Work Text:
Eddie had seen Terry from B shift sniffling as he made his way into the station on Monday but didn't think much of it, lots of them had seasonal allergies plus it was getting colder so sensitive noses were already feeling the effects. Eddie didn't start to get worried until Thursday when half of C shift called out due to a stomach bug, but they'd manage, two days with extra shifts divided between them plus that was extra savings for Chris' gifts. Eddie knew they were absolutely doomed when Buck came stumbling into work, looking like death warmed over, hacking up his lungs. If Buck was sick then everyone would get sick, he was a clingy sick. Bobby had sent Buck home so quickly he didn't even have time to put his bag down. Eddie suffered through his 12 hour with Jamison of all people, receiving constant updates from Buck on how shit he was feeling at home. Eddie had called Carla and asked her to spend some extra time with Chris after school as he made his way over to Buck's apartment with medication and store-bought soup in tow. Buck did look like shit when he got there but he was adorable grumbling on about hating Terry and his stupid sniffling. Eddie just wanted to kiss him, but he was absolutely not going to risk getting sick and passing it on to Chris and by extension an entire middle school of children. After feeding Buck soup which he complained about the entire time because it wasn't Abuela’s or Bobby’s and medication, Eddie put him to bed and finished the laundry that was started, cleaned the loft's living room and then started on the kitchen.
It wasn't much just a stray coffee mug here and there and junk mail tossed aside which is how the dark blue binder caught his eye. Eddie flipped over the thick folder and scanned the front cover in confusion. Since when did Chris' school give out binders of their calendar of events for the PTA. Eddie didn't even know there was a calendar of events. Chris would show up with a flyer and he'd shrug and stick it to the fridge as a reminder. Eddie forgot about tidying up and sat reading through the entire folder. As it turns out it wasn't just a calendar, there were spreadsheets, to-do lists, floor plans, evacuation plans, and more all highlighted in Buck’s little scribbles. Everything from Field trips to career days to Parent Teacher conferences were in the manual. The binder itself wasn't what was causing Eddie to spiral it was Buck's name printed on almost every damn page of the binder, from volunteering to chaperone a field trip, to making the baked goods for a fundraiser, to running the fire safety drill during safety week, help set up the winter formal, if something was needed Buck's name was there in bold. If Eddie really thought about it, everything made sense, the days he took off matching the dates of past school events, how he always knew when something was going on at Chris' school or the way the school never once asked Eddie to volunteer for anything even though it was a clear stipulation when they had registered Chris. They never asked because they already had a volunteer on Chris' behalf. Eddie let out a wet chuckled in Buck's kitchen, God he loved that idiot so much.
Eddie flipped back to the front of the booklet to the two, he had now noticed, calendars spread across the pages. There was an end of month PTA meet up scheduled for tonight and knowing Buck, even in his state he'd absolutely want to attend. Eddie shook his head and made his way up the loft steps. Buck was still fast asleep tangled up in his comforter, grabbing Buck's phone off his nightstand, Eddie turned off all three meeting reminder alarms on Buck's phone before opening his messaging app which conveniently had the PTA group chat pinned right under both his and Chris' chats. The meeting was at someone named Julie's house this month, a forty-minute drive according to the Google maps directions he had pulled up. Eddie left Buck a note telling him not to worry about the meeting, grabbed the binder off the kitchen island and called Bobby to check in on Buck while he was out. After going home to shower and change, Eddie dropped Chris off at Abuela’s' and made his way to Julie's.
Eddie didn't know what to expect pulling up to the house, the street lined with SUV's. Eddie wiped sweat off his hands as he pressed the doorbell. Chatter quieting minutely as a loud shout to wait a second came from behind the wooden door. A short blonde opened the door, and slight confusion clouded her features for a second as she glanced over him. Eddie dumbly held up Buck's binder and recognition then lit up in her eyes at the name printed on the front. A grin spread across her face as she ushered him in and shut the door. Julie, he learned was Abby’s mom, Abby and Chris were apparently in the same homeroom. Julie gushed about how nice it was to see him, joked about how she thought he was scared of them seeing as he never turned up to any events which made him feel a tad bit crappy. What kind of parent was he to never show up to enough of his kid’s school events. Julie went around the room introducing him to everyone as Chris’ “next” dad or Buck’s boyfriend in which everyone would react in one of two ways; delight that he finally showed up to something or badly concealed disappointment that he wasn’t Buck. The few conversations that he was roped into consisted of the same three answers Buck was just sick and couldn’t make it, yes he was in fact Christopher’s biological father and no he didn’t bring any of Buck’s baked goods along. Eddie was ready to sneak out the back door when one final person rushed through the front door without knocking with a tray of snacks and Julie called everyone to her living room.
Eddie wanted to shoot himself, if that’s what it took to leave Julie’s living room, it’s what he was willing to do. The past half hour had been spent listening to reviews and expenditures and complaints of soccer moms and three dads about events he had no idea even happened, much less contributed too. The school had needed repairs done on some pool tiles, Eddie didn’t even know they had a pool but he had apparently put down a sizeable donation towards the project. Every time they needed something baking related, they’d turn to Eddie who’d turn to Julie who’d just smile and say to pencil in Buck. They needed a volunteer he’d say he needed to check his schedule because he didn’t know when his shifts were. Another fire safety drill this month they didn’t even bother to ask, they just put Buck down. Eddie needed to leave and never show his face at any of these events again. How Buck had managed to ingrain himself so deeply into Chris’ school life without him knowing was a true wonder. By the time Julie had clapped her hands together to let them go, Eddie was already halfway to the door with his keys in his hand. He had almost made it when another blonde in athletic wear had blocked his path and guilt tripped him into staying behind to help clean up because Buck and his oh so strong muscles always stays back to help.
Which is how Eddie learns that Buck gets wine drunk and gossips with over flirty PTA moms after their official PTA meetings are over. Eddie knows they’re over flirty just by the way they’re talking about him without him even being there. Oh, Eddie you’re so lucky, he’s so cute with the kids and he’s so helpful and he carries things so easily, and his clipboard is so adorable, yeah Eddie knows all of this because it worked on him, worked so well that he admitted he was gay, and it’s only supposed to work on him so Susan and her little athleisure wear buddies need to reign it in. After that little mental outburst Eddie put down the glass of wine he had been drinking. Though Eddie did not enjoy his exclusive PTA clique bonding session much, he did enjoy the folder of pictures Julie shared with him of Buck at all their Fundraiser events past. After the last dish was finally washed Eddie booked it to his car with the promise of sending their well wishes to Buck. Eddie had never driven so fast to Buck’s apartment. Eddie had gone through army training, and it had never drained him like tonight did. He took the loft steps two at a time and grinned at the sight of Buck, still asleep but with slightly more colour in his face in a Bobby Nash special blanket tuck.
Eddie would tell Buck all about his PTA adventuring when he woke up in the morning, then kiss him silly for all the hard work he did to make sure Chris had a great school experience and then again for saving Eddie from the embarrassment of being a crappy PTA parent. If he just so happened to fail to mention that Susan and her athleisure friends wished him well then that was really the wines fault not Eddie’s.