few times. He can tell after a little while that Eddie's getting bored with the process, and he knows Eddie prefers to be pushed, so he says, "I'm going to serve to you. Good?"
Eddie valiantly tries not to look too relieved at the change of pace. But, look, different people learn differently. Buck's not about to force him to take it slow. He's an athletic guy and his job requires coordination so he'll probably pick it up pretty quickly.
Buck lobs balls at him steadily and he hits them back with force. The shots fly everywhere but Buck doesn't try to chase them down until they start to run low, and after that he can tell Eddie's concentrating on trying to hit it right back at him.
It feels like… Buck's never really had a partner who put in so much effort to indulge his interests. Eddie will sit and listen to his info dumps, watch his shows with him, and learn how to play a sport he's never touched. And obviously Buck does the same, but Buck has always been the person who sets aside his own interests because his partners want to do something else. Eddie's the first one to try to meet him halfway.
Eventually, though, Buck can tell Eddie's growing tired of it, so he asks one of the neighbors if they want to practice with him since they have an odd number.
And the picture Eddie takes of him? He can't help but post it.
He's getting really tired of his followers, actually. Half of them are telling him to post thirst traps again and the other half sexualize him anyway. It's not even creative.
Maybe something has to change.
—
"So I'm getting married," Josh says as Buck passes his desk the next week.
Things have settled a bit. Buck didn't feel Blevens watching him too closely after the first week, though she still has obvious spies (read: Terry Flores and Josh) hovering nearby if Eddie is there.
It's fine. Five more weeks.
And he knows he got himself into this situation. He could have told Blevens after open house and had Chris transferred to another class, or he could have turned Eddie down again after the fire. Hell, he could have transferred schools if he really wanted to. She's being incredibly gracious about the whole thing; this is best-case scenario. He should have been fired or blacklisted. Their relationship is a blatant breach of every sort of ethics to the point where he still goes through phases where he's disappointed in himself.
Until Eddie shows up and reminds him that it's worth it, and that he didn't do anything too wrong. That he kept his relationship and career separate. If Principal Blevens thought any differently she would have fired him on the spot.
Anyway. Josh is getting married.
"To who?" Buck asks, confused.
"My boyfriend," Josh replies as if it's obvious.
"Well, yeah," Buck says. He turns and sets his bag on the corner of the desk. "I didn't know you were dating anyone."
"Three years. He proposed on our anniversary."
"Congrats, man." He's going to have to ask Maddie what he should get Josh as a gift. He doesn't know the guy very well, only through work and a few stories he hears from Maddie about their nights out.
"Thanks," Josh says. "We're having an engagement party a week after school lets out. You should come." He smirks. "You get a plus one."
Buck blinks a few times. "But, uh, no offense but why?"
"Why do you get a plus one? Because last time you went out alone you got drunk and sad, and I don't want to deal with that."
"But why invite me at all?" he asks in confusion. "We only ever talk through Maddie."
Josh rolls his eyes. "Because Maddie will be there and I need to play nice with her if I want her to be my best woman."
He grins. "Then absolutely. Give me a time and a place and we'll be there."
—
The final parent-teacher conference is the next week on Friday. Principal Blevens is there when Eddie walks into Buck's classroom with Chris ahead of him and Carla behind.
He's not a fool; he knows that since Blevens now knows about them she'd frown upon them being in the room together alone, so he'd asked Carla to come as backup. He thought maybe Blevens would see her and let it go.
No, Blevens is here.
"Mrs. Blevens, great to see you again," Carla says as she goes in for a hug.
Buck makes eye contact over their shoulders and nods as if to say, "Good call," or "It'll be okay."
Eddie nods back.
Blevens regards Eddie when she pulls back. "Mr. Diaz, nice to see you. I hope you don't mind my sitting in today."
"Of course not." He guides Chris to the chairs across from Buck and sits after Chris and Carla are both seated.
Buck makes his way behind his desk, Blevens hovering behind him. He clicks around on his computer for a second, visibly tense. "Mr. Diaz," he says, which he hasn't called Eddie since back when he was pretending not to know him. It makes something hot and ugly curl up in Eddie's stomach, momentarily furious that Blevens makes him feel like he can't use Eddie's name. He clenches his fist in his lap and takes a breath. It's fine. It's fine. "You obviously got Chris's report card for last quarter," Buck says. "I've printed out his grades so far this quarter, too."
He passes over a piece of paper and Eddie keeps his hand steady as he takes it. "Thanks, Mr. Buckley."
Buck licks his lips. His eyes flick between Chris and Carla. "He's doing well. Smart and friendly, as you know."
The formality makes Eddie's blood burn.
"Thanks," Chris replies brightly. "You're a really good teacher."
Laying it on pretty thick there, bud, Eddie thinks. He didn't even ask his son to do this.
Carla pats Chris's shoulder. "And we all know it." She looks right at Blevens and the air grows thick.
"No one is disputing that," Blevens says. It feels like everyone is arguing over them instead of letting them talk.
Although that's probably a good thing, because Eddie doesn't think he could stay calm or vague at the moment, and he's here for his son.
"Is there anything he needs to work on?" he asks Buck, voice a little louder than strictly necessary.
Buck clears his throat and nods. "Chris is amazing, don't get me wrong. I love having him in class. But Chris, sometimes you can distract your classmates."
Eddie turns to Chris. "Do you?"
Chris looks at Buck, a little upset. "I just want to talk to them."
"You come to school to learn," Buck says gently, like they've had this conversation before. "You can talk with your friends during breaks."
Chris pouts and sits back.
Eddie glances at Buck. "He's been disrupting class?"
"Not exactly," Buck says. "He always pays attention when I ask. It's more like… During time when we're supposed to be working, he sort of distracts some of his neighbors from their tasks."
"And you didn't feel like mentioning this to me before?" Eddie asks, eyebrows raised. He sees Blevens watching intently, and Carla shakes her head a tiny bit at the edge of his view. "When I picked him up or dropped him off," he adds.
"Because it's barely a problem," Buck says. "I'd just like him to be a little more focused."
Coming from Buck, who has openly admitted to having had crippling attention span issues early in life, it doesn't sound condescending. Eddie's been to parent-teacher conferences at Chris's previous schools where his teachers said he was too hyper and disruptive. They said it like something was wrong. Buck says it like it's almost a compliment; Chris is friendly and extroverted. He needs to channel it, that's all.
"Mr. Buck helps me a lot," Chris says. "He makes it fun most of the time."
Buck visibly fights back a smile. "I try."
They talk for a little while longer, and by the end Eddie doesn't quite want to rip apart the walls.
One month. That's it. Buck already told him that Josh Russo is having an engagement party once school ends and they're both invited, and as anxious as the idea of going out with one of Buck's coworkers makes him, it could be worse. The invitation gives him hope that everything will become normal.
He and Carla herd Chris from the school and Eddie gets him settled in the car. Eddie sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Thanks for coming, Carla."
She pats his shoulder. "Of course. The three of you are important."
"We got ourselves into this," Eddie admits.
"You still deserve to feel happy and secure."
He smiles tightly at her. "Thanks. Means a lot."
When Buck comes by later that night, he's visibly tense. He sets down some takeout bags on the table behind the couch and scrubs his hands over his face.
Eddie carefully picks up the bags. "Want to follow me to the kitchen?"
Buck sighs and nods, which is how Eddie knows he's very, very stressed. Buck talks a lot so his silence is always concerning.
So Eddie takes his hand, too, and tugs him through the dining room. "How was the rest of the night?" he asks softly.
Buck shrugs. "Principal Blevens talked to me after everyone left."
"About what?" Eddie asks as he opens the bags with a rustle.
"That it looks like everything's okay," Buck says. "And I don't seem to be playing favorites."
"You wouldn't."
Buck shrugs again and takes a box of food from Eddie. "She has to do her due diligence. I get it." He sets the box down on the table.
Eddie hums and gets some plates out of the cabinet. "Maybe."
"Look, she didn't fire me." Buck runs his hand along the edge of the table. "She's not reporting me. She said there's nothing in the rules that says she has to."
"So you're not losing your job?" Eddie asks.
Buck shakes his head. "Nah. I feel like everyone's going to look at me differently, though."
"Does Josh?"
Buck looks up at him, a little crinkle between his eyebrows. "No, why?"
Eddie wipes away the wrinkle. "Well, he's not the type to pull punches. If anyone is the metric on the level of reaction to this," he says, waving between them, "it's him."
"Mr. D-"
"Isn't important." Eddie wraps his arms around Buck's waist and pulls him close. "Everyone who's important already knows. You're fine."
Buck presses a kiss to Eddie's lips, tasting like some sweet pastry. He opens his mouth for Buck's tongue and shuts his eyes. He feels Buck's fingers sneak under the hem of his shirt. It's slow, languid. It's them, together, with no expectation for more. Eddie tries to make a promise:
I'm here.
I'm always going to be.
You're never going to lose me.
Whatever happens, I'll be by your side.
It's impossible to form a coherent thought with Buck kissing him like this. Buck's tongue fights its way into his mouth and his hands don't stop moving. They slow at his shoulders. "Chris?" he mutters.
"In his room," Eddie replies. His arms hook around Buck's neck.
Buck groans and puts a small distance between them, which is a good call because their dicks are both getting harder and, as just mentioned, Chris is in the other room. They're all planning on eating together.
Eddie doesn't let Buck go far. He reigns himself back a little, of course, but he keeps every possible inch of their bodies pressed together. It's a valiant effort not to shove Buck into the counter and shove his way between his legs. Luckily his kid is pretty loud when he leaves his room, giving Eddie plenty of time to figure out how to extricate himself.
"Hey, Buck," Chris says. He either doesn't notice how close they are or doesn't care.
"Hey," Buck says. "I brought dinner."
Chris grins up at him and Buck relaxes. He looks settled, like he belongs here.
Because he does.
He fits here like the puzzle piece Eddie never knew he and Chris needed.
Eddie and Chris fit, and he thinks that Shannon and Chris did, too, but Eddie and Shannon were always a disaster. When she left it felt like something was missing, but she wouldn't have filled the hole right.
Buck does.
Shannon isn't a bad person. At one point she was Eddie's best friend, but wasn't made for this family.
Buck was.
Buck likes to talk about the universe as if it's a sentient entity with a plan, and if it is, Eddie thinks the universe pushed them together for a reason. Eddie needed someone like Buck.
With the way Buck presses his ankle into Eddie's under the table during dinner, maybe he did, too.
—
They ultimately decide to wait to debut their relationship until Josh's party. It just doesn't seem important to make some announcement to the faculty and staff. No one else (except Mr. Dunbrounstein) ever does, and that makes everyone uncomfortable.
So Buck doesn't make the announcement.
The last month of the year passes without much fanfare, though Buck and the other faculty and staff go to the fifth grade graduation. This is the first year any of Buck's former students are moving on to middle school and he's not afraid to admit he tears up a little.
Josh's engagement party is a few weeks after that. Buck picks up Eddie first and meets Maddie and Chim in the bar parking lot. Chim's talking as he closes the car door. "I thought Josh said he thinks engagement parties are overrated."
"He only says that about straight people," Maddie replies.
"So what happens when you two get engaged?" Buck asks. He reaches behind him and feels Eddie's fingers tangle with his.
"He'll come anyway because he loves me," Maddie says matter-of-factly.
Chim throws a soft expression her way. If it was anyone other than his sister who deserves to be loved irrevocably, Buck might gag.
He gets nauseous for a different reason, though, when they approach the door. Any coworkers who don't know he's dating Eddie will as soon as they walk in the door.
"It's okay," Eddie whispers.
Buck squeezes Eddie's hand. "They'll think I'm a creep."
Eddie presses along his side. "They'll be fine."
Buck nods slowly and follows his sister into the bar.
—
Buck deletes most of the posts from his thirst trap Instagram before the school year starts. He changes his username and icon and posts exactly one thing the night he does: a photo from the morning after Josh's engagement party.
